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INSANITY! HARRY REID CLAIMS Putin And Comey Conspired To Make Trump President [Video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWbYpIj7CQ8
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Hillary Is Asked What Will Happen If Trump Becomes President, She Responds For ALL OF US (VIDEO)Hillary Clinton, currently leading the race to become the Democratic candidate for President in Election 2016, made an appearance on The View this week. She was asked what it will mean for women if the GOP wins this year, and her answer was perfect.Hillary was poised on the couch with the women of The View, when co-host Joy Behr got real with the candidate over a growing issue with the GOP campaign: their despicable attitudes and policies around women. Behr begins, Women seem to be under fire right now more than ever. She then goes on to list a number of worrying events coming out during the GOP primary race. She includes the slut-shaming attacks made by Ted Cruz and Donald Trump against each other s wives, all three GOP candidates being in favor of a total ban on abortion (even in cases of incest and rape), and a female reporter even being thrown by by Trump s campaign manager. It s frightening, she says What do you think will happen to women if a Republican gets in the if Trump wins, god forbid? She added: What s gonna happen to us? Hillary takes a pause to consider her answer, but when it lands, she really nails it. Instead of joining the ever escalating war of insults which is what the GOP race has reduced to Hillary Clinton stays classy, and gets to the heart of the issue facing America right now. He has insulted everybody and he has demeaned everybody, Clinton says, running us through a grim reminder of various individuals and groups that the GOP and Trump have taken aim at over the months. I don t think the vast majority of Americans let s hope want to reward that hateful behavior. This is the core of the issue for the vote in 2016, what do we want to reward as an electorate? Which America is going to win in 2016? The hopeful progressive version that brought us so far in the world, or the scared, envious, divided America that will lose it s way in a fast-moving world bent on progress? It s difficult to recall a time where an election where so much was at stake, and our votes counted to much. Featured image via screencapture
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Iraq oil ministry warns oil companies against Kurdistan contractsBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s oil ministry on Thursday cautioned oil companies against signing contracts with Iraqi Kurdistan. On Wednesday Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft signed an agreement to put production sharing agreements into force with respect to five production blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan.
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Unprecedented not to hold Senate hearing on top court pick: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Any decision not to hold a U.S. Senate hearing on President Barack Obama’s eventual Supreme Court nominee would be unprecedented, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday. “This would be a historic and unprecedented acceleration of politicizing a branch of government,” Earnest told reporters as top Senate Republicans vowed not to hold a hearing for any Obama choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
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HOW OBAMA’S NEW DOJ PLANS TO BYPASS CONGRESS TO IMPLEMENT GUN CONTROLEric Holder in a skirt Obama s Department of Justice is working on more than a dozen new gun control regulations it plans to begin implementing apart from Congress. Some of the regulations are set to be put in place by November, others simply by the end of the Obama administration.According to The Hill, the regulations range from new restrictions on high-powered pistols to gun storage requirements and the issuance of new rules expanding criteria for people who do not quality for gun ownership. Part and parcel to this new criteria will be an ATF-implemented ban on gun ownership for anyone convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence. Gun Owners of America s Michael Hammond warns that under this rule the person barred from gun ownership could be [someone] who spanked his kid, or yelled at his wife, or slapped her husband. The new regulations will also include ATF enlargements on mental health-based gun ownership bans. Hammond summed this up by saying, The Obama administration is trying very hard to disqualify people from owning a gun on the basis that they are seeing a psychologist. And the NRA pointed out that because most mentally ill persons pose no threat to society, the new regulations will actually become snares [for] masses of mostly harmless individuals. The NRA added: Not only is this unjust and stigmatizing, it creates disincentives for those who need mental health treatment to seek it, increasing whatever risks are associated with untreated mental illness. In other words, people who might actually need some minor mental health attention may refuse to pursue it for fear of losing their guns.The ATF is also working on rules that would require gun dealers to report gun thefts, provide gun storage and safety devices. In March the NRA warned that then Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch would be Eric Holder 2.0. Yet in April, ten Republican Senators sided with Democrats and confirmed Lynch as AG. The Hill reports that those Republicans included:Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)42% Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)49% Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)40% Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)54%Via: Breitbart News
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Colombia's FARC rebels to meet Kerry in Cuba during Obama tripHAVANA/BOGOTA (Reuters) - Members of Colombia’s Marxist FARC guerrillas will meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Cuba, a spokeswoman for Colombia’s government peace negotiators said on Sunday, adding a twist to a historic visit to the island by U.S. President Barack Obama. The meeting with Kerry on Monday will be the first time a U.S. secretary of state has met the negotiators from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, who have been talking peace with the Colombian government in Havana for more than three years. “At around 4 p.m. (2000 GMT), the meeting between Kerry and the FARC delegation will take place,” after the Colombian government delegation meet him, the spokeswoman said. A source at Colombia’s Office of the High Commissioner for Peace said the rebels and Colombian government negotiators would also go to an exhibition game between Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba’s national team on Tuesday. That game will be attended by Obama, who on Sunday became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years. But FARC negotiator Pastor Alape said he was not aware of an invitation to attend the baseball game. He said that before meeting with Kerry, the rebels would meet the U.S. special envoy for Colombian peace talks, Bernard Aronson, to agree on an agenda. The United States sees the Colombian peace talks hosted in Havana as an example of how restoring normal relations with Cuba can help its wider goals in Latin America. Latin America’s longest war has killed some 220,000 people and displaced millions of others since 1964. The government and rebels are attempting to reach a deal that would be placed before Colombian voters for approval, with a U.N. mission supervising rebel disarmament. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by the nom de guerre Timochenko, had set a self-imposed March 23 deadline to reach a comprehensive pact but have since conceded that goal may not be reached. Washington designated the FARC as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, and many of its leaders have been indicted in the United States on charges of cocaine trafficking.
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WATCH: After Facing Angry Constituents At Town Hall, GOP Rep Runs Out The Back DoorJust one day after Paul Ryan failed to garner support from his own base to repeal and replace Obamacare, a proposal alleged president Donald Trump staunchly supported, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) had to face hundreds of angry constituents at a town hall in Texas on Saturday. Let s just say that he didn t have a good weekend.We ll give Culberson credit for at least showing up while many of his colleagues refuse to face their own constituents. There were claims that the angry constituents were paid protesters, but, to gain entry into the auditorium attendees had to prove their residency by showing either a photo I.D. with a current address or a photo I.D. with a current utility bill.Constituents packed into a Houston middle school auditorium that was filled to a capacity of 700 with many remaining outside. About 500 people remained in a line outside, shouting, Let us in! Let us in!Culberson had to face questions about Donald Trump and the Republicans agenda on health care. You know what, folks? I m either going to answer the question, or we re just going to spend the time yelling, Culberson told his crowd of constituents, according to the Houston Chronicle.The Texas congressman told his constituents that even though Republicans failed to pass Trumpcare, he was still committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare. That, too, didn t go down well. The only way to fix it is to replace it, he said while his constituents chanted, Fix it, the Texas Tribune reports.When asked about the amateur president s proposal to cut the State Department, Culberson said he did not support the cuts while the crowd chanted, Yes or no. I just answered, he responded. The answer is no. I ll work hard to protect the Department of State. Culberson was pretty much booed the entire time:He also said he would support funding for the National Institutes for Health and the National Endowment for the Arts, per the Texas Tribune. He told the crowd that he would support funding for public broadcasting in the short term, but that those programs should ultimately be self-supporting, which was met with boos from the crowd, according to the Houston Chronicle.Here s the video:As a shock to no one ever, Culberson said it is up to the President whether he releases his tax returns.Then, instead of taking questions from constituents who waited for an hour and a half outside and reporters who were behind him, Culberson quickly left through the back door after the town hall. Funny thing, when you try to take away healthcare from millions of Americans, they get mad.Image via screen capture.
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WATCH: Doctor Hilariously Tears Apart Donald Trump’s Ridiculous Health LetterDonald Trump is taking a lot of fire over the letter his alleged physician wrote about his health, but it got hilariously worse on Thursday.Dr. Jennifer Gunter appeared on CNN with Chris Cuomo to discuss the letter, which was written in December by Dr. Harold Bornstein in lieu of an actual medical report.In her own examination of the letter, Gunter questioned Bornstein s terminology and picked apart how he diagnosed the Republican nominee throughout. Being able to unequivocally state that somebody would be the healthiest individual is just not a factual statement, right? Gunter said. You would have had to examine every other president to be able to say that, so that s incorrect. And then Gunter hilariously hammered how Bornstein described Trump s lab test results. Lab results aren t reported as being astonishingly excellent or not we give lab values of positive or negative. Then there s the fact that he says all of Mr. Trump s results are positive which, of course, would be a bad thing. When I tell someone they have gonorrhea, when they have a positive test for gonorrhea, they re not happy about that. That s not astonishingly excellent. Nope, I m guessing they would not be, doc, Cuomo replied. Interesting example you give there. So has Donald Trump ever had gonorrhea? It s definitely a question worth asking since Trump brags about how many women he has slept with. In 1997, Trump told radio host Howard Stern that sleeping around was his personal Vietnam and that he was lucky that he didn t contract any sexually transmitted diseases.Of course, Trump would never admit it if he did contract an STD, so who is to say he didn t lie when he talked to Stern?After all, all of his test results were apparently positive according to his physician. We don t know why Donald Trump lost 15 pounds he says he likes to eat KFC a lot, so that s a concern, Gunter continued. That s really important, you can t put a piece of medical information out there and not follow it up. Gunter then called for Bornstein to explain the inaccuracies stated in the letter. There s a lot of inaccuracies, and I think that the doctor should explain why he wrote it that way. If that s his letter and that s how he writes, what s the big deal about saying, This is me, and gosh, I made a mistake in saying which section that doesn t exist at Lenox Hospital that I thought I was in. So I think there s a lot of a inconsistencies, and you have a document that s this important it should be accurate. I want my health information to be accurate, I want the information I write about someone else to be accurate, and I guess we all wonder, if this part s inaccurate, what else is inaccurate, too? Here s the video via Twitter.Doctor lays out problems with Donald Trump s health letter: There s a lot of inaccuracies https://t.co/hex4QIjQDG https://t.co/690IMjNBom New Day (@NewDay) August 25, 2016As Donald Trump and his minions continue to spread false claims about Hillary Clinton s health, it s only fair to start asking questions about his own. And that means Trump s doctor note is fair game.The fact is, however, that Hillary has released her own detailed medical report written by her doctor while Trump continues to hide his own medical history from the voting public. He hoped that a bullshit letter would be enough, but going after Hillary s health only brought up new questions about his own. Voters deserve to see Trump s real medical history. If he is as healthy as he brags he is then he should have nothing to fear. But just like his taxes, Trump clearly doesn t want his medical history revealed because it could damage him even more than he has done to himself already.Featured image via screen capture
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Twitter Destroys Trump For Using Dwyane Wade’s Personal Tragedy To Pander For Black VotesDonald Trump s pathetic effort to reach out to black voters got even more disgusting on Saturday, and social media took him to the woodshed for it.On Friday, 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge was killed in Chicago after two gunmen opened fire on another man. She was an innocent bystander who was simply picking up her kids from school.She s also the cousin of Chicago Bulls star Dwyane Wade, who has spoken out repeatedly against gun violence.Wade announced his cousin s death via Twitter, expressing his grief and once again condemning the gun violence that has plagued the city.My cousin was killed today in Chicago. Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids lost their mom for NO REASON. Unreal. #EnoughIsEnough DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016Wade s mother, a pastor, spoke at the hospital where her niece died. Just sat up on a panel yesterday, The Undefeated, talking about the violence that s going on within our city of Chicago, never knowing that the next day we would be the ones that would be actually living and experiencing it, she said. We re still going to try and help these people to transform their minds and give them a different direction, so this thing won t keep happening. Supporters of Donald Trump, however, used the sad incident as a reason to pander for Wade s support. @DwyaneWade vote for trump MADAME (@MagicRoyalty) August 27, 2016And the Republican nominee used the tragedy to pander to black voters on Saturday in a desperate move to fix his imploding poll numbers.Dwayne Wade s cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2016Trump literally used this tragedy to declare that black people will vote for him even though he has not specified how he will prevent these shootings from continuing. Wade and his family have not even had time to mourn their loss and Trump is already politicizing it for personal gain.This is about as sick as politics gets, and to add insult to injury, Trump couldn t even be bothered to spell Wade s first name correctly.And as usual, Twitter was quick to jump all over Trump for his insensitivity and lack of human compassion. That s an honest question, @realDonaldTrump: what is wrong with you? You say Clinton just sees black people as votes. What did you just do? Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) August 27, 2016Also, @realDonaldTrump, will you be citing all black murders going forward as reasons to vote Trump? Or just those related to famous people? Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) August 27, 2016 @realDonaldTrump You are disgusting. Vic Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) August 27, 2016.@realDonaldTrump I m sure you are all Dwayne Wade s family can even think about right now!! Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) August 27, 2016 @realDonaldTrump delete your account. Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 27, 2016.@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/v5epogIuqY Netflix and Bill (@PimpBillClinton) August 27, 2016 @realDonaldTrump rolls out The Trump Condolence Card Collection Julie Silver (@JulieAnnSilver) August 27, 2016@realDenaldTrump @realDonaldTrump This is beyond politics. A young woman died and a child lost his mother. Trump is sick and disgusting. Judith Raquel (@GWGMJ30) August 27, 2016 @realDonaldTrump you are so insensitive. Using the tragic death of a mother of four to draw attention to your campaign . chuck swirsky (@ctsbulls) August 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump A family s tragedy is not a political opportunity. Fuck you. HarleyPeyton (@HarleyPeyton) August 27, 2016Trump even took the original tweet down and posted it AGAIN, this time spelling Wade s name correctly but changing nothing else. But Twitter continued ripping him a new one. @realDonaldTrump Not even a thought and a prayer this time? Sahil Lavingia (@shl) August 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump please stop. Andy Cole (@AndyCole84) August 27, 2016 I m actually humiliated *for* you is there a word for that? @realDonaldTrump csd (@csd) August 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump what does someone getting killed have to do with a certain skin tone voting for you ? [*L_*]Reign iN ? (@MightBeReign) August 27, 2016 @realDonaldTrump You don t realize misspelling his name wasn t the offensive part of that tweet. I m starting to pity you. (@MornMoor) August 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump You re not just tone deaf, you re a self-satisfied orange-faced humanity vacuum. Andrew W Chamings (@AndrewChamings) August 27, 2016Seriously, Republicans should be hanging their heads in shame right now. This is unforgivable and should make Trump totally unelectable.Featured image via Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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U.S. agency seeks ideas for Trump's proposed border wallWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said on Friday it will accept proposals next month for the design of a wall to be built near the U.S.-Mexican frontier, a first step in picking vendors for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. In a document on the federal government’s website for business opportunities, the CPB said it would release a request on or about March 6 asking companies for prototype ideas for a wall to be built near the U.S.-Mexican border. After reviewing the ideas submitted by vendors, the agency will evaluate and select the best designs by March 20, then issue a request for proposals by March 24 in which vendors would be asked to price out the cost of building the proposed wall. The document says multiple awards for the barrier are expected by mid-April as part of the process, an aggressive schedule for a government construction project. “It’s going to start soon. Way ahead of schedule, way ahead of schedule,” Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the solicitation published on Friday had “everything to do” with the wall that Trump has proposed. The spokesman said the initial request for information was to give industry the opportunity to tell the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, what is possible in constructing a border wall. “Once we get feedback from the vendors, we’ll look at the ones that are most feasible,” the spokesman said. That would be followed by the request for proposals to firm up exactly how much constructing the wall would cost. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report seen by Reuters this month indicated the border wall would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion to build and take more than three years to complete. The report’s estimated price tag is much higher than a $12 billion figure cited by Trump in his campaign and estimates as high as $15 billion from Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The plan laid out what it would take to seal the border in three phases of construction of fences and walls covering just over 1,250 miles (2,000 km) by the end of 2020. With 654 miles (1,046 km) of the border already fortified, the new construction would extend almost the length of the entire border.
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Russia's Putin hosts Assad in fresh drive for Syria peace dealMOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for three hours of talks to lay the groundwork for a new push by Moscow to end Syria s conflict now that Islamic State s territory is overrun. Russia is trying to broker an international consensus around a peace deal for Syria, over two years after Moscow began a military intervention that turned the tide of the conflict in Assad s favor. Putin said he would follow up his meeting late on Monday with Assad by talking soon to international leaders with influence over the conflict, among them U.S. President Donald Trump, the Saudi king, and the leaders of Iran and Turkey. In a more than hour long phone call on Tuesday, Trump and Putin stressed the importance of the U.N.-led peace process in resolving the Syrian civil war, the White House said. According to the Kremlin, Putin told Trump that the Syrian leader confirmed adherence to the political process, to run a constitutional reform and presidential and parliamentary elections. Previous attempts to end Syria s six years of war have foundered because of bitter disagreements, especially on whether Assad himself should stay in power. After the talks in Russia Assad s first publicly-declared travel outside Syria since a trip to Moscow in October, 2015 a Kremlin spokesman declined to say if Assad s own future had come up in the discussions, saying only that was up to the Syrian people. The White House statement made no mention of Assad s future. U.S. officials have said Assad has no future governing Syria. Putin meanwhile also spoke with Saudi King Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The half-hour conversation with Netanyahu dealt with Iran s attempts to gain a foothold in Syria and Israel s opposition to such moves, according to a source in Netanyahu s office. The Israeli leader stressed his country s security concerns, the source said. In a sign that international attempts may be underway to bridge the differences between rival sides in the Syrian conflict, leading opposition figures, including former prime minister Riyad Hijab, resigned. Hijab headed the opposition High Negotiations Committee, formed with Saudi backing, and had insisted on Assad s removal from power at the start of a political transition. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in Moscow, said the resignations would make the opposition more reasonable and realistic. On Wednesday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani whose countries back opposing sides in the Syria conflict will travel to Russia for a three-way meeting with Putin aimed at advancing the Syrian peace process. Assad s visit to Russia was brief and closely-guarded. He flew in on Monday evening, held talks, and flew out four hours after landing, according to the Kremlin. Officials did not release word of the meeting until Tuesday morning. Sitting either side of a small coffee table in a conference room at Putin s residence in Sochi, southern Russia, Putin told Assad it was time to pivot from a focus on military operations to a search for a peaceful solution. Syrian government forces and their allies at the weekend took control of Albu Kamal, the last major Syrian town held by Islamic State. We still have a long way to go before we achieve a complete victory over terrorists. But as far as our joint work in fighting terrorism on the territory of Syria is concerned, this military operation is indeed wrapping up, Putin told Assad, in comments broadcast by Russian television. Now the most important thing, of course, is to move on to the political questions, and I note with satisfaction your readiness to work with all those who want peace and a solution (to the conflict), Putin said. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, dressed in an olive-colored uniform, looked on as Putin and Assad spoke. Wearing a dark suit and sitting across from Putin, Assad told the Russian leader: At this stage, especially after we achieved victory over terrorists, it is in our interests to move forward with the political process. And we believe that the situation we now have on the ground and in the political sense permits us to expect progress in the political process. We count on the support of Russia to ensure the non-interference of outside players in the political process, he said through an interpreter. We don t want to look backwards. We welcome all those who truly want to see a political solution. We are ready to have a dialogue with them, said Assad. Putin and Assad last met in Moscow on Oct. 20, 2015, a few weeks after Moscow launched its military operation in Syria, which has beaten back anti-Assad rebels and propped up struggling government forces. Underscoring the importance of the Russian military to Assad, Putin presented the Syrian leader to top military commanders assembled at his Sochi residence. On behalf of the entire Syrian people, I express my gratitude for what you have done, Assad told them. We will not forget it. Assad s opponents, and Western governments, have accused Russia of killing significant numbers of Syrian civilians with its air strikes, allegations Moscow denies. Some people familiar with the Kremlin s thinking say that, to reach a peace deal, Russia would not insist on Assad staying in power as long as the institutions of the Syrian state remained intact. But while Russia is not wedded to Assad, Iran is committed to him. Iranian forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia have played a big role in the fighting on the ground, supporting Assad s forces. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah thanked and praised Shi ite militias including Afghans and Iraqis for their role in the Syria war in a speech on Monday night. He said the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Qods Force, Major General Qassem Soleimani, had led the battle for Albu Kamal from the frontlines.
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Senate to vote on Iran sanctions renewal this weekWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate will vote this week on a bill that would renew sanctions on Iran for 10 years, Senator Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s Republican leader, said on Tuesday in remarks as he opened the daily session. If the extension of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) is passed as expected, it would be sent to the White House, where President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly last month for the extension of the ISA, first passed in 1996 to punish investments in Iran’s energy industry and deter the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The act will expire at the end of 2016 if not renewed. The Obama administration and other world powers reached an agreement last year in which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But members of Congress said they wanted the ISA to stay in effect to send a strong message that the United States will respond to provocations by Iran and give any U.S. president the ability to quickly reinstate sanctions if Tehran violated the nuclear agreement. White House officials have said they did not think the reinstatement was needed, now that the nuclear agreement has been in effect for almost a year. But they also have not raised concerns that a renewal would violate the deal.
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#BlackLivesMatter Terrorists Using #BlackRail On Twitter To Organize Shut Down Of Rail Before MN Vikings GameSanctioned domestic terrorists taking direction from our Organizer In Chief and funding from his billionaire marxist friend, George Soros. Are there new laws about acts of terrorism and threats against Americans that we re unaware of? Since when did it become okay to threaten innocent people taking their families on a train to a football game with their radical behavior? Are we still in America? #BlackLivesMatter St. Paul is planning to shut down light rail before the Minnesota Vikings game on Sunday. This is a typical act for the group which often tries to disrupt traffic during specific events or rush hour.FOX 9 in Minneapolis reported: Black Lives Matter plans to shut down light rail before Vikings home openerThe group Black Lives Matter Saint Paul announced their plans on Facebook Thursday to shut down the light rail before the Vikings home opener this Sunday. Sunday September 20th is the Minnesota Vikings home opener, big money day, so what better day to shut the light rail down and disrupt business as usual, they said in a press release. Enough is enough of business as usual! We must bring an end to white supremacy and the status quo. Black Lives Matter Saint Paul refers to an incident on Aug. 31 when Marcus Abrams, 17, was beaten into multiple seizures by a group of Metro Transit police officers. On Sunday, the group will be joined by Abrams, his mother, and many others to talk about Autism, police brutality, and bringing an end to white supremacy. The demonstration is set to occur around 9:30 a.m. in St. Paul, starting just south of University Ave. on Lexington across from Dairy Queen. The light rail Green Line runs along University Avenue and includes stops on the University of Minnesota campus, where the Vikings are playing at noon at TCF Bank Stadium.Organizers are using the hashtag #BlackRail for Sunday s protest.Via: Progressives Today
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German police arrest five in raid of Nigerian 'husband' smuggling ringBerlin (Reuters) - Police in Germany on Tuesday arrested five people suspected of smuggling Nigerian men into the country through fake marriages, the German federal police said in a statement. Four hundred police officers raided 41 apartments and rooms believed to be linked to the gang in Berlin and other German cities, it said. The gang s suspected leaders - four women and a man, ranging in age from 46 to 65 - were arrested. Germany s newspaper Bild reported that a German federal police investigation conducted together with Portuguese authorities and Europol had found at least 70 men were brought in illegally through arranged marriages with Portuguese women. Europol, the European Union s law enforcement agency, served as a host for operational meetings between the Portuguese and German investigators, the police said. Clients had paid up to 13,000 euros ($15,550) for fake certificates, with part of the sum going to women who would fly from Portugal to join their husbands at the German immigration office to apply for an EU residency permit. Similar cases were detected in June when the police found that more than 700 German men in Berlin had married pregnant asylum seekers from Vietnam, Africa and Eastern Europe for money so the mothers would obtain a residency permit and for the future babies to be born as German citizens. The German Interior Ministry estimates there are about 5,000 such cases per year nationwide.
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China's big banks halt services for North Koreans, tellers saySHANGHAI (Reuters) - China s Big Four state-owned banks have stopped providing financial services to new North Korean clients, according to branch staff, amid U.S. concerns that Beijing has not been tough enough over Pyongyang s repeated nuclear tests. Tensions between the United States and North Korea have ratcheted up after the sixth and most powerful nuclear test conducted by Pyongyang on Sept. 3 prompted the United Nations Security Council to impose further sanctions on Tuesday. Chinese banks have come under scrutiny for their role as a conduit for funds flowing to and from China s increasingly isolated neighbor. China Construction Bank (CCB) (601939.SS) has completely prohibited business with North Korea , said a bank teller at a branch in the northeastern province of Liaoning. The ban started on Aug. 28, the teller said. Frustrated that China had not done more to rein in North Korea, the Trump administration was mulling new sanctions in July on small Chinese banks and other firms doing business with Pyongyang, two senior U.S. officials told Reuters. A person answering the customer hotline at the world s largest lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) (601398.SS), said the bank had stopped opening accounts for North Koreans and Iranians since July 16. The person did not explain why or answer further questions. The measures taken by the largest Chinese banks began as early as the end of last year, when the Dandong city branch of China s most international lender, Bank of China Ltd (BoC) (601988.SS), stopped allowing North Koreans to open individual or business accounts, said a BoC bank teller who declined to be identified. Existing North Korean account holders could not deposit or remove money from their accounts, the BoC bank teller said. At Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (AgBank) (601288.SS), a teller at a branch in Dandong, a northeastern Chinese city that borders North Korea, said North Koreans could not open accounts. The teller did not provide further details. Official representatives for BoC, ICBC, CCB and AgBank could not be reached for comment. Banks in Dandong have been under the microscope as tensions have risen, given their proximity to North Korea. In June, the United States accused the Bank of Dandong, a small lender, of laundering money for Pyongyang. Attempts to slowly choke off the flow of funds to and from North Korea come after the United States sanctioned a Chinese industrial machinery wholesaler that it said was acting on behalf of a Pyongyang bank already sanctioned by the United Nations for supporting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Chinese wholesaler was found to be operating through 25 accounts at banks in China. Although measures are in place, some bankers questioned how well the rules would be enforced. Chinese lenders have experienced high-profile failures to police money-laundering in recent years, with some facing allegations that bankers were complicit in the movement of illicit funds. Asking whether we will be able to enforce the new rules is the same question as asking how tight our know-your-client checks are, said a senior corporate banker at the Bank of China who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. There will always be holes, she said.
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Mexico's Pena Nieto says disaster funds limited, need to rework budgetMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico s President on Wednesday said that funds would need to be reassigned from other areas of the government towards reconstruction efforts next year after a series of earthquakes that damaged at least 150,000 homes. Today, the reconstruction needs more resources, and this should be reflected in the presidential budget debate next year, President Enrique Pena Nieto said in a news conference with ministers who gave a preliminary damage estimate of $2 billion. The government presented its draft 2018 budget earlier this month, but that proposal will now probably have to be modified, he added.
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TAKE THIS SHORT QUIZ: Which Radical Said It? We Guarantee The Answers Will Surprise You… Here are six trivia questions to see how much history you really know. The answers are very revealing. If you don t know the answer, make your best guess. Answer all of the questions (no cheating) before looking at the answers.Hint: The answers to these questions aren t all Barack Obama.1) We re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. A. Karl MarxB. Adolph HitlerC. Joseph StalinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above2) It s time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few And to replace it with shared responsibility, for shared prosperity. A. LeninB. MussoliniC. Joseph StalinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above3) (We) can t just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people. A. Nikita KhrushevB. Joseph GoebbelsC. Boris YeltsinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above4) We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own in order to create this common ground. A. Mao Tse DungB. Hugo ChavezC. Kim Jong IID. Barack ObamaE. None of the above5) I certainly think the free-market has failed. A. Karl MarxB. LeninC. MolotovD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above6) I think it s time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched. A. PinochetB. MilosevicC. Saddam HusseinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above(1) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004(2) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007(3) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(4) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(5) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(6) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005
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4th of July: Why the Shadow Government Hates Independence DaySARTRE 21st Century WireThe only conclusion any honest American citizen can come to is that the Republic is dead. Once again the flags wave and the songs play as the parades march to celebrate another 4th of July.Picnic meals are eaten while children frolic in the warn sunshine of summer. Few people reflect on the true meaning that established the solemn commemoration of the nation s birth. The reality of this post federation of independent state sovereignty is that a centralized federal behemoth has superseded the original intent of Thomas Jefferson s vision: That government is best which governs least .Today the society that exists demands compliance or compels obedience by way of punishment.The empire that emerged after World War II has established an Amerika Imperium. With the consistent dumbing down of the youth, indoctrinated in government schools and the mind control impact from the mass media, the culture has abandoned the timeless principles that our country was founded upon.In the essay, Independence Day for Whom?, the struggle for freedom and liberty was fought against the British empire. Most citizens acclaim this revolution as the greatest achievement of a besieged population. Ponder just how far the promises from a rebellion of Englishmen has deteriorated into a dumping ground for foreigners, who do not believe in the values and responsibilities upon which this struggle was fought.For a more precise view of The Meaning of Independence Day, the true reasons for waging a war to create a beacon of hope in the New World has a history that fewer people understand, much less devote their allegiance to its preservation.Just how has a country of freedom loving patriots allowed the systematic destruction of their once beloved nation? A primer on some of the reasons for this betrayal can be reviewed in the End of Independence Day essay. With the internationalism of foreign policy, the traditional America First viewpoint of the Founding Fathers was abandoned.The end result is that The Death of Independence, is now upon us. Over the decades, a replacement aristocracy emerged that transplanted the elected representation of the public will. The real control behind the legislative office holders and certainly the executive branch under any president, demonstrate that ignoring the canons within the Declaration of Independence is a prime requirement to wield power in Washington DC.Frustrated and disenfranchised citizens voted for Donald Trump based upon his articulation on the issues that genuine patriots would support. No matter what anyone thinks of the man or believes about the inordinate attacks directed at him and his administration, the indisputable fact is that the establishment wants to see him fail.Simply put, the actual rulers of the global supremacy wants the financial dominance of the central banking system to continue and perfect their governance. Amerika is pivotal in maintaining their forced submission. The basis of the Shadow Government surreptitiously functions in the darkness of public exposure.Routing out any effort or initiative for independent representation is the standard modus operandi. The populace is generally ignorant of the existence of this empowerment cabal. People are led to believe that the Deep State is simply the technocrats that never leave their positions of administrating agencies. Regretfully, it is not realistic to facilitate a clean sweep of the careerists who routinely sabotage any directive that compromises the interests of the permanent bureaucracies and their masters.Trump may prove to be a dragon slayer, but the hatching of genetically rotten eggs continues. The column, Can the Swamp Really be Drained? addresses this issue. The single most persistent element that drives authorities away from the maxims of the American Revolution, centers within the attitude that government acts in the interests of the people.Such deficiencies in understanding of the vile nature and the actual record of coercive regimes, stands as a major obstacle to the liberation of the mind. Rejecting the legitimacy of the criminal syndicate that purports to be the lawful authority is essential.Examine the book review, American Amnesia the Liberal Case for Government, which debunks the lunacy that rationalizes the worship of government control over society. Such a demented academic viewpoint logically concludes that the celebration of Independence Day must be based upon the triumph of the all powerful leviathan government over a decentralized autonomous and local accountable authority.Authentic nationalism must rest upon the pillars of individual liberty. When the 4th of July becomes a cartoon carnival of the Deep State, the only beneficiary is the Shadow Government.President Trump is not the cause nor is he the solution to reinstitute an American Renaissance Revolution. However, to the degree that he can raise the consciousness within the country, his presence in the oval office becomes a peril to the comrades, who want to destroy our national independence.When the hypocrites from the political class and the treachery from the fake news purveyors is confronted, then and only then, will a real independence celebration become a true national commemoration.The enemy is not just at the gate, they have become the jailers for the deplorable resistance. The intent is to isolate and eliminate the heartland dissenters because they are the only threat that has the ability to win the infowar of ideas. Since the establishment is hell-bent on waging a civil war against the faithful, the remnant and torch guardians must commit to the purging of the fifth column subversives that occupy the government.As the establishment and mainstream media sharks continue to encircle the Trump agenda, their blood thirsty appetite quickens. Their Dracula heritage has drained the inherent vital courage from the masses that subsist in a pseudo reality imposed by a hostile New World Order.This perceptibility is categorically opposite to the fundamental precepts that were universally accepted when the country was founded. Independence Day deserves a proper reverence. Before the nation can earn that privilege, it must mature and own up and admit that the de facto foe of the populist is the very government that so many celebrate.[Let us not forget, it s meant to be a government by the people, and for the people]See more of SARTRE s original work at BATR.netDiscuss or comment about this essay on the BATR ForumREAD MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire TRUMP FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV
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Missing Argentine submarine highlights years of military underfundingBUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The search for an Argentine submarine missing in the South Atlantic for more than a week has highlighted the dwindling resources and lack of training faced by the armed forces since the end of a military dictatorship in the early 1980s. As South America s second-largest economy has lurched from one crisis to the next in recent decades, military funding has not been a priority for cash-strapped governments, and an incident like the disappearance of the ARA San Juan was a problem in the making, military and political analysts said. Human rights violations perpetrated by the dictatorship broke the bond between society and the armed forces, said Andrei Serbin Pont, research director at the CRIES think tank in Buenos Aires. He said a rethinking of the military s role in society was long overdue. The majority of Argentines don t really care about the armed forces, therefore politicians aren t particularly interested in maintaining any sort of military policy or defense policy, he said. Since the loss of the Falklands War to Britain in 1982 and the fall of the dictatorship the following year, military spending has fallen from 2.16 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to a low of 0.87 percent in 2011, according to World Bank data. While it inched up to 0.96 percent of GDP last year, spending remains well behind neighboring Brazil and Chile, which spent 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent of GDP on their militaries, respectively, the data show. It is too early to determine the cause of the disappearance of the ARA San Juan, and an intense search and rescue effort continued on Wednesday. But Argentina s submarine fleet has been among the areas of the military most plagued by a lack of funds. In 2014, the fleet spent a total of just 19 hours submerged, versus the 190 days needed for the fulfillment of operational and training needs, according to a May 2016 report by specialist publication Jane s Sentinel. The fact that you had so little use of the submarines was an indication that clearly they were a problem waiting to happen, said Evan Ellis, a research professor focusing on Latin America at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. President Mauricio Macri pledged to improve the 26,000-strong armed forces capabilities during his campaign in 2015. His administration s 2016 State of the State report noted that 70 percent of the Defense Ministry s budget was spent on wages and pensions, rather than investment. The conditions in which they work are practically impossible. I m talking about all the armed forces, Elisa Carrio, a key member of Macri s Let s Change coalition, said in a recent television interview. But since taking office in December 2015, Macri has not markedly improved the financing situation. The 2018 budget calls for a 14 percent increase in funding for the Defense Ministry, below inflation expected at 15.7 percent. In March, then-Defense Minister Julio Martinez told Reuters Argentina lacked money to buy aircraft or replace an aging fleet. The German-built ARA San Juan was launched in 1983 and underwent a local upgrade beginning in 2008 which included the replacement of its four diesel engines and its electric propeller engines, according to Jane s Sentinel. Shortly before giving its last location on Nov. 15, the submarine reported an electrical outage. Concerns about the state of the vessel surfaced when video was published by newspaper Perfil of a tense meeting between Macri and relatives of some of the 44 crew members. Does someone have to die for things to change? Could you not have invested in this before? one sailor s wife was recorded telling Macri. Macri said the ship s level of maintenance, not its age, was what mattered, and that authorities were convinced the submarine was in good condition. Argentine news media have reported that the search has sparked friction between the navy and the defense ministry, with civilian authorities concerned that the military has not been forthcoming with information. Navy officials have denied this. A ministry source, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters the ministry has opened an investigation into the incident and has not ruled out criminal charges once the search operation is complete.
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LIBERAL DUMMY GARY JOHNSON Can’t Name One Foreign Leader [VIDEO]Maybe comedy is a better career choice for Gary Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee for president, had been raring for Wednesday night s town hall on MSNBC. He had been cut from the first televised debate after missing the polling threshold, and he had not been invited when the network hosted a commander-in-chief forum with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. This was their consolation prize, Johnson told The Washington Post this week when asked about the MSNBC special. It was put to us that, look, you weren t in this initial program. Here s what we d like to offer in lieu of being with the two major-party candidates. And I said, An hour of prime time Chris Matthews? I ll take it. But the hour didn t go as planned. Johnson, who had been pilloried for blanking on the relevance of the Syrian city of Aleppo in another MSNBC interview, whiffed his way through an even easier foreign policy question. Who s your favorite foreign leader? Matthews asked. Who s my favorite? Johnson replied. Anywhere in the continents, Matthews said. Any country. Name one foreign leader that you look up to. William Weld, Johnson s running mate, chimed in with an assist: I m with Shimon Peres. I m talking about living, okay? Matthews said. You gotta do this. Any continent. Canada, Mexico? I guess I m having an Aleppo moment, Johnson said. In the whole world! Matthews said. Anybody in the world. I know, I know, Johnson said. Pick any leader, Matthews said. The former president of Mexico, Johnson said. Which one? Matthews said. I m having a brain freeze, Johnson said.Weld, who had left the governor s office in Massachusetts in an unsuccessful attempt to become ambassador to Mexico, began naming the country s former presidents. Fox? Zedillo? Calderon? Fox, Johnson said with a combination of jubilation and relief. He was terrific.
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Moscow invites 33 Syrian groups to November 18 peace congress in RussiaMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Tuesday invited 33 Syrian groups and political parties to attend what it called a Syrian Congress on National Dialogue which it is organizing in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 18. The list of invitees was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry s website. Russian officials have suggested they hope the congress can consider what a new constitution for Syria might look like and discuss possible political reforms.
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Coke Just Stuck It To Trump’s Bigotry With The Most BRILLIANT Super Bowl Ad EVER (VIDEO)The whole nation is ashamed of the open and overt exclusion and bigotry shown by Donald Trump, his administration, and his supporters. This sentiment was ratcheted up a thousand fold when Trump signed a hateful immigration order the promised Muslim ban thinly cloaked in false claims about national security concerns that threw the nation and world into chaos, tore families apart, and put many lives at risk.Well, the Super Bowl is perhaps the most watched program of the year, and it is the perfect time to show people what one thinks, via those famous commercials. Coke decided to do just that, and it was nothing short of brilliant.The popular soft drink company aired an ad at the beginning of Sunday s game where America the Beautiful was being sang in different languages, showing the beautiful diversity of America in the many faces of our country. Every race, color, creed, national origin, religion everything you could think of is represented in this amazing commercial.Donald Trump might want to white wash America, with the help of the likes of white supremacists like Steve Bannon, but he cannot kill our inclusive spirit.Well done, Coke! I ll definitely be supporting you in your efforts to be real American patriots.Watch the commercial below:I hope that Coca-Cola pisses off the racist-bigots again with their #SuperBowl Commercial. #Coke pic.twitter.com/zyE7j4eWx2 Kim Is Bored (@Kim_is__bored) February 5, 2017Featured image via video screen capture
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WATCH: ANTI-GUN RAPPER, Obama-Fanboy Snoop Dogg Uses Gun To Assassinate President Trump In New VIDEOWatch:Here is Snoop Dogg s latest music video glorifying the assassination of President Trump. If Snoop Dogg is correct and the youth listens to their message, are they listening to this message?
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U.S. warns North Korean leadership will be 'utterly destroyed' in case of warSEOUL/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States warned North Korea s leadership it would be utterly destroyed if war were to break out after Pyongyang test fired its most advanced missile, putting the U.S. mainland within range, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Trump administration has repeatedly said all options are on the table in dealing with North Korea s ballistic and nuclear weapons programmes, including military ones, but that it still prefers a diplomatic option. Speaking at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley said the United States had never sought war with North Korea. If war does come, it will be because of continued acts of aggression like we witnessed yesterday, she said. ...and if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed. Haley said the United States has asked China to cut off oil supply to North Korea, a drastic step that Beijing - the North s neighbour and sole major trading partner - has so far refrained from doing. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping talked on the phone earlier on Wednesday. Just spoke to President Xi Jinping of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled! Trump wrote on Twitter. Previous U.S. administrations have failed to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and a sophisticated missile programme. Trump, who has previously said the United States would totally destroy North Korea if necessary to protect itself and its allies from the nuclear threat, has also struggled to contain Pyongyang since he came to office in January. Urging China to use its leverage and promising more sanctions against North Korea are two strategies that have borne little fruit so far. In a speech in Missouri about taxes, Trump, who has traded insults with the North in the past, referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with a derisive nickname. Little Rocket Man. He is a sick puppy, Trump said. For a graphic on North Korea's missile program, click tmsnrt.rs/2twm7W3 North Korea, which conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test in September, has tested dozens of ballistic missiles under Kim s leadership. Pyongyang has said its weapons programmes are a necessary defence against U.S. plans to invade. The United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, denies any such intention. North Korean state media said on Wednesday the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was launched from a newly developed vehicle in a breakthrough and that the warhead could withstand the pressure of re-entering the atmosphere. Kim personally guided the missile test and said the new launcher was impeccable . Pyongyang claimed it had finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force . Russia s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called on North Korea to stop its weapons tests and for the United States and South Korea not to hold military drills in December as it would inflame an already explosive situation . The official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial that the latest launch may have been prompted by the Trump administration s decision to label North Korea a sponsor of state terrorism. Beijing wants the two belligerents to calm down and is vexed that a golden opportunity to encourage Pyongyang into talks was casually wasted by the Trump administration, the paper said. The clock is ticking down to one of two choices: learning to live with the DPRK having nuclear weapons or triggering a tripwire to the worst-case scenario, it added. North Korea said the new missile soared to an altitude of about 4,475 km (2,780 miles) - more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station - and flew 950 km (590 miles) during its 53-minute flight. It flew higher and longer than any North Korean missile before, landing in the sea near Japan. Photos released by North Korean state media appeared to show a missile being positioned on the launch site by a mobile vehicle, designed to allow the missile to be fired from a wider number of areas to prevent it being intercepted before launch. Kim is shown laughing and smiling with officials both next to the missile as it is readied, and in a control booth. The launch itself shows the missile lifting off amid smoke and fire, with Kim watching from a field in the distance. U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded from satellite and other data that the test missile was fired from a fixed position, not a mobile launcher, three U.S. officials said. One official said the test appears to demonstrate a more powerful North Korean solid-fuel propulsion system, especially in its second stage rocket. The photos also revealed a larger diameter missile, which could allow it to carry a larger warhead and use a more powerful engine, said David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a U.S.-based nonprofit science advocacy group. Three U.S. intelligence analysts said they were trying to assess whether North Korea s comments meant Kim might now be open to a longer halt in testing in order to reopen negotiations that might help prevent, or at least defer, the imposition of additional sanctions. The officials also noted, however, that North Korea has not proved it has an accurate guidance system for an ICBM or a re-entry vehicle capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and surviving a return from space through Earth s atmosphere, meaning further tests would be needed. An international meeting in Canada in January is designed to produce better ideas to ease tensions over Pyongyang s nuclear and ballistic missile tests, Canadian officials said on Wednesday, although North Korea itself will not be invited. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States has a long list of additional potential sanctions, some of which involve potential financial institutions, and the Treasury Department will be announcing those when they re ready to roll those out . In just three months, South Korea hosts the Winter Olympics at a resort just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border with North Korea. (For a graphic on North Korea's missile and nuclear tests, click tmsnrt.rs/2f3Y8rQ ) (Interactive graphic: Nuclear North Korea, click tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF )
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BOOM! Indiana YMCA Takes CNN Off TV’s After Members Complain About “Fake News”The term fake news has become attached to some of America s major news outlets. Now a YMCA in Valparaiso, Ind., has decided to ban CNN from its TVs after customers complained the news network falsifies stories. In order to eliminate perceived political bias associated with national news outlets, the Valparaiso Family YMCA will only be showing local news channels in the future, the Valparaiso YMCA said in a statement.Chicago Tribune reporter/columnist Jerry Davich said he asked Valparaiso YMCA CEO Robert Wanek to elaborate on why the decision was made, and Wanek responded, I cannot pinpoint the change origins, only to add that we get dozens of requests to change channels every day from numerous interest groups. We just want the Y to be a haven for wellness where people come together and have a sense of belonging, gain new relationships and achieve their personal goals, Wanek added. We will display local news moving forward. Davich complained that the Y s decision to remove all national news outlets from its televisions says more about its leaders than its members. You d think this story would be just another example of fake news. Sadly, it s not. He said he wondered if the company was simply exercising its right to appease as many members as possible, or is the new Donald Trump-led America already flexing its muscles? YMCA member Greg Quartucci told CBS Chicago the decision to remove CNN from wellness center TVs was made shortly after Trump confronted CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta, calling his network terrible and fake news. WJ
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Clinton visits Atlantic City boardwalk to hit Trump on casino bankruptciesATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton visited the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City on Wednesday to highlight Republican rival Donald Trump’s casino bankruptcies, warning he would bring the same cutthroat approach to managing the U.S. economy. Clinton, standing next to the shuttered Trump Plaza casino that Trump once owned, said the real estate developer routinely profited from the financial ruin of workers in the economically depressed seaside resort town. “The people he’s trying to convince to vote for him are the same people he’s been exploiting for years - working people, small-business people,” Clinton said. Clinton said Trump’s casino bankruptcies and numerous complaints against him by contractors showed he cannot be trusted to set economic policy from the White House. “He makes over-the-top promises and says if people trust in him, put their faith in him, he’ll deliver,” she said. “Then everything falls apart, people get hurt, and Donald gets paid.” The Trump Plaza was one of four casinos Trump once owned in Atlantic City. He left the city after his last bankruptcy. Clinton frequently uses criticism of Trump’s business record to illustrate a principle campaign theme - that the wealthy New Yorker is only interested in boosting his financial bottom line, and not concerned about the economic struggles of working Americans. Clinton reminded supporters who gathered on the boardwalk under a boiling sun, within steps of the city’s beach, that Trump had promised to “do for the country what I did for my business.” She said Trump intentionally ran up hundreds of millions of debt on his companies, borrowed at high rates, defaulted on the loans, and left in the lurch the workers and contractors who relied on his casinos for income. “That says everything you need to know about Donald Trump,” Clinton said. “It’s not about what he can build. It’s about how much he can take.” Atlantic City has struggled economically in recent years as a series of casinos have closed. The city’s 10 percent unemployment rate is nearly double the national average, and closed buildings pockmark its boardwalk. In an emailed statement, Trump defended his bankruptcy filings on casinos and other projects as a commonly used practice to restructure a business and ultimately save jobs. “I created thousands of jobs and made a lot of money in Atlantic City, which was what, as a businessman, I am supposed to do for my company and my family – and as President I will make America rich again,” he said. “Nobody understands the economy like I do and no one, especially not Crooked Hillary Clinton, will do more for the economy than I will.” After the speech, Clinton drove a few blocks to shake hands with dozens of striking workers outside the Trump Taj Mahal, another of the casinos that Trump once owned. Her attack on Trump’s business dealings came as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee blasted her integrity following an FBI report that criticized her use of private email during her tenure as secretary of state. Clinton did not address the email issue during her stop in Atlantic City. On Tuesday, FBI Director James Comey said the agency would recommend no criminal charges against Clinton for her use of private email servers. But Comey rebuked her for what he said was “extremely careless” handling of classified material on her email servers, and contradicted her claims that she never transmitted or received classified material on that email system. Republican lawmakers criticized Comey for what they saw as lax treatment of Clinton, and on Wednesday, committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican, announced that Comey will testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday to explain the bureau’s “surprising and confusing” recommendation. The FBI has been investigating whether Clinton broke the law as result of personal email servers kept in her Chappaqua, New York, home while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, including whether she mishandled classified information on the servers.
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John Lewis Has the PERFECT Birthday Message For Hillary And Trump Will Be FURIOUS (TWEET)Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) is a civil rights icon. He took beatings in the infamous Bloody Sunday massacre in Selma, Alabama at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Of course, after Donald Trump was elected, Rep. Lewis, like all sane people, was horrified, and questioned his legitimacy. This led Trump to strike out in his usual petty and in this case, racist fashion, and the two have been on the outs ever since. Therefore, What John Lewis had to say to Hillary Clinton for her birthday on Twitter is sure to reignite the feud. Rep. Lewis simply tweeted:Happy Birthday, Madame President @HillaryClinton John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) October 26, 2017Of course, the Russians helped elect Trump, and Hillary won the popular vote by more than three million people. Further, Trump is clearly unfit for the office he is currently squatting in, and he is destroying our democracy as we speak. The Electors should have refused to certify his election, and the Electoral College should have functioned as the Founders intended. Further, the American public elected Hillary Clinton, a quirk that allowed a few counties in a few states to flip the electoral votes along with the Russians elected Trump. He is illegitimate. So, to that end, hats off, Rep. Lewis, and to our beloved Hillary Clinton Happy birthday, Madame President!Featured image via Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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South Korea to 'wait and see' after Trump threat to scrap free trade dealSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is adopting a “wait and see” stance, government officials said on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters he would “renegotiate or terminate” a free trade pact between the two countries. The won KRW= turned lower against the dollar soon after Trump's comments, trading down 0.2 percent at 1,132.5 to the dollar. South Korea's benchmark share index .KS11 fell, wiping out earlier gains, to stand down 0.03 percent at 2,208.73 points by 0207 GMT (10:07 p.m. ET). “Talk and actual policy are different,” a high-ranking official at the finance ministry, who declined to be named, as he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters. “They have not requested anything from us so we’ll have to wait and see.” He reiterated comments by Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho the previous day that South Korea had not yet received any official requests on the renegotiation of the pact, which took effect in 2012. The deal was great for South Korea, but “terrible” for the United States, Trump told Reuters in the interview. A senior trade official also told Reuters the ministry would need to coordinate with Washington on the trade deal, but declined to elaborate further, as he needed time to look into the matter. South Korea’s automobile industry body expressed concern over the possible revision of the trade deal. Shares of Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) extended losses, and were down as much as 2.4 percent after Trump’s comments.
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Rocker Neil Young, a Canadian, talks U.S. presidential politics (Reprise Records corrects release date of next album to June 24 from June 17, last paragraph) By Jane Ross (Reuters) - Neil Young, a Canadian citizen, can’t vote in the upcoming U.S. presidential election - but the 70-year-old rocker has plenty to say about it. In a video interview with Reuters ahead of the release of his new album “Earth,” the Grammy-award-winning singer-songwriter excused Donald Trump for using his music without asking his permission. Trump’s use of “Rockin’ in the Free World” during the Republican nominee’s campaign launch raised heckles last June. Young’s management company released a statement at the time saying that Trump was not authorized to use the song in the announcement of his presidential candidacy. Young now says he has nothing against Trump using his song. He just would have liked to have been asked.     “The fact that I said I was for Bernie Sanders and then he didn’t ask me to use ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ doesn’t mean that he can’t use it,” said Young, who has long lived on a ranch in California. Young confirmed the Trump’s campaign statement that the campaign had a license agreement with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for the right to play the recording. “He actually got a license to use it,” Young said. “I mean, he said he did and I believe him. So I got nothing against him. You know, once the music goes out, everybody can use it for anything. “But if the artist who made it is saying you never spoke to them, if that means something to you, you probably will stop playing it. And it meant something to Donald and he stopped.” Young says his support for Sanders in the election race was still strong, despite Hillary Clinton’s lead in the contest for the Democratic nomination. “He’s the only one talking about the issues, about issues that matter to me, the issues on my mind - problems of corporate control of democracy and everything slipping away and not being able to have six major companies owning all the media in the United States,” Young said. Young has retained his Canadian citizenship. Although becoming a U.S. citizen would allow him to vote in the country’s November presidential election, he dismisses the notion.  “Oh, that would be a big ruse. I’m a Canadian. There’s nothing I can do about that,” he said. But, he says, he will keep on talking politics, in his music and in public. “I vote in my own way, by making a lot of noise. If you don’t want to listen to me, fine. If you don’t want to vote like I would, don’t. But I still have a voice.” Young’s latest album, featuring live recordings of songs from throughout his career, will be released on June 24 on Reprise Records.
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Democrat Spills The Beans On Why Hispanics Love Obamacare So Much [Video]Was Obamacare engineered to buy the votes of Hispanics? A possible Vice Presidential candidate for Hillary Clinton lets the cat out of the bag.HUD Secretary Julian Castro says Hispanics have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act and the reason that Clinton has strong support in the Hispanic community is because she has a long track record of supporting the issues that Hispanics care about. Appearing on MSNBC s Andrea Mitchell Reports Thursday, Castro told guest host Peter Alexander that despite the fact Marco Rubio is running for president for the Republicans the challenge that the Republicans have is not really about personality. They have the personality, they have the folks that will go out there and say a few words in Spanish. Their problem is the policy and that s a very big problem for them in this cycle. Read more: Daily Caller
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PRESIDENT AND FIRST LADY SHINE AT G7 Opening Ceremony in Ancient Greek TheatrePresident Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made a splash at the G7 with Melania s incredible fashion sense and Trump s bold leadership style. The First Lady has been en pointe and President Trump has been successful at keeping the summit topic off of the climate change and on terrorism and trade.First Lady Melania Trump arrived in Sicily in a beautiful floral jacket by Italian designers Dolce & Gabanna stunning!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4CbneabCsYTHE FIRST LADY DITCHED THE FLORAL JACKET WHEN SHE MET WITH OUR MILITARY:Thank you to the @usarmy 1-214th Aviation Regiment for getting me & my staff to our mtgs safely! #G7 #Catania #Italy pic.twitter.com/UtfjAKFBtC Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) May 26, 2017At the ancient Greek Theater in Taormina, Italy. G7 leaders, their spouses and other EU officials attended a sunset concert by La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlJiN9WXCQINCREDIBLE!Gorgeous evening #G7Taormina #Italy #Potus&Flotus pic.twitter.com/vpDLHFFPB8 Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) May 26, 2017This trip has been a success at bringing America back as a world power. Having an alpha male president is a good thing. No more leading from behind for us!
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Sessions' role as U.S. attorney general unsettles legalized pot industrySACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The prospect of Senator Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general has cast uncertainty over the country’s nascent legalized marijuana industry, souring deals and disrupting share prices since the longtime critic of the drug was nominated. The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination of Sessions by a vote of 52-47 after strong opposition from Democrats.. The Republican senator from Alabama has opposed attempts to legalize marijuana and reduce drug sentences and once urged the death penalty for drug traffickers. Trump named Sessions as his choice to lead the Justice Department on Nov. 18, shaking the exuberance of an industry that last year reached $7 billion in legal sales and generated half a billion dollars in sales taxes. The choice of Sessions drove some businesses back underground and scared away investors, industry experts said. Growers are seeking advice on how to protect themselves from a crackdown, while other cannabis companies are seeking ways to shield their records from investigators. “Everyone’s back into wait-and-see mode,” said Sasha Kadey, chief marketing officer for Greenlane, which distributes cannabis accessories such as vapor smoking devices. “Because one doesn’t want to paint a target on one’s back.” More than two dozen U.S. states have legalized some form of marijuana for medical or recreational use, but the drug remains illegal at the federal level. The administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama mostly tolerated the state legalizations, focusing on big cases or transactions that involved other crimes, such as selling pot to children. Trump has said in the past he would defer to states on marijuana legalization, and has not addressed the issue since he was elected last November. But Sessions, asked about marijuana policy at a Senate confirmation hearing last month, said that if Congress no longer wanted to criminalize marijuana, it “should pass a law that changes the rules.” “It’s not so much the attorney general’s job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we are able,” Sessions said. Neither the administration nor Sessions responded to requests for comment. Massroots, which makes a mobile app that allows people to review and discuss cannabis strains, lost 14 percent of its share price in the three trading days after Sessions’ nomination, and it was promptly removed from the Google Play app store, said Chief Executive Isaac Dietrich. The share price has since recovered and is up 24 percent since Nov. 18. At Greenlane, Kadey changed the company’s plans for a new line of premium, child-resistant packaging, deciding to market it without using the words marijuana or cannabis. “There was a sharp drop in the stocks post-election,” said analyst Tom Adams, editor-in-chief of Arcview Market Research. “There were deals lost and second thoughts had by many people.” An index of 33 publicly traded legal cannabis companies followed by Arcview dropped to a low of 284 points after the election from a high of 418 in October, analyst Michael Arrington said. The index has since regained much but not all of that value, hitting 379 on Jan. 6, the most recent date for which the company has data. An effort to ramp up prosecution of federal marijuana offenses would reinvigorate the black market in cannabis and limit the states’ ability to regulate both legal and illegal sales, said Andrew Freedman, who last month left a job as Colorado’s top marijuana regulator to become a consultant in the industry. Tighter enforcement could also threaten $140 million in taxes from marijuana sales that Colorado has used for education and other purposes, Freedman said. Since the election, volatile valuations have complicated potential deals for companies that are up for sale, said Steve Gormley, CEO of the cannabis private equity firm Seventh Point, LLC. Khurshid Khoja, a San Francisco Bay-area attorney who specializes in cannabis issues, said the climate was stalling deals as companies grow nervous about opening their books.”It’s that they just don’t know,” Khoja said
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Slain Philippine teenager's family files murder complaint against policeMANILA (Reuters) - The parents and lawyers of a Philippine high school student shot dead last week filed a murder complaint on Friday against three anti-narcotics policemen amid rare public outrage about the country s war on drugs. The death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos on Aug. 16 in a rundown area of Manila has drawn huge domestic attention to allegations by activists that police have been systematically executing suspected users and dealers, a charge the authorities deny. The head of the Public Attorney s Office (PAO) and the parents of the slain youth submitted the complaint against the three policemen at the justice department, calling for them to be charged with murder and breaches of a law on torture. The PAO, a government agency, provides indigent litigants free legal assistance. Delos Santos was found dead in an alley with a gun in his left hand. Police said they killed him in self defense, but his family said he had no weapon, was right-handed and had no involvement in drugs. Security cameras showed the officers aggressively escorting a man matching delos Santos description in the direction of the spot where he was killed. The three policemen admit they were the people shown in the video, but that they were escorting another suspect, not delos Santos. PAO and police pathologists who did separate autopsies told a Senate hearing that delos Santos was shot from above, from close range. It was cold-blooded murder, he was shot while kneeling down, PAO chief Persida Acosta told news channel ANC. We are here for truth and justice so we have to file this immediately. The complaint, if accepted, would follow at least two cases filed last year against police over President Rodrigo Duterte s war on drugs, which has killed thousands of Filipinos, outraged human rights groups and alarmed Western governments. Most Filipinos however support the campaign, according to opinion polls, and domestic opposition has been muted. Several police commanders relieved of their duty over the student s killing told a Senate inquiry on Thursday that delos Santos was not the target of their operation, and his links to drug were known to them only the day after his death. Officers said they learned of his suspected links to drugs from another drug suspect, a cellphone and chatter circulating on social media. Delos Santos was among more than 90 people killed last week in three nights of intensified raids dubbed One Time, Big Time , which had Duterte s steadfast support. The term refers to a coordinated police drive to stamp out crime in a particular district. The teen s killing puts focus on Duterte s repeated promises to police administering the crackdown that he would insulate them from any legal consequences. Critics say his rhetoric is tantamount to giving police a license to kill. Duterte took a softer tone on Wednesday, telling police to arrest suspects and kill only if their lives were in danger, adding that he would not protect those who killed unarmed people.
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Clinton ad blitz outpaces Trump as his Super PACs bow outNEW YORK (Reuters) - In the crucial last weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign, Democrat Hillary Clinton has dramatically widened her advantage over Republican rival Donald Trump in ad spending, according to campaign finance reports released on Thursday.     The newest filings showed Clinton’s campaign and Super PAC outspending Trump in the first three weeks of October by a factor of two to one on everything from national TV ads to local outreach on smartphone screens.     At the same time, the two Super PACs associated with Trump’s White House bid have seen their fundraising start to stall out, with one of the groups reserving no broadcast or cable ads between Oct. 20 and Election Day, according to data from ad-tracking firm SMG Delta. Clinton and Priorities USA, the Super PAC that supports her, have spent $360 million on all types of advertising since the beginning of the campaign, said the new reports, which covered spending through Oct. 19. That total blows away the $147 million spent on advertising by Trump and his two affiliated Super PACs during the same period.     What’s more, for the period beginning Oct. 20 and running through the Nov. 8 election, Clinton and her Super PAC have reserved an additional $55 million in TV ads, according to SMG Delta, including $30.5 million from her campaign and $25 million from her Super PAC. A Super PAC is a fund-raising group that must operate separately from political campaigns but can raise unlimited sums. The Trump campaign has committed to spending $32.4 million during the same period, with the Trump Super PAC known as Great America PAC saying it would also contribute another $2.35 million in broadcast and cable ads. The newest batch of campaign finance filings also reveal that the celebrity businessman’s recent vow that he would contribute in excess of $100 million to his campaign out of his own fortune has also fallen short.     Trump contributed $56 million through the end of September, chipping in an additional $31,000 since then.     Spending on television commercials does not decide an election. Trump, with his controversial statements and inflammatory tweets, has mastered the art of garnering free media coverage, which is expected to top $5 billion by Election Day, more than double the amount Clinton is likely to earn, according to data analytics tracker mediaQuant.     But ever since Trump’s campaign began to falter last summer after he criticized the family of a slain U.S. soldier, Clinton has been able to use her ad spending juggernaut to repetitively pound at criticisms of Trump, which several strategists said had exacerbated his slide in polls, where he now lags Clinton by eight percentage points.     Trump could pour more money into his ad operation in the final 11 days of the campaign. Republican presidential campaign operatives said areas where Trump could still spend included battleground states, national ad buys and digital outreach and phone banking.      But they also said it may be too late for such outlays to make a difference.         “The stations would gladly take his money,” said Fred Davis, a major Republican ad maker. “I just don’t think he will.”     During the Republican nominating contests, Trump vanquished 16 opponents in part by eschewing campaign finance mainstays such as ads and pollsters.     “He felt he won the primary with basically no ad spending by being a larger-than-life TV personality. It worked,” Davis said. But the general election, he added, was “a whole new ballgame.” Many of Clinton’s TV ads have focused on upbeat messages featuring her work on behalf of women and children. She’s also spent a large amount of her advertising budget attacking Trump, including a commercial that showed children listening to some of his most demeaning remarks about women.     Trump’s ads, by contrast, paint a dark picture of America, besieged by violence and on the brink of economic destruction.     Rick Wilson, a former strategist for Republican Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, said “ads don’t matter, until they do,” adding that comments by Trump that critics have called racist and sexist were providing maximum ammunition for Clinton.     Trump may not be able to rely on his small cadre of big donors, either: Make America Number 1 PAC – a super PAC formed by conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer - raised nothing between Oct. 1 and 19. At the same time, Trump has also stopped doing high-dollar fundraisers. Overall, the reports released on Thursday night showed how much Trump and his lean campaign operation have been dwarfed by Clinton’s big money juggernaut. In total, Trump has raised $292 million between his campaign and affiliated Super PACs, including his own contributions, whereas Clinton has hauled in more than twice that, at $718 million.
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Hadi calls on Yemenis to rise up against Houthis after Saleh's death - live speechDUBAI (Reuters) - Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called on Yemenis on Monday to rise up against the Iran-aligned Houthis after the death of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Speaking in a speech carried live on the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television, Hadi also called for a new chapter in the fight against the Houthis, who were allied with Saleh before he turned on them and offered to back the Saudi-led coalition.
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Trump’s Own Diversity Council Member Fact-Checks Him On DACA: ‘He’s A Liar’ (VIDEO)Donald Trump s team is turning against him at record speed, and he s just been sent a strong message by a member of his own diversity council.Recently, Trump announced that he is going to get rid of the DACA program, marking his latest attack on immigrants. While much of America is furious over this, it seems like Trump has pissed off even his own team. Javier Palomarez, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and diversity council member to Trump, just destroyed Trump for recently claiming that he loved the 800,000+ people in the program. Palomarez pretty much tore Trump apart on CNN as he told Jim Acosta: If he gets rid of DACA, he s showing that he s a liar. He has said to this country that he is going to try to protect the people in the DACA program, that he was focused on getting rid of criminals. Palomarez made sure to point out the positives of DACA recipients, which includes high graduation and employment rates far from the drug dealers and rapists labels that Trump had made up for immigrants during his 2016 presidential campaign. Palomarez even stated that he was so disgusted with Trump s announcement that he is considering resigning from Trump s diversity council. He said: I m gonna work right up until the bloody end to try to convince this president to do the right thing by these 800,000 Dreamers who reside in this country. Trump s policies and plans are disgusting even members of his own team. So far, any of Trump s staff have resigned over his inhumane ideas, and there aren t any signs of this pattern slowing down. Trump is a nightmare for any administration members that give a damn about human rights, and it s clear that many members are struggling with the lack of morale. You can watch the interview below:Featured image via Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
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No cause to fire special counsel Mueller: deputy attorney generalWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The No. 2 official at the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday told Congress the special counsel investigating Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign is going to have “the full degree of independence” he needs. “Director Mueller is going to have the full degree of independence that he needs to conduct that investigation appropriately,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told a Senate appropriations subcommittee, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller. Rosenstein, who has the sole ability to fire Mueller given that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from matters relating to the investigation, told the panel he had seen no evidence of good cause for letting Mueller go and that he would not follow any theoretical order to fire him absent such evidence.
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U.S. House committee examining barriers to Puerto Rico recovery: official(Reuters) - The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources said it will work to identify red tape and other bureaucratic hurdles to speed up Puerto Rico’s recovery and rebuilding, as the island struggles to recover from the impact of Hurricane Maria. Committee Chairman Rob Bishop said in a press call on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal partners will also likely be engaged for years in helping Puerto Rico get back on its feet. Bishop added that an emergency response will be executed through FEMA and local officials. “An emergency funding package is taking place as we speak to support those efforts,” he said. On Tuesday a White House official told Reuters the White House was preparing a $29 billion disaster aid request to be sent to Congress after hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida. The request was expected to come on Wednesday. It will combine nearly $13 billion in new relief for hurricane victims with $16 billion for the government-backed flood insurance program. Bishop said under evaluation was also the question of whether to modify or give additional power to the oversight board tasked with overseeing Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were battered by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Hurricane Maria knocked out power to Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents last month, devastating the island’s already dilapidated electric power infrastructure. Following a closed-door meeting of the committee, Puerto Rico’s Republican delegate, Jenniffer Gonzalez, told reporters there are ongoing discussions among members of Congress, White House aides and the Treasury Department over a possible short-term loan to Puerto Rico, which she said will face a liquidity crisis in November. She said it was unclear whether Trump might be able to issue an executive order, if he so desired, to provide quick financial help or whether Congress would have to act. Representative Raul Grijalva, the senior Democrat on the panel, said of PROMESA after the meeting: “I said let’s open it up and see what is working and see what is not applicable in this situation, what we need to suspend.” PROMESA is the federal 2016 rescue law under which Puerto Rico in May filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
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Italy police arrest woman mafia boss, 24 others in Palermo dragnetPALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - Police in the Sicilian capital of Palermo scooped up 25 suspected mobsters on an array of charges on Tuesday, including a woman accused of filling in as boss for her imprisoned husband. More than 200 police, two helicopters and five canine units took part in the early morning roundup of the suspects. They are accused of extortion, handling stolen goods, vandalism and being mafia members, according to the arrest warrant seen by Reuters. With extensive use of wiretaps and ambient recordings, police reconstructed territorial divisions in the city and the internal power struggle that made Maria Angela Di Trapani, 49, a powerful figure inside one of the city s historic clans. Her husband, Salvatore Salvino eyes of ice Madonia, who is in jail for murder. Police said she carried messages from her husband to clan members and organized monthly payments to the families of imprisoned mobsters. She also designated who should be running the mob family s business, or who should be acting boss , on behalf of her husband. In one wiretap, an accused clan member refers to her as the mistress of the house , and the police statement on the arrests said she was the real boss of the Resuttana neighborhood. For all intents and purposes, she acts like a real man, a turncoat told investigators, according to the court documents. The Sicilian mafia, or Cosa Nostra, has been hurt by a series of arrests in recent years, weakening the crime network, especially compared to the Calabrian Ndrangheta. With many bosses in jail, their wives have begun to play larger roles. While Cosa Nostra has been much weakened by the result of judicial investigations, this case shows the continuing ability to use violence, intimidation, and the mafia code to force business and shop owners to pay extortion, the warrant reads. During the two-year investigation, police documented 33 separate crimes and 22 attempts, many successful, to extort shops and businesses, police said.
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Ivory Coast accepts tribunal ruling in border dispute with GhanaABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast has accepted a ruling by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea that favored Ghana in a dispute over the location of the maritime boundary separating the two West African neighbors, an Ivorian government spokesman said. What s important is to preserve our good neighborly relations with Ghana, Bruno Kone said on Monday. And this judgment allows for a definitive demarcation of the maritime boundary.
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Trump arrives in Philippines for Asian leaders' summitMANILA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in the Philippine capital Manila on Sunday to attend an annual gathering of leaders from East and Southeast Asian countries. Trump arrived from Vietnam, where he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, during which he delivered a strong message on trade and briefly met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The Philippines will be the last leg of a tour that has also taken Trump to Japan, China and South Korea. Just hours before Trump’s arrival, Philippine riot police used water canon to prevent hundreds of anti-American protesters from reaching the U.S. embassy in Manila.
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BREAKING: OBAMA’S “Director Of Diversity” Donates Hundreds Of Thousands Of Tax Payer Dollars To Open Borders, Other Radical GroupsOf course anyone on Obama s Team Fundamental Transformation of America is exempt from any of the consequences the rest of America would have to face for the same unlawful actions To meet the Obama administration s goal of implementing a robust diversity strategy at the Department of Defense (DOD), the agency s director of diversity violated government rules by distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to controversial leftist groups. Adding insult to injury, a consulting firm gets nearly half a million dollars from the DOD to help distribute the money to groups even those that don t qualify that support the Pentagon s diversity strategy and program objectives. Among the recipients is the notorious open borders group League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Minority Access Inc., a Maryland-based nonprofit committed to decreasing disparities and reducing incidences of environmental injustices, and the renowned National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Others include the Society of American Indian Government Employees and the Asian American Government Executive Network. In all, the Pentagon s Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity (ODME) gave these and other groups north of $300,000, according to a DOD Inspector General report released this month. These are considered affinity groups involved with networking or professional associations that are often race, ethnic background or gender based, according to the report.The high-ranking official who violated DOD and government rules by doling out the cash to unqualified non-federal entities (NFE) is Clarence Johnson, the DOD s Director of Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity. In 2010 Johnson, a veteran Pentagon official, was assigned to assist the Army in implementing a robust diversity strategy. The position came with a hefty budget to support diversity outreach functions and Johnson launched a cash giveaway, filling the coffers of groups that should not have received public funds. In its report the DOD watchdog concludes that Johnson improperly co-sponsored NFEs that he had selected. Auditors found that Johnson spent $301,000 on NFE sponsorships and recommend corrective action. The money flowed through a company called New Concepts Management Solutions (NCMS) that was evidently handpicked by Johnson. In 2012, the Office of Diversity Management hired a consulting firm called Deloitte for $480,554 to handle the diversity outreach allocations.Here s a brief breakdown of how some of the money was divided. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institute Conference got $25,000, the Society of American Indian Government Employees got $12,000 for a training conference and a conglomerate called Latina Style Outreach received $20,000. LULAC and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) received $25,000 each. It appears that Johnson knew well that he was violating agency rules when he headed the diversity crusade because the report reveals that the DOD Office of Special Counsel has consistently said that the agency should not sponsor non-federal entities like the ones Johnson gave money to. In addition to money, Johnson provided these various groups with logistical manpower compliments of Uncle Sam.It s unlikely that Johnson will face any repercussions for his transgressions or, at most, a weak slap on the hand. He certainly appears confident in testimony to investigators probing his violations. My job is to grow, or focus on growing, the presence of minorities and women in government jobs with higher pay scales, Johnson told investigators. He added that the mission of his office is diversity outreach, which involves informing the diverse audience. This is why he seeks affinity groups that have a national reach and influence.President Obama has made it his mission to culturally transform government by teaching federal workers about diversity, race and gender, healthcare disparities and cultural competencies. The effort has affected practically every major agency, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS), among others. It s been a costly initiative for taxpayers. A few months ago a Judicial Watch investigation found that the Obama administration has paid a Chicago-based firm millions of dollars to strengthen the federal workplace with its brand of diversity consulting. This includes two recent DHS contracts for $24,000 and $10,000 and one for $8,500 from the Department of Energy (DOE). Via: Judicial Watch
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NEW BENGHAZI E-MAILS DISCOVERED RAISING NEW QUESTION OF WHO WITHHELD THEMWAS IT HILLARY OR THE STATE DEPARTMENT? We know that Cheryl Mills and others at the State Department have been protecting Hillary all along so hopefully we ll get to the bottom of this. We also know that Clinton, Mills, and Abedin should have undergone IT security training at State, and that their apparent failure to do so is part of a systemic problem. In the mean time, Sydney Blumenthal is scheduled to testify before the Benghazi committee on Tuesday. The plot thickens House GOP Benghazi investigators have discovered additional Libya communications between Sidney Blumenthal and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a congressional source told POLITICO suggesting that either the State Department or the 2016 Democratic presidential contender withheld correspondence the panel had requested.Blumenthal a longtime Clinton family friend who is set to testify before the committee behind closed doors Tuesday morning recently gave the House Select Committee on Benghazi his Libya-related emails after the panel had quietly subpoenaed them.Among those were several emails concerning Libya between Blumenthal and Clinton that had not been previously turned over by State. Panel Republicans, the source says, are pushing to release the emails as early as tomorrow but may need Democrats to agree to do so under committee rules. Clinton has said she gave all her work-related correspondence, kept on her personal email server, to the State Department. State was then tasked with going through the emails and giving the panel relevant correspondence. Department officials turned up about 300 emails related to the attack on the Benghazi diplomatic compound that left four Americans dead. Read more: POLITICO
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U.S. lawmakers propose ban on arbitration of sexual misconduct claims(Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced a bill that would ban agreements to keep sexual harassment and discrimination claims out of court, amid a wave of sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men. Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives unveiled the bill on Wednesday, saying mandatory arbitration agreements had forced women to privately arbitrate misconduct claims, effectively silencing victims and enabling serial harassers. An arbitration case is similar to a lawsuit, but the proceedings are typically confidential. Dozens of prominent American men in politics, media and entertainment have been accused in recent months of sexual harassment and misconduct. In some of those cases, their accusers had been required to sign agreements with their employers to keep work-related legal claims in arbitration. The bill would make those agreements unenforceable in sexual harassment and discrimination cases brought under federal law. Lawmakers said an estimated 60 million U.S. workers have mandatory arbitration agreements. The issue of sexual harassment was in focus in Washington on Thursday as Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, announced he would step down after several women accused him of unwanted touching. Franken has denied some of the claims and apologized to other accusers. On Tuesday, Representative John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, resigned after allegations that he sexually harassed staffers. Conyers, who was the longest-serving member of Congress, has denied the claims. Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business have said in the past that arbitration can benefit both employers and workers who want to keep their claims confidential. The bill is sponsored in the Senate by Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California, and Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. It also has two sponsors from each party in the House. The lawmakers were joined at a news conference in Washington by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who sued former network chief Roger Ailes for harassment last year. The claims led to Ailes’ resignation and a $20 million settlement for Carlson. Ailes and Fox denied any wrongdoing. Carlson said arbitration agreements like the one she signed with Fox allow harassers to stay in their jobs, even when victims are pushed out or fired.
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“Would You Rather Do A Job You Hate And Not Pay Taxes?”…How These ILLEGALS Answer This Question Tells You Everything You Need To Know About How They “Help” Our Economy [VIDEO]Filmmaker and patriot, Dennis Michael Lynch is the best in the business when it comes to bringing the illegal alien issue to life for Americans. In his first of 3 movies, Dennis asks these construction workers to open up about their allegiance to the country who makes it possible to support their families in Mexico. Their answers may (or may not) surprise you
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Finally, Somebody Is Getting ARRESTED For Lead Poisoning In Flint’s WaterCriminal charges are coming down the line for Flint, Michigan officials involved in the devastating lead poisoning of the city s water supply. The Detroit Free Press reports that the state attorney general is about to make a major move.Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will announce criminal charges today in connection with his ongoing investigation of the Flint drinking water crisis, three sources familiar with the investigation told the Free Press on Tuesday.Officials believe the city got artificially low lead readings because they didn t test the homes most at risk those with lead service lines or other features putting them at high risk for lead. Among those to be charged is a City of Flint official who signed a document saying the homes Flint used to test tap water under the federal Lead and Copper Rule all had lead service lines a statement investigators allege was false.Flint a majority black city of over 100,000 had its water poisoned when an emergency manager put in place by Republican Governor Rick Snyder made the decision to switch the city s water supply to the Flint River in order to save money. Thanks to a system of corroded pipes, the water was poisoned with lead and piped into homes as drinking water.As a result, tests of Flint children have shown an increase in blood lead levels from 2.5% of kids to possibly as much as 5%. Lead poisoning can cause many physical ailments as it attacks the body, as well as brain damage resulting in serious learning disabilities and other disorders.Governor Snyder and his subordinates first down played concerns about lead poisoning when Flint residents began complaining about the quality of their water. Then as national media outlets began covering the issue, Snyder hired crisis managers and began to issue apologies while failing to seriously take blame for his decision.Now someone is going to be arrested, but it is an open question if the investigation will go to an even higher level, to the decision makers at top.Featured image via Flickr
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32-Yr Old ILLEGAL ALIEN Repeatedly Raped and Impregnated 15-Yr Old Stepdaughter As Way To Stay In U.S.We assume Donald Trump was talking about illegal aliens like Horacio Alvarado who repeatedly raped his 14-year-old step-daughter and eventually impregnated her in hopes that it would be his ticket to citizenship.Daily Mail -An illegal immigrant in Milwaukee is accused of fathering his teenage stepdaughter s child in a misguided attempt to remain in the US.Horacio Alvarado, 32, allegedly impregnated the girl when she was 15 and then sought a paternity test, believing it would keep him in the country. The girl gave birth to the child back in 2012 but police only uncovered a lengthy history of alleged assaults last month when they started investigating a new sexual assault claim made by the victim.The step-daughter, now aged 22, was being interviewed over the recent sex assault allegation when she told police Alvarado had repeatedly abused her as a teenager, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.She told authorities Alvarado raped her on average three times a week from when she was 14 until she was 18 years old. The alleged abuse continued even after she gave birth to his child.The woman told police that Alvarado allegedly assaulted her when her mother, Linda Alvarado, was at work or sleeping late at night.She claims her mother once walked into the bedroom while Alvarado was raping her, but she left the bedroom without trying to stop him.The woman told authorities she kept the identity of her baby s father a secret from everyone except her mother, who she told shortly after the child was born.The Milwaukee County Circuit Court established Alvarado as the child s legal father in 2015.The criminal complaint states that Alvarado believed a positive paternity test would grant him permission to remain in the country.The girl s mother, Linda Alvarado, has also been charged with misdemeanor child neglect. She was released on a $500 bond.
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BOOM! Woman Tries To Steal TRUMP Signs BUT This Guy Was Ready For Her! [Video]
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REPORT: TRUMP Has Chosen His Next Communications Director…And She Will Be Perfect For The Job!There is chatter within the White House that Kellyanne Conway is being looked at as the next communications director, a source within the White House told The Daily Caller.Anthony Scaramucci was ousted Monday as communications director following a week of publicly feuding with former chief of staff Reince Priebus. Scaramucci called Priebus a paranoid schizophrenic in an interview President Trump viewed as inappropriate, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.Kellyanne Conway would be a perfect choice for President Trump s new communications director. Conway is no stranger to dealing with the press. She is also no pushover. Conway has taken on almost every liberal hack at every leftist network in America, and each time she s walked away holding her head high, as she make her points in an eloquent but no holds barred way.Chris Cuomo of fake news network CNN interviewed Kellyanne Conway on Sunday. You would have thought by now, these hacks at CNN would have figured out they are no match for the brilliant Kellyanne Conway. At the opening of his interview with Conway, Cuomo attempted to convince the few viewers who still watch CNN that President Trump was very squishy on his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Kellyanne Conway snapped back in her usual calm but witty way, Chris, let s back up. So you re saying you used the word squishy which, itself, is unusual to describe the president s state of mind. So somehow that makes people on CNN insist that the president is never going to raise this with Putin? Why are they still in there? Cuomo responded, It s not about CNN. It s about what the president said, Kellyanne. Kellyanne immediately landed a right hook to fake news host Chris Cuomo when she asked him, Aren t you the least bit reluctant, if not embarrassed that you now talk about Russia more than you talk about America? Watch the brilliant exchange here:Conway, currently a counselor to the president, served as Trump s campaign manager and was previously a Republican pollster. She currently is a visible face of the Trump administration through her frequent appearances on cable news and is often relied on by the White House to deliver its message to the press. Daily Caller
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BREAKING VIDEO: HILLARY CLINTON STUMBLES Up Stairs On Plane…Microphone Catches Her Asking, “Why Can’t You Go Any Closer?”Ladies and gentlemen the Democrats have dumped an unfit candidate on its party for the highest office in our nation If this woman can t even walk up a short ramp, and complains about having to walk the distance between her vehicle and the ramp to her private plane how the heck is she supposed to be fit enough to run our nation? Hillary Clinton s vehicle pulled up to within about 3 feet from the ramp leading to her private plane. You can hear her ask Why can t you go any closer? Really? Is she really not able to walk 3 feet to the ramp? Watch, as she very carefully navigates the stairs without assistance from her typical handlers and stumbles. She was then seen mumbling to herself.My 99 year-old grandmother had more energy and confidence in her ability to walk than Hillary
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Trump Got Caught Doing Something REALLY CREEPY On Vacation In Florida (IMAGES)Donald Trump s most recent secretive actions toward the press are raising a lot of eyebrows and concerns.While Trump is on taxpayer-paid golf vacation in Florida, the undeserving POTUS has made sure that no one will know what the hell he s up to. To symbolize just how transparent his administration is, Trump has blacked out all the windows of his Winter White House and banned the press from taking any pictures and keeping tabs on him.Here s what AP reported Jill Colvin saw in the press pool area:Here s another photo of this disturbing activity:PoliticusUSA obtained a White House pool report, which stated: The pool was escorted into the clubhouse after Trump and Abe were out of view and then led downstairs to a filing room, where we re told we ll be staying for awhile. The door and windows are covered with black plastic so we can t see out. Photographers were instructed not to take pictures on the grounds of a private club. While reporters may not always be blessed with ideal conditions when covering the president, being stuck in a basement with blacked out windows is highly problematic. This couldn t possibly be any more shady. Basically, American taxpayers just sent Trump on a paid vacation, and he s literally hiding from them.This shouldn t really be a surprise, considering the fact that Trump has ditched his press pool a few times before and has expressed a distinct hatred for journalists and the press as a whole. However, what Trump is doing is highly unethical. When you run for the highest office in the country, you work for the American people now and your life is no longer private. What Trump is trying to do is keep American citizens in the dark, and it is beyond disturbing. This is not how presidents should act.Featured image via Drew Angerer / Getty Images
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GEORGETOWN University Will Track Down, Recruit And Admit Students Who Are Descendants Of Slaves They Sold in 1838Georgetown University has a 16.4% acceptance rate. That number just got smaller with their latest announcement to use the admissions office as a way to atone for their racist actions in 1838. The same Catholic university that invited Planned Parenthood s president, Cecile Richards to speak to their students in March, 2016, is now offering preferential treatment (reparations) for students related to slaves they sold almost 200 years ago. Social justice warriors have replaced religion in the majority of our Catholic universities and colleges. Our government is using political correctness to strip away the faith of the citizens and replace it with government dependency. They are determining what our values should be, as defined by government officials, like those of our radical President, Barack Obama and his radical predecessor Hillary Clinton Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to the descendants of slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits as part of its effort to atone for profiting from the sale of enslaved people.Georgetown president John DeGioia told news outlets that the university in Washington will implement the admissions preferences. He says Georgetown will need to identify and reach out to descendants of slaves and recruit them to the university.On Thursday morning, a university committee released a report that also called on its leaders to offer a formal apology for the university s participation in the slave trade.In 1838, two priests who served as president of the university orchestrated the sale of 272 people to pay off debts at the school. The slaves were sent from Maryland to plantations in Louisiana. NYP
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Trump Just Sent A MAJOR F*ck You To The Supreme Court, CONFIRMS His Own Incompetency (DETAILS)Donald Trump and his administration have proven time and time again that they are incapable of performing even the most simple, basic tasks that only require basic human decency and manners. The latest gaffe in the White House demonstrates that even as Trump s 100th day approaches, they still can t get their sh*t together.According to a White House aide and court spokeswoman, Trump did not extend a formal invitation to the Supreme Court to have dinner at the White House on Thursday. An initial report that was released early Sunday stated that a dinner WOULD take place: That evening, the President will have dinner with the Justices of the Supreme Court, including his successfully confirmed nominee Justice Neil Gorsuch. However, this changed just hours later. On Sunday night, the dinner with the Supreme Court justices was taken off the agenda. The White House aide confirmed: An invitation was never extended. When White House press secretary Sean Spicer was questioned about the nixed dinner plans, Spicer said Trump s staffers moved some things around and perhaps the dinner might happen at a later time. Spicer said: I think having a relationship and meeting with the Supreme Court at some point would be a great idea and something that we hope to have on the schedule at some point soon. Trump s rude, disorganized cancellation is hardly the only issue with these tentative dinner plans. While former presidents have had dinner with Supreme Court justices before, Trump s corrupt administration definitely raised some eyebrows when they first announced these dinner plans. Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said it best: Why would the Supreme Court agree to do this? I can think of no legitimate reason to dine with a litigant. No matter what Trump does, he can t help but raise ethical concerns as his scandals and conflict of interests only mount up. Trump s administration is not only the most incompetent, lazy, and disorganized, but it is the most corrupt and must be watched closely.Featured image via Tom Pennington / Getty Images
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Tight race as South Africa's ANC prepares to elect Zuma successorJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s ruling African National Congress holds an election this weekend to replace Jacob Zuma as party leader in a closely fought contest whose winner is likely to emerge as the nation s next president. The front runners are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader and one of South Africa s richest people, and Zuma s preferred candidate, his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former minister and chairwoman of the African Union Commission. In a race seen as too close to call, seven candidates are seeking to succeed Zuma, who has been at the helm of the party for a decade. The stakes are high because the ANC s electoral dominance means whoever wins the party s top job is likely become the next president of South Africa after a national election in 2019. The party holds its conference in Johannesburg between Dec. 16-20. All seven ANC leadership hopefuls pledged to Zuma at a meeting last month that they would accept the outcome of the leadership vote in the interests of keeping the 105-year-old organization intact and avoid splits that could weaken its strength at the national elections in 2019. Ramaphosa edged Dlamini-Zuma by getting the majority of nominations to become leader of the party, but the complexity of the leadership race means it is far from certain he will become the next party leader and therefore the likely next president. Adding another level of complexity, delegates are not bound to vote for the candidate their ANC branch nominated. Zuma said last week he was very happy to be stepping down as ANC president. He can remain as head of state until 2019. Political uncertainty over the ANC race is a major threat to the country s credit rating. S&P Global Ratings and Fitch rate South Africa s debt as junk . Analysts have said South Africa s business and consumer confidence has been dented in recent years by allegations of corruption in Zuma s government and influence-peddling by the Gupta family - businessmen who are close friends of the president. Zuma and the Guptas have denied the allegations. Ramaphosa is viewed as more investor friendly and has pledged to fight the corruption that has plagued Zuma s tenure. Dlamini-Zuma has said she is not tainted by graft and it is fine if the country s white business community will not endorse her. She has said her priority is to improve the prospects for the black majority.
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Former Trump adviser Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to FBIWASHINGTON (Reuters) - An obscure Trump campaign adviser pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials, in the first criminal charges alleging links between the campaign and Moscow, said court documents released on Monday. George Papadopoulos, who joined the Trump presidential campaign in March 2016, lied in January about communicating with those individuals to arrange a meeting between then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in the documents. The documents said an unidentified campaign official advised Papadopoulos around May 2016 that Trump himself “is not doing these trips” but that “it should be someone low-level in the campaign so as not to send any signal.” While not mentioned in the documents, top Trump campaign advisers, including Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and Campaign Manager Paul Manafort met at Trump Tower in New York in June 2016 with Russians claiming to have derogatory information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. It was not known whether that meeting resulted from Papadopoulos’ efforts. The special counsel said Papadopoulos - a Chicago-based international energy lawyer - lied to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents about when he learned from an unnamed foreign professor that Russia claimed to have “dirt” in the form of “thousands of emails” on Clinton. Prosecutors said Papadopoulos told agents he had been in contact with the professor before he joined Trump’s campaign. In fact, they said, Papadopoulos met with the professor after joining the campaign. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Monday played down Papadopoulos’ campaign role, saying it was “extremely limited” and that he was a volunteer. “He asked to do things (and) he was basically pushed back or not responded to in any way,” she told a news briefing. “Any actions that he took would have been on his own.” Papadopoulos’ lawyers said in a statement it was “in the best interest of our client .... that we refrain from commenting on George’s case.” The documents were released just after indictments charging Manafort and business associate Rick Gates with multiple offenses, including money laundering, conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as foreign agents. None of the charges against Manafort and Gates, however, directly relate to Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and what U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was a Russian bid to boost Trump’s candidacy. The prosecutors said Papadopoulos had been emailing with a “Campaign Supervisor,” “Senior Policy Adviser” and a “High-Ranking Campaign Official.” An official familiar with congressional investigations into alleged contacts between the campaign and Russia said the Senate Intelligence Committee already had copies of an extensive file of Trump campaign emails that included emails between Papadopoulos and the campaign. One email shows Manafort had been discussing Papadopoulos’ efforts to arrange a Trump visit to Russia with at least one other campaign official. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, according to a court statement by Mueller’s office. As part of a plea deal, Papadopoulos agreed to plead guilty to making a “materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement” to FBI agents. “Through his false statements and omissions, defendant Papadopoulos impeded the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election,” a court document said. The FBI arrested Papadopoulos on July 27 after he arrived at Dulles International Airport near Washington. In an Oct. 5 letter to the Chicago man’s lawyer, Mueller and his team noted that Papadopoulos faced up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $9,500. But they agreed “to bring to the court’s attention at sentencing the defendant’s efforts to cooperate with the government” on condition that he continued providing information on to prosecutors, the document said. Court documents said Papadopoulos lied to the FBI shortly after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, when the law enforcement agency had an open investigation into the alleged Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 campaign. In addition to lying about the timing of his contacts with the professor, prosecutors said Papadopoulos mischaracterized his contacts with that individual as “inconsequential.” “In truth and in fact, however, defendant Papadopoulos understood the professor to have substantial connections to high-level Russian government officials and that the professor spoke with some of those officials in Moscow” before telling Papadopoulos about the “dirt” on Clinton, said the prosecutors. The prosecutors said Papadopoulos also lied to the FBI in saying that a meeting the professor arranged for him in London with an unidentified Russian woman with ties to senior Russian officials occurred before the Chicago man joined the campaign. The meeting took place on or about March 24, 2016, and the Russian woman was introduced to Papadopoulos as a relative of Putin, although it turned out that she was not related to the Russian leader, according to the documents. Papadopoulos then worked with the professor and the Russian woman to set up the Putin meeting, and kept other Trump foreign policy advisers appraised of his contacts, they said. In one email, the documents said, the Russian woman told Papadopoulos that “The Russian Federation would love to welcome him (Trump) once his candidature would be officially announced.” The prosecutors said that on or about March 31 Papadopoulos attended a “national security meeting” in Washington with then-candidate Trump and other campaign foreign policy advisers. When he introduced himself to the group, the prosecutors said, “he stated, in sum and substance, that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then candidate Trump and President Putin.” In mid-April, the professor introduced Papadopoulos via an email to an individual in Moscow who the documents dubbed the Russian MFA Connection - MFA being the initials for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The pair had multiple conversations over the proceeding weeks about setting the “groundwork” for a Trump-Putin meeting.
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Obama to offer Colombia's Santos U.S. aid to help peace dealWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama wants to boost U.S. aid to Colombia to help remove landmines and implement the government’s peace accord with a leftist rebel group, the White House said on Tuesday. Obama would discuss the plan with Colombian President Juan Manual Santos during a White House visit on Thursday, and invite U.S. lawmakers to participate in two events aimed at showing support for the potential deal that would end Latin America’s longest war. The fight between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions more since it began in 1964. Three previous attempts at a peace accord failed. After almost four years of talks, an elusive peace deal may finally be in sight, said Bernard Aronson, the U.S. envoy to the negotiations. “I think there’s a real prospect for success and signing of a peace accord this year, hopefully within the first half of this year,” Aronson told reporters on a conference call. Under the deal, FARC rebels would disarm, and the government would need to expand health and education services into areas of the country that had been controlled by the group - two areas where expanded U.S. financial aid could help, said Mark Feierstein, a senior director at the White House National Security Council. “One of the biggest challenges will be to demobilize the FARC and ensure their reintegration into society as constructive members,” Feierstein said. Feierstein declined to comment on how much additional aid Obama would propose. The United States has long been a donor to Colombia, providing almost $10 billion in aid between 2000 and 2015 through a program called Plan Colombia, according to the Congressional Research Service. Colombia’s government on Tuesday warned the country’s second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), that time is running out to begin peace negotiations to end five decades of war. Any ELN talks would be independent of those with the FARC. On Thursday, Santos meets with Vice President Joe Biden and a group of U.S. senators at Biden’s residence to talk about the peace process and the future of U.S. support for Colombia, before later meeting Obama in the Oval Office. Obama and Santos were also expected to discuss ways the two countries can work together to fight the Zika virus, Feierstein said.
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Turkey did not violate U.S. sanctions against Iran, 'did the right thing', Erdogan saysANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey did not violate U.S. sanctions against Iran and did the right thing regardless of the outcome of the ongoing case in the United States, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by private broadcaster CNN Turk as saying on Thursday. On Wednesday, Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab described in a U.S. court how he ran a sprawling international money laundering scheme aimed at helping Iran get around U.S. sanctions and spend its oil and gas revenues abroad, in a case that has further strained ties between Ankara and Washington.
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Trump’s Right-hand Man Threatens ‘BLOODBATH’ If Election Is Hijacked From Trump (VIDEO)Donald Trump has already been giving hints that he might back out of debating Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over claims that the political system is rigged against him even though we all know it s really because he s terrified of her. While most of us think Trump s attempts to blame outside forces for his incompetence are pathetic, some of his most prominent minions are coming to his rescue to further spread his conspiracy theories.Roger Stone, one of Trump s closest confidantes, spoke to Breitbart bigot Milo Yiannopoulos recently and warned that there would be a bloodbath if Trump didn t win the election. After several recent polls have suggested that Clinton is pulling ahead of Trump, Stone was more than happy to declare voter fraud. Stone said: I think we have widespread voter fraud, but the first thing that Trump needs to do is begin talking about it constantly. If there s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government. Of course, Yiannopoulos was right on board with this theory and the men had some horrific advice for Trump continue to be as offensive as possible and push those buttons so that he can gain enough rabid support from racists and bigots to make up for any supposed rigging that might happen. Stone also suggested that Trump should vow to shut the government down if Clinton was elected in November. As if this interview couldn t get any crazier, delusional Stone issued this warning: If you can t have an honest election, nothing else counts. I think he s gotta put them on notice that their inauguration will be a rhetorical, and when I mean civil disobedience, not violence, but it will be a bloodbath We will not stand for it. Trump s allies are just like him they love to encourage violence and are incapable of acting like adults when things don t go their way. The amount of stupidity going on in this interview is unfathomable. You can listen to it below:Previously, Roger Stone had encouraged Trump supporters to go stalk and visit anti-Trump delegates in their hotel rooms if they tried to take the GOP nomination away from Trump.Featured image via Alex Wong / Getty Images
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SPECTACULAR! LEFTIST MEDIA MELTS DOWN When They Realize America Didn’t Buy Their Lies…Elected Trump Anyhow [VIDEO]They pulled every trick in the book. From manufactured polls designed to discourage Trump supporters from going to vote on election day, to an all-out assassination attempt on his character, you ve gotta hand it to these propagandists, there wasn t a dirty trick they didn t try. Trump took abuse by the media like no other Presidential candidate before him. Even after our dishonest media was caught working behind the scenes with Crooked Hillary, her campaign and the DNC, they still came at Trump with a shameless vengeance like we ve never seen. What the media didn t understand however, was that every time we saw Trump alone in the ring against a mob of unruly leftist journalists fighting back with everything he had, it only strengthened our resolve.In Trump, Americans saw something that s been missing from our politicians for decades, we saw someone who was actually willing o fight for our nation on our behalf. We saw someone who wasn t going to concede to political correctness, or to give our lying media respect they didn t deserve. Every time he called them out for their dishonesty, Americans cheered. Every time they hit Trump with another lie, or worked in unison to impugn his character, he always managed to come back even stronger than before.Trump wasn t interested in playing by the media s rules, and they did everything in their power to punish him for not playing along. Along the way, he brilliantly exposed them as nothing more than an extension of Hillary Clinton s campaign. And so it is, with great pleasure we share with you some of the best liberal media meltdowns post-Trumpocalypse MSNBC s Rachel Maddow typically has a very arrogant way about her. Funny, the attitude seems to have disappeared:Yes, this is real life . https://t.co/NEU67a7U1o Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) October 8, 2016NBC s Chuck Todd and Lester Holt were two of Hilary s biggest cheerleaders. They just can t seem to figure out how they failed to convince America we needed Hillary as our next President:.@chucktodd on Trump: "He blew all of our predictions, and models, and you name it out of the water." #ElectionNight https://t.co/kt1fOMHXWu MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 9, 2016It s bad enough that MSNBC s Chris Matthews has to deal with a Republican President, but how will he EVER be able to deal with a xenophobic Republican majority House and Senate?What will a Trump presidency mean for the future of our immigration laws? https://t.co/KqtMftSfwU Hardball (@hardball) November 10, 2016Debate hack Martha Raddatz was in full meltdown mode:CNN s Dana Bash explains to Brooke Baldwin how people who voted for Trump really don t like him.
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Senate's McConnell says Obamacare repeal high on agendaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said repealing the Obamacare health insurance system is a “pretty high item on our agenda” for the new Congress that was elected on Tuesday, calling it the “single worst piece of legislation” from the first two years of the Obama administration. McConnell told reporters he would like to see bipartisan comprehensive tax reform, and that border security should also be high on the to-do list. He expects president-elect Donald Trump to send the Senate a Supreme Court nominee soon, and to review environmental regulations put in place by Obama, including on coal.
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JUDGE NAPOLITANO: James Comey’s Pre-Testimony Reveals Trump Did Nothing Illegal [Video]Judge Napolitano just took the fun out of the Democrat s party tomorrow They have nothing! It s what we ve known but it s great to hear from Napolitano who is a fair guy. It doesn t appear as though these conversations that the president had with Director Comey could constitute the level of constitutional obstruction of justice necessary to commence any further proceedings like impeachment like Democrats want to do. Judge NapoltanoEARLIER TODAY INTEL DIRECTORS SPOKE UP ON THE FACT THAT TRUMP DID NOTHING: The Senate Intel Committee is holding an open hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act today and the intel directors are saying there is nothing to the claim that Trump asked anyone to shut down an investigation: NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers says he s never been directed to do anything he deems illegal, immoral or inappropriate. NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers say he s never been directed to do anything he deems illegal, immoral or inappropriate. pic.twitter.com/hIuLdo2G6M Fox News (@FoxNews) June 7, 2017He dropped the line that should shut down the Trump witch hunt for good but you know it won t. The press is already spinning this one. Senator Marco Rubio even doubled down and asked a similar question (Video below)Rubio: Has anyone asked you to issue a statement you knew to be false?NSA Dir.: I standby my statement. Natl Intel Dir.: I do likewise.Rubio: Has anyone asked you to issue a statement you knew to be false? NSA Dir.: I standby my statement. Natl Intel Dir.: I do likewise. pic.twitter.com/6qb133nyhu Fox News (@FoxNews) June 7, 2017 We have never, not once, found an intentional violation of this program. Natl Intel Director Coats about compliance track record We have never, not once, found an intentional violation of this program. Natl Intel Director Coats about compliance track record pic.twitter.com/sT68H1yqHA Fox News (@FoxNews) June 7, 2017It s not like Mike Rogers is untrustworthy. The guy has an incredible resume on Wiki:Michael S. Rogers (born October 31, 1959) is a United States Navy admiral who serves as Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) and Chief of the Central Security Service (CSS) since April 3, 2014. Prior to that, Rogers served as the Commander of the Tenth Fleet and Commander of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command.Rogers is a native of Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from New Trier High School in 1977. He is a graduate of Auburn University (1981) and the Naval War College.Rogers received his commission through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program and has served in the United States Navy since graduating from Auburn University in 1981. He started his career as a Surface Warfare Officer working in naval gunfire support operations off Grenada, Beirut, and maritime surveillance operations off El Salvador. In 1986, he was selected for transfer from Unrestricted Line Officer to Restricted Line Officer and re-designation as a cryptology officer.During the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Rogers joined the military s Joint Staff, which works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he specialized in computer network attacks. From 2007 onward he served as director of intelligence for the military s Pacific Command. In 2009, he became director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was subsequently named commander of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and commander of the U.S. 10th Fleet, with responsibility for all of the Navy s cyberwarfare efforts. As such, Rogers was the first restricted line officer to serve as a numbered fleet commander and the first Information Warfare Community (IWC) officer to achieve the rank of vice admiral.In January 2014, the Obama Administration announced Rogers nomination as director of the National Security Agency and the commander of the US offensive cyberoperations unit in the Department of Defense. Rogers succeeded General Keith B. Alexander, who served as the NSA director for nine years, and became the first IWC officer to achieve the rank of admiral. Although the NSA directorship does not require Senate approval, Rogers had to be confirmed by the Senate to head United States Cyber Command,[11] for which the Senate unanimously confirmed him.In his first public remarks as NSA director, Rogers stated that he believed that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was probably not working for a foreign intelligence agency, despite frequent speculation and assertion by the NSA s allies to the contrary. Rogers added: He clearly believes in what he s doing. I question that; I don t agree with it. I fundamentally disagree with what he did. I believe it was wrong; I believe it was illegal. The Washington Post reported on 19 November 2016 that Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James R. Clapper Jr. had recommended to President Obama that Rogers be terminated as director of the National Security Agency. Carter reportedly recommended he be terminated due to poor performance, whereas Clapper considered it wise that the position be held by a civilian. Both Clapper and Carter had put Rogers on notice for poor performance in internal security and for a poor leadership style. His termination was reportedly delayed due to stalled changes to the bureaucratic structure of the intelligence community. Later, Rogers reportedly met with then President-elect Donald Trump without notifying his supervisors in what is an unprecedented action for a military officer. Trump was reportedly considering replacing Clapper with Rogers as DNI, however that position went to former Senator Dan Coats, with Rogers remaining NSA director.
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Sarah Palin Gets Annihilated On Twitter For Whining About Elizabeth Warren Using ‘Fight Like A Girl’ LineAt least Elizabeth Warren isn t a quitter like Sarah Palin.After all, Sarah Palin could have remained in office as Governor of Alaska and continued to build a political career. Instead, Palin quit halfway through her term to pursue reality stardom and has become nothing more than a desperate grifter who relies on donations to her super PAC to maintain her lifestyle.That s not fighting like a girl, it s conning like a conman.Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, however, is still fighting for women and the poor and middle class in Congress and could very well run for president in 2020. Warren has been fighting for the American people for years and has become a symbol of the women s movement.That s why Warren posed with the Fearless Girl statue on Tuesday and posted the image on Twitter with the caption, Fight like a girl. Fight like a girl. pic.twitter.com/qGTn46jS9W Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 18, 2017And of course, Sarah Palin whined about it by crying to Breitbart.Palin claimed that she s a legit fighter for women and accused Warren of urging women to claim victimization when asked about her use of the phrase. I don t know. Coming from liberals who urge women to claim victimization, Fight like a girl just doesn t sound the same as when legit fighters for equality say it, mean it, live it, and will never give it up. Basically, Palin thinks fighting like a girl means never speaking up when you re being treated like shit.Women in this country have had to deal with rape culture, discrimination, and pay inequality for far too long, not to mention all the attacks on reproductive rights coming from right-wingers like Palin herself.How can one claim to fight like a girl when one doesn t even bother to fight for women rights to make their own choices about their own bodies?As usual, Palin is nothing more than a complete hypocrite who is bitching about a phrase she has never lived up to.Even Twitter users slammed Palin for attacking Warren.@SarahPalinUSA Sorry Sara but you didn t create the quote , you stole it and claimed it as yours #GovernorQuitter Joey Mitchell (@JoeyM728) April 19, 2017@SarahPalinUSA Before you know it, she ll be hanging out in Alaska claiming that she can see Russia from her backyard. Michelle Mantell (@mich101564) April 19, 2017@SarahPalinUSA Are you truly this stupid? This comment was not created by you! It s been around for decades and you stole it from someone else. SAD! Michael Fishel (@SparkyWhoRuns) April 19, 2017@SarahPalinUSA I think you should engage Warren in a public debate then. You won t. She would eat you alive and you know it, Mrs Word Salad. E-Man (@ebruce2) April 19, 2017@SarahPalinUSA Rather have a senator that works than have a quitter anyday .. LMFAO TheStuPadaso (@The_Stu_Padaso) April 19, 2017Featured Image: Flickr
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One Of Trump’s Groping Victims Just Came Forward, Campaign Is PANICKING (VIDEO)After a tape was released in which Donald Trump was heard talking about how he loves to grope women, even married women, you can expect a rash of his victims to come forward. The first one, it appears, was with his one-time business partner, Jill Harth.The New York Times wrote about Harth s experiences on Friday. In it, she called Trump relentless. The man she described in the interview was a predator a would-be rapist.She and her longtime boyfriend, George Houraney attended meetings with Trump in the early 90s. Even when sitting at a table with her boyfriend, Harth recalled Trump putting his hand up her skirt, all the way up to her crotch. I didn t know how to handle it. I would go away from him and say I have to go to the restroom. It was the escape route. Darth and Houraney had approached Trump with a business proposal that was right up his alley. They wanted to hold calendar girl beauty contests, an automobile show, a music competition and other events at his Atlantic City casino. They wanted Trump to do business with them, but as the evening wore on, Harth was getting more and more uncomfortable.The first sign of trouble came the day before the evening groping, in an initial business meeting in which, Harth and Houraney say, Trump spent the time asking about the breasts of the beauty contestants real or enhanced? and staring at Harth, then 30. At one point he asked Houraney, Are you sleeping with her? Houraney explained awkwardly that they were a couple, but Trump was unfazed. You know, there s going to be a problem, Trump told Houraney, according to a 1997 sexual harassment lawsuit Harth filed against him. I m very attracted to your girlfriend. About six weeks later, Trump gave Harth and Houraney a tour of Mar-a-Lago. They brought some of the calendar girls, but Trump wanted Harth. He pulled her into Ivanka s room (that s right, he tried to have sex in his daughter s bedroom.) I was admiring the decoration, and next thing I know he s pushing me against a wall and has his hands all over me, Harth told me. He was trying to kiss me. I was freaking out. Harth says she was desperately protesting, and finally managed to run out of the room and find the group again. She and Houraney left rather than stay the night, as they had intended.Harth and Houraney tried to continue the business relationship. Trump kept persisting and Harth was afraid he was going to rape her. His mind was in a totally different place than mine, Harth recalls. He thinks he s God s gift to women. They did end up doing business with Trump. She didn t report it to the police. Trump, not surprisingly, tried not to pay the couple, but he eventually settled out of court, but only after she agreed to withdraw a sexual harassment suit, which detailed all the allegations.The couple eventually married and then divorced. They do not speak, but their stories, according to the Times, did match. Eventually, Harth ended up dating Trump. When asked why, Harth responded: I was scared, thinking, what am I going to do now? she says. When he called me and tried to work on me again, I was thinking maybe I should give this a try, maybe if he s still working on me, I should give this rich guy a chance. Here she is talking about it with The Guardian:Trump didn t respond to the New York Times, but he has publicly trashed Harth in the past, saying she was the one who was obsessed. She, surprisingly, wanted to work on his campaign, doing his hair and makeup. Still, the Times is convinced her story is true and after Friday s revelations, it wouldn t be surprising. We know Trump has zero respect for women. We know he sees them as a collection of body parts and that s it. We also know that he feels entitled to take whatever the hell he wants, even if what he wants is a human being. Trump is even accused of raping a 13-year-old. Would attempting to rape an adult be so inconceivable? It is going to be tough for Trump to spin his way out of this.Featured image Jill Harth via video screen capture | Featured image of Donald Trump via Diane Freed/Getty Images.
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'I feel like I'm going crazy:' migrant health crumbles in GreeceATHENS (Reuters) - A mental health emergency is unfolding in migrant camps on Greece s islands, fueled by poor living conditions, neglect and violence, charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Tuesday. Medical staff have seen a sharp increase in people trying to get help after attempting suicide, harming themselves or suffering psychotic episodes, it said in a report. More than 13,000 migrants and refugees, mostly Syrians and Iraqis fleeing years of war, are living in five camps on Greek islands close to Turkey, government figures show. Four of those camps are holding two to three times as many people as they were designed for. Every day our teams treat patients who tell us that they would prefer to have died in their country than be trapped here, said Jayne Grimes, manager of MSF s mental health activities on the island of Samos. The charity said six or seven new patients had visited its clinic on the nearby island of Lesbos each week over the summer following suicide attempts, self-harm or psychotic episodes, 50 percent more than the previous three months. Violence which many experienced on the journey or in Greece was one factor aggravating mental distress, MSF said. I know I need to find hope, but when the night falls and I see where I am, I feel like I m going crazy, it quoted a Syrian man as saying. The 25-year-old said he was haunted by the images of people dying of hunger in front of him in the long-besieged town of Madaya. I still remember the taste of the leaves and the smell of death, he said. On Samos, more than 3,000 people are crammed into facilities designed to hold 700, and about 400 live in the woods. In one Lesbos camp, about 1,500 people are in makeshift shelters or tents without flooring or heating, the U.N. refugee agency says. In August, MSF found nearly three-quarters of new mental health patients on Lesbos needed to be referred to a psychiatrist, up from just over a third in the nine months from October 2016 to June 2017. The report quoted a 41-year-old man, who said he had been tortured in a Syrian prison. When he visited a Lesbos hospital, he said he was told he would have to wait eight months to see a psychiatrist. When I heard that, I felt like dying, he said. A 29-year-old Syrian woman, on Lesbos with her family, told the MSF researchers the uncertainty over the future was crushing us. It is killing us inside. While the number of arrivals to Greece has slowed significantly since a European Union deal with Turkey to block the route in March last year, a recent sharp rise in arrivals has put pressure on government-run facilities.
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Taiwan suspends oil exports to North Korea, imports of clothingTAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has suspended refined oil and LNG exports to North Korea, as well as clothing and textile imports, to comply with United Nations resolutions, a largely symbolic move by the island to show it is a responsible member of the international community. Self-ruled Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, due to Beijing s position that it is simply a Chinese province and so not able to have its own official diplomatic ties with anyone. But proudly democratic Taiwan likes to show that it follows international norms, despite its lack of U.N. membership. On Sept. 11, the United Nations Security Council unanimously stepped up sanctions against North Korea over its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, imposing a ban on the isolated nation s textile exports and capping imports of crude oil. To complement the UN measures, Taiwan said it would suspend liquefied natural gas, crude oil, and refined oil product exports to North Korea with effect from Tuesday, the economics ministry said in a statement. Taiwan will suspend clothing and related textile good imports from North Korea, it added, adding that written pacts made before Sept. 11 would prevail for imports until Dec. 10, so long as a special permit is obtained from the trade office. Taiwan s measure is aimed at denouncing North Korea s recent successive nuclear tests and actions that jeopardize regional security, the economics ministry said in a statement. Taiwan and North Korea have only a minuscule trading relationship. Taiwan says its exports to North Korea in the first six months of this year were worth just $36,575, an annual decrease of more than 90 percent. Last week, North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan s northern Hokkaido region far out into the Pacific Ocean, shortly after its biggest nuclear test this month.
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Louisiana governor says state's finances in dire situation(Reuters) - Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards presented a dire picture of the state’s fiscal situation on Thursday, urging lawmakers to consider a set of budget cuts and revenue-raising measures, including tax increases. Edwards made his remarks before state legislators convene for a special session on Sunday to hash out how to fix the budget woes. The state is contending with a $940 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year and a $2 billion projected deficit for the next fiscal year starting in July. “This is a historic fiscal crisis, the likes of which our state has never seen,” Edwards said during Thursday’s televised address. He warned that the state’s public colleges and universities will face “catastrophic cuts over the next four months.” Louisiana is at risk of not being able to pay student scholarships that have already been awarded, and some campuses will be forced to cancel classes, even file for bankruptcy. “If you are a student attending one of these universities, it means that you will receive a grade of incomplete, many students will not be able to graduate,” said Edwards. “You can say farewell to college football next fall.” The governor also warned that the state’s healthcare system was “on the verge of imploding.” Without new revenues, hospitals that care for a significant portion of poor and under-insured patients would close in places like Lake Charles, Alexandria and Bogalusa. “I don’t say this to scare you. But I am going to be honest with you. No more tricks. No more smoke and mirrors,” said Edwards, a Democrat who took office last month. Louisiana’s former Governor Bobby Jindal had signed a “no tax” pledge, which handicapped the state from raising new revenues. Edwards on Thursday juxtaposed Louisiana’s finances when Jindal took office in 2008 - when the state enjoyed a $1 billion surplus - to today, when the state is facing a looming $2 billion projected deficit. The budget problems in Louisiana, a big oil-producing state, stem in part from the global drop in oil prices, in addition to the state’s reliance in recent years on one-time money and lower-than-expected revenues. Edwards has proposed several budget fixes, including a 1-cent sales tax hike and increases to alcohol and cigarette taxes. He would freeze hiring for state workers, reduce state contracts, and cut $160 million of state funding. He has also proposed tapping $128 million from the rainy day fund and $200 million from non-coastal BP payments to reduce the current year deficit.
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Trump says U.S. 'very protective' of Baltic regionWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States is “very protective” of the Baltics in the face of a Russian naval exercise with China in the Baltic Sea and said the United States and its allies would be able to handle any threat. “We are very protective of that region,” Trump said at a joint news conference with visiting Finland President Sauli Niinisto. “That’s all I can say. We are very, very protective. We have great friends there.” A Russian naval exercise with China in the Baltic Sea has rattled tensions in the region and Trump has sought to reassure NATO allies there, sending Vice President Mike Pence on a recent trip. Niinisto said he recently played host to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland and that Putin offered assurances that the Russia-China naval exercise should not be seen as a threat. Niinisto said the United States, Finland and Sweden have also conducted training exercises in the Baltic region. “We have to be very careful that this huge training, huge military trafficking ... does not cause any accidents or problems because we know from accidents might grow whatever,” he said. “That is why I think it’s important that we continue to work with NATO to enhance ... dialogue between Russia and NATO.” On a visit to Brussels in May, Trump’s allegiance to NATO was thrown into doubt when he opted not to mention the U.S. commitment to the NATO treaty’s Article 5, which says an attack on one member is an attack on all. He later cleared up the confusion, saying he was committed to NATO’s common defense. Trump entered office hoping for better U.S. relations with Russia but his effort has failed thus far to bear fruit amid continuing questions surrounding Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election, something both Moscow and Trump deny. He signed legislation early this month imposing a new round of U.S. sanctions against Moscow.Trump called the Baltics “a very important part of the world.” “These are all threats we will be able to handle if we have to. Hopefully we won’t have to handle them but if we do we’ll be able to handle them,” he said.
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SCOTT BAIO FILES POLICE REPORT: Physically Attacked By Wife Of Famous Rock Band Member Over Support For Trump…Screamed Vulgarities In Front Of Kids At Elementary School FunctionScott Baio became a teen idol starring as Chachi Arcola on Happy Days from 1977-1984 and he worked pretty consistently until a few years ago, most recently as star and producer of See Dad Run on Nick at Nite. Baio spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about being a conservative in famously liberal Hollywood.Donald Trump has had some gaffes recently, like insulting the Khan family. Do you think they are actual gaffes or media hype?Well, let s put that up against someone who should be indicted, according to James Comey, the FBI director. It s amazing. I mean, I don t know where you stand politically you work for The Hollywood Reporter so I m sure you lean left. But it s incredible to me that she lied about people dying in Benghazi, and she is still lying about her emails, and Donald Trump says something about this couple and it s taken completely out of context. I was around for Romney and I thought that was bad, but this is insane. I don t know who the Clintons made a deal with, but the media is, so bad. How do you fight that? Hollywood Reporter On Monday, Scott Baio filed a police report claiming the wife of the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer went nuts on him at a function with their elementary school kids physically attacking him over his support of Donald Trump.Law enforcement tells TMZ, Baio says he was at an event with his daughter Saturday in Thousand Oaks, CA, when Nancy Mack confronted him. Mack, who s married to drummer Chad Smith, is a vocal anti-Trump supporter who has called the Prez-elect racist began berating and cursing Baio, one of Trump s strongest celebrity supporters.We re told Baio told cops he asked her to quiet down because kids were present, but Mack was undeterred, asking him how he could support a man who said, Grab em by the pussy. Baio claims she repeatedly screamed, Grab em by the pussy. Baio asked Nancy to stop, but he claims she kept repeating the comment because she felt everyone needed to hear it, cause Trump used it. Baio told cops at that point Mack attacked him, grabbing him under his arms and then shaking and pushing him.For entire story: TMZ
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U.S. House Freedom Caucus backs Republican tax reform framework: statementWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The conservative Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives said in a note posted on Twitter on Wednesday that it had taken an official position in support of the Republican framework for tax reform. It said it would issue a statement later.
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City Of Detroit Begins Punishing Poor People For Being Poor In The Most Inhumane Way (VIDEO)Imagine your child was playing outside, runs into the house for a drink, turns on the tap and nothing comes out. Your baby is standing there sweating and thirsty all because the city you live in has decided that your family deserved to be punished for being poor and shut your water off. When you realize what has happened, you send your child to your neighbor s house to get a glass of water there, but their water has been shut off too, and thousands of other people in the city are facing the same dilemma. Elderly people, families with children, young couples, students, all without water that s what s happening in Detroit, Michigan.Roughly 20,000 people are in danger of having their water turned off today, according to Detroit s ABC 7 News:The water is still on for Detroit residents behind on their bills, but not for long. Detroit Water and Sewerage announced they re shutting off service to those who owe them payments. About 20,000 people could see their water shut off, starting May 3rd at 8 a.m.Since 2014, the people of one of the poorest cities in the country have been fighting to keep their water on. The Detroit Water Crisis is so bad that experts from the United Nations have accused the city of violating human rights. In June 2014, the group put out a press release saying: Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights Disconnections due to non-payment are only permissible if it can be shown that the resident is able to pay but is not paying. In other words, when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections. Nearly two years later the fight over water is still going on and city officials are claiming that they don t want to turn the services off, but they have to if residents do not ask to be put on payment plans. Detroit Water and Sewerage Director Gary Brown said, We don t want to shut anyone s water off. Come in, ask for assistance, get on a payment plan. Residents who have bills of up to $700 will have the balance frozen and be allowed to pay $25 a month.While it may seem like a sweet payment plan, clearly it is not working. In the two years since the city started to aggressively target residents who could not pay, they still have thousands of residents in the same situation. These are not people who are refusing to pay their water bills because they want to go out and party; these are people who live in extreme poverty the likes of which should not exist in this country.It is incredibly inhumane for the city to do this. Water is a right, not a luxury and it should NEVER be shut off because someone cannot afford to pay. But capitalism isn t it great?For more on Detroit s water wars, watch this video:Featured image via Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
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BRAVE SWEDISH JOURNALISTS CONFIRM That Trump Is Dead On About Sweden [Video]SUBTITLED VIDEO:HERE S ANOTHER JOURNALIST S TAKE ON WHAT S HAPPENED TO SWEDEN: SWEDEN: FROM ABBA TO ALLAH In the 1970s Sweden was a stable and wealthy country that was admired by many outsiders. It had international pop artists such as ABBA, sports stars like Bj rn Borg and Ingemar Stenmark as well as Volvo cars. Some outsiders still maintain this rosy image. In 2016, Sweden was still ranked as the world s goodest country.Unfortunately, being good in the Western world today seems to mean being suicidal.In just two generations, Sweden has become an increasingly dysfunctional and crime-ridden country. The main cause of this negative transformation is non-European mass immigration.I have been chronicling Sweden s decline for many years. My reports were falsely dismissed as fantasies made by an alleged right-wing extremist. This denial is no longer possible.Many alternative media and independent websites are now describing these issues. Major media in Britain, Germany, the USA and even in Russia have also finally discovered Sweden s Multicultural problems. This is causing huge embarrassment to the ruling elites in Sweden. They are used to being admired. They are not accustomed to international ridicule, or being viewed as an example of what not to do.Events reached a peak when U.S. President Donald Trump publicly made negative remarks about the problems in Sweden. The Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan L fven has repeatedly rejected suggestions that the authorities have lost control. On February 20, 2017, the former Prime Minister Carl Bildt accused President Trump of engaging in misinformation and slander against Sweden. That very same night, violent riots once again erupted in one of the no-go zones near Stockholm that allegedly do not exist.Car burning in Sweden, January 2017 All former Swedish governments since the 1970s, including those led by Mr. Bildt and Mr. L fven, have directly contributed to the massive problems Sweden is currently facing.Carl Bildt served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was in charge of a center-right coalition government by Swedish standards. Bildt served as Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2006 and 2014 in the center-right coalition of PM Fredrik Reinfeldt. These governments also continued mass immigration, just as the Socialist Prime Ministers Olof Palme, Ingvar Carlsson, G ran Persson and Stefan L fven did.The Swedish author Astrid Lindgren published the first stories about Pippi Longstocking in the 1940s. If they were updated for today, perhaps Pippi would have to flee from the suburbs of a Swedish city after having been gang raped by immigrant boys. Alternatively, she might have been a radical Feminist who donned the Islamic veil in order to express her solidarity with the Muslims who are colonizing her country.The Swedish mass media and political elites are very careful not to suggest any connection between rapes and mass immigration from Third World countries. Yet there is every reason to suspect that such a connection exists. We know from other Western European countries that immigrants from certain regions and cultures, particularly from the Islamic world and Africa, are disproportionately represented as perpetrators in rape cases.READ MORE: GATE OF VIENNA
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NOTHING About Those 50,000 Jobs From Japan Is What Trump Says It Is (VIDEO)For the second time in as many weeks, Trump s Twitter feed has been filled with bravado over his job saving and job creating expertise. First, it was Carrier. It turned out to be a lie and a bad deal all around, but that didn t stop Trump from bragging that he saved 1,000 jobs.On Tuesday, Trump announced via Twitter that a Japanese company called SoftBank was ready to move 50,000 jobs to the United States. Naturally, Trump took credit for it.Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016 @realDonaldTrump: Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election! Trump For President (@TrumpD2016) December 7, 2016Trump also held a press conference in front of Trump Tower saying: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Masa from Japan, Trump told reporters at Trump Tower as he introduced CEO Masayoshi Son, whose company, SoftBank, owns Sprint. He s just agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States and 50,000 jobs. He s one of the great men of industry, so I just want to thank you very much. Thank you. Source: PoliticoHere s the video:Anyone who s followed business or has ever taken a business class knows that it s impossible to iron out a deal like this in just a few weeks. Well, that s because it hasn t been ironed out and, well, it s been in the works since October.SunBank is not a bank. They are a technology company with a majority ownership in Sprint. They had previously tried to merge with T-Mobile but gave up after Obama expressed a concern about growing telecom monopolies. This is likely the reason Son is excited about Trump s presidency.In October, SoftBank announced the creation of a $100 billion fund, backed by Saudi Arabia. It appears that this latest deal is part of that.The reason deal is in quotes in the above paragraph is that there is no deal. There is talk of a deal, but all we ve seen so far is a PowerPoint slide. There is no legally-binding contract, there is no timeline, although according to the PowerPoint slide, it would take place over four years. As for the $50 billion investment, only a portion of that will be coming from SoftBank if it comes at all.Son said in a speech Friday in New Delhi that $25 billion of the money was put up by SoftBank, $45 billion by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, and the remaining $30 billion by other investors, according to Bloomberg.The fund, therefore, plans to invest half of what it has raised in the US. For comparison, a study of all 2015 venture capital funding in the world by EY found that roughly half of these investments were made in US-based companies, so this allocation does not appear to be out of the ordinary.Source: Business InsiderPerhaps the most important thing is that SoftBank, like Trump, can t be trusted. They are already a large American employer and just last year, Son announced his plan to cut thousands of jobs. However, even as early as last November, Son was hinting at this latest plan, saying that he plans on increasing the company s stake in Sprint.Featured image via Sara D. Davis/Getty Images.
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Mexico will 'immediately' respond to any U.S. border tax: ministerMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico must be ready to respond immediately with its own tax measures if the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump imposes a border tax, the economy minister said on Friday, warning such protectionism may trigger a global recession. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has promised a “major border tax” on companies that shift jobs outside the United States, and such a measure could hobble Mexico’s exports to its top trading partner. “It is clear we need to be prepared to immediately neutralize the impact of such a measure,” Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said in an interview on Mexican television. “And it is very clear how - take a fiscal action that clearly neutralizes it,” he said. Trump has repeatedly attacked Mexico over trade, jobs and immigration since he first launched his run for the White House in 2015, driving the peso currency to historic lows and unnerving investors, especially in the auto sector. Guajardo said Trump’s proposed tax “was a problem for the entire world” and that it “would have a wave of impacts that could take us into a global recession.” Nonetheless, the minister said he expected foreign direct investment in Mexico this year to total around $25 billion, with investment in the energy and telecommunications sectors expected to more than make up for the loss of a planned $1.6 billion Ford Motor Co. (F.N) factory that the company said this month it is cancelling. Trump had strongly criticized the plan, but Ford said its decision was not the result of pressure from Trump. Guajardo also praised the government of Japan and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) for their “reasonable” response to Trump’s threat to impose a significant border tax if the company does not stop making its Corolla model in Mexico for the U.S. market. Toyota said last week the automaker has no immediate plans to curb production in Mexico. “Toyota has 10 plants in the United States... and employs more than 130,000 Americans. If I were Mr. Trump, I’d treat them with more respect,” Guajardo said. He added that he expects total foreign direct investment during the six-year term of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which ends in late 2018, to average $30 billion annually. Guajardo has previously warned that U.S. corporate tax cuts proposed by Trump, as well as the border tax, could undermine foreign investment in Latin America’s No. 2 economy. Mexico slapped a tax on U.S. high fructose corn syrup in the early 2000s after the United States refused to allow free trade in Mexican sugar.
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Chicago projects shrinking budget gaps in 2017 and 2018CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago will continue to shrink its structural budget deficit in 2017 and 2018, but faces new pension funding pressures starting in 2020, according to a financial analysis released by the city on Monday. The nation’s third-largest city projects it will end fiscal 2017 on Dec. 31 with a $137.6 million gap in its $3.73 billion operating budget, down from $232.6 million in fiscal 2016. In fiscal 2018, the deficit is expected to fall by 17 percent to $114.2 million. The city’s budget gaps have been declining since hitting a high of $654.7 million in fiscal 2011. “This decrease is a direct result of sustainable and balanced revenue growth coupled with lasting savings and reforms made in the past six budgets,” the city’s analysis said. Chicago has taken big steps in recent years to shore up its four employee retirement systems by hiking property taxes for its police and fire fighter funds, levying a new tax on water and sewer usage for its municipal workers’ fund, and increasing a telephone surcharge for its laborers’ fund. The city is gradually increasing contributions to the systems until it meets requirements for actuarially funding public safety worker pensions in 2020 and for the other two systems in 2022. As a result, Chicago’s pension payments will jump from $1.18 billion in fiscal 2018 to a projected $1.7 billion in fiscal 2020, topping $2 billion in fiscal 2022 when all four systems will be on an actuarially funded path, according to the analysis. At the same time, the city is weaning itself off of one-time revenue fixes, such as so-called scoop and toss restructurings of outstanding bonds to push off debt payments. Chicago’s base budget forecast indicates gaps of $212.7 million in fiscal 2019 and $330.3 million in 2020, although the projections do not completely account for escalating pension payments. “The city previously secured ongoing and sustainable funding sources to match these growing contributions, and the funding sources for these increased contributions will be determined through our annual budget process,” the analysis said. The city’s total unfunded pension liability, which climbed to $35.76 billion in fiscal 2016 from $33.8 billion in fiscal 2015, has been a concern of credit rating agencies that currently rate Chicago at the low investment grade to junk levels.
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Hurricane Irma to become tropical storm on Monday: NHC(Reuters) - Irma is forecast to weaken into a tropical storm over far northern Florida or southern Georgia on Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale was about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Tampa, Florida with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour (155 km/h), the NHC said. On the forecast track, the center of Irma will continue to move over the western Florida peninsula through Monday morning and then into the southeastern United States late Monday and Tuesday, it said.
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ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL FOLLOWS KAEPERNICKS Lead In Disrespecting The National AnthemIt seems that Colin Kaepernick has become more of an influence in our youths life then any of us would have hoped for. On one hand it is amazing that an entire high school football team wanted to protest social injustices, but on the other following a move that shows nothing but disrespect to this country and the men and women that have fought for it for so long is a travesty.Recently converted muslin-Colin Kaepernick from the San Francisco 49ers decided he wanted to protest oppression of the black man in America by sitting during the National Anthem. The move is spreading like an oozing wound, and unfortunately his job a role-model and mentor has been compromised.The coach of the Garfield Seattle High School football team should be ashamed of himself for not only allowing this type of action but for joining in on it!The coach stated that they will continue this action before every game until they tell us to stop. High schools across this nation are doing the same and it is heartbreaking to watch our youth be so very misguided.Garfield High School (Seattle) student-athletes taking a knee during the National Anthem yesterday. #Seattle pic.twitter.com/o362ugXMd2 HauteHoopla (@HauteHoopla) September 17, 2016This country needs more authority figures teaching our children what the National Anthem really means. It literally is a protest for injustices, its a hymn for those that have died for us to have our freedom, its a song that will forever remember every single action taken to create this beautiful country, and as such should be stood for. This basketball coach in the video below explains it beautifully. Thankfully there are a few like him left.H/T [ Young Cons. ]
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Trump Jr.’s Latest Move Proves That Russia Investigation Is Closing In On Trump (DETAILS)Proving that the biggest obstacle to his presidency is always going to be himself and his equally incompetent team and family, Donald Trump s Russia investigation has been blown wide open thanks to his idiot son, Donald Trump Jr.Unlike his brother, Eric, Trump Jr. takes after his father in having an equally offensive Twitter habit. Recently, Trump Jr. admitted that he d met with a Russian lawyer during his father s presidential campaign, putting him at the center of Trump s latest Russia controversy.Following the backlash and political consequences, Trump Jr. has now gotten himself a criminal defense lawyer, despite the fact that the Trump administration desperately tried to shrug his confession off as nothing. Trump Jr. s latest move proves that it was anything but. According to Reuters: Donald Trump Jr., the president s son, has hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas to represent him in connection with Russia-related investigations, the lawyer and Trump Jr. s office said on Monday. Futerfas, a sole practitioner who specializes in criminal defense, would not say when he was retained or whether he had any input into the statements Trump Jr. made over the weekend about a meeting with a Russian lawyer. Just like with his father, legal experts are weighing in on what might happen to Trump Jr., and there are several who believe that Trump s son might actually find himself behind bars for violating federal laws.Trump Jr. s moronic confession is just the tip of the iceberg as far as evidence of Trump s collusion with Russia. No one should ignore that Trump Jr. s hiring of a criminal defense attorney is big news because if Chelsea Clinton had done this, the GOP would scream and shout for Hillary s impeachment.Trump s administration is busy 24/7 trying to fix the ever-growing Russia scandal. They can t outrun it, as Trump and his inner circle continuously incriminate themselves. It is only a matter of time before this blows up in Trump s face.Featured image via John Sommers II / Getty Images
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Even White Nationalists Are Turning On Trump; One Nominee Is Giving Them HopeThe week of Donald Trump s election, white nationalists celebrated.In the bowels of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, three blocks from the White House, members of the so-called alt-right movement gathered for what they had supposed would be an autopsy to plot their grim future under a Clinton administration. Instead, they celebrated the unexpected march of their white nationalist ideas toward the mainstream, portraying Mr. Trump s win as validation that the tide had turned in their fight to preserve white culture. It s been an awakening, Richard B. Spencer, who is credited with coining the term alt-right, said at the gathering on Saturday. This is what a successful movement looks like. Source: NY TimesWhile they still agree with Trump s agenda, or at least what they think Trump s agenda is, they aren t celebrating anymore. They aren t happy with many of Trump s cabinet picks. Right after the election, I think it was euphoria, says Kevin MacDonald, a retired evolutionary psychology professor at California State, Long Beach and another white nationalist mainstay. But as we get into it now, there s more trepidation. MacDonald says Trump s appointments also have rattled the movement, especially his propensity for tapping rich Wall Street bankers. These are globalists in general. They love free trade, they love immigration big red flags for us, he says.Source: NPRSo odd that a businessman who brags about his international business ventures would hire globalists. Who could have seen that coming? Anyone who paid attention, that s who, but cheer up our neo-nazi brethren, there s hope for you still (just not for the rest of us). Trump still has his (bad pun ahead) Trump card: Jeff Sessions, who s been tapped for Attorney General. They also like Rex Tillerson, Trump s pick for Secretary of State.MacDonald hopes Sessions, Trump s nominee for attorney general, will clamp down on immigration. White nationalists also like the nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who s seen as being close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a darling of the alt-right.While Trump s cabinet might be a little too globalist for these mouth breathers, there s still plenty for them to love. There s little chance under this Republican government that anyone other than white men will make any sort of advances.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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Republican officials from 16 states back Trump in travel ban fightWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican officials from 16 U.S. states led by Texas said on Tuesday they have come to the defense of President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority nations, telling the Supreme Court the order did not unconstitutionally single out Muslims and was needed to protect national security. The officials filed a legal brief with the Supreme Court as it mulls whether to take up the Trump administration’s appeal of lower court rulings blocking the travel ban signed by the Republican president on March 6 and let it go into effect. In the states’ brief, filed on Monday, Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller wrote that the executive order does not mention religion at all and distinguishes people based only on nationality. “The executive order therefore is emphatically not a ‘Muslim ban,’” Keller wrote. Keller added that courts should be careful when second-guessing a president’s national security determinations, an argument that echoes the administration’s view that the judiciary should defer to the president on such matters. The brief said the order did not violation the Constitution’s ban on the government favoring or disfavoring any particular religion or its guarantee of due process. The filing came after the administration asked the high court last Thursday to allow the order to take effect. [nL1N1IZ03Q] Aside from Texas, the officials were Republican state attorneys general from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia, as well as Mississippi’s Republican governor. Three Republican attorneys general came from states with Democratic governors: Louisiana, Montana and West Virginia. Most of the states had also backed Trump earlier in the litigation. Many Democratic state officials have opposed the ban in lower courts. The high court is due to review legal papers filed by the ban’s challengers, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, before acting. The briefs are due on Monday. A key issue before the justices in whether Trump’s comments during the 2016 president campaign, including calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” can be used as evidence that his order was intended to discriminate against Muslims. The administration filed emergency applications with the justices seeking to block lower court rulings that went against Trump’s order barring entry for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days while the U.S. government implements stricter visa screening. Trump’s order also called for suspending all refugee admissions for 120 days. The move comes after the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 25 upheld a Maryland judge’s ruling blocking the order. [nL1N1IR1FY] Potentially making it harder for his lawyers to win at the Supreme Court, Trump again commented on the case on Monday, tweeting complaints that his own administration had issued a “watered down, politically correct version” of an earlier order he signed on Jan. 27 that also was blocked by courts. [nL1N1J209L]
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Top tech official at hacked U.S. personnel agency retires under pressureWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top technology official at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management announced her retirement on Monday amid calls for her ouster by some Republican lawmakers. Donna Seymour, chief information officer, said in an email to her colleagues that was seen by Reuters that leaving was a “very tough decision.” She added that she felt it was in the “agency’s best interest that my presence does not distract from the great work this team does every single day.” House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz had repeatedly called for Seymour’s resignation, lodging complaints that her mistakes helped lead to the OPM data breach disclosed last year that exposed the personal information of 22 million individuals. In response to the sudden announcement, Chaffetz’s panel canceled a hearing scheduled for Wednesday to examine the breach. In a statement, Chaffetz called the retirement “good news” but said he was disappointed she would no longer testify. “On her watch, whether through negligence or incompetence, millions of Americans lost their privacy and personal data,” Chaffetz said. Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, countered that Republican efforts to blame Seymour for the hack were “unfair and inaccurate” and would discourage qualified technical professionals from pursuing public service. Seymour is the second high-ranking official to leave OPM since the breach was disclosed. Katherine Archuleta, the agency’s director, resigned in July. Earlier this month, Chaffetz subpoenaed OPM for documents related to the hack, which intelligence officials have privately blamed on China. The Utah Republican has accused the agency of not acting in good faith with the committee because it has only provided partially redacted versions of the files, which were described by Seymour as “outdated security documents” in testimony she gave in June 2015. Chaffetz has expressed concern that the manuals could be used to launch another cyber attack. Beth Cobert, the acting head of OPM, praised Seymour’s 37-year career in federal government in a statement and lauded her for helping to modernize the agency’s information technology over the past year.
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STUNNER! FLORIDA TRUMP EVENT: Former Haitian Senate President Drops CLINTON BOMBSHELL Exposing Unbelievable Corruption [VIDEO]Former Senate President of Haiti, Bernard Sansaricq, shocked a large crowd at a Trump campaign event in Little Haiti, FL. Sansaricq exposes all of the dirty dealings of the Clinton s in Haiti while he was still in office. Donald Trump to his credit, allowed him to speak his mind and expose to the world what kind of criminals are attempting to scratch and claw their way back into our White House.Sansaricq also claims he begged the Clinton Administration not to invade Haiti. His request was followed up with a visit by an anonymous messenger from the White House who encouraged him to side with the Clinton Administration and he would be the richest man in Haiti. He also suggests that Hillary Clinton disclose the audit of all money related to the Haiti earthquake crisis, as he claims they scammed the poorest citizens of Haiti out of BILLIONS of dollars through the Clinton Foundation. Not even 2% of that money went back to Haiti. So Mr. Trump, we are asking you, begging you, the Haitian community will side with you if one day, you ask Hillary Clinton publicly to disclose the audit of all of the money they have stolen from Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. Haiti is a very poor country. Haiti needs defenders. You said you would champion our cause. We welcome you sir and we will work with you. Ask Hillary Clinton publicly, during your next debate for an audit of all of the money they have stolen from Haiti. Watch this stunning confession of bribery, and threats during the Clinton presidency when Bill tried to oust the regime in Haiti.
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Sessions' talks with Russian ambassador were not related to campaign: White HouseABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The conversations U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had last year with Russia’s ambassador were not related to his role advising the Trump campaign but solely to his work as a U.S. senator, the White House said on Thursday. “He was clearly conducting himself as a United States senator,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters aboard Air Force One. “This is what senators do.”
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MACHETE ATTACKER, Mohamed Barry Was Living In U.S. On Green Card [VIDEO]Now we know the reason it took so long for anyone to release the details about Muslim attacker, Mohamed Barry. How long will we have to wait for them to tell us it was an act of terror? CBS News has confirmed from the FBI that the man who attacked a Columbus restaurant Thursday with a machete was living in the United States on a green card.The motives for the attack by 30-year-old Mohamed Barry remain unclear but investigators are looking for possible ties to extremists.Not far from Nazareth Restaurant, one of the only two relatives Barry had in Columbus says he was sleeping, unware of the nearby attack.That was until FBI agents woke him up with a knock on his door and questions about his nephew and possible ties to terrorism.The relative, who only identified himself as Barry s uncle, said Barry was a bit of a loner with a bit of a temper. I know that when he gets mad he, that s why he wanted to be by himself, he said.He said Barry was born in Guinea but that his family, including three sisters, lives in Philadelphia.His uncle said Barry lived with him while looking for a job when he first moved to Columbus from Philadelphia last fall.The uncle says he knew something wasn t right when he received a strange text message from Barry just five hours before the attack.He says the message was in Arabic and English but didn t understand the meaning. His uncle couldn t show or read the text because he said the FBI now has his phone.When asked if he thought Barry could have had ties to ISIS, his uncle said no.The four victims he attacked with a machete are expected to make a full recovery. Barry was shot and killed by police after fleeing the restaurant. Via: WBNS-10TV
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U.S. strikes on Taliban opium labs won't work, say Afghan farmersLASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan/KABUL (Reuters) - As U.S. and Afghan forces pound Taliban drug factories this week, farmers in the country s largest opium producing-province and narcotics experts say the strategy just repeats previous failed efforts to stamp out the trade. U.S. Army General John Nicholson, who heads NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, announced on Monday a new strategy of attacking opium factories, saying he wanted to hit the Taliban where it hurts, in their narcotics financing . Critics say the policy risks further civilian casualties and turning large swathes of the population dependent on poppy cultivation against the Afghan government. The Taliban will not be affected by this as much as ordinary people, said Mohammad Nabi, a poppy farmer in Nad Ali district in the southern province of Helmand, the heartland of opium production. Farmers are not growing poppies for fun. If factories are closed and businesses are gone, then how will they provide food for their families? Opium production in Afghanistan reached record highs this year, up 87 percent, according to the United Nations. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said last week that output of opium from poppy seeds in Afghanistan, the world s main source of heroin, stood at around 9,000 metric tons in 2017, worth an estimated $1.4 billion on leaving the farms. In Helmand, cultivation area increased 79 percent. Publicizing the new strategy, which he said was open-ended, Nicholson showed one video of an F-22 fighter jet dropping 250-pound bombs on two buildings, emphasizing that a nearby third building was left unscathed. U.S. troops have long been accused of causing unnecessary collateral damage and civilian deaths. The United States says it takes every precaution to avoid civilian casualties. The four-star general emphasized that farmers were not the targets. They are largely compelled to grow the poppy and this is kind of a tragic part of the story, said Nicholson. WHACK-A-MOLE Experts, however, question whether the new strategy will have an impact on Taliban financing. All these things have been tried before and not produced effective results. If they had, we wouldn t be where we are now, said Orzala Nemat, director of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, which has been researching the country s drug trade for a decade and a half. Another analyst said it was simply a futile game of whack-a-mole. Those familiar with the drug industry in Afghanistan said it would only take three or four days to replace a lab, which generally has a low sunk-cost. They also say it was not just the Taliban involved in Afghanistan s drug trade. Drugs are elemental to the political economy of Afghanistan, to those who rule and to those who oppose that rule, said one analyst, asking not to be named. Prior to being ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001, the Taliban virtually eliminated the trade, saying it was forbidden by Islam. The United States and its Western allies, the Afghan government and United Nations have made repeated efforts since to eradicate poppy cultivation, including encouraging farmers to cultivate alternatives such as saffron, spraying poppy fields with herbicide, and destroying labs. However, they have not made any serious headway in stemming the rise in drug production. The issue underlines problems faced by the Afghan government and its allies, as they seek to cut off a major source of financing for the Taliban and stem the flow of drugs to Europe. The Taliban said that U.S. forces were mistaken in their targeting and were hitting civilians. There are no drug producing factories in these areas. Invading Americans are carrying out these attacks based on false information and to make propaganda, which most of its victims are civilians, said Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi on Wednesday. Although World Bank projections show Afghanistan s economy picking up modestly, the improvement is more than offset by population growth, leaving many in rural areas saying they have no alternative to growing poppies. The government must provide jobs so people can feed their families and survive, said poppy farmer Haji Daoud in Sangin, Helmand. It should provide security and infrastructure.
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Behind the bombast: North Korea's genteel foreign ministerSEOUL (Reuters) - The man who called Donald Trump President Evil last week at the U.N. General Assembly is actually a genteel intellectual who studies the memoirs of former U.S. presidents and has taste for fine whisky, according to ten people who know him. North Korea s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho made headlines in the Sept. 23 speech to the 193-member General Assembly, and also two days earlier when he revealed to reporters outside his hotel that North Korea s next move might be to detonate a hydrogen bomb above the Pacific Ocean, in response to U.S. President Trump s threat to totally destroy his country of 26 million people. While bellicose rhetoric often spouts from militaristic North Korea, it did seem out of character coming from what friends and colleagues described as a polite and softly-spoken career diplomat with a self-deprecating sense of humor and sharp debating skills. As a negotiation partner, Ri was a good one, whose status seemed quite secure and who had relatively greater leeway to exercise during the talks, said Wi Sung-lac, South Korea s former envoy at the now suspended six-party talks aimed at dismantling Pyongyang s nuclear program. He was flexible and fundamentally rational, said Wi, who met with Ri twice in 2011 in an effort to re-start the talks hosted by China, after they collapsed in 2008. Ri has a reputation for translating North Korean propaganda into measured diplomatic language when interacting with Western diplomats, and has studied the works of former U.S. presidents in his spare time. He s not just (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un s mouthpiece, said one source who knows Ri personally. He likes to read the memoirs of former U.S. presidents like Nixon and Bush. He also reads Kissinger. He tries to understand American thinking, the source, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. If there are any debates about U.S. policy in North Korea, he s usually the one who puts forwards new ideas and new tactics, the source said. He s a strategist. The North Korean government does not provide foreign media with a contact point in Pyongyang for comment by email, fax or phone. Ri declined Reuters request for an interview while he was in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. Born in 1956, Ri is the son of Ri Myong Je, former deputy director of the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), a shadowy body within the ruling Workers Party that oversees the appointment of key management positions within the state, according to South Korea s unification ministry. His father was also an editor at the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state media body that publishes Pyongyang s bombastic propaganda statements. A fluent English speaker who studied at Pyongyang s prestigious University of Foreign Languages, Ri has for years held a number of high-level posts dealing with the West. From 2003 to 2007, he was North Korea s ambassador in London, where he lived with his wife and daughter while his son stayed at home in Pyongyang. He had a good command of English and always struck me as pretty polished, said James Hoare, the U.K. s former charges des affaires in Pyongyang, who met Ri frequently during his time in London and hosted him for dinner at his house. He was willing to appear publicly and could cope with questions. I last saw him in Pyongyang in 2011, when he gave a lunch for (my wife) and me, Hoare said. By then, Ri had become vice foreign minister. Although much grander, he was still the same polite and friendly person. A keen debater, Ri spent time engaging with British intellectuals during his time in London. At the private members Reform Club on London s glitzy Pall Mall street, he charmed British academics over wine and lunch. He clearly had a good sense of humor and was never belligerent or combative when it came to articulating his government s perspective, said John Nilsson-Wright, a professor at the University of Cambridge and senior fellow at the Chatham House international affairs think tank. Journalists caught a sample of that humor in Ri s most recent off-the-cuff marks, when they asked the foreign minister in New York what he thought of the nickname Rocket Man that Trump s has dubbed the North s leader. I feel sorry for his aides, Ri quipped. In his U.N. speech he described Trump as a mentally deranged person ... who is chastised even by American people as Commander in Grief , Lyin King , President Evil ... Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat who dealt with North Korea under President George W. Bush and met Ri on a few occasions, recalled that he exuded self-confidence and was at ease in any setting, likely reflecting his pedigree as the offspring of one of Pyongyang s elite families. While affable and approachable, Ri could be also tough as nails , and in meetings with Americans, he leaves no doubt that North Korea is determined to remain a nuclear-weapons state, Revere said. Behind the smile and the humor is a man who seems to believe strongly in the regime s line. But the gregarious diplomat with an impressive rolodex of contacts has also faced increasing isolation, with the international community seeking to punish North Korea for its rapidly advancing missile and nuclear weapons programs. He was spotted dining alone at a gala dinner during a gathering of foreign ministers at the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) security forum in Laos in July 2016, while other ministers greeted one another and clinked wine glasses. The delegate of one participating Western country switched seats to avoid sitting next to Ri, saying he can t be seen in photos having dinner side by side with him, a South Korean diplomat said, declining to identify the nation. This year s ASEAN forum in Manila in August came after the U.N. Security Council imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea for conducting two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July. Ri was often observed silent and stone-faced, as he held meetings with only four of the 27 foreign ministers attending the forum. Not talking to Ri at the U.N. General Assembly was a missed opportunity for Washington, given his close ties to the Kim family, said Joel Wit, director of the 38 North website and a former State Department official who first met Ri more than 20 years ago. Following a rare ruling Workers Party congress in May 2016, Ri was appointed foreign minister and given a position in the party s powerful State Affairs Commission, a central decision-making body headed by Kim Jong Un. It was the first time a career diplomat had been promoted to the politburo since 1998, said Cheong Seong-chang, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute south of Seoul. In 2011, South Korea s former nuclear negotiator Wi met Ri in Beijing and took the North Korean delegation out to a Chinese dinner. Hearing that Ri had grown fond of whisky during his time in London, Wi s staff brought some Scotch for him which was then leaked to the press. So he came in and said Why do you have to tell every detail of our event to the media? , said Wi, who told Ri not to pay attention and have just one drink with him. We ended up drinking quite a lot. (This story has been refiled to correct second paragraph to make clear that Ri s reference to a hydrogen bomb test was made to reporters at not in the UN speech; edits for style.)
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HEY DEMOCRATS! Judicial Watch Just Discovered Hillary Invited Putin To 2009 Clinton Foundation Gala…Is This The Collusion You’ve Been Looking For?The March 13, 2009, email from the Clinton Foundation showed that Putin and about 200 other leaders (including others just as controversial) were invited to attend a gathering that occurred at about the same time that the newly appointed secretary of state was attempting a reset with Moscow.The email, which was sent from Clinton Foundation director of foreign policy Amitabh Desai to Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro and then forwarded to top Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, also highlights the potential massive conflict of interest between a non-profit foundation and the federal government.Even after losing the election, Clinton has continued on the warpath against President Trump s stance on Russia. He doesn t just like Putin, he wants to be like Putin, Clinton said of Trump on MSNBC s Rachel Maddow show Thursday night.But as secretary of state, Clinton took pains to engage with the Kremlin. Just one week prior to sending out the invites, Hillary flew to Geneva and presented the Russian foreign minister with an actual reset button to symbolize a new beginning in U.S.-Russia relations.Beyond the Putin invite, many serious conflicts of interests arose from the sitting secretary of state s invite list.Judicial Watch explains further:The list includes dignitaries from Saudi Arabia, which gave $14.5 million to the Clinton Foundation; Kuwait, which gave between $5 and $10 million; Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar all of which donated between $1 and $5 million over the years. In February 2015, the Washington Post reported, A third of foundation donors who have given more than $1 million are foreign governments or other entities and foreign donors make up more than half of those who have given more than $5 million. Conservative ReviewHere is the first page of the email obtained by Judicial Watch:
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Mexico says won't pay for Trump's 'terrible' border wallMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - There is no way Mexico would fund Donald Trump’s “terrible” plan to build a wall along its border with the United States if the Republican front-runner wins the U.S. presidential election, the Mexican finance minister said. Trump, the New York billionaire developer and former reality television star, sparked outrage in Mexico when he vowed to force Latin America’s second largest economy to pay for a wall along the southern U.S. border to stem the flow of illegal immigration and drugs. In a televised interview late on Wednesday, Finance Minister Luis Videgaray categorically rejected the proposal. “Under no circumstance will Mexico pay for the wall that Mr. Trump is proposing,” he said. “Building a wall between Mexico and the United States is a terrible idea. It is an idea based on ignorance and has no foundation in the reality of North American integration.” Trump has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug runners across the U.S. border and has vowed to increase fees on some Mexican visas and all border crossing cards as part of a broader plan to force Mexico to pay for the wall. Former conservative Mexican presidents Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox have compared Trump to Adolf Hitler while fears of a Trump presidency have helped stoke a spike in the numbers of immigrants trying to enter the United States. (Reporting By Alexandra Alper; Editing by Simon Gardner and Bill Trott) 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.
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WOW! Reporters Try To Question Her Dad’s Temperament…IVANKA TRUMP Shuts Them Down BIG TIME! [VIDEO]Don t mess with daddy s little girl! Ivanka Trump is nobody s fool and she is clearly not about to allow the media to define her father as someone he is not He beat 16 incredibly capable, competent people in the Republican primaries, so it s not my place to change his campaign. He fights the fighters that he feels are important for this country and he ll bring that same spirit and that same energy to the White House. And I think people want somebody who s going to fight for them and he will be a champion of the people. When asked whether she could provide some examples of where she and her father disagreed on policy or strategy, she demurred.Her advice is provided privately, because that s the nature of our relationship, she said. But I m very inspired by what he s done. To critics who call her father s temperament volatile, Ivanka Trump challenged the characterization, calling her father incredibly level-headed. I think that he fights, and he s strong, and he s had to fight. He has a lot of people coming at him, Trump said sitting in a windowless room deep beneath Cobo Center, in Detroit, where the Republican presidential nominee addressed nearly 1,500 business executives and supporters.Now is not the time to start telling Donald Trump to alter his approach after so much success, according to his daughter.The New York City real estate magnate who has never run for elected office beat 16 incredibly capable, competent people in the Republican primaries, so it s not my place to tell him to change his campaigning style, Ivanka Trump said. I have a very close relationship with my father, she said. I always have, since I was a young girl. But over the last decade, I ve worked right along side of him, side-by-side with both of my adult brothers at the Trump Organization, she said. He s been an amazing parent to me and an amazing father, so we have the great familial connection but we have also worked together as executives. She graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, the same school attended by her father. Before joining the Trump Organization in 2005, Ivanka Trump worked at Forest City Enterprises as a real estate project manager. Via: Detroit Free Press
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Poland asks EU to drop legal case against Warsaw over migrant quotasWARSAW (Reuters) - Poland has asked the European Commission to withdraw its legal proceedings against Warsaw over its migrant relocation quotas and said it was ready to fight its case in court, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. In July the Commission sent so-called reasoned opinions to Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary urging them to apply EU migration rules. Poland has sent a motion to the European Commission requesting it to discontinue its ongoing infringement procedure. Should it be continued, Poland is prepared to argue its case before the Court of Justice of the European Union , the ministry said in a statement. Poland s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has repeatedly criticized the EU s relocation scheme for each member state to host a given number of migrants to help ease pressure on Greece and Italy, struggling with mass arrivals of migrants across the Mediterranean. Earlier on Wednesday, Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a statement that the EU s relocation policy was dangerous. Paris, Stockholm, Brussels, Berlin, Manchester, Barcelona, Blaszczak said, referring to recent attacks by Islamist militants which have killed scores of people. How many more European cities have to be hit by terrorists so the European Union wakes up? So the European Commission acknowledges that accepting blindly all those who come to the European shores is akin to putting a noose around Europe s neck?
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Russia condemns North Korea nuclear tests: agenciesMOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow condemns North Korea s nuclear tests and calls on North Korea and the international community to comply with all U.N. resolutions, Russian news agencies quoted the speaker of the Russian parliament s upper house as saying on Monday. Valentina Matvienko s comments came at a meeting with a South Korean parliamentary delegation in St Petersburg. Russia has been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to persuade the delegations of North and South Korea to hold direct talks.
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BREAKING NEWS: SECOND MUSLIM Doctor And Wife ARRESTED In MI For Genital Mutilation On 6-8 Yr Old GirlsThe alleged genital mutilations were NOT performed by Dr. Nagarwala at the Henry Ford Hospital in Dearborn, MI. Authorities are saying the procedures took place at the Dr. Attar owned Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia, MI.Now a second Michigan doctor and his wife have been arrested on charges of performing female genital mutilation on minors, according to breaking news from the U.S. Justice Department Friday.Fakhruddin Attar, 53, and his wife, Farida Attar, 50, of Livonia, were both arrested and have been charged with conspiring to perform female genital mutilations on minor girls out of Dr. Attar s medical clinic in Livonia.Authorities say Dr. Attar owned Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia, which is where a Detroit emergency room doctor who was arrested last week is accused of performing FGM on minor girls. Authorities say Dr. Attar s wife is employed at Burhani Medical Clinic as an office manager. Authorities believe the husband and wife arranged and assisted in the FGM procedures performed by the Detroit doctor, Dr. Jumana Nagarwala.Authorities say Dr. Nagarwala never worked at Burhani Medical Clinic, therefore the office has no record of her billing for medical procedures there. Nargawala was arrested in Detroit on April 12.The FGM investigation at Burhani Medical Clinic has identified two young girls from Minnesota who have been operated on by Dr. Nagarwala. Other minor girls in Michigan may have undergone procedures as well.The defense argued, claiming no female genital mutilation took place, instead, a religious removal of a mucus membrane from the genitals which was wrapped up and given to the parents to bury a practice they say is performed by a small sect of Indian-based Islam called Dawoodi Bohra. FOX 2 Detroit
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Democrats see FBI controversy hurting chances in U.S. Congress racesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior Democrats said on Monday their chances of winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives had been hurt by the FBI’s surprise announcement last month that Hillary Clinton’s email practices were again figuring in a federal investigation. Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday to choose Democrat Clinton or Republican Donald Trump for president, but also to fill 34 U.S. Senate seats in the 100-chamber body and all 435 House seats. Both the House and Senate are currently controlled by Republicans. FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress in late October that the agency would examine newly found emails that might pertain to Clinton’s use of a private server while she was secretary of state, “had a tremendous adverse impact with our standing with independents,” said Representative James Clyburn, a member of the House Democratic leadership, referring to independent voters. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, while calling Comey’s action “out of line,” said it resulted in a spike in small campaign donations. But she added: “We would be in a better place (without the letter) and in the manner he did it.” Clyburn’s and Pelosi’s remarks, seen by Reuters, were delivered during a phone call House Democratic leaders had with rank-and-file members. Continued Republican control of Congress could stymie the legislative agenda put forth by Clinton if she wins the presidency. A Trump win along with a Republican Congress could spell doom for Democratic President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law known as Obamacare, which has been the target of a sustained attack by Republican lawmakers. If voters hand power to Democrats in either chamber, 2017 will likely bring a more moderate bent to bills that lawmakers send to the new president for signing into law. A senior Democratic aide said the October controversy, which consumed U.S. political campaigns for over a week, could reduce by at least 10 the number of House seats Democrats may be able to capture from Republicans on Election Day. Comey informed Congress on Sunday that he was standing by his July decision that no criminal charges were warranted against the Democratic presidential candidate in the emails investigation. But coming only two days before national elections, Comey’s latest decision may have come too late for Democrats who were hoping for big wins on Tuesday to help them regain control of the House for the first time since 2010 and the Senate for the first time since 2014. “It’s terribly damaging to us,” the aide said, adding that Clinton’s support in battleground states could be depressed, which in turn would hurt the party’s House candidates. With that in mind, the aide said Democrats could end up gaining only 12 to 16 House seats on Tuesday, instead of the 30 or so needed to win back the chamber. Representative Tom Cole, a senior House Republican, said in a telephone interview he found it “mystifying in how he (Comey) has interjected himself in the election on three different occasions in ways that were probably inappropriate.” Cole was referring to the initial announcement in July that Clinton would not be prosecuted, the late October letter to Congress that FBI agents were again reviewing the issue and Sunday’s information that the agency would not change its July findings. Of Sunday’s good news for Clinton, the Oklahoma lawmaker said: “I think it certainly takes a little steam out of the Republicans.” To win control of the Senate outright, Democrats would have to score a net gain of five seats. Republicans currently hold 54 Senate seats to 44 Democratic seats and two independents who align themselves with Democrats. For much of the autumn campaign, political analysts were projecting Democrats would pick up anywhere from four to seven Senate seats. The outcome of the presidential race is expected to have a major impact on the outcome of the congressional campaigns. In recent decades, the party that wins the White House has usually fared better in congressional races too. For most of the 2016 campaign season, the Senate races have been center stage, as Democrats fielded some strong challengers to Republican incumbents. Among them are Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who is giving Republican Senator Roy Blunt an unexpectedly stiff challenge, and former environmental official Katie McGinty, who could unseat Republican Senator Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania. John McCain, the Vietnam War hero and 2008 Republican presidential nominee who has served in the Senate for 30 years, appears headed to re-election in a race that has been unusually competitive for him. A possible 50-50 tie following Tuesday’s elections would mean that the next vice president would cast the tie-breaking vote and determine which party controls the Senate. The Senate that will be sworn in on Jan. 3, whether it is held by Republicans or Democrats, will face a weighty decision early on: voting on a U.S. Supreme Court justice to replace the conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February. Since that time, Senate Republicans have refused to consider Obama’s nomination of federal judge Merrick Garland, arguing the next president should pick a nominee for Senate review. Other issues confronting Congress next year include illegal immigration and border security, the need to raise U.S. borrowing authority, something some conservative Republicans oppose without substantial budget cuts, and possible approval of free-trade deals with Pacific Rim countries and Europe if negotiations on the latter conclude successfully.
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TEEN WEARING CONFEDERATE FLAG SHIRT TO MICHIGAN SCHOOL Told To Go Home Or Change It [Video]A student at a Michigan high school stood up for his right to wear a Confederate flag shirt to school. There is not a rule against it but the principal felt it would interfere with learning. The effort to cleanse America of our past is in full force. Confederate monuments in different states have been removed and South Carolina removed the confederal flag from its capitol grounds. Do you feel this is freedom of speech or that the flag shouldn t be worn to school? CALEDONIA, Mich. (WOOD) A student at Caledonia High School was outraged when he was told to change his shirt, which showed the Confederate battle flag, or go home Wednesday morning.Donovan Stokes, a junior, said he was approached by the high school principal about his shirt. I wore everything as proper. This is just a shirt; it s the rebel flag. It was bullying. They were bullying me to take off my shirt and I did not have to go home. They cannot send me home. That is losing my education, said Stokes. The principal gave me two options and I requested a letter asking why he had to take the shirt off, she said.The letter stated because of what that flag is used to symbolize by others, we feel it could contribute to a hostile environment for many of our students. Jolene Stokes said she does not believe the shirt would create a hostile environment and her son believes that removing the shirt infringed on his freedom of expression. It s more of like a history thing and it s just a war flag from back in the day, and I don t think it meant anything by it, he said.The school district disagreed, saying it has a responsibility to create a safe and orderly learning environment. Any type of attire that might challenge that, might create disorder or disruption to the environment, we have responsibility to prohibit that attire. We love freedom of speech and we educate kids and we want them to know that they do have the right to stand up and speak their mind and share their opinions and we value that as much as anybody else. At the same time, if that is going to disrupt our educational setting, that has to come first. That climate that we create for students to learn and grow has to come first, so that s why we have to be able to respond the way we are responding, Caledonia Community Schools Superintendent Randy Rodriguez said.Rodriguez said it is especially important during considering the recent discussions in the nation about race and the battle flag. We are in a greater time of sensitivity right now for many reasons that have gone around the country, but also locally. I want all of our children to feel like this is a place that they belong, this is a place that they can learn and we re going to protect them all and we re going love them all, Rodriguez said.Donovan Stokes said he understands why people see the rebel flag as offensive. I can see how people could be offended by it due to the slavery thing, but that s because of the education. We are being taught in schools that this is not right, not just. I understand how people would totally get offended by this. People want to think of this as a hate flag, but this is really a patriotic flag than anything, he said.However, Grand Valley State University Associate Professor of History Scott Stabler said that historically, the flag was a symbol of resistance to the Civil Rights Movement and the battle flag was not the official flag of the Confederacy. It s a historical myth that it symbolizes something other than the Confederacy, which was all about sustaining the idea of human bondage. I think that people that carry the Confederate flag probably in their minds believe it stands for southern heritage, white southern heritage, but I don t think they have any clue as to what southern white heritage is, Stabler said.Stabler believes this situation could be an opportunity for learning. I think it s a point of learning what the student doesn t understand, what the flag might mean to people of African descent even to white people, because it means something to me, too, Stabler said.Stokes ultimately decided to take the shirt off rather than go home. The flag shirt is a tank top and he was wearing another long-sleeve shirt under it.He said a similar incident happened to him in middle school when he wore a belt showing the rebel flag. He said the student handbook does not directly state anywhere that he can t wear that kind of attire. He said he is not a racist and was not at all trying to promote hate or racism.Read more: WoodTV
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Britain's U.S. ambassador discussed Trump retweets with senior White House staff: sourceLONDON (Reuters) - Britain s ambassador to the United States discussed a row over retweets sent by President Donald Trump with senior White House officials on Wednesday, a British government source said on Thursday. The source, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, did not give further details of the discussion. Trump has sparked outrage in Britain s political establishment with a sharp rebuke of Prime Minister Theresa May on Twitter after she criticised him for retweeting British far-right anti-Islam videos.
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New Hampshire Republican Calls For Executing Hillary By Firing Squad (AUDIO)Trump s supporters are bloodthirsty monsters.By now it is crystal clear that Hillary Clinton needs the most Secret Service protection the government can provide because conservatives are obviously too crazy to be ignored.One such conservatives is New Hampshire Republican State Rep. Al Baldasaro, who is also Trump s adviser on veteran s affairs.On Tuesday, Baldasaro echoed other conservatives by calling for executing the former Secretary of State via firing squad for imaginary crimes conservatives think she is guilty of committing even though there is no evidence that she ever committed a crime. House panels found nothing during their investigation of Benghazi and they couldn t find anything in their investigation into her emails either.Even the FBI couldn t recommend prosecution because there was nothing to go on.But Baldasaro and other conservatives don t care. They think they are judge, jury, and executioner. Hillary Clinton to me is the Jane Fonda of the Vietnam, Baldasaro told a right-wing radio host. She is a disgrace for the lies that she told those mothers about their children that got killed over there in Benghazi. She dropped the ball on over 400 emails requesting back up security. Something s wrong there. Again, even the House committee headed by REPUBLICANS could not find any evidence that Hillary Clinton failed to respond to attacks in Benghazi in which four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.In fact, even Stevens own family does not blame Clinton.But regardless of the facts, Baldarsaro wants blood. He accused Clinton of committing treason and said she should be shot. This whole thing disgusts me, Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason. Here s the audio via BuzzfeedIn addition to right-wingers calling for Hillary to be shot, hanged, and imprisoned despite the fact that she has not committed a crime, Trump s delivery boy Chris Christie held a mock trial at the RNC Convention on Tuesday evening and charged her with crimes and let the crowd deliver verdicts. They chanted Lock her up and guilty. And this is all despite the fact that Christie himself is embroiled in a legal scandal of his own, which Hillary reminded him of on Twitter.Conservative hatred of Hillary Clinton has reached fever pitch and is extremely dangerous if left unchecked. Calling for the assassination of a political candidate is disgraceful and Donald Trump needs to tell his supporters that they are going too far. Because it is only a matter of time before a conservative gun nut actually attempts to put those calls into action.Featured image via YouTube
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Britain will take a 'hard-headed' approach to Russia: MayLONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain would take a hard headed approach to dealing with Russia ahead of a meeting between foreign minister Boris Johnson and his Russian counterpart in Moscow on Friday. We are aware of the activity that Russia has undertaken, the illegal annexation of Crimea, its continued activity in the Ukraine, also the action that it is taking in relation to disinformation elsewhere, she said in an interview with Sky News at an air base in Cyprus. (Johnson) will be speaking in a hard-headed way with the Russians about the concerns we have about their activity.
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THE BRUTAL TRUTH ABOUT BENGHAZI: ’13 HOURS’ In-Home Sales BLOW UP Right Before The Election! Hillary Wants This GONE! [VIDEO]Any guesses as to who is playing our criminal Secretary of State or our lying Commander in Chief? The movie, based on Mitchell Zuckoff s 2014 book 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi, tells the story of the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya in which four Americans U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service s Sean Smith and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods were killed by Islamist terrorists.Bay is directing the film from a script by Chuck Hogan (FX s The Strain). James Badge Dale, John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, Toby Stephens, David Denman, Max Martini, and Dominic Fumusa star.The trailer conveys a strong sense of dread before the classic Bay-inspired action kicks in. When everything went wrong, six men had the courage to do what was right, the text in the trailer reads.With a budget reportedly in the range of $30-$40 million, Bay is working on 13 Hours with a lot less money than he usually gets to play with on blockbuster films like Transformers. Here s hoping the result is a return to form for Bay and a tight, focused action film that honors the memories of the American heroes who sacrificed their lives on that day.13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi hits theaters January 15.Via: Breitbart News
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For-profit colleges could prosper under Trump: Barron's(Reuters) - For-profit education stocks have surged on expectations that President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican Congress may ease regulations imposed on the industry by the Obama administration, Barron’s said in a report. Stocks such as Grand Canyon Education, DeVry Education Group and Capella Education rose about 14 percent last week. Trump won an upset victory in Tuesday’s presidential election. Jeff Silber at BMO Capital Markets said Trump’s election could be good news for for-profit education companies, according to Barron’s. A federal court trial in San Diego is set to begin on Nov. 28 over claims by former students of now-defunct Trump University that they were defrauded by a series of real estate seminars. A Trump lawyer has requested that the trial be delayed until after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump denies the students’ allegations.
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