By Robert Fisk on November 2, 2016 Robert Fisk — The Independent Nov 1, 2016  They're keeping open the eight passages to western Aleppo , just in case. There have been no more air strikes on the surrounded east of the city by either Syrian or Russian jets – despite the anti-government bombardment by Jabhat al-Nusra and its largely Islamist allies. The Syrian army has pushed its enemies nine miles further north of the city, in which more than 80 civilians have been killed over the past six days and the militia offensive has predictably failed.  Not that the United Nations could be left out. "Shocked and appalled" it was, of course, and Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy, has churned out the old "war crimes" threat, this time directed at the West's friendly 'moderates' in eastern Aleppo – whom he was keen to talk to a couple of weeks ago – rather than the Bashar al-Assad regime. But the UN's bleatings will make no difference. Nor will the John Kerry's oddly Gaelic fears of Aleppo smashed to "smithereens" – originally an Irish word – have the slightest effect.  Yet the Syrian government still hopes more civilians – militiamen, too – will leave the besieged east and allow it to reabsorb the enclave without another war. Everything depends right now on three people: the commander of the Syrian Aleppo garrison, the head of the Baath party in the city, and the boss – whoever he is – of the Jabhat al-Nusra militia and their Ahrar al-Sham allies and other outfits who are defending or imprisoning (delete as appropriate, as usual) the 200,000 to 300,000 civilians in eastern Aleppo.  So we'll start with the bespectacled general in charge of the evacuation whose office I found adorned with vast operational maps of Aleppo – in which the east of the city appears as a grey, bent sausage with a circle to the left (the ancient citadel, still held by Syrian troops) pierced by eight large red arrows. Whether the arrows represent planned attacks or the crossing points which the government opened on 20 October from 8am to 4pm each day – with only 48 takers so far – was unclear. But the four large banners hanging from flagstaffs behind the general's desk told their own story: Hezbollah's green and yellow, the red, white and blue of Russia, the black, white and red of Syria and the green white and red of Iran.  A multicoloured coalition, then, with a lot of firepower – and an intriguing set of military video clips of the crossings as they opened on 20 October. Each shows a Syrian armoured vehicle with a loudspeaker calling on "the people of Aleppo" to "take out the wounded and civilians from the east of Aleppo along the routes that have been planned by the government", adding revealingly that "the Syrian government, in cooperation with the Russian forces, will guarantee safety for you and your family". Russian officers were indeed at the crossing points on the three first days. Two of them were wounded by snipers. One of the video clips shows a shell, apparently fired from eastern Aleppo, exploding in the background as two men run from the east to the Syrian army lines.  The general thought there were only 75,000 civilians left in eastern Aleppo, an intriguing figure since the number of trapped families in the enclave have moved between 70,000 and 300,000 according to various "experts". The UN believes the higher figure, a Syrian army officer on the front line suggested 200,000, another far more senior Syrian intelligence officer thought 250,000, the Ba'ath party guessed between 112,000 to 115,000. All of which proves that no one – neither the UN, the Syrians or journalists – has the slightest idea of just how many souls are waiting to be saved or to die.  "We promised to take care of the injured," the general announced. "We did. The people who came across were free to go and live with their relatives in the west of the city or to apartments which we had reserved for them. They chose their relatives." Then he added, almost without hesitation: "Now the decision is that we must enter the battle and put an end to the Nusra and other terrorist groups to help the people themselves to get rid of them."  Did this mean that the halt in Russian and Syrian bombing of eastern Aleppo would resume? A telephone rang on the general's desk and a flurry of staff officers ran into his office with aerial photographs – presumably the work of a drone – and his attention suddenly turned to more pressing matters. "There are armed men crossing from Turkey through the Bab al-Howa border point to the north of Lattakia" – which showed just how far the general's remit ran in northern Syria – "and they are driving a lot of vehicles with explosives and ammunition. Look! We search for a political solution and they are ready to attack and fight."  But would the Syrians and Russians bomb east Aleppo again? "There are orders that the planes cannot bomb within 10km of eastern Aleppo," the general replied. An interesting remark, since the general is the man who orders the air strikes – along with his Russian colleagues, of course – and he followed up with a slightly ambiguous remark when I asked for his feelings when he saw the wounded children of east Aleppo on television. "I see them as like my kids," he replied. "I have a very high sense of humanity with civilians. But with terrorists, I have to do my national duty – to defend the civilians and protect them. The terrorists" – and the general thought there were 15 separate armed groups in eastern Aleppo – "are the same wherever they exist – in Syria, Iran, Britain, Russia, Lebanon…"  Perhaps. But the general also made a remark about "medical facilities for terrorists" which suggested that hospitals who treated militiamen in east Aleppo were targets for the Syrian-Russian coalition, whomever else the hospitals treated. Which also tells its own grim tale. So now to the Baath headquarters in Aleppo, bathed in generator light and sudden power cuts, where the local party head, Ahmed Ibrahim Saleh, described how he talked to east Aleppo civilians by phone, claiming that – through these interlocutors – he has contact with 12,000 civilians in the enclave.  And negotiations were continuing, he said. The Ahrar al-Sham group had indirectly received a message from the government via text and they replied by recorded phone calls: the government's message was that they could send over a group of their men if they wanted to cross to the west of the city as a test – just two if they wanted – and these two could telephone when they arrived through the government lines and reached a safe place.  "They said: 'We trust you, but we don't trust the [Syrian] government or the [state] security apparatus'. I said, 'just find four or five armed men to cross'. They said they would discuss this. The problem is that the leaders of these armed groups, the foreigners, make them afraid and tell them that the security apparatus will execute them. But all the armed men who have come to this building have been well-treated." This appears to be perfectly true. But the constant reference to the 'security apparatus' was telling; everyone in Syria fears the mukhabarat security police.  When I asked Mr Saleh about hospitals in the east of the city, I heard a familiar story. "This is war. Maybe there are some mistakes. Maybe the plane cannot see women and children. One hospital shelled by a plane was a base for the leaders of the terrorists and was full of arms and weapons." This was quite an admission. When Nato found soldiers hiding in a hospital during the 1999 war on Serbia, its bombs killed all the civilians in the building but none of the soldiers. No one spoke of war criminals. A different morality is in play in Syria, of course, where the bombing of hospitals is immediately – and legally correctly – referred to as a war crime.  As for the conflict, "war ends when foreign support stops", Mr Saleh said. "If America says 'Stop the war', the war will stop." So now to a young Syrian army captain on the front line who guards one of the crossing points. During the truce, he received two armed men who had contacted him earlier to arrange the crossing. "They came right here to my office," he said. "One of them was from Ahrar al-Sham, we let them come with their guns. We had vehicles ready for them with covered windows so that no one could shoot at them. I told them which road to use to come out. They were checked by our people in case they carried booby traps. We could see them but the two men could not see our soldiers.  "They told me that their life stopped when the war began and did not advance any more in the following years. One of the men said his dream was 'just one more night of sleep and one more day of life for me and my family'. The two men knew each other and they complained that the armed groups were uneducated and illiterate. Yes, when we shell east Aleppo, we are defending ourselves – just as they will defend their side of the city when we rocket them. How many people are there? I myself think the UN's figures might be exaggerated. When the passages were opened, eight wounded men from Ahrar al-Sham came out and we offered them health care and they refused and said they wanted to join the other terrorists in Idlib province. Because they were wounded, they were friendly to the army. I met the eight of them. We allowed them freely to go to Idlib."  And this is also true. The armed men who surrendered in Homs were allowed to go to Idlib. So were the armed opposition in the Damascus suburbs, including those of Mouadamiya. Idlib seems to be the favourite dumping ground for all varieties of Islamist fighters. For the Syrian government, the armed men of Aleppo should either agree to go home or head for Idlib themselves, along with their families. But will they? The captain had heard of 40 executions by Ahrar al-Sham of armed men who wished to leave eastern Aleppo. Propaganda? Maybe. But the commanders of the Islamist groups there give no interviews to visiting western reporters – because western journalists have wisely decided not to turn up in east Aleppo and have their heads cut off.  So was the recent offensive against western Aleppo the answer to the Syrians' "passageways" to freedom, to the "corridors" of safety which were opened for the civilians? Perhaps. But given the amount of weaponry the militias deployed in recent days, they may have decided that they still have no need to negotiate another truce or take the bus to Idlib. Then we are left with the general's remark about how "the decision is to enter the battle". In other words, Aleppo's agony is far from over.


Sen. John McCain wasted no time at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday as he portrayed the Trump administration as being in a state of "disarray," in contrast to the message of reassurance from administration officials. [McCain used the recent departure of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to defend his portrayal of the administration as in "disarray. " "I think that the Flynn issue obviously is something that shows that in many respects this administration is in disarray and they've got a lot of work to do," he said, according to the Huffington Post. McCain lauded Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis: "The president, I think, makes statements that on other occasions he contradicts himself. So we've learned to watch what the president does as opposed to what he says. " McCain commented that his job was to work with President Donald Trump on areas where they agree. He spoke of the three coequal branches of the United States federal government, remarking on Trump's recent temporary travel restriction executive order: "I can assure you that … what we just saw on the immigration order that both the legislative and the judicial branches will be exercising our constitutional responsibilities. " A senior White House foreign policy adviser told reporters this week that Vice President Mike Pence would seek to reassure U. S. commitment to European partners and the transatlantic alliance at the conference. In opening remarks to the conference, McCain said: I know there is profound concern across Europe and the world that America is laying down the mantle of global leadership. I can only speak for myself, but I do not believe that that is the message you will hear from all of the American leaders who cared enough to travel here to Munich this weekend. The senator continued, "These are dangerous times, but you should not count America out. " McCain then pointed out that Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Vice President Pence, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, and a bipartisan congressional delegation traveled to the conference. A senior administration official told reporters this week that the vice president is attending the security conference on behalf of the President of the United States. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz remarked that there was "still a lot of uncertainty," according to the Post. Kurz said the "big topic" at the conference has centered around what to expect next from the United States. "Today, on behalf of President Trump, I bring you this assurance. The United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to this transatlantic alliance," the vice president stated in a Saturday speech to conference participants. "For our part, thanks to President Trump, the United States will be stronger than ever before. Our leadership of the free world will not falter, even for a moment. " Pence continued, "Today, tomorrow, and every day hence — be confident, that the United States is now and will always be your greatest ally. " In closing, Pence said, "Our choice today is the same as it was in ages past: Security through shared sacrifice and strength, or an uncertain future characterized by disunity and faltering will. The United States chooses strength. The United States chooses friendship with Europe and a strong North Atlantic alliance. " Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana.


As liberal protesters step up confrontations with Republican lawmakers, leaders of the original Tea Party movement that wrote the book on those tactics are reassembling their political army dispatching activists to push a conservative agenda that includes tax reform and dismantling ObamaCare.FreedomWorks, Tea Party Patriots and other groups are looking to keep pressure on GOP lawmakers to keep their 2016 campaign promises, and not buckle in the face of rowdy town hall protesters angry about the prospect of repealing the Affordable Care Act. A lot of people were elected to Congress based on bold promises about ObamaCare, tax reform and regulatory reform, Noah Wall, FreedomWorks national director of campaigns, told Fox News. We have to hold them to campaign promises, keep up the momentum and the energy. It s time to get off the bench and get this to work. FreedomWorks plans to mobilize its network of grassroots organizations and unite with the Tea Party Patriots on March 15 for a Day of Action on Capitol Hill that will include a rally and visits to members of Congress.The group will follow up with a Month of Action, set to include members driving constituents to congressional district offices and larger-scale rallies across the country to amplify their fiscally conservative message.Wall says his group and its supporters want to capitalize on Republicans now controlling Congress and the White House, and achieve long-awaited policy objectives. If successful, their efforts could mark a revival of the eight-year-old Tea Party movement a political revolt against big government under then-President Obama that crested with Republicans historic 2010 House takeover. Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin on Wednesday said the upcoming Capitol Hill events are to make sure Republicans stay focused on repealing ObamaCare and her group will follow up with its own busy month including daily, micro-focused activities like Message Monday and Tweet Tuesday. She bristled at the suggestion the Tea Party movement has emerged from hibernation, arguing it was instrumental over the past several election cycles in helping Republicans take control of the House, Senate and then the White House. We are not dead, and we have never gone away, Martin told Fox News. There s a time to be active in campaigns, a time to have our voices heard and a time to stand up and be heard by members of Congress. They need to know we are not going away. FOX News


Posted on November 8, 2016 by WashingtonsBlog  By Robert Parry, the investigative reporter who many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. Originally published at Parry's Consortium News (republished with permission).  As much as The New York Times and the mainstream U.S. media have become propaganda outlets on most foreign policy issues, like the one-sided coverage of the bloody Syrian war, sometimes the truth seeps through in on-the-ground reporting by correspondents, even ones who usually are pushing the "propo."  Such was the case with Anne Barnard's new reporting from inside west Aleppo, the major portion of the city which is in government hands and copes with regular terror rocket and mortar attacks from rebel-held east Aleppo where Al Qaeda militants and U.S.-armed-and-funded "moderate" rebels fight side-by-side. Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addresses the Security Council meeting on Syria, Sept. 25, 2016. Power has been an advocate for escalating U.S. military involvement in Syria. (UN Photo)  Almost in passing, Barnard's article on Sunday acknowledged the rarely admitted reality of the Al Qaeda/"moderate" rebel collaboration, which puts the United States into a de facto alliance with Al Qaeda terrorists and their jihadist allies, fighting under banners such as Nusra Front (recently renamed Syria Conquest Front) and Ahrar al-Sham.  Barnard also finally puts the blame for preventing civilians in east Aleppo from escaping the fighting on a rebel policy of keeping them in harm's way rather than letting them transit through "humanitarian corridors" to safety. Some of her earlier pro-rebel accounts suggested that it wasn't clear who was stopping movement of civilians through those corridors.  However, on Sunday, she reported: "We had arrived at a critical moment, as Russia said there was only one day left to pass through a corridor it had provided for people to escape eastern Aleppo before the rebel side was flattened, a corridor through which precious few had passed. The government says rebels are preventing civilians from leaving. Rebels refuse any evacuation without international supervision and a broader deal to deliver humanitarian aid."  Granted, you still have to read between the lines, but at least there is the acknowledgement that rebels are refusing civilian evacuations under the current conditions. How that is different from Islamic State terrorists in Mosul, Iraq, preventing departures from their areas – a practice which the Times and other U.S. outlets condemn as using women and children as "human shields" – isn't addressed. But Barnard's crimped admission is at least a start.  Barnard then writes: "Instead [of allowing civilians to move through the humanitarian corridors], they [the rebels] are trying to break the siege, with Qaeda-linked groups and those backed by the United States working together — the opposite of what Russia has demanded."  Again, that isn't the clearest description of the situation, which is stunning enough that one might have expected it in the lede rather than buried deep inside the story, but it is significant that the Times is recognizing that Al Qaeda and the U.S.-backed "moderates" are "working together" and that Russia opposes that collaboration.  She also noted that "Three Qaeda-linked suicide bombers attacked a military position with explosive-packed personnel carriers on Thursday, military officials said, and mortar fire was raining on neighborhoods that until now had been relatively safe. It was among the most intense rounds in four years of rebel shelling that officials say has killed 11,000 civilians."  While she then throws in a caveat about the impossibility of verifying the numbers, the acknowledgement that the U.S.-backed "moderate" rebels and their Al Qaeda comrades have been shelling civilians in west Aleppo is significant, too. Before this, all the American people heard was the other side, from rebel-held east Aleppo, about the human suffering there, often conveyed by "activists" with video cameras who have depicted the conflict as simply the willful killing of children by the evil Syrian government and the even more evil Russians.  More Balance  With the admission of rebel terror attacks on civilians in west Aleppo, the picture finally is put into more balance. The Al Qaeda and U.S.-backed rebels have been killing thousands of civilians in government-controlled areas and the Syrian military and its Russian allies have struck back only to be condemned for committing "war crimes." The second plane about to crash into the World Trade Center towers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.  Though the human toll in both sides of Aleppo is tragic, we have seen comparable situations before – in which the U.S. government has supported, supplied and encouraged governments to mount fierce offensives to silence rockets or mortars fired by rebels toward civilian areas.  For instance, senior U.S. government officials, including President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, have defended Israel's right to defend itself from rockets fired from inside Gaza even though those missiles rarely kill anyone. Yet, Israel is allowed to bomb the near-defenseless people of Gaza at will, killing thousands including the four little boys blown apart in July 2014 while playing on a beach during the last round of what the Israelis call "mowing the grass."  In the context of those deaths, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, who has built her career as a supposed humanitarian advocating a "responsibility to protect" civilians, laid the blame not on the Israeli military but on fighters in Gaza who had fired rockets that rarely hit anything besides sand.  At the United Nations on July 18, 2014, Power said , " President Obama spoke with [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to reaffirm the United States' strong support for Israel's right to defend itself…. Hamas' attacks are unacceptable and would be unacceptable to any member state of the United Nations. Israel has the right to defend its citizens and prevent these attacks."  But that universal right apparently does not extend to Syria where U.S.-supplied rockets are fired into civilian neighborhoods of west Aleppo. In that case, Power and other U.S. officials apply an entirely different set of standards. Any Syrian or Russian destruction of east Aleppo with the goal of suppressing that rocket fire becomes a "war crime."  Perhaps it's expected that the U.S. government, like other governments, will engage in hypocrisy regarding affairs of state: one set of rules for U.S. allies and another for countries marked for U.S. "regime change." Statements by supposed "humanitarians" – such as Samantha Power, "Ms. R2P" – are no exception.  But double standards are even more distasteful when they come from allegedly "objective" journalists such as those who work at The New York Times, The Washington Post and other prestige American news outlets. When they take the "U.S. side" in a dispute and become crude propagandists, they encourage the kind of misguided "group thinks" that led to the criminal Iraq War and other disastrous "regime change" projects over the past two decades.  Yet, that is what we normally see. A thoughtful reader can't peruse the international reporting of the U.S. mainstream media without realizing that it is corrupted by propaganda from both government officials and from U.S.-funded operations, often disguised as "human rights activists" or "citizen journalists" whose supposed independence makes their "propo" even more effective.  So, it's worth noting those rare occasions when The New York Times and the rest of the MSM let some of the reality peek through. When evaluating the latest plans from Hillary Clinton and other interventionists to expand the U.S. military intervention in Syria – via prettily named "safe zones" and "no-fly zones" – the American people should realize that they are being asked to come to the aid of Al Qaeda.


Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," while discussing Donald Trump saying "We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud," on so called DREAMers, children brought into the U. S. illegally by their parents, the former Republican Governor of Florida and the Democratic Charlie Crist said, "God would be pleased," with Trump's seeming softening on the issue of Dreamers. Crist said, "I think it's important that we appreciate what the has said on this issue and it's not a softening of the heart. It's showing your heart … My grandfather immigrated in 1914 when he was 12 and when he got here, he very soon joined the army. And he fought in World War I. He was honorably discharged. As a result of that, he was able to gain his citizenship. That's sort of a modern day dreamer, if you will. Being a nation of immigrants, it's important that we embrace that kind of hope, give people that opportunity. That's what we've always stood for as a country. And so I would say to the I appreciate you showing your heart and if it's a little softer, what's wrong with that? God would be pleased. " ( Washington Times) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN


The head of the U.N. fact-finding mission probing violence in Myanmar s Rakhine state said on Tuesday he is still waiting for permission to enter the country. We have not been able to proceed further in planning the presence of a fact-finding team on the ground until there is a clear signal from the government of Myanmar that the fact-finding mission is in fact enabled to access into the country, Marzuki Darusman told the U.N. Human Rights Council. We continue to hold hopes, high hopes in fact, that this may be resolved.


Republicans are starting to stammer, talk of delay and say we can't repeal all of Obamacare. One GOP plan even keeps the Obamacare taxes. Another GOP plan says to blue states: "If you like Obamacare, you can keep it!" and red states will pay for it. Other GOP plans want to keep Obamacare subsidies but rename them refundable tax credits. [Conservatives need to unite behind immediate and complete repeal! At the same time, conservatives need to rally to a plan that allows more people to buy insurance at a cheaper price. I have just such a plan, and it is gaining momentum. We should not hesitate. Repeal and Replacement should happen as soon as humanly possible. Each day, more stories appear about when to repeal, when and how to replace, and every day it seems some in my party lose their nerve. Let me be as clear as I possibly can: The time is NOW. We must keep our promises and FULLY repeal Obamacare, every bit of it. We must also at the same time offer to the American people our plan for healthcare going forward, and it must take us away from government control and toward a free market. Big Government approaches are wrong, whether they are offered by Democrats and Republicans. We must move in another direction. I've offered a broad, bold and free market Obamacare Replacement bill. It is available to view at paul. senate. gov, along with a summary. My plan will ensure millions more people have access to better, less expensive health care. First, my plan legalizes the sale of inexpensive insurance. Under Obamacare, it became illegal to sell or buy less expensive catastrophic insurance plans. Second, my plan allows people to save for insurance by expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSA's). My plan allows the individual to use their HSA: As more and more people spend their first dollar out of their HSA account, a marketplace will develop that makes patients cost conscious driving prices down. Third, my plan will allow every individual the freedom to join an association to buy their health insurance. For the mom and pop small business, my plan allows them to leave behind a terrible system that causes them to live in fear of becoming ill or getting cancer. Allowing individuals to join an association with hundreds of thousands of other individuals will allow them to gain leverage to get less expensive insurance and demand protections against conditions clauses. Virtually every item in my bill has been previously introduced by Republican legislators. My bill is a consensus bill that compiles the reforms all Republicans generally agree with and leaves out controversial subjects like refundable tax credits that will create a new trillion dollar entitlement program. While it may not be everything everyone would want, it is largely everything we agree on. So let's get it done, and then continue to work on it over the next year. So I say, Repeal Now. Replace Now. Keep our promises to those who overwhelmingly voted for change, and do it right now. As a physician, no one hates Obamacare more than I do. I ran against it. I will vote to repeal it, and I want the chance to do so very soon. But as a physician, I also know the underlying system is still broken, and simply repealing won't fix it by itself. We need the kind of reforms I have proposed. I spoke last week to my fellow physician, incoming HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price. He agreed with me on the need to move soon, and the need to both repeal and offer a replacement. In fact, as I pointed out to him, many of the ideas in my plan came from bills he has offered in the past as a member of Congress. So we have broad agreement. We have a mandate from the elections. We just need to have the political will to get it done. I plan to lead this charge.


Bill Clinton also claimed to be Mandela's son  Cape Town, South Africa - The Government of South Africa has unofficially announced that President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are relocating to South Africa after Obama's term ends in January. The Obamas reportedly are leaving their daughters and dogs behind with Michelle Obama's mother.  Local papers stated that the President has been concerned with Donald Trump as President, and that living in Africa would be more fun and provide new leadership opportunities.  The Trudeaus invited the Obama family to Canada, but President Obama wanted to go back to his "birth home."  The South African Government further stated that President Obama is actually the love child of Nelson Mandela, and plans to run for President there.  The Obama Administration denies the reports of the South African government as being patently false. The President accuses the government of simply trying to promote tourism by taking over for Trump as the leader of the debunked Birther Movement.  Mike _Peril@aol.com Make Mike Peril's day - give this story five thumbs-up (there's no need to register , the thumbs are just down there!)


Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Jay Dyer of Jays Analysis, Funk$oul & Infidel Pharaoh (ACR Contributors,) for the hundred and twenty sixth episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing the consternation associated with immigration, DACA, Trump making deals with D.C. Swamp-critters like Schumer and Pelosi, technology, not-so-free markets, 9-11, Hesher s chat with Psonick and the Type 1 Radio crew along with Dr. Judy Wood and Andrew Johnson and much more.Direct Download Episode #126 (Link Available Shortly After Live Recording)Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research:


Largely united in their dislike of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, some ultra-wealthy U.S. investors who play in conservative politics are warily weighing their choices, torn between third-party candidates, simply focusing on down-ballot contests or even voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton. As Clinton's lead over Trump has grown in opinion polls, some hedge fund managers who have traditionally donated big money to Republican presidential candidates see the congressional elections as their best hope. Stanley Druckenmiller, one of the best-performing hedge fund managers of all time, told Reuters he had recently given to Republican candidates for Congress in the hope of creating a "firewall" against Clinton's economic policies, including more government control of healthcare and what he described as "astronomical disincentives" to invest. Druckenmiller, who invests privately since closing his hedge fund firm in 2010, said Trump had an "unstable personality" that ruled him out as a candidate. "I might just vote on the down ballot part of the ticket and not bother with the top," he said. Public filings show Druckenmiller donated to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in August and the National Republican Congressional Committee in March. He disavowed long-shot Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, saying he was "out the window" after a couple of high-profile lapses on foreign affairs, including struggling to name an international leader he admired. But some Republican hedge fund managers contacted by Reuters said they planned to vote for Johnson, who is polling in the single digits. Among them is Tiger Management founder Julian Robertson, according to spokesman Fraser Seitel. Robertson previously backed Republicans Jeb Bush and John Kasich. "I've heard from a lot of people who say they'll vote for Johnson or not vote at all because they don't want to be held responsible for having elected Hillary Clinton," one hedge fund billionaire said in describing industry views. The person, who requested anonymity because they did not want their political views to be public, plans to vote for Clinton. The person believes Clinton is the lesser of two evils and that no vote, or one for someone else, could help Trump. Other conservative investors focused on congressional races instead of the next president include Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management and Paul Singer of Elliott Management, according to people familiar with the situation. Asness recently gave to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and a political action committee supporting Pennsylvania Senator Patrick Toomey, according to public filings. Singer has also given to the NRSC, in addition to Together Holding Our Majority PAC, which recently sent money to two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Richard Burr of North Carolina. Asness and Singer declined to comment. Spokespersons for Trump, Clinton and Johnson did not respond to a request for comment. To be sure, Trump retains a band of loyal hedge fund industry boosters. They include Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies and economic advisers Anthony Scaramucci of SkyBridge Capital, John Paulson of Paulson & Co, Stephen Feinberg of Cerberus Capital Management and Steven Mnuchin of Dune Capital Management. Mercer and Scaramucci have re-affirmed their support of Trump in public statements over the last week. Other investors have moved firmly into the Democratic camp: Billionaire Seth Klarman of Baupost Group and Boaz Weinstein of Saba Capital Management are among investors who recently gave Clinton money after years of donations to candidates from both parties. Weinstein declined to comment and Klarman told Reuters in August that Trump is "completely unqualified for the highest office in the land." Attitudes against Trump have hardened since multiple women have accused him of groping them and the release of a 2005 video in which he boasts about such behavior. Trump has denied the accusations and has said his comments were just "locker room talk." One Republican hedge fund industry veteran said that his peers' revulsion with Trump has become so strong that they feel they have to vote for Clinton - if only to prevent the Republican nominee from winning. "She at least represents predictability and seasoning," the person said. "The difference between her and Trump is no contest."


Americans ripped from fantasy world 'like babies from a womb': By hatesec , on November 14th, 2016  ROANOKE, Va. — FBI agents claim two stoned American white men were "ripped like babies from a womb" following Tuesday's election results.  Investigators who have been working on the case since Wednesday said the men appeared paranoid and terrified, as if they had seen some horrible aspect.  "It was like they were just seeing the world for the first time," the agent said. He called it "the 9/11 of their time"– a point of reference in their timeline of social consciousness beyond which no innocence can be returned.  One of the guys was passed out in police custody, because he's a pot-smoking CRIMINAL, but the other one was cool because he didn't have weed on him, so he told Internet Chronicle how his world view changed:  I thought we'd come farther than this, man. I actually really thought we had come so far, we could get a career criminal elected into office over Archie Bunker. Turns out, I was wrong about a lot of things. Next time, I'm voting with my heart: I'm going Gary Johnson. Now he has a plan !  "They'll never forget how they remembered America's paranoid, racist history extending as far back as the 1970s, when white nerds killed disco, for which we have already apologized profusely ." federal agent Smith said. "Nor will they forget how flimsy a candidate can be, who deletes subpoenaed emails on command for her corporate power-lords."  Internet Chronicle linguistics analyst and hate philosopher Dr. Angstrom H. Troubadour believes in front loading attribution, and that blatant misuse of language itself led to the seemingly eternal crisis of political misunderstanding between the so-called Left and so-called Right.  "The words 'liberal' and 'conservative' don't even have denotations anymore. They mean what people want them to mean," Troubadour said. "These words are to be avoided at all cost."  makin money, makin money, makin money, makin money, makin money, makin money's for the words.  [Editor's note: Remember Trump's CRAZY response when the 60 Minutes lady asked him how many more tax dollars would be spent drone striking weddings?] Share this article


The Queen of the DNC is in big trouble 1000+ Berners walked out CA is GONE UT Gone Oregon Gone ..& more #DNCWalkOut 1/2 empty #Demexit https://t.co/1uG9312AS6 #AllLivesMatter (@BootStrapzOrg) July 27, 2016


Although most of America did not want Donald Trump to be the country s next President, many of us were holding on to hope that we might see an improved version of what we witnessed during the former reality TV star s presidential campaign. Unfortunately, Trump and his team are proving to be worse than we thought, and they re only churning out more fear mongering and lies during his first week in office.New White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has continuously been backing up Trump s voter fraud claims since starting his new position. Trump has been trying to convince America that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 election, and Spicer has doubled down on those comments recently. Fortunately, the media has been on top of it, obviously frustrated at the lack of transparency from the new President. As Spicer lied his ass off on national television, MSNBC s Katy Tur fact-checked him in real time, and it was pretty amazing. Despite having zero actual evidence that voter fraud occurred, Spicer said: I think there s been studies that came from Pew in 2008 that showed fourteen percent of people who voted were not citizens. There are other studies that have been presented to him. It s a belief he maintains The President does believe that, I think he s stated that before, and stated his concern of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign and continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have brought to him. Here s what Tur said as she fact-checked Spicer on air: We want to do a little bit of fact checking on that statement because the White House now is referring to the same research that the campaign had referred to, and the transition had referred to. One was a Washington Post commissioned study which the Washington Post itself debunked, and the other one was a Pew study from 2012, which is actually from 2008, which said that approximately 24 million one in every eight people are on voter registrations in the United States that no longer valid and they are significantly inaccurate. Listing people who had died in the past, obviously, on the voter rolls. It doesn t mention anything about undocumented immigrants, so their basis of evidence isn t quite correct at all. You can watch that brilliant moment below:Here s @KatyTurNBC with an instant fact-check after Spicer said Trump believes millions voted illegally based on studies and evidence pic.twitter.com/Eb10dxtmqd Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) January 24, 2017MSNBC is far from the only network to prove Trump wrong. CNN, the media outlet that Trump has dubbed fake news, ran a headline that said, Trump believes millions voted illegally, WH says but provides no proof .Hopefully, we re going to see more real-time fact checking from the media, because Trump and his team are the most dishonest administration we ve ever seen.Featured image by Joe Raedle via Getty Images


French President Francois Hollande and U.S President-elect Donald Trump had a phone conversation on Friday in which they agreed to clarify positions on key issues such as the Middle East and Ukraine, said a source in Hollande's camp. The source told Reuters that the phone conversation lasted between seven and eight minutes and took place in "good conditions". "They agreed to work together on a number of key issues in order to clarify positions - the 'war on terror', Ukraine, Syria, Iran's nuclear deal and the Paris climate change agreement," said the source.


Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused to admit that his belief and promotion of the racist and inaccurate birther conspiracy theory was wrong. The candidate doubled down on the false idea that has been promoted by conservatives for almost a decade now in an interview with the Washington Post:In the interview, conducted late Wednesday aboard his private plane as it idled on the tarmac here, Trump suggested he is not eager to change his pitch or his positions even as he works to reach out to minority voters, many of whom are deeply offended by his long-refuted suggestion that Obama is not a U.S. citizen. Trump refused to say whether he believes Obama was born in Hawaii. I ll answer that question at the right time. I just don t want to answer it yet, Trump said.When asked about claims in the media from campaign manager Kellyanne Conway that he is no longer a birther, Trump told the paper, It s okay. She s allowed to speak what she thinks. I want to focus on jobs, I want to focus on other things. He added, I don t talk about it anymore. Trump has been promoting the birther conspiracy since 2011, and has never renounced it in the ensuing 5 years. He is on the verge of 2,000 straight days of supporting the conspiracy.President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961. His birth there has been certified at the federal level when he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and when he was elected President of the United States in November 2008.Despite this, as the first black president in U.S. history, conservatives have consistently pushed the idea that Obama is not a natural-born citizen and instead was born in Kenya, where his father is from. The story is completely false, but has been a running theme in conservative politics.Trump was the most prominent and well-known person pushing the conspiracy theory, and even since running for president, has never renounced nor condemned it.


Home › ECONOMIC › THE AMERICAN PUBLIC CAN NO LONGER DEAL WITH THE LIMITLESS CORRUPTION OF THEIR GOVERNMENT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC CAN NO LONGER DEAL WITH THE LIMITLESS CORRUPTION OF THEIR GOVERNMENT 8 SHARES  [10/28/16] MARY WILDER -The federal government has really been dropping the ball over the last few decades. Time and time again they prove that they are completely untrustworthy and do not care about the citizens of the United States' best interests. As the recent Wikileaks emails have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, those that hold positions of power within the federal government are owned by the corporations that continue to put financial gain over individual freedom. It's a scary reality, but there's no denying it any longer.  Unfortunately this has been what Americans deal with for decades now. Nothing has ever been done about it because the American people felt as though there is nothing they could do in order to stop it. However, it appears as though we have lately gotten to the point where we are unwilling to put up with the corruption of our government any longer.  In an article published on The Daily Sheeple , Charles Hugh Smith writes that the ruling elite "have bamboozled, conned and misled the bottom 95% for decades, but their phony facade of political legitimacy and 'the rising tide raises all boats' has cracked wide open, and the machinery of oppression, looting and propaganda is now visible to everyone who isn't being paid to cover their eyes."  So what does this realization mean for the future of America? Hopefully that the rest of our country will continue waking up and opening their eyes to the truth. The longer the masses avoid the acknowledging the truth in regards to the federal government, the longer their control over the American people will last. During a time when our individual liberties are under attack every day, there is nothing more important than sending the message that we control our own lives.  Of course, it is also extremely important to prepare for retaliation. These are people whose entire existence revolves around being able to control the populous. They are most likely not going to go down without a fight. When we begin rejecting their corruption on a mass level, they will definitely do everything in their power to silence the outspoken ones. You could argue that it has already begun in regards to social media. Other forms of expression are probably next.  Human lives should be more valued than big governments. It's time that we all realize that and completely reject the global elite's plans to enslave us all. Our lives very well could depend on it. Post navigation


Heres the nations would-be first lady and right beside her, a second lady. Three years before she met husband Donald Trump, Melania Trump was snapped in a nude frolic with another female model, bombshell photos obtained exclusively by The Post show. Modal Trigger The lesbian-themed pics are from a two-day photo shoot in Manhattan in 1995, when Melania Knauss, as she was called, was 25 years old and modeling under the name Melania K. (Photographer Al de Basseville later told The Post that he misspoke, and the photo session actually took place in 1996 in Manhattan, and appeared in a 1997 issue of the magazine.) Several were featured in Max Magazine, a now-defunct French mens monthly, more than 20 years ago. Others have never been in print until now. The raciest of the photos shows Melania lying nude in a bed as Scandinavian model Emma Eriksson, also naked, embraces her from behind, just below her breasts, which are fully exposed. In another photo, Eriksson wears sheer stockings, a low-cut bustier, high heels and a long robe all designed by John Galliano and raises a whip as if preparing to spank Melania, who pretends to recoil. Melania is more conservatively dressed in a skin-tight gown and high heels. I always loved women together, because I have been with a lot of women who desired the mnage trois, said Jarl Ale de Basseville, the French fashion photographer who snapped the pictures. Melania Trump (right) poses for the January 1997 issue of Max Magazine.Photo: Jarl Ale de Basseville This is beauty and not porn. I am always shocked by the porn industry because they are destroying the emotion and the essence of purity and simplicity. Part of the shoot, which de Basseville said was inspired by Renaissance art, took place on the buildings rooftop, said a fashion-industry insider who was present at one of the photo sessions. Melania behaved like a true professional during one of the nighttime shoots with Eriksson, the source said. She was charming throughout, said the source, adding that the pics lesbian theme didnt faze her. She was always smiling, with a very pleasant personality and was polite and very well educated. Al de BassevillePhoto: Al de Basseville Melania had recently arrived in the city from modeling stints in Paris and Milan at the time. In Gotham, she was booked for mostly commercial work and was later featured in an ad for Camel cigarettes, the source told The Post. Her sexy photo spread appeared in the January 1996 issue of Max Magazine, whose cover featured a photo of supermodel Cindy Crawford. In addition to the lesbian-themed shots, de Basseville took several nude pictures of Melania from different angles. In one of them, Melania pouts at the camera while clad only in stilettos. In another, her back is to the camera, and her arms are raised as if up against a wall. 0:00 / 1:10   I think it is important to show the beauty and freedom of the woman, and I am very proud of these pictures because they celebrate Melanias beauty, de Basseville said. Asked about the photos, Donald Trump said: Melania was one of the most successful models, and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common. The Slovenian-born beauty, now 46, first met Trump at a Fashion Week party in 1998. They married in January 2005 and have one son, Baron, 10. She has modeled for Sports Illustrated and Vogue among other publications, posing for such top photographers as Helmut Newton and Mario Testino. Modal Trigger Melania Trump in the January 1997 issue of Max Magazine.


Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr  On Monday, Paul LePage, Maine's infamous racist Governor, issued a statement which basically threatened any out-of-state student attending college in his state with an investigation should they decide to vote.  LePage's statement came on the eve of Election Day, and many believe it was designed to scare Democratic leaning college students away from the polls.  The governor complained about Democrats encouraging out-of-state students to commit voter fraud by voting in both their home state and the state where they are attending college. He also said that "there is no way to determine" if a person has cast his or her ballot in two states.  The Washington Post :  "Democrats for decades have encouraged college students from out of state to vote in Maine, even though there is no way to determine whether these college students also voted in their home states," LePage said in a statement.  "Casting ballots in two different states is voter fraud, which is why Maine law requires anyone voting here to establish residency here. We welcome college students establishing residency in our great state, as long as they follow all laws that regulate voting, motor vehicles and taxes. We cannot tolerate voter fraud in our state."  LePage continued, "After the election, we will do everything we can that is allowed under state and federal law to verify college students who voted here are following Maine law, which is clearly displayed on the Secretary of State's website."  However, Maine's Secretary of State, Matthew Dunlap, says that they do have a system in place to detected that kind of voter fraud, and they've yet to find evidence of this being a real issue. Dunlap told WMTW ABC 8:  "People are not voting in two different jurisdictions. In fact, the Secretary of State's office back in 2011 did just such an investigation of over 200 students who were from out of state, and who had registered and voted in Maine to see if they had voted in their home state, and nobody did."  Along with the Governor's statement, college students at Bates College received a mysterious orange flyer informing them that if they are out of state, students that they must change their driver's license and re-register their vehicle (which the flyer claimed cost "usually hundreds of dollars in total").  The flyer included an official government website address, as well as references to several state statutes regarding the registration of personal motorized vehicles in Maine. College students in Maine: This flyer is FALSE. You may use your dorm as your legal address to vote. pic.twitter.com/jOE6MvH02s  — Maine College Dems (@MECollegeDem) November 7, 2016  To the average college student, this flyer would probably seem legit. However, as the above tweet states, college students are allowed to use their dorm address as their permanent residence while attending school in the state.  Maine's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has requested that the Justice Department step in to investigate.  "The governor's statement seems designed to make college students afraid to vote," Zachary Heiden, legal director at the ACLU of Maine, said in a statement. "Voter intimidation and harassment is illegal, and we call on the Department of Justice to investigate the intent of the governor's comments.  "College students who live in Maine have the right to vote in Maine, and they are not subject to different laws than anyone else. Many of these young people are voting for the first time in a presidential election. The governor should be encouraging that civic participation, not doing everything in his power to undermine it."  Maine's Democratic party is calling this a classic case of GOP voter suppression efforts aimed at minority groups whom they feel will vote Democratic.  "The false information contained in these fliers is a deliberate attempt to suppress the millennial vote," Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett said in a statement. "There is nothing in Maine law that states that college students must change their driver's licenses in order to vote.  "In fact, the Secretary of State's office has made explicitly clear that a dorm can be a student's legal voting residence, and that paying out-of-state tuition does not preclude a student from voting. Maine also has same-day voter registration, so students who are not registered to vote in Maine can still register on Election Day. We urge all Bates students to spread the word to their fellow classmates about their voting rights here in Maine."  Despite their best efforts, numerous states are reporting record turnout numbers, which traditionally doesn't bode well for Republicans who prefer low voter turnout for any group that's isn't non-educated, white, and male.


Get short URL 0 18 0 0 As many as 22 children and six teachers were killed in an attack on a school compound in the Syrian city of Idlib, which may amount to a war crime if it were deliberate, Anthony Lake, the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), According to Lake, the attack was the deadliest since the Syrian war began in 2011. © Sputnik/ Michael Alaeddin Aleppo's 'Humanitarian Pause': Militants Launch Mortar Attack on Civilians Preparing to Leave "Twenty-two children and six teachers were reportedly murdered today when their school compound was repeatedly attacked in Idlib, Syria. This is a tragedy. It is an outrage. And if deliberate, it is a war crime," Lake said in a statement on Wednesday.  Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, following the protests that had turned violent, as part of the so-called Arab Spring. During the conflict, hundreds of thousands Syrians have been killed and millions more have been displaced. ...


Mudassir, 18, from Pakistan s city of Peshawar has tried to enter the European Union 30 times but was always caught and sent back to his starting point in Serbia. Now, he and dozens of other migrants are braving near-freezing temperatures in shrubs and fields near Sid, a northwestern Serbian town just outside European Union s member Croatia, hoping to make another border run. They spend nights in tents and makeshift shelters in a shrub they call - the jungle. I have tried 30 times, I am in Serbia for 16 months, ... I am tired of sleeping in the jungle , said Mudassir, dressed in a black hooded jacket. Meanwhile, other migrants, all young males, huddled outside an abandoned printing factory in the outskirts of Sid, waiting for a meal delivered by an international volunteer group, the No Name Kitchen. The so-called Balkan route for migrants was shut last year when Turkey agreed to stop the flow in return for EU aid and a promise of visa-free travel for its own citizens. But people mainly from the Middle East, Africa and Asia continued to arrive in Serbia, mainly from Turkey, via neighboring Bulgaria, attempting to enter Croatia and the EU. According to official data there are as many as 4,500 migrants in government-operated camps in Serbia. Rights activists say that hundreds are scattered in the capital Belgrade and towns along the Croatian border. Muhammad, 22 from the Moroccan town of Oujda, said he has tried to reach the EU 26 times. Three times he made it to Slovenia, but was caught and deported back to Serbia. I will try again ... my family is in France and my girlfriend is in Italy, Muhammad said. Bruno Alvares of the No Name Kitchen said migrants are given two meals a day, water, clothes, footwear and tents. Even if it is cold, it doesn t matter, they will keep on trying because there s ... no evolution in their lives in camps, Alvares said. Migrants who cannot afford to pay smugglers, often hide in passing trucks and freight trains or ride on the top of them. Recently an Afghan girl was killed by a train as she and her family attempted to cross into Croatia.


U.S. President Donald Trump set the tone for a tense first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week by tweeting on Thursday that the United States could no longer tolerate massive trade deficits and job losses. The White House said Trump would host Xi next Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. It said Trump and his wife, Melania, would host Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at a dinner next Thursday. In a tweet on Thursday evening, Trump said the highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies, which is also expected to cover differences over North Korea and China's strategic ambitions in the South China Sea, "will be a very difficult one." "We can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses," he wrote, adding in apparent reference to U.S. firms manufacturing in China: "American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives." Despite a string of U.S.-China meetings and conversations that have appeared aimed at mending ties after strong criticism of China by Trump during his election campaign, U.S. officials have said the Republican president will not pull his punches in the meeting. General Electric Co Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt urged Trump on Thursday to maintain the country's economic relationship with China, saying the United States had much to gain from globalization. "The country loses if we don't trade. The relationship with China is key," Immelt told an aviation panel hosted by industry group the Wings Club. "If you give up on trade, you give up on the best lever that the president of the United States has in negotiating around the world. I just think that President Trump is too smart to give up on that." The U.S. Commerce Department said earlier that Beijing must change its trade practices and the way its state enterprises operate. "China and others need to realize the games are over – continuing their unfair trade practices and operation as a non-market economy will have serious consequences," it said. The department said it was launching a new review of China's status as a non-market economy, which allows the United States to maintain high anti-dumping duties on cheap Chinese imports, but the designation is widely expected to remain in place. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang stressed the need to see the big picture while fostering mutual trade interests. "The market dictates that interests between our two countries are structured so that you will always have me and I will always have you," he told a regular briefing. "Both sides should work together to make the cake of mutual interest bigger and not simply seek fairer distribution." Trump administration officials say the need for China to do more to rein in the nuclear and missile programs of its neighbor and ally North Korea will top the agenda, along with trade. The U.S. side is also expected to criticize Beijing for its pursuit of expansive claims in the South China Sea. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing the meeting would be an opportunity for Trump "to develop a relationship in person with President Xi." "He's spoken to him on the phone a few times, but we have big problems ... everything from the South China Sea, to trade, to North Korea. There are big issues of national and economic security that need to get addressed." Asked if the administration had a vision, or a description for its China policy like the "pivot" or "rebalance" to Asia touted by former President Barack Obama, Spicer said: "Right now we're not worried so much about slogans as much as progress. "There's a lot of big things that we need to accomplish with China, and I think that we will - we will work on them." U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson agreed in Beijing this month to work with China on North Korea and stressed Trump's desire to enhance understanding. China has been irritated at being told repeatedly by Washington to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, or face U.S. sanctions on Chinese businesses trading with North Korea, and by the U.S. decision to base an advanced missile defense system in South Korea. Beijing is also deeply suspicious of U.S. intentions toward self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, after Trump, as president-elect, broke with decades of U.S. policy by taking a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and saying Washington did not have to stick to a "one China" policy. Trump later agreed in a phone call with Xi to honor the long-standing policy and has also written to him since seeking "constructive ties."


According to Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Michael Flynn is not willing to cooperate with the committee s investigation into Russian interference in American elections.In an interview with Capitol Hill press on Thursday, Burr told reporters that Flynn s attorneys have not yet indicated their attentions to comply with a subpoena, despite the fact that is only a day or two left before Flynn will be forced to produce documents and testimony or be held in contempt. Senator Burr was careful to couch his words to maintain an impartial stance, but reporters present said that the senator was clearly upset by Flynn s disregard for the investigation.Burr initially said that Flynn wasn t going to comply with the subpoena, but walked that statement back in order to make it clear that there was still time for his lawyers to reach out to the committee if they chose to do so.Do the MSM think I'm dumb enough 2 accpt their interview rqusts only 2 see my words twisted/spun 2 fit their #fakenews agenda? #WastingTime I LOVE AMERICA?? (@mflynnJR) May 17, 2017Flynn himself has declined to comment on the investigation altogether, although his son, Michael Flynn Jr. has been talking on Twitter.Refusing to comply with this subpoena will all but disqualify Flynn from the immunity he sought last month, when his lawyer went on Twitter to beg multiple investigations to consider offering it to his client.Immunity from prosecution typically follows a clearly defined legal path, where the guilty party first meets with prosecutors and tells them everything he knows in a sealed session, which gives them time to consider making a deal. This is called a proffer session and Flynn has shown no willingness to do it.Instead, it appears as though Flynn and his attorneys expect the senate committee to blindly trust that Flynn has something meaningful to say in exchange for immunity.Judging by Burr s response, the senators aren t biting, and they re starting to lose their patience. Photo by Mario Tama via Getty Images.


Putin awards Emir Kusturica with Order of Friendship 27 October 2016 TASS Kusturica has been given many awards for his activities. Facebook putin , serbia , award  Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded a number of cultural workers with Orders and Medals, one of them being Serbian movie director Emir Kusturica. The related decree was published on the official legal information website on Thursday.  "Emir Kusturica, director of the Rasta International production company, citizen of the Republic of Serbia, is being awarded with the Order of Friendship for his significant contribution to promoting friendship and cooperation between peoples, preserving and promoting the Russian language and culture in foreign countries," the presidential decree says.  Emir Kusturica was born on November 24, 1954 in Sarajevo, former Yugoslavia. He initiated the International the Kustendorf International Film and Music Festival and a short documentaries festival in Visegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2005, he was President of the Cannes Film Festival Jury, in 2011 he presided over the jury of the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival official selection.  Kusturica has been given many awards for his activities, including the Order of Arts and Literature (France, 2007), Order of the Legion of Honor (France, 2011), Order of St. Sava (Serbian Orthodox Church, 2012), Order of St. King Milutin (Serbian Orthodox Church, 2014), Order of St. Stephen (Serbian Orthodox Church, 2016). In 2009, he received the Unity of Orthodox Nations International Foundation Award.  First published by TASS .


It s astonishing that after all of the fake Russia collusion on Trump, we have Hillary, Obama and others who are the real thugs dealing with Russia:SENATOR CHUCK GRASSLEY HAD THIS TO SAY ABOUT THE RUSSIA URANIUM DEAL: Despite an ongoing criminal investigation into officials working for subsidiaries of Rosatom, the Russian government entity seeking to acquire ownership of U.S. uranium, the Obama Administration approved the deal. The Justice Department has reportedly threatened to prosecute the informant if he discloses details of his involvement in the investigation. The Executive Branch does not have the authority to use non-disclosure agreements to avoid Congressional scrutiny. If the FBI is allowed to contract itself out of Congressional oversight, it would seriously undermine our Constitutional system of checks and balances. The Justice Department needs to work with the Committee to ensure that witnesses are free to speak without fear, intimidation or retaliation from law enforcement. Witnesses who want to talk to Congress should not be gagged and threatened with prosecution for talking. If that has happened, senior DOJ leadership needs to fix it and release the witness from the gag order, Grassley said.


How do you feed and shelter nearly half a million traumatized people who have made their way, over the course of just one month, to a spit of monsoon-soaked land where 300,000 refugees are already living in squalor? That is the challenge for aid workers scrambling to help the Rohingya Muslims now crowded into the Cox s Bazar region of southern Bangladesh after a spasm of violence in Myanmar s Rakhine state sent them fleeing across the border. Nothing comparable, in terms of the number of people arriving in such a short space of time, has happened since 1994 in Rwanda, said Christopher Lom, Asia-Pacific spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). About 480,000 men, women and children have arrived in Cox s Bazar since the end of August, according to United Nations estimates. Most came with nothing more than the clothes they wore. Nearly 200 of the women have given birth since they arrived and another 20,000 are pregnant. Meeting the needs of such a vast number - indefinitely, because there is nowhere else for them to go - in one of the poorest regions of a poor country is a logistical nightmare for the Bangladesh government, U.N. agencies and aid organizations. There was a taste of what was to come in October and November last year, when a smaller outbreak of violence brought and influx of 80,000 Rohingya. That prompted improvements in infrastructure and coordination in Cox s Bazar, said the United Nations local chief coordinator, Robert Watkins. It was working extremely well, he said. And then we got this wave of humanity, and we were overwhelmed. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said after a visit to Cox s Bazar this week that the most urgent needs were shelter, clean water and sanitation. Really the first order of business, the first challenge, is to get people out of the mud and the despair in which they are finding themselves into a place where organized relief can be provided, he told a news conference in Geneva. The combination of limited health facilities, poor sanitary and hygiene conditions and overcrowded sites ... is a recipe for disaster in terms of possible epidemics. So far 475 tonnes of aid have arrived at Chittagong airport north of Cox s Bazar, much of it from Muslim-majority countries shocked by the killings and torching of villages in northwestern Rakhine, which U.N. officials have branded ethnic cleansing. While the initial response was chaotic, say aid experts, due to the sheer volume of people arriving, Bangladesh has since won some praise for improvements in organization. At a Sept. 14 meeting in the prime minister s office in Dhaka, the authorities made 22 decisions to remove logistical hurdles. According to a document reviewed by Reuters, these included building 14 storage warehouses, regulating aid distribution, protecting orphans, building roads and power infrastructure, and setting up shelters for more than 500,000 people. Mohammad Shah Kamal, Bangladesh s secretary of disaster management and relief and the main coordinator of the aid effort, said the armed forces were scanning shipments of aid and transporting them from airports and ports to Cox s Bazar, where local officials take charge of distribution. I think everyone has been surprised at the Bangladeshi government, said Karim Elguindi, a senior World Food Program official in Cox s Bazar, noting that it was fast-tracking everything , had offered police support and helped with customs delays. But the Inter-Sector Coordination Group, which is leading the humanitarian response to the influx of Rohingya, said in a recent update that basic coordination was still lacking because staff and agencies had not been assigned to specific camps. Bangladesh hopes to make room for new arrivals by building a 2,000-acre camp in the Ukhia area of Cox s Bazar. The U.N. says much of this area is not suitable for habitation because it lacks water, sewerage and roads, but many refugees are already settling there anyway. Complicating aid efforts are private civic and religious groups that throw food and clothes off the back of trucks, which experts say is no way to get relief to the neediest. Thousands of tarpaulin shelters that refugees have built in recent weeks stretching across dozens of small hills and rice paddies are only accessible by long walks across flimsy bamboo bridges. Families in one of the most remote parts of the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp, a 40-minute walk from the nearest official distribution point, said they mostly rely on handouts from relatives to survive. Mushtaq Ahmed, 66, a religious teacher, sheltering from the rain under a tarpaulin, said he has resorted to begging to buy rice for his children and grandchildren. He has tried to throw himself into the scramble for aid thrown from trucks but comes away with nothing. There are too many people rushing, he said. I am too weak to get it.


Saturday s GOP debate got off to a hilarious start as candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump both failed to appear on stage after their names were called.Video posted to YouTube by the Washington Free Beacon shows an obviously confused Ben Carson hovering off stage for several minutes, after he apparently failed to hear his name called during the introductions.At this point we see a man at the end of the hallway frantically gesturing to Carson to walk out onto the stage.After a long, awkward pause, during which the cameras were honed in on Carson, the announcer goes on to introduce Ted Cruz.Carson begins to walk toward the stage, then suddenly stops, realizing that it was Cruz s name, not his own, that was called.Carson moves further off stage, and Cruz walks past him, patting his arm.After Cruz takes to the stage, the man at the end of the hallway appears again. Yet again he can be seen waving wildly at Carson, prompting him to walk out.But nope. Carson remains dazed and confused.The announcer then calls Donald Trump.Trump saunters slowly around the corner, but he also fails to walk out on the stage.With Carson and Trump both hovering in the hall, the announcer goes on to introduce Marco Rubio.Rubio walks past both of the other candidates, as Trump stands awkwardly near Carson.Jeb Bush is called next. Bush glides right on past Trump and Carson, who clearly have no idea what they re supposed to doing.After all of the other candidates have finally taken to the stage, the moderators personally invite Carson to come out of the hallway.A moment later they call Donald Trump, noting that he s standing back there as well. Trump misses it again. He finally gets it right the third time around.Watch the hilarious video, courtesy of the Washington Free Beacon on YouTube. Those who watch the GOP debates hoping for substance or serious policy discussion are sure to be disappointed, every time.But those of us who watch expecting nothing more than a good laugh are rarely disappointed.Image credit: video screen capture via Washington Free Beacon on YouTube


Leave a reply Charles Hugh Smith – Let's set aside Hillary Clinton as an individual and consider her as the perfection of a corrupt political system. As I noted yesterday, Politics As Usual Is Dead , and Hillary Clinton is the ultimate product of the political system that is disintegrating before our eyes. The corruption of pay-to-play and the commingling of public and private influence is not the failing of an individual–it is the logical conclusion of a thoroughly corrupt political system. Given the incentives built into politics as usual, public/private pay-to-play doesn't just make sense–it is the only possible maximization of the political system. Cobble together a multi-million dollar private foundation, millions of dollars in speaking fees from big-money contributors, conflicts of interest, the secrecy of private email servers, pay-to-play schemes and corrupted loyalists planted in the Department of Justice, and the inevitable result is a politics as usual money-harvesting machine that lays waste to the nation, supporters and critics alike. All the Clintons did is assemble the parts more effectively than anyone else.Now that the machine has scooped up hundreds of millions of dollars in "contributions" and other loot, vested interests and corrupted loyalists within the federal government will do anything to protect the machine and its vast flow of funds. The nation's political system needs a thorough cleaning from top to bottom. Exposing the Clintons' perfection of politics as usual won't change the conditions and incentives that created the Clintons' harvester of corruption. That will require rooting out the incentives that made the Clintons' perfection of corruption both logical and inevitable. SF Source Of Two Minds Nov. 2016 Share this:


November 9, 2016 at 1:35 pm  i agree with some of what you say but the shit about hitting russia hard? Ukraine wouldn't get within ten feet of russia, they would be wiped out in a day and so would the usa and nato if the come within 100 miles of russia borders. they need to drag russia out. thats why they wont fuck with crimea, that comes under russian territory and within russia umbrella of border area denial defence network. sure they can keep prodding but in july last year Ukrainian dumb cunts got too close.. a two minute salvo from russian artillery wiped out two battalions of vodka guzzling goat fucking neo nazis.. 2 fucking minutes.


Washington has dramatically increased tensions in talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement by proposing that the lifespan of any new deal be limited to five years, people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. The proposal for a so-called sunset clause - just one of a series of U.S. initiatives that are opposed by NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico - only served to increase uncertainty about the future of the deal. Two sources with direct knowledge of the talks described the atmosphere as "horrible" and highly charged. The U.S. side proposed the sunset clause late on Wednesday during the fourth of seven scheduled rounds to update the rules governing one of the world's biggest trade blocs, said two officials, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential. The Trump administration says the clause, causing NAFTA to expire every five years unless all three countries agree it should continue, is to ensure the pact stays up to date. But Mexico and Canada insist there is no point updating the pact with such a threat hanging over it, arguing the clause would stunt investment by sowing too much uncertainty about the future of the agreement. "It's a source of total uncertainty," said one of the NAFTA government officials. Speaking in Mexico City, Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said the government was working on plans to alter tariffs and identify substitute markets in case the NAFTA talks failed. His remarks and the tension around NAFTA helped push the peso down 1 percent against the U.S. dollar to a five-month low. U.S. President Donald Trump says NAFTA, originally signed in 1994, has been a disaster for the United States and has frequently threatened to scrap it unless major changes are made. Business and farm groups say abandoning the 23-year-old pact would wreak economic havoc, disrupting cross-border manufacturing supply chains and slapping high tariffs on agricultural products. Trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico has quadrupled under NAFTA, now topping $1.2 trillion a year. In addition to the sunset clause, the United States wants to boost how much North American content autos must contain to qualify for tax-free status and eliminate a dispute settlement mechanisms that Canada insists must stay. Some trade observers said it is difficult to see how negotiators could reach an agreement given U.S. demands that many see as non-starters. The head of Unifor, Canada's largest private sector labor union, said it was clear the United States did not want a deal. "NAFTA is not going anywhere. This thing is going into the toilet," Jerry Dias told reporters on Thursday. Despite clear signs of impatience from Canada in particular, U.S. negotiators have yet to submit their proposal on rules of origin for the auto sector. That looked unlikely to come before Friday, another official familiar with the talks said. Trump on Wednesday repeated his warnings that he might terminate the pact and said he was open to doing a bilateral deal with either Canada or Mexico. He was speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who later said Canada was "braced" for Trump's unpredictability. Negotiators were also set to cover the difficult issue of government procurement on Thursday. Canada and Mexico want their companies to be able to bid on more U.S. federal and state government contracts, but this is at odds with Trump's "Buy American" agenda. U.S. negotiators have countered with a proposal that would effectively grant the other countries less access, people familiar with the talks say. On automotive rules of origin, NAFTA negotiators face tough new U.S. demands to increase regional vehicle content to 85 percent from 62.5 percent, with 50 percent required from the United States, according to people briefed on the plan. The rules of origin demands are among several conditions that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has labeled "poison pill proposals" that threaten to torpedo the talks.


A federal appeals court in New York has thrown out a $655. 5 million verdict rendered last year that had held the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization liable for their roles in supporting terrorist attacks in Israel that claimed American lives. In reversing the verdict on Wednesday in the case, which drew the attention of the Obama administration, the appeals court did not minimize the impact of the six terrorist attacks, which occurred from 2002 to 2004, but it held that the Federal District Court in Manhattan had lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case. "The terror attacks and suicide bombings that triggered this suit and victimized these plaintiffs were unquestionably horrific," said a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Manhattan. "But the federal courts cannot exercise jurisdiction in a civil case beyond the limits prescribed by the due process clause of the Constitution," the court added, "no matter how horrendous the underlying attacks or morally compelling the plaintiffs' claims. " The plaintiffs included 10 families, comprising about three dozen people, eight of whom were physically injured in the attacks, as well as the estates of several victims who were killed. The suit was brought under the Act, which provided for the tripling of the $218. 5 million in damages awarded by a Manhattan jury. The law, which allows United States citizens who are the victims of international terrorism to sue in the federal courts, was passed some years after the 1985 murder of Leon Klinghoffer in the Palestinian hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. Kent A. Yalowitz, a lawyer for the families in the case, said in a statement that the law had been passed by Congress "to protect Americans wherever in the world they traveled. " "The very terrorists who prompted the law have now hidden behind the U. S. Constitution to avoid responsibility for their crimes," Mr. Yalowitz said. "This cruel decision must be corrected so that these families may receive justice. " Mr. Yalowitz said the plaintiffs were weighing their options, which could include seeking review by the full appeals court, or asking the United States Supreme Court to hear the case. The attacks in Israel occurred on the street, at a crowded bus stop and inside a bus, and in a cafeteria on the Hebrew University campus. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the P. L. O. 's executive committee who testified for the defense in the trial, expressed satisfaction with the appeals court's decision, saying, "I hope this is the end of it. " Speaking by telephone from Ramallah in the West Bank, Ms. Ashrawi said, "Finally the American justice system proved its impartiality. " She added that the decision "restores my faith in the judicial system. " The jury in the trial, which ended in February 2015, heard emotional testimony from victims and witnesses in the attacks. But in finding that the federal court lacked jurisdiction, the appellate panel ruled that the connections between the Palestinian defendants and the United States were not sufficient to give the trial court the power to hear the plaintiffs' claims. Judge John G. Koeltl, writing for the panel, said the attacks in Israel had not been "expressly aimed at the United States," and evidence presented by the plaintiffs had established the attacks' "random and fortuitous nature. " "Evidence at trial showed that the shooters fired 'indiscriminately,'" the judge wrote, "and chose sites for their suicide bomb attacks that were 'full of people,' because they sought to kill 'as many people as possible. '" The decision was joined by Judges Pierre N. Leval and Christopher F. Droney. The trial judge, George B. Daniels, had required the Palestinian Authority to post a bond of $10 million and an additional $1 million monthly to appeal the case. The bond is typically 111 percent of the judgment, but the authority said it could not afford that. Lawyers for the victims had objected to the lower amount, but the authority won support from an unexpected source: the Obama administration. Officials at the Justice and State Departments had asked Judge Daniels to consider the ramifications of requiring too high a bond, suggesting that doing so could cause economic and political harm to the Palestinian Authority and the broader peace process. "A P. A. insolvency and collapse would harm current and future U. S. efforts to achieve a solution to the conflict," Antony J. Blinken, the deputy secretary of state, said in a court filing in August 2015. The government's filing came after sharp debate between officials at the State and Justice Departments over the strategy to take in the case.


Anyone inclined to find joy when a president's taste collides with yours had a lot to choose from with Barack Obama. There was the time he dropped by the Los Angeles garage where the comedian Marc Maron records his podcast or when he sat between the two ferns where Zach Galifianakis pretends to be a boob hosting a talk show. At the 2015 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, he did a bit with Key as Luther, Mr. Obama's fictional but legitimately irate "anger translator" from "Key Peele. " He called Kanye West a jackass, invited Miranda to the White House Poetry Jam to perform a song from "Hamilton" before "Hamilton" was even a thing, and, for two straight years, dropped thoroughly convincing Spotify playlists. That doesn't even include the New York Review of Books conversation (in two parts!) between him and the novelist Marilynne Robinson. They talked about … about … well it's just sobering and oracular, and you should read it. But of all the culture Barack Obama has been a part of, inspired, commented on or cultivated, of all the ways in which the culture seemed to evolve around — and unconsciously respond to — him, the thing that says so much about his unprecedented relationship to art and popular culture is actually, in the vast scheme of things, just a footnote. Which is to say it's pretty small yet so illustrative of his sense of respect, professionalism and awe. It was the time he was emailed for a quote. The occasion was the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. The inductees included Carole King, who sat in the balcony between her fellow inductee George Lucas and the first couple. And during Ms. King's tribute, out came Aretha Franklin, who sat at a piano in a fur coat and sang "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," the classic Ms. King wrote, and Ms. Franklin released in 1967. Her appearance was pretty much expected. The shock was how powerfully good, at 73, Ms. Franklin sounded — so good that you worried ecstasy would send Ms. King toppling off the balcony, so good that Mr. Obama wiped tears from his eyes. For a critical profile of Ms. Franklin in The New Yorker, its editor, David Remnick, reached out to the president. As a critic, I feel a duty to point out that that's an unusual move. Mr. Remnick is also, among other things, a critic. He knows Ms. Franklin's worth as an American treasure and that it has no price. He's more than equipped to sum her up. But he outsourced that job. To the president of the United States. And if you got to that section of that story and considered rolling your eyes ("When I emailed President Obama about Aretha Franklin and that night … ") you immediately retreated when you read what Mr. Obama wrote in response. "Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the spiritual, the blues, R. B. rock and roll — the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope," he wrote back, through his press secretary. "American history wells up when Aretha sings. That's why, when she sits down at a piano and sings 'A Natural Woman,' she can move me to tears — the same way that Ray Charles's version of 'America the Beautiful' will always be in my view the most patriotic piece of music ever performed — because it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence. " Mr. Remnick wrote to him because he knew that Barack Obama would deliver. Mr. Remnick asked for two cents. The president gave him a dollar. Mr. Obama, for nearly all of his tenure, was fully aware of, interested in, and knowledgeable about popular culture, even as it grew impossible to take it all in. He tried: sports, movies, television, the internet, music, books. He was protean and catholic. He was thoughtful and cool and yet far from it. He was a version of America's dad and the dad some kids wished theirs could be: fit for world leadership, fit for a sitcom. Lots of smart people are poring over Mr. Obama's record to divine a legacy. Which policies will last? How did he change the job? How did he distinguish himself? But this was a presidency whose few faint whiffs of scandal included being surreptitiously videoed last year by Usher dancing listlessly to Drake's "Hotline Bling," which was more than a year old. So to be fair: It's an addictive song, and he moved like someone who had been dancing to it since it came out. In other words, Mr. Obama's place in popular culture has always felt new, alive and mostly underappreciated. Obviously, other presidents have had a relationship with American culture. Television was in its creative infancy when Dwight D. Eisenhower entered office in 1953, and he took quick advantage of the power of its immediacy. When John F. Kennedy turned 45, he received American history's most famous "Happy Birthday" from Marilyn Monroe. But it was tragedy and a glamorous wife that ensured Kennedy's legacy in popular culture. Richard Nixon disliked "All in the Family" and was an avid moviegoer, who according to Mark Feeney's surprising book "Nixon at the Movies," watched about 500 films during his presidency. Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood actor before he was a politician, and, as a candidate, Bill Clinton made a lot of sense on MTV and Arsenio Hall's talk show. But has any president been as conversant in the art and popular culture of this country as Barack Obama? Who has been as committed to opening up the White House to the sorts of artists he has? Lunches with the novelists Zadie Smith, Barbara Kingsolver, Junot Díaz, Dave Eggers and Colson Whitehead. One lunch, actually. That was one lunch. Initiative summits that included Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Ludacris, Rick Ross, Pusha T. Common and Chance the Rapper. (So many different rappers and RB singers have come through the White House in the last eight years that the BET Awards could sue for copyright infringement.) Last year, Barack and Michelle Obama hosted "Jazz at the White House," which featured appearances by so many magnificent, important people that to type out all the names — Chick Corea, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ms. Franklin, for openers — is to make a very fancy shopping list. Mr. Obama brought all kinds of art and culture into the White House, and he sought culture out. At the same time, how we experience that art and culture, changed as much as the culture itself. When he entered office, in 2009, Netflix was a service. Now it's a major reason we no longer watch TV we scarf it down. But that disruption — from channels and networks to platforms and apps — also unleashed TV that looked more like America: more nonwhite characters, more women, more gays. He presided over an era in which television and movies grappled with the meaning and meaninglessness of race, whether to laugh at it or take it seriously or ignore it altogether, whether the idea of a postracial America was ever possible, as though electing a black man for eight years erases the traumas of 400. To that end, "30 Rock" was the great situation comedy — a workplace farce, on and loosely about NBC, that hit its stride in 2008 and ran until 2013. Not so secretly, it was about the insurmountable work of race and gender. Meanwhile, the American movie industry went all in on franchises and sequels while leaving art and humanity for TV. But the "Fast and Furious" movies did bounce off the assembly line. The series started in 2001, essentially died in 2003, and came roaring back to life at the start of Mr. Obama's first term and is ludicrously yet thankfully on the verge of an eighth installment. The protagonists are car thieves turned action heroes, who are mostly black, Asian, Latina or racially ambiguous. These aren't great movies. But they're great, fun: serious and without too much (or any) . And they take an issue that Hollywood has always struggled with — what to do with all these talented, interesting people of color? — and laughs at it. What to do? It's not that hard: Let 'em drive. Mr. Obama had his priorities straight, of course. Pop culture and art aren't aspects of American life that should dominate a presidency. They have little to do with the business of governance. But Mr. Obama has always seemed to understand the importance of culture as mirror, window, escape hatch and haven. The Obamas were catholic in their tastes not because they had to be, but because that's what we should be: open. Their minds were open, their hearts were open, their arms were open — to the Willie Nelsons, the Beyoncés, the Junot Díazes, to all kinds of excellence. One of the happiest cultural events I've ever watched was the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony in November. The honor went to 21 men and women, from Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks and Michael Jordan to Cicely Tyson and Diana Ross and Ellen DeGeneres. Bill and Melinda Gates were honored. So were Maya Lin and Robert Redford. Mr. Obama had good material for most of them — philanthropists, movies stars, architect, alike. And, as he so often does and gets nary enough credit for, he delivered it with perfectly timed drollery. (He could easily enjoy a second career as a comedian.) These people meant something to him. His joshing notwithstanding, a few of them appeared to mean everything. The knock on Mr. Obama was that he was dry and aloof. Perhaps but not always. He understood what laughter could do. He knew the power of songs. He knew the power of singers, even if the only person doing the singing was, at first, only him. In 2015, at the memorial service after the Charleston massacre, he takes a dramatic, deliberative pause before intoning the lyrics to "Amazing Grace. " He starts and the choir behind him rises, out of surprise. You can tell he's not singing because he thinks his baritone sounds good. He's singing because something's come over him, the way it does me, the way it does lots of people. What appears to have come over him at that memorial is both a sincere holiness and a rare, powerfully particular recognition of the glory and tragic risk of being black and American: He had to sing. In that moment, that song was all he seemed to have. That's not a sensation you go looking for. It finds you. Good historians tend to know the right moment to evaluate a president's place. They wait until the office is behind him, for the right mix of distance and scholarship. In the meantime, Barack Obama's performance as president — meaning the performance he gave in the role of president of the United States — was flawless. Culturally speaking, he didn't use his office to lift up, enlighten and entertain so much as share it. He wrote to David Remnick that he loved Ray Charles's version of "America the Beautiful" because "it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence. " The man knows his country and his Ray. But it's entirely possible to read that quote and catch a chill because Mr. Obama could easily have been writing about himself.