Two women accused of murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with a banned nerve agent pleaded not guilty at the start of a high-profile murder trial in a Malaysian court on Monday. Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, a Vietnamese, are charged with killing Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX, a chemical poison banned by the United Nations, at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. Both women wore bullet-proof vests as they were led into the court on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. They face the death penalty if convicted. Police have also named four North Koreans as suspects in the case and an Interpol red notice, an international alert just short of an arrest warrant, has been issued for the North Koreans, who remain at large. Defence lawyers demanded that the prosecution immediately name the four other suspects, who have also been charged, so they can prepare their case. The charge must be clear, said Siti Aisyah s lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng. Judge Azmi Ariffin dismissed their request. The two women nodded their heads when the charges were read out by two interpreters. They pleaded not guilty. The prosecution said the women s actions showed intent to kill the victim by smearing his face and eyes with VX nerve agent, which a Malaysian post-mortem confirmed had killed Kim. The women told their lawyers they did not know they were participating in a deadly attack and believed they were carrying out a prank for a reality TV show. The prank practice carried out by the first and second accused with the supervision of the four who are still at large was preparation to see through their common intention to kill the victim, lead prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said in his opening statement. The two women sat quietly in the packed courtroom. Siti was dressed in a black floral suit, while Huong wore a white long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. Juliana Idris, who works at the airport, told the court a man later identified as Kim Jong Nam approached her and asked her to take him to a police station. She said the man, who spoke English, told her he had been attacked by a woman from behind ... another one closed his eyes . His hands were shaking a bit, I don t know why, she said. Police Lance Corporal Mohd Zulkarnain Sanudin, who was on duty at the airport, said Juliana had brought Kim Jong Nam to him. He said Kim told him a substance had been wiped on his face. Kim s eyes were red and he could see some liquid on his face, Zulkarnain said. He also said the he had wrongly recorded Kim Jong Nam s nationality as South Korean. The police report I made showed the nationality as South Korean, while on the passport, it was written DPR Korea, whereby I did not know what DPR meant. I was only sure that Korea was South Korea, he told the court. DPRK are the initials for North Korea s official name, the Democratic Republic of North Korea. Other witnesses described how Kim Jong Nam had seizures at the clinic - his eyes rolled upwards and there was drooling of saliva and mucus. Rabiatul Adawiyah Mohd Sofi, a medical assistant, said Kim Jong Nam was at the clinic for just over an hour and moved to a hospital. By the time they arrived at the hospital emergency ward, they could not get a blood pressure reading, she said. There was a high probability that there was either a problem with our monitor or the patient had died, said Rabiatul. The case continues on Tuesday.


House Republicans have taken their first step towards repealing Obamacare, and that step opens the door for them to work toward full repeal within months. They say they ve built a fail-safe in to protect those who may otherwise lose their insurance while they continue dilly-dallying on coming up with an actual replacement delaying implementation of the repeal so they have time to develop their replacement (because the last six years apparently wasn t enough time).Here s a secret: Those people will probably lose their insurance anyway.And not just for the reasons we already know. One massive problem that s not really getting discussed is that Republicans repeal and delay tactic creates too much market uncertainty for risk-based insurance. Republicans have been sowing the seeds of uncertainty for a long time, and they re one of the big reasons insurers like United Healthcare began pulling out of the exchanges despite still raking in billions in net profits.J.B. Silvers, a former health insurance CEO, first explains this while describing the risk corridor program, which was supposed to help offset the risks insurers took when enrolling high-risk people in their programs. He then says: But when the time came to pay up for risk reduction in the Obamacare exchanges, Congress reneged and paid only 12 percent of what was owed to the insurers. So, on top of the fact that the companies had to bear the risk of unknown costs and utilization in the start-up years, which turned out to be higher than they expected, insurers had to absorb legislative uncertainty of whether the rules would be rewritten. He s talking about the payments that were supposed to go out for 2014, after Republicans regained control of both houses of Congress. Insurers risk corridor claims were much higher than their contributions. For FY2015, Congress stipulated that risk corridor payments under Obamacare could not exceed the amount that insurers owed to the program. Thus, they only got 12 percent of what they believe they were promised.Or, to put it another way, they were playing by one set of rules, and then Congress abruptly changed those rules.Now, we can argue till we re blue in the face whether insurers, Congress, Obamacare, or all of them, are responsible for that problem. It won t change the cold, hard fact that Republicans have been working hard on creating uncertainty in the market, and their repeal-with-no-replacement plan just makes that uncertainty much worse.It s worth noting that that s a big reason for why premiums are going up this year, too.So, as Silvers says: And now comes the reality of the repeal and replace initiatives from the Republicans. If the uncertainty of this market was large before with the ACA, it is almost unknowable under whatever comes next. Thus the initial exit of some latecomers, including United Healthcare, and undercapitalized minor entrants, such as nonprofit co-ops, is almost certain to become a flood of firms leaving the exchanges. They have little choice since the risks are too large and the actuarially appropriate rates are still not obvious given the political turmoil and changing rules If we want them to continue to do the good things required by the ACA, we can t make it so uncertain. What this means is that the mechanisms designed to reduce risk and a stable set of operating arrangements must be reaffirmed as core principles of all reform and replace efforts. This shouldn t be hard for market-oriented Republicans, if they can leave behind their political baggage. Blind talk of repeal with no clear way to build confidence among the private insurers, which will be needed in the replace phase, leads to market failure. In short, their idea of a fool-proof repeal is going to backfire horrifically on them. While that might seem like something we can laugh at, it isn t, because millions of Americans will become collateral damage in this mess. Good job, GOP.Featured image by Win McNamee via Getty Images


China s Communist Party opened a meeting on Wednesday to make final preparations for a key party congress later this month, state media said, a five-yearly event where President Xi Jinping is expected to further tighten his grip on power. The seventh plenary session of the party s Central Committee will review draft reports on the work of the party, its discipline and anti-corruption commission, and amendments to be made to the party s constitution, all of which will be delivered at the 19th Party Congress that opens on Oct. 18, the official Xinhua news agency said. The congress will summarize historical progress and precious experiences in advancing socialism with Chinese characteristics gained with Xi at the party s core, Xinhua said. The congress will also thoroughly examine the current international and domestic situation and draw out guidelines and policies that respond to the call of the times, the news agency said, without giving specifics. Details of the speech that Xi, the party s general secretary, will give at the opening session of the congress are closely guarded secrets, although the event is more about ideology than concrete policies. It is unclear how long the plenum will last, but it could be just a single day. It will end with a long communique, issued by Xinhua, that is usually full of party phraseology but could be short on specifics. Last October, the party gave Xi the title of core leader, a significant strengthening of his position ahead of the congress, at which a new Standing Committee, the pinnacle of power in China, will be constituted. The party s constitution will be amended at the end of the congress, likely to include a reference to Xi s thinking or ideology as a guiding party principle. Mao Zedong and the reformist former leader Deng Xiaoping already have their names enshrined in the document, although Xi s two immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, do not.


Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said on Thursday the success of the Syrian ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia depends on whether Moscow decides it is in its interest to follow through with the agreement. "Whether or not this works is really up to the Russians," Clinton told reporters after addressing a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. "It is up to whether or not Vladimir Putin decides that it's time to do what the Russians can do to bring this conflict into a period where there can be the beginning of political discussions, a hoped-for protective zone for people who are under relentless assault form the air, and a commitment to going after the terrorist groups that pose a threat to everyone."


When Theresa May visits Brussels on Friday, EU negotiators will be listening intently for signs the British prime minister is preparing to risk a domestic backlash and raise her offer to secure a Brexit deal in December. European Union officials and diplomats from the other 27 member states involved in the process hope that within a week to 10 days of meeting European Council President Donald Tusk, during a summit with ex-Soviet neighbors, May will deliver movement on three key conditions so that her EU peers can launch a new phase of Brexit negotiations when they meet on Dec. 14-15. I don t know what room for maneuver May has, but what we can see is a willingness to act, one senior EU official told Reuters. Another spoke of efforts to arrange the choreography of a deal over the next three weeks, including an EU-UK joint report pinning down interim accords to unlock talks on trade. I feel the tectonic plates moving now, a diplomat handling Brexit for an EU government said. Time is running out and a failure in the December Council would serve nobody s purpose. There has been only a day of top-level talks between the two lead negotiators since a mid-October summit that dismissed May s call for immediate talks on a future trade agreement. But talks are continuing apace behind the scenes, ahead of a deadline of early December to strike a deal which can then be formalized by the 27 government leaders at the summit. Everyone is talking to everyone already, at all levels, the European Commission s chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters on Thursday when he confirmed that May would meet Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday, Dec. 4. That is two days before envoys from the 27 meet on Dec. 6 to discuss a first draft of the Dec. 14-15 summit conclusions, including, crucially, whether the leaders should accept Britain has made sufficient progress to merit opening trade talks. Hopes in Brussels have been raised by reports in British media that May has secured backing from pro-Brexit hardliners in her cabinet to increase the amount of a financial settlement of what Britain owes to the Union when it leaves in March 2019. If there is a political willingness in Britain, we should be ready, a senior EU official said, while warning that nothing was being taken for granted. May s room for maneuver to cut a deal that would please business while irritating Britons who want a sharper break with Brussels is limited. And Germany and France, the Union s lead powers, have taken a tough line so far. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel distracted at home by a search for a new coalition, May can expect little focus from her to help smooth a deal, several diplomats said. Some in Britain have suggested May could take advantage of Merkel s weakness at home to drive a harder bargain. But EU diplomats argue that Merkel s troubles make it harder for her, and so for the 27, to water down their existing demands. So any brinkmanship around the summit could mean no deal in December. That would create some kind of crisis in negotiations, the second EU official said, noting that time was already short to complete a treaty by late next year to ensure an orderly Brexit. But maybe that is necessary. The sides already believe they are quite close on agreeing the scope of rights for expatriate citizens in Britain and on the continent, though the EU will be particularly looking to pin Britain down to accepting its demands that any agreement be subject to enforcement through the Union s legal system. The third key criterion for moving to Phase Two, an outline agreement on how to avoid the new EU-UK land border disrupting the peace in Northern Ireland, remains a potential stumbling block. Differences of opinion between London and Dublin have been marked this month, worrying EU officials. However, it is the financial settlement that has been the most concerning for the past few months. Officials believe that could be resolved by a combination of May stating clearly that Britain will pay a share after leaving of two major EU budget lines, staff pensions and agreed but undisbursed spending. British press reports, seen in Brussels as planted leaks from May, suggesting she might offer to pay something like 40 billion pounds ($53 billion) have encouraged EU negotiators. While that is well short of the 60 billion euros ($71 billion) the European Commission has mentioned, that was always seen by EU officials as a maximum demand. And they are willing, they say, to help May massage the public messaging of the amount in order to limit the political flak she takes at home. On presentational issues, Barnier is ready to help, not to call things by their real name, an EU official said.


Former President George W. Bush reportedly ripped into Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at a weekend gathering of donors to his brother's presidential campaign, according to a published report Monday. Politico reported that Bush said of Cruz, "I just don't like the guy," at the event, which was held Sunday night in Denver. According to the report, which cited at least six donors who were at the event, Bush said he did not like Cruz's de facto alliance with Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who has notably spared Cruz from the criticism he has ladled onto other members of the 15-candidate Republican field. "He said he found it 'opportunistic' that Cruz was sucking up to Trump and just expecting all of his support to come to him in the end," one donor told Politico when asked to describe Bush's remarks about Cruz. The report added that the former president had been engaging with amiable discussions about the state of the GOP race when Cruz's name came up. "I was like, 'Holy s---, did he just say that?'" the donor told Politico. "I remember looking around and seeing that other people were also looking around surprised." The report also said that Bush warned the donors to not underestimate Cruz's strength in the South and in Texas, where his message of religious liberty is expected to play very well with voters. Cruz, in a written statement put out by the campaign on Tuesday, said he would not be "reciprocating" after the comments. "I have great respect for George W. Bush, and was proud to work on his 2000 campaign and in his administration," he said in the statement. "It's no surprise that President Bush is supporting his brother and attacking the candidates he believes pose a threat to his campaign. I have no intention of reciprocating. I met my wife Heidi working on his campaign, and so I will always be grateful to him." Freddy Ford, a spokesman for George W. Bush, did not deny that the former president had made the disparaging remarks about Cruz when asked to comment by Politico. "The first words out of President Bush's mouth [Sunday] were that Jeb is going to earn the nomination, win the election, and be a great President ... He does not view Senator Cruz as Governor Bush's most serious rival." Ford denied further requests by Fox News to address Bush's reported "I just don't like the guy" remark. Cruz joined George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 1999 as a domestic policy adviser and helped put together the legal team that argued Bush v. Gore before the Supreme Court in the aftermath of the controversial election. He later served as an associate deputy attorney general in the Justice Department before becoming Solicitor General of Texas in 2003. Click for more from Politico. Fox News' Mike Emanuel and Serafin Gomez contributed to this report.


About 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State militants have been moved to a new site north of Mosul, Iraqi authorities confirmed on Monday, dismissing the concerns of aid organizations, who were not warned about the move. They were transported to a safe location with better services, in Tal Keif, under the supervision of the Iraqi forces and specialized committees, said an Iraqi military statement. Foreign aid officials in Iraq said on Sunday they were gravely concerned about the families, who had been held by Iraq since Aug. 30 in the Hammam al-Alil transit camp, south of Mosul. These women and children are extremely vulnerable. Regardless of what their family members may be accused of, they have a right to protection and assistance, the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a statement on Monday. None of the aid groups supporting the families at the camp, including the United Nations, were told in advance about the move, according to the NRC spokeswoman in Iraq, Melany Markham. The women and children were put on buses and taken away, with many leaving personal belongings behind. Aid officials are asking the Iraqi authorities for unfettered access to the families and calling on foreign governments to act quickly on behalf of their citizens. Humanitarian organizations and representatives from their home countries should be allowed to offer to them help, the NRC said. More than 300 of the families came from Turkey, many others from former Soviet states, such as Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Russia, according to preliminary figures from the Iraqi army. Efforts to determine the nationalities of the families continued, said Laila Ali, a spokeswoman for Unicef said. Thereafter, the family tracing and repatriation process is expected to begin. Most of the families had fled to Tal Afar after Iraqi troops pushed Islamic State out of Mosul. Iraqi forces retook Tal Afar, a city of predominantly ethnic Turkmen that produced some of Islamic State s senior commanders, last month. It is the largest group of foreigners linked to Islamic State to be held by Iraqi forces since they began driving the militants from Mosul and other areas in northern Iraq last year, an aid official said. Thousands of foreigners have been fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.


Many people observe Black History Month by learning about important African-American figures in our nation s history or otherwise doing something that isn t horrible then there are Republicans, who have their own ways to celebrate.Donald Trump spent Wednesday hanging out with all the black people he has paid and bribed to like him and having them shower him with compliments. While treating African-Americans as nothing more than subservient praise machines is, oh, let s just say bad, The Donald s friends on the Senate Judiciary Committee spent the early part of theirconfirming lifelong opponent of civil rights Jeff Sessions day as Attorney General (every Democrat voted against him).Sessions confirmation especially on Wednesday or any day during Black History Month was a slap in the face to African-Americans and all who care about equal rights in this country. Many have criticized Republicans for their decision to consider Sessions who was once deemed too racist to be a federal judge because he threw the n-word around and liked calling African-Americans boy at all, but the GOP was perfectly happy to push his nomination through.Following Sessions ascension to a post that, to use terms familiar to him, is just below Grand Wizard, Rep. Barbara Lee took to Twitter to put Trump and his GOP Klavern on blast. Trump says he s honoring #BlackHistoryMonth How? By nominating Jeff Sessions as AG? Or by promoting alt-right leader Steve Bannon? she wrote in one tweet, adding that The Donald is paying lip service to Black History Month while propping up racist Sessions and longtime white supremacist Steve Bannon and their ideas.Trump says he s honoring #BlackHistoryMonth. How? By nominating Jeff Sessions as AG? Or by promoting alt-right leader Steve Bannon? Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017Here s an idea @POTUS : Instead of offering lip service this #BlackHistoryMonth, why not work with @OfficialCBC to end systematic racism? Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017 If you truly want to honor Black History Month, she tells Trump, you should start by apologizing to civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis, whom Trump attacked repeatedly for the entire weekend preceding Martin Luther King Day.President Trump: if you truly want to honor #BlackHistoryMonth, you should start by apologizing to civil rights hero @repjohnlewis. Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017 On 1st day of #BlackHistoryMonth, GOP Senators on Judiciary voted unanimously for Jeff Sessions AG nomination. This is a slap in the face, she added.On 1st day of #BlackHistoryMonth, GOP Senators on Judiciary voted unanimously for Jeff Sessions AG nomination. This is a slap in the face. Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017This is a slap in the face to African-Americans, but we can not expect Trump or his GOP cronies to do anything for African-Americans at all, let alone apologize for the attacks on Lewis or fight any kind of racism. In fact, the man they just confirmed as AG is more likely to continue the GOP s mission of eroding African-Americans civil rights while promoting his and Donald Trump s white supremacist agenda.


The Supreme Court on Monday decided that Oklahoma may continue the use of the controversial sedative midazolam for lethal injections — even after the drug was linked to several botched executions in 2014. The Supreme Court case dealt with the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma. The Lockett execution, which took 43 minutes after experimental lethal injection drugs were administered, led four inmates — one of whom was executed before the Supreme Court decided the issue — to file a lawsuit challenging Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol. The Supreme Court ultimately decided the botched execution, along with other evidence, wasn't adequate proof that midazolam was cruel and unusual punishment. But Oklahoma didn't always use midazolam for executions. The use of the controversial sedative is actually a response to an ongoing lethal injection drug shortage, which has left the future of the death penalty unclear in Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and the 29 other states where executions are legal, and added a new angle to the perennial debate about the morality and effectiveness of capital punishment. Over the past few years, a shortage of sodium thiopental, a key drug in lethal injections, has left states scrambling for alternative ways to execute prisoners and has inspired some to shroud the process in secrecy. The shortage began around 2010, when drug suppliers around the world, including in the US, began refusing to supply drugs for the injections — out of either opposition to the death penalty or concerns about having their products associated with executions. "The drugs were being cut off right and left," Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert at Fordham University, said. "The drugs were being cut off right and left" Hospira Inc. was the sole US supplier of sodium thiopental, according to Denno. But Hospira stopped producing the drug in 2011, after struggling to procure active ingredients for its production and fielding legal threats from authorities in Italy, where the death penalty is vehemently opposed. Some states still managed to import sodium thiopental from shadier overseas sources. But beginning in 2012, the US District Court of the District of Columbia issued several rulings banning imports of the drugs, deciding that the imported supplies didn't meet FDA regulations. As the shortage continued, states turned to other European companies for alternative drugs, such as phenobarbital and propofol, that are typically used as sedatives for surgeries. But these companies — under pressure from a European Union export ban, activists like Reprieve, and foreign governments that prohibit the death penalty — over time refused to supply the drugs. As these companies either stopped supplying drugs or were unable to export to the US, states began to look for new — and sometimes untested — ways to execute prisoners. With pharmaceutical companies out of the picture, states resorted to compounding pharmacies to make the drugs, which until now escaped most regulations since they did small, mostly out-of-sight transactions with individuals, not major customers. The US-based pharmacies began to produce experimental, sometimes secretive cocktails for states' executions. Compounding pharmacies were originally meant to make custom drugs for individual people, not major buyers like state governments, Denno said. As a result, their drug cocktails can often be very shoddy — Georgia stopped an execution because its lethal injection drug was "cloudy" — and have been decried as experimental and dangerous by civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union. But even compounding pharmacies may soon stop providing execution drugs to states. The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists on March 24 announced that it "discourages its members from participating in the preparation, dispensing, or distribution of compounded medications for use in legally authorized executions." Producing lethal injection drugs "is only going to invite further scrutiny" The stance may be a way for compounding pharmacies, which are largely unregulated, to avoid the extra regulatory scrutiny that can come with producing lethal injection drugs. "These compounding pharmacies already have enough of a [public relations] issue," Denno said. Massachusetts, for instance, in 2014 passed a law cracking down on compounding pharmacies after a local company's drugs were implicated in the deaths of more than 60 people. Producing lethal injection drugs, Denno said, "is only going to invite further scrutiny." But instead of stepping up regulations, some death penalty states have adopted measures to shield compounding pharmacies that provide lethal drugs from outside scrutiny. In December, Ohio passed a law that will keep suppliers of lethal drug injections anonymous. John Murphy, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, which supports the law, said last December that the changes are not meant to make the execution process more secretive. "This just protects the identity of the people involved so they don't get harassed, intimidated, or attacked," he said. The drug shortage hasn't only led to concerns about market forces, regulations, and supply and demand. It's also raised important constitutional questions about cruel and unusual punishment, as the shortage has led some states to try experimental and unpredictable drugs for executions. Since 2014, there have been several high-profile botched executions — described in gruesome detail in the press — all of which have involved secretive, experimental uses of midazolam. Here are some of the cases: These botched executions drew criticism and put an unwanted spotlight on the use of experimental lethal drugs, which critics say is a violation of constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Some states, including Ohio and Oklahoma, have delayed further executions as they review their practices. Denno expects these problems to continue as states struggle to replace superior drugs like sodium thiopental. "Every time a state changes to a new drug, it introduces a degree of uncertainty," Denno said. "These drugs aren't the first choice." Botched executions have been around as long the death penalty. About 7 percent of lethal injections and 3 percent of all executions between 1890 and 2010 were botched, according to Austin Sarat's Gruesome Spectacles. Part of the reason states began using lethal injection drugs is because the previously preferred method of execution for many states, electrocution, often had horrifying results, including the eruption of burned flesh and even live fires as prisoners gasped for air and slowly died. "We have really incompetent people doing this" But lethal injections carry problems beyond the drugs used for the procedures that may make them even more prone to being bungled. For one, most doctors — who are likely the most qualified to administer the deadly drugs — won't participate in executions because administering a deadly drug to kill someone would violate professional ethics. In 2010, the American Board of Anesthesiologists voted to revoke the certification of any member who participates in executing a prisoner. As a result, states aren't typically able to bring in the best-trained doctors, particularly anesthesiologists, to administer drugs that are very dangerous when mishandled. "We have really incompetent people doing this," Denno said. Perhaps as a result, lethal injection has always been one of the riskier forms of execution — even before the drug shortage forced states to experiment with alternative substances. In Oklahoma, the doctor and paramedic who participated in Clayton Lockett's botched execution said they received no training, the AP's Sean Murphy reported. The execution team administered needles that weren't long enough for the procedure, and caused what a state official called a "bloody mess" when the doctor tried to set an IV line in Lockett's groin and blood gushed out. In addition to physically botching an execution, it's always possible the state will execute an innocent person. An April 2014 study published in PNAS, a scientific journal, suggested that at least 4 percent of people sentenced to death in the US are likely innocent. At least six people were exonerated of death sentences in 2014, according to a January report from the National Registry of Exonerations. So far, Denno of Fordham University has tracked three states that are moving toward alternatives to lethal injection should they run out of drugs. Tennessee reinstated the possibility of the electric chair, Utah has allowed the firing squad again, and Oklahoma has permitted nitrogen gas. These methods of executions were largely abandoned 50 years ago. After the Supreme Court forced states in 1972 to reform their execution procedures to be less racially discriminatory, states began mostly using lethal injections, as this fantastic chart posted by John West at Quartz shows: States could potentially seek out different drugs to continue using lethal injections and avoid execution methods that are widely seen as more gruesome. But states are also likely wary of repeating the same problems they've experienced with the current batch of drugs. "The same thing is going to happen," Denno said. "This has been a cycle: every time states have tried to do it, they've been cut off." But many of the methods of execution that don't involve injected drugs have major problems. Denno predicted gas executions will likely turn into "a disaster." She said gas has the same issues as lethal injection drugs: it's unclear where states would get the chemicals required for the executions, and whatever chemicals are used may not be suitable for a quick, relatively painless death. It also recalls ghastly memories of World War II, when the Nazis used gas chambers to kill prisoners in death camps. The firing squad is "the quickest, the surest, and you have trained executioners to do it" Electrocution and hanging were abandoned in the first place because they often resulted in botched executions. Electrocutions caused burned skin or live fires during multiple executions, and hangings could go very wrong when the rope broke or the prisoner was decapitated. Both can also take longer than 10 minutes to kill a prisoner. Denno argued the firing squad may turn out to be the most humane of the available options, even above lethal injections. "It's the quickest, the surest, and you have trained executioners to do it," she said. Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center said states are dealing with the reality that there's no humane way of killing someone. "All the methods of execution have problems," Dunham said. "The involuntary termination of another person's life by execution is an inherently violent act." Of course, states may be able to come up with another method entirely — or repeal the death penalty altogether. But at least for now, states appear to be sticking to the traditional ways of executing prisoners. Capital punishment persists through drug shortages and botched executions because it still has strong public support in the US, which puts pressure on lawmakers to find alternatives to lethal injection drugs rather than abolishing the death penalty in the 32 states where it's still legal. America's support for the death penalty stands in sharp contrast with Europe, where only Belarus, a pro-Moscow dictatorship, still allows capital punishment. An October 2014 Gallup poll found 63 percent of Americans support the death penalty, while 33 percent oppose it. Support for the death penalty gets a little more complicated when Americans are asked about specific methods of execution. An NBC News poll from May 2014 found nearly two-thirds of voters support alternatives to lethal injection if the needle isn't an option. But most US adults told YouGov in a February 2015 survey that the gas chamber, electric chair, firing squad, hanging, and beheading are cruel and unusual punishment, while lethal injection isn't. Support for the death penalty also varies from state to state. Executions are much more culturally and legally ingrained in the South and, to a lesser extent, the West than in the rest of the country. Eighteen states have abolished the death penalty, most of which are in the Northeast and Midwest, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. So while popular support generally pressures lawmakers to find alternatives to lethal injections, that's not necessarily true in all parts of the country, and most US adults don't appear to support all methods of execution. Regardless of what lawmakers do, the number of executions has been dropping for years. A report from the Death Penalty Information Center found the number of executions hit a 20-year low in 2014. But even if that's the case, the death penalty as a whole remains very popular and culturally ingrained in the US — and that's led states to seek alternatives like experimental drugs, the firing squad, and nitrogen gas rather than abolishing executions altogether.


Ever wonder what's on the mind of today's most notable people? Well, don't miss our unbelievable roundup of the best and most talked about quotes of the day: " Toads are dry and frogs are wet. What more do I have to say? " —Bindi Irwin On telling frogs and toads apart " When I was in college, I would sometimes run around campus and frantically shout for everyone to go to the river because someone was drowning. It would really get people's attention, and we'd all run to the river. Then in the middle of the river would be a big box with the word 'SOCIETY' written on the side of it that I had planted there. I'd then look at everyone and go 'What are you going to do?' " —Moby On why he was kicked out of school " When I was a kid, my father would point to our television and say, 'Son, one day you are going to be inside of that thing telling everyone about the latest Bruno Mars dance.' " —Willie Geist


World War 3 is on the Horizon 10/30/2016 In today's mini-doc, we explain the implications of the U.S. Election and why World War 3 is on the Horizon. 10/27/2016 TRUTH REVOLT http://youtu.be/PsVNKmb6jEc There's a lot of accusations going around that the 2016 election is r ... Netflix Ceo: TV's Future includes Hallucination Pills 10/27/2016 INDEPENDENT The future of TV might everyone taking hallucinogenic drugs, according to the head of Netflix. The thr ...


Tweet Home » Headlines » World News » Get Ready For Civil Unrest: Most Americans Are Concerned About Election Violence  There is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton. Voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, it may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.  From Michael Snyder :  Could we see violence no matter who wins on November 8th? Let's hope that it doesn't happen, but as you will see below, anti-Trump violence is already sweeping the nation. If Trump were to actually win the election, that would likely send the radical left into a violent post-election temper tantrum unlike anything that we have ever seen before.  Alternatively, there is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton. And as I showed yesterday, it appears that voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, that also may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.  At this moment there is less than two weeks to go until November 8th, and a brand new survey has found that a majority of Americans are concerned "about the possibility of violence" on election day…  A 51% majority of likely voters express at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day; one in five are "very concerned." Three of four say they have confidence that the United States will have the peaceful transfer of power that has marked American democracy for more than 200 years, but just 40% say they are "very confident" about that.  More than four in 10 of Trump supporters say they won't recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn't have won fair and square.  But many on the left are not waiting until after the election to commit acts of violence. On Wednesday, Donald Trump's star on the Walk of Fame was smashed into pieces by a man with a sledgehammer and a pick-ax…  Donald Trump took a lot of hits today, and not just in the Presidential race. With less than two weeks to go before America decides if the ex- Apprentice host will pull off a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Famewas destroyed early Wednesday morning by a man dressed as a city construction worker and wielding a sledgehammer and pick-ax in what looks to be a Tinseltown first.  And there were two other instances earlier this year when Donald Trump's star was also vandalized. One came in January, and the other happened in June…  This is of course not the first time the GOP candidate's star has been attacked or defaced since Trump announced his White House bid in summer 2015. The most extreme measure was a reverse swastika being sprayed on the star at 6801 Hollywood Blvd in late January. In June this summer, a mute sign was painted on Trump's star in a seemingly protest against the antagonistic language and policies some have accused Trump of promoting and reveling in during the campaign. In both cases, Trump's star was quickly cleaned and back as new within a day.  We have seen anti-Trump violence on the east coast as well. Earlier this month, someone decided to firebomb the Republican Party headquarters in Orange County, North Carolina. On the building next to the headquarters, someone spray-painted "Nazi Republicans get out of town or else" along with a swastika.  There have also been other disturbing incidents of anti-Trump violence all over the nation in recent days. A recent Lifezette article put together quite a long list, and the following is just a short excerpt from that piece…  On Oct. 15 in Bangor, Maine, vandals spray-painted about 20 parked cars outside a Trump rally. Trump supporter Paul Foster, whose van was hit with white paint, told reporters, "Why can't they do a peaceful protest instead of painting cars, all of this, to make their statement?"  Around Oct. 3, a couple of Trump supporters were assaulted in Zeitgeist, a San Francisco bar, after they were allegedly refused service for expressing support for Trump, GotNews reports. "The two Trump supporters were attacked, punched, and chased into the street by 'some thugs' that a barmaid called out from the back." Lilian Kim of ABC 7 Bay Area tweeted a photo of the men, in which one was wearing a Trump T-shirt and the other was wearing a "Blue Lives Matter" shirt.  On Sept. 28 in El Cajon, California, an angry mob at a Black Lives Matter protest beat 21-year-old Trump supporter Feras Jabro for wearing a "Make America Great Again" baseball cap. The assault was broadcast live using the smartphone app Periscope.  There is a move to get Trump supporters to wear red on election day, but in many parts of America that might just turn his supporters into easy targets. Let's certainly hope that we don't see the kind of violent confrontations at voting locations that many experts are anticipating.  Of course there are also many on the right that are fighting mad, and a Hillary Clinton victory under suspicious circumstances may be enough to push them over the edge.  For example, this week former Congressman Joe Walsh said that he is "grabbing my musket" if Donald Trump loses the election…  Former Rep. Joe Walsh appeared to call for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president.  Walsh, a former tea party congressman from Illinois who is now a conservative talk radio host, tweeted, "On November 8th, I'm voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket. You in?"  And without a doubt, many ordinary Americans are stocking up on guns and ammunition just in case Hillary Clinton is victorious. The following comes from USA Today…  "Since the polls are starting to shift quite a bit towards Hillary Clinton, I've been buying a lot more ammunition," says Rick Darling, 69, an engineer from Harrison Township, in Michigan's Detroit suburbs. In a follow-up phone interview after being surveyed, the Trump supporter said he fears progressives will want to "declare martial law and take our guns away" after the election.  Today America is more divided than I have ever seen it before, and the mainstream media is constantly fueling the hatred and the anger that various groups feel toward one another.  Ironically, Donald Trump has been working very hard to bring America together. In fact, he is solidly on track to win a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican presidential candidate since 1960.  If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats win on November 8th, things will not go well for Hillary Clinton's political enemies. The Clintons used the power of the White House to go after their enemies the first time around, and Hillary is even more angry and more bitter now than she was back then.  And the radical left is very clear about who their enemies are. This is something that I discussed on national television earlier this month…  As I write this, it is difficult for me to even imagine how horrible a Hillary Clinton presidency would be.  But at this point that appears to be the most likely outcome.  Out of all the candidates that we could have chosen, the American people are about to put the most evil one by far into the White House.  Perhaps Donald Trump can still pull off a miracle and we can avoid that fate, but time is rapidly slipping away and November 8th will be here before we know it. On Sale At SD Bullion… This Week Only…


This has been a rough year for pollsters and pundits, with prediction after prediction going painfully awry. Even those supposedly unflappable data journalists have found themselves stepping in it. But it's not just the journalists and pollsters. Since I'm a professor of statistics as well as a blogger who often comments on academic papers that I think misuse numbers, I have a front-row seat to some of the least persuasive academic takes on politics and elections. And it's been a big year for bad studies. In journalism and polling, premature obituaries of Trump have been one common problem. In July 2015, the New York Times's Nate Cohn remarked on "a shift that will probably mark the moment when Trump's candidacy went from boom to bust." (That was a reference to Trump crudely dismissing the war record of John McCain, the former Republican presidential nominee.) "His support will erode," Cohn wrote confidently, "as the tone of coverage shifts from publicizing his anti-establishment and anti-immigration views … to reflecting the chorus of Republican criticism of his most outrageous comments and the more liberal elements of his record." Whoops. Only a month later, famed number cruncher Nate Silver gave Trump a 2 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination. A couple of months after that, Gallup made the historic announcement that the organization would no longer do horse race–style election polling. You can see why this might be a smart time to get out of the predictions game. I'd love to claim that I'm above all this myself, but really I too had no idea what would happen during the primary season. Whenever anyone asked me, I'd point them to an article I wrote in 2011 explaining why primaries are hard to predict. In short, in the general election voters have months to make their decisions, the choice is between two candidates who are ideologically distinct, and most voters can rely on party cues. In contrast, primaries come in a rushed sequence, competing candidates tend to be similar in ideology, and (of course) they come from the same party. And with multiple candidates comes the opportunity for strategic voting (casting a vote for someone you dislike to defeat someone you dislike even more), which is a hard thing to model. In recent years we have seen claims that political attitudes and preferences were determined by menstrual cycles and smiley face icons In short, I avoided making any embarrassing predictions about primary election winners only by the tactic of avoiding making predictions, period — an option that was not so available to the Nates Cohn and Silver, who were expected to make real-time predictions (and who, to their credit, examined their errors afterward). But academia has had no shortage of errant "findings" as well. This year, perhaps more than others, the internet has been swarming with conspiracy theories — some of these defended with statistical arguments. In June, various people pointed me to a paper by Axel Geijsel and Rodolfo Cortes Barragan, graduate students at Tilburg University and Stanford, respectively, with the portentous title "Are we witnessing a dishonest election? A between state comparison based on the used voting procedures of the 2016 Democratic Party Primary for the Presidency of the United States of America." (Yes, indeed: that presidency.) The paper, issued before the primary race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was decided, made the case that Sanders tended to win in states where electronic voting could be double-checked with a paper trail. Clinton, suspiciously — or "suspiciously" — tended to win when there was no paper trail. Moreover, Geijsel and Barragan wrote, the inaccuracy of exit polling supposedly rose in states without a paper trail, and the official results seemed biased toward Clinton. The paper itself did not convince me, as there can be all sorts of differences between different states, and there's no reason to pick just one of these factors and give it a causal interpretation. It's what we call an observational comparison. You never know, fraud could always happen, but the paper supplied no useful evidence that this difference was the one driving the election results. (Not that you'd need an explanation as to why a 74-year-old socialist fails to win a major party nomination in the United States.) But if going viral among Bernie followers counted in academia, these students would have tenure already. Closer to the mainstream, in June, economics professors Ray Fisman and Andrea Prat, of Boston University and Columbia, posted a piece in Slate claiming that Fox News support for Donald Trump "could erase a 12-percentage-point Democratic lead in the popular vote." I'm skeptical that this number is anything close to reasonable. After looking at the cited study, by professors Gregory Martin (political science, Emory) and Ali Yurukoglu (Stanford Business School), it seems to me that Fisman and Prat improperly extrapolated an estimate that was already probably too high. Martin and Yurukoglu estimated that watching Fox News an extra 2.5 minutes a day increased a voter's probability of voting Republican by 0.3 percentage points. But it's not reasonable to assume that if the time watching the channel continued to grow, the shift in vote preference would continue to be strong and linear — all the way to 12 percent! In addition, while I trust that the authors found what they reported, there is a well-known tendency for small but variable effects to be overestimated in this sort of statistical study. In general, estimates near zero are discarded and high estimates are reported. We call this the "statistical significance filter," which can turn weak results into robust-seeming ones. Regarding partisan news sources, I have more trust in a study by political scientists Dan Hopkins and Jonathan Ladd of Georgetown University, who analyze data from a 2000 pre-election poll and find a positive effect of Fox News on support for George W. Bush, but only for Republicans and independents. In summarizing this study, Hopkins writes that media influence "fosters political polarization. For Republicans and pure independents, Fox News access in 2000 reinforced GOP loyalties." Not a lot of room for a 12 percent swing in that claim. The next month came a piece, based on work by the research psychologist Robert Epstein — Epstein also publicized it last year — called "How Google Could Rig the 2016 Election." It claimed that "Google's search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more — up to 80 percent in some demographic groups — with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated. … Given that many elections are won by small margins, this gives Google the power, right now, to flip upwards of 25 percent of the national elections worldwide." Quite a claim. The numbers, however, came from a highly artificial set of lab experiments in which participants were asked questions about unfamiliar political candidates after being shown unrealistically rigged search results. The researchers put extremely biased articles favoring one candidate on page one, moderately biased articles on page two, and so on, so participants had to go to pages four and five of a five-page search to find anything strongly favoring the other candidate. Epstein then compounded his exaggerations by claiming, ridiculously, that the real-world impact of Google on elections would "undoubtedly be larger" than in his loaded experiments. In fact, the real presidential election is not being held in an isolated lab: Voters have many sources of information about Clinton and Trump, beyond those found in (hypothetically) rigged search results. (Full disclosure: Some of my research is funded by Google.) And it's still only early September! Just wait till next month, when just about any election-related study will get 15 minutes of fame. In recent years we have seen claims that political attitudes and preferences were determined by menstrual cycles, smiley faces displayed near survey questions for subliminally short durations, and the mood swings caused by the results of college football games (really). All of these studies struck me as flawed, either in design or in the analysis of the data. (Follow the links for more details about my doubts.) I'm not saying that these studies shouldn't have been done (well, in most cases). Researchers should be free to try out all sorts of outside-the-box ideas, and, indeed, in some of these cases I'm not criticizing the studies so much as the accompanying hype. But respected news organizations should think twice about dramatic claims about voting and elections, even if they are published in reputable scientific journals. When it comes to research, election season is silly season, and there always seems to be room for one more story about how irrational those voters are. Who knows what else they'll come up with before November 8? Andrew Gelman is a professor of statistics and political science and director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University. He blogs at Statistical Modeling.


The Trump administration intends to unveil this week a plan to trim regulations it believes constrain U.S. manufacturing growth, potentially affecting environmental permits, worker safety and labor rules, an administration official said. The U.S. Commerce Department's regulations "hit list" recommendations follow more than three months of study and consultation with industry on ways to streamline regulations and ease burdens on manufacturing firms. A Trump administration official with knowledge of the recommendations to be sent to the White House said the Environmental Protection Agency's complex permitting rules will be a key focus, echoing comments to Reuters by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month. The 171 public comments submitted by companies and industry groups offer a strong hint to priorities for Commerce's streamlining efforts, with numerous industry groups and firms complaining that EPA air quality permit rules for new facilities are often redundant. The report will analyze the submissions and "will identify a lot of problems and lay out ways to take responsible actions," said the official, who declined to be identified by name. The process has looked at many regulations finalized under Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama. A common demand from industry was that the Trump administration should reject a planned tightening of ozone rules under the U.S. Clean Air Act's National Ambient Air Quality Standards, with several groups arguing this would expose them to increased permitting hurdles for new facilities, raising costs. 3M Co (MMM.N) said other permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act contained "overlapping rules, redundant requirements, conflicts between rules and undue complexity." The National Association of Manufacturers said the EPA's review requirements for new sources of emissions such as factories can add $100,000 in costs for modeling air quality to a new facility and delay factory expansions by 18 months. It added that EPA should find ways to ease burdens for smaller projects and smaller firms. Also drawing complaints from construction groups and iron foundries is an incoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule reducing by 80 percent the amount of crystalline silica dust that can be inhaled. The dust, common on construction sites, can cause lung cancer, according to OSHA, but industry groups say reducing it to those levels will be prohibitively expensive. "To meet these much lower levels, new engineering controls and other measures will become necessary within the roofing industry," said the National Roofing Contractors Association. Trump has already taken steps to roll back some not fully completed Obama-era environmental regulations such as restrictions on coal-fired power plants and a clean water rule greatly restricting runoff into small streams. But the Commerce list may target some rules already on the books. "We are at the outset of what we think will be a very intense deregulatory agenda from the Trump team," said Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate at Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group. "We are concerned that they are looking to gut regulations that benefit workers and benefit consumers." Another OSHA rule that drew industry complaints is one that further reduces worker exposure to beryllium, another potential carcinogen, that became effective on May 20 after a decade-long rulemaking effort. Manufacturing groups including auto parts makers have also targeted labor rules that make it easier for unions to organize workers, expand the number of employees eligible for overtime and govern the reporting of workplace injuries. The range of industry complaints is vast. Mining giant Freeport-McMoRan (FCX.N) argued that planned EPA financial responsibility requirements for hard rock mining operations costing billions of dollars were based on inadequate study and "will have disastrous consequences for the mining industry." Guitar maker Taylor Guitars said that permits needed from the Fish and Wildlife Service for mother-of-pearl used to decorate instruments was unnecessarily raising its costs. "This declaration requirement does not seem to serve any conservation or other purpose. The shell is not a species that is protected under law," the company said.


U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his choices to lead U.S. attorney offices in California, Maryland, Connecticut, Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana, the White House said in a statement. The White House said Trump will nominate John Anderson for U.S. attorney for New Mexico; John Durham for Connecticut; Brandon Fremin for the Middle District of Louisiana; Robert Kyoung Hur for Maryland; McGregor Scott for the Eastern District of California; Joseph Brown for the Eastern District of Texas; and Ryan Patrick for the Southern District of Texas. The nominations are subject to Senate approval.


(Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the .) Good evening. Here's the latest. _____ 1. Funerals began for some of the 41 victims of a suicide bombing at Istanbul's main airport on Tuesday. The airport also reopened and the city appeared determined to get back to business as usual. Turkey, which faces terrorist threats from both Islamic State militants and Kurdish groups, has endured 14 major attacks in the past year. The government blames the Islamic State for this one, although it has not claimed responsibility. _____ 2. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain returned to London from a European Union summit meeting, leaving the leaders of the other 27 member countries to discuss Britain's decision to exit. Candidates to replace Mr. Cameron when he steps down this fall have begun to come forward, and talk of an early general election is growing. Juan Jasso, above, a who drew attention after video captured him enduring xenophobic insults in Manchester, said he was actually in favor of Britain's leaving the E. U. _____ 3. There's one thing Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump seem to agree on: toughening trade policies to protect American jobs. The two presidential contenders are deadlocked, according to a new poll, and each has the potential to draw voters from the opposite party. We look at how Mr. Trump has shifted his stances on issues, usually with few political consequences. _____ 4. Accusations surfaced on Wednesday that the Trump Institute, a education business to which Mr. Trump lent his name and likeness, plagiarized materials from an obscure real estate manual in 2005. (The institute's owners were a couple accused of fraud.) The complaint comes as lawsuits from another of Mr. Trump's forays into education, Trump University, cast a shadow over his presidential campaign. _____ 5. Mexico, Canada and the United States will use sources to generate half their electric power by 2025, their leaders announced at a summit meeting in Canada. Marketed as a gathering of the "three amigos," the meeting of President Obama, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico also served as a farewell of sorts for Mr. Obama and a debut for Mr. Trudeau. _____ 6. The extradition of the Mexican drug kingpin known as El Chapo has stalled. A lawyer for the drug lord, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who escaped from prison twice in Mexico, said two appeals filed this week could take years to resolve. The decision to extradite Mr. Guzmán to the United States, where he faces charges in multiple jurisdictions, was made shortly after he was recaptured in January. _____ 7. Changes are coming to your Facebook news feed, and they aren't good for publishers. (Ahem.) Expect more updates from your friends and family members, and fewer links posted by news media sites. Facebook says it's concerned that the growth of publisher posts is making it harder for users to connect with people they know. _____ 8. Wimbledon served up a match on Wednesday, pitting Marcus Willis, who is ranked 772nd, against the Roger Federer, above right. Federer won. But Willis, who teaches tennis at a boat club in England, captured the hearts of fans and received a standing ovation from the crowd. "It was a pleasure to play against him," Federer said. _____ 9. William Shakespeare was a social climber. Previously unknown records shed new light on the playwright's pursuit of a coat of arms on behalf of his father, which would have cemented his own status as a gentleman. They also rebut the idea that Shakespeare wasn't the author of the works attributed to him. _____ 10. Mermaid schools, which have been teaching girls in the United States how to swim with a tail for quite some time, are spreading to France. The teacher who began classes in that country said 500 people took her introductory course in Marseille, and she has plans to expand. Swim on, mermaids. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don't miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here's last night's briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.


Wednesday in Ranchos Palos Verdes, CA at the annual Code Conference, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the barrage of "fake news" and hacked emails released during the 2016 presidential campaign had to have been from the Russians and "guided by Americans. " Clinton said, "I think it's fair to ask, how did that actually influence the campaign, and how did they know what messages to deliver? Who told them? Who were they coordinating with, and colluding with?" Clinton continued, "The Russians in my opinion — and based on intelligence and counterintelligence people I have talked to — could not have known best how to weaponize that information unless they had been guided … Guided by Americans. " When asked if she believed the campaign of President Donald Trump could have been involved she said, "Yes, I am leaning Trump. I think it's pretty hard not to. " Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN


Wednesday morning, Donald Trump started his day off just like any normal bizarre despot, with tweets celebrating the world s fear and outrage at his nuclear threats toward North Korea. He retweeted Fox & Friends on Twitter no less than three times for their breathless coverage of his manly escapades. But in the middle of his bluster, Trump forgot once again that the internet is a forever place, where no facts are ever lost, except to the swirling vortex of a Trump supporter s mind.Perhaps he was relying on that very fact that his supporters will believe anything he says when he made a claim about his first order as president. In a pair of tweets continuing the theme of the day, Trump asserted that he was responsible for the modernization of our nuclear program:My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017 Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017Unfortunately for Trump, he s wrong on two counts. Not only was that not his first order that was on Obamacare but it wasn t even him that began the renovation and modernization process. That would be the guy before him. Ben Rhodes, the former foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, was quick to point out Trump s lie:It's literally impossible for Trump to have changed our nuclear arsenal in 6 months. Alarming thing to lie about. https://t.co/9cizhVLJAU Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 9, 2017So we all have to rally around the leader because he decided to threaten North Korea with nuclear destruction. Get ready for more of this. https://t.co/P5STDMVWMy Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 9, 2017Boasting about the size of our nuclear arsenal and sending aides out to demand we rally around the leader is chilling. And it's only month 7 Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 9, 2017It s not the first time Trump has lied about things he s done, and it certainly won t be the last. But the fact that this is a lie about nukes makes it a little more alarming and indicates that Trump truly doesn t understand the gravity of the situation. Already, we re seeing reports from aides saying that Trump wasn t actually serious in making his nuclear threats. But this isn t something to be taken lightly.What s more, there s plenty of reason to be concerned about the very first thing Trump did do regarding our nuclear arsenal, in case anyone s forgotten. He put a guy he beat in the primary by calling him a dumbass in charge of it.


U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he had made significant progress on trade issues during a fruitful trip across Asia that saw governments roll out red carpets like nobody has ever seen . We ve made some very big steps with respect to trade, far bigger than anything you know, Trump told reporters in Manila on the sidelines of a summit with leaders of Southeast Asian and East Asian nations. He did not give details of his achievements on trade matters during a tour that took him to Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam before his last leg in the Philippines capital. He said a statement would be issued from the White House on Wednesday about North Korea, and on trade, key issues of a trip he described as fruitful. It was red carpet like nobody, I think, has probably ever seen, he said. In Vietnam at the weekend, Trump and leaders of Pacific Rim nations agreed to address unfair trade practices and market- distorting subsidies , a statement that bore the imprint of Trump s efforts to reshape the global trade landscape. His America First vision has upset a traditional consensus favoring multinational trade pacts that China now champions. On the sidelines of the Vietnam meeting, 11 countries kept alive a Trans Pacific trade deal whose future was thrown into doubt when Trump withdrew from it in the name of protecting American jobs. Chinese President Xi Jinping told the summit in Vietnam that Asia-Pacific nations must uphold multilateralism , countering Trump s message that the United States would stay out of trade deals that surrender its sovereignty. Trump, by contrast, blasted the World Trade Organization and multilateral trade deals during his tour. Some analysts expect tougher U.S. action may be imminent to fight trade imbalances with China exacerbated by its state-led economic model.


In Texas, Alabama and elsewhere a number of clerks and judges who stated their opposition to gay marriage have thrown up roadblocks to the unions, extending the fight over same-sex weddings two months after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. Galvanizing opponents of gay marriage, Kim Davis, a county clerk in rural Kentucky, this week was jailed for her refusal to issue marriage licenses on the basis that same-sex unions conflict with her Christian beliefs. Others with the power to issue marriage licenses say they would be willing to follow suit, including Alabama Probate Judge Nick Williams. "Absolutely, I feel the same way. This is a cause worth standing up for," said Williams, who ordered his deputies in Washington County not to issue any licenses at all since the court's June decision. The fight has made Davis a martyr-like figure for religious conservatives who argue she is being jailed for her religious beliefs, a view espoused by several Republican presidential candidates. But for legal experts and gay marriage advocates, the issue is clear. Gay marriage is the law of the land and public servants are bound to uphold the decision of the justices. "In this big country, it's not surprising that there have been a handful of isolated instances of acting out and foot-dragging," said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, a same-sex marriage advocate. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against Davis, said it knows of only two counties in Texas that have not confirmed whether they will issue same-sex marriage licenses. "We are not going to discuss marriage policy over the phone. If a couple comes in to apply, we will discuss it at that time," said Molly Criner, a clerk in Irion County, which has about 1,600 people located 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Austin. Criner is one of several public officials with the power to issue marriage licenses who stands against gay marriage for religious grounds, and has yet to face a challenge. In Irion County, no same-sex couples have applied and no same-sex licenses have been issued. "To keep my oath to uphold the Constitution, I must reject this ruling that I believe is lawless," she was quoted as saying by Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian religious advocacy organization that said it would back her legally. The group, which also supports Davis, said it represents other county clerks who have yet to face challenges. It is not naming them. "We have been contacted by other clerks in Kentucky. We've been contacted by other clerks in other parts of the country," said Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver, the attorney for Kim Davis. The fight has not been isolated to socially conservative southern states, all of which had bans on same-sex marriage. In left-leaning Oregon, Marion County Circuit Court Judge Vance Day is facing an ethics review over his refusal to perform same-sex marriages. On Thursday, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission approved Day's request to set up a Legal Expense Trust Fund to raise money for his defense. "I'm the elected probate judge and that's my decision. Thank you," said Alabama's Geneva County Probate Judge Fred Hamic, before hanging up his phone. That interpretation in Alabama largely took hold after U.S. District Judge Callie Granade, of the southern district of Alabama, overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage in January. The Association of County Commissions of Alabama in Montgomery said that up to 12 counties are not issuing any marriage licenses. That includes Washington County, where Williams, the probate judge, said he spoke with Davis for 10 minutes the day before she was ordered into custody. "I asked her if she was prepared for whichever the way the judge ruled and she said yes. She was very much at peace," said Williams. The fight could also return to Kentucky. Casey Davis, who is no relation to Kim Davis, serves as the clerk for Casey County, which is not issuing any marriage licenses. Attempts to reach Casey Davis were unsuccessful. Whitley County, Kentucky Clerk Kay Schwartz did not respond to repeated calls and on Friday was on vacation. Her office previously said they were issuing traditional marriage licenses for men and women, but no one had asked for a same-sex license. In the end, all counties will be issuing the licenses because it is the law of the land, said Wolfson of Freedom to Marry. "And this sideshow will soon be over," he said.


Bernie Sanders visited the United States-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona to witness one area that will be most affected by U.S. immigration policy. Sanders then spoke to a large crowd about his time listening to the stories of immigrants and the need to create a reality-based immigration policy that puts compassion first. As I have traveled around this country and talked to immigrant families, and particularly Latino immigrant families, I am struck by the fear and sadness that grips so many of them, Sanders said following the visit. Fathers or mothers or both sent out of the country having to leave their minor children with relatives or guardians here in the United States. A U.S. service member whose spouse was deported. A 12-year-old boy who longs to be reunited with his mother. This human suffering has got to end. That is why I am here today. During the event, Sanders delivered blistering remarks aimed towards Donald Trump and the Republican presidential candidate s incredulous plan to build a giant border wall. The most bizarre part of Trump s plan is to have the construction of this wall be paid for by the Mexican government. Sanders calls out Trump s bigoted remarks against Mexicans, including the time Trump implied that immigrants from Mexico are rapists. I would hope that all of us are rightly appalled by the divisive bigoted and xenophobic comments of people like Donald Trump. Trump s labeling of Mexicans as rapists and criminals repulses all Americans of good will. Mexico is our neighbor, which we have extremely important relations with. To insult an entire nation is not befitting of anybody, let alone a candidate for president of the United States. Citing Pope Francis, Sanders said that Pope Francis has said we should be building more bridges, not more walls. Pope Francis is right. You can watch video footage of the event below.Featured image from video screenshot


They have to flee the poverty, goyim. Being poor is an international war crime.  The game, faggots: you just lost it.  Politico :  Theo Francken, Belgium's secretary of state for migration, said he will appeal a court ruling that the country must grant a visa to a Syrian family wanting to apply for asylum in Belgium, according to local broadcaster VRT.  The Belgian Court of First Instance ruled the state must pay a penalty of €4,000 for each day the visa is delayed.  The Syrian family of four is seeking an official visa to come to Belgium without traveling by sea. They claim they will apply for asylum as soon as they are in the country.  Secretary of State Theo Francken called the decision "insane" and said he will appeal. Currently, people can only apply for asylum in a country if they are actually on its territory.  "It will open the door to thousands of people," Francken said. "If we allow people to come to Belgium with a visa to apply for asylum, the whole system will collapse."  roflmao and he'll be called a racist for this. Theo Francken be all like "damn, dawg."  And I don't think an EU court could possibly disagree with this decision.  Because of course, if unlimited millions of people are allowed to take boats into Europe, why should they not be allowed to fly-in on airplanes?  No idea why Francken says "thousands" though. This is several billion people that it opens the door to. The EU has treated as valid asylum claims from every country in Africa, the Middle East and West Asia. Of course, not all of them are eventually approved, but no one is ever deported (except Albanians lel). They can just keep appealing the decision, and even when the appeals fail and they're issued a deportation order, they are still allowed to loaf around on welfare because there is no mechanism to go find them, arrest them, and ship them out.  So basically, anyone from any African or Moslem country who can afford a plane ticket will be issued an EU visa which will effectively allow them to come live in Europe on welfare forever.  It is obviously insane, but it was insane for Merkel to invite these billions to take boats to Greece and walk across Europe. Everything that happens anymore is insane, so "this is insane" is no longer a valid argument for anything. The only accepted argument is "this is racist"– there is no accepted counterargument.  So basically: it's time to spread your legs wider, Europe, because this gang-bang just got a lot more crowded. Note that that metaphor applies in a literal sense to your daughters.


U.S. President Donald Trump has found at least one Democrat willing to entertain his tax reform pitch: Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who plans to travel with him on Air Force One on Wednesday to a tax event in her home state. Trump is trying to persuade Democrats to support his push to cut tax rates and simplify the tax code this year, a plan critical to bolstering Republicans heading into 2018 midterm elections, but which so far has included few details. The White House plans to put Trump out on the road on a near-weekly basis this fall to sell his plan, which faces huge obstacles in Congress. Republicans control Congress but have so far been unable to pass Trump's top legislative priorities. He has appealed to Democrats to help, but lawmakers from the party are furious about his recent comments about white supremacists and his move on Tuesday to end a program that gave work permits to some immigrants brought illegally into the United States as children. Last week, Trump made his first major tax reform speech in Missouri, urging voters to reject that state's Democratic U.S. senator, Claire McCaskill, in the 2018 midterm elections unless she supports tax reform. Similarly, Wednesday's speech is aimed in part at Heitkamp, a Democrat up for re-election in a Republican stronghold, who has been willing to buck her party in the past. "Both of the Reagan tax cuts were passed by a Democratic majority in the House (of Representatives), a Democratic speaker, and the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate, including a Democratic senator from the great state of North Dakota," Trump will say, according to excerpts released by the White House. On Friday, Heitkamp said both parties need to work together on tax reform, which she views as critical for businesses and families in her state. "I hope President Trump uses this visit to address the kitchen-table issues that keep the North Dakotans I've met with across the state this past month up at night," Heitkamp said in a statement. Trump's political push on tax reform will get an assist from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbying group, which is set to begin a multimillion-dollar, multi-state campaign in New York on Thursday, a Republican familiar with the plan said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The campaign will be aimed at Republican members of Congress and some members of the conservative Freedom Caucus. "It talks about the need for a sense of urgency, the need to change tax loopholes, the need for family tax relief, and it's got to happen now," the official said.


Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump's new communications director, said on Sunday that one of his first tasks will be to halt leaks and that staff on his team would be fired if the leaks do not stop. "If we don't get the leaks stopped, I am a businessperson, and so I will take dramatic action to stop those leaks," Scaramucci said on Fox News Sunday. Scaramucci told CBS's Face the Nation that leakers are "actually un-American," and that he would lead a team meeting on Monday. The hiring of Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier and Republican fundraiser, brings a combative style to the White House press office as President Donald Trump lashes out at probes into whether his campaign colluded with Russians during the 2016 campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into any relationships or contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russia during the election, but Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing by federal investigators. White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who became a household name in his short and turbulent drama-filled term, quickly resigned after Scaramucci's appointment. Sarah Sanders, Spicer's deputy, was promoted to press secretary. Scaramucci was forced to deal with leaks on his first days on the job after The Washington Post reported last week that Trump and his legal team had examined presidential powers to pardon aides, family members and potentially himself. Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday that leaks against the administration are a "crime" and that he has "complete power to pardon." Scaramucci said Trump only tweeted about the issue of pardons in reaction to the leak. Trump "doesn't like the fact that he has a two-minute conversation in the Oval Office or in his study and that people are running out and leaking," about the administration examining legal options of pardons, Scaramucci, who reports directly to Trump, said on CBS. "There's no need for him to pardon anybody," he said. And Scaramucci, who has at times supported Democrats, spent part of the weekend deleting some of his own past tweets on subjects that run counter to Trump administration policy, such as taking action on climate change. Explaining the deletions, Scaramucci wrote on Twitter that "past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction."


Sent: Monday, March 30, 2015 9:58:55 AM To: Amitabh Desai Cc: Jon Davidson; Margaret Steenburg; Jake Sullivan; Dan Schwerin; Huma Abedin; John Podesta Subject: Re: Victor Pinchuk  Team HRC – we'll get back to you on this  On Mar 30, 2015, at 9:53 AM, Amitabh Desai <ami@presidentclinton.com> wrote:>> Victor Pinchuk is relentlessly following up (including this morning) about a meeting with WJC in London or anywhere in Europe. Ideally he wants to bring together a few western leaders to show support for Ukraine, with WJC probably their most important participant. If that's not palatable for us, then he'd like a bilat with WJC.>> If it's not next week, that's fine, but he wants a date. I keep saying we have no Europe plans, although we do have those events in London in June. Are folks comfortable offering Victor a private meeting on one of those dates? At this point I get the impression that although I keep saying WJC cares about Ukraine, Pinchuk feels like WJC hasn't taken enough action to demonstrate that, particularly during this existential moment for the county and for him.> > I sense this is so important because Pinchuk is under Putin's heel right now, feeling a great degree of pressure and pain for his many years of nurturing stronger ties with the West. >> I get all the downsides and share the concerns. I am happy to go back and say no. It would just be good to know what WJC (and HRC and you all) would like to do, because this will likely impact the future of this relationship, and slow walking our reply will only reinforce his growing angst. >> Thanks, and sorry for the glum note on a Monday morning…  RT further reports on the pay-to-play involving Pinchuk and The Clinton Foundation…  In 2008, Viktor Pinchuk, who made a fortune in the pipe-building business, pledged a five-year, $29-million commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative, a program that works to train future Ukrainian leaders "to modernize Ukraine." The Wall Street Journal revealed the donations the fund received from foreigners abroad between 2009-2014 in their report published earlier this week .  Several alumni of the program have already graduated into the ranks of Ukraine's parliament, while a former Clinton pollster went to work as a lobbyist for Pinchuk at the same time Clinton was working in government.  Between 2009 and 2013, the very period when Hillary Clinton was serving as US secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation appears to have received at least $8.6 million from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.  That places Ukraine as the leading contributor among foreign donators to the Clinton Foundation.  The Pinchuk foundation said its donations to the Clinton-family organization were designed to make Ukraine "a successful, free, modern country based on European values." It went on to remark that if Pinchuk was hoping to lobby the US State Department about Ukraine, "this cannot be seen as anything but a good thing," WSJ quoted it as saying.  However, critics have pointed to some disturbing aspects regarding the donations, including the coincidence of the Ukrainian crisis, which began in November 2013, and the heavy amount of cash donations being made to the Clinton Foundation on behalf of wealthy Ukrainian businessmen.  This article originally appeared on The Duran. Be Sociable, Share!


The two videos below are from the Trump rally in Atlanta today two great examples of how twisted the left is!Back and forth between Trump supporters and Trump protesters outside the Fox. pic.twitter.com/2ih1aw19hp Richard Elliot (@RElliotWSB) June 15, 2016 BLM PROTESTER Debates Trump Supporters:


David Samson, a longtime friend of Gov. Chris Christie, pleaded guilty to a felony count of bribery on Thursday and admitted that he had pressured United Airlines to operate a weekly flight to South Carolina for his personal convenience. The plea, which was offered before Judge Jose L. Linares of United States District Court in Newark, appears to put an end to Mr. Samson's career as a public official and power broker. And it casts a shadow over the political fortunes of Mr. Christie, a New Jersey Republican who until this week had been considered a potential running mate for Donald J. Trump, the party's presumptive nominee for president. "One of the problems with Chris Christie is there are skeletons in his closet that still have skin on the bones," Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said. The prosecution of Mr. Samson grew out of a federal investigation into the closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in 2013. Federal prosecutors contend that allies of Mr. Christie at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey conspired to tie up traffic on the New Jersey side of the bridge to punish a local mayor for declining to endorse Mr. Christie's bid for as governor. Mr. Samson, who was Mr. Christie's appointee as chairman of the Port Authority at the time of the lane closings, has not been charged in that case. But two of the governor's former allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, are scheduled to stand trial in September for their alleged roles in the scheme. A third, David Wildstein, has already pleaded guilty in that case. Paul J. Fishman, the United States attorney for New Jersey, declined to say whether Mr. Samson was cooperating with the prosecution of the case. The Port Authority is the nexus of the two matters because it operates the bridge and the three big commercial airports in the New York City area. Mr. Fishman said that Mr. Samson, 76, had abused his position at the agency by coercing United to reinstate a canceled route between Newark Liberty International Airport and Columbia, S. C. near one of Mr. Samson's homes. He said Mr. Samson had threatened to block the construction of a maintenance hangar for United at the airport unless the airline restored the " " flight. Tall and Mr. Samson, a former New Jersey attorney general, spoke on Thursday in a soft voice when the judge asked if he understood that he could spend up to two years in prison and that his license to practice law might be affected. He said he did. Judge Linares scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 20. Mr. Fishman said he was saddened because "David Samson was a major force in the legal community in New Jersey. " He added, "This kind of case shakes public confidence in our institutions of government, when people who are so accomplished and who have occupied so many positions of public trust misuse their authority to get something for themselves. " Mr. Fishman also announced that Jamie Fox, a former executive of the Port Authority and former transportation commissioner in New Jersey appointed by Mr. Christie, had been charged with conspiring to commit bribery in connection with the flight. Mr. Fox, who was a lobbyist for United, advised Mr. Samson on how to pressure the airline to acquiesce to his demand, Mr. Fishman said. In one email exchange, he said, Mr. Fox told Mr. Samson, "You have them dancing. " Mr. Samson wrote back: "Good. I hope they dance to my tune — let me know if there's a way to keep the pressure on this issue: It will save me a lot of heartache. " The Port Authority staff had recommended that its board of commissioners approve a lease deal with United for the hangar. But Mr. Samson, who controlled the agendas of the board's meetings, pulled the matter off the agenda in November 2011, Mr. Fishman said. Mr. Fox then advised Mr. Samson to bring it up for a vote at the December 2011 meeting to demonstrate his clout to United, Mr. Fishman said. Less than a year after the hangar deal was approved, United started flying a plane every Thursday evening from Newark to Columbia, a short drive from Mr. Samson's home in Aiken, S. C. Every Monday morning, United flew a plane back to Newark. Mr. Fishman said that Mr. Samson used the flights 27 times. Mr. Fishman said Mr. Samson and other agency officials called the route "the chairman's flight," adding that Mr. Fox referred to it as "Samson Air. " Mr. Fox, 61, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250, 000 fine. "They both should have known better," Mr. Fishman said of Mr. Samson and Mr. Fox. "They both did know better. " Although Mr. Fishman said United "caved" to the pressure from Mr. Samson, neither the airline nor any of its executives will be charged in connection with the case. United agreed to pay a penalty of $2. 25 million, he said. Mr. Fishman said United had cooperated and responded just as prosecutors would have wanted. He noted that among the actions the airline took were the dismissals of several executives, including Jeff Smisek, its former chairman and chief executive. United stopped flying the route soon after Mr. Samson resigned from the agency in 2014. He retired last year from Wolff Samson, the law firm he helped found. The firm had been very close to the state's government for decades and had served as outside counsel to state agencies. It had also lobbied agencies on behalf of clients seeking state contracts, favorable regulation changes and approval for large development projects. The firm immediately changed its name to Chiesa, Shahinian Giantomasi. Jeff Chiesa, one of the partners, worked for Mr. Christie in the United States attorney's office, and as his chief counsel and attorney general. He was appointed by the governor to temporarily fill the United States Senate seat left open when Frank R. Lautenberg died in 2013. After the hearing on Thursday, Mr. Samson exhaled deeply as one of his lawyers, Justin Walder, escorted him away from the courtroom. He and Mr. Walder declined to comment. Another of Mr. Samson's lawyers, Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of homeland security, said, "The next you'll hear from us is at the sentencing. "


South Dakota's Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard on Friday vetoed a pair of bills that would have loosened restrictions on carrying concealed guns in the state, after saying current laws made sense and were adequate. One measure would have allowed carrying concealed weapons in the state without a permit. The second proposed allowing carriers of an enhanced permit to carry concealed weapons at the state capitol. South Dakota bars convicted felons and those convicted of some violent or drug crimes from obtaining a concealed weapons permit. Eleven U.S. states allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons without a permit, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control advocacy group. Another 39, including South Dakota, allow concealed carry with a permit. In a letter accompanying one of the vetoes, Daugaard, who had previously pointed to his own membership in the National Rifle Association, defended the state's existing concealed weapons laws as reasonable. "I am unaware of a single instance in which a person who could lawfully possess a gun was denied a permit to carry a concealed pistol," Daugaard wrote. By comparison, he added, two counties in the state have turned down nearly 600 permit applicants "who were disqualified due to mental illness or due to violent or drug-related crimes." The veto echoed statements Daugaard made in a Feb. 11 editorial in the Rapid City Journal, in which he said he viewed the state's laws as "effective, appropriate and minimal." Daugaard also vetoed a similar proposal loosening concealed-carry standards in 2012. Rep. Lee Qualm, who sponsored the proposal relaxing the state capitol restrictions, called the vetoes "frustrating," and said in a phone interview on Friday that he would try to override them when the legislature returns from recess March 27. An override requires a two-thirds majority in South Dakota, and Qualm said both bills were only a handful of votes short of that threshold in both chambers. Rep. Lynne Disanto, sponsor of the broader of the two bills, did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment. The bills' failure at the hands of a Republican governor pointed to a divide in his party over the regulations. Neither bill received full Republican support in either chamber, and the statewide measure was opposed by about one in five Republicans in the House and one in three in the Senate.


. CDC Scientist Confirms Donald Trump is Right About Vaccines and Autism Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy, including the vaccine debate. In a series of tweets and ... http://humansarefree.com/2016/11/cdc-scientist-confirms-donald-trump-is.html Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy, including the vaccine debate. In a series of tweets and interviews over the past few years, the presidential candidate has stated that he strongly believes that there is a link between "monstrous" vaccines and autism . He has suggested that delivering vaccines in smaller doses over time could reduce autism rates among U.S. children. Despite being cast to the lunatic fringe by the mainstream media for his remarks, CDC scientist Dr. William Thompson has confirmed Trump's suspicions — namely, that autism is real .Congressman Bill Posey from Florida helped expose the corruption of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) . He recently read a statement on the House floor written by CDC scientist Dr. William Thompson.In the statement, Dr. Thompson admitted to omitting data from a study which showed that autism rates were higher among African American boys who received the MMR vaccination before the age of three.(1) "Regardless of the subject matter, parents making decisions about their children's health deserve to have the best information available to them. "They should be able to count on federal agencies to tell them the truth. For these reasons, I bring the following matter to the House floor," Posey stated.(2) He then proceeded to read the statement provided by Dr. Thompson. The statement pertained to a 2004 study published in the journal Pediatrics. The doctor revealed that he and his colleagues intentionally destroyed data in the study which showed that African American MMR-vaccinated boys under the age of three had for autism. According to the whistleblower, the CDC held a meeting of scientists to discuss whether they should destroy the evidence. The authors decided to scrap their findings. Fortunately, Dr. Thompson saved computer files and hard copies of the omitted data for legal reasons.(3) "Mr. Speaker, I believe it is our duty to insure that the documents that Dr. Thompson are not ignored. Therefore I will provide them to members of Congress and the House Committees upon request. "Considering the nature of the whistleblower's documents as well as the involvement of the CDC, a hearing and a thorough investigation is warranted," Posey concluded.(2) Because the report pertains to vaccines, the mainstream media continues to ignore these revelations. Meanwhile, they continue to parade Donald Trump as a kook for suggesting that there is a link The double standard boggles the mind and sickens the stomach.Trump hasn't backed down from the vaccine debate despite the mainstream media's backlash against his remarks. In 2015, he appeared on the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's show stating: "I've known people that had totally magnificent children, functioning a hundred percent, everything beautiful, smart as a whip, and they go for this shot and get this shot of this massive dose, of everything at one time, and they end up with horrible autism."(4) In addition, Trump stated on a Fox News television program in 2012: "I've seen people where they have a perfectly healthy child, and they go for the vaccinations and a month later the child is no longer healthy."(5) Trump made similar remarks in a series of tweets in 2014, after a CDC report revealed that autism rates in U.S. children had increased by 30 percent in the last two years.(6)The CDC report that coincided with Trump's tweets did not actually state what caused the spike in autism rates. Given Dr. Thompson's recent testimony, however, it's easy to think of at least one possibility. By S. Johnson