A New Paradigm for Diagnosis and Treatment of Modern Chronic Illnesses Dr. Judy Mikovits  by John P. Thomas Health Impact News  The persistent investigation of Dr. Mikovits into the cause and treatment of modern illnesses, along with a handful of other scientists and healthcare providers such as the late Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, M.D., is leading us toward a new understanding of modern illness and its treatment.  Dr. Mikovits sees the bigger picture of health and illness that few scientists and healthcare providers have the courage to examine. She had great respect for the work of Dr. Bradstreet and his successful use of the new paradigm for treating difficult illnesses. Dr. Mikovits stated:  Dr. Bradstreet recognized that what we call autism is in fact an acquired immune deficiency. What we know of as autism is part of a collection of more than 60 diseases that is spiraling and increasing in our environment.  It is acquired immune deficiency resulting from all the toxins, all the vaccines and other contaminants in our environment from these biologicals that in fact means that what we know of as autism spectrum disorder is an acquired immune deficiency. [1] A Family of Acquired Immune Deficiency Diseases  Many who read this may be initially confused or may even balk at the use of the term Acquired Immune Deficiency , because of the association with HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is one of many acquired immune deficiency syndromes (diseases). It is an acquired immune deficiency caused by the virus that is commonly called HIV. However, HIV is not the only acquired immune deficiency disease – there are more than 60 others, which can result in non-HIV AIDS.  When the human immune system is repeatedly stressed and weakened by toxic food, by toxins in the environment, and by toxic vaccines, then chronic retrovirus related illnesses can begin to emerge from their slumber. We can give a general name to all these illnesses. We can simply call them Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes or non-HIV AIDS.  The conventional healthcare system struggles to accurately diagnose these modern diseases, because there are so many overlapping sets of symptoms. Beyond the specific symptoms is the same underlying problem, which is immune system dysregulation and dysfunction.  People with these diseases have immune systems that have been pushed to the max by various stressors. Their immune systems have been pushed to the point of breakage where retroviral infections can be released from their confinement and begin to reproduce in the body.  Once this happens, the immune system is no longer able to adequately respond to the insults that it was formerly able to control. Various immune system pathways keep trying to fix the situation, but can't overcome the damage.  An acquired immune deficiency is simply an immune system that has been broken to such a degree that it cannot properly respond to the conditions that are causing illness. It is so broken that it cannot even repair itself. The result of such severe immune dysfunction is chronic disabling illness. The Central Tenet of Modern Chronic Illnesses  Dr. Mikovits explains more about the new understanding of the immune system and the paradigm shift that is leading healthcare providers to reconsider long-held assumptions about health and illness. It is causing them to rethink what it means to bring about a "cure" for modern illnesses. Dr. Mikovits stated:  The paradigm shift was recognizing that the macrophage was the central tenet of disease. Our central hypothesis, which we have held for more than three decades, is that there is a critical threshold of immune activation, and when the activation rises above that level, damage to the immune system is being created. Damage is created at a distance.  The damage may be subclinical and it will create imbalance not only in the macrophages, but also in other parts of the immune system. What we want to do is to stop this process.  We want to stop the disease engine, stop the microbial switch from turning on the oxidative stress, and turning on the inflammatory cytokines — and doing this over and over again. If we can limit the damage to the subsets of the immune system, then it is possible to modulate and rebalance the immune system and cure the disease. [2] The Power of the Immune System can Heal Modern Diseases  The new paradigm offers the possibility of true cure, because it relies on the power of the human immune system to bring about a cure. Cure is not seen as the eradication of pathogens by pharmaceutical drugs or other means, rather, the goal is to restore the immune system so that it can once again control or manage pathogens.  In the case of retroviral infection such as HIV, HTLV-1 Leukemia virus, and others, these viruses cannot be eradicated from the body once they have imbedded themselves into human DNA. Once retroviruses have inserted themselves into cells, they cannot be removed – they are there for life.  This means that successful treatments will need to prevent further viral reproduction and enable the immune system to control the existing viral load. When this is done, then the symptoms of disease subside and people are able to live normal lives again.  The illnesses we are discussing first appeared after the dawn of the genetic age or they had a sudden increase in prevalence since it began. Many of these diseases were once considered only diseases of the elderly; but today they are appearing in children and even in newborn babies. This is especially true for cancer.  We are seeing babies born with cancer, two-year-olds dying of cancer, children being unable to digest food, teens dropping dead while playing sports, children with severe physical and intellectual delays, young adults in their twenties with disabling neurological failure, people in their 40s and 50s with deteriorating brain function and memory loss, and people of all ages developing brain fog and physical weakness to the point where they can no longer work or even take care of themselves.  Such things were virtually unheard of before the dawning of the genetic Age. The Bad Fruit of the Genetic Age  The diseases listed below are some of the illnesses that are associated with retroviral infection and immune system damage. We cannot say these diseases are caused by retroviruses, but only that retroviruses are often expressed in patients who have these diseases. Aberrant retrovirus expression and a compromised immune system are the common threads that link these diseases together. The prevalence of these diseases has increased dramatically over the past four decades.  Illnesses Associated with Retroviral Infection [3]  Cancers: Prostate, Breast, Lymphoma, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Mantle Cell Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell Leukemia, Hairy Cell Leukemia, Liver, Bladder, Kidney, Pancreas, Colorectal, Ovarian, and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  Auto-Immune Diseases: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Crohn's Disease, Peripheral Neuropathy, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, Sjogren's Syndrome, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Polymyositis, and Bechet's Disease.  Neuro-Immune Diseases: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Gulf-War Syndrome, Morgellons Disease, treatment resistant Lyme disease, and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).  Central Nervous System Diseases: Alzheimer's, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, multiple system atrophy, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Parkinson's.  A central sign of immune system dysfunction in these diseases is extreme fatigue. Many people also note unexplained weight loss or gain. These symptoms are early warning signs of cancer, but also are hallmarks of all the other diseases mentioned above.  In addition, there will be: signs of inflammation, significant hormone dysregulation, highly elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS), highly elevated reactive nitrogen species (RNS), changes in gene expression without a change to DNA (epigenetics), actual changes in DNA through the process of insertional mutagenesis in which exogenous genetic material is incorporated within the DNA of a host, and serious immune system deficiency. Proper Treatment of Immune System Dysfunction can Help Patients  This is a grim reality that Dr. Mikovits has been working to change.  The proper treatment of immune system dysfunction can help patients with these types of illnesses. These types of treatments enable the body's normal immune defenses to take up their task and gain control over out-of-control situations in the body. Multiple Factors are Causing Illness and Death in Our Modern Age  These are some of the major factors that work together to damage immune system functioning. Alterations in human DNA caused by the presence of retroviruses, Opportunistic co-infections that accompany retroviral infections, Vaccines and most pharmaceutical drugs, Highly processed food and its toxic ingredients such as GMOs, glyphosate, preservatives, artificial flavorings, hydrogenated oil products, etc., Electromagnetic pollution, Toxic chemical exposure in the environment, Chlorinated and fluoridated drinking water, Biologically inactive and chemically contaminated agricultural soil, Antibiotics and incompatible GMO feed given to animals raised in confined feeding operations, Toxins and artificial fragrances in cleaning products and body care products, Mold infested homes and schools, and Of course, the high sugar and high carbohydrate diet.  These factors, plus many others, which are common to "modern life" in America, interact synergistically to damage the immune system. The combined harm is much higher than would be expected by simply adding the potential dangers together. Over time, the stress they produce on the immune system will cause it to crash, and one or more of the illnesses listed above will manifest.  Conventional physicians cannot seem to accept the reality that the modern diseases that plague the world today are linked to multiple factors. They have trouble believing there is synergy between these factors, and that together they could be disrupting the human immune system to the point where disease results. Question for Dr. Mikovits  Is Your Approach Really New?  Basically what I am describing is old-fashioned medicine, and it is rarely done anymore. There are some, of course, who do use these protocols. We need to look at the patient. Talk to the patient. Look at the family. That is what we do. That's what we have always done.  Based on the fact that damage to the immune system is associated with a complex set of interconnected factors, many of which cannot be clearly assessed, then is it reasonable to think that the selection of treatment options needs to be based more on the dysfunctions in immune system pathways, than on the potential triggers of the dysfunction?  Yes, that is correct.  There are any number of therapies – both natural products and otherwise – that could be put together to address immune system dysfunction. But, there is no simple fix. Physicians tend to want to just hand a patient an antidepressant, which is not going to work, or give Lyrica or pain medication, which is going to mask the problem. Even steroids mask the problem and prevent immune system functioning, and down the road a few years things are going to get even worse and spin out of control.  Treating these patients is a lot like the protocol we used for treating AIDS patients. If the AIDS patient had TB or mycoplasma we couldn't treat the retrovirus first. We had to clear the terrain. We had to stop some of the other overwhelming infections and prevent the downstream effects on their bodies. Otherwise, they couldn't respond to the treatment. What we learned that was most significant was to never let the CD4 T cells get too low, because if they get too low then patients can't respond to antiretroviral or antimicrobial treatments.  We are also learning which microbes in the human microbiome are key to drug responses, because they modulate the immune system, interferon and things like that.  Most people want natural products for their illnesses. Baicalin, medical marijuana, vitamin D binding protein (GcMAF), and HEEL Lymphomyosot are some of the natural products that we have studied. The New Paradigm must Address Vaccines and Vaccine Injury  Big Pharma and the government scientists who do their will want us to believe that the science regarding vaccine safety is settled, and the current vaccination schedule is safe. However, some scientists object to this conclusion and insist that the science is not settled and the schedule is not safe!  In fact, the science that has been produced since 2010 concerning vaccines is unsettling Big Pharma. It contradicts their past conclusions and is threatening their profitability.  Agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have lost touch with their original mandates to protect and serve the public. These U.S. government regulators continue to ignore the new science and pursue an informal program that discredits scientists who expose the harmful nature of current vaccines, and they discredit those who dare to criticize the CDC's recommended vaccine schedule.  As we saw with the MMR vaccine, the FDA knowingly approves vaccines and drugs when research shows a high potential for harm, and even destroys data and alters its findings for the sake of keeping its corporate funders happy. [4] While the FDA is keeping its head buried in the sand, the CDC is promoting a schedule of childhood vaccination which has caused harm to millions of children.  Despite this level of corruption, strong voices can be heard from outside the corporate and regulatory world declaring the truth about vaccines and their schedule of administration.  Among the voices raising concern about the safety of vaccines and their schedule of administration is the respectful voice of scientist Dr. Judy A. Mikovits, Ph.D. She continues to speak out on the mechanisms of immune system injury and the treatments for retroviral and vaccine related illness. Her clear voice is a wake-up call to all people who value health freedom and independent thinking.  Her teaching is life-enriching, because she is addressing the needs of real people with serious illness, and is speaking directly to doctors who are beginning to realize they need new tools to understand and treat the modern illnesses of their patients.  Her teaching is not anti-vaccine, because Dr. Mikovits is not anti-vaccine. However, Dr. Mikovits is not afraid to raise serious questions about the safety of the vaccines being used today. She is not afraid to give a strong warning about the vaccine schedule used for infants and children, and will not remain silent about the lack of wisdom associated with vaccinating pregnant women and seniors.  Dr. Mikovits allows the science to speak. She works hard to avoid standing on the pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine soapbox. Instead, she quietly asks us to use our intelligence to make decisions concerning the use of vaccines based on everything that is known about the functioning of the human immune system and its reaction to vaccines. Dr. Mikovits is Challenging All of Us to Wake Up  Dr. Mikovits is inserting a healthy dose of common sense into the discussion of vaccine safety. She stated:  You will hear, "the science is settled, vaccines are safe." They aren't safe. What science is settled? We learn new things every day!  Dr. Mikovits is challenging all of us to wake up.  Physicians are being challenged to think twice whenever they consider recommending that all their patients receive vaccines according to the schedule promoted by the CDC. The general public is being challenged to think twice before agreeing to receive vaccines or permit vaccines to be given to their children. Patients are being challenged to engage their physicians in a dialogue about the potential harm that might result from being vaccinated, because vaccine injury is a real possibility whenever a vaccine is given, and the use of clever marketing slogans such as "the science is settled" does not remove the possibility of vaccine injury.  Comment on this article at VaccineImpact.com. About the Author  John P. Thomas is a health writer for Health Impact News. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.) from the School of Public Health, Department of Health Administration, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. References  [1] Judy Mikovits, Seeking Health Educational Institute 2016, 4/21/2016. https://seekinghealth.org/sheicon2016/  [2] Dr. Mikovits is referencing the analysis of researchers David J. Dowling and Ofer Levy; "Ontogeny of Early Life Immunity," Trends Immunol, July 2014, PMCID PMC4109609. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4109609/  [3] This information was derived from my conversation with Dr. Mikovits and from her slides available from: "PRT 2013 Presentation," MAR Consulting Inc., retrieved 12/ 18/2015. http://www.marconsultinginc.com/prt-2013-presentation.html  [4] "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe," Official Website, Retreived 10/20/2016. http://vaxxedthemovie.com/ Leaving a lucrative career as a nephrologist (kidney doctor), Dr. Suzanne Humphries is now free to actually help cure people. In this autobiography she explains why good doctors are constrained within the current corrupt medical system from practicing real, ethical medicine. FREE Shipping Available! Order here . Medical Doctors Opposed to Forced Vaccinations – Should Their Views be Silenced? eBook – Available for immediate download.  One of the biggest myths being propagated in the compliant mainstream media today is that doctors are either pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine, and that the anti-vaccine doctors are all "quacks."  However, nothing could be further from the truth in the vaccine debate. Doctors are not unified at all on their positions regarding "the science" of vaccines, nor are they unified in the position of removing informed consent to a medical procedure like vaccines.  The two most extreme positions are those doctors who are 100% against vaccines and do not administer them at all, and those doctors that believe that ALL vaccines are safe and effective for ALL people, ALL the time, by force if necessary.  Very few doctors fall into either of these two extremist positions, and yet it is the extreme pro-vaccine position that is presented by the U.S. Government and mainstream media as being the dominant position of the medical field.  In between these two extreme views, however, is where the vast majority of doctors practicing today would probably categorize their position. Many doctors who consider themselves "pro-vaccine," for example, do not believe that every single vaccine is appropriate for every single individual.  Many doctors recommend a "delayed" vaccine schedule for some patients, and not always the recommended one-size-fits-all CDC childhood schedule. Other doctors choose to recommend vaccines based on the actual science and merit of each vaccine, recommending some, while determining that others are not worth the risk for children, such as the suspect seasonal flu shot.  These doctors who do not hold extreme positions would be opposed to government-mandated vaccinations and the removal of all parental exemptions.  In this eBook, I am going to summarize the many doctors today who do not take the most extremist pro-vaccine position, which is probably not held by very many doctors at all, in spite of what the pharmaceutical industry, the federal government, and the mainstream media would like the public to believe. Read : Medical Doctors Opposed to Forced Vaccinations – Should Their Views be Silenced? on your mobile device!


The kiosks in New York were designed to replace phone booths and allow users to consult maps, maybe check the weather or charge their phones. But they have also attracted people who linger for hours, sometimes drinking and doing drugs and, at times, boldly watching pornography on the sidewalks. Now, yielding to complaints, the operator of the kiosks, LinkNYC network, is shutting off their internet browsers, but not their other functions, while it works out a Plan B with city officials. The switch, announced on Wednesday, is a case study in unintended consequences, commendable goals gone somewhat awry. Mayor Bill de Blasio's aim of providing modern technology to the masses ran headlong into the reality of life on the city's streets. After months of complaints from residents, businesses and other elected officials, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, conceded that combining unfettered internet access with free was a recipe for bad behavior. The retreat comes just seven months after the mayor introduced the network amid much fanfare as a key plank of his promise to bridge the digital divide in the city. The kiosks would replace more than 7, 500 public pay phones and bring free and phone service to every neighborhood. Users were expected to make short stops at the kiosks. But the sites quickly attracted homeless people and other idle users who took full advantage of the unlimited access to the internet to turn the kiosks into al fresco living rooms, watching movies and playing music for hours. "People are congregating around these Links to the point where they're bringing furniture and building little encampments clustered around them," said Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance, a business group in Manhattan. "It's created this really unfortunate and actually deplorable condition. " Ms. Blair said her organization of Midtown merchants and property owners had welcomed the kiosks as an overdue replacement for increasingly outdated phone booths that were attracting vagrants and drug dealers. "We're a modern city we should have " Ms. Blair said. "But when something has an outcome that you completely weren't anticipating, then you have to go back and reconsider. Maybe other cities don't have this problem. " Councilman Corey Johnson, a Democrat whose district encompasses Greenwich Village, Chelsea and part of Midtown, said police officials had asked for the removal of "several problematic kiosks" along Eighth Avenue. He said he had observed people watching pornography on the kiosk screens with children nearby. "These kiosks are often monopolized by individuals creating personal spaces for themselves, engaging in activities that include playing loud explicit music, consuming drugs and alcohol, and the viewing of pornography," Mr. Johnson wrote in a letter last month to officials of the city and LinkNYC. In a Sept. 1 meeting at his office, Mr. Johnson said, officials agreed to his demand for a moratorium on the installation of additional kiosks on Eighth and Ninth Avenues in his district. But a spokeswoman for the mayor, Natalie Grybauskas, said the Police Department had not made any official request for kiosks to be removed. In a statement explaining the decision, Ms. Grybauskas said: "There were concerns about loitering and extended use of LinkNYC kiosks, so the mayor is addressing these complaints head on. Removing the internet browser from LinkNYC tablets will not affect the other great services LinkNYC provides — superfast free phone calls or access to key city services — but will address concerns we've heard from our fellow New Yorkers. " Jen Hensley, general manager of LinkNYC, said the consortium that built and operated the kiosks had begun "removing the internet browsers while we look at ways to enhance the service. " She said those changes could include adding services, as well as bringing back the browsers with limitations on their use. Ms. Hensley described the process of designing the kiosks as "iterative," noting that several changes had already been made, including turning down the volume of the speakers at night and adding filters to prevent users from accessing pornography. The latest change would not slow the planned rollout of the kiosks throughout the five boroughs, she added. So far, about 400 have been installed in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. Continuing to build the network is critical for the consortium, which is relying on the sale of ads on the sides of the kiosks. It has pledged to share at least $500 million in ad revenue with the city over the first 12 years. Despite the efforts to filter out objectionable material, city officials have continued to receive complaints about people watching pornography at the kiosks. The filters do not affect internet access using the signals on personal phones or tablets. Gale A. Brewer, the Manhattan borough president, who had demanded changes to the kiosks, said she was pleased to hear about the shutdown of the browsers, and noted that the free was the true benefit of the kiosks. "I don't think anybody should be able to sit there and watch movies all day long," Ms. Brewer, a Democrat, said. "People are pulling up sofas or chairs or what have you. " She likened turning off the browsers to the decision during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s to block pay phones from accepting calls. All along Amsterdam Avenue, she said, crack dealers were using pay phones as business offices. "When we changed the incoming calls, we got rid of the drug dealers at the phone booths," Ms. Brewer recalled. "I don't know where they went, but they were gone. "


WARNING: ADULT CONTENT] Friday night during his "New Rules" segment of HBO's "Real Time," host Bill Maher urged Democrats to go low against the Republicans and "kick them in the nuts. " Maher said, "'When they go low, we go high,' is a great applause line but as a tactic? What country do you think you live in now? Wake up and smell the asshole. Because it turns out when they go low they get reelected, they take the Congress, the Supreme Court, the presidency. From now on the Democratic motto should be when they go low we kick them in the nuts. Democrats have to start winning elections. " Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN


The chairman of the U.S. Senate s East Asia subcommittee is asking China and 20 other nations on Monday to clamp down on North Korea by cutting ties, closing down diplomatic facilities and working to oust the country from the United Nations. As North Korea has defied U.N. Security resolutions to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile tests, Washington has been scrambling for an effective response. Many of President Donald Trump s fellow Republicans have been calling for tougher action, imposed more quickly, including calling for stiff secondary sanctions and other punishments for companies, banks and countries that do business with North Korea. In a letter seen by Reuters that will be sent to ambassadors from China and 20 other countries, Republican Senator Cory Gardner, the subcommittee chairman, asked that the countries immediately end diplomatic and economic relations with Pyongyang. Maintaining official diplomatic relations with a regime that continues to defy international law and threaten nations across the globe only serves to reward nefarious behavior, wrote Gardner. In addition to cutting off bilateral ties, I urge your government to support expelling the DPRK from the United Nations, the letter said. Gardner recently introduced legislation that would impose a U.S. economic embargo against any entity that does business with North Korea. The U.S. military staged bombing drills with South Korea over the Korean peninsula and Russia and China began naval exercises ahead of a U.N. General Assembly meeting on Tuesday where North Korea s nuclear threat is likely to loom large. Gardner s letter will be sent to ambassadors to the United States from China, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden and Vietnam.


Hurricane Irma uprooted trees and tore off roofs in Cuba on Saturday with 125-mile-per-hour (200-km per hour) winds that damaged hotels in the island s best-known beach resorts and forced evacuations as far along the coast as low-lying areas of the capital Havana. Power was out and cellphone service was spotty in many regions as Irma neared the end of a 200-mile (320-km) trek westwards along the top of the island. It was forecast to head north toward Florida in the evening. In the fishing town of Caibarien, residents swept mud from beachside homes after storm surge drove 3 feet (1 meter) of seawater up the shore. In streets carpeted with fresh green seaweed as the water receded, people said it was the strongest cyclone ever to hit the town. Sheets of zinc that came flying into our backyard also damaged the kitchen wall and we lost many roof tiles, said Angel Coya, 52, adding he was optimistic that Cuba s Communist government would help repair the damage. We have to keep on. Irma s turn northward was expected to occur around 150 miles (240 km) east of the capital. Nevertheless, authorities shut off power in large parts of the city and evacuated some 10,000 people from central Havana near the Malecon seawall because of fears of flooding from the storm surge. By Saturday evening, the sea had penetrated two blocks over parts of the city s historic seafront boulevard, and the waters were expected to advance farther as the surge grew. Restaurants on the seaside drive pulled down their shutters and stacked sandbags against the storm. Still, many Cubans expressed a sense of relief after the eye of the first Category 5 storm to make landfall on the island since 1932 passed over the northern keys, just grazing the mainland with its full force. Honestly, I expected worse. I thought I would come back and find the roof gone, said Yolexis Domingo, 39, using a machete to hack the branches off a tree that fell in front of his house in Caibarien. Still, it is going to be a while before I can come back to live here. The water came up to a meter high and some of the roof flew off. Overnight, the storm pounded the chain of pristine keys and tourism resorts that stretch along the coast from central Camaguey province to Villa Clara province, and it was headed toward Varadero, Cuba s most famous beach getaway. Cayos Coco and Guillermo, the crown jewels of what is known as the King s Gardens, with 16 hotels frequented by Canadian and European tourists, sustained serious damage, local authorities in the area said. At least one bridge on a causeway to the area collapsed, and the communications tower for the keys was no longer standing. Dozens of coastal towns were damaged, with some reports of collapsed houses, though no deaths had been reported. This is a beautiful town but now it is a disaster, said local resident Sandro Sanchez, 27, walking through the main square after the hurricane had passed Remedios, in Villa Clara. Corrugated iron from roofs were strewn in the streets alongside rubble. Lampposts were bent double, plant pots smashed and the fronds of palm trees shredded. You can t do anything against nature, he said. We never had a storm wreak so much damage here. This is really a mess. On Saturday, Irma covered most of the island, the Caribbean s largest. Its force sent shockwaves and flooding inward. In the city of Camaguey, Anaida Morales said she just been through a night from hell with her mom, stepson and husband. The trees in the park in front of my house are down and others strewn all over the streets. Lots of roofs are gone and some houses collapsed. The river that runs through the city is about to flood, she said. The wind roared all night and it is still strong. I couldn t sleep. I m scared of hurricanes and this is the worst I have been through, she said. Morales said she made a phone call to her daughter, who shares her name, in Florida, where millions of people were preparing for Irma s arrival. I just spoke to Anaida, it is hard to believe she is getting ready to go through the same thing I just did, she said.


President Donald Trump's choice for the top U.S. trade negotiator on Tuesday pledged an "America First" strategy to aggressively enforce U.S. laws and trade deals to stop unfair imports and push China to scrap excess factory capacity. Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative nominee, told senators at his confirmation hearing that Trump chose him because of his trade enforcement background. "I expect that we're going to have a very rigorous enforcement policy," Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee. "This will be the point of emphasis." Lighthizer said he would bring as many trade enforcement actions as can be justified under World Trade Organization rules, bilateral trade agreements and U.S. trade remedy laws. As a deputy USTR in the 1980s, Lighthizer, 69, negotiated Japanese import quotas. As a veteran trade lawyer in more recent years, he pursued dozens of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases against imports of steel and other products. Lighthizer said he would seek to increase trade while making it "freer and fairer" to the benefit of U.S. workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses. An outspoken critic of China, Lighthizer said Beijing's industrial policies have supported vast amounts of "uneconomic" production capacity that would not survive without state support. He said this was particularly true in the steel and aluminum sectors, leading to the dumping of products into U.S. markets. Lighthizer told senators that he would engage with China in multilateral forums to reduce that capacity, but said trade enforcement actions may be more effective by raising the costs of keeping such factories alive. "It has to be more difficult for them to maintain non-economic capacity, and that means enforcing our trade laws, and it means encouraging other countries where they can ship their products to enforce their trade laws." Lighthizer said he believes China was a "substantial currency manipulator" in the past, but that it was unclear if Beijing was continuing to do so. The comment was in line with more neutral statements on the subject from Trump administration officials more recently after the president threatened during his campaign to declare China a currency manipulator. Lighthizer also pledged to fight for strong protections for intellectual property rights and for digital trade access. In renegotiating the North American Free Trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, he said it was important not to lose gains in agricultural exports to those countries while encouraging more production to return to the United States. Regarding Canada, he said finding a solution to a long-running trade dispute over softwood lumber would be his top priority. Trump's cabinet already is crowded with senior trade officials, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the director of the newly created White House National Trade Council, Peter Navarro. Lighthizer said that if confirmed, he would have the USTR's full statutory powers and would play a lead role to "sort out" U.S. trade policy, working closely with other agencies.


U.S. President-elect Donald Trump wrapped up his post-election "thank you" tour on Saturday with celebratory geysers from water cannons, greetings from hoop-skirted Southern belles and some gloating over the TV newscasters who had expected him to lose. In the last in a series of rallies Trump has staged during the past three weeks - mainly in battleground states that gave him the margin of victory in the Nov. 8 election - Trump came back to where it all began for his improbable presidential campaign. It was in Mobile, Alabama, last year where Trump, a real estate magnate and reality television star with no previous political experience, drew a huge crowd that gave notice to his rivals that he was a threat for the Republican presidential nomination. When his plane landed at the Mobile airport on Saturday, it taxied beneath blasts from two water cannon trucks. Stepping off the plane, a half dozen young women wearing Old South hoop skirts in a panoply of pastel colors were on hand to greet him. Speaking at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, where there was a steady drizzle that he said would ruin his suit, Trump relived his tense election night when he went from big underdog to eking out a victory over heavily favored Democrat Hillary Clinton. Faced with predictions that he would lose, Trump said he told his wife, Melania, that he was at peace with his campaign because he had worked so hard. "I went to my wife and I said, 'You know what, I don't feel badly about this,'" Trump said. Trump said the faces of the newscasters seemed to sink as his fortunes improved, part of his running diatribe against the U.S. mainstream news media that he claims is stacked against him. "They got paid a lot of money," Trump said of television commentators. "They don't know what the hell they're talking about, folks." Trump, who will be sworn into office on Jan. 20, took swings at a few other favorite targets from his campaign: corporations that outsource jobs, Islamic State militants, drug dealers, illegal immigrants, and the political culture in Washington. But he pulled his punches when it came to first lady Michelle Obama, who in excerpts from an interview with Oprah Winfrey set to air on CBS on Monday, said: "We feel the difference now. See, now, we're feeling what not having hope feels like." "I honestly believe she meant that statement in a different way than it came out," Trump said. Trump lost the popular vote by more than 2.5 million votes but still won 306 votes in the Electoral College, plenty more than the 270 required to win. With some Democrats now saying the Electoral College should be abandoned and that the presidential election should be decided by the popular vote, Trump said he's happy with the system the way it is now. "I never appreciated it until now, how genius it was," he said.


An anchor for Glenn Beck s TV network, The Blaze, is the latest right-wing media figure to attack Beyonc for her Super Bowl halftime performance.Tomi Lahren, who hosts the show Tomi, used her program to berate Beyonc s work. Lahren, 23, argues that, Your husband was a drug dealer. For fourteen years, he sold crack cocaine. Talk about protecting black neighborhoods? Start at home. https://youtu.be/cwVnDRx8EikThat is a reference to Beyonc s husband, rapper and rap mogul Jay Z. The strange bit is that Lahren is referring to behavior Jay Z engaged in when he was a teenager. He is now 46 years old, and has had a multi-decade career topping music charts, producing some of the biggest names in music, working in fashion and other industries. He is worth an estimated $520 million, and has sold over 100 million records and received 21 Grammy Awards.Lahren has inadvertently made a point about the racial injustice and prejudice Beyonc was alluding to in her performance and in the song Formation, when she reduces Jay Z s life to his teenage mistakes which he has been very open about in his work and ignores his business success and philanthropy (he was part of a $1 million donation to rebuild New Orleans after Katrina, for instance).She joins other conservatives like former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in attacking Beyonc s performance for having the nerve to bring up Hurricane Katrina, black pride, and police shootings of black civilians.The mindset being promoted by Lahren in this attack definitely fits in with former Fox News host Glenn Beck, who welcomed her to The Blaze family in October of last year after several of her right-wing video rants went viral.Beck, who is still heard on the radio after a cascade of dropped sponsors pushed Fox to cancel his show. Has a history of racially charged remarks. He said President Obama had a deep-seated hatred of white people, claimed progressives were pushing for a race war, promoted a book written by an anti-semite, and repeatedly claimed Obama was trying to enslave people.


Here s something a lot of people may not know: a current member of Congress was a victim of a mass shooting.California Rep. Jackie Speier, a progressive Democrat, brought a unique perspective to the historic House sit-in initiated by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis. As members of the House read the stories and names of countless victims of gun violence, Congresswoman Speier told her own story, a story that would shake anyone to their core.But with her speech, she also brought something special with her on the House floor: the bullet the almost killed her.In 1978, Speier, at that time a Congressional aide to Rep. Leo Ryan, accompanied the Congressman and several others to Jonestown to investigate human rights abuses at the hands of cult leader Jim Jones. Upon leaving the encampment, Speier and the others were ambushed in a guerilla attack from members of the cult. Congressman Ryan was killed, along with five others, and Speier was shot five times. She waited 22 hours for help to arrive.This issue was so personal to the Congresswoman that she flew back to D.C. from California just to be in solidarity with her colleagues and the thousands of victims all across the country. Holding up the bullet, still in its FBI evidence bag, Congresswoman Speier laid out just how personal and important this fight is not just for her, but for everyone who has ever been a victim of gun violence:This was taken from my body. Five bullets ripped through my body. I can t begin to tell you what that is like. I can tell you what it s like to live with a disfigured body the rest of your life. I can tell you that this dumdum and my disfigured body are things that remind me each and everyday why what do here now is so important. We cannot continue as business as usual.The Congresswoman, who keeps the bullet in her drawer, has never showed the public before. The act drew gasps from her colleagues, but praise for her act of courage.While Republicans went and smoked cigars, Democrats stood up, and some relived tragedy, like Speier and Rep. Debbie Dingell, a victim of domestic abuse with a gun. The House sit in sums up perfectly the old saying: a liberal says This should never happen to anyone, and that s why I care. A conservative says, This hasn t happened to me, so I don t care. Speier lived through the most horrific tragedy, and that s why she cares. Thank you, Congresswoman.


High-fat Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss  by Paul Fassa Health Impact News  Ever since the inception of the high-carb low-fat diet for heart health promoted in the U.S. since the 1960s, obesity has continued to climb exponentially. For over a half century, health "authorities" have claimed that consuming saturated fats would make you fat.  It's not true.  Despite national compliance to the lipid theory for heart disease dogma from media, medicine, and government, obesity rates among the low and no-fat consumers have climbed exponentially, even among young children, and heart disease has remained the number one cause of death from disease. Fat Dogma Diminishing Slowly as Processed Carbs and Oils Truth is Revealed  Though still not popularly embraced by the public, mainstream media, and most dieticians, more and more recent evidence points to added sugars in processed low-nutrient high-calorie carbohydrate foods created with toxic phony fats as sources of arterial inflammation. Inflammation is the source of most disease, including cardiovascular and heart disease.  So, the saturated fat or lipid theory for obesity and heart disease is without scientific merit. And the synthetic fats offered as substitutes for unprocessed whole natural animal and plant fats and used in high-carb processed foods have been the source of every ailment or health disorder saturated fats were blamed for, and more.  Independent medical researchers and practitioners have recently, over the last decade or so, determined refined or processed carbs, such as table sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), as major causes of obesity, metabolic disorder syndrome (aka pre-diabetes), and ultimately diabetes 2. Those two items are ubiquitous in beverages and processed foods, even the ones that don't taste sweet, which are constantly advertised on TV.  The processed food industry has exploited fat phobia to produce most of the refined carbohydrate foods, usually prepared with partially hydrogenated trans-fatty acid oils, which have become popular among consumers since the low or no-fat dietary dogma was proclaimed.  Fully hydrogenated oils constitute margarine products. Both types of synthetically derived processed vegetable oils shower your cells with trans-fatty acids. And trans-fatty acids are considered unusual toxins by your body's cells. Using a Ketogenic Dietary Approach for Reversing Ill Effects of Lipid Theory Misinformation  The term "ketogenic" is derived from attaching the suffix "-genic" to the word "ketone." Ketones are produced in the liver from fat. As ketones are produced more, a state of ketosis is created. Ketosis allows fat to be converted into energy instead of storing it as fat. Ketosis even promotes reducing existing excess body fat by converting it into energy.  A ketogenic diet produces ketones in lieu of glucose for cellular energy, or if insulin is not being utilized, as is the case with insulin resistance or diabetes 2, to provide fuel for cellular energy. It's a process produced by the liver. It's a clean enough process to avoid fatty liver, which has also become epidemic lately. Ketosis reduces the need for insulin to metabolize glucose from carbohydrates.  Consuming smaller amounts of organic whole carbohydrates is healthy. But the processed carbohydrate foods that comprise the majority of SAD (Standard American Diet) consumers are nutritionally void and filled with toxic strangers to our cells and are stored as fat to isolate their toxicity. Eventually, the stored toxins are secreted from those fats, creating autoimmune illnesses.  One of the most efficient saturated fats for ketosis is virgin coconut oil. Instead of long chain triglycerides that most other healthy fats contain, coconut oil is comprised of medium chain triglycerides, which are most easily converted into ketones.  So consuming healthy fats, not trans-fat substitutes, and cutting back considerably on processed or refined carbohydrates is proving to increase health and reduce obesity and all the problems associated with it, including diabetes and heart disease.  Most of us have mistakenly assumed the ketogenic diet for weight loss is a spinoff of the Atkins Diet for weight loss – lots of meat, nothing else. The popularized Paleo diet over this last decade has also been associated with ketogenic dieting.  But factually, the ketogenic diet is high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet. The ketogenic diet is the original diet which was started in the 1920s at Johns Hopkins Hospital to cure children of epileptic seizures where drugs were not effective. Most modern-day versions of a low-carb diet, such as Atkins, Paleo, etc., are some version of this original ketogenic diet.  The low carbohydrate aspect of the ketogenic diet should include only unrefined carbohydrate foods, unprocessed and fully intact with their nutrients. The standard American diet (SAD) is overwhelmed with refined flours and sugars and toxic factory farm meats.  Swedish diet doctor Andreas Eenfeldt, M.D., explains that consuming too much whole protein animal foods, especially meat, can lead to excess protein. This excess protein easily converts into more glucose in the body and raises your insulin levels. This compromises optimal ketosis.  Most vegetarians assume that a ketogenic diet is not for them. They fail to recognize that nuts, avocados, cold pressed avocado and olive oil, and coconut oil are plant based. Fudging with non-meat animal products such as real butter from grass fed cows or eggs from truly free range chickens is another route toward ketosis. Fat doesn't have to be from bacon, though many low-carb dieters lean that way. Recent Science Contradicts Bogus Science of Fat Consumption Creating Obesity  This past year (2016), two studies have confirmed what Health Impact News has known for well over a decade: Eating whole healthy fats, even saturated fats, is healthy and reduces body fat, eliminating the precursor to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. (Source)  One study dealt with obese subjects divided into two groups, both were put on very low calorie ketogenic (VLCK) diets. The researchers purpose was to determine what effects supplementing the test group with DHA omega 3 to determine the effects of omega-3 fatty acids.  Keep in mind that omega-3 fatty acids are derived directly from fish fats and other animal sources as well as indirectly from flax and chia seeds. It's a healthy type of fat.  They discovered that after six months, both groups lost almost the same amount of weight, averaging around 20 kg (44 lbs), and both groups demonstrated similar changed "biological parameters," such as stable insulin levels, lower triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and increased leptin among other more esoterically labeled markers. What they were looking for in the DHA omega-3 group was discovered by concluding the DHA omega-3 group had better anti-inflammatory markings.  But the ketogenic diet alone produced the same effect without the improvement of anti-inflammatory markers from DHA omega-3 fatty acid supplementing. Combining a ketogenic diet with omega-3 supplementing seems like a great idea. (Source)  Another 2016 study that focused on whether weight loss from a ketogenic diet was mostly from fat mass and not muscle mass had similar weight reductions of 20 kg (44 lbs) in less time, four months. Amazing!  The researchers concluded: "The VLCK (very low calorie ketogenic) diet-induced weight loss was mainly at the expense of FM [fat mass] and visceral mass [fat surrounding organs], preserving muscle mass and strength (emphasis added)." (Source)  So there you have it, a summary of the apparent paradox of high-fat dieting to lose body fat, prevent diabetes, and protect heart health. There's much more available at Health Impact News . Time to wake up from that low-fat diet dogma that has ruined the health of millions of its adherents.  Comment on this article at CoconutOil.com.  Sources:


Turkish police have detained 54 staff from a university shut down after an attempted coup last year that was blamed on U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday. It said the police had arrest warrants for a total of 171 academics and staff from Istanbul s former Fatih University, which was regarded as having close ties to Gulen. The cleric has denied any involvement in the failed putsch of July 15, 2016. Fatih University was shut under a state decree following the coup attempt and Anadolu said staff there were found to have been users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging application which the government says was commonly used by Gulen s supporters. Since the coup attempt more than 50,000 people, including civil servants and security personnel, have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 suspended or dismissed from their jobs. Rights groups say the crackdown has been exploited to muzzle dissent. The government says the measures have been necessary due to the security threats which has Turkey faced since the putsch, in which 250 people were killed.


Yemen s cholera epidemic has reached one million suspected cases, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday, with war leaving more than 80 percent of the population short of food, fuel, clean water and access to healthcare. Yemen, one of the Arab world s poorest countries, is embroiled in a proxy war between the Houthi armed movement, allied with Iran, and a U.S.-backed military coalition headed by Saudi Arabia. The United Nations says Yemen is suffering the world s worst humanitarian crisis, and eight million people are on the brink of famine. The cholera figure is almost certainly exaggerated, but that does not diminish the scale and complexity of the humanitarian crisis, said Marc Poncin, Yemen emergency coordinator for aid agency M decins Sans Fronti res. Cholera flared up in April and spread rapidly, killing 2,227 people. The death rate has fallen dramatically, and without laboratory confirmation, recent cases are probably diarrhea, Poncin said. A new wave of cholera is expected in March or April. It s probably unavoidable. We need to be ready to face another big epidemic, said Poncin, adding that cholera may become a long-term burden as it has in Haiti. The places where the war is active are the ones most at risk for increase of disease. The latest emergency is diphtheria, a disease not seen in Yemen for 25 years, which has affected 312 people and killed 35. It has not spread explosively, as cholera did, but diphtheria outbreaks can affect many thousands, and there is a global shortage of diphtheria anti-toxin. Yemen has enough for 200-500 patients, Poncin said. An urgent diphtheria vaccination campaign early in 2018 will complicate the WHO s hope of doing mass cholera vaccination at the same time, especially given the problems with security and accessing remote areas, Poncin said. The Houthis, who control much of the country, are also suspicious of vaccination drives, he added. Yemen s troubles have been aggravated by the Saudi-led coalition s blockade of its ports, which has caused a fuel shortage and a spike in food prices. The health system has virtually collapsed, with health workers unpaid for a year, although the WHO gives incentive payments for cholera work. The ports were closed in retaliation for a missile fired from Yemen by the Houthis. On Wednesday, despite a fresh missile attack on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia said it would allow the Houthi-controled port of Hodeidah, vital for aid, to stay open for a month.


A woman who was born in Nazi Germany says that what reminds her of Hitler more than anything else isn t Donald Trump, but the rioting leftists who are attempting to shut down free speech on college campuses.Ing Andrews lived in Dusseldorf, Germany during the Second World War and spent time hiding in air raid shelters and helping to clean up rubble from destroyed buildings. InfowarsIf anyone is in a position to have an opinion on the left s hysterical comparison of Donald Trump and Hitler, it s Inga. Here s what she told the Independent Review Journal;For the entire letter go to : IJR


Failed former presidential candidate Ben Carson is back and crazier than ever. The retired neurosurgeon who was once leading the Republican party before a severe case of dishonesty and ridiculous nonsense-spewing habit ruined his campaign is once again making headlines, for an even more awful reason than before.On Friday, Carson announced his endorsement of Republican front-runner Donald Trump at a press conference, saying that the two men had buried the hatchet and that Trump was the voice of the people to be heard. Almost as ridiculous as that endorsement is Carson s inspiration for such a horrible decision he says he was encouraged to support the disgraced candidate after a so-called vision from God.During the press conference, a reporter made the mistake of asking Carson just how much God played a part in his choice to stand behind Trump. The reporter asked, You said throughout your life God has led you to your most important decisions. This truly is an important decision. Did God lead you to Donald Trump? Carson said that God had given him several signs once of which included a vision from an unnamed friend. I prayed about it a lot, and I got a lot of indications, people calling me that I haven t talked to for a long time saying, I had this dream about you and Donald Trump I mean, just amazing things As if Carson couldn t make himself seem any crazier, he dialed things up when he started speaking about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, stating that she is of the devil. Hillary Clinton was a great friend of Saul Alinsky. On a first-name basis with him as a student. He wrote the book Rules for Radicals and if you haven t read it, I recommend that you read it, and see the kinds of things that are recommended to change, fundamentally change, this nation from the great success we have to a socialist country. And the dedication page of that book says, dedicated to Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom. I don t want anything to do with anything like that. You can watch this outrageous part of the conference unfold below:Carson also said that he was afraid Hillary Clinton would destroy America a hilarious statement considering that most of the GOP is currently freaking out because Trump is leading the party and threatening to do just that. This endorsement from Carson is even more puzzling because just two weeks ago, Carson said that Super Tuesday voters were not quite that dense to help Trump become the nominee. The former candidate also said that voting for Trump was a very very bad mistake. Divine intervention is apparently a powerful thing and we now have Carson s visions to thank for the 700,000-person donor list that Trump just inherited with this endorsement.


When they go low we go high. Michelle Obama famously used this quote to explain the difference between Democrats and Republicans at the DNC convention. Sadly, the Democrat Party has proven time and time again, that nothing could be further from the truth.Television writer Jen Statsky tweeted Saturday the people who support President Trump should have their children taken away.light reminder that being president of the US means nothing anymore, if you support Trump you should have your children taken away, etc etc Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) October 1, 2017Yesterday s tweet by the woman who writes for the Parks and Rec show as well as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, was not the first time she ventured into the bowels of humanity to come up with a vile comment in order to satisfy her angry and vile base of leftist supporters. Here are a couple of examples, starting with the time she thought touring the country looking for fistfights with people who voted for Trump might be a good use of her time.A tour of the country where I fistfight people who voted for Donald Trump, is that a good use of my time? Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) January 10, 2017To which, one of her fans replied with an image of a boxing glove lined with barbed wire. How very tolerant. This tweet only confirms what we already know, using violence to fight anyone who disagrees with them is one of the first tenants of being a Democrat:Only if you wear these pic.twitter.com/JXVaR0PMGb Drew Brown (@brewdrown) January 10, 2017In this tweet, Statsky wishes cancer on Donald Trump, husband, father of 5 and grandfather to 9 grandchildren, and oh yeah, the man most of America chose as their leader.I know things seem grim right now, but let's remain optimistic: maybe Trump will get cancer? Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) July 25, 2016Once again, Statsky s classy followers didn t disappoint with their responses:The most luxurious tumors you've ever seen. Cod dependence (@geoffglaab) July 25, 2016In this tweet, Statsky suggests that if you voted for Trump, you should drink bleach .quick reminder that if you voted for Trump you should drink bleach Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) May 15, 2017This classy fan suggests Trump supporters could follow up the bleach with a draino chaser . For anyone who didn t catch it, Drano is spelled incorrectly, but we re pretty sure you already knew anyone who would respond in such a manner isn t the sharpest knife in the drawer anyhow.With a draino chaser emmalu (@emmalu) May 15, 2017And one last ignorant response from the guy who uses the disgraced pedophile Democrat Anthony Weiner as his profile pic, who just wants to clarify that Statsky is, in fact, wanting us to put bleach in their drinks for them, right? He goes on to call it what it is, poison terrorism suggesting they could poison Trump supporters at those fly-over Old Country Buffets. One has to wonder if this guy shouldn t be getting a visit from law enforcement:u want us to put bleach in their drinks for them, right? Inciting poison terrorism at those fly-over country Old Country Buffets SuperSparky (@SuperSparky101) October 1, 2017h/t Daily Caller


The Donald Trump supporter who viciously assaulted an African-American protester at a recent campaign rally gave a terrifying interview to Inside Edition, and it confirms what many of us have sensed for a long time: It s only a matter of time before someone gets killed at a Trump rally.TV s Inside Edition caught up with the cowboy hat wearing Trump fan after the rally and asked him about why he sucker punched a young black man as he was being escorted out of the stadium. The man, whom police have identified as 78-year-old John McGraw, was all smiles. He beamed as he told the camera: You bet I liked it. Knocking the hell out of that big mouth. When asked why he needed to punch the 26-year-old, McGraw let his crazy fly at full force: We don t know if he s ISIS. We don t know who he is, but we know he s not acting like an American, cussing me. If he wants it laid out, I laid it out. McGraw believes the African American protester was from ISIS. However, his delusional bloodlust didn t end there. He went on to say that the man deserved it and warned that next time we see him, we might have to kill him. He again reiterated the idea that the man was a terrorist.The victim, Rakeem Jones, was reportedly sore but fine after the incident. However, police at the event decided to arrest him instead of McGraw.McGraw s violence is just another example of a disturbing trend at Trump rallies. As protesters continue to bravely come out to interrupt the Republican front-runner where ever he goes, his fans have taken to physically assaulting them. Based on McGraw s statements, the violence is inspired in part by delusional conspiracies gleaned from Fox News and the GOP that pretends Islamic terrorists, black people, and liberals are working together to destroy America. As such, people like McGraw feel no remorse for attacking them.Don t believe it, just let him tell you himself.


0 comments  According to ClashDaily , newly leaked email from Hillary Clinton's Campaign Manager John Podesta is titled "Hillary actions / unpleasant odor." Many are claiming this is a hoax. Sure sounds like one.  "People tell me that Hillary is acting 'like a retard' since her head injury," wrote Podesta on March 22, 2015. "Frankly, considering her normal behavior, I'm surprised anyone noticed! (this is a joke!) Have someone talk to her doctor and see if there's anything he can give her."  "Also, I've noticed she's had an 'odor' lately," he continued. "It reminds me of a combination of boiled cabbage, urine and farts. I'm guessing it's either connected to her fall or simply the fact that she rarely bathes."  "Outside of encouraging her to take a shower once in a while, I don't know what to do about this. — any suggestions would be appreciated."  Well, apparently, Hillary Clinton is just as gross as we all thought!


Thanks to an absurd legal ruling, Donald Trump won t have to answer to charges of defrauding people of tens of thousands of dollars until after the election. A federal judge decided it would be unfair to make him testify while he s running for office presumably because it could give people the impression that he s a conniving huckster who fleeces gullible rubes in order to line his pockets. Heaven forbid.Trump s lawyers were extremely satisfied that they managed to convince a federal judge to schedule Trump s trial including his appearance on the witness stand after a previous judge had scheduled the hearing for June. It could have seriously hurt his political career. Instead, a San Diego judge told Trump s legal team that the law could wait until late November three weeks after the election.Donald Trump will testify after the presidential election on a class-action lawsuit that accuses the billionaire businessman and his now-defunct Trump University of defrauding people who paid up to $35,000 for real estate seminars.It seems likely that, should Trump win, the lawyers will change their mind about Trump attending the trial, however. He ll be busy organizing his transition team and preparing to move to the Oval Office (or moving the Oval Office to Trump Tower, perhaps).It would seem that getting to the bottom of whether or not Donald Trump willfully defrauded eager students of non-existent real estate seminars of $35,000 would be very important for voters who are deciding whether or not to put that man in office. As it stands, most voters will likely have no idea of the pending litigation against Trump come Election Day.As if to highlight the baffling favoritism, the FBI recently announced that despite not finding any evidence that Hillary Clinton committed any crimes with her emails, they are asking her to come into conduct a series of interviews with them just to be sure. The meetings will be sure to be covered wall-to-wall on the news networks and will lend further credence to spurious claims that she had done something wrong. Fair and balanced.So there we have it: One candidate who has never been charged is subjected to endless scrutiny and legal harassment. Another who has more pending and settled lawsuits than any presidential candidate in U.S. history got a federal judge to do him a solid and postpone justice for the people who he ripped off before he decided he d move onto bigger scams. If the moral arc of the universe does indeed bend towards justice, than we are still clearly behind the curve.


The list of priorities U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released this week for the renegotiation of NAFTA with Mexico and Canada is reasonable and in line with what the Trump administration has promised to focus on, the head of America's largest railroad said on Thursday. "It was a very reasonable document," Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) Chief Executive Lance Fritz said in an interview about a list of priorities released this week by Lighthizer. "From our perspective, he (Lighthizer) hit all of the elements that we've heard from the administration and they make sense." Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to exit the North American Free Trade Agreement if it is not renegotiated in favor of the United States. Talks with Mexico and Canada on revisions to the treaty, which came into effect in 1994, are due to start in mid-August. The top priority for the talks listed by Lighthizer's office was shrinking the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico. Union Pacific's Fritz said that Lighthizer's focus on intellectual property, labor laws and dispute resolution mechanisms all make sense. "What makes most sense to us is elements (of Lighthizer's priorities) focusing on the streamlining of freight across the border," he added. About 40 percent of Union Pacific's freight volume is based on international trade and about 12 percent is based on cross-border trade with Mexico. Fritz said that Mexico should continue to be a "good driver" for Union Pacific's growth. The CEO spoke to Reuters after Union Pacific posted a better-than-expected second-quarter profit that was lifted in part by a 25-percent jump in coal revenue. Major U.S. railroads have seen a resurgence in coal volumes this year, following two years of precipitous declines as many utilities switched to burning cheaper natural gas and as unseasonable weather resulted in large stockpiles of unburned coal. Union Pacific said on Thursday that coal volumes in the third quarter should be relatively flat versus the same period in 2016. "We expect coal to be a bit more stable moving forward and that's dependent on natural gas pricing and to some degree weather," Fritz said. "The large inventory overhang has largely been consumed and that's the good news."


The city council of Columbus, Ohio, voted on Monday to make it against the law to arrest anyone based on their illegal immigration status. The city also and made it illegal to deny someone services because they are an illegal alien. City officials deny that Columbus is a "sanctuary city. "[The Columbus Dispatch reported that the Columbus City Council voted to adopt an executive order issued by Mayor Andrew J. Ginther in early February. After he signed the executive order, Mayor Ginther told those at a press conference, "To all of you I say, Columbus is your home. " The mayor's executive order provided that the city will "actively support, to the greatest extent practicable, the placement or settlement in this jurisdiction of aliens eligible to be admitted to the United States as refugees. " The room was full of leaders from the city's refugee and immigrant communities, the local NBC affiliate reported. The mayor's order dictates: Although the policy prevents the City or employees from using any city property for detecting or apprehending those illegally in the country, or "the use of local taxpayer resources for the enforcement of federal immigration policy," city officials do not declare Columbus a "sanctuary city," reported the Dispatch. "[T]hey don't want the city a target for President Donald Trump, who has threatened federal funding for cities that adopt the label," the article written Monday afternoon about the ordinance and city officials reported. The president of the city council, Zach Klein was reported to say that "The permanence of city code transcends every mayor. " "We decided not to focus on labels and focus more on the substance," he added. The ordinance will be effective after 30 days. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.


China wants closer ties with Myanmar s military to help protect regional peace and security, a senior Chinese general told the visiting head of the southeast Asian country s army. China and Myanmar have had close diplomatic and economic ties for years, including increasingly in the strategically important oil and gas sectors, and China has offered its support to its southern neighbor, also known as Burma, throughout a crisis over its treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar s Rakhine State, most to neighboring Bangladesh, since a Myanmar military crackdown in response to attacks on the security forces by Rohingya insurgents in August. The United States on Wednesday for the first time called the Myanmar military operation against the Rohingya ethnic cleansing and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for horrendous atrocities . Meeting in Beijing, Li Zuocheng, who sits on China s Central Military Commission, which runs its armed forces, told Senior General Min Aung Hlaing that China s development and prosperity were an important opportunity for Myanmar s development, China s Defense Ministry said in a statement. In the face of a complex and changeable regional security situation, China is willing to maintain strategic communication between the two countries militaries, Li was cited as saying in the statement issued late on Wednesday. China wanted greater contacts between the two armed forces and deeper training and technical exchanges and to promote border defense cooperation to ensure peace and stability along their common border, Li added. China has been angered by fighting between Myanmar s military and autonomy-seeking ethnic minority rebels close to the Chinese border in recent years, which has at times forced thousands of villagers to flee into China. The Chinese ministry made no direct mention of the Rohingya issue in the statement. China built close ties with Myanmar s generals during years of military rule, when Western countries imposed sanctions on Myanmar for its suppression of the democracy movement. More recently, their ties have included oil and gas as Myanmar pumps natural gas from the Bay of Bengal to China. A new oil pipeline, opened this year, also feeds Middle East crude through Myanmar to a new refinery in Yunnan, southwest China. This has opened a new oil supply route to China, avoiding the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. The United States and other Western countries have stepped up engagement with Myanmar since the military began handing power to civilians in 2011, and especially since former democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a 2015 election. But an international outcry over Myanmar s violations of the rights of the Rohingya has raised questions in Western countries about that engagement. Rights group Amnesty International has called for a comprehensive arms embargo against Myanmar as well as targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials. China s Defense Ministry cited Min Aung Hlaing as thanking China for its support in helping Myanmar ensure domestic stability.


The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation to keep federal agencies funded until April 28 and avert government shutdowns at the end of this week when existing appropriations expire. By a vote of 326-96, the House passed the legislation that is now before the Senate where it has encountered opposition from Democrats who are upset over the refusal by Republicans to include a long-term extension of expiring healthcare benefits for retired coal miners and their families. Instead, the bill would continue the benefits only until next April. "I've never seen anything this callous in my life," said West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. As a result, the Senate might not be able to vote on the spending bill until sometime this weekend, technically putting the U.S. government into a partial shutdown mode on Saturday. Flint, Michigan, which has endured a two-and-a-half-year struggle with lead-contaminated drinking water, would get access to a $170 million fund for infrastructure improvements and lead poisoning prevention under the bill. The stop-gap funding bill reflects the inability of the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the dozen regular appropriations bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2017, freezing most spending at current levels. Congress was unable to pass them in part because of internal disagreements among Republicans on some of those measures and because Democrats held firm to an earlier budget deal that aims to restrain spending caps on defense as long as those caps were imposed on other domestic programs. Congress likely will end up arguing well into 2017 over spending priorities for the current fiscal year even as it must begin considering funding government operations in fiscal 2018. Congress' delay in finishing its work also means that President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, will have some say in government spending priorities for the period of April 28-Sept. 30, instead of President Barack Obama. A provision is also embedded in the spending bill to make it easier for Trump to win confirmation of General James Mattis to be defense secretary early next year. Republicans demanded it to help Mattis get around a requirement that the defense secretary be a civilian for seven years before taking the job. Mattis retired from the military in 2013. The bill moving through Congress, as lawmakers try wrapping up their work for the year, contains $5.8 billion for waging military operations against the Islamic State worldwide.


For the second time in a matter of weeks, progressive leftist Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi displayed what many believe can only be accredited to having a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. While speaking to ABC s Jonathan Karl, Nancy confused the presidency of Donald Trump with George W. Bush for the second time since President Trump s inauguration.In an interview on Sunday with Jonathon Karl on ABC s This Week, Pelosi confused President Trump with President Bush, who she hated with vitriol for eight years. But as you can see in the short clip below, Pelosi immediately catches herself and then apologizes to former President Bush for the confusion, claiming to long for the days that he was president over the now dreaded Donald Trump.Even Jonathan Karl was stunned that Pelosi would remember George W. Bush with fondness considering the vitriol she threw his way for eight years. One has to wonder if Pelosi, who continues to be confused about who the current president is, is fit for office. PolitistickHere s what Nancy had to say about President George W. Bush at the end of his term:Watch:


Three Republican U.S. lawmakers called on Friday for Robert Mueller to resign as special counsel investigating Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, the latest in a series of conservatives' criticisms of the FBI and Justice Department during the probe of how Moscow may have influenced the campaign. Representatives Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs and Louis Gohmert accused Mueller of a conflict of interest because he was director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation when former President Barack Obama's administration approved an agreement allowing a Russian company to buy a Canadian company that owned 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies. President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans have been calling for an investigation into the Uranium One deal, amid news of Mueller's first indictments of Trump associates as the special counsel investigates allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow. Moscow denies any effort to influence the election, and Trump has dismissed the investigation as a "witch hunt." On Monday, the day the indictments became public, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said a special counsel should be appointed to investigate Democrats over the uranium deal. Another group of Republican lawmakers, including House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte launched an investigation last week to examine issues including the role of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump's 2016 opponent, in the uranium deal. Democrats have dismissed the Republicans' activities as a partisan effort to distract from Mueller's probe and from efforts to ensure that a foreign government, Moscow, does not influence future U.S. elections. Gaetz, Biggs and Gohmert are all members of the House Judiciary Committee, which has oversight over the FBI and Department of Justice. Gaetz has called for investigations of issues related to Clinton previously, including accusing former FBI Director James Comey of colluding with Mueller on the FBI's investigation of Clinton's emails.


Jason Brown, despite the colorful appellation, is about the whitest name I ve heard all day. Except I didn t hear it today. Not in the news anyway. Not on that little trending bar on the side of my Facebook feed, or with a hashtag in front of it on Twitter. Which is weird, because a dude named Jason Brown murdered a police officer in Indianapolis on Thursday.I can t help but think if his skin matched his name, you d already know who I was talking about. In fact, if Jason Brown looked a little more like Michael Brown, you might already know he had previous drug charges. You might even have seen this picture of him by now:Image via TwitterI know you haven t seen that picture until now, though. In fact, I know unless you clicked the link above, you still think I m just making some point about how white people can get away with all kinds of stuff people of color in America can t. I m not, of course. I m just here to provide some contrast for the very limited, very, very sanitized coverage available so far about Jason Brown, from the south side of Indianapolis, Indiana.All that is according to literally everyone the news has bothered to contact so far about this guy who murdered a cop. Perhaps if there was some footage of him selling loose cigarettes.You see, when Jason Brown got in a terrible car accident and officers responded to the scene, they expected to find someone in need of assistance. The slain policeman, Lieutenant Aaron Allan, certainly didn t expect to be met by a driver hanging upside-down in the demolished car, ready to fire multiple shots into his torso.Lt. Allan died later Thursday.So where is the wall-to-wall coverage of this cop murderer? It must be hiding behind this family-provided picture that the news is running with:All I can say is, I ve been working on this article for a while now, and I just came across the very first link that provided any insight as to why he might have completely broken character and started shooting at the officer. An Indy NBC affiliate says the police recovered 13 small bags of weed which of course is possession with intent to deliver. Prison time.I wonder if, when they finally do charge Brown with the officer s murder (since they still haven t), they ll tack on those drug charges too, like they would if he was actually, um Brown?


Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Wednesday called running his family's charitable foundation one of the great honors of his life in a passionate defense against criticism of its work as his wife, Hillary Clinton, campaigns to become president. Speaking onstage in a New York City hotel ballroom for about an hour, he told supporters of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation that it had brought about "a profound advance in the conduct and impact of modern philanthropy." "Don't give up what brought you here," he said, closing out the 12th and final annual conference organized by the foundation, called the Clinton Global Initiative. "You have done something good and noble and worthy." The foundation, which Clinton founded as he prepared to leave the White House in 2001, has come under intense scrutiny brought about by a long presidential campaign. Journalists have scoured newly released email records from Hillary Clinton's tenure running the State Department from 2009 to 2013, which show foundation officials seeking meetings with Clinton or other diplomats on behalf of donors. Donald Trump, Clinton's Republican opponent for the presidency, has called for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of breaching government ethics rules. The Clintons have said that even if some of their wealthiest donors, which include corporations and foreign governments with interests before the U.S. government, may have hoped for special favors in return, none were granted. To avert suggestions of conflicts of interest, the foundation has said it will drastically limit its operations if Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, wins the election to succeed Barack Obama on Nov. 8. It would stop accepting money from foreign and corporate donors, foundation officials say, and much of its work would be spun off into independent entities not controlled by the Clintons. Bill Clinton, 70, has expressed frustration that political journalists covering his wife's campaign have written more about the foundation's donors, which include the government of Saudi Arabia and foreign billionaires, than the charitable programs it runs. He spoke at length about how he had been moved by meeting children with HIV in Cambodia, orphans left behind by the 2004 tsunami that struck Indonesia and victims of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. He made only oblique references to the 2016 election campaign. "Everywhere today there is a temptation to say that everything I just told you is wrong, 'Life is a zero-sum game and I'm losing; no, you're wrong, our differences matter more than our common humanity,'" he said. "These are not the right choices." (Refiles to make clear in paragraph 5 that foundation officials were seeking the meetings on behalf of donors.)


‹ › Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. VA fails to properly examine thousands of veterans By Arnaldo Rodgers on October 29, 2016 VA  Thousands of veterans may have been improperly diagnosed by the VA.  The federal department admits it was improperly testing for traumatic brain injuries from 2007 through 2015.  Nate Anderson has served in the United States Army for 12 years.  "There's a promise that we make to service members, that if you serve and you put your life on the line or sacrifice in whatever way you do, we'll take care of you. I didn't know what that was going to look like, it's certainly not what I saw," Anderson said. "This is something the VA should have been prepared for."  He enlisted after 9/11.  "It was time in my generation that the desire to serve was strong," he said.  Fast forward to 2008, Anderson was assigned to his first unit at Fort Bragg and deployed to central Afghanistan.  Read the Full Article at wncn.com >>>> Related Posts: The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on October 29, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments  You must be logged in to post a comment Login WHAT'S HOT


Mike Huckabee suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday night, the former Arkansas governor announced on Twitter after garnering little support in the Iowa caucuses. "I am officially suspending my campaign," he said on Twitter. "Thank you for all your loyal support." Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, had less than 2 percent of the vote on Monday with 85 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Iowa Republican Party.


Latest short list for Trump cabinet positions – It's a "knife fight" Communications adviser, Jason Miller, confirmed that Trump's cabinet will be anything but "traditional" By Tyler Durden - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 10:04 AM EST  As Donald Trump's transition team continues to debate who will fill key cabinet positions, the competition between potential appointees is growing more fierce with one insider describing it as a "knife fight." So far, Trump has named RNC head Reince Priebus as Chief Of Staff and the controversial Breitbart executive, Steve Bannon, as Chief Strategist. While the transition team has been guarded so far about who will fill the remaining roles, communications adviser Jason Miller confirmed that Trump's cabinet will be anything but "traditional": "You're going to see a number of different names that are ultimately becoming a part of the President-elect's administration. There will be non-traditional names, a number of people who have had wide-ranging success in a number of different fields; wide-ranging success in business … People will be excited when they see the type of leaders the President-elect brings into this administration." Of the key open positions, John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani are the rumored favorites for Secretary of State and Senator Jeff Sessions is thought to be the front-runner for Attorney General. With that said, per Reuters , here is a short list of people thought to be in the running for the various cabinet positions that need to be filled over the coming months:  SECRETARY OF STATE Bob Corker, Tennessee senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush Newt Gingrich, Republican former U.S. House Speaker Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City  ATTORNEY GENERAL Rudy Giuliani Jeff Sessions, senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who takes a hard line on immigration Chris Christie, Republican New Jersey governor Pam Bondi, Republican Florida Attorney General Trey Gowdy, Republican congressman from South Carolina who headed the House committee that investigated the 2012 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya TREASURY SECRETARY Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs executive and Trump's campaign finance chairman Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican congressman and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer Tom Barrack, founder and chairman of Colony Capital Inc  DEFENSE SECRETARY Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser under President George W. Bush Jon Kyl, former Republican senator from Arizona Jeff Sessions, Republican senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Kelly Ayotte, outgoing Republican senator from New Hampshire and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Duncan Hunter, Republican congressman from California and early Trump supporter, member of House Armed Services Committee Jim Talent, former Republican senator from Missouri who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee  HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY Ben Carson, former neurosurgeon and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich Rich Bagger, former pharmaceutical executive and former top aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Bobby Jindal, former Louisiana governor  HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY Michael McCaul, U.S. Republican congressman from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee David Clarke, Milwaukee county sheriff and vocal Trump supporter Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who campaigned for Trump  HEAD OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Myron Ebell, a climate change skeptic at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute who is overseeing environmental policy on Trump's transition team Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas attorney general Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management  ENERGY SECRETARY Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, CEO of Continental Resources Inc Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp James Connaughton, CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota Robert Grady Sarah Palin, Republican former Alaska governor who ran for vice president in 2008 Jan Brewer, former Arizona governor Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil Harold Hamm


British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that his remarks last week about a jailed Iranian-British aid worker could have been clearer, and said he had not wanted to add credence to Iranian allegations against her. On Nov. 1, Johnson said that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in Iran in April 2016. The UK government has no doubt that she was on holiday in Iran when she was arrested last year and that was the sole purpose of her visit, Johnson said. My point was that I disagreed with the Iranian view that training journalists was a crime, not that I wanted to lend any credence to Iranian allegations that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been engaged in such activity, he said. I accept that my remarks could have been clearer in that respect and I am glad to provide this clarification. Johnson said he would travel to Iran in the coming weeks and discuss all consular issues there.


WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Almost three months after Bashir Yussuf watched Donald J. Trump win the presidential election, he made his way to Noyes, Minn. where he set off at night into the woods and crawled across the unmarked border into Canada. "I saw what was coming," said Mr. Yussuf, 28, who fled his home in Somalia in 2013 to make a circuitous, voyage to San Diego, where he applied for asylum but was rejected. "I knew Trump was going to deport me. " After a walk, much of it through deep drifts, Mr. Yussuf arrived in Emerson, a small farming town in sight of the border with both North Dakota and Minnesota. Emerson's 700 inhabitants have long known "border hoppers," often offering them lifts to the nearby Canadian Border Services Agency office. But they have never seen them coming in these numbers. The morning before Mr. Yussuf arrived with another Somali last Sunday night, 19 other Africans had emerged on the Canadian side of the border, cold and hungry after walking much of the night across frozen farm fields. There were too many to fit into the small border office for processing, so the people of the town rushed to open the community hall, where the new arrivals could get warm, doze on sleeping mats and refuel on Nutella sandwiches, tea and coffee. Noting a worrying trend, Emerson officials convened an emergency meeting on Thursday with the police and border agents to figure out a protocol for the next wave of arrivals — which they feared would be soon. "The farmers are worried about what they're going to find when the snow melts," said Greg Janzen, the reeve, or chief elected executive, of the municipality. On Christmas Eve, two Ghanaians were picked up on the roadside north of town, some 10 hours after they had set off into a field near the border, sinking to their waists in snow. The temperature that morning was reported to be below zero, with windchill making it even worse. The men's hands were so badly frostbitten that they lost almost all their fingers. Over the past couple of years, a small number of people have been sneaking across the border at Manitoba from the United States and then filing for asylum, Canadian Border Service Agency statistics show. But since the fall, refugee workers in Winnipeg say, there has been a noticeable surge. The Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, known locally as Welcome Place, typically serves 50 to 60 asylum seekers per year, said its executive director, Rita Chahal. "Since April, we've seen already 300," she said. While the government of Canada was unable to provide statistics on the number of people seeking refugee status who illegally enter the country, Sgt. Harold Pfleiderer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said, "There has been an increase in illegal migration in Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia, with the largest increase being seen in Quebec. " A loophole in the rules covering asylum seekers has led some to walk for as long as eight hours in the middle of the night, through wintry landscapes and biting prairie cold, before arriving in Emerson. While an agreement between Canada and the United States makes it impossible for them to simply present themselves at the border and claim asylum, those who make it into the country and then present themselves to border guards can do so. Now, in light of the uncertainty and disruption created by President Trump's executive order on immigration, refugee advocates and human rights groups in Canada are demanding that the government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suspend or cancel the refugee pact, which is known as the Safe Third Country agreement. "We are essentially encouraging people to come across the border through irregular means," said Sean Rehaag, a York University law professor who specializes in refugee and immigration law. On Wednesday, the immigration and refugee clinical program at Harvard Law School issued a report stating that Mr. Trump's executive orders on immigration made the United States "not a safe country of asylum" for people fleeing persecution and violence. "When Canada sends someone back to the U. S. we are saying we have confidence the U. S. is going to protect them if they need protection. We don't see how we can have confidence to say that in the current context," said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council For Refugees, a nonprofit umbrella organization of 170 refugee advocacy groups. Bashir Khan, a Winnipeg lawyer, has represented 125 refugees before the Immigration and Refugee Board over the past five years. That is on top of the 17 he is representing currently. All were rejected at refugee hearings in the United States. "Let's be honest here," Mr. Khan said. "They did not get access to justice in the United States. They were locked up from the moment they crossed the Mexican border, and detained an average of nine months. They didn't know how to fill out asylum forms, they were not given legal aid — not one of them. " Ms. Chahal of Welcome Place said that in recent months her center had seen another type of applicant — people like Mourad Hassan, who flew into Chicago in December and then worked immediately to find a way across the border to make his first asylum claim in Canada. "When Trump became president, I was scared he would deport me," said Mr. Hassan, 32, a former army officer from Djibouti who said he had been tortured for political reasons. "He doesn't like Muslims. " From Emerson, the refugee applicants typically take cabs for the trip to the provincial capital of Winnipeg, where they formally apply for asylum, welfare checks and legal aid. The hearings are usually scheduled within two to three months of their application, but there are no guarantees. In 2015 the Immigration and Refugee Board approved 57. 7 percent of the 16, 521 refugee claims made inside Canada's borders. The board does not track how many claims come from people who bypassed border controls to enter Canada. With the legal status of Mr. Trump's executive order still in limbo, Canada's government has shown no enthusiasm for suspending its agreement with Washington. On Friday, Camielle Edwards, a spokeswoman for Ahmed Hussen, the immigration minister, said that the agreement "remains an important tool for Canada and the U. S. to work together on the orderly handling of refugee claims made in our countries. " She said, "The conditions of the agreement continue to be met, but we are continuing to monitor the situation closely. " Ms. Dench said that history suggests that Canada's border will not be overwhelmed by refugee claimants if people entering from the United States are allowed to apply at the border. "It's not as if everyone in the U. S. would suddenly want to come to Canada," she said. And, she said, "We would not have more people crossing the border irregularly and you no longer have people losing their fingers. " Mr. Yussuf was prepared for his journey to Emerson. He wore thermal underwear and thick gloves. And he paid a guide $600 to take him close to the border. Other asylum seekers said that they had heard from cabdrivers in Grand Forks, N. D. that they would be deported at the border. The drivers offered to drive them to a place that was better for crossing illegally, but farther from the border. They were unprepared for the wintry crossing. One man, Zurekaneni Issah Adams, wore a thin jean jacket and carpentry gloves. His trip took seven hours. "We were lucky. We were saved by God," said Mr. Adams, 36, who fled Ghana in 2014 for Brazil, before slowly making his way by foot, bus and boat to the California border. After 16 months in detention, Mr. Adams said, his asylum request there was rejected. In Canada, he had a hearing scheduled last week, but it was postponed. "I am dreaming big," he said. "I will not lose my hope. "