In her standard stump speech, Hillary Rodham Clinton talks about fighting income inequality, celebrating court rulings on gay marriage and health care, and, since the Emanuel AME Church massacre, toughening the nation's gun laws. That last component marks an important evolution in presidential politics. For at least the past several decades, Democrats seeking national office have often been timid on the issue of guns for fear of alienating firearms owners. In 2008, after Barack Obama took heat for his gaffe about people who "cling to guns or religion," he rarely mentioned guns again — neither that year nor in his 2012 reelection campaign. But in a sign that the political environment on guns has shifted in the wake of recent mass shootings — and of Clinton's determination to stake out liberal ground in her primary race against insurgent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — Clinton is not only initiating a debate about gun control but also vowing to fight the National Rifle Association. "I'm going to speak out against the uncontrollable use of guns in our country because I believe we can do better," Clinton said Tuesday in Iowa City. A few days earlier, she said in Hanover, N.H.: "We have to take on the gun lobby. . . . This is a controversial issue. I am well aware of that. But I think it is the height of irresponsibility not to talk about it." Clinton's comments could stoke millions of politically active gun owners, and Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, argued that the move was fraught with peril for her. "We've been down this road before with the Clintons," LaPierre said through a spokesman. "She needs to read her husband's book." In his memoir, "My Life," former president Bill Clinton suggested that his vice president, Al Gore, lost the 2000 presidential election in part because of backlash in states such as Arkansas and Tennessee over the Clinton administration's 1995 ban on assault weapons, which has since expired. Many Democratic lawmakers also lost their elections after gun-control votes. The Republican 2016 presidential candidates, in keeping with GOP orthodoxy, have spoken out loudly against gun control. Many gave speeches at the NRA's spring convention and tout their high ratings from the group. Mark Glaze, a longtime gun-control advocate who until recently oversaw former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's gun-control efforts, argued that Hillary Clinton should embrace her husband's record. "The Clintons pulled off the almost-impossible by giving us the background-check system and banning assault weapons," Glaze said. "That's something President Obama wasn't able to do. Their political interest lies in owning, rather than obscuring, that accomplishment." Many Democratic strategists said campaigning on guns is smart politics for Hillary Clinton both in the primary and, should she become the nominee, in the general election. Gun control is one of the few issues on which Clinton has a more left-leaning record than Sanders, who represents a rural, pro-gun-rights state and has voted in the past for legislation to protect the firearms industry. Although Clinton has not attacked Sanders by name, by invoking guns she makes an unspoken contrast. The issue also fits neatly into the overall narrative Clinton is trying to present. She can stake out a bold stance on an issue that plays well with the liberal base while arguing that she would break through the partisan stalemate in Washington. There are few issues more intractable than guns. In 2013, after the massacre of 20 young children and six educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks for firearm purchases failed to pass the Senate despite overwhelming popular support and President Obama's backing. Clinton began talking about gun control in the days following last month's church shooting in Charleston, S.C., and aides said she plans to keep it in her stump speech, although she has no immediate plans to unveil a detailed gun policy. "This is an important issue, and she believes that we cannot let partisan gridlock prevent us from continuing to seek common-sense safety measures," said Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon. Despite his mixed voting record, Sanders did support the 2013 background-check bill and assault-weapons ban. And on the stump, he is trying to sound more forceful. He notes that "guns in Chicago and Los Angeles mean a very different thing than guns in Vermont and New Hampshire" but says — as he did two weeks ago in Bow, N.H. — that the next president must "come forward with a common-sense proposal on guns." In the Democratic field, former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley has the strongest record in favor of gun control. He supported an assault-weapons ban as mayor of Baltimore in the early 2000s and then signed one into law as governor in 2013, along with a suite of gun restrictions that stand as among the nation's toughest. "He's the only person in the race who's led on this issue," said O'Malley spokeswoman Haley Morris. Looking to the general election, some gun-control measures are popular, especially with the coalition of swing-state Latinos, African Americans, and young and suburban women the Democratic nominee would need to win the White House. "There is no more powerful force in an election than the suburban mother, and you don't find a lot of suburban mothers that are against some sort of common-sense gun control," said Mo Elleithee, a former Clinton adviser and Democratic strategist who now directs the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. Other Democrats argue that Clinton has nothing to lose. Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) said the NRA has become a "paper tiger," noting the elections he's won despite the NRA's vocal opposition. "I think she has no illusion that even if she didn't say a word about guns, the NRA would be out there blasting her to say she had a conspiratorial plan to work with the U.N. to take everybody's guns away, so why not go head-on on an issue that will improve safety," Kaine said. A survey this year by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research found that 89 percent favor requiring background checks for all gun sales, including 85 percent of gun owners. But polling is much more closely divided on other gun restrictions and does not account for the high intensity among gun-control opponents. David "Mudcat" Saunders, a Democratic strategist based in conservative rural Virginia, warned that Clinton's focus on guns could taint the entire Democratic ticket, including candidates for state and local offices. "Never in the history of the Democratic Party have they started a gun debate that didn't cost them numbers in the general election," said Saunders, who supports the candidacy of former senator Jim Webb (D-Va.). "She's trying to get to the left of Bernie, obviously, but I think it'll hurt her in the long run — and it'll cost anybody on the down ticket in the South and in rural America." In her 2008 presidential campaign, Clinton stayed nearly silent on guns. An exception was after Obama's "cling to guns" comment surfaced, when she attacked him as being "elitist" and fondly recalled her father teaching her to shoot as a little girl at her grandfather's Pennsylvania lake house. Howard Wolfson, for many years a top Clinton aide before going to work for Bloomberg, said Clinton's avoidance of guns in 2008 should not be mistaken for a lack of interest in gun control. "I started working for her back in 1999 and she talked about it back then," Wolfson said. "As a senator from New York, it was something that was important to her. I think in the wake of Newtown and Charleston, it's more resonant in our political culture." In recent months, Clinton's speechwriters and policy staff have sought counsel from Bloomberg's group, Everytown for Gun Safety. Erika Soto Lamb, Everytown's spokeswoman, said Clinton's focus on the issue is "striking." "Knowing how hard we tried in 2012 to get [Republican nominee Mitt] Romney or Obama to say something about guns," she said, "it is a changed world now when Hillary and other candidates are making it a part of their stump. This is the first presidential election when we've seen proactive statements." Jose DelReal in Iowa City and Scott Clement in Washington contributed to this report.


A Texas law that requires voters to show identification before casting ballots was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos came after an appeals court last year said the 2011 law had an outsized impact on minority voters. The court sent the case back to Ramos to determine if lawmakers intentionally wrote the legislation to be discriminatory. Ramos said in a 10-page decision that evidence "establishes that a discriminatory purpose was at least one of the substantial or motivating factors behind passage" of the measure. "The terms of the bill were unduly strict," she added. Spokesmen for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Jr. and Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans, could not be reached for comment. In January, after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Paxton said it was a common sense law to prevent voter fraud. The ruling on voter ID comes about a month after two federal judges ruled that Texas lawmakers drew up three U.S. congressional districts to undermine the influence of Hispanic voters. The measure requires voters to present photo identification such as a driver's license, passport or military ID card. Plaintiffs have argued the law hits elderly and poorer voters, including minorities, hardest because they are less likely to have identification. They contend the measure is used by Republicans to suppress voters who typically align with Democrats. The legislation has been in effect since 2011 despite the legal challenges. Ramos said the law had met criteria set by the U.S. Supreme Court to show intent that included its discriminatory impact, a pattern not explainable on other than racial grounds, Texas' history of discriminatory practices and the law's unusually swift passage. Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the plaintiffs, said the ruling showed other states that discriminatory laws would not stand up to legal scrutiny. "This is a good ruling that confirms what we have long known, that Texas' voter ID law stands as one of the most discriminatory voting restrictions of its kind," she said. In a shift from its stance under former President Barack Obama, the U.S. Justice Department dropped a discrimination claim against the law in February. The department said that the state legislature was considering changing the law in ways that might correct shortcomings.


Videos Podesta Emails Part 24: Wikileaks Releases Another 2,620 Emails; Total Is Now 39,511 Among today's emails, among the thousands of emails, in May 2015 email from Jen Palmieri to Joel Benenson of the Benenson strategy group suggests that Hillary Clinton knows everything about the Clinton Foundation donors. Be Sociable, Share!  In the aftermath of one of the most memorable October shocks in presidential campaign history, and down the final stretch in the presidential race which has just over one week left, Wikileaks continues its ongoing broadside attack against the Clinton campaign with the relentless Podesta dump, by unveiling another 2,620 emails in the latest, Part 24 of its Podesta release, bringing the total emails released so far to exactly 39,511.  The release comes hours after Wikileaks warned that it was launching its "Phase 3" of election coverage this week..  In the latest, Sunday set, of emails Doug Band commented on Teneo's relationship with the Clinton Foundation, saying "if this story gets out, we are screwed," we learned that Google's Eric Schmidt wanted to be "head outside advisor" to the Clinton campaign, and a potential conflict of interest with the Clinton Foundation assisting El Salvador in obtaining $50 million in cash. As usual we are parsing through the latest release and will bring readers the more notable emails. Among today's emails, we find a May 2015 email from Jen Palmieri to Joel Benenson of the Benenson strategy group suggests that Hillary Clinton knows everything about the Clinton Foundation donors. We also find more direct involvement by Google's Eric Schmidt, when in an April 2015 email to Cheryl Mills he tells her "I have put together my thoughts on the campaign ideas and I have scheduled some meetings in the next few weeks for veterans of the campaign to tell me how to make these ideas better." A January 2012 email from Laura Graham to Cheryl Mills sheds some more light on the Teneo scandal: "Below see my draft. I really took a shot in the dark here and didn't know how far we should go on these issues. I remain concerned that email will be forwarded to press and so am against sending an email altogether. If we want to include the broader list of individuals going to the PO (I left a marker in the text for that) then we obviously have to meet with people before any email or staff meeting." A May 2013 email from Neera Tanden address to John Podesta discussing a WaPo article how a Super PAC plans to coordinated directly with the Clinton campaign leads to the following exchange: That's fine But skirting if not violating law doesn't help her INMHO This article originally appeared on ZeroHedge.com . Be Sociable, Share!


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he hoped a visit to Israel by U.S. President Donald Trump would be a "historic milestone" in achieving regional peace. "May your first trip to our region prove to be a historic milestone on the path towards reconciliation and peace," Netanyahu said in a welcome speech to Trump. He said Israel shared the United States' commitment to peace and that, "Israel's hand is extended in peace to all our neighbors, including the Palestinians."


Britain s exit from the European Union will not have an impact its defense ties with France despite concerns they could be harmed by tough divorce talks, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said. In an interview with Reuters, Fallon sought to stress the close relationship between Europe s two largest military powers, who agreed in Paris on Thursday to hold joint exercises in September and November in eastern Europe and Kenya. I know French and British companies are concerned that we should not lose any cooperation after Brexit because we are working together on combat aircraft programs and new missiles systems that we need to progress on together, Fallon said. Shrinking budgets, a less indulgent United States and Europe s diminishing military clout in the world have in recent years bolstered the two countries determination to work together. But in July, Paris and Berlin unexpectedly announced plans for a joint fighter jet, catching many in Britain off guard. Asked whether this and other Europe-wide efforts for closer defense integration could hamper the ties, Fallon said he was confident that the two traditional allies would continue as usual. This is a strong relationship and it is not going to be diverted by Brexit, he said. Britain s exit negotiations with the European Union this week failed to make the kind of progress needed to open talks on their future relationship in October, the bloc s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said earlier on Thursday. Fallon said there was bound to be the odd stumble as both sides jostled for position, but that it was in the interests of Britain and EU to end the uncertainty as quickly as possible. Everyone knows that in the end there has to be a settlement, he said. Both permanent veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council, Britain and France are engaged in air strikes on Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and Fallon said he believed the militant group would soon be defeated in its Syrian bastion of Raqqa. The battle to liberate Mosul took nine months and we re seeing some of the heaviest urban fighting we ve seen since the Second World War, he said. We won t set a timetable ... but I hope it won t be too long before Daesh is driven out of Raqqa, he said referring to an Arabic acronym for the hardline Islamist group. Fallon also said a military victory should not be achieved to the detriment of stabilizing the city and restoring civilian rule once Raqqa was taken. One thing we learnt from Iraq is that we mustn t let the military campaign get too far ahead of the political process, he said. Islamic State is on back foot in Syria and Iraq and losing territory. We have every prospect of Raqqa being liberated, but after that we have to work for proper governance to make sure Sunni populations have a stake in the future, he said.


2016 presidential campaign by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley  Democrats used to value things like global peace and justice in the workplace. But, for decades they have given their votes to warmongers and job-exporters. This week, they are mourning the defeat of a politician they once would have despised. In January, lots of Black Democrats will cry over the exit of a president who "won by making himself palatable to white people while also taking advantage of undeserved black pride." Freedom Rider: Obama's Hollow Legacy by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley  "The sight of Barack and Michelle hosting a state dinner was enough to make black hearts swoon."  Obama's legacy is in tatters, and that is good news. Donald Trump's victory was not just a win over Hillary Clinton, but against Democratic Party policies that silenced the rank and file. For years Democrats became convinced that the only means of keeping Republicans at bay was to go along with their party leadership without complaint. If they wanted to expand trade deals that stole workers' jobs, so be it. The people who marched against the invasion of Iraq folded their tents when Democrats became the party of endless war. When Obama promoted austerity and "grand bargains" with Republicans not a word was uttered. Even Black Lives Matter refused to point out that the Obama Justice Department left killer cops unpunished.  Barack Obama is nothing if not consistent. While Democrats take to the streets in protest against president elect Trump, Obama declares that the man he once called unfit is not an ideologue, but a "pragmatist." No one should be surprised about the conciliatory tone. Obama never had a problem with Republicans. They may have obstructed him, but he was always happy to assist them because he wasn't really opposed to their policies.  The most obvious example of Obama's lack of substance was his relationship with black Americans. His disdain and contempt for the people who loved him the most was clear to anyone who paid attention. Jokes about "cousin Pookie" and parents serving fried chicken for breakfast should have been seen as the racist screeds they clearly were. But the desire to see a black face in a prominent place endures to our detriment.  "The people who marched against the invasion of Iraq folded their tents when Democrats became the party of endless war."  Obama won by making himself palatable to white people while also taking advantage of undeserved black pride. Hillary Clinton would be the president elect if the new voters who emerged in 2008 had remained committed to the Democratic Party. But their loyalty was to the imagery of Barack Obama as president. Their joy was confined to seeing him meet the queen of England alongside his first lady or disembarking from Air Force One with his signature swagger. The sight of Barack and Michelle hosting a state dinner was enough to make black hearts swoon. Policy initiatives need not intrude upon the love fest.  The end result of this unrequited and superficial love was six million fewer votes cast for Hillary Clinton in 2016 than for Obama in 2012. The apocryphal cousin Pookie stayed home and no one should be surprised. There is no secret to keeping voters engaged. They are engaged if their needs are met. Deliver for voters and they deliver in the voting booth.  Even the unpopular and shady Hillary Clinton could have won Michigan if the people of Flint had received the federal help they needed so badly. Not only did the Obama environmental protection agency allow the beleaguered city to be given contaminated water, but he showed up for a photo opportunity and did nothing else as residents suffered. He drank a glass of water, posed for the cameras and returned to Washington. The people of Flint are still living under conditions Americans think of as being "Third World."  "Democratic voters must ask themselves why they said nothing when their party promoted trade deals that were against their interests."  The response to Trump's victory should mean more than protesting policies the Democrats now have little ability to fight. This moment presents an opportunity for much needed introspection and mea culpas. Millions of people did more than just accept Democratic Party policy. They supported actions they would have rejected if carried out by a Republican or a white Democrat. They supported Muammar Gaddafi when Republicans were president but averted their eyes to his murder when committed by a Democrat. They even voted for the person who bragged about the killing. Democratic voters must ask themselves why they said nothing when their party promoted trade deals that were against their interests. Ultimately that acquiescence led to defeat at Trump's hands.  The Obama team's propaganda skills were legendary but the day of reckoning revealed the emptiness of what they produced. The corporate media acted like scribes under White House direction and declared that Russia was an enemy state and its president a 21 st century Hitler. Now it is Donald Trump, the self-promoting reality television star, who declares his willingness to talk to his Russian counterpart. It is the sort of behavior that Democrats once valued.  Democratic presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton began the tradition of getting Democrats to support what they didn't like. Obama perfected the art, which ultimately led to the debacle. He will certainly not be the last to tempt the party faithful but in 2016 Democrats sold their souls and ended up with nothing. Defeat creates the most hollow feelings of all. Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.


U.S. President Donald Trump will urge President Xi Jinping to make good on his commitments to pressure North Korea when he visits China next month, a senior White House official said on Monday, stepping up a strategy to have Beijing help rein in Pyongyang. Isolating North Korea further over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests is a key goal for Trump on what will be his longest foreign trip to date. Trump will call on Xi to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang and take other steps to pressure North Korea. China, North Korea s sole major ally, accounts for more than 90 percent of trade with the isolated country. China has said it will strictly enforce U.N. Security Council sanctions banning imports of coal, textiles and seafood, while cutting off oil shipments to the North. But a senior White House official who briefed reporters ahead of Trump s trip said China needs to do more to comply with two U.N. Security Council resolutions that were approved unanimously, including with China s support. We would like to see China follow through on those commitments. We would like to see China do things bilaterally as well that might even go beyond things that are mandated by those U.N. Security Council resolutions, the official said. Though China has been angered by North Korea s repeated nuclear and missile tests and demanded they stop, Beijing also sees the United States and South Korea sharing responsibility for rising tensions because of military drills they carry out in the region. South Korea, the United States and Japan started a two-day missile tracking drill on Tuesday, South Korea s military said in a statement, in preparation for any missile or nuclear threats from North Korea. The exercises will be held in waters off the coasts of South Korea and Japan, South Korea s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, with four Aegis combat system-equipped ships from all three countries participating in the drill. China s special envoy for the North Korea nuclear issue, Kong Xuanyou, met his U.S. counterpart, Joseph Yun, in Beijing on Monday, China s Foreign Ministry said, where they had a deep exchange of views on the Korean peninsula issue . The ministry did not elaborate. Trump, who has threatened to totally destroy North Korea, has frequently asked China to help rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But this strategy has so far failed to stop Pyongyang conducting nuclear bomb tests at an underground facility and firing ballistic missile tests into the Pacific Ocean over Japan. The threat from North Korea has grown to a critical and imminent level and the United States, Japan and South Korea must address the matter, Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told his U.S. and South Korean counterparts in talks on Monday. Onodera s remarks underscored the deep concern in Tokyo about North Korean weapons tests as Pyongyang seeks to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States. The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump is looking for a peaceful resolution of the North Korea standoff. Asked by reporters whether an offer by former President Jimmy Carter to serve as a U.S. envoy to North Korea would be accepted, the official said: There s nothing planned. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday he outlined for Trump his country s efforts to pressure North Korea over its nuclear program but also advised the U.S. leader to use talks to help resolve the conflict. There is no quick and easy solution. Pressure is necessary but so is dialogue. The U.S. will need to work with others, including China, South Korea and Japan and Russia to resolve the issue, he said. With Xi consolidating power in the wake of a Communist Party Congress in Beijing, Trump believes the Chinese president will have a greater authority to take steps against North Korea, senior administration officials said last week. Trump s Nov. 3-14 trip will include visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Trump will also be tough on trade during talks with Xi as he seeks to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, the White House official said. We have huge barriers that Americans companies have to surmount to gain access to the Chinese market. The president is intent on rectifying that situation, the official said. Despite Trump s fierce criticism of China s trade practices during the presidential campaign, he has mostly held off on any major trade action while his administration works with Beijing on North Korea. China has insisted it is doing all it can, and some Chinese diplomats say the Trump administration has overestimated how much influence Beijing has over its defiant neighbor. Even as China has shown signs of tightening enforcement of sanctions on North Korea, it has stopped short of agreeing to U.S. demands for a fuel embargo and has urged the United States to negotiate with Pyongyang.


Politics Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö meet in Tehran on October 26, 2016. (Photos by leader.ir)  Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Saudi Arabia's killing of Yemenis is "the worst type of terrorism."  "Terrorism is not limited to terror acts committed by some unofficial groups, and mass killings of people by certain governments, such as the Saudi attack on people in a mourning procession in Yemen, which left hundreds killed and injured, are the worst type of terrorism," the Leader said in a meeting with visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Tehran on Wednesday.  Ayatollah Khamenei also described terrorism as one of the "painful" sufferings gripping the human society, and called for a sincere fight against the scourge.  "Countering terrorism needs the serious resolve of all those who have an influence within global powers," the Leader said, calling on world pundits and governments to take measures to deal with the phenomenon. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) receives Finnish President Sauli Niinistö (C) in the presence of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on October 26, 2016.  Ayatollah Khamenei also said the US and certain Western countries are not sincere in the fight against terrorism.  "These governments calculate all issues based on their own interests, and they do not think about eradicating the malady of terrorism in Iraq or Syria," the Leader added.  Ayatollah Khamenei further criticized UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's failure to condemn the Saudi war on Yemen.  "The UN secretary general said explicitly that it is not possible for the body to condemn the killing of Yemeni children as the UN depends on the Saudi government's money," the Leader said, stressing that this approach is indicative of the "deplorable moral state" of politicians at the helm of international organizations. Loading ...


I know you ll miss me. Did he really say that?President Barack Obama has returned to his favorite summer vacation spot of choice, the Massachusetts island of Martha s Vineyard, a day earlier than originally planned.It will likely be the family s last pit-stop at their luxurious rented seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom retreat since it went on the market in July for a cool $22.5million.And it seems the president was eager to savor every moment as he decided at the last minute to fly on Friday afternoon, rather than Saturday as originally planned.Obama beamed and laughed as he boarded Air Force One with Michelle still wearing his work suit.When they disembarked, he emerged looking relaxed without a jacket or tie to greet the crowds.Obama has visited the island every year of his presidency, except during the 2012 re-election campaign.As he wrapped up his duties in the White House on Friday and anticipated his getaway he seemed jovial and excited. I know you ll miss me, he joked to reporters after signing a bill preserving wilderness land in Idaho.With no official appearances on the schedule, Obama, Michelle and their youngest daughter Sasha will spend the time away from Washington dabbling in their usual vacation activities: leisurely rounds of golf, beach outings, hikes and bike rides, and dinner at some of the island s top restaurants.The property in Chilmark, on the western part of the island, includes a dual basketball and tennis court.A cluster of top aides will also enjoy a 17-day stay on the island, known as a summer hangout for the wealthy, to update the president as developments warrant.


Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is taking aim at budget chief Mick Mulvaney's plan to fill the ranks of the U.S. consumer financial watchdog with political allies, according to letters seen by Reuters, the latest salvo in a broader battle over who should run the bureau. President Donald Trump last month appointed Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), though the decision is being legally challenged by the agency's deputy director, Leandra English, who says she is the rightful interim head. Mulvaney told reporters earlier this month he planned to bring in several political appointees to help overhaul the agency, but Warren warned in a pair of letters sent Monday to Mulvaney and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees federal hiring, that doing so was inappropriate and potentially illegal. The CFPB is meant to be an independent agency staffed primarily by non-political employees. Hiring political appointees could violate civil service laws designed to protect such employees from undue political pressure and discrimination, Warren said. "Your naked effort to politicize the consumer agency runs counter to the agency's mission to be an independent voice for consumers with the power to stand up to Wall Street banks," Warren, who helped create the CFPB, wrote to Mulvaney. In a separate letter, Warren asked the OPM to review Mulvaney's "unprecedented and unjustified" plans. In a third letter sent to Mulvaney and English, Warren asked for information about a review of ongoing enforcement actions at the CFPB. Reuters reported earlier this month that a potential multimillion-dollar settlement with Wells Fargo is among the enforcement actions under review amid the change in CFPB leadership. Spokespeople for Mulvaney and the OPM did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mulvaney, who also serves directly under Trump as the head of his Office of Management and Budget (OMB), said in the long term he would like to see professional staff alongisde political appointees, mirroring an arrangement in place at the OMB. "We will be staffing up with more permanent political people so the professional staff here have a better feel for where the administration wants to take the bureau," Mulvaney said. But Warren said such an arrangement, though understandable for bureaus like the OMB which sit directly beneath the White House, was not suitable for independent financial regulators. The leadership of the CFPB has been in question since the agency's first director, Richard Cordray, resigned in November.


The White House on Thursday defended the planning and execution of a Special Operations raid in Yemen on Sunday — the first approved by President Trump since taking office — that left one American commando dead and three others injured, and most likely killed several civilians, including children. Sean M. Spicer, President Trump's press secretary, offered an unusually detailed chronology of the mission involving members of the Navy's SEAL Team 6 against the home of a senior Qaeda collaborator. He said it started with a plan submitted by the military's Central Command in November under the Obama administration and ended with Mr. Trump receiving updates in the White House on Saturday night as the mission unfolded eight time zones away. "This was a very, very and executed effort," Mr. Spicer said. Mr. Trump has justified the risky attack on the heavily guarded house, saying the commandos recovered valuable information, including laptops and cellphones, that could help thwart future terrorist attacks. Military officials said on Thursday that while that could prove to be true, analysts were only just beginning to delve into the materials. Almost everything on the mission that could go wrong did. A Yemeni tribal sheikh said the Qaeda fighters were somehow tipped off to the troops' stealthy advance toward the village — perhaps by the whine of American drones that the tribal leader said were flying lower and louder than usual. The assault force, which also included elite troops from the United Arab Emirates, quickly found itself under intense fire from all sides — even from female combatants who unexpectedly took up weapons from assigned fighting positions — forcing the Americans to call in strikes from helicopter gunships and attack planes. A Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis, denied on Thursday that the mission had been compromised. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to be present as the body of the American commando killed in the raid, Chief Petty Officer William Owens, was returned home. It was the first military death on the new commander in chief's watch. Mr. Spicer insisted on Thursday that the commandos had accomplished their mission, even though "it is tough to ever use the word 'success' when you know that somebody has lost their life. " His explanation did not quell calls from human rights groups and at least one Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee for an investigation into the mission and the allegations of civilian casualties. The Central Command said on Wednesday that civilian casualties were likely and that it was investigating. According to Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen, the dead include the daughter of Anwar the Qaeda leader who was killed in a targeted drone strike in 2011. Planning for the mission started months ago, Mr. Spicer said. On Nov. 7, the Central Command submitted its plan to the Pentagon for review. The Defense Department approved it on Dec. 19, and the plan was sent to Mr. Obama's National Security Council staff. On Jan. 6, a meeting of senior Obama security aides, called the deputies committee, recommended that the plan go forward, Mr. Spicer said. Military officials have said that Mr. Obama did not act because the Pentagon wanted to launch the attack on a moonless night, and the next one after the meeting would come after Mr. Obama's term had ended. On Jan. 24, shortly after taking office, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis read the plan and sent it back to the White House with his support. On Jan. 25, Mr. Trump was briefed by his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, on the plan and on Mr. Mattis's endorsement. Mr. Trump summoned Mr. Mattis to dinner at the White House that night, along with Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mr. Flynn. Also attending were two of Mr. Trump's closest advisers, Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, the C. I. A. director. "The operation was laid out in great extent," Mr. Spicer said. "The indication at that time was to go ahead. " On Jan. 26, last Thursday, Mr. Trump formally signed the memo authorizing the action, Mr. Spicer said. Mr. Mattis and other aides updated the president on the raid throughout the night Saturday, Mr. Spicer said. Members of Mr. Obama's national security team pushed back Thursday at Mr. Spicer's description of how the former president had set the stage for the decision. They said the attack had not been approved by Mr. Obama, and that materials left for the Trump team emphasized considerable risks. "Not what happened," Colin Kahl, the national security adviser to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. wrote on Twitter after Mr. Spicer's briefing. Mr. Kahl's colleagues said that Lisa Monaco, Mr. Obama's homeland security adviser, told the national security staff in early January that Mr. Obama was not prepared to approve the concept for the raid. Instead, they prepared a memorandum for Mr. Trump's team that described a variety of options, and underscored the risks.


HA HA! Look At Arkansas Today Trump +28 If the election were held in Hillary's home state today, Trump would be winning by a landslide. 02/08/16 5 08/14/15 11 Mail with questions or comments about this site. "Godlike Productions" & "GLP" are registered trademarks of Zero Point Ltd. Godlike™ Website Design Copyright © 1999 - 2015 Godlikeproductions.com Page generated in 0.008s (8 queries)


By Sean Colarossi on Mon, Oct 31st, 2016 at 7:56 pm CNN has obtained audio of North Carolina GOP Senator Richard Burr joking about gun owners putting a "bullseye" on Hillary Clinton. Share on Twitter Print This Post  CNN has obtained brand new audio of North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr joking about gun owners putting a "bullseye" on Hillary Clinton.  The despicable comments come as Burr faces a close Senate race against Democratic opponent Deborah Ross. Both candidates are within a point of each other, according to RealClearPolitics.  More of the CNN report :  The North Carolina Republican, locked in a tight race for reelection, quipped that as he walked into a gun shop "nothing made me feel better" than seeing a magazine about rifles "with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it."  "I was a little bit shocked at that — it didn't have a bullseye on it," he said Saturday to GOP volunteers, prompting laughter from the crowd in Mooresville, North Carolina. "But on the bottom right (of the magazine), it had everybody for federal office in this particular state that they should vote for. So let me assure you, there's an army of support out there right now for our candidates."  This type of rhetoric is hardly uncommon when it comes to Republican leaders in 2016. As the campaign has gone on, the hateful and violent rhetoric, particularly from the man at the top of the Republican ticket, has become increasingly worse.  At one point this year, Donald Trump suggested that "Second Amendment people" should take up arms against Clinton if she nominates a Supreme Court justices they don't like. He also said that he'd like to "see what happens" if the Democratic nominee's bodyguards were disarmed.  As CNN notes, Trump has never issued a genuine apology for his dangerous language – or anything he's ever said or done – but Burr quickly came out with a statement once the audio was revealed, although it does not excuse what he said.  "The comment I made was inappropriate, and I apologize for it," the Republican senator said, according to CNN.  This type of imagery has no place in our politics, regardless of whether it's being said in public or private, especially given the heightened level of anger and hatred toward Hillary Clinton from Trump supporters.  Whether it's Trump or Burr, voters should remember their irresponsible language when they go to vote in just one week.


California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday vetoed a bill to end state sales taxes on feminine hygiene products, angering women and advocates who call the taxes unjust. Brown, a Democrat, cited imperatives of fiscal restraint and viable revenue streams in blocking the bipartisan bill, which would have added tampons, sanitary napkins and other menstrual products to a list of necessities such as food and prescription medicines that are exempt from sales tax. Brown also vetoed several similar bills that would have ended certain state taxes for diapers and other items. He said those measures, together with repeal of the tax on feminine hygiene products, would collectively reduce state revenue by $300 million through the coming year. "Each of these bills creates a new tax break or expands an existing tax break," Brown said in a statement. "As I said last year, tax breaks are the same as new spending – they both cost the general fund money." State Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, chief sponsor of the tampon tax relief bill that passed both houses of the state legislature with unanimous support, railed against the veto in a posting on Facebook. "Jerry Brown please #mansplain why it's OK to balance the budget on women's backs?" she wrote, including a slang portmanteau of "man" and "explain" that is used to disparage men who talk to women in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing. Lawmakers in at least 15 states have introduced measures to abolish their sales taxes on menstrual products. New York repealed its tampon tax in June, joining Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Jersey. The movement appeals to Republicans because it would repeal a tax and is favored by Democrats, who say it eliminates an unfair burden on women, especially those living in poverty. Garcia, the California assemblywoman, said she would press on in seeking repeal, vowing to "keep pushing until we get it done." But it was not immediately clear whether a veto override bid was an option. Overriding a veto in California requires a two-thirds vote in both the state Senate and Assembly, and the legislative session ended Aug. 31.


Hillary in hot water over her email server, again. Sacramento, CA Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is in hot water again after nearly 5 million uncounted California electronic ballots were found on her email server by the F.B.I. The majority of those ballots cast were by Bernie Sanders supporters. The election commission has an emergency meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning to discuss a possible vote recount which will include the newly-found ballots. Ms. Clinton has already come under fire during this election cycle over using her private email server for personal use, including storing and sending classified information with it. There has been a formal investigation, but no charges have been filed in that case. Some of the charges are facing several charges. Ms. Clintons public relations official released a brief statement saying, Hillary does not know how those ballots ended up on her server. We are conducting an internal investigation into the matter. These ballots could change the fortune of Bernie Sanders in his bid for the presidency as all the ballots found on Hillarys server were cast votes cast for him, with the exception of the one write-in for Perot.


New York City's fiscal watchdog said the city faces much bigger budget deficits in coming years than the mayor has forecast and warned state lawmakers about treating the city like a "piggy bank." The state, like the city, is finalizing its budget and will soon make decisions affecting New York City. "Some upstate legislators just don't get it," New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said during his review of the city budget on Wednesday. "They see New York City as their piggy bank." Stringer cautioned against last-minute, late-night budget decisions that could deprive the city of resources. His comments reflected growing frustration with state lawmakers over their suggestions that the city is flush with cash after a stronger economic recovery than other parts of the state. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has had a tense relationship with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, persuading his fellow Democrat last year to pay $2.5 billion toward the city's public transportation system, which is run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency. There have also been suggestions in the state capital that the city could do more to fund healthcare costs and pay more for the city's university system. New York State legislators are known for "vampire" budget sessions that go into the early hours to beat the budget deadline at the start of the state's fiscal year on April 1. Stringer said that although next year's budget remained balanced, the total gaps forecast through fiscal year 2020 are $1 billion more than the mayor's office had predicted. "Budget monitors and rating agencies have all applauded this administration's fiscal prudence and focus on protecting against economic uncertainty – and investors agree," said Amy Spitalnick, a spokesperson for de Blasio. The mayor's office points out that Stringer projects $900 million in additional tax revenue for this financial year and next, and cites that as an example of cautious revenue projections on the city's part. Stringer said the mayor should not have included $731 million from the sale of taxi medallions through 2020, saying the taxi business is currently in upheaval. The city has already cut it expectations for revenue from taxi medallion sales but Stringer has been more aggressive in elimintaing it from later years. He also said some taxes would be lower than the mayor is predicting and that costs for overtime, healthcare and homeless shelters would be higher.


Posted by Madeline | Oct 26, 2016 | 2016 , Daily Blog | 0 | Thanks Gre! Bovendien  Former Defense Minister of Canada, Paul Hellyer, has filed a lawsuit along with several others at the State Canada on the CETA treaty. CETA stands for comprehensive economic and trade agreement, a trade which are entered according to prosecutors constitutional and international rights of people with feet. Paul Hellyer called the treaty therefore Comprehensive Trade and Takeover Agreement. With this convention, which comes out of the hat of the international bankers, 62 families will obtain control over almost the entire world. Constitutions of member countries will no longer apply, only the will of the 62 families (the elite) will apply.  The lawsuit was officially filed on October 21 of this year and actually consists of four  namely separate indictments; the federal government does not have the constitutional authority to sign, execute and implement treaties without the express prior authority of Parliament through an Act of Parliament  the federal government has no constitutional right to sign CETA and / or perform without having this treaty first by the Parliament through official channels. (2) the solid majority of the CETA articles and Their Impact encroach on exclusive Provincial spheres or forum-protected by the division of powers under the Constitution Act, 1867  Most of the CETA provisions and their impact undermine exclusive legal rights protected by the Canadian Constitutional Law, 1867 the CETA gouge and extinguishes the constitutionally protected Judiciary in Canada by creating foreign tribunals to determining property and legal issues in Canada without any judicial oversight or Jurisdiction of the Canadian Courts over the disputes; and  CETA removes the constitutional legal system by setting foreign tribunals have to judge between property and other legal issues without overlooked may be the Canadian legal system, and various articles of the CETA violate constitutional enshrined rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms , and over-rides Charter Guarantees That ground Canada's ability to mount public programs on Health, Education, Social Services, and public utilities-including the elimination of subsidies, monopolies, and state enterprises for public welfare. In short, the treaty places the rights of private foreign investors about Those of the Canadian Constitution and Canadian citizens.  various provisions of CETA violated constitutional built-rights enshrined in the document Charter of Rights and Freedoms and transcend guaranteed rights that Canada has the opportunity to develop public programs in the fields of health, education, social services and public funds, including the termination of subsidies , monopolies and state enterprises for the public interest. In short, the treaty puts the interests of private foreign companies over those of the Canadian constitution and its inhabitants.  But this is not all! Paul Hellyer, which is so you can immediately see and hear his call to Canadians and the rest of the world, his mind has put on the roll of the largest crime syndicate has ever known the world, the international bankers, international intertwined the main industries in which the owners of the revenues come from only 62 families.  Paul Hellyer remembers the Canada which was separate from the bankers, yet not so long ago. Until 1974 the Canadian government expressed its money itself, there was no such thing as inflation, poverty and debt. Canada was one of the largest financiers behind the allies that Europe was liberated from the Germans at that time. Life was good, cheap and everyone had enough money to do the things they wanted to do. From one day to the issued money creation in 1974 the central banks and money was no longer free. Within a few years, Canada had a huge debt that is recovered just as us on the civilian population through numerous taxes. Paul Hellyer has evidence that this happened in unconstitutional manner and wants to decide turn back to Canada to give it right back himself pressing her money to spend. This affects every Canadian citizen a large sum of money to free education, health, housing, etc. can be paid without causing debts. Paul Hellyer does the same as Foundation for Our Money aims but in a turbo version! He lets no grass grow, does not perform educational skits for the people who maintain this crime for years, Paul Hellyer goes straight for the scapegoat.  Now the video of Paul Hellyer where he explains personally exactly what is going on and how they want to approach this.  Dear readers. This could be the big break. This information should be shared very broadly as to all countries under the thumb are the bankers, the same applies. We can deliver all of this unfair system where our benefit only a handful of people. The power over the creation of money is a sovereign matter since no one has more to do with it. We want a better and fairer world, then this is the opportunity that everyone has been waiting for!  Privatized money is the reason for all wars, privatized money is the cause of poverty, oppression, exploitation, neglect of our elderly and less fortunate. Privatized money is the root of all evil on this beautiful planet. Now is the chance to get out from under the yoke, to stand up for the future of ourselves and our children. Now is the chance to rid the world of those people who make a huge mess for over 100 years with one goal, to keep the creation of money in their hands and with it the power over almost anything this planet has to offer.  The Earth is not a handful of bankers and politicians, the earth belongs to everyone!


Home | World | Globe Still Has Two Months Under Obama Globe Still Has Two Months Under Obama By Satyrus Venge 19/11/2016 10:19:51  Solitudinem fecerunt, pacem appelunt  LONDON – England – Whenever extreme leftists lose an election, there are many prices to be paid as the vindictive sore losers create a maelstrom on the way out.  Socialists do not believe in fair play, and they destroy as much as they can whilst they are in the last days of power.  This scorched earth policy was witnessed in the last days of the Gordon Brown prime ministership in which he succeeded in burning the UK's economy bringing it to the very brink of extension.  As for referendums and other votes by the people, these are not honoured by socialists unless the results go their way. We can see what is happening today with the EU referendum, a vote that was conclusively for Brexit by 17.5 million people, 52% of the electorate. The vicious bad sportsmanship of socialists and Marxists are being witnessed now with illegal judicial trickery and they are doing everything in their power to derail the decision.  There is no such thing as fair play or honour when it comes to these devout socialists who employ every dirty trick in their arsenal to back stab, renege on previous promises or legitimate democratic votes.  They are not men of honour, they instead utilise nasty underhand cowardly techniques to destabilise and engender a scorched earth policy, all the while, whining and moaning with a collective droning sound.  So, the next two months will be another example of nasty socialism that has lost, another example of how socialists use their power to punish those who voted against them. These disgusting, vile creatures will do everything now to get you, the populace who had enough of their control freakery, their underhand techniques, and their never ceasing effort to halt freedom of speech, freedom of expression and general human freedom.  Only stunted morons of the lowest intelligence cannot distinguish satire from fake news, but these are people without any sense of justice, or literary knowledge, they do not care as long as their agenda punishes those who fight for freedom. bono vinci satius est quam almo more iniuriam vincere A good man would rather suffer defeat than defeat another by foul means (Sallust)  The Daily Squib says to these uncouth vagabonds, these lowly turgid vipers splattering their poisonous inhibitive wares of excrement onto the halls of true satire, an indominitable force, which has survived for thousands of years — you are nothing.  You will be left with nothing, for you are inconsequential, you are irrelevant, you will not be remembered, you will be forgotten in the sands of time, lesser than excrement, or turds that align your ideology of dishonour and hatred for purity.  You will perish without having achieved anything, without even a speck of true creativity or reason, you will be erased from the universe, imploded, and fucked for eternity, for your ill-will, your duplicitous lies will follow you into the deepest depths of the hatred you have created.  A profound Fuck You follows you to your graves, and may history erase your awful memory forever a stain on the collective conscience of humanity.


President Donald Trump is considering his options for a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and will make an announcement "at the appropriate time," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Friday after Trump met with his national security team. U.S. officials told Reuters prior to the meeting at Camp David in Maryland that the options being presented to Trump range from a total pullout from Afghanistan, keeping the status quo of some 8,400 U.S. troops, a modest hike, or a small reduction that would focus on counter-terrorism.


After being found competent to stand trial following a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, Dylann Roof has decided to ditch his attorneys and represent himself in the Charleston Massacre trial.Judge Richard M. Gergel of Federal District Court in Charleston declared Roof competent to stand on Friday. Jury selection had been put on hold for three weeks after the defense team asked the judge to declare Roof incompetent due to mental defect. But a psychiatric evaluation found that Roof was able to assist in his defense and understood the consequences of the proceedings. Therefore, under the law, he was ruled competent.On Monday, things took a surprise turn when Roof petitioned the court to allow him to represent himself. Gergel advised Roof against firing his legal team, which is led by David I. Bruck, a noted capital defense attorney. The judge asked the defendant a series of questions to make sure he understood the ramifications of his actions. But ultimately, after having found Roof competent, Gergel had no choice but to honor Roof s Sixth Amendment right to act as his own attorney. I do find the defendant has the personal capacity to self-representation, Judge Gergel said. I continue to believe it is strategically unwise, but it is a decision you have the right to make. Although Roof will be taking the lead role in his defense, Brock and the rest of his legal team will continue to serve as standby counsel. Jury selection has since resumed.Roof is accused of killing nine African American people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 17, 2015. He reportedly mingled with his victims for an hour, sitting in on their bible study where they welcomed him with open arms. He then began shouting racial slurs and pulled out a Glock pistol from his fanny pack. He opened fire on his unsuspecting victims, killing the pastor of the church, three other ministers and five other members of the congregation.Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, warned of the troubles defendants face when they represent themselves, especially if they have a mental illness. Key issues never get raised because the defendant knows nothing about the law, said Dunham. And often with mentally ill defendants whose murders were a product of their mental illness, they will attempt to justify their conduct instead of presenting evidence that their mental illness makes them less culpable. Abraham Lincoln said, He who represents himself has a fool for a client. While that may be true, it can also be particularly traumatic for the family when a defendant accused of slaughtering their loved ones is acting as his own attorney, as Dunham explained. When an emotionally disturbed defendant is permitted to cross-examine those witnesses and ask questions that may be based on a delusional view of reality, it only makes things worse, Mr. Dunham said.


U.S. President Donald Trump will host Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj at the White House on Friday for talks on counterterrorism cooperation and ways to expand bilateral engagement, the White House in a statement on Wednesday.


Microsoft unveils sleek desktop computer Re: Microsoft unveils sleek desktop computer The Surface has been selling well.Never underestimate the MIcrosoft team, they have a few tricks up their sleeve yet They are building the greatestweapon for oppressionin the history of man-Confidential Source


The United States on Tuesday sought to downplay its absence from talks on the Syrian conflict among Russia, Iran and Turkey in Moscow, saying it was not a "snub" and did not reflect a decline of U.S. influence in the Middle East. However, President Barack Obama's decision to offer only limited support to moderate rebels has left Washington with little leverage to influence the situation in Syria, especially after Moscow began launching air strikes against rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Although Washington has long been a player in efforts to end the Syria civil war and other Mideast conflicts, the United States was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Syrian government and its allies, including Russia, mounted an assault to pin down the rebels in east Aleppo that culminated in a ceasefire deal. Dennis Ross, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who was an adviser on Iran and the Middle East to both Democratic and Republican administrations, said the United States had made itself "irrelevant" in Syria. "The opposition finds little reason to be responsive to us and Assad. The Russians and Iran know that there is nothing we will do to raise the costs to them of their onslaught against Aleppo and other Syrian cities," Ross said. "Russia, having changed the balance of power on the ground, without regard to civilian consequences, has moved to make itself an arbiter." A spokesman for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed suggestions that America's absence from the meeting indicated a change in influence. "The secretary doesn't see this as a snub at all. He sees it as another multilateral effort to try to get a lasting peace in Syria and he welcomes any progress towards that," State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday. "We would obviously refute any notion that ... the fact that we weren't at this one meeting is somehow a harbinger or a litmus test for U.S. influence and leadership there or anywhere else around the world," Kirby said, adding that Washington was still engaged in the region on many other issues. "We are not excluded, we are not being sidelined," he added. At the meeting on Tuesday, Russia, Iran and Turkey said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal and they adopted a declaration that laid out the principles any agreement should follow. Still, the meetings on Tuesday resulted in a "Moscow Declaration," reflecting Russia's growing links with Iran and Turkey, despite the murder on Monday of Russia's ambassador in Ankara, Turkey's capital, and reflects Putin's desire to increase his country's influence in the Middle East and more widely. It also shows that Russia is fed up with what it considers long and pointless talks with the Obama administration over Syria. A U.S. official acknowledged that the U.S. absence from the evacuation talks on eastern Aleppo was Russia's way of showing that Moscow, not Washington, was running the show. "The fact is that we have put ourselves in a position where Russia is making efforts to try to work with anybody else so they can isolate us," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. "We let our differences with Turkey over the Kurds and our views over the northern part of Syria create gaps that the Russians have exploited." Kirby said that in the end, the United States, Russia, Iran, and Turkey would like to see an immediate ceasefire and the "urgent delivery" of humanitarian aid. Ultimately, he said, it was too soon to judge whether the talks were a success. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, were working to organize new Syrian peace negotiations without the United States or the United Nations. Russia says that if they happen, the talks would be in addition to intermittent U.N.-brokered negotiations in Geneva. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday he thought that what he called the Russia-Iran-Turkey troika was the most effective forum for trying to solve the Syria crisis.


Bernie Sanders' high-flying Democratic presidential campaign fell back to Earth on Saturday in Nevada. If the Vermont senator cannot quickly find a way to broaden his appeal to minorities and union members, last week's 22-point rout of Clinton in New Hampshire could prove to be his campaign highlight. The race moves next week to South Carolina, where blacks make up more than half of the Democratic electorate, and on March 1 to a string of southern states with big blocs of African-Americans, who strongly support Clinton and have been slow to warm to Sanders. The rush of March contests in big, diverse states — Democrats in nearly two dozen states will vote between March 1 and March 15 — could leave Sanders grasping for political life. "This was a bad day for Sanders," said David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University in South Carolina. "He needs to find a way to cut into Clinton's base, and I don't think he is going to find it here." Although Clinton's 5-point win was relatively narrow, it was enough to blunt Sanders' momentum. Recent voter surveys had shown a tight race in Nevada, raising the prospect of another damaging setback for Clinton. Entrance polls in Nevada showed Clinton trounced Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, by 3-to-1 among black voters, and also beat him in union households by 11 percentage points. The enthusiasm of younger and liberal voters who rallied around Sanders' calls for reining in Wall Street and reducing income equality was not enough in Nevada to counter Clinton's union and organizational clout, allowing her to reclaim front-runner status as the race shifts to more friendly turf. After the New Hampshire setback, Clinton's campaign was banking that Sanders would be unable to breach a so-called "firewall" of Hispanic and African-American support for the former Secretary of State in southern and western states. Nevada's result appeared to support that view. "He's running a strong campaign, but being close is overrated if you can't make the sale," said Mo Elleithee, a Clinton aide in her 2008 campaign and now the executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. The Sanders campaign said it was heartened in Nevada by entrance polls showing he beat Clinton among Hispanics by about eight points. "What we learned today is Hillary Clinton's firewall with Latino voters is a myth," Arturo Carmona, deputy political director for Bernie 2016, said in a statement. But the Clinton campaign questioned those numbers, saying that at one point she had won 60 percent of the delegates in 22 Latino-majority precincts. Clinton's convincing showing in Nevada could reduce the chances of a late run by an independent candidate such as former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who would likely scoop up moderate voters turned off by a socialist nominee. In a sense, Sanders was a victim in Nevada of his own success. His ability to close the gap on Clinton in Iowa and rout her in New Hampshire, nearly all-white states, raised expectations that he could ride to another upset in Nevada. "Nevada put out the Bern," said Ken Tietjen, a Clinton supporter who stood outside her Las Vegas victory rally at Caesar's Palace. "Hillary has all the momentum going forward." But Sanders' strong showings in the first three contests, along with his formidable fundraising, suggest staying power. That could help extend the Democratic race beyond the cluster of early March contests and into April and May, when a string of contests in whiter and more liberal states could help him. Sanders has money for the long haul, although Clinton had more on hand at the end of January. Federal election reports filed as the Nevada results were announced showed Sanders had raised $21.3 million in January and had $14.7 million on hand. In January, Hillary raised $13.2 million from individual donors and had $32.9 million on hand. Some black voters said on Saturday they did not see a reason to switch their loyalty away from Clinton, a fondness that dates back to her husband Bill Clinton's presidency but which was strained by her bitter primary battle with Barack Obama in 2008. Asked who he was backing, Thomas Anderson, an African-American in Columbia, South Carolina, said on Saturday: "Hillary, of course." "She's got more experience. She knows what the country needs," he said, adding "Bernie's a cool guy. I'm down with Bernie too." Clinton's embrace of Obama's presidential legacy, and her argument that Sanders would begin to unravel some of Obama's policies on healthcare and other issues, also has made an impression. Darien Gambrell, 23, said she heard Clinton planned to continue a number of Obama's policies. "I think that's a good thing. I liked some of his ideas, even the ones that didn't seem to work at first," she said, adding she would not want a candidate who would reverse Obama's work. (Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez and Jane Ross in Nevada, Emily Flitter and Steve Holland in South Carolina, Michelle Conlin in New York, Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Stuart Grudgings) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.


You know how conservatives are demanding proof that Donald Trump paid some Russian ladies for a golden shower (honestly, wouldn t we all enjoy that)? Well, this gentleman gave The Donald one for free and he can provide evidence.Meet Dino Rachiele. A quick scroll through his Facebook timeline shows that he doesn t post about politics much, if any (though one post reveals that he makes a delicious-looking Timpano), but he is now gaining recognition for a video he made years ago in which he spoke out about the time that he gave a certain billionaire a golden shower. This video was largely ignored until now but with news breaking that Trump allegedly paid a couple of nice Russian ladies to drain the swamp on his bed, his YouTube video is picking up traffic quite quickly.Rachiele manufactures high-end sinks (what did you think we meant by golden shower, perverts?) and used to sell home fixtures, according to Gizmodo. In his 2011 video, I gave Donald Trump a golden shower, Rachiele who inexplicably found himself able to vote for someone as terrible as Trump says he sent Donald Trump one of two gold shower heads in 2007 and decided to gift one of them to The Donald during one of his feuds with Rosie O Donnell because he knows, like a couple Russian prostitutes seem to know, that Donald Trump just adores gold.Now, some might consider it unbelievable that Rachiele gave The Donald a golden shower, so here s a letter from Trump s assistant at the time verifying that Rachiele did, indeed, send Trump a golden showerhead, but it also seems to indicate that it was part of a sales pitch. The letter informed Rachiele that Trump has no interest in purchasing at this time with a vague promise of possibly working together in the future and a boilerplate we wish you the greatest success in your endeavors):In what seems to be a clear attempt to create a demand for a limited edition product by first sending one to Trump and later deceptively omitting the fact that it was manufactured by a company owned by Rachiele, he then invites people to email him to get what he claims is the only other one in existence for the hefty price tag of $350. Either he was lying about it being the only one or there were no takers, as he now says he is considering taking bids on it.If conservatives are as stupid as I know they are, Rachiele will be getting his own golden shower soon enough when one of them spends their kid s college fund on this piece of poorly manufactured history.Watch his video below:


The Department of Justice is now arguing that the president can take money from foreign governments. Why? The DOJ is arguing for Trump because the Citizens for Responsibilities and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit against Trump stating he is violating the Constitution by accepting foreign money.According to reports, Trump is taking money from foreign governments for hotel room fees and golf club fees when traveling to different countries for affairs having to do with our country. However, CREW (Citizens for Responsibilities and Ethics in Washington) still says Trump is violating the Constitution by accepting money from different countries when traveling and they say that he should have stopped doing this before he took office.Although CREW filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, the Trump administration thinks that CREW lacks legal standing even to be able to file the lawsuit in the first place.It doesn t matter if the Trump team thinks they don t have enough legal standing for this because CREW already filed the lawsuit against Trump and his team during his first week in office as our president.In fact, CREW had this to say about the lawsuit that they filed against the Trump administration: We did not want to get to this point. It was our hope that President Trump would take the necessary steps to avoid violating the Constitution before he took office. However, he did not. His constitutional violations are immediate and serious, so we were forced to take legal action. Since the lawsuit by CREW was filed during his first week in office, there have been several more plaintiff s that have come onboard against Trump. Some of these new plaintiffs added to the lawsuit against the Trump administration include some restaurant associates, restaurant workers, and even a woman who books banquet halls for hotels in Washington D.C.Featured Image by Pool/Getty Images


Sheriff David Clarke began his closing address to CPAC 2017 as he knew everyone familiar with him would expect, by declaring "Blue Lives Matter in America! "["To what purpose did our Founding Fathers and the soldiers of our great Continental Army strive? Did they work to form the horrible mistake of what progressive Democrats call the Great Society — a place of reliance on the benevolent providence of government as the father, the mother, the breadwinner, and the teacher?" Clarke asked as he settled down to the primary business of his speech. "I think not," he answered. "You see, General Washington was rightly and firstly proud of the nation that he believed lay within the grasp of the colonists, as they struggled to tear it away from the corpulent arms of an overbearing King of England. George Washington wrote to Benjamin Franklin that no country upon Earth had it more in its power to attain these blessings than united America. " Clarke quoted extensively from Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his address. His overall theme was a call to arms his closing request was for CPAC attendees to go out and fight. It was, in some respects, the type of closing speech one might have expected to hear if Republicans had lost the 2016 presidential election. Clarke's purpose was to impress upon his conservative audience that they faced determined opposition from the Left, and would need to remain in fighting trim themselves if they wanted President Donald Trump to implement the policies they voted for. Clarke stressed that Washington and his revolutionaries "never intended to build a nation to be ruled from a throne room or a centralized government. " "They weren't building a land where Boston, or Philadelphia, or New York City, or even today's capital city that bears his name would dictate terms and conditions to the American people," he continued. "No, their efforts to secure the basic human rights endowed by the Creator and formation of a most limited government, instituted justly by men and deriving its limited powers from the consent of the governed. They embraced the concept of . " "They fought the tyranny of the throne, it's true. They fought to end the abuse of the colonies at the hand of an uncaring and unsympathetic master, but seemingly forgotten yet chief among the complaints outlined by Jefferson in his great Declaration was the refusal of the monarchy to craft and enforce needed laws — wholesome and necessary to the public good, said Jefferson, and of immediate and pressing importance, they told the king of England. They law, they said, a law that works, a respect and reverence to the rule of law," said Clarke. "These goals were as key at the founding of our great Republic as the need to satisfy our thirst for freedom and religion, and assembly, and a free and unfettered media that we keeping hearing about so much today," he added wryly. Clarke used the Civil War as another example of the importance of law, making a compelling argument that passing and fairly enforcing good laws is as essential to the maintenance of liberty as repealing bad laws and scaling back the power of overweening government. "Lincoln knew the failure to adhere to that standard in our shared American life would surely result in our surrender — first to the immorality of convenience, then to the sloth of inaction, and finally to the shame of irrelevance," he proclaimed. Clarke quoted from George Washington to support the idea that America has legitimate needs as a and requires a certain degree of unity to endure, despite our many important differences: "We are either a united people or we are not. If it is the former, then let us in all matters of general concern act as a nation which has national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, then let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it. " Clarke asked: I ask, are we now acting out the farce that President Washington predicted? We have matters under consideration in this capital city, most notably concerning immigration law and its enforcement, that even the most jaded among us would begrudgingly concede are of national importance to everyone. We have border states, most notably on our southern border, that have to date disproportionately borne the brunt and the burden of our failure to act over the past decades. But is there a state in this union in which the impact of that failure is not keenly felt by the American people? "Yet we seem to have fallen to a place and a time in our national discourse where even the mere restatement and affirmation of laws long ago crafted, and duly enacted by our Constitutional republic's legislature — laws that were formed and codified in the people's house, by the people's representatives — is now considered controversial," he observed. He went on: In the executive memoranda on immigration laws attested to this past week, no new laws were created. No group was put at risk without affording them due process. The rights of not one of our citizens, even in a land where president, senator, and farmer stand shoulder to shoulder as equals, was imperiled in the least. Instead, we merely restated the laws that were, what they have been, and voiced an intent to see them upheld fairly, impartially, and with a haste born of necessity. "And yet, in our modern times, that is viewed in some circles as oppressive, as controversial, and as wrong," he noted, adding a sarcastic "Seriously?" He called it a "perversion of thought" to say that Americans are against immigrants. "Do some critics truly believe that we have become that Orwellian nightmare that views all Americans as equal, yet with some more equal than others? Come on now, seriously?" he asked. He said those who oppose the fair enforcement of duly passed immigration laws offer only "lawlessness, obstruction, and chaos" in other areas of American life as well. "They offer no morality, and certainly no courage," Clarke said. "They offer only appeasement and the false currencies of concession and popularity over the virtues of morality and certainty. " He drew a comparison between appeasement in foreign policy and appeasement to domestic lawlessness, warning we could not expect strong support for the rule of law from "liberal legislators" who "mark as their key data point in crafting policy how many Facebook likes their pages get, or what the latest Internet polling shows, or how many smiling emojis follow their every move. " "I for one find no safe harbor or view on the middle ground, wheedling or seeking for others to announce the virtue of my actions," declared Clarke, whose history of boldly confronting controversy over his words and actions certainly support that claim. "You see I, like President Reagan, see things not only as Left and Right, but as forward and backward — swimming sometimes against a powerful tide, or simply treading water, fundamentally failing our duty to make any choice at all by voting 'present. '" This was an important part of his overall theme about keeping all hands on deck, and conservatism at battle stations, rather than allowing intense opposition from the Left and media to paralyze Congress and the administration. He emphasized the point with an especially apt Reagan quote the audience adored: "I suggest to you that there is no Left or Right, only an up and a down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. " Clarke said that as a career police officer, he understood the importance of public servants respecting the public that grants them authority through the consent of the governed. "We the people do not follow established rules simply because a law enforcement officer is present to enforce them, but because of our basic love of, trust of, and reliance on our fellow citizens," he argued. He quoted Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter's admonition that "if one man can be allowed to determine for himself what the law is, then every man can. That means first chaos, and then tyranny. " "American law enforcement officers have always understood this simple truth," Clarke said. "They spend their life's work, as I have thus far, exemplifying my faith in, my belief in, and commitment to our American system of justice — a system renowned the world over for the provisions of individual due process as a right endowed in each of us by our Creator. " "The rule of law doesn't divide us," he said. "It binds us together in our great American life with shared behaviors, beliefs, and manners. I call it, as do many of you, 'American exceptionalism.' We are a nation of limited government in which everyone willfully, and as a matter of civic duty, must obey the law. And the value derived for the small price paid of observance of the common law is the greatest treasure known to mankind: freedom. Sweet freedom. " "Freedom is why we get up in the morning and tend the fields. It is why we stay up late at night watching foreign markets. It sustains us. It feeds us. And once we have tasted it, we can never have enough to be satisfied," he said. "As a conservative I believe with all my heart, that in furtherance of the common good, freedom means you decide your destiny. You, your family, your household, your neighborhood, your small town, your state — and yes, in those few matters of national scope, your nation," Clarke said. "To cede as a matter of simple course of expediency, to cede those powers too quickly or injudiciously to Washington D. C. is just plain wrong, and it always has been. " He quoted Reagan again: "We have come to a time for choosing … either we accept the responsibility for our own destiny, or we abandon the American revolution and confess that an intellectual belief in a capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan our own lives. " Clarke exclaimed, winning the longest and strongest applause of the hour: How refreshing is that simple concept, that we who run our lives know the course of our own destiny better than some congresswoman from California, better than some judge from Joplin may know it sitting in a office in Washington, making the decisions that can undermine all of our great efforts. How refreshing to see a return to that respectful thought of the importance of and to turn away from the conceit and arrogance that was its predecessor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue before January 20th, 2017! In President Donald Trump we have chosen a leader — a leader who I expect many of you in this room well know I both campaigned and vigorously supported for the highest office in this land. And he was a candidate that I'm certain many in this room also supported, and some may have at first opposed in some measure. That's fine. That's the great nature of this republic. We have choices, and we decide. However, in President Trump I sense a return now to those key virtues first extolled in that letter to a tyrant monarch in 1776. I sense a pride in our nation, and a voice to that pride that I have found lacking for the last eight years. "We were constantly told by former President Obama that America needed to humble itself. He told us humility is a virtue. But false humility is an affront to the senses, and pride in the greatness and might of our nation has never been a sin," he argued. "President George Washington himself observed, upon the occasion of his first inaugural, 'There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness.' Consider those words once more: 'A rank due the United States of America.' Allow me to translate that language from 1789 to 2017. It means: 'Put America first,'" he said. Clarke faulted the mainstream media for "mocking and taunting" President Trump's America First vision, portraying it as "dark and feral. " He said: No, it's not. Yet those who held the office before President Trump would rise up from their graves and nod in agreement with the importance of our shared effort and potential for reward that President Trump offered us when he said, 'We the citizens of America are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country, restore its promise not for an elite few, but for all of our people.' He said together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many years to come. President Trump reminded us we will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. Clarke said in closing: Ladies and gentlemen, today is our moment of truth, our point of no return. The choices we need make at this moment are opposed by entrenched interests. The 'resistance' looms. They attack our motives, they assail our beliefs, they decry our notion of justice, they proclaim the high ground of virtue, and they threaten upheaval if not given their way. What will history show we did with our moment of truth? Did we stand and fight, or did we cut and run? "Ladies and gentlemen, this is my challenge to you. These are your marching orders: Go forth to stand and fight," he said.


The family of murdered model Reeva Steenkamp welcomed the increased sentence of 13 years and five months handed down on Paralympian Oscar Pistorius on Friday and said it showed that justice could prevail in South Africa. This is an emotional thing for them. They just feel that their trust in the justice system has been confirmed this morning, Tania Koen, a spokeswoman for the Steenkamp family, told Reuters.


The Clinton Carpetbaggers have moved around doing their influence peddling where the money is they landed in Chappaqua, NY and have managed to make their home into a fortress complete with a huge wall, guards and now a private street. Seems like traffic is for the little people NEW CASTLE The road where Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, lives in Chappaqua has been made a local-traffic-only street for security reasons and to reduce tourists from flocking to the cul-de-sac.The Town Board this week voted to add Old House Lane to the list of such roads. Hillary and Bill Clinton have lived on the road for more than 15 years, moving there when she ran for a U.S. Senate seat.Chappaqua is a hamlet within New Castle. The Town Board also added one other road, Green Lane, to those restricted to local traffic only. It s a short cul-de-sac that runs parallel to Old House Lane.At Tuesday s board meeting, Town Administrator Jill Shapiro said the police chief had received a request for security reasons.Town Supervisor Robert Greenstein said Friday he was not positive, but assumed the request came from the Secret Service. I think it s for security reasons and also for privacy concerns for the residents certainly living there as well, Greenstein said. He said the little cul-de-sac can be turned into a very busy street.


The Reason Why Jade Helm Is Obama's Favorite Conspiracy Theory May Surprise You By Kristie on November 22, 2015 Subscribe  President Obama has had to deal with his fair share of conspiracy theories. Even before he was elected he had to deal with questions about his origin of birth. He's also secretly a Muslim masquerading as a Christian. One of the best is that he is going to unarm Americans by taking our guns. I'm still waiting on that one. But in a recent GQ interview , President Obama revealed his favorite conspiracy theory – Jade Helm. Featured image by Boricuaeddie , available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.  As most will recall, Jade Helm was one of the largest military training exercise ever conducted on U.S. soil. In July of this year, roughly 1,200 U.S. military troops participated in exercises that spanned seven states. Jade Helm included New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. As we all know though, this exercise proved itself to be a great opportunity for the bitter right-wing to start up the conspiracy machine.  While this resulted in great ratings for the likes of Alex Jones , Jade Helm turned out to be a — military exercise — not a military led plot for Obama to take over the country and stay in power as a dictator. No wonder Jade Helm entertained Obama. Only a right-wing nut-job would believe something like that.  But why is that Obama's favorite conspiracy theory? He explained after GQ asked : "What's the most entertaining conspiracy theory you ever read about yourself?"  Obama then answered : "That military exercises we were doing in Texas were designed to begin martial law so that I could usurp the Constitution and stay in power longer. Anybody who thinks I could get away with telling Michelle I'm going to be president any longer than eight years does not know my wife."  You see, even the leader of the free world answers to somebody. About Kristie  Kristie is 22-years-old and resides in Nashville, TN. While reading is a passion, she also has a passion for writing. Reporting on social issues such as LGBT rights, racial injustices, and religious intolerance, she also has a vested interest in the current political climate in America. Connect


Transgender people barred under a new North Carolina law from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity filed a federal lawsuit on Monday, arguing the measure was discriminatory and threatened their personal safety. North Carolina last week became the first state to enact a measure requiring people to use bathrooms or locker rooms in schools and other public facilities that match the gender on their birth certificate, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. "By singling out LGBT people for disfavored treatment and explicitly writing discrimination against transgender people into state law, (the state) violates the most basic guarantees of equal treatment and the U.S. Constitution," said the lawsuit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal. The state's Republican-dominated legislature passed the law during a one-day special session called to repeal a Charlotte city ordinance that would have allowed bathroom choice based on gender identity versus sex at birth. State lawmakers also voted to prohibit local governments from enacting anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The actions drew swift criticism from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups and companies including American Airlines, Apple and Google. In response to the law, the mayors of San Francisco and Seattle as well as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have barred non-essential, publicly funded government travel to the state, saying the law is discriminatory. North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, both Republicans, said they were confident the law would be upheld in court. "This lawsuit takes this debate out of the hands of voters and instead attempts to argue with a straight face that there is a previously undiscovered 'right' in the U.S. Constitution for men to use women's bathrooms and locker rooms," they said in a joint statement. State lawmakers have warned of the dangers that could result from men sharing bathrooms with women and young girls. But transgender plaintiffs said they would be vulnerable because making known they are transgender puts them at high risk of violence. "This is about more than restrooms. This is about my job, my community and my ability to get safely through my day," said Joaquin Carcano, a 27-year-old university employee who is a plaintiff in the suit. Chase Strangio, a staff attorney with the national ACLU's LGBT Project, said on Monday the new law on bathroom access has "no clear enforcement mechanism." Opponents of the law criticized Republican Governor Pat McCrory, who is seeking re-election in November, for signing the sweeping legislation on the same day it was introduced. They noted the weeks of debate and review given to a Georgia measure that sought to strengthen legal protections for gay marriage opponents before Republican Governor Nathan Deal signaled on Monday he would veto it. "By contrast, what happened here in North Carolina was a farce," said Chris Brook, legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina.


An inquiry by the global chemical weapons watchdog found sarin was used in a March attack in Syria on an opposition-held town, just days before the banned nerve agent killed dozens in a separate attack nearby, sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The March 30 air strike in the northern Syrian town of Latamneh injured around 70 people who suffered nausea, foaming at the mouth and muscle spasms. Samples analysis results show clear presence of sarin, a source told Reuters of the findings by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The report by the OPCW Syria Fact Finding Mission is due to be finalised within weeks. The Fact Finding Mission reported in June that sarin was used in an April 4 attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people and prompted the United States to launch missiles on a Syrian air base. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during the country s more than six-year civil war. The OPCW Fact Finding Mission is only responsible for determining if chemical weapons were used in attacks in Syria. A joint United Nations and OPCW investigation, established by the U.N. Security Council in 2015, determines who is to blame. This team - known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) - has already found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas. It is due to report to the Security Council this month on who is to blame for the April 4 Khan Sheikhoun attack. The 15-member Security Council is due to renew the mandate for the JIM by mid-November. However, Russia has publicly questioned the work of the inquiry and some diplomats said it was uncertain if Moscow would support extending the mandate. The Russians don t like what the JIM has come up with so far, so they are muttering about not allowing a rollover, said a council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia declined to comment on the future of the inquiry on Wednesday. Renewing the U.N. Joint Investigative Mechanism now should be the Security Council s top priority, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a statement on Wednesday. We owe it to the innocent people - including children - who have suffered and died at the hands of the Syrian regime to continue to push for full accountability for these horrific crimes, she said. U.N. war crimes investigators said in a report last month that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons more than two dozen times, including in a sarin attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April that killed more than 80 people.


Senior Mexican and American military and interior officials spoke on Tuesday, Mexico's government said, in a sign that communication remains open between the two countries, despite deep tension over President Donald Trump's proposals. In a telephone call, Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly discussed security issues and an upcoming meeting in Mexico City, according to a statement that gave few details. A separate Mexican government communique showed Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos and his U.S. counterpart, James Mattis, spoke about an April meeting of security officials that will include Canada. Mexico's Navy Secretary Vidal Soberon was also on the call. The Pentagon confirmed the call, noting the two countries '"commitment to strengthen our close bilateral defense relationship." It added, "Mattis lauded Mexico's growing leadership in the region and commended Mexico's willingness to host the Central American Security Conference in July." The discussions come despite a deep political crisis between Mexico and the United States. Trump has threatened to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, slap a hefty tax on Mexican-made goods entering the country and pull out of a trade deal with Mexico if he cannot renegotiate it to benefit the United States. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto canceled a planned January summit of the two leaders after Trump said his counterpart should not attend if he was unwilling to pay for the wall. In a radio interview following Tuesday's calls, Osorio Chong said arms were also mentioned in his chat with Kelly, but gave no details. Illegal arms trafficking from the United States into Mexico has been key to the success of the country's notorious drug cartels and a constant worry for its government.