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Trump likely to visit China during November Asia trip: U.S. officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to make a stop in China in November during his first official visit to Asia, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, a trip that will come amid tensions over North Korea s nuclear tests. Washington and its allies have said there is a growing urgency for China, North Korea s top ally and trading partner, to apply more pressure on its already isolated neighbor to get it to back down on its nuclear weapons and missiles programs. Chinese President Xi Jinping had invited Trump to visit China during their meeting in April in Palm Beach, Florida. The two leaders also met on the sidelines on the G20 summit in July. Trump is set to attend the U.S.-ASEAN summit and the East Asia summit in the Philippines in November, as well as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam. China s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Trump s potential visit. Japanese public broadcaster NHK cited unnamed diplomatic sources saying that Trump was also considering visiting Japan and South Korea during his Asian tour in November. In February, Trump accepted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s invitation to visit Japan by the end of the year. The February agreement is still valid. We would definitely like to make it happen sometime within this year. But no specific timing has been fixed yet, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. Also, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun said on Wednesday Japan, the United States and South Korea are in final stages of talks to hold a trilateral summit on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The newspaper, citing unnamed government sources, reported the meeting between Trump, Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in could take place on Sept. 21 and would focus on bolstering cooperation in response to North Korean provocation. On Monday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to step up sanctions on North Korea, with its profitable textile exports now banned and fuel supplies capped. After several days of negotiations on the resolution, Washington dropped several measures to win the support of Russia and China, including a bid for an oil embargo and the blacklisting of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the national airline. In Hong Kong, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told the South China Morning Post the results of a U.S.-led investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property theft would be announced before the Beijing summit to reset bilateral trade. The far-right architect of Trump s 2016 election victory, Bannon told an investor conference, organized by a unit of China s largest brokerage, that Trump and Xi had a rapport that should enable them to work out differences, said an attendee at the meeting which was closed to the press. Bannon, who was let go by Trump last month, told a private lunch gathering in Hong Kong that he still speaks with President Donald Trump every two to three days, the Wall Street Journal reported.

FLASHBACK: NANCY PELOSI Makes Outrageous Claim About Trump And “Guns, God, And Gays [Video]What a disgusting, out of touch racist she is. The Democratic Party does nothing other than play identity politics and further divide the country.

HOW MEXICO COULD ACTUALLY Benefit From A Trump PresidencyIt s easier to hate Trump and spew venom at him and his supporters than to use logic and reason Donald Trump has already forced Mexico to clean up its national image, underscoring how the country suffering from NAFTA could actually benefit from a Trump presidency.Mexico is launching a massive PR campaign to improve perceptions of the country after Trump exposed many of its problems, but this is a good thing: sometimes it takes your worst critic to enforce needed change.In fact, Trump s proposed border wall, hatred of the North American Free Trade Agreement and nationalistic views could help America s southern neighbor.For one thing, a lot of people don t realize NAFTA has fueled mass unemployment in Mexico, which has caused thousands of illegal immigrants to flood into the U.S. looking for jobs. There are no jobs [in Mexico] and NAFTA forced the price of corn so low that it s not economically possible to plant a crop anymore, Rufino Dom nguez, the former coordinator of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations, revealed. We come to the U.S. to work because we can t get a price for our product at home. There s no alternative. NAFTA disrupted Mexico s corn production so badly that 75,000 Iowa farmers were able to grow twice as much corn as 3,000,000 Mexican producers and at half the cost because the U.S. maintained its corn subsidies under NAFTA.That resulted in the mass migration of Mexican farm workers flowing into America. The big wave in illegal immigration from Mexico began in the 1980s, but it picked up strongly after NAFTA that wasn t unexpected, NPR s Tim Robbins reported.And which presidential candidate has spoke out against NAFTA and other destructive trade agreements? Donald Trump. It s a disaster, he said in Sept. We will either renegotiate it, or we will break it. For entire story: Prison Planet

North Korea-U.S. tensions are not Mexico's business: diplomatMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - North Korea s ambassador to Mexico on Friday said its tensions with the United States were not Mexico City s business after President Enrique Pena Nieto ordered that he leave the country in protest over Pyongyang s nuclear tests. Mexico on Thursday said it had given the ambassador, Kim Hyong Gil, 72 hours to leave Mexico in order to express its absolute rejection of North Korea s recent nuclear activity, describing it as a grave threat to the region and the world. The North Korean ambassador branded the move as ignorant and said disagreement over the country s nuclear program was an issue for the United States and has nothing to do with Mexico. That is why I express great displeasure at the bilateral diplomatic measures taken by the Mexican government that claims to have a sovereign foreign policy. That (claim) is without basis, he told reporters outside the North Korean embassy in Mexico City. Mexico has traditionally sought to steer clear of diplomatic spats, but in the past few months it has adopted robust language to condemn the governments of Venezuela and North Korea as they descended into increasing international isolation. Mexico s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, has led the diplomatic push as he also seeks to convince the United States to keep the North American Free Trade Agreement in place. Mexico s move follows a tide of international condemnation of North Korea for repeated missile launches and the test of a powerful nuclear weapon in recent weeks. Videgaray on Friday stressed that Mexico was not breaking diplomatic ties with North Korea, but that the country wanted to send a clear message of absolute rejection of the recent tests.

Bare-breasted FEMEN activist grabs Trump statue by crotchMADRID (Reuters) - A topless activist from the feminist group FEMEN attacked a life-size wax statue of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during an unveiling ceremony at Madrid’s wax museum on Tuesday. Reuters journalists at the scene saw the woman push past security ropes and place her hand on the statue’s crotch while screaming “grab patriarchy by the balls.” Museum staff spent several minutes trying to restrain the woman before eventually bundling her out through a back door. The activist group claimed responsibility for the protest on Twitter, saying: “FEMEN just grabbed Trump’s statue by the balls in Madrid.” In a recording leaked last October, Trump spoke of grabbing women “by the pussy”. Gonzalo Presa, head of communications at the museum, called the woman’s protest “unpleasant” and said he had hoped to give a “special welcome” to Donald Trump from Madrid. “If they want to do this they should do it directly to him. This is too easy,” he told a Reuters reporter. Artisans had spent over three days creating the wax figure, paying special attention to the color and style of Trump´s signature hair, Presa said. FEMEN, an international group which began in Ukraine, is known for using nudity in protests over women´s rights.

Islamic State loses al-Mayadeen in eastern Syria: military sourceBEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government and allied forces have taken the eastern town of al-Mayadeen from Islamic State, a Syrian military source said on Saturday, further weakening the militants diminishing presence in Syria. Al-Mayadeen, near the Iraqi border in Deir al Zor province, had become a major base for Islamic State militants as they were being driven out of their de facto Syrian capital in Raqqa city by a U.S.-backed offensive. Over the past few months many of the individuals which the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State has targeted have come from al-Mayadeen, coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon told Reuters. The Syrian government campaign to take al-Mayadeen has been supported by heavy Russian air strikes. The U.S.-led coalition has also previously struck in the vicinity of the town. Al-Mayadeen lies south of the provincial capital Deir al-Zor city, where Syrian and allied forces are also trying to oust the militants from a small pocket they still control. The Syrian military source said the jihadists in al-Mayadeen had suffered a collapse in their ranks.

HILLARY CLINTON CRASHING IN POLLS: Moves To Obama Strategy…Using Taxpayer Money To Give Away Free Sh*TSo, the working people of America are basically supposed to sit back and watch Bernie Sanders and Hillary compete to see who can pander to get more votes by promising Americans and illegal aliens more free sh*t with our hard earned money? Like healthcare, education is a sclerotic, overexpensive, underperforming industry. Both have strong parallels: they re dominated by government subsidies and controls, though not entirely socialized; they re perhaps the only growth industries in our moribund economy; and they dominate the thought life of the nation. As Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz pointed out in 2011:These are our foremost growth sectors the ones most central to employment and consumption; the ones that, increasingly, drive our economy. And it is in precisely these two sectors that the case for extensive government intervention and planning, if not outright control, is dominant and becoming ever more so.If there is to be any hope of reversing this trend, champions of market economics must come to see these two sectors as the front lines in the battle for capitalism. At stake is not only an ideological or theoretical point, but also American prosperity. The historical record makes this clear: In the nations where it was practiced, government control of the old commanding heights of the economy made those industries less efficient and less innovative bringing overall economic performance down with them.Today, Hillary Clinton is touting her plan for Obamacare-izing higher education. Competing Democratic presidential candidates Martin O Malley and Bernie Sanders have already proposed essentially socializing college straight up. Clinton s proposal, like Obamacare, is also collectivist and unjustified wealth redistribution, but with a more complicated, less direct, crony capitalist flavor. In other words, it s not direct socialism, but it might as well be.By mucking around this way, Clinton gains the benefit of deception: She can argue that both the left and the right (by right, she of course means the craziest of Republicans, not actual conservatives) have proposed elements of her plan. So she gets to smear her Frankenstein with pretty bipartisan makeup. And the average voter won t care, because the average voter doesn t give jack about enslaving his children (or other people s children) to the unseen but growing monstrosity of federal debt, as long as he gets feel-goodies now, regardless of whether they actually benefit anyone. But it s still a Frankenstein.What Does Hillary Clinton Propose, Exactly? Before we get into the mud-slinging, let s do what most journalists do not and give some actual hard facts about Clinton s proposal. (Do any of you also scan news articles looking for actual facts instead of paid spokespeople s lying spin? It s hard to find those, isn t it?) The full proposal doesn t seem available (probably so they can tweak its details in response to initial criticism); reporters have gotten three fact sheets, MSNBC says. Inside Higher Ed kindly posted them. A news summary of the major points: Under the plan, which was outlined by Clinton advisers on Sunday, about $175 billion in grants would go to states that guarantee students would not have to take out loans to cover tuition at four-year public colleges and universities. In return for the money, states would have to end budget cuts to increase spending over time on higher education, while also working to slow the growth of tuition, thought the plan does not require states to cap it. (NYT) military veterans, lower-income students and those who complete a national service program, like AmeriCorps, would go to school for free in the Clinton plan (AP). She would also expand income-based repayment programs, allowing every student borrower to enroll in a plan that would cap their payments at 10 percent of their income with remaining debt forgiven after 20 years. (AP) Student borrowers would be expected to work at least 10 hours a week to contribute, while their families would continue contributing under the current income-based model. Clinton s plan would also expand a tax credit from $1,000 to $2,500 for families paying for college. (MSNBC) Her campaign says she will create a dedicated fund for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and will expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 to 250,000 members. (MSNBC) Mrs. Clinton would pay for the [supposedly $350 billion] plan by capping the value of itemized deductions that wealthy families can take on their tax returns. (NYT)So more income redistribution and more federal micromanagement because, clearly, central planners know better how to manage college costs than colleges and families. Topped off, of course, by (what else?) playing self-appointed Robin Hood against people who earn lots less money than she does. Envy and greed are our society s favorite sins, after all.Federal Meddling Is the Problem, Not the AnswerThe most expensive portion of Clinton s proposal involves bullying states into following federal marching orders in order for them to receive cash the feds scooped from taxpayers.For entire story: The Federalist

Watch SNL Hilariously Mock Ted Cruz Over Iowa ‘Win’ (VIDEO)Ted Cruz is a guy who s easy to make fun of and SNL had a field day with him and his campaign last night. Taran Killam, who played the Republican presidential candidate, delivered a hilarious performance. Kallam as Cruz said: Some of you may have seen me in tonight s Republican debates in New Hampshire. And if you missed it, here s a quick recap: I won. I also won the Iowa Caucuses thanks to endorsements from strong conservatives like Glenn Beck and God almighty. Cruz s win , of course, had nothing to do with God but more to do with some nasty trickery. For example, there was Cruz s campaign telling voters that Ben Carson had dropped out of the race. Then of course, there were the mailers sent by the Cruz campaign which tried to manipulate voters into voting for him.Killam as Cruz said he was an unconventional candidate : I didn t get where I am today because I was born wealthy or handsome or charismatic or nice. I am not cool or likable or even fine. Cruz shouldn t be blamed for his looks, being born without wealth, or even his lack of charisma. However, there are certainly some things he can do to make him more likable to folks. People don t like being lied to, nor do they like to be manipulated and it looks like Ted Cruz is a master at that. It s quite crazy to think that people actually vote for this guy!Killam concluded: Isn t it time for a president who s just a nasty, little weasel? The answer is absolutely not, Ted!Feature image via YouTube screenshot

U.S. proposes cutting total biofuels requirements in 2018NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed total volume marked a slight decline from current levels and was more than 20 percent below targets laid out in a 2007 law. The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, requires increased volumes of renewable fuels each year, but the proposal would keep targets for use of conventional biofuels at current levels. The agency has begun preparations to reset future biofuel targets, said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. His proposal was met with praise and calls for broader reform from the petroleum industry and mixed response from biofuels producers. Environmentalists, who have been critical of ethanol, called for Congress to reform the program. The RFS has become a battlefield between corn and oil interests. The law has been a boon to agriculture, supporting economies across the Midwest’s Corn Belt. The EPA’s proposed cuts to advanced and cellulosic biofuels “will have a chilling effect on the push toward next generation biofuels,” said Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. Petroleum companies say the biofuel targets are impossible to meet and add billions of dollars in costs. The plan would require companies to blend a total of 19.24 billion gallons of renewable fuels in the country’s fuel supply next year. The proposal is “consistent with market realities focused on actual production and consumer demand while being cognizant of the challenges that exist in bringing advanced biofuels into the marketplace,” Pruitt said in a statement. The agency would keep the 2018 target for conventional ethanol at 15 billion gallons, unchanged from 2017, and set the requirement for advanced biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, at 4.24 billion gallons. These latest volumes confirmed an earlier Reuters report for volumes well below the 26 billion gallons of renewable fuels outlined by Congress in 2007. The law was aimed at cutting U.S. oil imports and boosting the use of renewable fuels. The EPA also requested comments related to concerns that the biofuels requirements increasingly are being met by supplies from Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia. The agency proposed setting the requirements for cellulosic below the current year’s levels at 238 million gallons and kept biomass-based diesel requirements at 2.1 billion gallons for 2019, unchanged from the levels set for 2018 under former President Barack Obama. Development of cellulosic biofuels has been slower than expected by lawmakers when they set up the program, stymied by regulatory delays and the economic downturn. The American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil companies, including BP America and Chevron Corp (CVX.N), praised the move to lower the overall requirements but said the proposal did not go far enough. Ethanol groups praised the agency for maintaining the target for conventional ethanol, which is mostly produced from corn in the United States, but were critical of the move to lower the advanced targets. “We are concerned that by reducing the cellulosic (requirement), this proposal may weaken the signal to the marketplace,” said Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association. “Today’s proposal underscores the need for the U.S. Congress to take the bull by the horns and reform the Renewable Fuel Standard to protect our clean water, our public health, and our wildlife,” said National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O’Mara. Prices of U.S. renewable fuel credits rose 4 cents to trade at 75 cents apiece. Biodiesel credits were up 3 cents at $1.145 each, traders said.

Watch White Trump Thugs Manhandle Black Protesters As Candidate Drones On (VIDEO)Video released from a Donald Trump rally in New Orleans, Louisiana, shows white supporters of Donald Trump shoving and manhandling black protesters. Another video clip shows Trump fans ripping a sign out of the hands of a protester.The video was captured and posted online by photographer and journalist Amy K. Nelson.The first video shows a man with a sign referring to Trump s recent refusal to condemn the Ku Klux Klan during an interview with CNN. The sign gets pulled out of his hands and as Nelson writes, protester w KKK trump sign got it ripped away and then small fight ensued. crowd here is angry. protester w KKK trump sign got it ripped away and then small fight ensued #trump pic.twitter.com/nyOhAS5nbg Amy K. Nelson (@AmyKNelson) March 5, 2016The second video, as Nelson describes it, shows white civilian men violently ejecting black lives matter protesters at the Trump rally, then hi-5-ing after. CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond also released video of protesters being ejected from Trump s event.One of the most intense protests I've witnessed at a @realDonaldTrump event. Here's a snippet: pic.twitter.com/3LUEUEH0Es Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) March 5, 2016Here's more from tonight's #BlackLivesMatter protest at @realDonaldTrump's New Orleans event: pic.twitter.com/sz2ZoceAnz Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) March 5, 2016In the background audio of the video, Trump can be heard on stage, going through the motions of his campaign stump act, as his supporters yell all lives matter and engage with the protesters. You can hear one protester tell a Trump fan to take his hands off of one of the women.It has been days since Trump has had a rally without some sort of clash between Trump supporters and protesters. In a recent stop in Georgia, the Trump campaign had a group of black students removed on a formerly segregated college campus.Trump s campaign events now begin with warnings to the crowd to not hurt protesters, though Trump recently signaled to his followers that he would pay for the defense of supporters involved physically with detractors.On top of these incidents, a white nationalist radio show was recently given press passes to broadcast from the floor of a Trump rally. And Trump s son, Donald Jr., recently taped an interview with a white nationalist radio host where the two commiserated over the perceived problem of political correctness. Featured image via Twitter

Bernie Is Too Far Left To Get Anything Done? This ONE FACT Puts That Lie To BedThere s a myth running afoul within Democratic and Republican circles (but mostly among Democrats) that Bernie Sanders is too progressive to actually get anything accomplished in Washington if elected president. To drive this point home, some on the campaign trail are pointing to his record of accomplishments on Capital Hill, noting that he has only had three (yes 3) bills passed into law that he s sponsored over 25 years in Congress. Doesn t sound like that great of a record, does it? Yet what they fail to mention is that his record of successes is almost IDENTICAL to Hillary Clinton s. In fact, Sanders has a higher success rate.We back this up with proven numbers. Go to Congress.gov. You can look up every single bill that present (and past) members of Congress have ever sponsored/co-sponsored during their entire time as elected representatives of the people.Bernie Sanders sponsored 780 bills. He also co-sponsored 5,430 bills. Out of his sponsored bills, only three became law, meaning his success rate = .38 percent. Once you factor in his sponsored bills with his co-sponsored bills, his success rate isn t all that much improved. Out of 6,210 bills, only 206 became law.That brings his total success rate to 3.3 percent.Hillary sponsored 703 laws and guess what, only 3 became law (the same as Bernie). That gives her a success rate of .42 percent. That s barely above Sanders. But take a look at what happens when you factor in her co-sponsored bills. Out of the 3,379 bills she supported, only 77 became law.That gives her a total success rate of 2.2 percent.That s below Sanders, but, we ll just go ahead and say they re nearly identical.So, as we were saying, there s a myth going around that Sanders can t get anything done because he s too far left, but as you can see, his record of accomplishments in Congress isn t that far off from Hillary s (at least according to the official Congressional record). If this isn t absolute proof, then we don t know what is.The truth is, it s not that far-left progressives can t get anything done in Washington, it s that Congress is set up in a way that makes it virtually impossible for anyone to get anything passed. That s the way it s supposed to be (by design). That s why Bernie has continuously said on the campaign trail that it s absolutely imperative that people become more involved (and vote), otherwise, they won t see the change they re hoping for, no matter if he (or anyone else for that matter) is elected president. This nonsense about him being too progressive to get anything passed needs to stop, no matter who you support for the nomination.Featured image via Bernie Sanders

CLASSLESS 53-YR OLD MICHELLE OBAMA Goes Solo On Yacht In Spain: Flashes Photographers In High Slit Skirt…Seamlessly Goes From Straw Hat and Braless Look To “Gangsta”With all of the attention on Melania and the grace, elegance, and class she s brought back to the White House, you d almost think Michelle Obama was intentionally looking for attention, after seeing some of the get ups she s been photographed in since the Obama s vacated the White House in January. The former First Lady, 53, shielded herself from the sun with shades and a black hood to enjoy a hike around the island on Thursday.She was surrounded by members of her staff tagging along for the sweat session, with members of her security team flanking her.Michelle is in Mallorca to visit American diplomat James Costos and his partner, Michael Smith.Her husband, former President Barack Obama, does not appear to have accompanied her on the international trip.The day after her hike, Michelle boarded a yacht, wearing a white crop top and a stylish wrap skirt with a bird pattern.It appears as though Mooch has a little exhibitionist in her, as she flashes more than just a little leg for the camera:Michelle was seen aboard the yacht later in the evening on Friday, enjoying time with a group of friends.The braless First Lady was seen stopping at a local restaurant during her stay on the White House designer s yacht:At one point on Friday, she changed into different clothes, and was spotted wearing a black outfit and a hat while leaving a restaurant.Both she and her husband will have a Secret Service detail for the rest of their lives, Barack having restored lifetime protection for former presidents in 2013.Costos and Smith are longtime friends of the Obamas, and have previously hosted the family several times at their residence in Palm Springs, California.Barack and Michelle jetted off to the glamorous home during their first trip out of Washington, DC on the day of President Donald Trump s inauguration in January.Smith, a designer, previously redecorated the Oval Office and the Obamas private quarters during their time at the White House. Daily Mail

Lawyers evasive about ex-U.S. House speaker's alleged sex abuse(Reuters) - Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s lawyers declined on Saturday to directly address sexual abuse allegations from federal prosecutors, who asserted that he molested at least four boys decades ago when he served as a high school wrestling coach. Hastert, 74, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when sentenced later this month for his guilty plea in October to a federal charge of illegally structuring large bank withdrawals in small increments to evade currency-reporting rules. As part of that plea, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives admitted paying $1.7 million in cash to someone he had known for decades as hush money and compensation for unspecified wrongdoing toward that individual. Until this week, neither defense lawyers nor prosecutors had stepped forward to publicly reveal the underlying misconduct at issue. That changed on Friday, when prosecutors alleged in a court filing that Hastert had sexually abused at least four boys on the wrestling team he coached during his time as a teacher at Yorkville High School in the 1960s and ‘70s. Providing details of the alleged abuse, some of them quite graphic, the prosecutors said Hastert offered massages to students in a locker room, where he had set up an easy chair in view of the boys’ shower, and inappropriately touched some of the students. They also cited an alleged incident that occurred during a wrestling trip in a motel room. Although statutes of limitations bar sexual abuse charges against Hastert, “with this case the government seeks to hold defendant accountable for the crimes he committed that can still be prosecuted,” the court filing said. Asked by Reuters if Hastert or his lawyers would comment on the court filing, a pre-sentencing memorandum, Hastert attorney Thomas Green issued a statement that neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. Hastert “acknowledges that as a young man he committed transgressions for which he is profoundly sorry,” the statement said. “He earnestly apologizes to his former students, family, friends, previous constituents and all others affected by the harm his actions have caused.” The wording closely mirrored a similar expression of remorse contained in a pre-sentencing memo filed by the defense earlier this week. It differed, however, in expressly mentioning “former students.” The defense has asked the federal judge in the case to spare Hastert prison time, citing his deteriorating health, his remorse and years he “dedicated to public service.” Prosecutors have recommended a prison term of no more than six months. Sentencing is scheduled for April 27.

BITTER RADICAL ERIC HOLDER Goes After ‘ORANGE MAN’ President Trump In Scorching Interview: ‘We want the America of Barack Obama’The information below is disturbing and should be a wake up call for Americans that the left isn t taking losing lying down. This is war A war for the heart of America!The quote below from Steve Bannon also goes for the left and the radical elitists like Holder He continuously mocks President Trump in the interview below by calling him orange man . Holder is seething with contempt and hate. It s shameful behavior from a man who was once a very powerful member of a presidential administration in America. He exposes himself for the hateful racist we knew he was. This is scary and should be a big reminder that the war isn t over with these people. Keep up the fight!Bannon is 100% correct on this:Former Attorney General Eric Holder says he is glad to be unshackled from his old job because employment with the National Democratic Redistricting Committee lets him lash out at Republicans like orange man President Trump.Politico recently went on the road with the NDRC s chairman in Virginia for get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee for Virginia governor.An interview at Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond covered everything from NDRC s efforts to raise over $30 million for gubernatorial races to Mr. Trump s alleged role in empowering neo-Nazis and white nationalists. I probably would not have [attacked Republicans like] that while I was attorney general, he continued. I didn t have an orange man who I was serving under, but, I mean, I would not have said that about a former president, for instance, while I was attorney general. But now, I m just a citizen and I ve got the full range of my voice back. The former attorney general also told Rising Mount Zion congregants that Mr. Northam s battle with Republican Ed Gillespie was important because debts have to be repaid. Read more: WT

ABC NEWS: Emails Show Hillary’s Top Aide Arranged “Special Seating” At State Dinner For Top Clinton Donors [VIDEO]This woman should be in a jail cell not sitting around laughing and opening pickle jars on the Jimmy Fallon show. Judicial Watch s release this week of 725 pages of State Department emails involving Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin demonstrates the Obama administration considers a large percentage of the emails sent through Clinton s private server too sensitive for Congress or the American public to read.Of the 725 pages, more than 250 pages were 100 percent redacted, many with PAGE DENIED stamped in bold.Judicial Watch said the new cache includes previously unreleased email exchanges in which former Abedin provided influential Clinton Foundation donors special, expedited access to the secretary of state. Judicial Watch added that in many instances, the preferential treatment provided to donors was at the specific request of Clinton Foundation executive Douglas Band. The Abedin emails reveal that the longtime Clinton aide apparently served as a conduit between Clinton Foundation donors and Hillary Clinton while Clinton served as secretary of state. In more than a dozen email exchanges, Abedin provided expedited, direct access to Clinton for donors who had contributed from $25,000 to $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, Judicial Watch said in a statement announcing the release. WNDWATCH:#CrookedHillary scandal #9,999 and counting

Clamor for justice: Yugoslav court leaves global legacyBELGRADE (Reuters) - When a court on the Dutch North Sea coast issues its final verdict this week, it will signal the end of an experiment that has reverberated around the world, from the killing fields of Rwanda to the CIA s secret cells in Europe. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), set up by the United Nations in 1993, marked the biggest leap in the field of international criminal law since the Allies tried the Nazis in Nuremberg. Created in answer to the worst war crimes in Europe since World War Two, it set a precedent of accountability that has since put the Khmer Rouge and Liberia s Charles Taylor in the dock and paved the way for a court with global ambition. Almost 25 years later, its legacy is under threat. The International Criminal Court (ICC), opened in 2002, is undermined by renewed West-Russia rivalry, stone-walling and revolt in Africa, barrel bombs in Syria and a boycott by three of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Supporters of the Yugoslav tribunal say it will remain a beacon inspiring a growing demand for justice and creativeness in delivering it from ad hoc tribunals in Africa to the conviction in one country of a dictator from another and that of a Syrian in Sweden after a post on Facebook. The glass is either half full or half empty, said Alex Whiting, professor of practice at Harvard Law School. You can say we haven t come far enough and the new institutions, particularly the ICC, have not replicated the success of the ICTY, but you can just as easily say it s remarkable how far we ve come in just 25 years, he said. The ICTY is the North Star. The Yugoslav tribunal owes a debt to history, born as it was between the end of the Cold War and the 9/11 attacks on the United States, when Russia was weak and the West was united in collective action. For decades before, conflicts from Vietnam to Algeria, Afghanistan to Sri Lanka escaped major judicial scrutiny. Backed by the arrest-power of Western peacekeepers and the readiness of the European Union to condition integration with Yugoslavia s successor states on their cooperation, the tribunal issued 161 indictments and secured 83 convictions. Wednesday s verdict in the trial of Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic will be its last, bar appeals. The Yugoslav court was the first to indict a sitting head of state in Serbia s Slobodan Milosevic, recognized sexual violence as a crime of war and advanced the definition of genocide. With the U.N. tribunal for Rwanda, it assembled the hybrid case law used by tribunals in Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Lebanon and ultimately the ICC. Its 2.5 million pages of transcripts offer a forensic and often harrowing account of a state s dissolution that dispels the fog of wartime propaganda. More than 4,500 witnesses took the stand. I committed myself to speak on behalf of those who did not survive, said Nusreta Sivac, a former judge in Bosnia who testified to her rape by Bosnian Serb captors. The tribunal rulings will write history. Detractors say the court was slow, expensive and damaged by a number of high-profile acquittals. Milosevic died in 2006 while still on trial, while some cases were plagued by witness intimidation. The tribunal was supposed to help with reconciliation, but revisionism is rife and convicted war criminals often feted as heroes. Critics argue the indictment of Milosevic, at the height of NATO air strikes against him, only complicated the conflict and encouraged him to cling on, which he did for another 17 months. Similar arguments have been made against the ICC s pursuit of some African leaders. Established by treaty and boycotted by the United States, China and Russia, the ICC has little of the clout of the ICTY. With only one Arab member, it has found the bulk of its work in Africa. Alleging bias, Burundi quit the court last month. Kenya and South Africa have threatened to follow. The court s credibility has already been tested by the collapse in 2014 of a case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir s eight-year evasion of arrest. Most glaring is its impotence in the face of nearly half a million dead in Syria, its hands tied by Russian and Chinese vetoes in the Security Council, which can refer a case to the court in a non-member state such as Syria. The ICC denies any bias against Africa and is at various stages of investigation in Georgia, Iraq, Ukraine, Colombia and Palestine, though it can expect to make little progress in investigating conflicts involving Russia or the United States. In a watershed moment, prosecutors this month called for a formal investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan, including the mistreatment of detainees by U.S. forces in the country and at CIA dark sites in Poland, Romania and Lithuania. Experts say the move is symbolic of the court s ambition, but also of its limitations, given the unlikelihood of any cooperation from the Trump administration. The Yugoslav tribunal demonstrated that, with strong political and diplomatic support from the international community, justice can be achieved , its chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz told Reuters. But without that support, the obstacles can be almost insurmountable. Kevin Jon Heller, law professor at the University of Amsterdam, said of the ICC: I strongly doubt it is ever going to fulfill the aspirations of the people in the states that created it. Nevertheless, demands for accountability are multiplying, along with avenues to pursue them. Experts point to the 2016 conviction of Chad ex-dictator, Hissene Habre, in a Senegalese court, the first time universal jurisdiction was used to prosecute the former ruler of one country by a court in another for human rights crimes. The same principle saw a Syrian soldier convicted by a Swedish court last month, partly on the basis of social media posts, while authorities in Sweden and Germany are each investigating more than a dozen individuals for crimes in Syria and Iraq. With the Security Council paralyzed, the U.N. General Assembly has launched its own ad hoc mechanism to investigate war crimes in Syria. A hybrid tribunal is in the works in Central African Republic and another mooted for South Sudan. What has not ebbed in the last five to seven years, and in fact what has only increased, is the demand for justice, and an expectation that it will translate into action, said Param-Preet Singh, an associate director at Human Rights Watch. The ICTY and efforts since have changed the conversation , said Whiting. It is for that reason this project will never die, he said. It will go into dormancy, but it will never die.

“ON DAY OF #NiceAttack Hillary Announces AMNESTY For Anyone Who Stealthily Evades Our Border Patrol”Lawless, Crooked Hillary promises to continue with Obama s arrogant, lawless push to flood America with people who have illegally entered our nation Democrat voters. Our nation and our nation s security won t survive another four years of Obama h/t to the brilliant Jon Feere, Legal Policy Analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies. The CIS is one of the best sources in America for keeping up with our immigration crisis in America. From Hillary s website:Hillary will:Enact comprehensive immigration reform to create a pathway to citizenship, keep families together, and enable millions of workers to come out of the shadows.Defend President Obama s executive actions to provide deportation relief for DREAMers and parents of Americans and lawful residents, and extend those actions to additional persons with sympathetic cases if Congress refuses to act.Promote naturalization and support immigrant integration. End family detention and close private immigrant detention centers.Hillary s not just advocating for making lawbreakers legal citizens of the United States, she s also planning to bring millions of Muslims from countries who hate us to America, and fast-track them to citizenship:If elected president, Hillary Clinton could permanently resettle close to one million Muslim migrants during the first term of her presidency alone, according to the latest available data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).Between 2001 and 2013, the U.S. permanently resettled 1.5 million Muslim migrants on green cards. However, under Hillary Clinton s stated proposals, Muslim immigration would grow substantially faster, adding nearly one million Muslim migrants to the U.S. during her first term alone.Based on the most recent available DHS data, the U.S. permanently resettled roughly 149,000 migrants from predominantly Muslim countries on green cards in 2014. Yet Clinton has said that, as President, she would expand Muslim migration by importing an additional 65,000 Syrian refugees into the United States during the course of a single fiscal year. Clinton has made no indication that she would limit her proposed Syrian refugee program to one year.Clinton s Syrian refugees would come on top of the tens of thousands of refugees the U.S. already admits from Muslim countries.Adding Clinton s 65,000 Syrian refugees to the approximately 149,000 Muslim migrants the U.S. resettled on green cards in the course of one year, means that Clinton could permanently resettle roughly 214,000 Muslim migrants in her first year as President. If Clinton were to continue her Syrian refugee program throughout her Presidency, she could potentially resettle as many as 856,000 during her first term alone.Analysis from the Senate Immigration Subcommittee found that Clinton s plan to expand refugee resettlement could cost U.S. taxpayers over $400 billion.Additionally, once Clinton s Syrian refugees are in the U.S. as green card holders, they will have the ability to bring over their family members through chain migration.With regards to Middle Eastern migration, Clinton s 65,000 Syrian refugees would be added on top of the roughly 96,000 Middle Eastern migrants the U.S. resettled on green cards in a single year. Based on the minimum numbers Clinton has put forth thus far, as President, she could potentially resettle approximately 644,000 Middle Eastern migrants during her first term alone.According to a September 2015 Rasmussen survey, women voters oppose Clinton s Middle Eastern refugee plan by a remarkable 21-to-1 margin. Democrat voters oppose Clinton s refugee plan by a 17-to-1 margin. Most remarkably, 85 percent of black voters oppose Clinton s refugee agenda with less than one percent of black voters supporting her plan.Yet Clinton s expansion to Muslim migration would be in addition to her expansion for immigration overall.U.S. Census data shows that if a President Hillary Clinton were successful in passing a Gang of Eight-style immigration expansion bill, the U.S. could permanently resettle roughly 9.4 million migrants throughout the nation during her first term alone. This figure does not include the additional 11 million illegal immigrants already here to whom Clinton has promised amnesty and U.S. citizenship.Clinton s desire to expand immigration is shared by GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, who leads the pro-Islamic migration wing of the Republican Party. Breitbart

Trump declares opioids a U.S. public health emergencyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency on Thursday, stopping short of a national emergency declaration he promised months ago that would have freed up more federal money. Responding to a growing problem, particularly in rural areas, Trump’s declaration will redirect federal resources and loosen regulations to combat opioid abuse, senior administration officials said. But it does not result in more money to combat the crisis. Some critics, including Democratic lawmakers, said the declaration was meaningless without additional funding. Republican lawmakers called the president’s declaration an important step in combating the crisis. “This epidemic is a national health emergency,” Trump, a Republican, said at the White House. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue.” Trump, who also called the epidemic a “national shame” and “human tragedy,” was introduced by his wife, Melania, who said she had made fighting the epidemic one of her top priorities as first lady. “This can happen to any of us,” she said. The president also made a personal reference to addiction in his family by citing his deceased brother Fred, an alcoholic whose advice not to imbibe made an impression on Trump, who does not drink alcohol. The announcement disappointed some advocates and experts in the addiction fight, who said it was inadequate to fight a scourge that played a role in more than 33,000 deaths in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death rate has kept rising, estimates show. Opioids, primarily prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, are fueling the drug overdoses. More than 100 Americans die daily from related overdoses, according to the CDC. A White House commission on the drug crisis had urged Trump to declare a national emergency. On Wednesday, the president told Fox Business Network he would do so. Officials told reporters on the conference call that Federal Emergency Management Agency funds that would have been released under a national emergency are already exhausted from recent storms that struck Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida. The administration would have to work with Congress to help provide additional funding to address drug abuse, they added. They said they determined that a public health emergency declaration was most appropriate after an expansive review. Under Thursday’s declaration, treatment would be made more accessible for abusers of prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, while ensuring fewer delays in staffing the Department of Health and Human Services to help states grapple with the crisis. Trump said he would discuss stopping the flow of fentanyl, a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Asia next month. In his remarks, Trump said the U.S. Postal Service and Department of Homeland Security were “strengthening the inspection of packages coming into our country to hold back the flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl, a synthetic opioid manufactured in China.” In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had always paid a great deal of attention to international cooperation against narcotics and had listed 23 components of fentanyl as controlled substances, despite not having a fentanyl abuse problem. Trump added he would consider bringing lawsuits against “bad actors” in the epidemic. Several states have sued opioid manufacturers for deceptive marketing. Congress is investigating the business practices of manufacturers. The president also said the government should focus on teaching young people not to take drugs. “There is nothing desirable about drugs. They’re bad,” he said. Thursday’s declaration allows the Department of Labor to issue grants to help dislocated workers affected by the crisis. HIV/AIDS health funding would also be prioritized for those who need substance abuse treatment, officials said. As a candidate, Trump promised to address the crisis, including by building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the flow of illicit drugs, which he touched on in his speech. Additional actions under the move would be announced in coming weeks by various agencies, officials said.

Corsica's nationalists press for autonomy talks after local voteAJACCIO, France (Reuters) - Corsican nationalists on Monday demanded the French government enter into negotiations over greater autonomy for the Mediterranean island after they won almost half the votes in a local election. The nationalists - split between those who seek greater autonomy and those who see full independence from France as the end-game - emerged as Corsica s main political force for the first time in French regional elections in December 2015. In a vote on Sunday for a newly created local assembly, the Pe a Corsica (For Corsica), an alliance of the two main nationalist parties, won 45.36 percent of the ballot, putting it in a commanding position for the second round vote on Dec. 10. In the wake of Catalonia s recent independence referendum, Corsican nationalists have downplayed any ambitions for secession, saying the island lacked the demographic and economic clout of the Spanish region. Corsica has a population of just 320,000 people and a tiny 8.6 billion euro ($10.2 bln) economy. The nationalists less ambitious demands, and dissatisfaction with the central government in France, probably helped the nationalists attract more votes on Sunday. Pe a Corsica, which unites the moderately autonomist Femu a Corsica and the committed separatist Corsica Libera, has drawn up a 10-year road-map during which it hopes to obtain a new status giving the island greater autonomy and pave the way for stronger economic development. Paris must at last open dialogue with Corsica, said Gilles Simeoni, the outgoing president of Corsica s Executive Council and a member of Femu a Corsica. Corsican people have their own identity and this must be recognized. The French government said it would not comment on the Corsican vote until after the second round. France is a highly centralized state and its demands for more autonomy have often been met with irritation and a refusal to negotiate by past governments. But support for the nationalist political movement has gained support since the most active clandestine group, the National Front for the Liberation of Corsica (FLNC), laid down its weapons in 2014 after a near four-decade long rebellion. Corsica s nationalists oppose France s political and cultural dominance over the island, the birthplace of Napoleon annexed by Paris in 1768, and their demands for independence fueled years of bloodshed. At some point, the wishes of Corsican people will have to be taken into account, Jean-Guy Talamoni, the president of the Corsican Assembly and leader of the pro-independence Corsica Libera movement, told France Inter radio on Monday. However, he acknowledged those backing all-out independence were still in a minority. If a majority of Corsican people want independence in 10 years, in 15 years time, no one will be able to get in their way, he said. French President Emmanuel Macron s ticket came in fourth in Sunday s vote with 11.26 percent. His Republic On the Move party said the vote showed Corsicans loss of confidence in Paris and that it aimed to rebuild trust everywhere in France. ($1 = 0.8430 euros)

Protesters storm Kurdistan parliament after Barzani announces resignationBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Demonstrators, some carrying clubs, stormed the Iraqi Kurdistan parliament building in Erbil on Sunday, angry at the decision of Masoud Barzani to step down from the presidency of the region, witnesses said. Gunshots were heard as protesters who claimed they were Peshmerga Kurdish fighters forced their way inside the building, they said.

Trump gains first endorsement from member of CongressWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Representative Chris Collins backed Donald Trump for his party’s presidential nomination on Wednesday, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to formally endorse the billionaire businessman. Collins of New York had previously endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who dropped out of the race on Saturday. “We need a president willing to make the tough decisions necessary to restore our country to greatness,” Collins said in a statement. “I believe Donald Trump is the man for the job, and I am proud to provide him with my support.” (Reporting by Megan Cassella; Editing by Susan Heavey) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

At least five killed as police fire at protest in EthiopiaADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in a town in Ethiopia s restive Oromiya region on Thursday after police opened fire during a protest, witnesses said. Protesters had blocked the main road in Ambo, some 130 km (80 miles) west of the capital Addis Ababa, to demonstrate against sugar shortages, before police arrived to disperse the crowd. They (police) then fired live rounds. We know of ... five people who died from gunshot wounds, one of the protesters told Reuters. Another witness said he saw up to 10 wounded people taken to hospital. The regional government s spokesman confirmed that deaths had occurred, but did not give details. Demonstrations happening in Ambo have resulted in death and injuries, Addisu Arega Kitessa said in a Facebook statement, adding that they were organized by enemies of the region. The province was wracked by protests for months in 2015 and 2016. Nearly 700 people were killed last year in one bout of unrest provoked by plans to implement a development scheme for Addis Ababa that opponents said amounted to a land grab, according to a parliament-mandated investigation. Broader anti-government demonstrations over politics and human rights abuse then followed, forcing the government to impose a nine-month state of emergency that was finally lifted in August. Separately, ethnic clashes killed at least 11 people this week in the same region. Another bout of violence along Oromiya s border with the country s Somali region last month displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The developments highlight tensions in the country where the government has delivered high economic growth but it often accused of curbing political freedoms. The government denies clamping down on free speech and blames rebel groups and dissidents abroad for stirring up violence.

Anti-Trump Protester’s X-Rated Comment Angers MSNBC Anchor: “Grow The Hell Up!”This is rich! A live feed from MSNBC was trying to show how great the anti-Trump protesters were behaving but all of a sudden a guy yells out a disgusting sexual phrase. Fair warning!

GREEN PARTY DOLT Struggles To Explain Wisconsin Election Recount [Video]IAN JACKSON: People have been slightly concerned about the trail and as your last guest pointed out it s very decentralized.ED HENRYY: Uh-huh. When you say slightly concerned, that doesn t sound to me like there s widespread allegations or more importantly evidence of some sort of fraud. So is this giving Jill Stein supporters some sort of false hope?JACKSON: Well, I [pause] there s we re [pause] trying to find what the count is and [pause] I m not sure it s false hope. It s trying to find the truth behind the numbers. There has been these allegations by computer scientists but as your last guest pointed out, it was using different systems and using that, being engineers, um, I m a software engineer and we like our little [pause] models, but unless you actually count and check it, you don t know whether it s just a thoughy well, they used something different or if there s something to it.And you mentioned your show is all about finding truth.HENRY: Let s find that truth. My next question is, our last guest, who you cited several times, Craig Gilbert, also said, accurately, that in 2000 and 2004 the margin was even closer in the presidential race and there was no recount. So what s your case tonight?JACKSON: [pause] Well, the case [pause] tonight, you can see that there that was [pause] a real contentious election [pause], and, based on that there are people that have expressed concerns. So, it s best to find the truth and go through the process. And obviously people have been willing to put up millions of dollars [pause] to find out and count the ballots again.HENRY: Okay, so final question: if you really want to get at the truth can we get at another truth which is that it appears that Jill Stein has raised about $5 million for a recount that may or may not happen for fraud that may or may not have happened. If there s nothing found here and if there s not even a recount will you pledge tonight that you and others in the Green Party believe that that money should be refunded, so this is not just money being raised on false hope?JACKSON: Well, we re exploring that I m only treasurer for the Green-Rainbow party. We re certainly going if it doesn t get used, we re certainly going to discuss with our donors what their desire is for that money.

Watch Seth Meyers’ Hilarious And Convincing Argument About Trump’s Chances In The Primaries (VIDEO)With the Republican primaries less then a month away, Donald Trump has started to spend millions on his campaign. While the billionaire can throw plenty of money at Trump-style racist and crazy television ads, he s already received lots of free media attention and leads in most polls. However, late night talk show host Seth Meyers isn t convinced. Myers said: But here s the thing about those polls: There s reason to think they might not really mean anything. One reason is that people hate talking to pollsters the response rate has fallen from 90 percent to a dismal 8 percent, according to one study, which is a lower response rate than student-loan collector and mother-in-law. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zmnGlWjFWM]Meyers said that there s a correlation with Trump saying outrageous and offensive things and the media coverage he receives. The enormous attention he s getting in combination with these polls makes it seems like Trump is the winning horse. But Meyers isn t buying it. Rudolph Giuliani had a three point lead for the Republican nomination and Howard Dean had a whopping 15 point lead and both went on to fade. For all of us very concerned folks out there that Trump has a shot at the presidency, here are more examples that give us hope that Trump will also fade.In 2007, Hillary Clinton was the clear front runner, polling ahead of John Kerry and John Edwards and she had a huge advantage over Barack Obama by 15 points from January all the way through June. In 2003, Joe Lieberman led in most polls of the Democratic primary but he lost to John Kerry.So, it all comes down to the people who go out and vote and not the polls that precede an election. In one of his speeches that Meyers broadcasts, Trump says, If I don t win, I will consider this, and I mean it, a total and complete waste of time. As Meyers said and as I m sure most of the readers out there also think, Trump, you are not alone. Featured image via video screen capture

Trump Biographer: The Donald Has A Long History Of Lying About Taping People To Intimidate ThemDonald Trump has made quite the fuss about tapes of conversations between himself and former FBI Director James Comey. Problem is, no one is even convinced that these tapes exist. According to biographer Tim O Brien, this wouldn t be the first time Trump has lied about taping people when he didn t as a method of intimidation.O Brien authored the book, TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald. But Trump subsequently lost his sh*t and filed a lawsuit in 2005 because O Brien s book said he was only worth a measly $250 million. Suing ended up being a big mistake, as Trump ended up busted for making at least 30 false statements during a deposition. His loose association with the truth becomes problematic when he s confronted with documents, O Brien told CNN host Brian Stelter during an interview on Sunday morning. We ve had decades now of Trump frequently lying or exaggerating about a wide range of things. The author also let it be known that Trump has a long history of lying to people about tapes of conversations just so he can try to intimidate them into doing what he wants. He s said this over the years to reporters when they go into the Trump organization, I just want to let you know that I m taping you right now, O Brien said. And he said it multiple times during my interviews with him. He said that into my own tape recorder when I recorded our interviews. But when he sat down for the deposition, my attorney said, Mr. Trump, do you have a taping system? he added. And he said no. And [my attorney] said, Why did you say this to Mr. O Brien. And he essentially said, I wanted to intimidate him. O Brien s comments make it even more doubtful that Trump actually as any tapes of Comey at all. Which is actually quite disappointing since they would almost certainly show that Comey was telling the truth when he testified under oath that Trump had tried to get him to drop the Russia investigation and pledge loyalty, which is clearly obstruction of justice. What a pity. If there really were tapes we would be that much closer towards getting this moron out of the White House.You can watch O Brian s interview here:Featured image via video screen capture

Yemen car bomb attack kills at least two people in Aden: residentsADEN (Reuters) - Assailants detonated a car bomb outside the Yemeni Finance Ministry offices in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday, killing at least two people, hospital officials and residents said. They said the force of the blast shook the Khor Maksar area of Aden, the temporary capital of the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and causing severe damage to the six-storey building. The force of the blast also shattered windows of adjacent houses, they said. Ambulances were seen racing to the scene, as sounds of gunfire were heard in the area, they said. No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion. An official at the city s main government-run Jumhouriya hospital said that two people have arrived dead to the hospital, while three others were in critical condition. He said that medics have said they believe that more casualties were at the scene of the blast, but no one could reach them due to an exchange of gunfire that was taking place in the area.

Presidential hopeful wants Finland out of EU, says nationalists will bounce backHELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland will leave the European Union and position itself as the Switzerland of the north to protect its independence if Laura Huhtasaari, the presidential candidate of the eurosceptic Finns Party has her way. She also told Reuters in an interview she wants to tighten immigration rules. Huhtasaari dubbed Finland s Marine Le Pen after France s National Front leader is a long-shot. But she believes she has a real chance in the January election as her party has taken a fresh start following its removal from the coalition government in June. The rise in Europe of parties that are critical towards the EU and immigration is due to bad, unjust politics, she said. The role for Finland in the euro zone is the role of a loser and payer... I do not want Finland to become a province of EU, Finns must stand up for Finland s interests. The Finns Party, formerly called True Finns , rose from obscurity during the euro zone debt crisis with an anti-EU platform, complicating the bloc s bailout talks with troubled states. It expanded into the second-biggest parliamentary party in 2015 and joined the government, but then saw its support drop due to compromises in the three-party coalition. This June, the party picked a new hard-line leadership and got kicked out of the government, while more than half of its lawmakers left the party and formed a new group to keep their government seats. Huhtasaari, 38, who was picked as deputy party leader in June, said voters were still confused after the split-up but that the party would eventually bounce back. The game is really brutal. The biggest parties want us to disappear from the political map. No-one is in politics looking for friends. The Finns party ranks fifth in polls with a support of 9 percent, down from 17.7 percent in 2015 parliamentary election, while the new Blue Reform group, which has five ministers, is backed by only 1-2 percent. Incumbent President Sauli Niinisto, who originally represented the centre-right NCP party, is widely expected to be elected for a second six-year term by a wide margin. A poll by Alma Media last week showed 64 percent of voters supporting Niinisto while 12 percent backed lawmaker Pekka Haavisto from the Greens. Huhtasaari, a first term lawmaker, was backed by 3 percent of those polled. Things happen slowly when you re fighting against the hegemony... I still have time before the elections, she said. Huhtasaari, who supports U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain s former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, said the European eurosceptic movement was gradually strengthening despite a series of blows to anti-establishment parties. France s National Front and Italy s 5-Star Movement failed in attempts to win legislative and civic elections while UKIP won no seats in the British parliament, albeit that its goal of Brexit won a referendum. Any change takes time, a step forward and step back... But the movement strengthens all the time, she said, noting Austria s Freedom Party s strong performance in October elections. Markku Jokisipila, the director at the Center for Parliamentary Studies of the University of Turku, said Huhtasaari was unlikely to succeed in the Jan 28 election. Around 70 percent of Finns support EU membership and the centre-right government is committed to the euro. There s no way around it, she is very inexperienced politically for this election, Jokisipila said. He added that the Finns party had become more united after the June split-up, but that it was now too focused on its anti-immigration and anti-EU platforms to be able to increase support. They will not disappear from the Finnish politics. The challenge is to broaden their profile... but they have also proved that they do have surprise potential.

WATCH NEWT GINGRICH Skewer MSNBC Anchor On Obama’s Race War: “Pathetic” [Video]Newt goes after it with Joe Scarborough of MSNBC and simply skewers him on the race war Obama has promoted the past 7 1/2 years: Yeah. 7 1/2 years into his presidency, he began to realize now that we ve had two massacres of policemen that maybe as president of the United States and leader of law and order in America, he should say something on behalf of law and order. I mean, that s fairly pathetic. Newt Gingrich

CNN Attacks Larry Wilmore, Cancels Appearance For Mentioning Them In Comedy SkitCNN is slowly slipping off the deep end into the pool of corporate-approved fake news with their latest attack on Larry Wilmore. The comedian gave a bit of a roasting to CNN during the recent White House Correspondents Dinner, which seemed to raise the ire of company executives. As retaliation towards Wilmore they cancelled an upcoming May 4th appearance on Don Lemon s evening show that Lemon himself set up with Wilmore.Let s look at this in a very pragmatic context for a moment. Larry Wilmore made an absolutely HUGE buzz in the media when he stood on stage next to our first black president and said Yo, Barry, you did it my nig*a! There was nobody who wasn t talking about this, and having Wilmore on his show to talk about all this would have been a huge win for Lemon. With all this in mind, you can see how Don Lemon wouldn t have been the one who suddenly cancelled the appearance.No, this was from the faceless executives at CNN who wanted to punish a comedian for taking some arguably light, if well deserved, pokes at their growing joke of a news network. There isn t anything Wilmore said which was that serious and hasn t been said before about the network for years now.CNN is here tonight. I ve been watching CNN a long time. Yep. Used to watch it back when it was a news network. I did. What, is it all CNN here tonight?I don t know about you guys, but I can t get enough of that CNN countdown clock. Now we can see exactly when they hit zero in the ratings.Source: Washington PostHe even had a little fun with Don Lemon personally, yet Lemon still invited Wilmore on his own show because he simply got the joke.CNN s excuse for cancelling Wilmore s appearance is that they had to handle the coverage of the Indiana primaries. This was a poor excuse, because the Indiana primaries already ended 24 hours before then. He was never given the offer for a rescheduling either.It s a disturbing precedent to set, especially by one of the big three cable news outlets. Corporate media is becoming more and more consolidated under fewer and fewer owners. If CNN s new policy is to punish individuals who are critical of their increasing bend towards fluff news and false equivalencies, then the last few crumbs of journalistic integrity the network has, as a whole, are about to go completely out the window.Featured image via wikicommons

Bid to 'fix' Iran nuclear deal faces uphill climb in U.S. CongressWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s call for Congress to toughen the Iran nuclear deal faced opposition on Friday from among the ranks of his fellow Republicans as well as from Democrats, narrowing the chances any legislation could pass. As Trump announced that he had chosen not to certify Tehran is complying with the deal but would not immediately withdraw from it, Republican Senators Bob Corker and Tom Cotton offered an outline of legislation they said would “address flaws” in the accord. If passed, the measure would set stricter restrictions on Iran and immediately revive U.S. sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program if Tehran is deemed able to produce a nuclear weapon within a year. “We have provided a route to overcome deficiencies (in the agreement) and to keep the administration in the deal, and actually make it the kind of deal that it should have been in the first place,” Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on a call with journalists. Republicans control Congress, but their four-seat edge in the Senate means any measure would need Democratic support to pass, even if every member of Trump’s party supports it. That is not a given. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he had “serious doubts” about the Corker-Cotton plan. He said he would reserve judgment until the final measure, but preferred that Trump abandon the deal. “Ultimately, leaving the nuclear deal, reimposing suspended sanctions, and having the president impose additional sanctions would serve our national interest better than a decertified deal that leaves sanctions suspended or a new law that leaves major flaws in that agreement in place,” Rubio said in a statement. Most Democrats were strongly opposed. Senator Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, said he would only support a measure backed by European allies who had signed the nuclear pact, formally known as the JCPOA. “Anything we do must be consistent with the JCPOA, cannot lead us on a path to violate the JCPOA and must have the support of our European allies,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Cardin said he wanted a full-Senate briefing on the plan from administration officials, and then committee hearings. Corker acknowledged the tough fight ahead, but said he hoped to win over Democrats. He pledged to seek the support of European allies Britain, France and Germany, who had signed the agreement and urged Trump not to decertify.

This Guy Predicted Trump’s Win, And What He Has To Say Now Should TERRIFY RepublicansThe media, and to a certain extent, the pollsters, got it seriously wrong when they predicted an easy win for Hillary Clinton in last year s election. Okay, technically it was, but our Electoral College said otherwise. One professor, though, warned the United States that Trump was going to win. Now, that same professor is predicting that Trump will be impeached.Allan Lichtman, a professor at American University, reached meme-status last fall for predicting long before anyone else that Trump would win, using a formula based on the popularity of the party in control of the White House that accurately predicted the eight previous presidential elections. Now Lichtman wants everyone to pay attention to the rest of what came through his crystal ball that Trump will now be impeached.Source: PoliticoTrump, naturally, loved Lichtman s initial prediction. #45 Elect even sent him a note. Taking time out of preparing to become the world s most powerful leader, he wrote me a personal note, saying Professor Congrats good call, Lichtman writes in The Case for Impeachment, an advance copy of which was shared with POLITICO. What Trump overlooked, however, was my next big prediction : that, after winning the presidency, he would be impeached. Trump, of course, didn t investigate any further. If he had, he would realize that Lichtman may have predicted Trump, but that doesn t mean he supports him. In fact, he calls the despot (my word) an existential threat to humanity. Lichtman s list of possible offenses that could get Trump to that point are familiar: charges of treason with Russia, abuse of power and emoluments violations. Lichtman also cites now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, then a senator, who argued that a president could be impeached for offenses committed before he took office. Among those potential offenses, Lichtman lists Trump s housing violations, charity problems, potential violations of the Cuba embargo and Trump University.It s all part of a brief designed to be damning tour through Trump s history. It includes section headings like Trump Towers Become Vacant Lots and Lying His Way to the Presidency. It eventually leads Lichtman to the conclusion that Trump might serve himself up for impeachment: Trump s disregard for lying in sworn testimony, examined in the context of the Bill Clinton precedent, shows how Trump s opponents could set an impeachment trap for him through a civil lawsuit. It wouldn t take much. If Democrats regain the House in 2018, Trump s impeachment is all but guaranteed, but even now, if enough Republicans turn on him, it could easily happen.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

U.N. assisting thousands of migrants in Libyan smuggling hubTUNIS/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.N. agencies said on Monday they were trying to provide urgent help to large numbers of migrants held and then stranded in the smuggling hub of Sabratha as rival factions battled for control of the city. At least 4,000 migrants, including pregnant women, newborn babies and unaccompanied children, have been transferred from informal camps and housing to a hangar in the city since the clashes ended on Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said some 6,000 had been held at the informal sites. Hundreds of migrants who had left Sabratha arrived in Zuwara, about 25 km (15 miles) to the west, on foot along the beach, said Sadeeq Al-Jayash, head of Zuwara s emergency committee. They come walking in groups ... for example there were various groups that came on Sunday 50, then 100 and 200 at night, said Jayash. There were about 1,700 migrants currently in Zuwara in desperate need of help , he said. Sabratha has been the most common point of departure for mostly sub-Saharan African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean by boat from Libya. But the number of crossings dropped sharply in July after an armed group struck a deal with officials from the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli to block departures, under pressure from Italy and other European Union member states. That set off three weeks of fighting among rival factions that left at least 43 dead and 340 wounded, according to a new health ministry toll, and ended with the withdrawal of the armed group. The migrants who have since been rounded up were being held at sites that the group had controlled, local officials said. We are seriously concerned by the large number of migrants caught up in recent developments in Sabratha, Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya chief of mission, said in a statement. Some migrants are being sent on to detention centers elsewhere in western Libya that are nominally under the control of the Tripoli government. IOM officials say those centers, which were housing some 5,000 migrants, risk being overwhelmed by the new arrivals. Conditions in the centers are often dire and abuse widespread. Alternatives to detention must be found for migrants in Libya. In the meantime, IOM continues to provide direct humanitarian, health and psychosocial assistance to meet the urgent needs of the thousands of migrants being affected, Belbeisi said. Local sources have previously said that an estimated 10,000 migrants were being held in the Sabratha area. The head of Sabratha s department for countering illegal migration told Reuters on Saturday that help was badly needed as some migrants had received no food or water for six days. The UNHCR said it had approached Libyan authorities to ensure that refugees among the migrants were freed from detention.

HOT TOPIC: When Exactly Does A ‘Bundle Of Cells’ Become A Human Being? [Video]Ben Shapiro debates two students on when a baby becomes a human being. A hot topic that stumps pro-choice people but not pro-lifers: I believe, as do most people who feel this way about abortion, that life begins at conception. When sperm meets egg, and the child is conceived, that s when life begins; that is what I believe in. Ben Shapiro It s my body. How about you stay out of it? the student replied. I don t care about your appendix, Shapiro quipped, referencing the student s earlier argument. I don t even care about your uterus. I care about what s in it. And I can take out my appendix if I don t want it. So why can t I take out other parts of my body? the student asked. Because they are not independent living human beings, Shapiro fired back.The student continued to engage in a debate, arguing the fetus is merely a bundle of cells. At what point does that bundle of cells become a human being in your judgement? Shapiro asked her. Um , the student said.Another student chimed in. The concept of body autonomy means that I don t have to give up any part of my body unless I say so, she said. The baby is not part of your body, Shapiro quipped.In general, the fear of calling a baby a baby within progressive circles is an entertaining spectacle, given the amount of intellectual gymnastics that are involved, which almost always ends with some disingenuous conclusion that a woman s life holds more value than that of her child barring any life threatening conditions, or the pro-abortion supporter storming out because folks, like Shapiro, totally own them on the issue. In other words, they feel triggered, so off to the safe space, where like-minded people can sulk and discuss how the patriarchy sucks, or something.Yet, one thing is clear in this exchange, which is that Shapiro is open to debate, and he wants to discuss these issues in which conservatives find themselves in the crosshairs of political correctness in campuses across the country. After going back and forth about the science relating to pregnancy, it becomes clear that the pro-choice wing of the attendees in the room are exasperated to the point where they accuse Shapiro of trying to shut them down; Shapiro aptly noted that he allowed them to speak for almost ten minutes on the subject. Another student asked Shapiro what criteria does he have regarding what defines a life, but then made an aberrant pivot by asking him of he considers semen to be a life, insinuating that Shapiro masturbates a lot because he s a human being (no, I m not making that part up). Well put, sir, said Shapiro, which drew laughter from the audience. I believe, as do most people who feel this way about abortion, that life begins at conception. When sperm meets egg, and the child is conceived, that s when life begins; that is what I believe in. The rest of the question was weird, he added.Indeed, sir.Via: Hot Air

Top Democrat says Puerto Rico bill could come early as ThursdayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers are making progress toward legislation to address Puerto Rico’s financial crisis and could produce a bill as early as Thursday, the top House Democrat said. “It was supposed to be filed yesterday; (they) put it off to today. It could be filed today. I don’t mean right this minute, but the day is young,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters. “We are making progress. We’re having very constructive conversations,” she added. “It’s an issue of what will work in terms of restructuring, how the make-up and the scope of the board is in furtherance of having the restructuring work. Issues that relate to language about pensions and minimum wage, etc., are also part of that discussion.”

Cameroon separatists kill four gendarmes as Anglophone crisis worsensYAOUNDE (Reuters) - Militants seeking independence for Cameroon s English-speaking regions killed four gendarmes on Monday, the government said, as disputes with the Francophone-dominated government degenerate into open warfare. Several separatists were killed by security forces in ensuing clashes, the government spokesman said. Repression by President Paul Biya s government against what began as peaceful protests a year ago by Anglophone activists over perceived social and economic marginalization has bolstered support for armed militants demanding a full break with Yaounde. The separatists have launched a series of deadly raids on government police and soldiers in recent weeks, leading authorities to escalate a crackdown that has killed dozens of civilians. Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon s government spokesman, said the separatists had killed four gendarmes earlier on Monday in the town of Kembong in Southwest region s Manyu Division. The assailants, ensnared by the measures put in place by our defense and security forces, are now reduced to sporadic attacks carried out by hidden faces and using perfidy, Tchiroma said. A representative for the separatists could not be immediately reached for comment. Manyu, with its dense equatorial forests along the Nigerian border, has become the center of the insurgency from which the separatists have launched a series of attacks on security forces in villages. The violence there has fueled a mounting refugee crisis. At least 7,500 people have crossed into Nigeria since Oct. 1, when the secessionists declared an independent state called Ambazonia, and the U.N. refugee agency says it is bracing itself for as many as 40,000. Cameroon s linguistic divide harks back to the end of World War One, when the German colony of Kamerun was carved up between allied French and British victors. The English-speaking regions joined the French-speaking Republic of Cameroon the year after its independence in 1960. French speakers have dominated the country s politics since. Tensions have long simmered but the recent violence is the most serious to date and has emerged as a serious challenge to Biya s 35-year rule. The 84-year-old is expected to seek a new term in an election next year.

Organizers of white nationalist rally in Virginia, driver sued for $3 millionCHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Reuters) - Two people who say they were injured in a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia sued the man charged with killing a woman by driving his car through the crowd as well as the event’s organizers on Tuesday for $3 million. Tadrint Washington and Micah Washington said in papers filed in Charlottesville circuit court that they had been among the people hurt when James Alex Fields drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one. They had been driving home and their car was struck by Fields car, and some of his pedestrian victims were also hurled onto their vehicle, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit names Fields, “Unite the Right” rally organizer Jason Kessler and about two dozen alt-right leaders and organizations as defendants. “There was no doubt that violence was intended at this rally,” the pair said in the lawsuit, noting that participants came bearing shields and weapons. Kessler has denied that the event was intended to provoke violence, contending that the counter-protesters sparked the fighting and blaming police for failing to protect his group. He could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. Fields has been charged with second-degree murder for killing Heather Heyer with his car, and additional charges for the other 19 people injured. He was denied bail at a Monday court hearing.

Anonymous Group Hacks KKK Website, Causes Total ShutdownInternet hacktivist collective Anonymous is not to be f*cked with. While they are huge supporters of free speech and freedom of expression, what they are not huge supporters of is organized hate. Therefore, it should be no surprise that they have used a DDoS attack to take down a website belonging to one of the oldest hate groups in America: the Klu Klux Klan. As of this writing, the Loyal White Knights of the KKK website is still inaccessible.The group was questioned regarding their insistence that the Klan does not deserve to spread their message online, despite their adamant position that everyone deserves a voice. They told Hackread: We targeted the KKK [because] we believe in free speech but their form of beliefs is monolithic and evil. We stand for constitutional rights but they want anyone who is not Caucasian removed from earth so we targeted the KKK official website to show love for our boots on the ground and to send a message that all forms of corruption will be fought. We are not fascist but we certainly do not agree with the KKK movement. They are the Fascists and they are the Racists. Anonymous is right, of course. Free speech is one thing, while hate speech is quite another. The Klan, the Aryan Nation, and other racist hate groups incite violence and mayhem at every turn, resulting in the terrorizing of minority communities, violence against said communities, and sometimes even death. They are also responsible for the crime of creating new generations of bigots among impressionable youth, and they keep systemic bigotry going and help continue its perpetuation as an integral part of the society in which we live.The Klan is a group that should not be allowed to exist. However, since the Constitution forbids the government s disbanding of such hateful organizations, we must have groups that counter their disgusting messages of bigotry. If that includes hacking their websites and disallowing the spreading of their hate via the interwebs, then so be it.Good going, Anonymous. Keep up the good work.Featured image via JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN /Getty Images

Fox News’ Roger Ailes Has Actually Been Harassing Female Journalists For DecadesThis morning, the world found out that former Fox News anchor, Gretchen Carlson, was suing CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment after being fired from the network. Her complaint is that she was fired because she wouldn t sleep with him, and that women who didn t complain or rebuff him received preferential treatment.Her account rings true, especially to those of us who have likewise experienced that kind of harassment in the workplace, and the retaliation that so often comes with it despite all the laws and company policies on the books. It s further bolstered by the fact that Ailes has a long history of being an openly dirty old man who has zero regard for women as anything more than his sex toys: While interviewing Randi Harrison, a twenty-something out-of-work producer who had come in from Florida, Ailes steered the conversation onto uncomfortable terrain. According to Harrison, Ailes looked over at his NBC office couch and said, I have helped a lot of women get ahead and advance their careers in the broadcast television industry. They were discussing her salary. Ailes offered $400 a week. Harrison told him it was a lowball figure. Ailes made a counteroffer: If you agree to have sex with me whenever I want, I will add an extra hundred dollars a week.' I guess we ll be in touch, Harrison said, getting up to leave. Ailes maneuvered around his desk and gave her a hug. I remember seeing all the windows in his office and wondering, Does he do it here? she later said. I was in tears by the time I hit the street.' That comes from a book called The Loudest Voice in the Room, and Fox News claims the allegations in the book are false, as companies are wont to do when their CEOs turn out to be nothing more than sexist, disgusting pigs.That s not all, though. Ailes reportedly once called down to the control booth to yell that a laptop was blocking his view of one of his host s legs, and he wanted it moved so he could have a better view. A senior executive also said that Ailes once told him he wasn t paying another female host to wear pantsuits, and that he wanted to see more of her legs.He has a thing for women s legs, according to that executive.There are, of course, those who will say Carlson is either lying (why would she? She had one of the top-rated shows there so she wasn t fired for poor performance), or that she brought this on herself. The latter will be either those who think women encourage harassment and rape, or those who believe that, since she worked for Fox News and helped perpetuate rape culture, she somehow deserves this. They are idiotic sexists no matter where they fall on the political spectrum.The former will be mostly those who think women are vindictive bitches, and are just out to ruin men s lives. These are misogynists who think women have too much power these days and need to be cut down.At the time of this posting, Fox News had yet to issue a statement on the matter.Featured image by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Khamenei says Iran, Russia should cooperate to isolate U.S., foster Middle East stabilityTEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Tehran and Moscow must step up cooperation to isolate the United States and help stabilize the Middle East, state TV reported. Iran and Russia are the main allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the United States, Turkey and most Arab states support rebel groups fighting to overthrow him. Putin met Iranian political leaders in an effort to nurture a warming relationship strengthened since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened recently to abandon the international nuclear deal with Iran reached in 2015. Our cooperation can isolate America ... The failure of U.S.-backed terrorists in Syria cannot be denied but Americans continue their plots, Khamenei told Putin, according to Iranian state television. Since Russia s military intervention in Syria s war in 2015, and with stepped-up Iranian military assistance, Assad has taken back large amounts of territory from rebels as well as swathes of central and eastern Syria from Islamic State militants. Moscow is now trying to build on that success with a new diplomatic initiative, including a congress of Syria s rival parties it plans in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 18, though a major opposition bloc has refused to take part. Pragmatist Iranian President Hassan Rouhani echoed Khamenei, saying Iran and Russia together could tackle regional terrorism - an allusion to Sunni Muslim armed groups hostile to Iran, Assad and many other Arab states. Our cooperation has helped the fight against terrorism in the region ... Together we can establish regional peace and security, Rouhani said in a televised joint press conference with Putin and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, who took part in a three-way summit in Tehran. The rapprochement between Iran and Russia is worrying for both Saudi Arabia, Shi ite Muslim Tehran s main Sunni rival for dominance in the Middle East, and the United States. Putin praised cooperation with Iran as very productive . We are managing to coordinate our positions on the Syrian issue, Putin said. Moscow is also an important ally for Iran in its renewed confrontation with the United States, where Trump broke ranks with major allies on Oct. 13 by de-certifying Tehran s nuclear deal with six world powers including Washington under his predecessor Barack Obama. Trump has called the agreement the worst deal ever negotiated and branded Iran a terrorist nation for involvement in conflicts in the Middle East. We oppose any unilateral change in the multilateral nuclear deal, Putin told Khamenei, Iranian state TV reported. Russia has criticized Trump s disavowal of the nuclear agreement, which has opened a 60-day window for the U.S. Congress to act to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran. These were lifted under the 2015 accord in return for Tehran curbing nuclear activity of potential use in developing an atomic bomb. This is a very important visit (by Putin) ... It shows the determination of Tehran and Moscow to deepen their strategic alliance ..., which will shape the future of the Middle East, an Iranian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Both Russia and Iran are under American pressure ... Tehran has no other choice but to rely on Moscow to ease the U.S. pressure, said the official. Another Iranian official said Trump s hawkish Iran policy had united the Islamic Republic s often feuding leadership - split into hardline conservative, pragmatist and reformist factions - in alignment with Russia. During Putin s visit, Russian oil producer Rosneft and the National Iranian Oil Company agreed an outline deal to work on a number of strategic projects in Iran together worth up to $30 billion. The deal appeared to dovetail with Putin s strategy to reassert Russian political and economic influence in the Middle East that faded after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Britain close to deal on Brexit bill with EU - sourcesBRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has offered to pay much of what the European Union was demanding to settle a Brexit divorce bill , bringing the two sides close to agreement on a key obstacle to opening talks on a future free trade pact, EU sources said on Tuesday. The offer, which British newspapers valued at around 50 billion euros (44.3 billion pounds), reflected the bulk of outstanding EU demands that include London paying a share of post-Brexit EU spending on commitments made before Britain leaves in March 2019 as well as funding of EU staff pensions for decades to come. A British government official said they do not recognise this account of the talks going on ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Theresa May to Brussels this coming Monday. EU officials close to the negotiations stressed that work was still continuing ahead of May s talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. But EU diplomats briefed on progress said the British offer was promising and that, on the financial settlement, the two sides were, as one said, close to a deal . Nonetheless, others cautioned that Britain had yet to make a fully committed offer and that essential agreement from the other 27 member states could not yet be taken for granted. The EU set the condition of significant progress on three key elements of a withdrawal treaty before it would accede to London s request for negotiations on a free trade pact that could keep business flowing after Brexit in 16 months. It set a deadline of Monday for that progress to be made if EU leaders were to give a green light at a summit on Dec. 14-15. On the issue of the rights of EU citizens in Britain, EU negotiators are still pressing Britain to accept that European judges should have a final say on enforcing those rights. If the financial settlement, which many British businesses have argued May should make in order to avoid a disruptive cliff edge departure from the single market, is forthcoming, the thorniest outstanding issue is that of the Irish border. Ireland remains the most difficult issue, a senior EU diplomat said after Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar avoided a disruptive snap election when his deputy resigned on Tuesday at the insistence of the party propping up his minority government. Britain has yet to satisfy EU - including Irish - demands that it clarify how it would avoid a hard border with customs posts on land between Northern Ireland and the EU. Many fear that would disturb the fragile peace in the British province. On the Brexit bill, Juncker has estimated Britain would owe roughly 60 billion euros. EU officials say Brussels is willing to work with May to massage those figures in order to help her win backing from hardline Brexit supporters who have in the past insisted that Britain owes Brussels nothing. Britain s Financial Times said London agreed to assume liabilities worth up to 100 billion euros, but said net payments over many decades could fall to less than half that amount. The European Commission declined to comment. Britain s Brexit ministry said intensive talks were continuing and the two sides were trying to find a way to build on recent momentum in the talks to take them to the next stage. Sterling rallied around 1 percent against the U.S. dollar as investors took the reports as a sign that the risk of Britain leaving the EU without a deal, which is widely seen as damaging to the economy, had diminished.

What is in the Republicans' final tax bill(Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress reached a deal on final tax legislation on Wednesday, clearing the way for final votes next week on a package that, if approved, would be sent to President Donald Trump to sign into law. Formal language of the legislation has not been released. The following are known provisions on which House of Representatives and Senate tax writers have agreed, based on conversations with aides and lawmakers: CORPORATE TAX RATE: Falls to 21 percent from 35 percent. The House and Senate bills, as well as Trump, had earlier proposed 20 percent. Going to 21 percent gave tax writers more federal revenue needed to make the tax cut immediate. U.S. corporations have been seeking a large tax cut like this for many years. PASS-THROUGH BUSINESSES: Creates a 20 percent business income deduction for owners of pass-through businesses, such as sole proprietorships and partnerships. The House had proposed a 25 percent tax rate; the Senate, a 23 percent deduction. CORPORATE MINIMUM: Repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax, which was set up to ensure profitable companies pay at least some federal tax. TOP INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX RATE: Falls to 37 percent from 39.6 percent. The House had proposed maintaining the 39.6 percent top rate and condensing the current seven tax brackets to four. The Senate had proposed cutting the top rate to 38.5 percent and maintaining the seven brackets. PERMANENCE: The expectation is individual tax rates will snap back to current levels in less than 10 years. The individual tax rates in the House bill were permanent. The individual tax rates in the Senate bill would have expired after 10 years. STATE AND LOCAL TAX (SALT): Both the House and Senate had proposed scaling back a popular individual deduction for state and local tax payments by limiting it to property-tax payments and capping it at $10,000. The compromise bill is expected to keep that cap, but also allow for continued deduction of state and local income tax payments. MORTGAGE INTEREST: Caps the mortgage interest deduction at $750,000 in home loan value, down from the current $1 million. The House had proposed a $500,000 cap. The Senate bill left it at $1 million. ESTATE TAX: Roughly doubles the exemption from the federal estate tax on inherited assets to about $11 million, but leaves the tax in place, mirroring the Senate proposal. The House bill had raised the deduction, but also entirely phased out the tax. OBAMACARE MANDATE: Repeals a federal fine imposed on Americans under Obamacare for not obtaining health insurance coverage. The House bill did not repeal the Obamacare individual mandate. ANWR DRILLING: Allows oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The provision was sponsored by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

China's Communist Party to discuss amending constitution, graft fightBEIJING (Reuters) - China s ruling Communist Party will meet next month to discuss amending the constitution and to talk about the ongoing fight against graft, state media said on Wednesday, ahead of March s expected passing of a new anti-corruption law. Fighting deeply ingrained graft has been a key policy plank for President Xi Jinping in his first term in office, and that battle will take on a new hue with the setting up of the National Supervision Commission as he begins his second term. Trial work has already begun for that commission, which is likely to be formally codified in law in March at the meeting of China s largely rubber stamp parliament. The new body will take over from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and merge multiple anti-graft units into a single body. It will also expand the graft campaign s purview to include employees at state-backed institutions rather than just party members. In a short report, Xinhua news agency said the party s politburo, one of its elite ruling bodies, had met and decided to hold two important meetings next month - one on amending the state constitution and the other specifically on fighting corruption. Xinhua gave no details of what the constitutional amendment might entail, but Chinese legal scholars have said the country needs to amend its constitution before it can set up the new supervision commission to ensure there is a proper constitutional basis for its powers. The constitution clearly defines China s top political institutions, such as the judiciary and the prosecutor, in order to grant them state power and changes need to be made to these definitions to make room for a similarly powerful supervision system, scholars argue. The party will discuss the amendment, or amendments, at a plenum next month, Xinhua said without giving an exact date or saying whether it was one amendment or more. The constitution, which is different from the party constitution, was last amended in 2004 to include guarantees to protect private property and human rights. The other meeting, a full session of the anti-corruption watchdog the CCDI, will be held from Jan. 11-13, the report added, again without giving details. Xi has vowed that his war against graft will not ease until officials at all levels dare not, cannot and do not want to be corrupt. Xi told top party leaders in October revision of the anti-graft architecture would include the scrapping of a controversial shuanggui system of secret interrogations, and the introduction of a new detention system. The latest draft of the new Supervision Law, unveiled last week, adds protections for graft suspects as part of efforts to revise the interrogation system.

DESPERATE TO STOP THE FLOW OF MUSLIM REFUGEES INTO SWEDEN, Swedish Citizens Devise A Controversial SchemeThe liberals find this plan to be disgusting until their neighborhoods become the next victim of violent muslim immigrant gangs of course Anti-immigration campaigners in Gullberg in southern Sweden are plotting to build a pig farm next to an asylum centre in a last-ditch effort to deter would-be Muslim immigrants, who might find the animals offensive.More illegal immigrants on the run in Sweden (03 May 15) Swedish Syrian warms hearts over phone return (08 Apr 15) It was a long journey and some of my friends died (30 Mar 15)Plans for a new immigration centre in Gullberg have already been strongly opposed by local residents and on Wednesday it was reported that a group of campaigners had sent a letter to the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) pledging to breed pigs nearby in order to deter Muslims from seeking asylum in the town.The note, signed by what described itself as the interest group for Gullberg s survival said that it was trying to create a probably impossible situation for some religious people, especially Muslims , according to Sveriges Radio.Local politician Henry Sandahl from Sweden s Countryside Party (Markbygdspartiet) told the broadcaster that he agreed with the sentiment of the letter. You know that Muslims are not friends with pigs, he said.But Swedish religious experts have been quick to criticize the campaigners. This is nonsense and shows just how very little they know about Islam, said ke Sander, Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg. It is one thing when Muslims try to stay away from pork, alcohol or gambling but there is nothing [in the Koran] that says you cannot be near pigs. This is a last-ditch effort when they [the campaigners] have no arguments left, he told the TT news agency.Others turned to social media to voice their disgust at the campaign.Carl G ransson, a lawyer and former Moderate party politician suggested on Twitter that building a gigantic rubbish dump next to the asylum centre instead, designed to blow smelly winds in the direction of the angry residents. Monstrous and a total fail , wrote Johan Arenius, a political press secretary for the Christian Democrat party based in rebro in central Sweden.Sweden became the first European country in 2013 to grant automatic residency to Syrian refugees and has since seen asylum requests rise to record levels, which are still expected to reach about 90,000 in 2015.To cope with an increasing flow of refugees, the Swedish Migration Board announced in March that it was more than tripling the maximum number of residents allowed at asylum centres from 200 to 650.Via: The Local seh/t Refugee Resettlement Watch

Clinton urges renewed 'fight for values'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for a renewed fight for a more-inclusive United States despite disappointment over an election loss that laid bare national divisions. In her first public remarks since conceding to Republican Donald Trump last week, Clinton said that many Americans were asking whether his victory meant the United States was still the country they thought it was. “The divisions laid bare by this election run deep, but please listen to me when I say this. America is worth it, our children are worth it,” she said at a Children Defense Fund event honoring scholarship winners. “Believe in our country, fight for our values and never, ever give up.” Although Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman called the nonprofit advocacy group’s event “a love-in for Hillary Rodham Clinton,” the former first lady said it had not been easy for her to attend. “There have been times this past week when all I wanted to do was just to curl up with a good book or our dogs, and never leave the house again,” said Clinton, whose ties to the Children Defense Fund date back to her work there as a young law student. Clinton, a former secretary of state, won the popular vote but lost the crucial electoral college tally to Trump, a New York real estate magnate who has taken a hard line on immigration and has opposed accepting Syrian refugees. “I know many of you are deeply disappointed by the results of the election. I am too, more than I can ever express,” Clinton said. “But as I said last week, our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love, and building an America that is hopeful, inclusive and big hearted.” She said that help for children backed by Republicans and Democrats was a hopeful sign of both parties working together. The federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, for example, now covers 8 million children and its creation had relied on bipartisan support, Clinton said. “For the sake of our children, and our families and our country, I ask you to stay engaged, stay engaged on every level,” Clinton said. She added, “I am as sure of this as anything I have ever known. America is still the greatest country in the world, it is still the place where anyone can beat the odds.”

Texas Teacher Calls 12-Year-Old Boy A ‘Terrorist’ in Class And Students Bully Him Afterward (VIDEO)A Texas teacher has been removed from her classroom after she openly called a 12-year-old Muslim boy a terrorist and did nothing as the other students proceeded to bully him.Waleed Abushaaban was simply watching and enjoying the movie Bend It Like Beckham with his classmates at the Fort Bend Independent School District in Fort Bend County, Texas when his teacher made racist remarks toward him just because he laughed at a funny scene in the film.According to KHOU, Abushaaban remembered the incident clearly. We were in the class watching a movie, and I was just laughing at the movie and the teacher said, I wouldn t be laughing if I was you. And I said why? She said, because we all think you re a terrorist. To make matters worse, the teacher s remarks touched off a storm of bullying as the students around him began to verbally harass him. They were like, oh I see a bomb! and they started all laughing and making jokes. I was upset and I felt like I was put in the corner and like everybody was just looking at me. In just a matter of seconds, Abushaaban had become a victim of racism and hate and had been humiliated by his fellow classmates who only suddenly turned on him because the teacher did.Understandably, his parents are mad as hell and they want the teacher terminated from her position at the school. Just because my son is a Muslim doesn t mean he is a terrorist, said Malek Abushaaban. He s an American. He s as American as anybody else. He was born here. That s all he knows, is how to be an American. Here s the video via KHOU.Of course, school officials are claiming that the teacher merely misspoke in an attempt to teach about negative stereotyping, but did condemn her words in the following statement. While the teacher reports her statements were made in the context of trying to make a point about negative stereotypes, District officials do not believe that the teacher exercised the appropriate sensitivity expected of the District s educators, and do not believe that the statements were made in a manner that is in keeping with the District s Core Beliefs and Commitments. Keep in mind that this happened while the students were in the middle of watching a movie, which makes the job of a teacher a little easier. There was absolutely no need to try and teach anything. In fact, it makes no sense to teach lessons during a film and she was clearly not teaching the rest of the class about negative stereotypes. In other words, this teacher is just trying to cover her ass with a bullshit claim.Texas schools seem to be obsessed with terrorism these days. Just last year, a Texas school freaked out because a Muslim student brought in a clock he had built himself and school personnel called the police because they thought it was a bomb.Another Texas school acted even more ridiculous by suspending a nine-year-old boy for bringing a replica of the One Ring from the Hobbit to class. The school actually accused the boy of committing terrorism because he was pretending that the ring made him invisible. Seriously.Texas schools really need to get it together.Featured image: screenshot

OBAMA IGNORES PLANNED PARENTHOOD BABY PARTS HARVESTER STORY…His DOJ Goes After Whistleblower Group Who Exposed ThemJustice the Obama way Instead of investigating whether Planned Parenthood illegally trafficked baby body parts, Obama s DOJ is targeting the group behind the undercover videosThe U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to investigate the group that produced undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood employees admitting that they harvest and sell organs ripped from the bodies aborted babies. Politico reported the news of the coming DOJ investigation earlier today:JUSTICE TO PROBE CENTER FOR MEDICAL PROGRESS While congressional committees investigate Planned Parenthood s practices, the Justice Department agreed to look into whether the group that released the sting videos obtained the footage legally. In response to a request by House Democrats, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday afternoon that Justice would review all of the information and determine what the appropriate steps moving forward would be. Planned Parenthood has staunchly defended its practices and claims that the Center for Medical Progress illegally obtained its footage, then excessively edited it to misrepresent what the organization does. The DOJ investigation of the Center for Medical Progress, which, unlike Planned Parenthood, is not in the business of killing healthy, viable unborn babies in order to sell their organs for cash, was announced after several Democratic lawmakers called for the organization to be targeted:Four Democrats in Congress Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Zoe Lofgren, Jerry Nadler, and Yvette Clarke have written to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and California Attorney General Kamala Harris, asking them to open investigations into the Center for Medical Progress. The Democrats say the videos were filmed as part of an elaborate scheme using fake identification and without the approval of the Planned Parenthood doctor who appears in them. It s interesting that Lynch decided so early to make a statement about the group. There are certainly more videos to come, and if Planned Parenthood s panicked press releases are any indication, the footage may be far more damaging than anything that s been revealed thus far. However, given the abject politicization of multiple agencies under Obama s command including the Internal Revenue Service, which targeted conservative non-profits, and the DOJ, which has been hesitant to investigate Obama allies it seems unlikely that Lynch and those who report to her will ever crack down on Abortion, Inc.Via: The Federalist

SENATOR WANTS ANSWERS ON MISSING TSA BADGES AFTER TSA TRIES TO BLOCK INVESTIGATIONThis is a big deal and should be investigated. How did the TSA badges go missing? Senator Thune is right in pushing on this but who knows if they even have an answer for him Senator John Thune fired off a blistering letter to TSA officials demanding answers regarding missing, lost or stolen SIDA (Secured Identification Display Area) badges that can be used by employees to gain access to secure areas at airports. Clearly there are an awful lot of things falling through the cracks and there s just no room for an error when it comes to this issue. We need answers. They re not providing them. Thune, who chairs the Transportation Committee, said previous answers from the agency had actually raised more questions than answers. The concern follows reports that more than 270 badges went missing at the San Diego International Airport in the last two years and more than 1,400 badges missing from Atlanta s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.Many of the missing badges were not reported for weeks or months in hopes they would be turned it meaning they were not quickly deactivated. The information comes following an investigation by a an NBC affiliate in Dallas, TX. They also found reports of missing crew and pilot uniforms.When Atlanta reported the information to the TSA they said they never should have given out the information in the first place, but we ask, doesn t the public have a right to know?Read more: FOX News

White House divisions on display with Scaramucci's commentsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rifts inside President Donald Trump’s White House were on startling display on Thursday, as his new communications director urged Trump’s chief of staff to state publicly that he does not leak information to the media. Anthony Scaramucci, a New York financier who last week became the White House communications chief, also compared his relationship with Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to a pair of brothers from the Bible, one of whom killed the other. Scaramucci said last week he and Priebus were friends and “a little bit like brothers, where we rough each other up once in a while, which is totally normal for brothers.” On Thursday, Scaramucci said in an interview with CNN: “When I said we were brothers from the podium, that’s because we’re rough on each other. Some brothers are like Cain and Abel. Other brothers can fight with each other and get along. I don’t know if this is repairable or not. That will be up to the president.” Scaramucci appeared to suggest in a Twitter post late on Wednesday that Priebus may have had a hand in what Scaramucci described as a “leak” of his official financial disclosure documents to the U.S. news organization Politico. Politico said the information was not a leak but was publicly accessible. “When I put out a tweet and I put Reince’s name in a tweet, they’re all making the assumption that it’s him because journalists know who the leakers are,” Scaramucci told CNN on Thursday. “So if Reince wants to explain he’s not a leaker, let him do that,” Scaramucci added. Scaramucci had written earlier on Twitter: “In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and the @TheJusticeDept #swamp @Reince45.” Scaramucci’s comments illustrated an ongoing power struggle at the highest levels of Trump’s staff as the Republican president faces investigations into his election campaign’s connections with Russia and with Trump yet to win congressional approval for any major legislation. Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan defended Priebus after Scaramucci’s comments. “Reince is doing a fantastic job at the White House and I believe he has the president’s confidence. If those two gentlemen have differences my advice would be to sit down and settle your differences,” Ryan said at a news conference.

Turkey, Iraq agree on opening second border gate: Turkish customs ministerISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey and Iraq have agreed to open a second border gate and its construction will begin once the necessary security measures are taken, Turkey s customs minister said on Thursday. I had the impression that the Iraqi government agrees that there should be a second border gate , Bulent Tufenkci told Anadolu news agency. He said the planned gate would be near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, in a region where Islamic State and Kurdish PKK militants still pose a security threat. Once steps are taken to secure the path, there is no other obstacle for us, he said.

Elizabeth Warren HUMILIATES Ben Carson During HUD Hearing; Reveals His Intent To Line Trump’s Pockets (DETAILS)Donald Trump has nominated Ben Carson an idiot in every area except that of brain surgery to run the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department. Carson has no experience in urban development, government, real estate, or anything else relating to the job he s trying to be confirmed to do, and therefore has no business being nominated for it. Therefore, his confirmation is and should be! especially difficult. Well, have no fear Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren made sure of that.Senator Warren s first order of business was to make sure that Donald Trump, who is obviously a real estate tycoon, would not benefit from the activities of HUD under Ben Carson. Warren asked of Carson: Can you assure me that not a single taxpayer dollar you give out will financial benefit the president-elect or his family? Carson could not make that assurance directly, and said that he could only assure that would refuse to play favorites, continuing: I can assure you that the things that I do are driven by a sense of morals and values. That wasn t good enough for Warren, though, and she pushed Carson further: It s not about your good faith. My concern is whether or not, among the billions of dollars you will be responsible for handing out in grants and loans, can you just assure us that not $1 will go to benefit either the president-elect or his family? Carson said of that question: It will not be my intention to do anything to benefit [Trump]. Since Carson refused to give any direct answers here, Warren drew her own conclusions saying: Do I take that to mean you may manage programs that will significantly benefit the president-elect? Carson insisted: You can take it to mean that I will manage things in a way that benefits the American people. Carson went on to say that he wouldn t directly promise that he wouldn t use Trump s family properties for HUD programs: If there happens to be an extraordinary program that s working for millions of people, and it turns out that someone that you re targeting is going to gain $10 from it, am I going to say, No, the rest of you Americans can t have it? I think logic and common sense probably would be the best way. Warren concluded: The problem is that you can t assure us that HUD money not of $10 varieties but of multimillion-dollar varieties will not end up in the president-elect s pockets. And that s just the problem. Donald Trump is surrounding himself with sycophants like Ben Carson, who will use their positions of power to do anything Trump wants including using federal dollars to line Trump s pockets. If and when this guy is confirmed, we ll literally be paying Donald Trump, via our tax dollars through Ben Carson s HUD Department, to house low-income families.This is shaping up to be the most corrupt administration in modern history.Watch the exchange below:.@SenWarren asks Dr. Ben Carson: Can you just assure us that not one dollar will go to benefit either the President-elect or his family? pic.twitter.com/lSyur2AYik CSPAN (@cspan) January 12, 2017Featured image via video screen capture

Drunken Cop Arrested After Holding Fast Food Workers At Gun Point (VIDEO)New released video shows Santa Clara County sheriff s deputy Benjamin Lee in a standoff with fellow police officers, after he pulled a gun on employees of a fast food restaurant in January.Cop Block reports that the video was recorded by an Uber driver who was waiting to pick up his drive thru order at a Jack In the Box restaurant at the same time that Lee was there. The line was backed up, with at least a dozen cars waiting for orders. Lee was reportedly several cars ahead of the uber driver.According to the driver, the manager of the restaurant came out to inform the drive-thru customers that the cook was having some kind of breakdown and did not want to cook anymore. The unidentified uber driver says he decided to leave and go to another restaurant.The drunken police officer reportedly became enraged at the manager, saying I want my food. When the manager was unable to deliver, Lee pulled out a gun. He reportedly held both the restaurant manager and the drive-thru worker at gunpoint. The worker later told witnesses that he thought he was being robbed.Someone inside the restaurant called the police. When officers arrived on the scene, Lee refused to exit his vehicle or follow commands given by police. The video shows Lee engaging in a long standoff with the officers, who are attempting to get the drunken cop to surrender.Watch the video below, courtesy of FreeFresno on YouTube. If this had been anyone other than a drunk, armed off-duty cop, it s likely the person would have been shot the minute the police rolled up.Lee was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.In a public statement regarding the incident, Roger Winslow of the Deputy Sheriff s Association of Santa Clara told KGO: Mr. Lee has a good reputation with the sheriff s office. He s a hard worker and respected by his peers. Members of the a newly-created community task force expressed their frustration with the way the police department polices its own.Retired Santa Clara County Sheriff s Captain Kevin Jensen summed it up by saying: This is too much. It s overwhelming evidence that there is a cultural problem at the top, as well as many problems at the bottom. Image credit: video screen capture KGO-TV

TOBY KEITH Has AWESOME Response To Crybaby Attacks Over Trump Inauguration Performance [VIDEO]Country singer Toby Keith won t be bullied into submission by the Left like other entertainers who won t perform or have cancelled their commitment to perform at Trump s inauguration.Keith, 55, said he does not apologize for performing for our country and our military. He performed for both Presidents Obama and George W. Bush in addition to hundreds of shows for troops in Afghanistan and the United Service Organization, he said. It s sad that the performing is the heroic act, Pete Hegseth said on Fox & Friends , There were no protests like this in 2008. Fox Insider Americans who are sick and tired of being bullied by leftists need to take a stand and support Toby Keith. Let Keith know how you feel and that you appreciate him having a backbone and doing what s right for America and for our military.SHOW your support for Toby Keith s inaugural performance in several different ways:Click here: @TobyKeithMusic to send him a message on Twitter.Click here:Toby Keith to post a Facebook message on his wall.Go to itunes.apple.com to purchase one of his songs or an entire album.SHARE this everywhere! We need to get as many Americans as possible showing their support for Toby Keith and his inauguration performance.

U.S. may sanction four countries for refusing deportees: DHSWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States could impose additional penalties on four unidentified countries that do not cooperate with requests to return their citizens, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman said Wednesday. The State Department and the DHS can sanction countries that do not cooperate with removals, but has only used that punishment authority twice in the past 15 years. The current 12 countries deemed recalcitrant are China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Iran, Cambodia, Myanmar, Morocco, Hong Kong, South Sudan, Guinea and Eritrea. Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke sent a letter to the State Department last week identifying the latest four countries that could face the new penalties. DHS spokesman David Lapan declined to discuss possible sanctions or the names of the four countries that could face additional sanctions, including denying visas. However, CNN cited a DHS official close to discussions about the deliberations as saying on Wednesday the four under consideration were Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone. In two cases since 2000, the United States halted issuing visas to government officials and their families to Guinea and Gambia. Lapan said in some cases the DHS has no choice but to release some convicted criminals who served prison time but could not be returned to their home country because their home country refuses to cooperate. “We have tens of thousands of individuals,” Lapan said.  The DHS identifies countries that can be sanctioned and the State Department decides what, if any, sanctions could be imposed. The DHS has said that it has final deportation orders against 35,000 Cuban citizens that have criminal histories that Cuba refuses to accept.

Trump spokesman accuses Democratic Senate leader of 'stalling tactics'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump accused Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday of “stalling tactics” for slowing confirmation of the incoming Republican president’s Cabinet picks. Schumer should recognize that “this is more about continuity of government and ensuring that these qualified individuals get voted on as soon as possible so that we can lead this country forward,” spokesman Sean Spicer said at a news briefing.

Car bomb kills journalist in Somali capitalMOGADISHU (Reuters) - A Somali television journalist was killed in a car bombing in the capital Mogadishu on Monday, an editor for the TV station and local authorities said. Mohamed Ibrahim Gabow had borrowed the car from a friend, Mohamed Moalim Mustaf, an editor at Kalsan TV, told Reuters. Unexpectedly it exploded and he died on the spot. We do not know who was behind it, he added. Local government officials confirmed the incident. The journalist ... died after a bomb planted in a car he drove exploded. His body has now been taken to a hospital. The police will investigate, said Abdifatah Omar Halane, the spokesman for the mayor of Mogadishu. Gabow is the fourth journalist killed this year in Somalia, currently ranked 167th out of 180 countries for journalist safety by Reporters Without Borders. No group has ever claimed the killing of a journalist in the capital. Somalia has been convulsed by instability, violence and lawlessness since early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

White House pressures State Department over refugee costs: sourcesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two studies that President Donald Trump hopes will buttress his case to cut the number of refugees are at the heart of a fight between senior White House adviser Stephen Miller and career U.S. government officials over immigration policy, four current and former officials said.     Trump in March ordered the U.S. State Department and other agencies to tally only the costs of resettling refugees but not the benefits that policy experts said refugees can also bring, including tax revenues, professional skills and job creation. A current official said Miller had convened meetings with State Department staffers to discuss the refugee cost reports. When department specialists proposed including refugees’ economic contributions in the studies to produce a more balanced assessment, Miller rebuffed the idea, one current and one former U.S. official said. The White House said Miller did not hold meetings on the specific subject of the cost reports and that Trump’s overall fiscal year 2018 budget proposal sought to “make transparent the net budgetary effects of immigration programs and policy.” The current and former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they believe, however, that the administration wants to help make a case to restrict refugee flows by creating a skewed analysis. “It’s a policy outcome in search of a rationale,” said a former U.S. official familiar with the debate. The White House disputed the notion that Miller was seeking to tailor the outcome of the reports, which are to be compiled mainly by the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). “The idea that we are ordering biased reports is false,” said Michael Short, a White House spokesman. The tensions over the reports, due in September, have not been previously reported. Miller has a history of backing curbs on immigration. He was the architect of Trump’s order in January suspending the refugee program for 120 days and refugees from Syria indefinitely. That order, which also temporarily barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, was largely blocked by the courts, as was a second executive order. Miller was not available for an interview. R.C. Hammond, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said a department staffer who attended budget meetings recalled Miller “suggesting the State Department review the methodology and findings of existing studies” on refugees. “Essentially, suggesting we learn how others have examined the issue and see if there is anything we can learn,” Hammond said in an email. “My colleague did not take away the sense that any instructions were given to include or not include certain information.” Hammond he did not identify the State Department staffer. Tensions in the government over Trump’s immigration policies began with Trump’s executive order, which prompted about 900 State Department employees to sign an internal memo dissenting against it in January. Weeks later, the right-wing Breitbart website, which has close ties to the White House, published a story calling for the firing - among others - of the two top officials in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement and three senior officials at the PRM bureau. Breitbart listed the officials by name, but it did not mention the reports on refugee costs. Career officials cannot be fired, but can be reassigned. There is no evidence the five have been reassigned. Trump promised a hardline immigration policy during his 2016 presidential campaign. He called at one point for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States, citing security reasons amid a series of attacks worldwide by Islamist militants. For the first report, Trump ordered a tally of “the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program at the Federal, State, and local levels, along with recommendations about how to curtail those costs.” Trump directed that the second report estimate “how many refugees are being supported in countries of first asylum (near their home countries) for the same long-term cost as supporting refugees in the United States, taking into account the full lifetime cost of Federal, State, and local benefits, and the comparable cost of providing similar benefits elsewhere.” Refugee policy experts said that while more refugees can be supported in third-country camps for a given sum than settled in the United States, that support does not provide a permanent solution as resettlement can. Most studies show that refugees entering the United States require more government services than immigrants as a whole. But scholars differ over the long-term economic impact of accepting refugees, which can depress low-skilled workers’ wages and require all workers to help pay for social services that refugees receive. During their first eight years in the United States, refugees receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes, a study published this month by the nonprofit National Bureau for Economic Research said. “After the eighth year, taxes paid tend to be greater than the benefits received,” by an average of $21,000 over a 20-year period, the study found. Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors limiting immigration, agreed that accountings such as those Trump ordered should not be limited to costs. “It’s only fair to consider any fiscal benefits,” she said. The four current and former U.S. officials said the high-level White House focus on the reports has sent a clear signal about the outcome Trump wants. “When the White House calls and expresses interest...in a report of this nature, given all the things that the national security council and people around the president have to worry about, that sends an enormously profound signal to the bureaucracy,” one of the former officials said.

At least 30 Burundian refugees die in clashes with Congolese security forcesKINSHASA (Reuters) - At least 30 Burundian refugees have been killed in clashes with Congolese security forces over plans to send some of them home, a Reuters witness and local activists said on Saturday. Police and soldiers opened fire as the refugees protested over the plan in the town of Kamanyola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, the activists told Reuters. Congo s government spokesman Lambert Mende denied that those killed were refugees, saying that the clashes broke out when assailants from an unidentified armed group attacked an office belonging to the national intelligence agency. Five soldiers and 20 of the attackers were killed in the fighting, Mende said. More than 400,000 refugees have fled Burundi - including 40,000 to neighboring Congo - since violence erupted in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would seek a third term in office, a move his opponents said was unconstitutional. Wendo Joel, an activist from a Congolese pro-democracy and human right group, said the refugees had seized a weapon and killed a soldier as they tried to free some of their arrested compatriots. The soldiers first fired in the air but there were many refugees, Joel told Reuters. I have counted 32 bodies. There are also about 100 wounded. Reuters TV footage showed more than 30 bodies covered by sheets on the roadside in Kamanyola, with many more wounded also lying in the street. A U.N. spokeswoman confirmed that at least 18 Burundian asylum seekers had been killed but said the toll was likely to rise. Many others had taken shelter at the U.N. peacekeeping mission s nearby base, she added. According to a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, more than 2,000 Burundian refugees live in Kamanyola with host families. In a statement, Burundi s main opposition grouping, CNARED, accused Burundian army troops and members of the ruling CNDD-FDD s youth group Imbonerakure of carrying out the killings with the Congolese army. Burundian officials could not be immediately reached for comment, but Burundi s foreign minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe wrote on Twitter: My heart sinks as I learn of the shootings in Eastern #DRC. Clarifications are needed on the shootings & circumstances around, he added. The violence in Burundi has killed over 700 people and a U.N. commission said last week there were reasonable grounds to believe authorities had committed crimes against humanity. The government rejected the commission s findings as propaganda .

Republicans criticize partisan divide at FCC(Reuters) - Two Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission told a congressional panel Tuesday the partisan divide at the nation’s telecommunications regulatory body is growing. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, a Republican, said at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing that the number of votes splitting along party lines at the five-member FCC is growing under FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler - and is twice as high as under four prior chairmen. “Proposals from Republican commissioners have been roundly rejected as crossing a ‘red line,’ even when an identical proposal from a Democratic commissioner is accepted later on,” Pai told a U.S. House panel. “Collaboration has fallen by the wayside.” Wheeler has a busy agenda in the final year of the Obama administration and has drawn the ire of some industry groups and Republicans in Congress. He has proposed allowing consumers access to pay TV without renting an expensive set-top cable box. He also has proposed privacy rules that would require Internet service providers to get consent for using consumer data and has unveiled a plan to expand a subsidy for low-income Americans that covers mobile phones to include broadband Internet access. Kim Hart, a spokeswoman for Wheeler, said the chairman “has tackled complex issues resulting in more competition, strong protections and improved access to networks for consumers. During the first two years of the Chairman’s tenure, 88 percent of votes have been unanimous.” FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, another Republican, criticized Wheeler for “constantly pushing the envelope into questionable directions, at the expense of collegiality, staff morale and soundness of decisions.” Republican commissioners have ramped up the rhetoric in recent months. After a federal appeals court put on hold two separate FCC decisions, Pai said the FCC “needs to follow the law and return to the tradition of bipartisan, collaborative decision-making.” Many Democrats back Wheeler’s aggressive agenda. Representative Anna Eshoo, of California, praised Wheeler for his aggressive agenda that “puts the consumer first and strengthens competition.” Representative Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican who chairs the panel that held the hearing, lamented the “sharp divisions” on the FCC, saying the commission should not give “short shrift to collaboration in favor of expediency.” At a Senate hearing this month, Wheeler declined to confirm he will step down at the end of the Obama administration, as is customary for the chair of the commission. The Senate has so far declined to reconfirm a Democratic commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, who was renominated in 2015.

Trump to hold series of meetings as he assembles new administrationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump will hold a series of meetings on Sunday in New Jersey as he continues to put together a team for his incoming administration, Trump spokesmen said. They said Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with: talent agent Ari Emanuel; civil rights attorney Peter Kirsanow; Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach; Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson; Bridgewater Associates President David McCormick; and retired Marine Corps General John Kelly. Trump and Pence will also meet with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers; Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives T.W. Shannon; American investor Wilbur Ross; and Jonathan Gray, global head of real estate at Blackstone Group, they added during a call with reporters.

Obama confident Pacific trade deal will be approvedHANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday he was confident a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal he has championed will be approved by U.S. legislators, to the benefit of the world. Obama, on a Visit to Vietnam, told a news conference the TPP was a good deal for U.S. business and it would give the United States the ability to engage on issues of concern. He said he had not seen a credible argument that the deal, which will group 12 economies, would hurt U.S. business.

Former Republican presidential hopeful Graham: won't back Trump or ClintonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator and former presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham said on Friday he could not in “good conscience” support Donald Trump for the presidency, but that he also would not back Democrat Hillary Clinton. “I absolutely will NOT support Hillary Clinton for President,” Graham said in a post on Twitter. “I also cannot in good conscience support Donald Trump because I do not believe he is a reliable Republican conservative.”

PARENTS FURIOUS After Austrian Teacher Changes Lyrics In Christian Hymn From “God’s” To “Allah’s” Love Is So GreatA teacher at a school in Wels in upper Austria simply changed the hymn God s love is so wonderful to Allah s love is so wonderful .An angry father confronted the local school board, demanding they correct the lyrics, But you can not just rewrite a text! There is huge uproar in Vogelweide primary school in Wels. The 4th year class teacher (where a majority of the children are Muslim) created a text by hand: throughout the entire hymn, the word God was replaced in handwriting by the word Allah .After the incident was brought to the attention of the School Inspector Karin Lang, he immediately corrected the situation with the teacher concerned and the school principal.Via: krone.at

THE FUTURE BELONGS To AI And Whoever Masters It First Will Rule The WorldWhile all eyes are on North Korea and Melania s stilettos RT Competition for superiority in Artificial Intelligence at national level will most likely cause World War Three, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has said, warning that an AI may deem first use its best chance of winning. China, Russia, soon all countries with strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3, Musk tweeted.China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017It will likely not even be the countries leaders that start the war, Musk elaborated, but one of the AI s, if it [AI] decides that a pre-emptive strike is most probable path to victory. May be initiated not by the country leaders, but one of the AI's, if it decides that a prepemptive strike is most probable path to victory Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017The SpaceX founder says he doubts that North Korea can launch its own nuclear strike. He believes that Pyongyang launching a nuclear missile would be suicide for their leadership, as South Korea, [the U.S.] and China would invade and end the regime immediately. NK launching a nuclear missile would be suicide for their leadership, as SK, US and China wd invade and end the regime immediately Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017

New Hampshire 'ballot selfie' ban unconstitutional: appeals courtBOSTON (Reuters) - A 2014 New Hampshire law prohibiting voters from taking selfies with their ballots on election day is an unconstitutional infringement on the right to free speech, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The New England state had banned the practice, which has become a popular way for voters to show support for favored candidates, claiming that it would set the stage for a return of the vote-buying scandals that rocked many U.S. states in the 19th century. Three New Hampshire citizens, including a man who wrote in the name of his dog to express dismay at his choices in the 2014 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, sued the state that year claiming the measure violated their rights to free expression, as protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A federal court in New Hampshire sided with them, but the state appealed, making its case in Boston just two weeks ago. The appeals court swiftly rejected its arguments. “The statute’s purposes cannot justify the restrictions it imposes on speech,” Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch wrote in the court’s decision. New Hampshire’s argument that ballot selfies could lead to people selling their votes or being compelled by their employers to vote in a certain way fell short in no small part because the state had no evidence of that actually happening, Lynch wrote. “The legislative history of the bill does not contain any corroborated evidence of vote buying or voter coercion in New Hampshire during the 20th and 21st centuries,” she wrote. “Digital photography, the internet, and social media are not unknown quantities — they have been ubiquitous for several election cycles, without being shown to have the effect of furthering vote buying or voter intimidation.” Lynch also noted that several federal and state laws in effect in New Hampshire already make it illegal to buy or sell a vote, which would allow prosecutors to take on allegations of election tampering even in an environment where selfies were permitted. Other states, including nearby Rhode Island, have passed laws explicitly allowing ballot selfies, partly reasoning that the trend has helped younger voters show their enthusiasm for the democratic process.

BUSTED: Trump’s RNC Czar Caught Telling Party Officials That The Donald Is All An ActHave you ever really taken a close look at Donald Trump? You can tell by looking at him that he s a fraud. He never looks genuine; his speech doesn t flow. He uses a fourth-grade mentality and he panders to idiots. There s nothing about the man that points to him actually being this staunch conservative Republican, and now we have proof. The Associated Press reports that Trump s own Republican National Convention Czar was caught in a behind-closed-doors meeting telling party officials that everything about Trump the party hates is an act.Trump s newly hired senior aide, Paul Manafort, informed Republican National Committee members that Trump has a private persona and an onstage persona, and that the onstage Trump will be mellowing out to bring electoral results should he be the party s nominee. Manafort said in the private briefing: When he s out on the stage, when he s talking about the kinds of things he s talking about on the stump, he s projecting an image that s for that purpose.You ll start to see more depth of the person, the real person. You ll see a real different guy.He gets it. The part that he s been playing is evolving into the part that now you ve been expecting, but he wasn t ready for, because he had first to complete the first phase. The negatives will come down. The image is going to change. In other words, the guy people are looking to because they don t want another crooked politician is playing the political game at a higher level on the Republican side than all of the establishment candidates he s run out of town. What exactly can we expect from Trump as time goes forward? Well, if his past is any indication, he should be whatever suits his mood at the time. It wouldn t be surprising to see him come out in favor of more liberal ideals. He has already stood up for the LGBT community on the transgender bathroom issue. It s obvious he couldn t care less about gay marriage. If he thinks he s gonna reap the same ignorant rewards from the general public on immigration and hate expansion, he s got another think coming.Trump s only play should he win would be to run his campaign like a Democrat. It s not like he doesn t have practice.Featured image by John Lamparski/Getty Images

Trump says Comey testimony showed 'no obstruction'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said testimony by former FBI chief James Comey showed that he had not attempted to obstruct justice in conversations the two officials held. “Yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction,” Trump told reporters at a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the White House rose garden. “He’s a leaker but we want to get back to running our great country,” Trump said of Comey.

Trump considering Representative Barletta for transportation secretary: Politico(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is considering Representative Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania for transportation secretary, Politico reported on Monday, a citing a source close to the transition team.

EU summit was positive, but nothing new on money: senior EU officialBRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May and the other 27 European Union leaders want to send a more positive signal on Brexit, but London has not offered any new opening on the financial settlement, a senior EU official said on Friday. The official was speaking after a two-day EU summit in Brussels.

Washington protesters vow to fight for civil rights under TrumpWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activists vowed on Saturday to defend hard-fought gains in voting rights and criminal justice during the presidency of Donald Trump, kicking off a week of protests ahead of the Republican’s inauguration. About 2,000 mostly black protesters ignored steady rain to march and rally near Washington’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, as speakers urged them to fight for minority rights and President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which Trump has vowed to dismantle. The Rev. Al Sharpton, the rally’s organizer and a veteran civil rights leader, said Democrats in Congress needed to be sent a simple message: “Get some backbone.” “We march in the driving rain because we want the nation to understand that what has been fought for and gained, that you’re going to need more than one election to turn it around,” he said. The rally drew fewer people than organizers had initially expected, but Sharpton said afterwards he was satisfied with the turnout, given the rain and temperatures hovering just above freezing. “I really didn’t think we’d get those kind of numbers,” he said in a telephone interview. Trump, a New York real estate developer, won with a populist platform that included promises to build a wall along the Mexican border, restrict immigration from Muslim countries and dismantle Obamacare. His choice of Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, to become attorney general has raised concern among many on the left that Trump could weaken voting rights for minorities and roll back criminal justice reforms. “We will march until hell freezes over, and when it does, we will march on the ice,” said Cornell William Brooks, president and chief executive of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The rally also included the Hispanic group La Raza, politicians, relatives of African-Americans slain by police, the National Urban League, Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights. The rally came hours after Trump blasted U.S. Representative John Lewis after the Georgia Democrat and civil rights campaigner said Russia’s alleged hacking aimed at helping Trump put his legitimacy into question. Trump replied on Twitter that Lewis should focus instead on his Atlanta district. “All talk, talk, talk - no action or results! Sad!,” he wrote. About 30 groups, almost all of them anti-Trump, have gotten permits to protest before, during and after the inauguration. Thousands of demonstrators have vowed to shut down the inauguration. Washington police and the U.S. Secret Service plan to have some 3,000 extra officers and an additional 5,000 National Guard troops on hand for security. By far the biggest event will be the Women’s March on Washington the day after the inauguration, which organizers say could draw 200,000 people.

U.N.'s Guterres warns against 'sleepwalking' into war over North KoreaTOKYO (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, warning against the danger of sleepwalking into war, said on Thursday that Security Council resolutions on North Korea s nuclear and missile programs must be fully implemented by Pyongyang and other countries. Guterres made the comments to reporters after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo just days after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions. The White House said Wednesday that no negotiations could be held with North Korea until it improves its behavior. The White House has declined to say whether President Donald Trump, who has taken a tougher rhetorical line toward Pyongyang, gave approval to Tillerson s overture. It is very clear that the Security Council resolutions must be fully implemented first of all by North Korea but by all other countries whose role is crucial to ... achieve the result we all aim at, which is the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, Guterres said. Guterres added that Security Council unity was also vital to allow for the possibility of diplomatic engagement that would allow denuclearisation to take place. The worst possible thing that could happen is for us all to sleepwalk into a war that might have very dramatic circumstances, he said. Japan says now is the time to keep up maximum pressure on Pyongyang, not start talks on the North s missile and nuclear programs. China and Russia, however, have welcomed Tillerson s overture. Abe, who spoke to reporters with Guterres, reiterated that dialogue needed to be meaningful and aimed at denuclearisation. We fully agreed that the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is indispensable for the peace and stability of the region, Abe said. Tillerson s overture came nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire United States mainland within range. In September, North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, the second to fly over Japan in less than a month. North Korea appears to have little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not proved. United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, who visited Pyongyang last week, said on Tuesday senior North Korean officials did not offer any type of commitment to talks, but he believes he left the door ajar .

House passes bill requiring EPA actions on lead-laced waterWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday easily passed a bill requiring federal environmental regulators to act faster when lead contamination is found in drinking water. The bill passed 416-2. It was crafted by Michigan Representatives Dan Kildee, a Democrat, and Fred Upton, a Republican, in the wake of Flint’s drinking water crisis. The measure requires the Environmental Protection Agency to notify the public when concentrations of lead in drinking water rise above mandated levels and to create a plan to improve communication between the agency, utilities, states, and consumers. In 2014, under a state-appointed emergency manager, Flint, a city of 100,000, switched water supplies to the Flint River, from Detroit’s system as part of a plan to save money in the poverty-stricken city. The more corrosive river water leached lead from aging pipes. Thousands of children are believed to have ingested dangerous levels of lead, a toxin that can harm brains and cause other health problems. The bill “wouldn’t have prevented Flint, but it would have caught it far sooner,” Kildee, who is from Flint, said after the vote. The measure must be passed by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama before becoming law. Other measures in Congress to provide Flint with millions of dollars in aid to deal with the crisis face an uncertain future. Kildee has also introduced a bill to provide about $700 million in federal aid, with a match in funding from Michigan. That and other measures languished as Democrats and Republicans struggled to agree on where the funds would come from. The Department of Agriculture said on Thursday it would temporarily allow Michigan to use funds from its Women, Infants and Children program for low income citizens to conduct lead testing. The department estimated some 3,800 people could get tested in this way.

Top Lawyers Go After Trump, Offer To Defend His Accusers FOR FREE (TWEETS)We all know that man-baby Donald Trump hates the First Amendment when it doesn t favor him, so you can only imagine how upset he is that women are using their freedom of speech to accuse him of sexually assaulting them. As more and more allegations have come to the surface, the Republican nominee has promised to sue these women when the election is over as if he hasn t made them suffer through enough.Fortunately, Trump s threat to sue has attracted the attention of a few prominent First Amendment attorneys, who have recently come forward and said they would defend Trump s victims against him, pro bono! One of these high-profile lawyers is Ted Boutrous of the law firm Gibson Dunn, who tweeted that he would defend these women for free earlier this month.TwitterOn Saturday, Trump repeated his threat to file lawsuits against his accusers, and Boutrous once again renewed his commitment to going up against Trump. He even noted that since his announcement, several other lawyers were interested in joining his cause.TwitterOne of these attorneys is actually Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, who Boutrous thanked for his interest.Twitter TwitterIt looks like Trump is going down, even if he tries to somehow save himself! Trump has put his accusers through hell, and he continues to (poorly) discredit their numerous allegations and trash them in the media. As if these women haven t already been through enough, the help of these attorneys will certainly make all the difference as they go up against one of the most vile human beings American history has ever seen. The only thing more wonderful than seeing Trump lose to Hillary Clinton in November would be seeing Trump behind bars for the numerous rapes and fraudulent activities he s committed over his lifetime.Featured image via Brian Blanco / Getty Images

Romney: It's 'disqualifying' for Trump not to release tax returnsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Wednesday criticized Donald Trump for declining to release his tax returns, saying the only explanation was that the documents contained a “bombshell” about the real estate mogul. “It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters,” Romney said in a Facebook post about Trump, who became the likely Republican nominee when his rivals dropped out last week. “There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them,” Romney said. “Given Mr. Trump’s equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it’s a bombshell of unusual size.” Trump has said that he will make public his tax returns on the completion of an audit.

Without Trump, Republican debate has second lowest ratingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Fox News debate without front-runner Donald Trump attracted the second-smallest audience of the seven such televised encounters among Republicans so far this election cycle, according to ratings figures released on Friday. According to Nielsen data, about 12.5 million people watched the Republican face-off, beating only an earlier debate on the less-prominent Fox Business Network. But Thursday’s encounter was one of Fox News’s biggest-ever hits and drew more viewers than coverage of a rally at the same time that was hosted by Trump. The billionaire refused to participate in the debate out of anger that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was a moderator. Last-minute phone calls with Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes failed to resolve their dispute, which broke out just days before next week’s Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Instead, Trump held his own rally in Iowa at the same time as the debate, which he promoted as a way to raise money for charity. CNN and MSNBC gave his event some coverage, but their combined audience during that time was about a quarter of the crowd watching the Fox debate, according to Nielsen data. On Friday, Trump defended his decision to snub Fox News, one of the most powerful media forces in Republican politics. “I have a very good relationship with Fox, but when somebody doesn’t treat you properly, you’ve got to be tough,” he said at a rally in New Hampshire. Trump often claims on the campaign trail that he is responsible for strong viewership of Republican debates. And he managed to upstage the debate to a certain extent, dominating Twitter mentions and Google searches during the event. Despite Trump’s absence, Thursday’s debate was the second-largest audience ever for a Fox News telecast, beaten only by the first Republican presidential debate in 2015 with 24 million viewers. It was also the most-watched program on TV on Thursday night, Fox News said. “The debate topped all TV Thursday night in total viewers including all broadcast shows,” Fox News said in a statement. Audiences for all Republican debates in the current presidential election campaign have been higher than in previous years, though viewership tapered after the first two. About 18 million people watched a CNN-hosted Republican debate in December. The Fox Business event this month drew the smallest crowd with 11 million viewers. Democratic debates have gotten lower ratings this election cycle. (Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine and Alana Wise; Editing by Alistair Bell) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Spain High Court jails two Catalan separatist leaders pending investigationMADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain moved closer on Monday to imposing central rule over Catalonia to thwart its independence push as Madrid s High Court signaled a hardening line by jailing the leaders of two of the largest separatist organizations. In the first imprisonment of senior secessionist figures since Catalonia s Oct. 1 independence referendum, the court ordered the heads of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium held without bail pending an investigation for alleged sedition. Prosecutors say that the ANC s Jordi Sanchez and Omnium s Jordi Cuixart played central roles in orchestrating pro-independence protests that last month trapped national police inside a Barcelona building and destroyed their vehicles. Around 200 people flocked to the Catalan government s headquarters in Barcelona in a peaceful show of support for both men, with some chanting Freedom and waving Democracy banners. The ANC, which has organized protests of hundreds of thousands of secessionists in the past, called for further peaceful demonstrations around Catalonia on Tuesday. Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont commented on Twitter: Spain jails Catalonia s civil society leaders for organizing peaceful demonstrations. Sadly, we have political prisoners again an allusion to Spain s military dictatorship under Francisco Franco. The High Court also banned the Catalan police chief, Josep Lluis Trapero, from leaving Spain and seized his passport while he is being investigated over the same incident, though it did not order his arrest. Last Tuesday, Puigdemont stepped back from asking the Catalan parliament to vote on independence, instead making a symbolic declaration and calling for negotiations on the region s future. In a confrontation viewed with mounting alarm in European capitals and financial markets, Puigdemont failed on Monday to respond to Madrid s ultimatum to clarify whether he had declared unilateral independence in a speech last week. He now has until Thursday to back down. In a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Puigdemont gave no direct answer on the independence issue, instead making a sincere and honest offer for dialogue over the next two months. In reply, Rajoy said Puigdemont s stance had brought Madrid closer to triggering Article 155 of the constitution, under which it can impose direct rule on any of the country s 17 autonomous communities if they break the law. The Catalan government s campaign to break away from Spain has pitched the country into its worst political crisis since an abortive coup attempt in 1981. On Monday the economy ministry told the EU that it had slashed its economic growth forecasts for next year partly due to the situation. The Catalan government says 90 percent of voters in the referendum backed a breakaway, but turnout was only 43 percent as most opponents of independence in the region boycotted the vote, already declared illegal by Spain s Constitutional Court. Thousands have demonstrated in Barcelona and other Spanish cities both for and against independence. So far the crisis has been largely violence-free, except for the day of the referendum when national police assaulted voters with batons and rubber bullets. The High Court ruled that Trapero, the Catalan police chief, would have his passport withdrawn but rejected a request from the state prosecutor for him to be held in custody. Trapero is a hero to the secessionists after his force took a much softer stance than national police in enforcing the ban on the referendum. Prosecutors say he failed to give orders to rescue national police trapped inside the Barcelona building. Puigdemont last Tuesday delayed by several weeks a formal declaration of independence from Spain to allow for talks. Madrid has ruled out talks unless Puigdemont gives up the independence demand. It had given him until 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Monday to clarify his position with a Yes or No , and until Thursday to change his mind if he insisted on a split. Following his failure to do so, a regional broadcaster said he also planned to ignore a final deadline on Thursday. Suggesting that Puigdemont and his team were in no mood to follow Rajoy s game plan, Catalan interior minister Joaquim Forn said Article 155 would not allow Madrid to remove members of the Catalan government. The article s terms on direct rule, which has never been applied, are vague. It says Madrid can adopt any measure to force a region to meet its constitutional obligations, with the approval of Spain s lower house. The wording suggests this could include anything from taking control of regional police and finances to installing a new governing team or calling a snap election. Underlining the deepening crisis, some of the largest companies in prosperous Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of the Spanish economy, have already shifted head offices elsewhere and others are likely to follow if Puigdemont declares outright independence. Investors say a political split could undermine the economic rebound in Spain, the euro zone s fourth-largest economy.

WATCH: BLACK SPORTS HOST BLASTS White ESPN Sports Host For Asking White Athletes To Take A Knee During National AnthemWhen will Americans stop being afraid of standing up to leftist agitators and tell them, NO! When will Americans find a backbone and stop allowing the left to dictate what they re allowed to say or to feel? Why are white Americans allowing themselves and law enforcement officers of every race and ethnicity to be thrown under the bus, because we re led by the radical left to believe that it will somehow make us better people.Oddly, sports channels have decided to assume the role of America s social conscience. Sports used to be a unifying force for Americans, a place for perfect strangers to come together and bond over their love and support for a particular team. The Disney owned ESPN sports network has been working very hard to change that.Fear and intimidation are two of the tools the Left uses in order to make people comply with their message of unity through division. And according to one TV and radio sports host, these tactics are beginning to take hold in the NFL.Fox Sports 1 host Jason Whitlock joined Tucker Carlson Monday evening on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight to talk about the state of protesting during the National Anthem in the NFL.Whitlock understands that protesting is perfectly within players rights as Americans, but he takes issue with the method in which people like unemployed quarterback Colin Kaepernick go about protesting. There are NFL players, black and white, who know that if you really want to address police brutality, social justice, inequality in this country, protesting the National Anthem is the perfect way for your message to get completely lost, Whitlock told Carlson.NFL players have so many platforms on which to voice their approval or displeasure on whatever issue they re championing this week. But to use the National Anthem as the vehicle for their message only causes their message fall flat in the eyes of a lot of football fans. These silent protests don t make them look heroic, but rather selfish.Whitlock also posed an interesting theory to Carlson concerning players who aren t participating in these social justice protests. I want to know why NFL players aren t offering voices of dissent? Whitlock asked. You can t tell me that there aren t NFL players who recognize the stupidity of the style of protest Colin Kaepernick has chosen, Whitlock said. But they re all afraid to say it because of the backlash. Another good point.We have seen sports entities like the NFL and ESPN become bastions of social justice promotion in an age where people are being divided into more groups than the Divergent series. MRCTV

Factbox: Conservative, liberal, progressive: Merkel's 'Jamaica coalition' puzzleBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Angela Merkel began the tough task of trying to build a coalition government on Monday after securing a fourth term as chancellor in an election which saw her support slide and the far right making significant gains. With the Social Democrats insisting they will go into opposition and all parties shunning the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), parliamentary arithmetic favors a Jamaica coalition of her conservatives (black), the pro-business Free Democrats (yellow), and the Greens - so named because their party colors reflect the Jamaican flag. Merkel s party remains the biggest parliamentary bloc and she has said she is sure a coalition can be agreed by Christmas. But patching together a coalition deal with three wildly differing parties of the right, left and center, will be no easy task, and some investors are unsettled by the prospect of a weaker Merkel at the head of a potentially unstable coalition. The following is a list of areas in which the three parties are at odds with each other. Merkel s conservatives (CDU/CSU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) agree on the primacy of fiscal discipline, but may diverge on the details. The FDP s ambition for a working middle class tax cut of 30 billion euros may clash with the CDU s pledge to prioritize investment, though investment in higher education is a shared priority. The conservatives and FDU may accept the Greens ambition to shutter polluting coal-fired plants and promote green energy, but at a slower pace. However, the Greens hostility to the terms of major trade deals will be a much more serious sticking point. The FDP s tougher line on immigration is likely to be more of a sticking point for the Greens than for the CDU. The pro-business FDP wants immigration to serve the needs of the economy but, like the other two parties, is committed to the right to asylum for war refugees. The FDP will likely be able to sign up to the CDU s plan to remove the right to remain from those who fail to integrate or break the law. Both parties, traditionally stricter on citizenship policy, are likely to resist the Greens wish to let anyone born in Germany become a citizen. However, the liberals and the Greens may be able to make common cause on civil liberties: the FDP opposes widespread data retention for security agencies, while the Greens want a security policy that is more responsive to civil rights concerns and opposes mass surveillance. The FDP will be resistant to CDU plans to deepen the euro zone. A coalition incorporating the FDP would also ramp up the pressure on Merkel to agree to a suspension of Turkey s EU accession talks, a key policy demand of the liberals that Merkel has always resisted. The Greens, who traditionally enjoy strong support from Germans of Turkish ethnic background but are sharply critical of the government of President Tayyip Erdogan, are likely to side with Merkel in her attempts to avoid a serious rupture with Turkey. The Greens share the CDU s belief in deepening the EU, but also favor the kind of intra-EU transfers of funds and financial solidarity that raise hackles in the fiscally conservative CDU and FDP. The Greens favor maintaining a tough line against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. FDP officials have expressed divergent views on the issue, but several key members of the party distanced themselves from a call by FDP leader Christian Lindner to set aside the issue of Crimea. There are fissures within the conservative bloc on the issue, with Bavaria s CSU - sister party of Merkel s CDU - more concerned about maintaining economic ties with Russia and probably more open to some easing of sanctions. Ultimately much will depend on whether the foreign ministry post goes to the FDP or the Greens. Regardless of how a coalition is formed, the German government has a longstanding interest in implementing the Minsk ceasefire accord and is looking carefully at a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to put U.N. peacekeepers into Ukraine, a stance facing opposition from the United States and Kiev. The Greens oppose large increases in military spending, but may find a compromise that allows small increases paired with increases in development spending. Merkel has said she intends to fulfill a promise to increase military spending to 2 percent of GDP from around 1.2 percent now, in line with a pledge to NATO, but experts and government insiders say Germany will come nowhere near the 2 percent mark over the next four years, so the new coalition government could defer conflicts about the issue. The CDU and the Greens share a belief in investing in housing: the CDU wants financial aid to boost home ownership, while the Greens want to build a million new affordable homes. But the FDP, one of whose slogans is people can do great things if you let them , is generally opposed to state intervention in the free market. That view could also be a stumbling block when it comes to the CDU s plan to help Germany s automotive sector shift toward electric cars and to support other strategic sectors such as microelectronics. The FDP may also resist the Greens goal of introducing quotas for woman managers at senior levels in the private sector. The Greens and the FDP are both strong supporters of education reform and investment in digital technologies, such as by building fiber optic networks.

DEMOCRAT ACCUSED Of Sexual Harassment Just Threatened ‘Many Members’ Who Also Have Allegations Against ThemJohn Conyers might just drain the swamp for us. The 88-year old Democrat from Michigan who is accused of sexually harassing female staffers is now threatening to bring the swamp down by exposing all of the other members of the House and Senate accused of sexual harassment. Yes, the swamp is turning on itself. This could get really good In case you haven t heard $17 MILLION taxpayer dollars went to pay off people who accused politicians in the House and Senate of sexual harassment. That s YOUR money! Conyers paid $27K to one accuser He s got several more that have come out to say he also harassed them This guy is so bold with his harassment that he showed up to a meeting in his underwear. Yikes!CONYERS THREATENS TO EXPOSE OTHERS:Peter Hasson describes for the Daily Caller the remarkable vague threat emanating for the attorney representing John Conyers:The attorney for Democratic Michigan Rep. John Conyers, who is accused of continuously sexually harassing his female staffers, defended Conyers by indicating that there are allegations against many members of the House and Senate.Conyers attorney, Arnold E. Reed, released a statement defending the Michigan Democrat and pushing back against the disturbing allegations. The bizarre statement was written in all-CAPS and referred to both Reed and Conyers in the third person.https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/933504768269606912ALL CAPS? Really? The lawyer should resign for using all caps!CHART OF PAYOUTS TO SETTLE HARASSMENT CHARGES:Congressional Office of Compliance releases year-by-year breakdown of harassment settlements and awards: pic.twitter.com/vxbezi22wb Reid Wilson (@PoliticsReid) November 16, 2017

Factbox: What progress? EU's price for Brexit breakthroughBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has given Prime Minister Theresa May until Monday to raise Britain s offer of divorce terms if she wants EU leaders to open talks next month on a future free trade pact. Britain has moved close to the EU demands on money, EU diplomats said on Wednesday, but there are concerns that differences remain on other key conditions. These are the key points EU officials and diplomats say she must be ready to concede when she visits Brussels on Dec. 4. The EU estimated at some 60 billion euros ($71 billion) what Britain should pay to cover outstanding obligations on leaving in March 2019. May has promised that the other 27 states will not lose out financially before the end of 2020 an indication Britain will maintain its current roughly 10 billion-euro annual payment to the EU during a two-year post-Brexit transition. The EU wants May to commit to paying a fair share of two big budget lines after 2020 funds for projects approved during Britain s membership but not yet disbursed, and staff pensions. EU diplomats said negotiators had in recent days received assurances that this was the case and British newspapers put the offer at very roughly 50 billion euros. Phil Hogan, Ireland s EU commissioner, said Britain s new proposals go very close towards meeting the requirements of the EU. However, May s spokesman dismissed as speculation the British media reports. Both sides insist there can be no agreement on a hard figure yet and much will depend on future economic developments. But observers will be quick to make ballpark calculations. And EU leaders are set on binding May to a written commitment to pay specific elements of the bill to avoid haggling later on. The second of three conditions, on all of which sufficient progress must be recorded, that may now be the least problematic. However, the EU is still seeking further commitments from May that the rights of EU citizens in Britain after Brexit will be guaranteed under EU judicial supervision, not just British still a potential stumbling block to Britain s agreement. EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier repeated on Wednesday that European Court of Justice supervision was essential. Member states, some of which have taken a tougher line than the Brussels negotiators, insist Britain also make concessions on family reunion rules and social benefits. The EU wants more detail on a British pledge to avoid a hard border at the new land frontier on the island of Ireland that might disrupt peace in Northern Ireland. London says the detail depends on the future trade agreement, which the EU will not discuss until after agreeing on sufficient progress. But Dublin has stepped up its complaints that assurances of good intentions from Britain do not go far enough. EU officials say the broad possible outlines of a trade pact are already obvious and mean that a hard border can only be avoided if commercial regulation remains identical on either side. One solution would be for Northern Ireland to stay in a customs union with the EU. But Britain, and May s crucial Northern Irish parliamentary allies, insist there should be no new barriers between Northern Ireland and the British mainland. The EU says that means the whole of the United Kingdom would then have to maintain regulatory conformity, something Brexit campaigners do not want. Brussels and Dublin say Northern Ireland already has some different rules from Great Britain. On Friday, Dec. 1, EU national envoys expect an update from Barnier and the negotiators. On Dec. 6, two days after May meets Barnier and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU-27 envoys meet to start drafting the conclusions for a summit on Dec. 14-15. They may need a whole week to secure all states agreement that there is sufficient progress or not. At the summit, if they agree to move ahead, the 27 leaders could immediately discuss the roughly two-year transition period May has asked for which the EU says will mean Britain taking all EU rules but having no say in making them. They would also ask officials to complete work on formal negotiating guidelines for a future trade deal. There would need to be some weeks of further internal preparation in the EU before trade talks start. Even with sufficient progress, detailed negotiation on the divorce deal or Withdrawal Treaty will continue. Barnier hopes to have a text by October or November next year to give time for ratification by the European Parliament by Brexit Day. Barnier has said a trade deal could be launched by January 2021 if talks start after Christmas. But many EU diplomats say Britain may need further transition terms before one is ready.

Here You Go: Every Bat Sh*t Crazy Thing That Came Out Of Trump’s Mouth In The First DebateDonald Trump spent Monday night making a total ass out of himself in the first presidential debate. We were all waiting to see just what would happen tonight, and it was quite the spectacle. From lies to self-incrimination, watching the GOP nominee s performance was the equivalent of one facepalm after another.So here you go, a complete list of every batshit crazy thing that came out of Donald Trump s mouth during the first presidential debate: There s nobody in our government to fight them [China], and we have a very good fight, and we have a winning fight. They re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China and many other countries are doing the same thing. We have to stop these countries from stealing our companies. Our country s in deep trouble. We don t know what we re doing with devaluations Especially when it comes to China, they re the best. They re the best ever at it. What they re doing to us is a very very sad thing. That s called business, by the way. (referring to making money off of the 2007 financial collapse) I m a great believer in all forms of energy Our country is losing a so much in terms of energy, in terms of paying off our debt. I will bring back jobs. You can t bring back jobs. That s about all you ve got. (referring to Clinton s book We Are Stronger Together) You are going to approve one of the biggest tax cuts in history. You are going to approve one of the biggest tax increases in history. You are going to drive businesses out. I m going to cut taxes, big-league. You are going to raise taxes, big-league. And take a look at mine also. (referring to his campaign website) She tells us how to fight ISIS on her website. I don t think Douglas MacArthur would like that too much You re telling the enemy everything you want to do. No wonder you ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life. Well, I m really calling for major jobs, because the wealthy are going to create tremendous jobs. They re going to expand their companies. They re going to do a tremendous job. (hahahaha) I m getting rid of the carried interest provision, and if you really look, it s really not a great thing for the wealthy, it s really a great thing for middle class. (methinks thou dost protest too much) These people are going to put billions and billions of dollars into companies. And when they re going to bring 2.5 trillion dollars back from overseas, where they can t bring the money back because politicians like Secretary Clinton won t allow them to bring the money back because the taxes are so onerous and the bureaucratic red tape is so bad. (or because those companies are greedy and un-American, just saying) So, what they re doing is leaving our country, and believe it or not, they re leaving our country because the taxes are too high. Because some of them companies have lots of money outside our country, and instead of bringing it back and putting the money to work because they can t work out a deal. And everybody agrees it should be brought back, instead of that they re leaving our country to get their money because they can t bring their money back into our country, because of bureacratic red tape. Because they can t get together, because we have a President that can t sit them around a table, and get them to approve something. (maybe companies should just pay their taxes so we don t need to cut valuable public services) We have no leadership, and honestly, that starts with Secretary Clinton Why not [blame Clinton for everything]? We re in a bubble right now, and the only thing that looks good is the stock market. We have a FED that is doing political things the FED is being more political than Secretary Clinton When we have a country that s doing so badly, that s being ripped off by every single country in the world, it s the kind of thinking that our country needs. We have people that are political hacks negotiating our trade deals. (in response to a question about his taxes) I ve been under audit for almost 15 years. I know a lot of wealthy people that have never been audited. I say, Have you been audited? I get audited almost every year, and in a way I should be complaining. I m not even complaining. I don t mind it. It s almost become a way of life. I get audited by the IRS, but other people don t. We have a situation in this country that needs to be taken care of. I will release my tax returns against my lawyers wishes That makes me smart. (in response to paying zero dollars in federal income taxes) I could give you a list of banks, if that would help you. I would give you a list of banks. These are very fine institutions, very fine banks. I could do that very quickly. I have a tremendous income. The reason I say that is not in a braggadocios way. It s about time that this country had somebody running it that has an idea about money. Our airports are like from a third world country We ve become a third world country. The worst of all things has happened. And it s really a shame. And it s politicians like Secretary Clinton that have caused this problem. Our country has tremendous problems. We re a debtor nation. We re a serious debtor nation. And we have a country that needs new roads, new tunnels, new bridges, new airports, new schools, new hospitals. And we don t have the money, because it s been squandered on so many of your ideas. It would be squandered, too, believe me. (in response to not paying any federal income taxes) Maybe he didn t do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work Which our country should do, too. (referring to not paying people who worked for him) But on occasion, four times, we used certain laws that are there. And when Secretary Clinton talks about people that didn t get paid, first of all, they did get paid a lot, but taken advantage of the laws of the nation. Now, if you want to change the laws, you ve been there a long time, change the laws. But I take advantage of the laws of the nation because I m running a company. My obligation right now is to do well for myself, my family, my employees, for my companies. And that s what I do. (referring to bankrupting four companies and not paying his business debts) But what she doesn t say is that tens of thousands of people that are unbelievably happy and that love me. I ll give you an example. We re just opening up on Pennsylvania Avenue right next to the White House, so if I don t get there one way, I m going to get to Pennsylvania Avenue another. When we look at the budget, the budget is bad to a large extent because we have people that have no idea as to what to do and how to buy. Well, first of all, Secretary Clinton doesn t want to use a couple of words, and that s law and order. And we need law and order. If we don t have it, we re not going to have a country. Now, whether or not in a place like Chicago you do stop and frisk, which worked very well, Mayor Giuliani is here, worked very well in New York. We have to be we have to know what we re doing. Right now, our police, in many cases, are afraid to do anything. No, you re wrong. It went before a judge, who was a very against-police judge. It was taken away from her. And our mayor, our new mayor, refused to go forward with the case. They would have won an appeal. If you look at it, throughout the country, there are many places where it s allowed. (referring to racial profiling becoming outlawed as unconstitutional) We need law and order. And we need law and order in the inner cities, because the people that are most affected by what s happening are African-American and Hispanic people. And it s very unfair to them what our politicians are allowing to happen. I have the endorsement of the NRA, which I m very proud of. These are very, very good people. But I think we have to look very strongly at no-fly lists and watch lists. And when people are on there, even if they shouldn t be on there, we ll help them, we ll help them legally, we ll help them get off. But I tend to agree with that quite strongly. But stop-and- frisk had a tremendous impact on the safety of New York City. Tremendous beyond belief. So when you say it has no impact, it really did. It had a very, very big impact. They ve been abused and used in order to get votes by Democrat politicians, because that s what it is. They ve controlled these communities for up to 100 years. You know, you ve seen me, I ve been all over the place. You decided to stay home, and that s OK. But I will tell you, I ve been all over. And I ve met some of the greatest people I ll ever meet within these communities. When I got involved, I didn t fail. I got him to give the birth certificate. So I m satisfied with it. And I ll tell you why I m satisfied with it But I was the one that got him to produce the birth certificate. And I think I did a good job Well, it was very I say nothing. I say nothing, because I was able to get him to produce it. He should have produced it a long time before. I say nothing. But let me just tell you. When you talk about healing, I think that I ve developed very, very good relationships over the last little while with the African-American community. I think you can see that. And I feel that they really wanted me to come to that conclusion And I think I did a great job and a great service not only for the country, but even for the president, in getting him to produce his birth certificate. First of all, I got to watch in preparing for this some of your debates against Barack Obama. You treated him with terrible disrespect. And I watched the way you talk now about how lovely everything is and how wonderful you are. It doesn t work that way. You were after him. Now, as far as the lawsuit, yes, when I was very young, I went into my father s company, had a real estate company in Brooklyn and Queens, and we, along with many, many other companies throughout the country it was a federal lawsuit were sued. We settled the suit with zero with no admission of guilt. It was very easy to do. And, you know, I also notice the very nasty commercials that you do on me in so many different ways, which I don t do on you. Maybe I m trying to save the money. But, frankly, I look I look at that, and I say, isn t that amazing? Because I settled that lawsuit with no admission of guilt, but that was a lawsuit brought against many real estate firms, and it s just one of those things. I ll go one step further. In Palm Beach, Florida, tough community, a brilliant community, a wealthy community, probably the wealthiest community there is in the world, I opened a club, and really got great credit for it. No discrimination against African- Americans, against Muslims, against anybody. And it s a tremendously successful club. And I m so glad I did it. And I have been given great credit for what I did. And I m very, very proud of it. And that s the way I feel. That is the true way I feel. In addition, I was just endorsed by ICE. They ve never endorsed anybody before on immigration. I was just endorsed by ICE. As far as the cyber, I agree to parts of what Secretary Clinton said. We should be better than anybody else, and perhaps we re not. I don t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC. She s saying Russia, Russia, Russia, but I don t maybe it was. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK? Now, whether that was Russia, whether that was China, whether it was another country, we don t know, because the truth is, under President Obama we ve lost control of things that we used to have control over. We came in with the Internet, we came up with the Internet, and I think Secretary Clinton and myself would agree very much, when you look at what ISIS is doing with the Internet, they re beating us at our own game. ISIS. So we have to get very, very tough on cyber and cyber warfare. It is it is a huge problem. I have a son. He s 10 years old. He has computers. He is so good with these computers, it s unbelievable. The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough. And maybe it s hardly doable. But I will say, we are not doing the job we should be doing. But that s true throughout our whole governmental society. We have so many things that we have to do better and certainly cyber is one of them. So she talks about taking them out. She s been doing it a long time. She s been trying to take them out for a long time. But they wouldn t have even been formed if they left some troops behind, like 10,000 or maybe something more than that. And then you wouldn t have had them. (speaking about the creation of ISIS) Or, as I ve been saying for a long time, and I think you ll agree, because I said it to you once, had we taken the oil and we should have taken the oil ISIS would not have been able to form either, because the oil was their primary source of income. And now they have the oil all over the place, including the oil a lot of the oil in Libya. Wrong Wrong. Wrong. The secretary said very strongly about working with we ve been working with them for many years, and we have the greatest mess anyone s ever seen. But you look at the Middle East, you started the Iran deal, that s another beauty where you have a country that was ready to fall, I mean, they were doing so badly. They were choking on the sanctions. And now they re going to be actually probably a major power at some point pretty soon, the way they re going. Number one, the 28 countries of NATO, many of them aren t paying their fair share. Number two and that bothers me, because we should be asking we re defending them, and they should at least be paying us what they re supposed to be paying by treaty and contract. And, number two, I said, and very strongly, NATO could be obsolete, because and I was very strong on this, and it was actually covered very accurately in the New York Times, which is unusual for the New York Times, to be honest but I said, they do not focus on terror. And I was very strong. And I said it numerous times. And about four months ago, I read on the front page of the Wall Street Journal that NATO is opening up a major terror division. And I think that s great. And I think we should get because we pay approximately 73 percent of the cost of NATO. It s a lot of money to protect other people. But I m all for NATO. But I said they have to focus on terror, also. And they re going to do that. And that was believe me I m sure I m not going to get credit for it but that was largely because of what I was saying and my criticism of NATO. And believe me, you were the ones that took out the troops. Not only that, you named the day. They couldn t believe it. They sat back probably and said, I can t believe it. But you were there, and you were secretary of state when it was a little infant. Now it s in over 30 countries. And you re going to stop them? I don t think so. That is a mainstream media nonsense put out by her, because she frankly, I think the best person in her campaign is mainstream media. Well, I have much better judgment than she does. There s no question about that. I also have a much better temperament than she has, you know? I have a much better she spent let me tell you she spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an advertising you know, they get Madison Avenue into a room, they put names oh, temperament, let s go after I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win. She does not have a Wait. The AFL-CIO the other day, behind the blue screen, I don t know who you were talking to, Secretary Clinton, but you were totally out of control. I said, there s a person with a temperament that s got a problem. Wrong It s lies That line s getting a little bit old, I must say. I would like to It s not an accurate one at all. It s not an accurate one. So I just want to give a lot of things and just to respond. I agree with her on one thing. The single greatest problem the world has is nuclear armament, nuclear weapons, not global warming, like you think and your your president thinks. Nuclear is the single greatest threat. Just to go down the list, we defend Japan, we defend Germany, we defend South Korea, we defend Saudi Arabia, we defend countries. They do not pay us. But they should be paying us, because we are providing tremendous service and we re losing a fortune. That s why we re losing we re losing we lose on everything. I say, who makes these we lose on everything. All I said, that it s very possible that if they don t pay a fair share, because this isn t 40 years ago where we could do what we re doing. We can t defend Japan, a behemoth, selling us cars by the million. All I said was, they may have to defend themselves or they have to help us out. We re a country that owes $20 trillion. They have to help us out. Well, I have to say that, you know, for what Secretary Clinton was saying about nuclear with Russia, she s very cavalier in the way she talks about various countries. But Russia has been expanding their they have a much newer capability than we do. We have not been updating from the new standpoint. We are not we are not keeping up with other countries. I would like everybody to end it, just get rid of it. But I would certainly not do first strike. I think that once the nuclear alternative happens, it s over. At the same time, we have to be prepared. I can t take anything off the table. Because you look at some of these countries, you look at North Korea, we re doing nothing there. China should solve that problem for us. China should go into North Korea. China is totally powerful as it relates to North Korea. Why didn t you add other things into the deal? One of the great giveaways of all time, of all time, including $400 million in cash. Nobody s ever seen that before. That turned out to be wrong. It was actually $1.7 billion in cash, obviously, I guess for the hostages. It certainly looks that way. So you say to yourself, why didn t they make the right deal? This is one of the worst deals ever made by any country in history. And they re going to end up getting nuclear. I met with Bibi Netanyahu the other day. Believe me, he s not a happy camper. But I will tell you that Hillary will tell you to go to her website and read all about how to defeat ISIS, which she could have defeated by never having it, you know, get going in the first place. Right now, it s getting tougher and tougher to defeat them, because they re in more and more places, more and more states, more and more nations. And she doesn t say that, because she s got no business ability. We need heart. We need a lot of things. But you have to have some basic ability. And sadly, she doesn t have that. All you have to do is speak to them. Wait. You have so many different things you have to be able to do, and I don t believe that Hillary has the stamina. The world let me tell you. Let me tell you. Hillary has experience, but it s bad experience. We have made so many bad deals during the last so she s got experience, that I agree. But it s bad, bad experience. I never said that I didn t say that Where did you find this? Oh, really? You know, Hillary is hitting me with tremendous commercials. Some of it s said in entertainment. Some of it s said somebody who s been very vicious to me, Rosie O Donnell, I said very tough things to her, and I think everybody would agree that she deserves it and nobody feels sorry for her. But you want to know the truth? I was going to say something extremely rough to Hillary, to her family, and I said to myself, I can t do it. I just can t do it. It s inappropriate. It s not nice. Wow. In hindsight, it would have probably been easier to list the things Trump said that weren t completely and utterly ridiculous. When it finally came time to face off with Hillary Clinton on the debate stage, Trump failed miserably and totally embarrassed himself. As Hillary said Monday night, Donald lives in his own reality, presumably a reality where he thinks he actually makes sense.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images

FARMER FINED A WHOPPING $2.8 MILLION Asks President Trump For HelpA California farmer fined $2.8 million for plowing through vernal pools protected by the Clean Water Act without a permit is appealing to the Trump administration for help, according to California s Record Spotlight.John Duarte has sent letters to Agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeking clarification on the federal government s case against him, the Record Spotlight reports.While the Clean Water Act protects waters of the U.S., it does contain exemptions for farmers.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fined Duarte Nursery, owned by Duarte, in 2012 for failing to get a permit before plowing through vernal pools located on a recently purchased 450 acre plot of land. The vernal pools, temporary bodies of water that house certain species of plants and animals, are protected as waters of the United States by the Clean Water Act of 1972. We expected the Trump administration to provide regulatory relief from Obama-era overreach, and we haven t seen it yet, Duarte said according to the Record Spotlight. We re hoping to see the administration engage this issue, to look at it again. House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conway and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte sided with Duarte, sending a letter to Sessions May 26 questioning the merit of the Duarte case.Read more: DC

Two children sue over Trump effort to roll back Clean Power Plan(Reuters) - Two children, backed by the Clean Air Council environmental group, sued U.S. President Donald Trump and two of his Cabinet members on Monday to try to stop them from scrapping a package of pollution-reduction rules known as the Clean Power Plan. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, says the United States is “relying on junk science” and ignoring “clear and present dangers of climate change, knowingly increasing its resulting damages, death and destruction.” It was the latest legal action that green advocates have taken to combat Trump administration efforts to roll back environmental regulations through rule changes at agencies like the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The two young plaintiffs, aged 7 and 11, are identified only by their first and last initials in the court papers, which allege that both are suffering from the effects of a rapidly warming climate. Trump has called climate change a hoax and said in June he would withdraw the United States from a global pact to combat it - calling the deal’s demands for emissions cuts too costly for the U.S. economy. The lawsuit asks the court to prevent the EPA, Trump and the U.S. Department of Energy, along with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, from rolling back any rules that “increase the frequency and/or intensity of life-threatening effects of climate change.” EPA and Energy Department representatives declined to comment. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pruitt said on Oct. 10 he wanted to scrap the Clean Power Plan, put in place under former Democratic President Barack Obama. On Sept. 29, Perry asked federal regulators to provide price incentives to help keep coal and nuclear power plants open, as a way to address “risks” to the resilience of the electrical grid. By including the children, the Clean Air Council seemed to model its case after Juliana v. U.S., a pending federal case in which a group of teenagers sued the U.S. government for violating their constitutional rights by causing climate change. “The Clean Air Council case is taking the legal theories pioneered in Juliana and applying them to a narrow set of facts related to specific rollbacks of the Trump administration,” said Meg Ward, a spokeswoman for Our Children’s Trust, a group leading the Juliana suit.

Mainstream Liars Now Want to be Self-Appointed Monarchs of ‘Truth’This biggest failure of the mainstream media was their inability to police themselves. From partisan dishonesty to outright lies they have destroyed their own credibility, and amazingly, now they want to be the internet s truth task force Neil Clark RT OpEdgeThe Oxford Dictionaries have named post-truth as the word of the year. Fake news and post-truth politics have been blamed for both the Brexit vote in the UK and the victory of Donald Trump in America.It seems the uneducated plebs are falling for fake news they read in new media and the lies of dreadful rabble-rousing populist politicians who are relying on people s emotions, instead of objective facts, to get votes. It s all terribly worrying and poses a dire threat to Western civilization as we know it.Well, forgive me for laughing out loud. For this establishment fake news / post-truth politics concern is the funniest thing I ve come across in politics since Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, the very grand Chancellor of the University of Oxford, repeatedly called distinguished Sheldonian guest Mikhail Gorbachev, Mr. Brezhnev. Why is it so hilarious? Because the people and the outlets warning of the dangers of fake news and post-truth politics have been the biggest peddlers of fake news and post-truth politics out there. It s like receiving lectures on the immorality of bootlegging from Al Capone or being told to sit up straight by the Hunchback of Notre Dame.Without a doubt the best, or rather the worst example of fake news in the last 25 years or so, was the neocon lie that Iraq had WMDs in 2002/3. That wasn t peddled by obscure bloggers and new media, but by mainstream Western politicians, from mainstream political parties, establishment-approved experts on the BBC/ITV/CNN, etc., and Op-ed columnists in serious and respectable media outlets.@georgegalloway @Independent Tony Blair is a lying warmongering post-truth politician, of course he hates Corbyn. pic.twitter.com/6ZD4FWudyI Antony Warren (@Lovejoy999) November 20, 2016There was absolutely no evidence that Saddam possessed WMDs. The story was complete and utter BS. Yet this fake news dominated the headlines for months in 2002/3 and led to an illegal invasion in which many people lost their lives. Unlike today s manufactured fake news hysteria the Iraq war was no joke. An entire country was destroyed.And guess what? Those who pushed the Iraq has WMDs line are now coming on television to express their concern over fake news !John Hilley notes The BBC even had Alastair Campbell (Tony Blair s spin doctor), in the studio defending the term post-truth as a way of exposing the dangers of fake news.' Campbell stated: It s acknowledging that politics, which has always been rough, has moved to a different phase where politicians who lie now appear to get rewarded for it. (BBC2 Jeremy Vine Show, 16/11/2016).What might Orwell have said about Campbell, master spinner and Blairite warmonger, sitting inside the BBC being rewarded for his thoughts on post-truth and fake news? Hilley asks.Once again, I m sure old George is spinning in his grave in Sutton Courtenay.Then there s that serial warmonger Bernard-Henri Levy. The Sunday Telegraph today told us in its headlines: Leading French philosopher: Marine Le Pen may win election as people have lost interest in whether politicians tell the truth. Oh, the irony!Because if the French people really have lost interest in whether politicians tell the truth, Henri-Levy and his fellow liberal interventionist regime changers have got a lot to do with it. Think back to the war against Libya, which the leading French philosopher lobbied hard for. To sell the war to the Western public, we were told that Muammar Gaddafi was about to commit a Srebrenica-style massacre in Benghazi. Media Lens noted the claims that were made at the time.But again it was a load of rollocks. Five years after Libya, like Iraq before it, had been destroyed by Western interventionists, a report of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons declared: the proposition that Muammar Gaddafi would have ordered the massacre of civilians in Benghazi was not supported by the available evidence. It wasn t the only claim made about Libya by Western politicians that was not supported by the available evidence. In February 2011, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague insisted that he had seen information which suggested that Gaddafi was on his way to Venezuela. An unnamed diplomat said that this was credible information. But it wasn t. It was the same old fake news that we get every time the Western elites are trying to achieve regime change. In April 2011 we heard that the devilish Gaddafi (who had not, after all, fled to Caracas), was supplying his troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape. REVEALED: The Real Fake News List https://t.co/1CkOSe25LU pic.twitter.com/lqb9Uze1pi Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 19, 2016 Gaddafi s security forces and other groups in the region are trying to divide the people by using violence against women and rape as tools of war, and the United States condemns this in the strongest possible terms, declared Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose supporters are now complaining about post-truth politics.Again, no evidence was put forward for the Viagra/mass rape claim and, surprise, surprise, none was ever found.A clear pattern can be discerned. To get public support for its illegal regime change wars, the Western establishment energetically promotes a number of fake news stories. These stories are usually reported unquestioningly in respectable outlets and are regularly cited by neocon/liberal interventionist commentators as a reason for taking action against the target state. Anonymous sources feature heavily in these stories, which like MI6 s Operation Mass Appeal are often planted by the security services.Meanwhile, people s emotions are shamelessly played upon by the something must be done brigade of liberal laptop bombardiers, the same crowd, note well, who accuse populist politicians of ignoring objective facts and playing on people s emotions.The fake news continues while the regime change operation is ongoing. After its over, we re all meant to forget about the false stories we were fed and focus on the next New Hitler who needs to be dealt with. In 2011, it was the despicable Gaddafi, now it s the despicable Assad and the despicable Putin who we re told: have to be stopped. Every time 'MSM' report US-UK government claims of a perceived 'responsibility to protect' Iraqis, Libyans and Syrians, it's fake news. Media Lens (@medialens) November 19, 2016The term post-truth politics implies there was a time when politics was truthful. I doubt if that ever was the case, but certainly in the last 25 years, thanks to the influence of neocons and liberal interventionists , the lies have been off the scale. Remember the Niger uranium forgeries? And Saddam s horrific People Shredder ?And before the Iraq war, we had the humanitarian NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, where again fake news dominated. US Defense Secretary William Cohen claimed about 100,000 military-aged Kosovan Albanians were missing they may have been murdered. As John Pilger reminded us, Kosovo, the site of a genocide that never was, is now a violent free market in drugs and prostitution. It wasn t the only lurid claim that was made to sell the war. But again the genocide and hundreds of thousands killed stories were false, as a UN court itself ruled in 2001.Fake news also featured heavily in the neocon campaign to get Iran sanctioned for an entirely unproven nuclear weapons program. It s dominated the coverage of recent events in Ukraine, with Russia s non-existent invasion of Ukraine routinely referred to as a fact. The conflict in Syria too has been marked by fake news, and theories being reported as if they re 100 percent proven. How many times have you read that Assad gassed his own people at Ghouta in 2013, even though we still don t know for sure who carried out the attack?If it s official enemies we re talking about fact-checking and citing sources isn t all that important for those who pounce on a mere typo if it s an anti-war writer who s making a claim.Now, the same people who have disseminated fake news for so long and who are still, even after Iraq and Libya, embedded in the West s political and media establishments, are lashing out because they no longer control the narrative as they used to. The public is getting their news from a much wider variety of sources and voting for populist, i.e., non-neocon/liberal interventionist-anointed candidates/parties at elections.Instead of admitting that it s their fake news and post-truth politics which has caused people to switch off from establishment media and to stop voting for status quo candidates, the endless war lobby has the effrontery to accuse others of the things they have been guilty of.Concern over fake news and post-truth politics from the West s endless war propagandists?It s hard to think of a better example of what psychologists call projection. Follow Neil Clark @NeilClark66READ MORE ABOUT MSM LIES AT: 21st Century Wire MSM Watch Files

Obama confident U.S. will move in right direction on climateMILAN (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was confident that the United States would keep moving “in the right direction” on climate change, although the process might slow down under the current administration. Before taking office, President Donald Trump pledged to cancel a deal signed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015, which aims to limit rising temperatures by phasing out use of fossil fuels. Trump, who wants to boost the U.S. coal industry, is expected to announce in the coming days whether he will scrap an accord for which his predecessor campaigned. Just over three months after leaving office, Obama told a food industry conference in Milan that climate change was a challenge “that will define the contours of this century more dramatically, perhaps, than any other”. He urged big industrialized countries such as the United States and China to lead the way. “Because of current debate in Washington, it could be that policies move more slowly but I am confident that the United States will continue to move in the right direction,” he said. Policy-making in the last decade has prompted the private sector to invest in both renewable energy and technology to improve fuel efficiency, Obama said. The United States committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by between 26 percent and 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 - a level that Trump is unlikely to support. The European Union has been scrambling to persuade Trump to stick to the deal. Many U.S. companies and several Republican lawmakers, who see it as a way to protect American industrial interests overseas, have also urged him to stay in. The Paris treaty did not set high enough standards to solve the issue entirely, Obama said but “it put together the architecture and mechanism so that each country can reduce its problem of emissions”.

Pakistani government calls in army to help disperse Islamist protestersISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan s government on Saturday called on the military to help police break up a sit-in by religious hardliners who have blocked the main routes into Islamabad for more than two weeks, state television reported. Army called in to control law and situation in capital, official Pakistan TV reported, citing an Interior Ministry notification. Pakistani police fought running battles on Saturday with stone-throwing activists of the ultra-religious Tehreek-e-Labaik party but failed to dislodge the activist who are blocking roads into Islamabad. By nightfall new demonstrators had joined the camp as protests spread to other main cities with activists brandishing sticks and attacking cars in some areas.

Trump’s Newest Foreign Policy Advisor Is One Of The Dumbest People To Ever Serve In CongressIf you weren t having nightmares before about Donald Trump potentially having the nuclear codes, his latest choice for national security advisor should keep you up for months, or at least until November 9th. He has chosen, as a national security advisor, a woman who believes the earth is six million years old and that the world is ending very, very soon anyway. That woman is the former Congresswoman from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann.The campaign hasn t yet confirmed that Bachmann is advising on matters of foreign policy, but she is advising him on evangelical matters and she was, in a bit of tragic irony, part of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence when she was still in Congress. To some who have no idea about anything outside the borders of our country (Donald Trump), it would be logical to believe that she s an expert on foreign policy. She s not.As for her reputed position as a foreign policy advisor on Trump s team, Bachmann says this:The former Minnesota congresswoman attended a fundraiser in the state for Trump on Saturday, where she revealed to the press that she has his ear on foreign policy. He also recognizes there is a threat around the world, not just here in Minnesota, of radical Islam, she said, according to MPR News. I wish our President Obama also understood the threat of radical Islam and took it seriously. He s a common-sense guy, not into political correctness, Bachmann added, according to the Star Tribune.Source: The HillLet s forget for a moment that Bachmann is a disaster on social issues. She hates gay people. She thinks the Founding Fathers outlawed slavery. She is anti-science. She s an anti-government conspiracy theorist. She thinks half of all African-American pregnancies end in abortion. She thinks that there would be no unemployment if there were no minimum wage. She thinks the U.S. is running out of rich people.As for her foreign expertise, she believes that the United States wants some sort of global currency. She believes Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. That would be Tel Aviv. She believes Sharia Law is around every corner. More significantly, she believes that there s no point in making the world a better place because Jesus will come vacuum everyone up to Heaven within the very near future. We know that there is more prophecy of Jesus second coming even than there was in the first, she said. We also should be encouraged and empowered as believers in Jesus Christ now more than ever with the Bible in one hand, the newspaper in another, to say to our neighbors and co-workers and people at church, this is about the Lord speaking to the world that, I am coming soon. Source: The BlazeAre you frightened yet?h/t: Buzzfeed | Featured image via Jeff Swensen at Getty Images.

Trump tells Republican lawmakers: Enough talk. Time to deliverPHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - President Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers on Thursday for swift action on a sweeping agenda including his planned U.S.-Mexican border wall, tax cuts and repealing the Obamacare law, despite tensions over timetables and priorities. Congressional Republicans were in Philadelphia for a three-day retreat to hammer out a legislative agenda, with the party in control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade. “This Congress is going to be the busiest Congress we’ve had in decades, maybe ever,” Trump said in a speech to the lawmakers at a Philadelphia hotel. “Enough ‘all talk, no action.’ We have to deliver,” Trump added. But Trump did not hold an expected question-and-answer session with the lawmakers, and his speech veered into side issues such as predicting crowd size for an anti-abortion march in Washington, alleging American voting irregularities and touting winning Pennsylvania in the Nov. 8 election. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who initially hesitated in endorsing Trump last year and has criticized him on some issues, disputed the notion that congressional Republicans were not in synch with the New York businessman who was sworn in less than a week ago having never previously held public office. “We are on the same page with the White House,” Ryan said during a joint news conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “This is going to be an unconventional presidency,” Ryan added. “I think you know this by now. ... I think we’re going to see unconventional activities like tweets and things like that. I think that’s just something that we’re all going to have to get used to.” Trump pressed the lawmakers for action on repealing and replacing Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, even as Republicans scramble to devise a replacement plan, and lowering taxes on “all American businesses” and the middle class. For weeks, Republicans talked about formulating an agenda for the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. In recent days, the talk has turned into a 200-day agenda for passing major legislation before the lawmakers’ August recess. “It’s going to take more than simply 100 days,” Ryan said. Ryan said that it is “our goal is to get these laws done in 2017,” without guaranteeing that a replacement for Obamacare and a tax reform bill would be enacted by the end of December. McConnell said lawmakers will take up legislation to provide $12 billion to $15 billion to pay for Trump’s planned wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday for the wall to proceed, part of a package of measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration, although the action has tested already frayed relations with Mexico. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the pace of legislative action may frustrate Trump. “President Trump comes from a different world,” McCarthy told reporters. “Out in the business community, he likes things done fast, and he’s going to continue to push them.” Thousands of anti-Trump protesters took to the streets in Philadelphia, a heavily Democratic bastion that is one of the cities that could be stripped of federal funds for protecting illegal immigrants under a Trump directive. Marchers carried signs including, “Fascist Pig,” “Protect My Health Care,” “Immigration Makes America Great,” “Planet Over Profit” and “Impeach Trump.” During his speech, Trump took time to explain his side of the story on Mexico’s president canceling a meeting next week because of Trump’s insistence that America’s southern neighbor eventually pay for the wall. Mexico has said it will not. Trump said a tax reform bill “will reduce our trade deficits, increase American exports and will generate revenue from Mexico that will pay for the wall, if we decide to go that route.” McConnell and Ryan did not say whether Congress would offset the wall’s cost by cutting other programs or simply add to huge budget deficits that Republicans have criticized for years. Ryan and McConnell also indicated congressional Republicans do not plan to modify U.S. law banning torture even as Trump considers bringing back a CIA program for holding terrorism suspects in secret overseas “black site” prisons where interrogation techniques often condemned as torture were used. “I think the director of the CIA (Mike Pompeo) has made it clear he’s going to follow the law. And I believe virtually all of my members are comfortable with the state of the law on that issue now,” McConnell said. “Torture’s not legal,” Ryan said. “And we agree with it not being legal. In a highly unusual move for a visiting foreign leader, British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will see Trump in Washington on Friday, addressed the retreat, calling herself a “fellow conservative who believes in the same principles that underpin the agenda of your party.” She was loudly applauded for praising Trump’s victory. “Because of what you have done together, because of that great victory you have won, America can be stronger, greater, and more confident in the years ahead,” May said.

CONSERVATIVES Who Disrupted Trump Assassination Play Speak Out: “It was like a gang stabbing…I Watched everyone cheering his death, laughing, clapping along…Children in the audience. It made my blood run cold…No better than ISIS” [VIDEO]Laura Loomer of Rebel Media and citizen journalist Jack Posobiac disrupted the Central Park performance of Julius Caesar or more accurately the Trump Assassination play last night. At the point where Julius Caesar, (who is intentionally made to look like President Trump) is about to be stabbed by a gang of minorities, Loomer rushed the stage and admonished the cast and audience for promoting violence against our current president and against Republicans in general.See video of Rebel Media s Loomer rushing the stage here:Only 3 days ago, an unhinged Democrat opened fire on Republican House members at a baseball practice for a charity game against Democrats Congressmen. Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) remains in critical condition. Doctors who were in attendance when the married father of 2 arrived at the hospital have now revealed that Scalise was very near to death when he arrived. Democrats like George Soros continue to fund violence against opposing voices, Barack Obama, former AG Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine have all advocated for action and/or violence against Trump supporters. Liberal professors promote hate and disrespect for anyone with opposing political views and have made their classrooms a hostile environment for students who dare to speak up or speak out against their radical views. Hollywood has come unhinged, and there doesn t appear to a line they won t cross when it comes to promoting violence against Americans who openly support President Trump. The left has shown themselves to be the largest collection of bullies and domestic terrorists this nation has ever seen.At about the 4:30 mark in the video, Laura Loomer, who is a fan of theater recites a Shakespeare line, Violent delights have violent ends. She then looks into the camera and calls out Hollywood and the left for the violence against Trump supporters and Republicans, Just like Shakespeare said; If you re delighting in this violence, this normalized political violence against the right, it s going to have a violent end. Loomer goes on to point out how liberals like Kathy Griffin and the CNN network who glorify those who commit or threaten violence are responsible for this violent atmosphere, and that they re no better than ISIS. Loomer points out the comparisons between the actors on the Central Park stage who are gang stabbing President Trump: I just couldn t help but think to myself: Wow! When you re holding a knife to someone s throat in the play, and joking about chopping someone s throats off, what makes you any better than ISIS? Jack Posobiac makes a very interesting point at about the gang stabbing of President Trump: It was like a gang stabbing. All the people stabbing him were minorities. Loomer agrees and goes a step further by suggesting the producers were racists because they chose all black actors to stab President Trump.Watch:Citizen journalist and author of Gorilla Mindset, Mike Chernovich called on Americans to join him in disrupting the Trump Assassination play 2 days ago:New York!Who wants to go watch the Trump assassination play maybe use some "free speech" during the play?https://t.co/64WAPvQjBT pic.twitter.com/7zDQcjNX7y Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 15, 2017Twitter followers of Chernovich responded by suggesting they skip the ticket process and instead use the same techniques as leftist agitators, like whistles and drums or bongos and cowbells to disrupt the production. Chernovich is all about using the tactics of the left against them. There has never been a better time to shut down the violent left in a non-violent way. To stand back and allow a performance of our president being gang stabbed is about as horrible as it gets:If it's in a park can't we just go to the park and bring our whistles and drums Ralph Butler (@secure1man) June 15, 2017bongos and cowbells for everyone Deplorable Snuzzlez (@SnuzzleBabiez) June 15, 2017

‘Who Appointed You to the Supreme Court?’: Senator DESTROYS Yates For Defying Trump Travel Ban [Video]Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was grilled about her refusal to defend the president s travel executive order She made huge mistake by assuming what Trump said during the campaign could be admissible in court IT CAN T!In a hearing centered on Russian interference in the election, one senator took the opportunity to question the former attorney general who was fired for refusing to defend President Trump s travel ban.Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) asked former acting Attorney General Sally Yates why she refused to defend Trump s initial executive order barring travel from several Mideast nations. I believed any argument [the Justice Department] would have to make in its defense would not be grounded in the truth, Yates said. We would have to argue that it had nothing to do with religion, she said.Kennedy asked whether there was no reasonable argument that could be made to defend the order any other way.Yates said she believed the intent of the order was to discriminate against Muslims trying to come to the United States.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGqsrx0LpTcHere s what former US Attorney Joe DiGenova said about Sally Yates: This is a person of the extreme Left who should not have been anywhere near the decision-making process for this president. Yates was fired and should have been!

Joe Biden Makes BIG News About 2020 ElectionThe results of the disappointing 2016 presidential election aren t even official yet, but Vice President Joe Biden is already making noise about 2020. Known for bucking the rules and speaking from his gut, the outgoing vice-president hinted that he might be up for another fight four years from now.CNN asked him jokingly if he planned to run for office again. Yeah, I am. I m going to run in 2020, Biden responded.When asked for what position, Biden responded, For president. What the hell, man. When CNN told Biden it was planning to publish his quotes, the vice president responded, That s okay. No, I ve enjoyed every minutes of my time here in the Senate. It s a great feeling to come back. I love this place. Biden later clarified, I m not committing not to run. I m not committing to anything. I learned a long time ago fate has a strange way of intervening. Biden is leaving office one of the most popular political figures in America, and that popularity is even higher among Democrats. Biden is seen by many as a Democrat who excels at speaking to working class families across the racial spectrum, but still has a history of legislative experience as success as a Senator from Delaware and then as a two-term Vice President.Biden would likely be able to tap into existing Democratic donors if he ran, as he has near 100% name recognition domestically and internationally. Besides First Lady Michelle Obama, he would probably be the public figure to benefit most from an association with President Obama.Biden considered running in the 2016 election, but decided against it after the tragic death of his son Beau Biden. Since then, President Obama has put Biden in charge of the moon shot effort to find a cure for cancer, while Biden endorsed and heavily campaigned for Secretary Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.Featured image via Flickr

U.S. Senate votes to hammer out deal with House on energy measureWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to work on a compromise with the House of Representatives on what could become the broad energy legislation passed by Congress in nearly a decade. The Senate voted 84 to 3 to go to formal conference with the House on legislation to take modest steps on modernizing the power grid, speeding the permitting of exports of liquefied natural gas, and increasing research and funding for energy efficiency and batteries. Congress is slated to begin summer recess on Friday and the conference is expected to work on the compromise energy legislation after returning in September. Senators who will work with House lawmakers on a deal in conference include Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the chamber. The Senate energy bill passed in April, while the House energy bill passed last year. Lawmakers in the House have removed items such as limits on energy efficiency that the White House has said Obama would veto. Among items to be worked out between the two chambers will be the speed of LNG export permitting process. The Senate version of the bill limits federal reviews to 45 days while the House version limits them to 30 days. “My objective here is to deliver a law,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, the chairman of the Senate energy committee, said about the conference process, shortly before the measure passed. Before becoming a law, an agreement worked out in conference would have to be passed by both chambers and signed by Obama. Industry group the American Petroleum Institute praised the step, saying the bill would boost U.S. energy infrastructure and ensure “that American natural gas has a dominant place on the world market.” Environmental group the League of Conservation Voters welcomed progress on the debate on energy efficiency but warned that some of the potential measures to be discussed in conference “will not amount to the true overhaul our energy sector needs.” Meanwhile, the House of Representatives debated a bill to fund the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency. The White House on Monday said Obama would veto that measure if it passes because it “underfunds” key Department of Interior programs and slashes the EPA’s operating budget.

French foreign minister visits Libya in new push for U.N. talksTRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya s rival factions should stick to a United Nations peace process and prepare for elections in spring 2018, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday, trying to give stalled U.N. talks a new push. The North African country has two rival governments, one in the east and a U.N.-backed administration in the capital Tripoli in the west, in a conflict stemming from the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. France was a leading player in the NATO intervention against Gaddafi, sending warplanes to bomb his forces. The United Nations launched a new round of talks in September in Tunis between the rival factions to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections in 2018, but they broke off after one month. I noted the desire from the Prime Minister (Fayez al-Seraj) to stick to the calendar. We have a total convergence of views to implement this agenda, Le Drian said after meeting the Tripoli-based prime minister in the Libyan capital. Drian will later fly to the eastern city of Benghazi to meet the powerful eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, who on Sunday called the U.N.-backed government and peace process obsolete. The U.N. talks had stumbled over the question of what role Haftar should play. He indicated on Sunday he wants to run as presidential candidate. Haftar remains popular among Libyans in the east who are weary of the chaos, but faces opposition in western Libya. The eastern-based House of Representatives on Tuesday widened divisions between east and west by approving a new central bank governor. The bank s Tripoli headquarters and U.N. rejected the move. Le Drian said a political deal would help solve crisis of thousands of illegal migrants stuck in detention centers in Libya where human rights groups said they often face abuse. Libyan officials deny this but say they are overwhelmed with a flood of migrants. Libya is to main departure point for illegal migrants heading for Europe by boat.

HEY “SIMPLETONS”…We’ve Got Great News! The Left Is Going To Help You Identify “Fake News” [VIDEO]Lauren Southern is one tough reporter. She s not afraid to jump into the middle of the fire in order to get the truth out to Americans who rely on unreliable leftist sources of information like NYT s, The Huffington Post, PBS, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS. She starts out her video sarcastically telling her viewers, As we know, right-leaning viewers like myself are some of the most gullible people on the planet. Southern then tells readers not to worry because, Our corporate masters are so kind and helpful, making sure no wrong thing gets through to our little ignorant minds. She tells viewers not to worry, us half-wits are in good hands, because social media corporations like Facebook and Google are helping you out by cracking down on fake news sources by using leftist sources like Snopes and Politfact to tell you what you should, and should not believe: I don t know about you, but once I found out about this amazing system, I realized just how lucky I am that now only myself or any other simpletons online will fall for lies ever again. Sometimes fake news doesn t just blow up in the metaphorical sense, where everyone shares it around on social media, but literally as well. In 1993 NBC actually rigged a truck with explosives in order to claim General Motors vans were likely to catch on fire after crashing. Lauren has a few tips for Americans who are sick and tired of being told which news people should, or should not believe in. Southern starts out her video rant by pointing out how fortunate we are to have large corporations who she identifies as our corporate masters with a liberal bent telling right-leaning voters like myself, who are some of the most gullible people on the planet what is and isn t fake news.' Southern warns against trusting that a group of left-leaning social media corporations have your best interests in mind when they hire leftist organizations to tell you what news you should or should not believe. She asks her viewers: With all of the fake news that is floating around, what are we supposed to do? Well, it seems like we have 2 options: The first one is to stop reading the news permanently. We all know the corporate media will lie to you for profit. Google is filtering what we see. Facebook is surpassing stories that have a conservative bent and stops them from trending at all. I personally prefer option 2 where Facebook and Google and whoever else can just stop pretending to be the complete arbiters of truth with their stupid filters and promises of objectivity and go let s back to using our own heads to discern what is and is not a real news story, and compare and contrast facts provided by all news sites from all political viewpoints. It s not that hard. So Facebook, Google and all the rest of you who want to control our news, why don t you guys just screw off! By the way, it s not just Facebook and Google that are helping you to decide what you should and shouldn t believe, Twitter and Youtube are joining in to help viewers determine what content that users post on their social media platforms they deem reliable or unreliable. Behind the curtain, you will likely find hosts from CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC clapping their hands like seals, as this effort to shut down alternate media sources is beginning to effect revenue streams of top conservative sites like Breitbart News. Like a Scarlett Letter, advertisers are now using lists provided to them by leftist organizations to determine who they should or should not advertise with. And since there are very few (if any) left-leaning websites on those lists, you may have already guessed it, publications like the NYT s who have been losing huge amounts of ad revenues to alternative news sources that are eating their lunches, will be able to re-pocket those profits once they regain their monopoly on the news.

Acting SEC chair signals support for penalties in foreign bribery casesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, known for his critical views on corporate penalties, expressed some support on Friday for imposing them in cases in which companies violate foreign bribery laws. “I am generally comfortable with assessing civil monetary penalties in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases,” Acting SEC Chairman Michael Piwowar said in remarks at the Practising Law Institute’s “SEC Speaks” conference. “According to academic literature, there is evidence that when such violations are revealed to the market, the stock price does not always fall, and may even increase,” he added. Piwowar’s comments come at a time when many on Wall Street have been questioning whether the Justice Department and the SEC will ease enforcement of the FCPA. Prior to being elected, President Donald Trump expressed concern about the FCPA, calling it a “horrible law” that should be changed. In addition, Trump’s pick to lead the SEC, attorney Jay Clayton, previously chaired a committee at the New York City Bar Association which drafted a paper that was somewhat critical of how the law was being enforced. Clayton is still awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation. Piwowar’s comments suggest there is likely to be some support among SEC commissioners to continue pursuing foreign bribery cases, given the impact FCPA disclosures have on share prices. Piwowar is well known for being critical about how the SEC decides when to assess corporate penalties generally, amid concerns that sizeable fines against public companies may in some cases unduly punish ordinary shareholders who are already victims of the alleged wrongdoing. He previously voted against imposing penalties against JPMorgan Chase & Co over its “London Whale” trades. The SEC did not win authority from Congress to seek penalties until 1990, and even then, the agency was slow to embrace the practice until after the major accounting scandals at companies like Enron and Worldcom. But in 2006, then-SEC Chair Chris Cox shifted gears amid concerns from some SEC officials about corporate penalties and issued guidance that spells out factors the commission should consider when determining whether to levy them. Piwowar said on Friday he closely follows those guidelines. “It is entirely appropriate to discipline and punish corporate malefactors who violate our laws,” he said. But the SEC must “remember the innocent investors” who are also victims, he added.

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Tour Bus Passenger Wrestles Large Knife Away From Islamist [Video]A brave London tour bus passenger saw a Muslim with a large knife and was able to disarm him VIDEO BELOWThis shows what s happening ALL TOO OFTEN in the U.K. and all over Europe. Terrorism by jihadists using a knife to kill or injure anyone close-by has become the job of the so-called lone wolf jihadist. Do you recall the American woman who was in London on vacation and was randomly murdered on the street by a jihadist? How soon we forget, right?Here s the report of how an American woman was a victim of a jihadist while visiting London THE VIDEO BELOW:U.K.: Passenger managed to grapple and disarm a radical Islamist wielding a large knife on a London tour bus in broad daylight!!! pic.twitter.com/oOiCOpjCtj Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) April 29, 2017How can we even think about importing this to America?

As Republicans aim to ride economy to election victory, a warning from voters in key district KING OF PRUSSIA, Pennsylvania/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the Fox & Hound sports bar, next to a shopping mall in suburban Philadelphia, four Democrats are giving speeches to potential voters as they begin their journey to try to unseat Republican congressman Pat Meehan in next year’s elections. Winning this congressional district - Pennsylvania’s 7th - is key to Democrats’ hopes of gaining the 24 seats they need to retake the U.S. House of Representatives next November. The stakes are high - control of the House would allow them to block President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. On the surface, Democrats face a significant hurdle. In nearly two-thirds of 34 Republican-held districts that are top of the party’s target list, household income or job growth, and often both, have risen faster than state and national averages over the past two years, according to a Reuters analysis of census data. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2Bgq29K) That is potentially vote-winning news for Republican incumbents, who in speeches and television ads can trumpet a strengthening economy as a product of Republican control of Washington, even though incomes and job growth began improving under former Democratic President Barack Obama. “The good economy is really the only positive keeping Republicans afloat,” said David Wasserman, a congressional analyst with the non-partisan Cook Political Report. Still, trumpeting the good economy may have limited impact among voters in competitive districts like this mostly white southeast region of Pennsylvania bordering Delaware and New Jersey, which has switched between both parties twice in the past 15 years. Many of the two dozen voters that Reuters interviewed in the 6th and 7th districts agreed the economy was strong, that jobs were returning and wages were growing. A handful were committed Republicans and Democrats who always vote the party line. About half voted for Meehan last year, but most of those said they were unsure whether they would vote for him again in 2018. Some said they were disappointed with the Republican Party’s handling of healthcare and tax reform as well as Trump’s erratic performance. About half also felt that despite an improving economy, living costs are squeezing the middle class. Drew McGinty, one of the Democratic hopefuls at the Fox & Hound bar hoping to unseat Meehan, said the good economic numbers were misleading. “When I talk to people across the district, I hear about stagnant wages. I hear about massive debt young people are getting when they finish college. There’s a lot out there not being told by the numbers,” he said. Still, Meehan, who won by 19 points in last November’s general election, is confident the strong economy will help him next year. He plans to run as a job creator and a champion of the middle class. “The first thing people look at is whether they have got a job and income,” Meehan said in a telephone interview. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton carried the district by more than two points in the White House race, giving Democrats some hope that they can peel it away from Republicans next November. Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said the election will essentially be a referendum on Trump. The economy might help Republicans, he said, but other issues will likely be uppermost in voters’ minds, like the Republican tax overhaul - which is seen by some as favoring the rich over the middle class - and Trump’s dismantling of President Barack Obama’s initiative to expand healthcare to millions of Americans, popularly known as Obamacare. Indeed, healthcare is Americans’ top concern, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month. Next is terrorism and then the economy. “Healthcare will be the No. 1 issue,” in the election, predicted Molly Sheehan, another Democrat running to unseat Meehan. Democrats have warned that dismantling Obamacare will leave millions of Americans without health coverage, and political analysts say Republicans in vulnerable districts could be punished by angry voters. Republicans argue that Obamacare drives up costs for consumers and interferes with personal medical decisions. In Broomall, a hamlet in the 7th District, local builder Greg Dulgerian, 55, said he voted for Trump and Meehan. He still likes Trump because of his image as a political outsider, but he is less certain about Meehan. “I’m busy, which is good,” Dulgerian said. “But I actually make less than I did 10 years ago, because my living costs and costs of materials have gone up.” Dulgerian said he was not sure what Meehan was doing to address this, and he was open to a Democratic candidate with a plan to help the middle class. Ida McCausland, 65, is a registered Republican but said she is disappointed with the party. She views the overhaul of the tax system as a giveaway to the rich that will hit the middle class. “I will probably just go Democrat,” she said. Still, others interviewed said the good economy was the most important issue for them and would vote for Meehan.     Mike Allard, 35, a stocks day trader, voted for Clinton last year but did not cast a ballot in the congressional vote. He thinks the economy will help Meehan next year and is leaning toward voting for him. “Local businesses like the way the economy is going right now,” he said. In the 7th district median household income jumped more than 10 percent from 2014 to 2016, from $78,000 to around $86,000, above the national average increase of 7.3 percent, while job growth held steady, the analysis of the census data shows. Overall, the U.S. economy has grown 3 percent in recent quarters, and some forecasters now think the stimulus from the Republican tax cuts will sustain that rate of growth through next year. Unemployment has dropped to 4.1 percent, a 17-year low. In midterm congressional elections, history shows that voters often focus on issues other than the economy. In 1966 the economy was thriving, but President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Democrats suffered a net loss of 47 seats, partly because of growing unhappiness with the Vietnam War. In 2006, again the economy was humming, but Republicans lost a net 31 seats in the House, as voters focused on the Iraq war and the unpopularity of Republican President George W. Bush. In 2010, despite pulling the economy out of a major recession, Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans, mainly because of the passage of Obamacare, which at the time was highly unpopular with many voters. “When times are bad, the election is almost always about the economy. When the economy is good, people have the freedom and the ability to worry about other issues,” said Stu Rothenberg, a veteran political analyst.

Turkey kills 99 Kurdish militants in latest operations: militaryANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish security forces have killed 99 Kurdish militants, including a high-ranking one, in operations in southeast Turkey over the last two weeks, the armed forces said on Saturday. Security forces targeted outposts and caves used by the militants for shelter and storage in the southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Hakkari, near the Iraqi border, the military said in a statement. Ninety-nine terrorists have been neutralized. One is in the so-called leading ranks, it said. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union, has waged a more than three-decade insurgency against the state. The PKK, which seeks autonomy for the largely Kurdish southeast, has bases in the mountains on both sides of the Turkey-Iraq border and is frequently targeted by Turkish security forces. The operations, which were carried out between Aug. 24 and Sept. 7, led to the seizure of 420 kg (925 lbs) of ammonium nitrate, used to make explosives, as well as bombs, guns and rifles, the military said.

Britain's Prince Harry says thrilled at engagement to U.S. actress MarkleLONDON (Reuters) - Britain s Prince Harry, who announced earlier on Monday he was engaged to his American girlfriend Meghan Markle, said they were both thrilled as they posed for their first picture together after the announcement. Thrilled. Over the moon, Harry said when asked how he felt. When asked by reporters when he knew she was the one, he said: The very first time we met. Asked if his proposal was romantic, Harry replied: Of course it was, before leaving with an arm around his fiancee who showed off her diamond engagement ring to photographers.

THIS ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING THE MEDIA MISSED That Tells You How The Candidates Feel About America