On March 31, Donald Trump declared April National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. On April 5 less than one week later he said fellow scumbag Bill O Reilly didn t do anything wrong when he seemingly sexually harassed a large number of his female staff over the years. But then, Donald Trump himself has been accused of numerous sexual assaults and harassment, so birds of a feather.The New York Times got an exclusive interview with Trump and walked away with two bombshell findings, both awful in their own unique way: First, Trump duped veteran journalists Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush into publishing a slanderous claim that Susan Rice, the former national security adviser under Obama, had committed a crime. That would be a huge story if not for the fact that when asked to produce a single shred of evidence, Trump refused to do so. I think it s going to be the biggest story, Mr. Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office, declining repeated requests for evidence for his allegations or the names of other Obama administration officials. It s such an important story for our country and the world. It is one of the big stories of our time. He declined to say if he had personally reviewed new intelligence to bolster his claim but pledged to explain himself at the right time. And he s currently already nursing several other claims 3 million people illegally voted, Obama illegally wiretapped him which he has also failed to provide any proof for. Despite these repeated offenses, Habermann and Thrush ran the story as if Trump weren t the biggest bullshitter in the world. That s inexcusable.But Trump wasn t done. After pretending to uncover a major political scandal, Trump moved onto his friend Bill O Reilly. O Reilly is currently embroiled in scandal that may cost him his job after having been exposed as settling at least five sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him from female coworkers. Trump, five days into Sexual Assault and Prevent Month, jumped to his friend s defense. I think he s a person I know well he is a good person, said Mr. Trump, who during the interview was surrounded at his desk by a half-dozen of his highest-ranking aides, including the economic adviser Gary Cohn and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, along with Vice President Mike Pence. I think he shouldn t have settled; personally I think he shouldn t have settled, said Mr. Trump. Because you should have taken it all the way. I don t think Bill did anything wrong. Here s what Trump considers innocent behavior locker room talk, if you will by O Reilly:The women who made allegations against Mr. O Reilly either worked for him or appeared on his show. They have complained about a wide range of behavior, including verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances and phone calls in which it sounded as if Mr. O Reilly was masturbating, according to documents and interviews.The reporting suggests a pattern: As an influential figure in the newsroom, Mr. O Reilly would create a bond with some women by offering advice and promising to help them professionally. He then would pursue sexual relationships with them, causing some to fear that if they rebuffed him, their careers would stall.Trump, of course, has a large list of his own offenses against women. During the campaign, over a dozen women came forward to recount times he had assaulted or attempted to assault them. Trump himself seemed to back up their claims in a leaked audio recording where he bragged about grabbing and kissing women even without their consent. Other women have also come forward to describe times Trump was sexually demeaning or suggestive to them.To watch Trump and O Reilly, both with histories of abuse, cover for each other is truly nauseating.


Bill Maher literally called bullshit when a Donald Trump supporter insisted that Russia did not interfere with the 2016 Election.Racist CNN pundit Jeffrey Lord has made every excuse in the book to defend Trump and he brought the excuses to Real Time on Friday night when he attempted to spin the Russia scandal by claiming that Russia did nothing to help Trump to begin with.Maher was not in the mood for bullshit on this night as he called Lord out for supporting a vulgar human being. Lord threw out a false equivalency by comparing everything Trump has said to Hillary Clinton s accurate assessment of Trump supporters as deplorable people.Apparently, Clinton s one comment magically makes every truly horrible thing Trump said disappear.Lord then tried to claim that Russia did not influence the election simply because they allegedly did not hack any voting machines.That s when Maher pounced. Don t bullsh*t me! Maher responded before going over the fact that 17 intelligence agencies agree that Russia interfered in our election process by hacking the DNC and Clinton campaign officials. Russia also spread propaganda and misinformation to help Trump.Maher even mentioned that we could find out a whole lot more about Trump s deep ties to Russia if he were forced to release his taxes.Lord then parroted Trump by calling for an investigation into Nancy Pelosi for also meeting with the Russian ambassador, even though Pelosi s meeting was not a secret and Russia did not influence her election results. Russians didn t hack Nancy Pelosi s election, Maher shot back. They hacked our election, all of our intelligence agencies said for one side to win, your side. Are you telling me if it had worked out the other way and they were only hacking the Republicans to get Hilary elected you d let it slide? Lord tried to get away not answering for this hypocrisy. After all, Republicans would definitely be endlessly investigating Clinton if she had won the election with Russia s aid.But Maher forced Lord to answer and he conceded that Republicans are hypocrites.Here s the video via YouTube:Donald Trump s staunchest defenders should be ashamed of themselves. They should be ashamed as Americans and as human beings. They are literally defending a man who cares more about himself and his own image than he does about this country and our collective future. This Russia scandal is enough to get Trump impeached and he should be ousted before he can do more damage to this nation.


Looking To 2015, Economists See 5 Reasons To Celebrate Each December, economists make predictions. And each new year, they get hit by unexpected events that make them look more clueless than prescient. This year's bolt out of the blue was the plunge in oil's price, which no one saw coming. Still, top economists' forecasts did get a lot right for 2014. One year ago, most were predicting healthy growth, tame inflation, low interest rates, rising stock prices and declining unemployment — and that's just what we got. Now they are looking ahead, and once again, their forecasts are brimming with good cheer. These are among the most common predictions for 2015: GDP will keep growing quickly. The gross domestic product — a measure of all U.S. goods and services — has been on a tear. The Commerce Department's latest revision shows GDP advancing at an astonishing 5 percent over July, August and September. That growth spurt suggests the U.S. economy has momentum heading into the new year. Lower energy prices will give consumers more money to spend, and that should help boost revenues for stores, restaurants, hotels and more. "Our assessment for growth in 2015 will now be around 3 percent," wrote Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight. For an economy in its sixth year of expansion, a 3 percent annual pace would be impressive. Employers will hire and pay more. In 2013, the unemployment rate averaged 7.4 percent. Last December, economists were predicting a slide to about 6.6 percent. As it turned out, the jobless rate tumbled to 5.8 percent, and now economists see the rate dipping to 5.5 percent or lower in the coming year. "With stronger economic growth, the U.S. will add about 230,000 jobs per month on average next year," according to the forecast of Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group. That would add up to about 2.8 million net new jobs in 2015. Currently, the country has 2.8 million people struggling with long-term unemployment. So if Faucher's prediction were to come true, workers finally could enjoy a healthy market where job openings and willing workers would match up. And the increased demand for workers would help push up stagnant wages. Inflation will be exceptionally low. Even though the economy has been heating up, the price of energy has been cooling. The year began with crude oil selling for about $110 a barrel, and is ending with the price at about half that. Oil's plunge has driven down prices for gasoline, home heating oil, jet fuel and more. Seeing that change, the Federal Reserve has sharply cut its forecast, saying that inflation will run between 1 percent and 1.6 percent in 2015. That's down from a September forecast of 1.6 percent to 1.9 percent. Interest rates will inch up. OK, you've heard this before. Time and again, economists have predicted that interest rates would tick up. And time and again, they have been wrong. For example, when this year began, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was carrying an interest rate of 4.43 percent. Most economists thought that rate would rise. But as the year wound down, the 30-year rate was running at about 3.75 percent. Nevertheless, economists think this time is different and that rates really will rise in 2015. In a mid-December statement, Fed policymakers said they "can be patient" when it comes to timing a rate increase, but most economists figure patience will run out by midyear, and that will lead to a slow, steady ratcheting up of interest rates to more normal levels. When it comes to the strategy of holding down rates to stimulate growth, "we believe the Fed's work is now done," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist with The Economic Outlook Group. Stocks will go higher. The stock market has been zooming up for years now. The Dow Jones industrial average stood at 6,627 in early March 2009, during the worst of the Great Recession. But with the recovery going strong, the stock average has been pushing above 18,000. Some skeptics think the stock market is due for a "correction" that would knock down prices by 10 percent or more in 2015. But the more typical prediction is that with oil prices running so low, investors will want to keep putting money into companies that stand to benefit from increased consumer spending. Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, summed it up in a recent tweet, saying "high-octane optimism once again prevails on the Street."


LAGOS, Nigeria — Two and a half years after nearly 300 girls were kidnapped from a school in northeastern Nigeria, the government said on Thursday that 21 of them had been freed, the biggest breakthrough in an ordeal that has shocked the world and laid bare the deadly instability gripping large parts of the country. Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group that has killed thousands of civilians, overrun villages and terrorized the region, seized the girls from a school in the town of Chibok on April 14, 2014. For many around the globe, the mass abduction provided a stunning introduction to a militant group that had been waging war against Nigerians for years. Soon after the girls were kidnapped, an international campaign began urging the Nigerian government to do more to secure their release, using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls and drawing support from Michelle Obama and others. For more than a year, the Nigerian government has negotiated with Boko Haram to get the girls back. But the talks fell apart multiple times, in one case at the last minute, after the president had agreed to free imprisoned Boko Haram fighters. Another time, the talks failed because central members of Boko Haram's negotiating team were killed. Finally, the government said Thursday, the negotiations bore fruit. Still, most of the girls remain in captivity, their whereabouts, health and circumstances unknown. "The release of the girls, in a limited number, is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram, brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," Garba Shehu, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari, said in a series of messages posted on Twitter. "The negotiations will continue. " The girls were released around 5:30 a. m. on Thursday, the government said. In addition to the 21 girls, a boy born to one of them in captivity was released, it said. At a news conference in the capital, Abuja, the girls sat in rows in a room packed with government ministers, officials and journalists. Wearing colorful dresses, the girls listened to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo speak from behind a table, flanked by his ministers. "We can imagine what they've gone through," he said. "So much needs to be done to get them back to living a normal life after so much trauma in captivity. " Mr. Osinbajo described the girls as being in "reasonably good health considering the circumstances they've been held in. " He added that they would stay in a medical facility "for some time, until we're reasonably satisfied of their health condition. " As for the other girls held by Boko Haram, Mr. Osinbajo suggested that "in the next few days, the next few months, we should be able to bring in more of these girls, along the same lines, using exactly the same negotiations. " But he warned that the government, which is waging an aggressive campaign to fight Boko Haram and regain territory seized by the group, had the fate of the nation to consider as well. "We want to ensure that we bring these girls back alive," Mr. Osinbajo said. "At the same time we, of course, balance this against the overall safety and security of the country. " Relatives of the girls rejoiced, even before they knew whether their kin were among those freed. Lawan Zanna, the father of Aisha Zanna, one of the abducted girls, said by telephone that he hoped his daughter had been freed. All of the parents are "very happy hearing that they have released our daughters," he said. "All are our daughters. " Another parent, Esther Yakubu, said by telephone that she was praying that her daughter Dorcas was among those released. "They say it's only 21," she said. "Most of them are still out there, and we want them to come back. '' Manasseh Allen, a native of Chibok whose cousin was abducted, said in a phone interview that he hoped more girls could be rescued. "Once we have 21 parents now linked up with daughters, at least we have solved a good part of the problem," he said. "So many will be hopeful that their daughters have been brought back. " Asked if he thought a ransom was involved, he said: "Whether it's a ransom, whether it's a prisoner swap, the government knows how best to get these girls back. All we are after is to get the girls back. " Earlier in the day, Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, denied preliminary reports that Boko Haram fighters might have been released in exchange for the girls. "Please note that this is not a swap," he said. "It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides. We see this as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok girls in captivity. " The Bring Back Our Girls campaign thanked the Nigerian security services on Facebook and added: "We trust that our government will continue to work to keep the safety, security and of the other girls a high priority. " The abductions, during exam time at a boarding school, increased pressure on the government to fight Boko Haram, which has raged through parts of northern Nigeria for years, burning entire villages and carrying out rape, beheadings, looting and other acts of violence. Some girls managed to escape shortly after the fighters stormed their school and hauled away their classmates, and in May, the authorities announced that one girl, Amina Ali, had been found she was wandering in the forest when members of a vigilante group came across her as they prepared to ambush a Boko Haram camp. But a majority of the girls are still missing, and it is feared that many may never return. In August, Boko Haram released a video purporting to show the bodies of several kidnapped schoolgirls who fighters said were killed by Nigerian airstrikes. The girls still in captivity are thought to be held by a faction controlled by the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, rather than a newer faction that has been endorsed by the Islamic State. The latter faction split from Mr. Shekau's group after an ideological dispute over killings that targeted Muslims. Western intelligence officials have said they believe the girls are scattered in small groups, another hurdle to rescuing them. The Nigerian military, with help from troops from neighboring nations and from the United States, Britain and France, has made big advances against Boko Haram in recent months. But it has had trouble holding towns once liberated from Boko Haram control, and Boko Haram fighters have also taken the fight to neighboring countries like Niger.


U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday met with a dozen conservative Republicans from the House of Representatives and said all of them were now planning to support the bill to replace Obamacare after previously opposing or questioning it. "All of these no's or potential no's are all yeses," Trump told reporters at a meeting with members of the House of Representatives' conservative Republican Study Committee.


Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, the muslim man who attacked the two gays in a Manhattan restaurant may want to stay away from tall buildings after the truth about this story gets out The man accused of bashing a gay couple with a chair in a Chelsea barbecue restaurant has surrendered to cops but hasn t been arrested on hate crime charges because he s gay too, police sources said.Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, 41, surrendered to NYPD Hate Crime detectives at the 7th Precinct and charged with assault and attempted assault.El-Amin slammed a chair over the heads of Jonathan Snipes, 32, and Ethan York-Adams, 25, during a dispute inside Dallas BBQ on Eighth Ave. near W. 23rd St. on May 5.He was also accused of using homophobic slurs, but his lawyer said the Bronx resident couldn t be hit with hate crime charges because his client was also gay, sources with knowledge of the investigation said.The charges could be upgraded at his arraignment Tuesday afternoon, a second police source said.El-Amin left the city after the attack, but professed his innocence online.Here s the video taken by a surveillance camera in the restaurant. You be the judge: Video: WABC News TV New YorkWriting on the blog The G-List, El-Amin said that he was attacked first. I was the victim I was sitting at my table, he wrote. With no provocation, he came up and hit me. There was no slur thrown at him.


The government of one of Cameroon s Anglophone regions ordered its border with Nigeria closed this weekend in response to calls by activists for protests to demand more rights for the country s English-speaking minority. The move on Thursday represents an escalation in a crackdown on months of protest spurred by complaints about political and economic discrimination in the Anglophone regions of the predominantly Francophone country. Security forces killed six protesters and arrested hundreds of others following calls for reforms by lawyers and teachers last year, and the internet was shut down in Anglophone regions from January to April. The Anglophone regions have strong ties to eastern Nigeria, and authorities may fear that allowing the border to remain open during protests offers the demonstrators a rear base and makes it harder to maintain order. Anglophone activists have called for renewed protest on Sunday after thousands took to the streets last week, with some hoisting separatist flags. In a statement, Southwest region s governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, said the border would be closed from 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) Friday until 7 a.m. Monday following persistent threats of destabilization through manipulation by individuals acting from outside the national territory. The order also banned inter-city transportation, gatherings of more than four people in public locations and all port activity during that same period. It was not clear whether similar restrictions would be imposed in Northwest, Cameroon s other Anglophone region. The unrest has presented a fresh challenge to the government of President Paul Biya, which has faced international criticism for its response to the demonstrations. In a statement on Thursday, a U.N. spokesman said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned about tensions ahead of Sunday s demonstrations and urged the government to address the grievances of English speakers. The Secretary-General supports upholding the unity and territorial integrity of Cameroon and urges all parties to refrain from acts that could lead to an escalation of tension and violence, the statement said. The country s linguistic divide harks back to the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors. After independence in 1960, the English-speaking part opted to join French Cameroon instead of Nigeria.


Posted on November 4, 2016 by DCG | 1 Comment  Seattle proggies love to push businesses out of their city.  From MyNorthwest.com : Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess proposed a 241 percent business license fee hike for pot shops, citing inspection and enforcement costs associated with regulating the two-year-old retail marijuana industry.  The proposed increase, introduced at Wednesday's budget meeting, would raise the annual licensing cost within Seattle to $3,450 from the existing $1,000 . Cannabis retailers — and one council member — immediately questioned the proposal, saying that the math doesn't make much sense.  "So what justified the increase other than the fact that we can do it?" asked District 2 Councilmember Bruce Harrell, citing Mayor Ed Murray's more modest proposal for a $500 increase. "We've done a cost analysis that actually reflects (the increase)? It seems like we've exceeded it quite significantly."  The city's Finance and Administrative Services department defended the cost, saying that even with the mayor's proposed increase, the licensing fee falls $430,000 short of the city's cost to regulate pot. The finance department projected that pot retailers will cost the city more than $700,000 next year.  Pot growers and retailers wondered why this industry, from a license fee standpoint, must pay for its regulation in a way that other businesses, such as pawn shops and strip clubs, do not. Moreover, the city finance estimate misses a key point, said KC Franks, owner of Stash pot shops. "What about the $2 million in new sales taxes to the city?" Franks asked. "Why doesn't their math reflect that?" Seattle Council Tax-Raising-Advocate Tim Burgess  Burgess, who said he has no independent confirmation of the sales tax figures, conceded that the pot retailers have, "raised some legitimate objections, so I'm sure we are going to look at all of that."  But, he added, the pot issue speaks to a larger policy discussion about how cities pay for the cost of regulating local businesses. Typically, he said, a city uses a blend of licensing fees and taxes to get the money for necessary inspections and enforcement. Pot, he said, costs Seattle about $1 million a year to regulate, an amount which he characterized as a big burden. "This proposal was made to try to offset some of those costs," he said  Burgess said the licensing fee likely will go up, but he is not sure if the full council will support his proposed increase. The measure, as it is or modified, could come to a vote next week.  Franks and other marijuana retailers characterized the proposal as a simple cash grab directed at an industry without much political clout – or as much money as people seem to think. Philip Dawdy, of the Have a Heart pot shop, wondered why an industry that is a net contributor to city coffers doesn't have more council support?  When the city raised business license fees to help pay for more police, he said, they consulted retail business organizations first. The pot fee, he said, was a complete blindside. "We are actually helping to balance the city's budget thanks to sales taxes," he said. "Why are we not someone's priority?"  DCG


President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused American politicians of whipping up hysteria about a mythical Russian threat as a ploy to distract voters from their own failings in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election. Putin, addressing an audience of foreign policy experts gathered in southern Russia, repeatedly lashed out at the Obama administration, saying it did not keep its word on Syria, did not honour deals, and had falsely accused Moscow of all manner of sins. The U.S. government has formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organisations, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has accused Republican rival Donald Trump of being a Putin "puppet". Putin said he found it hard to believe that anyone seriously thought Moscow was capable of influencing the Nov. 8 election. "Hysteria has been whipped up," said Putin. He said that was a ruse to cover up for the fact that the U.S. political elite had nothing to say about serious issues such as the country's national debt or gun control. "It's much simpler to distract people with so-called Russian hackers, spies, and agents of influence. Does anyone really think that Russia could influence the American people's choice in any way? Is America a banana republic or what? America is a great power." In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Putin's remarks as predictable and said the United States stood by its hacking allegations. "There's nothing that President Putin had to say today that I find particularly surprising or that in any way undermines the president's confidence in the analysis that's been released by the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community," said Earnest. Russian state TV and some of his past comments have suggested the Russian leader favours Trump, but Putin said he did not back any candidate in the U.S. election and was ready to work with any new U.S. president and to discuss any issue. Asked about Trump, whom he once described as "very talented," Putin said the Republican candidate was deliberately adopting a showy style because he wanted to get his message across and that he represented ordinary voters fed up with the U.S. political elite. "He has chosen a method to get through to voters' hearts," said Putin. "He behaves extravagantly of course, we see this, but I think there's a reason for this." Putin dismissed suggestions by some politicians in the West that Russia is poised to attack another country or intervene elsewhere in the Middle East apart from Syria. Such talk was designed to exaggerate the threat that Russia posed, he said, in order for certain countries to secure higher military spending and talk up their own importance. He said Russia was not planning to attack anyone. But he made clear Russia was in Syria for the long haul and intended to clear the city of Aleppo of what he called "a nest of terrorists", while trying to minimise civilian casualties.


Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday said Puerto Rico faces a fiscal crisis but that a solution should come from the White House or Congress. "This is really something that I'm not an expert on," she told a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee. "What the appropriate programs are for Puerto Rico to deal with its longstanding problems - I think that's squarely a matter for Congress and the administration to consider."


Senior U.S. Republicans distanced themselves on Sunday from Donald Trump's comments about a Mexican-American judge, saying they were worried that the tone of his presidential campaign could enrage Latinos, who are a growing U.S. voting bloc. Trump has accused U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel of harboring a bias against him in lawsuits involving fraud allegations against Trump University, the New York business man's now-defunct real estate school. The presumptive Republican nominee has suggested Curiel's Mexican-American heritage had influenced the judge's opinion because of Trump's campaign pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he "couldn't disagree more" with Trump's comments about the judge. "I am concerned about the Hispanic vote, America is changing," McConnell told "Meet The Press". "I think it's a big mistake for our party to write off Latino Americans. I am concerned about that and I hope he will change his direction on that." Democrats have accused Trump of racially tinged rhetoric about Latinos, including his description of Mexican immigrants as "criminals and rapists" in the speech he gave a year ago launching his campaign. Such rhetoric has exacerbated friction between Trump and Republican party leaders such as McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. For the past few years, the party has been trying to broaden its appeal with Latino voters and senior Republicans are concerned that Trump's comments could cost the party votes, not only in the presidential race but in congressional races as well. Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate to Trump, called Trump's comments about the judge "inexcusable." "This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made," Gingrich told Fox News. Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-immigrant parents. "He is a member of a club or society very strongly pro Mexican, which is all fine. But I say he's got bias. I want to build a wall," Trump said in an interview on Sunday on "Face the Nation". Asked if he believed a Muslim judge would be biased against him based on Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, Trump replied, "It's possible. Yes." McConnell said America is a nation full of immigrants — pointing out that his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, came to the United States when she was eight and didn't speak English. "All of us came here from somewhere else," McConnell said. Senator Bob Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on "ABC's This Week" that he did not "condone the comments" that Trump made about Curiel. Legal scholars on the right and the left have criticized Trump for attacking the judge, saying it could harm judicial independence should he become president. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is of Mexican descent, was one of the few Republicans to defend Trump. Gonzales argued in a column in The Washington Post that Trump should be allowed to question a judge's fairness, saying that questioning a judge is crucial to ensuring public trust in the courts. But when asked about the racial element in an interview on Sunday on Fox News, Gonzales criticized Trump. "I certainly would have taken a different approach," he said. "Whenever you say something about a judge's nationality, I think it demeans the office and hurts the judiciary as a whole."


In 2012, the movie phenomenon "The Avengers" filled theaters across the globe. Commercials, product advertisements, and billboards plastered with this ragtag team of superheroes who somehow forge a relationship to help save humanity from certain destruction at the hands of an evil villain was a fan favorite. The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Scarlet leaped into action after being convinced by the military genius Mr. Furry. They were able to put aside their differences and work for the greater good. In the end, the world is safe. In the first two weeks, the film raked in over $215 million and instantly confirming the superhero concept of "The Avengers" was not so new, in fact, it is sometimes a very common occurrence. During this election season, more than just the presidency is at stake. Although crime, division, malice and wrongdoing seems to be ever-present, instead of wallowing in discouragement voters need to exercise the right to become an avenger in a world of evildoers. After the computer generated images, million dollar budgets and Hollywood star power are stripped away, an Avenger is simply an individual who takes up the cause of another who is unable to protect himself or herself. In different circles, that person may be referred to as an advocate. At the core of humanity, people should make a choice to operate by the infamous Golden Rule, which is "Treat others the way you want to be treated." By the looks of American culture, it seems many have strayed far away from this simple principle. Society has always been balanced by persons stepping up to the plate to champion causes bigger than themselves. These everyday avengers have come in the form of presidents willing to abolish slavery, pilots flying beyond enemy lines, ministers willing to lock arms and protest on behalf of others for equal rights and even voters who go to the polls to make their voice heard. Society has been privileged to experience them come from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures all with the same selfless spirit. They may not have worn a cape but were viewed as "super" just the same. During this heated election season, voters possess that same heroic power. In the midst of all the confusion screaming across the fabric of today's society, many would love to function as an avenger but are not sure how. Here are a few places modern-day Avengers have the ability to cast a vote in a world of evil and take action: In the area of women's rights It is not uncommon to see the face of a woman plastered on the cover of business magazines as top CEOs and other company leaders. However, in the broader scope of the country, there are still great strides needed to bring equality across genders. In the United States, women still earn dramatically less than their male counterparts do in Corporate America. First Lady Michelle Obama championed equal pay for equal work on the campaign trail and now organizations such as the National Organization for Women remain on the front line of this issue fighting to make sure the progress achieved in the last sixty years is not in vain. Without the vote, progress does not happen. Better education in underserved communities Civil Rights leader and advocate Malcolm X once said, "Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today." This concept has been the foundation for public education in America. The right to receive adequate training to be a productive and prosperous American is the right of every person. Therefore, it is amazing to see certain communities with gross neglect and weak curriculums. These areas lack a voice to speak on their behalf. It is encouraging to see leadership like the Gary Comer College Prep School that shines as a beacon in the Chicago area. Amidst killing and senseless loss of life, this school boasts an excellent attrition rate for high school seniors accepted into college. Better healthcare for all people The country is in the middle of a tug of war. Unfortunately, what is at stake is far greater than bragging rights. The health and welfare of seniors and children hang in the balance of those on Capitol Hill. Whether Obamacare is right or wrong is not as important as the need for dialogue around this issue. On one hand, there are elderly who are struggling with the decision to purchase food or their prescriptions and on the other, there are parents who cannot receive proper care at neighborhood clinics. Parents should not have to wonder if their doctor could afford to keep his doors open when he is the only office in the community. There is an initiative to bring mobile clinics to the heart of areas needing it the most. Armed with immunizations, screening, and dental supplies, they are giving away services free that otherwise would not even happen. The moral of Becoming an Avenger No one promises a cape or a billboard, but everyone has a super ability to step in and relieve the sufferings of others. All it takes to be a real-life Avenger is the choice to fight for the needs of the less fortunate; those without a voice or an advocate. In November do not sit idly by, vote to become an avenger in a world seemingly overtaken by evildoers. Not only does this produce a sense of fulfillment and greatness, it also provides the opportunity to be remembered as a modern-day Avenger. These are only a few of many opportunities for activism, but there are many ways to become an active participant in the goal for change. It may seem small and uneventful, but the vote has a unique power to affect the Oval Office more than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. For those who have not been privileged to cast an early ballot, pause for the cause and vote, vote, vote on November 8. Opinion by Cherese Jackson (Virginia) Source: Los Angeles Times: The Avengers (movie) Photo Credits: Top / Featured Images Courtesy of Pat Loika – Flickr License Inline Image Courtesy of Theresa Thompson – Flickr License activism , avengers , vote


Antifa member, Paul Luke Kuhn who was busted by Project Veritas undercover journalists plotting Butyric acid attacks to disrupt Trump s inauguration party and subsequently arrested was spotted today at a DC protest today.Was he violating his probation orders following his arrest?Rebel Media s Jack Posobiec was live on the scene in D.C. reporting at a protest when he was assaulted by Antifa. The Antifa supporter who physically assaulted Posobiec was immediately arrested. After reviewing the footage, Antifa member, Luke Kuhn was immediately recognized. (A face that creepy is impossible to forget).VIDEO footage of assault where you can see Luke Kuhn clearly.Note the woman who is pretending to be a reporter with a notebook in her hand who tells the police officer, nothing happened when he rushes across the street after clearly seeing what just happened. Another friend of the violent leftist who sucker punched Jack Posobiec tells the police officer, It was self-defense. Lying, violent liberals wearing their little sister s bike helmets and masks. God help us if we ever need these men to actually defend our nation Jack Posobiec Assaulted by Antifa Terrorist pic.twitter.com/L2UvnJ2pKq Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 23, 2017Here s a Twitter user telling the reporter Lacy MacAuley to lawyer up after she lied to the police officer telling him, nothing happened after Posobiec got sucker-punched on camera:This is the video of you yelling, "Nothing happened." You were an accessory. I'd lawyer up pronto if I was you. https://t.co/mcY9sisqPC Covfefing Michaela (@MichaelaAleach1) April 23, 2017Here is her arrogant response. Clearly she s living in the past (when Obama still reigned supreme, and when criminals had the upper hand over law enforcement). You re living in Trump s world now Lacy. You may want to lawyer up.Yes I am absolutely proud of this. Thanks for reposting this video. Because, guess what? Nothing illegal happened. No one was punched. https://t.co/XSEXFK7VmO Lacy MacAuley (@lacymacauley) April 23, 2017This is the video of you yelling, "Nothing happened." You were an accessory. I'd lawyer up pronto if I was you. https://t.co/mcY9sisqPC Covfefing Michaela (@MichaelaAleach1) April 23, 2017Let s hope this loser who threatened an acid attack on Trump supporters joins his little lying friends behind bars: https://twitter.com/Stello_Official/status/856254436641042432Jack Posobiec Assaulted by Antifa Terrorist pic.twitter.com/L2UvnJ2pKq Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 23, 2017h/t Gateway Pundit


After Taiwan s state-run Mega Financial Holding Co was fined $180 million by U.S. authorities for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch, the bank started a rigorous training program for its staff. Now, like Mega Financial, companies across Taiwan are working to get staff and systems up to speed after the island passed laws to meet international standards on combating money laundering and was taken off a watchlist by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG). Unfortunately, Taiwan has earned a name for itself as a paradise for money laundering, Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung told Reuters. Money laundering and cybercrime connections to Taiwan, which is also in the process of pushing through a cyber security bill, have grabbed global headlines. U.S. authorities fined Mega Financial $180 million last year for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch. Some money from the $170 million cyber heist of India s Union Bank of India was transferred through Taiwan s Bank SinoPac. An international crime ring used malware to steal $2.6 million from the ATMs of Taiwan s First Bank. Taiwan was one of the six most targeted countries of the Wannacry ransomware attack earlier this year, according to security company Avast. Since 2011, 800 people from China and Taiwan have been deported from Cambodia on suspicion of telecoms fraud. Following its U.S. fine, Mega Financial said cleaning up its act is a top priority. U.S. authorities had said the Mega branch had been indifferent to the risks associated with transactions involving Panama, a high-risk area for money laundering. What happened at our New York branch was just terrible, said Robert Tsai, a senior executive vice president, referring to the fine and ensuing scandal. Half of our 6,000 clerks have been certified with anti-money laundering training. How each of our branches implements the rules and ensures proper training is the top priority for our business. To gain international confidence in its anti-money laundering measures, Taiwan will have to demonstrate it is putting the laws into practice. The APG will review Taiwan in 2018. The visit will focus on how effectively Taiwan will have actually implemented the anti-money laundering rules, said Liang Hung-lieh, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan. The APG s on-site review will be new to most of the assessed, including banks, non-bank financial institutions and in particular non-financial institutions such as lawyers, public certified accountants and other professional service providers. Under the anti-money laundering laws, these financial professionals will be required to report suspicious transactions, including bank transfers exceeding T$500,000 (US$16,500). They will have to determine where the money came from, provide details about the client and report that to Taiwan s newly established Anti-Money Laundering Office. These are similar to regulations that countries that have signed up to global anti-money laundering rules overseen by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have adopted. The cost to companies of implementing the new rules may be significant as they put processes, workers and data systems in place. There s a lot of extra work for them to do now, such as determining the identities of their clients beneficiaries, said an official with the Financial Supervisory Commission, the island s financial regulator. He declined to be identified in the absence of permission to speak to the media. They don t yet know exactly what they have to do, and to what extent, to be considered compliant with the new regulations. They re going to need some time to digest all of these new rules, he said. The potential costs and increased difficulty of getting transactions done under the new rules worry those in the property market, said Wong Jui-chi, the spokesman for Taiwan s Chinese Association of Real Estate brokers, while emphasizing that his industry intends to fully comply with the regulations. The property market is already in a bad shape and these new rules will make things worse by making the process of real estate transactions more complicated. More or less everyone in our industry is complaining about it, he said.


Japan is preparing to acquire precision air-launched missiles that for the first time would give it the capability to strike North Korean missile sites, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Japan plans to put money aside in its next defense budget starting April to study whether its F-15 fighters could launch longer-range missiles including Lockheed Martin Corp s extended-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM-ER), which can hit targets 1,000 km (620 miles) away, said one the sources with knowledge of the plan. There is a global trend for using longer range missiles and it is only natural that Japan would want to consider them, he said. The sources asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to talk to media. Japan is also interested in buying the 500 km-range Joint Strike Missile designed by Norway s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to be carried by the F-35 stealth fighter, Fuji Television reported earlier. Neither of those two items are included in a 5.26 trillion yen ($46.76 billion) budget request already submitted by Japan s Ministry of Defence, however additional funds would be made available to evaluate the purchase of these missiles, the sources said. The change suggests that the growing threat posed by North Korean ballistic missiles has given proponents of a strike capability the upper hand in military planning. Restrictions on strike weapons imposed by its war-renouncing constitution means Japan s missile force is composed of anti-aircraft and anti-ship munitions with ranges of less than 300 kms (186 miles). Any decision to buy longer range weapons capable of striking North Korea or even the Chinese mainland would therefore be controversial, but proponents argue that the strike weapons can play a defensive role. We are not currently looking at funding for this, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Tuesday at a regular press briefing. We rely on the United States to strike enemy bases and are not looking at making any changes to how we share our roles, he added. Before he took up his post in August, Onodera led a group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers that recommended Japan acquire strike weapons to deter Pyongyang from launching any attack on Japan. North Korea has since fired ballistic missiles over Japan and last week tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that climbed to an altitude of more than 4,000 km before splashing into the Sea of Japan within Japan s exclusive economic zone.


Media Roll Out Welcome Mat for 'Humanitarian' War in Syria Media Roll Out Welcome Mat for 'Humanitarian' War in Syria By 0 49 Hillary Clinton told Goldman Sachs that a no-fly zone is "going to kill a lot of Syrians." (cc photo: Gage Skidmore)  As she marches toward the US presidency, Hillary Clinton has stepped up her promotion of the idea that a no-fly zone in Syria could "save lives" and "hasten the end of the conflict" that has devastated that country since 2011.  It has now been revealed, of course, that Clinton hasn't always expressed the same optimism about the no-fly zone in private. The Intercept (10/10/16 ) reported on Clinton's recently leaked remarks in a closed-door speech to Goldman Sachs in 2013:  To have a no-fly zone you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas. So our missiles, even if they are standoff missiles so we're not putting our pilots at risk—you're going to kill a lot of Syrians.  Other relevant characters, such as US Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Joseph Dunford ( Daily Caller , 9/26/16 ), have warned that a no-fly zone in Syria would simply intensify the conflict—which presumably isn't the best way to hasten its end.  Luckily for those who prefer to rally around illogic, however, plenty of media have already rolled out the welcome mat for peddlers of the "humanitarian" vision of increased Western military interference in Syria. The New York Times ' Nicholas Kristof ( 10/6/16 ) argues against "Obama's paralysis" and for "more robust strategies advocated by Hillary Clinton."  The New York Times ' self-appointed savior of women , Nicholas Kristof ( 10/6/16 ), invoked the plight of a young Syrian girl in Aleppo to conclude that Obama's alleged "paralysis" on Syria "has been linked to the loss of perhaps half a million lives" in the country, as well as to "the rise of extremist groups like the Islamic State," among other unpleasant outcomes. We have no "excuse," we're told, for "failing to respond to mass atrocities."  Never mind that the rise of ISIS has much to do with that mass atrocity known as the US invasion of Iraq, thanks to which many young Iraqi girls and other human beings have suffered rape, mutilation and death. It's convenient for certain industries, at least, when US weapons are deemed the solution for problems US weapons helped to create in the first place.  Furthermore, plenty of US weapons continue to flow to countries known for arming and funding ISIS and similar outfits—an arrangement unlikely to be rectified by a no-fly zone targeting the Syrian government and the Russians.  USA Today ( 10/8/16 ), meanwhile, ran an opinion piece by an American doctor who worked briefly at a now-destroyed hospital in Aleppo, arguing that the US "should lead the way in establishing real no-fly zones, either under United Nations auspices or with the British and the French"—because "otherwise, our inaction will continue to be an embarrassment and stand as an example of our spineless irresponsibility."  But considering that there has already been plenty of US action in Syria—including the mistaken "pulverization" of whole families with children—it would seem we've already exhibited a fair amount of lethal irresponsibility.  Beyond the opinion pages, media figures are pushing the "humanitarian" approach with varying degrees of subtlety. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd ( 10/16/16 ) recently pressed Vice President Joe Biden on the lack of a no-fly zone over Aleppo, suggesting that the Obama administration will "look back and wonder what if? What if? What if? What if?"  Of course, no campaign for saving lives with bombs would be complete without everyone's favorite examples of feel-good destruction from the former Yugoslavia. The Washington Post ( 9/9/16 ) hosted an opinion by Bosnia and Herzegovina's first ambassador to the UN, Muhamed Sacirbey, straightforwardly headlined: "Western Military Intervention Saved Lives in Bosnia. It Can Work in Syria, Too."  Sacirbey warns that "Syria's largest city is on the brink of starvation. Bombed from the skies and besieged on the ground, Aleppo's 2 million residents may soon be exterminated." Gone, apparently, are the days of factchecking, when someone at the Post might have alerted the author to the reality that the vast majority of Aleppo's residents live in government-controlled areas and are thus not under attack by said government.  Comparing Aleppo to besieged Sarajevo, Sacirbey determines that Sarajevans ultimately "escaped many of the horrors now awaiting Aleppo's residents… because NATO opted (albeit belatedly and, too often, inadequately) to uphold its responsibility to protect Bosnian civilians."  After lauding Bosnia's no-fly zone, Sacirbey pulls this prediction out of a hat: "Limited military intervention in Syria would save civilian lives, perhaps as many as 200 a week."  In their indispensable essay for Monthly Review ( 10/07 ), "The Dismantling of Yugoslavia: A Study in In humanitarian Intervention (and a Western Liberal-Left Intellectual and Moral Collapse)," Edward S. Herman and David Peterson make it unavoidably clear that the West's business in Bosnia had nothing to do with saving lives—and much to do with the contrary.  The Bill Clinton administration, they note, actively sabotaged agreements to end the war at an earlier date, while "helping arm the Bosnian Muslims and Croatians and helping bring thousands of Mujahedin to fight in Bosnia." America's support in this case for jihadists—a secret alliance also discussed by scholar Tariq Ali ( Guardian , 9/9/06 )—further complicates the assumption that the US is somehow capable of fixing the current jihad problem.  In predictable fashion, US media led the charge to the Bosnian intervention ( Extra! , 10-11/92 ), dutifully painting the Serbs as demonic aggressors, parroting inflated Bosnian casualty estimates and otherwise behaving as the official PR arm of the establishment.  A similar performance was repeated shortly thereafter with Kosovo, where minimal regard was given to actual facts on the ground and the specter of Serbian-waged genocide was instead hysterically invoked. Noam Chomsky ( Monthly Review , 9/08 ) cited various reports, including from the British government, that the US-backed Kosovo Liberation Army was actually responsible for more killings than the Serbs in the run-up to NATO's bombing campaign—a project that naturally also managed to kill several thousand people.  While Yugoslavia has now been fully dismantled, the myth of Western humanitarian intervention there has emerged unscathed; in his recent dispatch on Syria, Kristof brought up Kosovo as an example of how "the military toolbox has saved lives."  To be sure, "saving lives" is a much nobler goal than, say, endowing NATO with a new lease on life or clearing the way for total neoliberal assault —two outcomes of the West's Yugoslav ventures. Hence the utility, as Herman and Peterson write, of the "edifice of lies that serves and protects the Western interventions in the former Yugoslavia—and which laid the ideological foundations for the US role in Iraq and for future so-called humanitarian interventions."  In Syria's brutal war, meanwhile, humanitarian motives will presumably be utilized as a veneer for pursuing more fundamental goals, like neutralizing resistance to US/Israeli regional designs and promoting that profitable sort of chaos that produces massive arms sales.  And just as those in the West who failed to leap onto the bandwagon in Yugoslavia were denounced as " apologists for genocide " and the like, opponents of increased Western military action in Syria will be increasingly assailed as pro-Assad fanatics with Syrian blood on their hands.  One strong candidate for fanatic-hood is Greg Shupak, who in a recent Jacobin magazine dispatch ( 10/20/16 ) dared to argue that a no-fly zone "would actually represent an escalation of war that is guaranteed to harm civilians in the name of protecting them." Emphasizing that opposition to said zone is not meant in any way "to minimize or rationalize the torture, mass killings or severe sieges enacted by the Syrian state and its allies," Shupak continues: "The imminent question, however, is not, 'Is the Syrian government good?'; it's 'Should America drop more bombs on Syria?'"  Because, at the end of the day, humanitarian war just isn't humanly possible.


Reuters reports: A Revolutionary Guards commander said on Saturday that Iran would use its missiles against enemies of the Islamic Republic if they threaten the country's security. ["We are working day and night to protect Iran's security. If we see smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads," head of Revolutionary Guards' aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Earlier Iran said it was carrying out a military exercise to test its missile and radar systems, a day after US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on Tehran for a recent ballistic missile test. Read the full story here.


Forrest Gump was right on! By Philip A Farruggio Posted on November 3, 2016 by Philip A Farruggio  If one remembers the 1994 film Forrest Gump, one should recall his famous quote: Stupid is as stupid does. Well, he must have been clairvoyant as to our Amerikan public, as least those of us who vote. Factoring out we who refuse to support this Two Party con job, we are left with the overwhelming numbers who will 'follow the herd' and vote for either of the two scoundrels running for president.  The Trump supporters are made up of millions of angry white males, with a smithering of angry white females to join them. Many of these folks, and this writer sees them throughout my town of 60,000, live in substandard housing (many in mobile home parks ) and drive older vehicles. Yet , they are aroused and volunteering for a spoiled rich guy who never had to worry about his housing or any living expenses. They are standing on street corners holding signs for a megalomaniac billionaire who only played by the rules of the corporate empire and never the needs of working stiffs. They are so angry at the so-called system that they support a man who has represented it his entire adult life. Sadly, these angry white folks buy into Trump's populist rhetoric, caring not for the fact that he supports what Eisenhower warned us of: The Military Industrial Complex, a.k.a. empire! Trump will spend more and more of their working stiff hard earned tax money on the military, surpassing even what the Bush cabal and Obama 'hope and change' phonies have spent: over 50% of federal tax revenues!!  Now we come to the other Stupid is as stupid does electorate: The Ms. Killary supporters. This is a person who has supported her husband's welfare reform bill, which incidentally, hurt millions of poor people of color. She supported his NATO bombing campaigns in what was once Yugoslavia, which helped to nurture the very fanatical Islamic jihadists that were the precursor to Al-Qaeda and ISIL. Ms. Killary supported NAFTA and GATT and WTO (Google them for references to trade deals that destroyed American jobs), which is one of the things that the idiot Trump rightfully is against. During her days as secretary of state for the stooge Obama, Ms. Killary actually pushed him to sign onto the NATO carpet bombing of Libya, taking out Gaddafi (remember her famous 'We came, we saw he died' laughter after they tortured Gaddafi by sticking a bayonet up his rectum and then killing him? ). She then supported the coup that took out the socialist and truly populist president of Honduras, and the coup that did the same for the president of the Ukraine (who committed the sin of being pro Russia), replacing him with obvious neo fascists (why quiet about that Mr. Netanyahu of Israel? ). Ms. Killary publicly states, with compunction, that the war criminal Henry Kissinger 'is a friend and I relied on his counsel while I was secretary of state.'. This is the war criminal that so many working stiffs of all colors will be supporting November 8, who, by the way, will continue her New Cold War with Russia rhetoric into the White House and also, like Trump, sally up to the Military Industrial Complex, a.k.a. empire.  So, there you have it. The circus has truly come to town . . . but who are the clowns? Are they the ones who tell me all the time that my vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party or my conservative friend's vote for the Libertarian Party's Johnson are 'wasted votes'? Is that what they call pragmatism, voting for the lesser of two evils or voting not for someone, rather voting against someone else? To this writer a pragmatist is the guy facing the firing squad who asks for a blindfold. Either way, he's gonna be dead!!  Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NY, longshoremen. A graduate of Brooklyn College (class of '74 with a BA in Speech & Theater), he is a freelance columnist posted on World News Trust, Nation of Change Blog, Op Ed News,TheSleuthJournal.com, Intrepid Report, Information Clearing House, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice, Counterpunch and many other sites worldwide. Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been a street corner protest activist leader and Green Party member since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at .


It was supposed to be Trump s one, big win. Now it s completely falling apart.The much-publicized deal to save American manufacturing jobs at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis is looking less like a feather in Trump s cap and more like a black eye. The latest details out of the plant paint a grim picture for the employees who were told just months ago that they had been saved by Trump. According to a report by CNBC:More than 600 employees at a Carrier plant in Indianapolis are bracing for layoffs beginning next month, despite being told by President Trump that nearly all the jobs at the plant had been saved. The deal, announced with great fanfare before Trump took office, was billed not only as a heroic move to keep jobs from going to Mexico but also as a seismic shift in the economic development landscape.Nearly seven months later the deal has not worked out quite as originally advertised, and the landscape has barely budged. The jobs are still leaving, said Robert James, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999. Nothing has stopped. Shortly after winning the election and eager for a publicity win, Trump had obsessed over the Carrier plant. In an effort to secure the publicity stunt, he ordered then-Indiana governor Mike Pence to hand over $7 million in tax breaks to the owners of Carrier in an effort to bribe the executives into keeping some jobs in the area. The Carrier executives gladly took the money (which came out of Indiana s taxes) then shipped the jobs to Mexico anyways.In perhaps the sickest twist in this sordid story, Carrier had secured the $7 million by promising to invest an additional $16 million in the factory. Trump never read the fine print. Carrier now says it will use that promised money to develop more automation which will enable the company to cut even more jobs down the road.That s one hell of a bad deal from Donald the dealmaker Trump.Unfortunately for Americans looking to understand how Trump might run the country and for the workers at Carrier, much of the mainstream media hailed the Carrier deal as an unequivocal success for Trump. The New York Times, for instance, praised Trump for the bribe, parroting his campaign rhetoric, writing that this deal proved Trump was a different kind of Republican, willing to take on big business. It s doubtful that the same media outlets will bother to retract their original praise or issue a follow-up documenting the ways in which the deal has fallen apart. Everyone has moved on. Many Americans might even still falsely believe Trump saved the Carrier jobs.Meanwhile an estimated 600 employees at Carrier will now be jobless. Plants will still open up in Mexico, right on schedule. And the only real winners were the owners of Carrier and Trump. But was there ever really any chance that it wouldn t turn out this way?


Walling them out, or walling us in? Shall we wall off Canada, too? By Jim Hightower Posted on November 3, 2016 by Jim Hightower  Evading security cameras in the remote expanse along the U.S. border, three Guatemalans waited till dusk to slip illicitly into our country.  This is the stuff of Donald Trump nightmares—and if he were to witness such a scene, we can only imagine the furious rants that would follow.  But Trump will never see this scene or even know about it, because he's facing south, fulminating against Mexicans and assuring his faithful followers that he'll stop illegal entry into the U.S. by building a " beautiful, impenetrable wall " across our 2,000-mile border with Mexico.  Meanwhile, the scene described took place way up north, where rural Vermont connects to Canada. As the New York Times recently reported , "This area is a haven for smugglers and cross-border criminal organizations."  With so many of our nation's political and security officials obsessed with the southern border, more and more criminal action—including the smuggling of people, drugs, and weapons—has plagued our 5,500-mile Canadian border, the longest in the world between two countries.  Running from the Atlantic to the Pacific through sparsely populated and heavily wooded terrain, there's often no clear demarcation of where Canada ends and the U.S. begins. Some farms, homes, and businesses actually sprawl across the border.  Only about 2,000 agents patrol this vast stretch, and officials concede they don't even have a good guess of how many people and how much contraband is coming across, or where.  So, the question for Mr. Trump is: Shall we wall off Canada, too? And how much of our public treasury, democratic idealism, and international goodwill shall we dump into the folly of militarizing both borders?  By simply thinking we can wall the world out, we'll be walling ourselves in—and that's suicidal.  OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He's the editor of the populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown . Distributed by OtherWords.or g . Commentary . Bookmark the permalink .


With vehicles crushed and overturned and buildings reduced to skeletons of mangled steel and rubble, the Philippine city of Marawi resembles the aftermath of a war that lasted years, rather than months. Except for small clusters of troops dotted amid the ruins and skinny cats and dogs scavenging for food, the heart of Marawi is a ghost town, all but destroyed by the Philippines biggest and fiercest urban battle in recent history. Hundreds of rebels claiming allegiance to Islamic State seized large areas of the city of 200,000 people in May and clung on through unrelenting government air strikes and artillery bombardments, right until the last remaining gunmen were killed three days ago. The military escorted media on Wednesday through the ravaged streets of the once picturesque lakeside town, showing for the first time the front lines of a devastating conflict that has stoked fears of Islamic State s extremist agenda taking root in the region. The scale of the damage was stark as a convoy of vans carrying reporters and cameramen followed an army truck through one district after another, stopping off at key intersections recently cleared of unexploded munitions and booby traps. Wide boulevards in the city were lined by crumbling homes and shop fronts missing higher floors, with fragments of chairs, children s toys and household appliances wedged into piles of crumbled concrete. Tattered pieces of clothing poking above banks of rubble provided the only color in the mass of gutted grey buildings blackened by smoke. Vans, pickup trucks and cars were turned over, coated in rust or torn apart by bomb blasts. The militants planning, stockpiling of weapons and their combat capability stunned government forces, who had to fight street by street to take back the city and were often pinned down by snipers and homemade bombs. At first our forces cannot press them, they moved from one building to the next. Our concept was to restrict them - it took time, but we constricted them, said Lieutenant Colonel Sam Yunque, a special forces commander deployed in Marawi since the beginning of the conflict. We innovated to suppress their techniques. They were not better than us, that s why they lost. The Philippines announced the end of combat operations in Marawi City on Monday after troops killed 42 remaining militants, including some foreign fighters. More than 1,100 people, including 165 troops and 45 civilians, died in the conflict. The government has said the rest were militants. Senior officers said they took pains to protect the multitude of mosques in what is the only designated Islamic City in the mainly Catholic Philippines. Although many escaped the pounding of daily air strikes, domes and walls were peppered with holes from heavy machine gun fire as troops sought to flush out rebels hiding within. Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis praised Filipino soldiers for defeating the militants without attracting allegations of human rights violations. The United States provided critical tactical intelligence in the Marawi combat operation, deploying surveillance planes and drones, thermal imaging and eavesdropping equipment. The walls were blasted away at Marawi s police headquarters where the armory was looted, and in the adjacent jail where more than 100 prisoners were freed. Close by, a mosque minaret had fallen into a mash of metal and rock. Behind it was a lone, leafless tree with only a few branches left. The militants smashed through thick layers of concrete to turn drainage channels into trenches, doubling as tunnels for fighters to move between buildings and elude surveillance drones and army snipers. Rebel-held buildings were covered with graffiti, including one of an arrow through a heart, with the message I love ISIS , an acronym for Islamic State. But there was no love for the rebel alliance among the hundreds of jubilant soldiers at send-off ceremonies held this week as troops gradually return home. Colonel Corleto Vinluan, the commander of joint special operations, described the enemy as rats . He said the military had gained valuable experience in urban combat and chose a strategy that took time, but ultimately paid off. We couldn t just enter the area, it was very big, we did not know where the leaders were, we had to surround them and the area became smaller. It was that time when we really took control, Vinluan told Reuters. We didn t expect they ll last that long, their ammunition their firearms and their food. We learned a lot from this event, we adjusted our strategies. They were tough fighters, some of them, but not all.


The Commodity Futures Trading Commission would have stronger policing powers over the derivatives market, along with a boosted budget, under legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. The bill, introduced by Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Mark Warner in the Senate and Elijah Cummings in the House of Representatives, also would add new tasks to the regulator's rulemaking agenda. "The only way to make sure that derivatives can never lead to a financial crisis and taxpayer bailouts again is to put in place clearer rules and stronger oversight," Warren said in a statement. The bill likely will fizzle in the Republican-led Congress. It could also become part of this year's election fights, as the relationship between Wall Street and Washington frequently moves to center stage in presidential and congressional campaigns. Democrats such as Warren, who is campaigning for her party's presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton, regard the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law passed after the 2007-09 financial crisis as crucial for preventing another massive meltdown. That law greatly expanded the CFTC's reach, as swaps and derivatives had played a key role in the breakdown of banks and other firms. They also seek further regulation, saying vulnerabilities persist in the financial system. The presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, real estate developer and television star Donald Trump wants to repeal Dodd-Frank. Many in the party say the law has gone too far, drying up liquidity and freezing capital. The proposed legislation "gives the CFTC a stable funding stream and the tools necessary to help deter future illegal acts by permitting penalties large enough to impact the bottom lines of even the largest financial firms," Cummings said. The CFTC currently is funded through annual appropriations from Congress, unlike the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is backed by user fees and fines. CFTC Chair Timothy Massad has sought a change, saying millions of dollars more in funds would help the agency keep up with technology advancements in the markets it oversees and with "high-powered defense teams" in its enforcement cases. Republicans in Congress say the funding process keeps the agency accountable to elected leaders. The Democrats' bill would move the CFTC to the same model as the SEC. It would also put certain foreign exchange swaps under CFTC jurisdiction, change how derivatives are treated in bankruptcy, require posting initial margin in inter-affiliate swaps, and require regulators to review derivatives clearinghouses.


Oct 26, 2016 4:26 PM 0 SHARES  There was a sudden burst of confusion heading into today's Tesla earnings. As Bloomberg reported , a change in the way Tesla Motors Inc. will report quarterly results after today's market close has created a bit of a last-minute headache for analysts, with earnings estimates varying widely. The electric-car maker is phasing out most of the non-GAAP adjustments it's traditionally made, including ones for resale value guarantees or vehicles leased through banking partners. Starting today, when the company discusses third-quarter adjusted non-GAAP earnings per share, it plans to exclude only stock-based compensation.  The SEC in recent months has raised concern that public companies may be straying too far too often from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Though Tesla has telegraphed its plan for weeks, many analysts are only now revising forecast models and some are sitting out the guessing game entirely this time. That means it may be challenging to draw firm conclusions about whether Tesla missed or beat Wall Street expectations - giving added importance to what Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk says on a follow-up conference call about cash or production plans.  So heading into today's earnings, the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts stands at an adjusted loss of 54 cents a share, based on seven forecasts that have comparable methodologies that the firms say take the new practice into account. While all seven of those projected a loss, there are others who say the company may post a profit.  Well, those who expected a profit got just that, because momnets ago Tesla not only reported revenue of $2.3 billion, far higher than the $1.9 billion expected, but also reported its first quarterly profit of $74 cents, smashing consensus estimate of a 54 cent loss.  Since there will be much confusion over how these numbers make any sense, here is what the company said:  Starting this quarter, our financial releases no longer include the non-GAAP revenue disclosures that we historically provided. To simplify our financial reporting, we add back non-cash stock-based compensation (SBC) to calculate non-GAAP results. Consistent with previous quarters, non-GAAP automotive gross margin will also exclude ZEV credit sales.  Total Q3 GAAP revenue was $2.30 billion, up 145% from Q3 2015, while total Q3 gross margin was 27.7%, compared to 21.6% in Q2.  Total automotive revenue was $2.15 billion on a GAAP basis, up 152% from Q3 2015. Our final Q3 delivery count was 24,821, over 300 more than the estimated delivery count we shared on October 2nd. Deliveries increased 114% from the third quarter of 2015, and was comprised of 16,047 Model S and 8,774 Model X vehicles. In addition, 5,065 vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the quarter. These vehicles will be delivered in Q4.  Our Q3 GAAP net income was $22 million, or $0.14 per share on 157 million diluted shares, while our non-GAAP net income was $111 million, or $0.71 per share on a diluted basis, after adding back $90 million of SBC. Both figures include an $0.08 per share loss of other expense, net, primarily related to foreign currency transactions and the conversion of most of our 2018 convertible notes.  Confused? So are we, and sadly charting the results does not help:  And here are the company's GAAP revenues:  Alas, even looking at the company's cash flow does not provide much apples to apples color. Here's why:  We hope that Elon Musk can provide some clarity on just what is going on here, because Wall Street has no idea.  * * *  Going back to its core business, said that its final Q3 delivery count was 24,821, over 300 more than the estimated delivery count we shared on October 2nd. " Deliveries increased 114% from the third quarter of 2015, and was comprised of 16,047 Model S and 8,774 Model X vehicles. In addition, 5,065 vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the quarter. These vehicles will be delivered in Q4."  It added the following:  During the quarter, we opened 17 new stores and service centers to increase our customer support network to 250 locations globally. We believe new product variants such as the P100DL, additional Model X seating variants, new product capabilities such as Enhanced Autopilot and hardware for Full Self-Driving Capability, Autopilot 8.0 software, and new store and service center openings should continue to drive strong vehicle order growth.  The company also said that it had "achieved record production levels in Q3, rising to 25,185 vehicles for an increase of 37% from Q2 and an increase of 92% from Q3 last year"  TSLA said 4Q deliveries were "just over" 25k, had 3Q deliveries of 24.5k, forecast 2H deliveries of 50k. The company also said that the Model 3 remains on plan for volume deliveries in second half of 2017. Here is the full outlook:  We maintain our guidance of 50,000 new vehicle deliveries for the second half of 2016, with a Q4 plan of just over 25,000 deliveries, despite the challenges of winter weather and the holiday season. We expect about 30% to 35% of these deliveries to be accounted for as leases for revenue recognition purposes.  As previously provided in our second quarter update, we guided a 2 to 3 percentage points improvement in automotive gross margin on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis by the end of 2016. Automotive gross margin on a non-GAAP basis excludes ZEV credits and SBC. We are on track to meet this guidance.  We also guided in our second quarter update that full year 2016 operating expenses, both on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, would grow approximately 30% from 2015. We are also on track to meet this guidance.  We now expect our capital expenditures in 2016 will be approximately $1.8 billion as we continue to focus on capital efficiency. Capital expenditures for the past three quarters totaled $759 million.  While an apples-to-apples analysis is clearly missing the report, for now the algos love the headline, and have sent the stock surging after hours.


Searching for money, for love and for food, we strike bargains. We may be content with one for years until we begin to be shadowed by the suspicion that the terms aren't working out in our favor anymore. That doubt nagged me at Momofuku Nishi, which the chef David Chang opened in Chelsea in January. Early in his career, with Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Ssam Bar, Mr. Chang and his customers struck a deal that made decades of dining tradition look obsolete. He and his cooks could make Asian ingredients bend in new directions. The cooking could be gloriously unwholesome or willfully esoteric or stunningly precise, but it was never quite like anything else out there. In return for tasting these new sensations, Mr. Chang's customers gave up amenities that used to be automatic at restaurants hoping to be taken seriously. When it comes to inflicting discomfort, Nishi still holds up its end of the bargain. You can make reservations, but not for a table, most of which are long and low you're likely to share yours with strangers. Instead, you reserve a chair, which, strictly speaking, is a seat built like a hard, flat crate. Ssam Bar has similar seating, but the lighting is more seductive and the noise level is less throttling. At Nishi, highly sensitive microphones seem to be placed directly above all the loudest people, picking up and amplifying their every screech. Mr. Chang told the Eater restaurant critic Ryan Sutton in March, when Nishi was two months old, that the acoustics "have to get better. " Reading that, I stayed away for six weeks, hoping for improvements. When I returned, the only obvious change was that more tiles had been affixed to the ceiling. If they helped, I couldn't tell. In a phone interview, Mr. Chang told me he is "going crazy about the sound, but we are working actively to do the best we can. " Nishi is still as loud as the opening of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. Temporary soreness of the butt and throat were always potential downsides of a Momofuku meal. Back when we first agreed to the bargain, though, the food was so distractingly original and good that you wouldn't have minded eating it while leaning up against a Dumpster in an alley sharing your chopsticks with GG Allin. At Nishi, you mind. The strongest dishes are exquisitely controlled plates of cold vegetables or protein that could easily fit into the lineup of a marathon menu at Momofuku Ko, the tasting counter where Nishi's executive chef, Joshua Pinsky, cooked for more than five years. Shavings of watermelon radishes and raw beef veined with white fat are sprinkled with dashi and a Spanish olive oil that really stands out. Threads of celery curl around raw mackerel, given a breath of char and bathed in a soy analogue fermented from rye, with a precise flicker of yuzu. Sea scallops dusted with salted, dried kelp rise from a green juice that tastes like cucumbers, peppers and herbs — or maybe it's just wheatgrass? These dishes and others like them are extraordinarily good because the ingredients are allowed to speak quietly. But when the kitchen reaches for the throttle, the results can be muddled or muted. Snails and anchovies seemed to be straining to keep a $55 prime rib from seeming ordinary and slightly dry. Where was the salted crust? Where was the invitation to give in to fleshy temptations held out by Ssam Bar's rotisserie duck or its pork shoulder? Mackerel was almost perfectly cooked, but nothing about it made me want to come back for more, not the lukewarm daikon hiding under it nor the barbecue sauce spread on top, a blend so complex and balanced it canceled itself out. Allegedly, Nishi is Mr. Chang's foray into Italy, although that's not at all apparent until you dip into the noodles. The clams grand Lisboa is, I guess, a twist on spaghetti alle vongole. The fun of it is the way skinny chow mein noodles have been toasted before cooking, so you get some soft strands and some crackly ones in the same bite. Footnotes on the right side of the menu provide cryptic references to source materials. The one for the chitarra points toward the chef Mark Ladner's pasta with crab meat and jalapeños. That dish is memorable. The Nishi version is not. Mr. Ladner's bright clarity is replaced with a confusion of dried squid, XO sauce, fermented chiles and chile paste. One time it was spicy but too sweet another time it was less sweet but not spicy enough. The dish everybody talks about is called ceci e pepe, a takeoff on cacio e pepe made with chickpea hozon, a fermented paste made and sold in tiny amounts by Momofuku. Hozon does taste a bit like cheese, but not like the pecorino used in a classic cacio e pepe — it's missing that wild pasture flavor of sheep's milk. The dish is also missing a few degrees of heat like some of the other noodles, ceci e pepe has a habit of arriving lukewarm. A homage this far off the mark would be fine if the goal were to avoid animal fats, but butter slips around the strands of bucatini. I don't know why this dish exists, except to find a use for a proprietary Momofuku product. Too much of the cooking at Nishi is inward looking and so concerned with technique that you can't help being conscious of it. In his early days, Mr. Chang served the kind of food chefs like to eat: intense, animalistic, O. K. with messiness, indifferent to prettiness. Nishi serves the kind of food chefs cook to impress one another. As Mr. Chang's operation has grown into a global concern with branches in Australia and Canada, his restaurants started to offer amenities that were once unimaginable. The cocktails at Nishi, like the margarita with an absinthe rinse, are clever in the right way. There is satisfying range on the wine list, too the nuanced Farrside pinot noir from Australia is a far cry from the sparkling shiraz that was one of the only bottles Ssam Bar carried in its first year. If dinner in Changland now includes intelligent drinking, why can't it also encompass seating and acoustics that won't leave your lower back in knots and your eardrums in shreds? When we made our original deal with Momofuku, we were all kinds of swept away by the rush of flavors we had never encountered before. Now that Mr. Chang has a dozen years' worth of protégés and copycats, now that he even seems to be copying himself, now that the rest of us have cooler heads and other options, it's time to take another look at that bargain.