As the Islamic State seeks to export its brand of barbaric terror to would-be affiliates, the U.S. faces a growing challenge to find the sources of ISIS funding and blunt its flow to allied militants. The terror army's most recent atrocity was the mass beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya. It remains unclear how closely tied those militants are to ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but the Islamic State's underground economy continues to thrive. Even as the U.S.-led coalition strikes at what was long the heart of ISIS' revenue stream -- oil fields and refineries -- officials say the terror network is making money in other ways. "We know that oil revenue is no longer the lead source of their income in dollars," Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said recently. But he added: "They get a lot of donations. They also have a significant black market program." How much money ISIS truly makes from donations is a matter of debate. But experts agree that ISIS receives significant revenue from black-market smuggling and other operations. "ISIS is selling anything they can get their hands on," Dr. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in an interview with Fox News. Plus, according to reports, the group is even skimming Iraqi taxpayer dollars by shaking down government employees in areas they've conquered. In short, ISIS is set on building a terror empire, going so far as to tout its annual financials. Reportedly, ISIS released a $2 billion budget for 2015 including a $250 million surplus, though those numbers are disputed. After Mosul fell to the Islamic State in June, the International Business Times declared ISIS the "world's richest terrorist organization" after the central bank's vaults were looted of some $420 million. Estimates vary, but ISIS reportedly rakes in between one and three million dollars per day, though the strikes against its oil refineries have taken a toll. The United Nations last Thursday tried to strike at the money stream. The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at cutting off millions of dollars in earnings from oil smuggling, antiquities trafficking and ransom payments to ISIS. The measure calls for sanctions against individuals and entities that trade in oil with ISIS and Al Qaeda affiliates such as the Al-Nusra Front in Syria. The resolution was co-sponsored by more than 35 countries. It called for all 193 countries of the U.N. to take steps to prevent ancient artifacts from being smuggled and sold and to ban the direct or indirect sale of ransoms. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said payments and donations to ISIS "perpetuate a cycle of horrific brutality, giving these groups resources to carry out more murderous acts and incentivizing them to take more people captive." How much ISIS really receives from donations is unclear. "Most charities [supporting radical Islam] in the Gulf are aligned with Al Qaeda, not ISIS," said Gartenstein-Ross. Gartenstein-Ross pointed to Abdulrahman al-Nuaymi, a Qatari who has been accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of transferring millions of dollars to Al Qaeda affiliates in Iraq and Syria, as a prime example of this arrangement. While many blame Qatar for playing a "double game" of supporting both radical Islamist groups and the coalition against ISIS, the Obama administration disputes the notion that wealthy Arabs from Persian Gulf countries give generously to ISIS. "ISIL derives a relatively small share of its funds from deep-pocket donors, and thus does not, today, depend principally on moving money across international borders. Instead, ISIL obtains the vast majority of its revenues through local criminal and terrorist activities," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen in October, at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There is a lot of opacity," Gartenstein-Ross admitted. But he said the smuggling of black market goods, similar to the opium trade by the Taliban inside Afghanistan; taxation among the Iraqi population particularly in Mosul; and the sale of oil round out other areas of ISIS funding. Gartenstein-Ross pointed out that airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition against oil refineries in Syria have denied ISIS a large source of revenue. Looting and ransoms make up for some of the difference, however. Some experts point to the Iraqi government as unwittingly contributing to ISIS' coffers. Aki Peritz, a former CIA counterterrorism analyst, said in a recent New York Times op-ed that the Iraqi government continues to pay its civil servants in Mosul, despite being controlled by ISIS. Peritz wrote, "Baghdad provides about $130 million every month to pay all its workers in Mosul" and estimated that Iraq's treasury has paid over $1 billion to these civil servants since Mosul fell in June 2014. He estimated that ISIS has taken half of those payments in the form of taxation. While efforts are currently underway to dismantle key revenue sources for the Islamic State, there are signs the caliphate is receiving setbacks from within. According to syriadirect.org, "Assassinations, bombings and defections plague the Islamic State in Deir e-Zor," in oil-rich eastern Syria. The nonprofit news outlet based in Amman, Jordan, says that over the past month, assassination attempts against members of ISIS religious police have become more common. Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews


During nearly every sporting event, at one point in the game, the cameras are taken off the game to scan the crowd for loving couples to smooch each other on the infamous Kiss Cam. Almost always, or let s just say it like it is, these cameras seem to always find straight couples. However, last year, a beautiful couple got caught on the Kiss Cam at Dodger stadium, and it looks as though another beautiful couple got their moment recently during a hockey game.In what is being reported as the first same-sex Kiss Cam moment in NHL history, Brad Parr and Andy Evans, while attending a Los Angeles Kings game at the Staples Center, were featured. The kiss drew huge cheers from the crowd.Parr told Outsports: It was a particularly sweet night since the Kings were playing and beat my hometown Toronto. My parents and siblings live in LA but the rest of my family think I am a terrible traitor for being a Kings fan; I ve lived in LA for 17 years. Not only did these fantastic men get to smooch in front of thousands of fellow King s fans, but they are also triathletes raising money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society s Team in Training.This beautiful moment in history is wonderful and shows the progress we ve made as a nation, but it also highlights that in 2016, we re just now getting around to acknowledging that gay couples, male and female, do in fact attend sporting events.Congrats to the beautiful couple, and if you d like to donate to help their cause, go HERE.You can see the full video HERE, but here s a highlight of just the pair in their moment in history: Progress! Hear the cheers for the first gay kiss on Kiss Cam. A first in NHL history. LA Kings vs Maple Leafs Game. pic.twitter.com/ngEJnqqqif My Daughter s Army (@mydaughtersarmy) January 9, 2016 Video/Featured image: Twitter


On the Thursday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart London Raheem Kassam will offer the latest analysis of Wednesday's terror attack in London. [He'll be joined by Dr. Alan Mendoza, the Founder and Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society Phillip Haney, former Department of Homeland Security official and author of See Something, Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government's Submission to Jihad and Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to President Trump and author of the bestselling book Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War. Rep. Dave Brat ( ) will discuss the latest developments regarding House Speaker Paul Ryan's Obamacare replacement bill, which is coming under intense criticism from all quarters and has been dubbed "Ryancare," " " and " " by critics. The bill is expect to face a House vote on Thursday. We'll also hear from former UN ambassador John Bolton about FBI director James Comey's testimony on Capitol Hill, the latest revelations about the leaking of classified intelligence, Trump's proposed defense budget, and the terror attack in London. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show "the conservative news show of record. " Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: .


Truth Revolt October 26, 2016  As usual, Pat Condell nails it in this video commentary about the differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, about immigration, about Brexit, and more.  Check out the video above — probably the best 8 minutes you'll spend today. Condell helpfully provides related links below:  Hillary Clinton embraces George Soros' vision of an open border world


During game 1 of the WNBA Finals, the LA Sparks WNBA Nneka Ogwumike claimed to be inspired by the cowardly act of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, when he chose to hide from the cameras rather than take a stand one way or the other on the national anthem, and stayed in the tunnel during the playing of the national anthem:The LA Sparks will take the lead of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin today, Nneka Ogwumike said, and stay in the locker room during the anthem. Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 24, 2017Meanwhile, the Minnesota Lynx team showed their disrespect for the national anthem by linking arms in protest while it was being played.The LA Sparks team stayed in the locker room.The scene at Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. The Lynx link arms during the anthem, the Sparks stay in the locker room. pic.twitter.com/jckFULAvux Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 24, 2017In game 2 of the WNBA Finals, the LA Sparks decided to leave the floor and head to the locker room for the national anthem. They were booed as they left the floor.Sparks booed as they leave the floor for the playing of the national anthem here in Minneapolis. Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 27, 2017The LA Sparks were booed again as they returned from the locker room:Sparks booed as they retake the floor after the singing of the national anthem in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/upZTj4bDMb Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 27, 2017


Puerto Rico's governor on Monday said the island's vote in favor of becoming a U.S. state, despite low voter turnout and widespread boycotts, was "a fair and open" process that U.S. Congress should act upon. An island-wide referendum on Sunday favored statehood in a 97 percent landslide, though voter turnout reached just 23 percent as opponents of Governor Ricardo Rossello's push to become a state boycotted the vote. The non-binding plebiscite is not expected to sway the U.S. Congress, which would have to agree to make Puerto Rico a state. Currently a U.S. territory, the island is struggling with $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, and is not viewed as a priority in Washington. Rossello, who campaigned on a push for statehood, said in a telephone interview with Reuters that he will go to the U.S. capital this week to urge federal lawmakers to begin the process of admitting Puerto Rico into the union. "We will make sure this becomes an issue," Rossello said. The vote comes at a critical time for Puerto Rico, whose hazy status - which dates to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain - has contributed to its ongoing economic crisis. Last month, the island filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its woes make statehood even more urgent, Rossello said. "Statehood brings stability, allows us to have fewer rule-changes from Congress, provides resources to our people," he said. Sunday's referendum, which cost Puerto Rico between $5 million and $7 million, according to government estimates, was the island's fifth since 1967 - and the third in which pro-statehood sentiments triumphed, though none have moved Congress to act. "If the U.S. is going to go to Venezuela and Cuba and Afghanistan and push democracy abroad, they've got to do the same" with their own territories, he said. But Puerto Ricans are skeptical the island's status will change. "This has all been a waste of time," said taxi driver Felix Salasarar, 54, adding that federal lawmakers will "look at the voter turnout and say, 'where's the will of the people?'" Working against the governor may be a perception in Washington that Sunday's vote was not fair. The U.S. Department of Justice in April called on Rossello to change ballot language that initially did not give voters an option to remain a U.S. territory. Rossello told Reuters he made that decision because the territory option - which Rossello equates to colonialism - already lost in a previous status referendum, in 2012, making this year's vote a choice between statehood and independence. The Justice department viewed the language as politically unfair to millions of Puerto Ricans who favor territory status, prompting Rossello to add the territory option. But the Justice department never reviewed or approved the new language. To be sure, Sunday's results do not reflect the true nature of Puerto Ricans' views on statehood, which are fairly evenly divided between those who favor it and those who do not, based upon historical election results. Statehooder Rossello, for example, won his own election with just 42 percent of the vote. But that, the governor said, is how democracy works: "Everybody knows that those who go through the voting process have a louder voice than those who don't," he said. Carolina Santos, a single working mother struggling to make her mortgage payments, said bankrupt Puerto Rico has more important things to worry about than a status vote. "Maybe we should focus more on fixing our financial problems and our schools," she said.


Donald Trump decided to war with the one person most politicians have enough sense not to touch: The Pope. Pope Francis was asked what he thought of Donald Trump, and said that it was not a Christian thing to do, to talk of building walls instead of building bridges. Of course, Trump being Trump, he retaliated in fury. Pope Francis said: A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel. I would only say that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. Now, an idiot pastor has joined the fray, and is saying that the Pope, of all people, is confused about what it means to be a Christian. Pastor Robert Jeffress went on-air on The Sean Hannity Show, and said to the right-wing host: Sean, I think the Pope needs to ask Donald Trump s forgiveness for making such an outlandish statement. I want to remind our listeners that it was exactly one year ago this week that 21 Coptic Christians had their heads chopped off by ISIS on a Libyan beach and then ISIS said, we are coming to Rome next. As if that wasn t enough, the man actually suggested that the Pope is the one who is confused here about what he should be doing as Pope. And the fact that we have a candidate like Donald Trump who wants to protect America, that s not unbiblical. The Pope is confused between the role of the Church, which is to show compassion, and the role of government, which is to uphold order and to protect its citizens. And I want to make a prediction. I think the Pope has succeeded in doing what no other man on Earth could do, and that is creating a martyr in Donald Trump. Well, Pastor Jeffress, as many issues as I have with the Catholic Church, I think you d do well to step away from this one. If the Pope himself doesn t know what the Church should be doing and saying here, who does?Watch the video below, via Media Matters for America:


Chinese state media on Monday continued to play down the protocol-bending phone call last week between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwan's president, with editorials in two newspapers saying the move showed Trump's inexperience. China's national English-language newspaper, the China Daily, said the 10-minute call "exposed nothing but the inexperience Trump and his transition team have in dealing with foreign affairs". "The action was due to a lack of a proper understanding of the sensitive issues in Sino-U.S. relations and cross-Strait ties," it said. The Friday call was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of "one China". China's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it had lodged "stern representations" with what it called the "relevant U.S. side," urging the careful handling of the Taiwan issue to avoid any unnecessary disturbances in ties. China considers Taiwan a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday pointedly blamed Taiwan for the exchange, rather than Trump, calling it "a petty action". The China Daily said that for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, the call "achieves nothing substantial, only pride in making what is an illusionary 'groundbreaking move', and temporarily diverting public attention on the island away from her bad performance". "It would be a mistake for Tsai and her party to over-interpret the significance of the call," it said. Her attempts to "stir up tension... will ultimately backfire". The Global Times, a hawkish tabloid under the ruling Communist Party's top newspaper the People's Daily, called Trump "bluffing and unpredictable", but said he did not have plans to overturn America's international relationships. "It seems that Trump is still taking advantage of his perceived fickleness and unpredictability to make some choppy waves in the Taiwan Straits to see if he can gain some bargaining chips before he is sworn in," it said. The Global Times added targeting him would be inappropriate since he is not yet president. "He has zero diplomatic experience and is unaware of the repercussions of shaking up Sino-U.S. relations," it said. Instead, China could send a message to Trump by punishing Taiwan, wooing away one or two of the island's diplomatic allies or beefing up military deployments against Taiwan, it said. "It is certain that Trump doesn't want a showdown with China, because it is not his ambition, and neither was it included in his promise to the electorate. He puts out feelers to sound China out and chalk up some petty benefits." On Monday, Taiwan's Liberty Times, considered close to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, reported Tsai is planning to transit in New York early next month on her way to visit three diplomatic allies - Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. The trip would take place before Trump's inauguration January 20 and Tsai's delegation would seek to meet with Trump's team, including Reince Priebus, Trump's White House chief of staff, the report said. Taiwan's Presidential Office said media reports about a January trip were "excessive speculation". It said it would announce any presidential trips at the appropriate time.


A U.S. consulate employee in Istanbul was arrested on charges of links to a cleric blamed for last year s failed coup, Turkish authorities said on Thursday, a move condemned by Washington as baseless and damaging to ties between the NATO allies. President Tayyip Erdogan s spokesman said the locally-recruited consulate worker had been in contact with Adil Oksuz, a theology professor dubbed the imam of the air force for his alleged close links to coup plotters high up in the military. The arrested U.S. consulate worker was found to have had frequent communication with the FETO suspect Adil Oksuz, Ibrahim Kalin told reporters, using Erdogan s acronym for the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen that Erdogan accuses of engineering the coup attempt. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said it was deeply disturbed by the arrest of the locally employed staff member. Baseless, anonymous allegations against our employees undermine and devalue (the) longstanding partnership between the United States and Turkey, the embassy said in a statement. Turkey s Foreign Ministry said the arrested individual was not on the official list of registered personnel for the U.S. consulate and therefore had no diplomatic or consular immunity. U.S.-Turkish tensions have risen over U.S. military support for Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, considered by Ankara to be an extension of the banned PKK which has waged an insurgency for three decades in southeast Turkey. Turkey has also pressed, so far in vain, for the United States to extradite Gulen over the July 2016 putsch, in which more than 240 people were killed. Gulen denies any involvement. Authorities say Oksuz, the theology professor, helped orchestrate the bombing of parliament by rogue air force pilots during the coup bid. He was detained near an Ankara air base hours after the coup was put down, only to be released by a judge two days later. He has been on the run since. The state-run Anadolu news agency identified the consulate employee as a male Turkish citizen and said he was arrested late Wednesday on charges of espionage and attempts to damage the constitutional order and Turkey s government. Since the coup attempt, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over alleged links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors. Human rights groups and some of Turkey s Western allies have voiced concern about the crackdown, fearing Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government says only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says deeply infiltrated institutions such as the army, schools and courts. Friction with the United States has also arisen from the indictment last month by a U.S. court of Turkey s former economy minister Zafer Caglayan. Caglayan and the ex-head of a state-owned Turkish bank were charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran s behalf. Turkey says Caglayan acted within international law and that charges against him amounted to a coup attempt through American courts.


Children returning to school in the northern Syrian city of al-Bab were handed a new textbook this term: T rk e reniyorum - I am learning Turkish . Turkish lessons, Turkish signposts, Turkish-trained police and most recently a Turkish post office all point to Turkey s deepening role in an area of northern Syria it captured from Islamic State (IS) with the help of Syrian rebels. Turkish administrators are even helping to run hospitals in the area. Ankara has taken on a widening role in the 100-km (60-mile) stretch of territory seized in its eight-month long Euphrates Shield operation, laying the foundations for long-term ties with an area that is of crucial strategic importance to Turkey. Launched to drive IS away from the border, the operation also aimed to block further expansion by Syrian Kurdish groups that Ankara deems a threat to its national security. With the Euphrates Shield region calm for months, Ankara says it wants to help recovery and to encourage a return of Syrian refugees, millions of whom fled the six-year-long war into Turkey. But Turkish support is also consolidating the region s status as a Syrian opposition-held territory where Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups are building their own government even as the forces of President Bashar al-Assad win back swathes of the country elsewhere. After Daesh (Islamic State) was expelled ... we returned and the cities were suffering from large-scale destruction and general ruin, said Mohammad Karaz, director of education in al-Bab. Some schools were wiped out entirely, he said. The restoration was done by our Turkish brothers who restored 10 schools, one of which we are sitting in today, he said during an interview at the Major Bulent al-Bayrak elementary school, named after a Turkish officer killed while fighting Islamic State for control of al-Bab. Arabs and Turks are siblings reads a mural in the schoolyard. Turkish aid includes stationery, books and clothes. Karaz said the schools were teaching a Syrian curriculum modified to remove the state s Baathist ideology. The decision to add Turkish was taken unanimously by Syrian education officials in the area, he said. Turkish classes, taught by Syrians trained in Turkey, have started for pupils aged between six and nine. Explaining the decision, Karaz noted that two-thirds of al-Bab citizens had sought refuge in Turkey. Turkish authorities had given assurances that qualifications from schools in the area would be recognized in Turkey and students can apply to Turkish universities , he said. A senior Turkish official said Ankara aimed to recreate the conditions to bring life back to normal in the area which is located northeast of the city of Aleppo and stretches to the western bank of the Euphrates River. Turkish support included health care, security, food and police training. Turkey wants the Syrians living (in Turkey) to return to their country ... However, it will continue to host the Syrians here and provide humane living conditions for the Syrians in the regions under its control for as long as necessary, the official told Reuters. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech last weekend, said: We don t have a wish to occupy these lands but we want the rightful owners to go back there. Damascus has, however, long accused Turkey, a major backer of the Syrian opposition to Assad, of colonial ambitions in northern Syria. The front page of the pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar on Thursday declared that Ankara was undertaking the Turkification of the area. Turkey s intervention was driven chiefly by concern over the growing sway of Syrian Kurdish groups seen by Ankara as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade long insurgency against the Turkish state. The Euphrates Shield operation shattered the Syrian Kurds hopes of joining up two Kurdish-dominated regions of northern Syria, where the war has allowed Kurdish militia to carve out their own autonomous regions. The Syrian opposition s efforts to establish their own interim government in the Euphrates Shield area received a big boost this week when a Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group handed it control of a border crossing to Turkey. The interim government s aims include drawing investment to move the people from a state of war to work and building the region , said Khaled Aaba, a senior official with the Jabha Shamiya FSA group that handed over Bab al-Salama crossing. Crediting Turkey for standing by Syrians in their travails , he said Ankara was actively participating in supporting administrative and service institutions in the area . The existence of (the interim) government better organizes this relationship. Turkey s support to the health sector has included repairing and expanding hospitals previously operated by the Syrian state. Turkish administrators are working alongside Syrians at the Hikmeh Hospital in al-Bab, said Ahmad Aabo, a Syrian medical official in the city. Turkey s main project is a 200-bed hospital that will replace one destroyed during the war with IS. The companies taking control of the construction are Turkish, we don t have companies capable of doing such a project, said Aabo, speaking to Reuters in a telephone interview from the city. He said work on the hospital, which began a month ago, should be completed by New Year, comparing the rapid pace of the Turkish project with the 25 years it had taken to build its predecessor. Turkish support for Syrian security forces has included training police officers who began deploying in the region in January. Abdel Razzak al-Laz, the head of the National Police and General Security Forces , said 7,000 have now been deployed. Everyone wants the return of security and stability, wants to see a police patrol at night and during the day, said Laz, a police director when he defected to the opposition in 2012. The numbers are increasing, and there are continuous courses.


The Trump administration has set a collision course with the auto industry as it launches renegotiations of the 23-year-old NAFTA trade pact this week, aiming to shrink a growing trade deficit with Mexico and tighten the rules of origin for cars and parts. More than any other industry, autos have been the focus of U.S. President Donald Trump's anger over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he blames for taking car factories and jobs away from America to low-wage Mexico. The United States had a $74 billion trade deficit with Mexico in autos and auto parts last year, the dominant component of an overall $64 billion U.S. deficit, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. "The Trump administration has framed their NAFTA negotiating objectives around reducing the trade deficit with Mexico," said Caroline Freund, a senior trade fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "If they don't touch autos, there's no way of getting at what they want." Among tools that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer may seek to boost auto employment in the U.S. is strengthening the rules of origin to shut out more parts from Asia, and possibly an unprecedented U.S.-specific content requirement for Mexican vehicles. Lighthizer's negotiating objectives for NAFTA seek to "ensure the rules of origin incentivize the sourcing of goods and materials from the United States and North America," which has raised concerns among auto industry executives and trade groups that he will seek a deal that guarantees a certain percentage of production for the United States. The industry is opposed to such a carve-out or to increasing the percentage of a vehicle's value that must come from the region above the current 62.5 percent - already the highest of any global trade bloc. They say this would raise costs and disrupt a complex supply chain that sees parts crisscrossing NAFTA borders and has made North American car production competitive with Asia and Europe. "Our members feel very strongly that rules of origin are not the tools to use to reshore jobs into the U.S.," said Ann Wilson, senior vice president of government affairs for the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade group representing auto parts makers. Wilson and other industry advocates say a better way to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs is through policies aimed at expanding vehicle exports. But if U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross gets his way, it would be harder to reach the 62.5 percent content threshold because the "tracing list" of parts that count towards that goal would be modernized. He argues the current rules are too loose and allow a tariff-free "back door" for Chinese auto parts. Parts that did not exist when the 300-plus page list was devised in the early 1990s, largely electronics sourced from Asia such as console touch screens or hybrid-drive controllers, do not count against reaching the threshold. If they are put on the list, companies would have to source them from North America or pay tariffs on them. If the content requirements become too onerous, automakers will simply skip compliance "and they'll just end up paying the duty," said Charles Uthus, vice president for international policy at the American Automotive Policy Council, a lobbying group for Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Fiat Chrysler. Foregoing all NAFTA tariff-free access benefits - something that could happen if Trump is dissatisfied with the negotiations and decides to scrap the trade pact - would raise costs by about $4 billion-5 billion a year, Ulthus added. Ford plans about $7 billion in total capital spending this year. Among the other contentious NAFTA issues that U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators will tackle starting on Wednesday in Washington is the future of a mechanism for resolving trade disputes. The United States wants to eliminate a so-called "Chapter 19" provision, arguing that it fails to combat unfair subsidies of some Mexican and Canadian goods. Mexico and Canada have vowed to keep the provision. Negotiators are expected to pursue new NAFTA chapters governing digital trade, and tightening environmental and labor standards, changes previously agreed by the three countries as part of the now-defunct 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership. U.S. negotiators will also seek a provision to deter currency manipulation, aiming to set a precedent for future trade negotiations, such as a revised U.S.-North Korean deal or a bilateral pact with Japan. The negotiations face an extremely tight timeline, with officials saying they want to complete negotiations by early next year to avoid ratification difficulties posed by elections in Mexico in July 2018 and in the U.S. in November 2018. Freund, a trade economist for more than a decade at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, said the negotiators should focus on a few key areas. "If you really want to do a full-blown modernization of NAFTA, it's going to take a lot more than six months," she said. "Ultimately I think they're going to get bogged down in all these details and pick two to three things and have a smaller agenda."


French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday it was not up to him to lecture Egypt on civil liberties, but told its visiting leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that strengthening human rights was in its interest. Sisi, denying accusations by human rights groups that he had allowed his forces to use torture, told a Paris news conference: We do not practice torture and ... we must be wary of all the information published by rights organizations. With both France and Egypt concerned by the political vacuum in Libya and the threat from jihadist groups in Egypt, the two countries have cultivated even closer economic and military ties during Sisi s rise to power. But rights organizations have accused France under Macron of turning a blind eye to what they say are increasing violations of freedoms by Sisi s government as the 2018 presidential elections approach. I believe in the sovereignty of states, and therefore, just as I don t accept being lectured on how to govern my country, I don t lecture others, Macron said at a joint news conference with Sisi in Paris following talks. My deeply held conviction is that it s in President Sisi s interest to accompany the defense and consolidation of human rights by the Egyptian state, in the context that only he can be the judge of, the French president said. During their 50-minute meeting, Macron brought up the issue of a dozen cases of alleged abuses of freedoms, in particular relating to Egyptian journalists and human rights activists, sources close to Macron said. Sisi, replying to journalists questions, said he was responsible for 100 million Egyptians who lived in turbulent times and alongside people who followed extremist thought and did not like to co-exist in peace. When it comes to human rights, we re not evading an answer but I hope that we understand it in its true context of a country in Egypt s situation. We are not in Europe, with its intellectual, cultural, civilization and human advancement. We re in a different region. In a report in September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced widespread and systematic use of torture by Egyptian security forces. The United Nations on Oct. 13 condemned an anti-gay crackdown in Egypt. It also slammed French indulgence towards repression in Egypt. Rights groups accuse France of abandoning principles in favor of economic and security interests. They are particularly critical of the relationship between Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian who in his previous role as defense minister developed a personal relationship with Sisi. French officials dismiss the criticism and say the new administration is following a policy of not openly criticizing countries over human rights so as to be more effective in private and work on a case by case basis. Reacting to a lack of progress in respecting human rights and on democratic standards, the United States decided in August to freeze the payment of $195 million in military aid to Egypt. Under the previous government, France concluded several major military agreements with Egypt, including the sale of 24 Rafale combat aircraft, a multi-mission frigate and two Mistral warships in contracts worth some six billion euros. France will discuss the possible sale of more Rafale aircrafts with Sisi, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said earlier on Tuesday.


On Tuesday Hunter Jackson was suspended for seven days after bringing an empty . 22 shell casing to school to show his friends. [Hunter's school — A Place to Grow — is located in Troy, Illinois. According to Fox 2 Now, Hunter's mother, Kristy Jackson, said her son was excited because he had just spent time with his grandpa — a Caseyville, Illinois, police officer — who was teaching him about hunting and gun safety. Jackson said: [Hunter] just was wandering around in a field and picked up and put it in his pocket and didn't tell his parents … it's paranoia. It's something that's become quite an epidemic where guns are automatically assumed that they're bad … and I'm not sure how a suspension teaches my son anything about tolerance or anything about why he was wrong. It just means his school doesn't want him there because of things he enjoys. In a Facebook post, Jackson she went to the school to pick her son up like any other day, only to met by "a stone faced teacher" who said her son had brought a "shotgun bullet" to school. Jackson said her immediate thought was, "My kid? Who just spent the weekend learning gun safety?" She said the teacher then handed her a letter saying "[Hunter's] behavior warranted a seven school day suspension. Which [Kristy] still was expected to pay tuition for, of course. And a threat that if his enthusiasm for guns continued, he'd be permanently expelled. " Fox 2 Now reports that the letter also said the school had "repeatedly" told Hunter to quit "using other toys as make believe guns" The school's also emailed Jackson to inform her that he was "notifying the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)" about the suspension. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.


0 Add Comment  WITH 400 schools shut and 200,000 students not attending lessons, striking teachers have provided children with an insight into what their life will be like on the dole after they leave school.  "It obviously wasn't the ASTI's intention, but it's an interesting lesson for my three lads, sitting around on the couch, bored out of their holes thinking 'is this it? Is this all I can do?' That's basically the dole like. Things being largely out of your control. Good to get training in early," shared concerned parent Olwyn Nelligan.  As youth unemployment remains worryingly high in Ireland at over 15%, teachers striking for better pay have inadvertently given their students a window into what life will be like post-second level education for many of them as despite being keen to learn and further themselves all they have is free time on their hands.  "Teachers are striking for better pay, and if they were granted it, it would could serve as a way for the government to show it cares about education standards in Ireland and those who provide it," explained one teacher on strike, pleading with the government to show the education sector the respect it deserves.  A government spokesman did respond when we put the teacher's concerns to them earlier today.  "We. Don't. Care. I thought that was pretty obvious. Have you not being paying attention to our policies for the last few years at all?" the spokesman responded.  "Having said that teachers are the rock bed of the foundation of the first steps of a child's life, blah, blah, blah," the spokesman added.  The government refused to comment on ongoing funding concerns with several IT colleges, or lengthy waiting lists for third level students wishing to access counselling services.  Some 99% of the country was backing the ASTI's bid to be paid for supervision work until they learned it may require an increase in their taxes in order to fund it.


Airstrikes Move To Syria, Target More Than Just ISIS In a major escalation of the air campaign against Islamic extremist groups, the U.S. and its Arab allies jointly hit targets inside Syria for the first time. The New York Times says, "The intensity of the attacks struck a fierce opening blow against the jihadists of the Islamic State, scattering its forces and damaging the network of facilities it has built in Syria that helped fuel its seizure of a large part of Iraq this year." Besides the U.S., the Pentagon says that Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates "participated in or supported" operations against targets associated with the self-declared Islamic State. U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki confirmed that "we informed the Syrian regime directly of our intent to take action through our Ambassador to the United Nations (Ambassador [Samantha] Power) to the Syrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations. At a morning Pentagon briefing, Lt. Gen. William Mayville, the Joint Chiefs director of operations, said there were three waves of attacks, and that coalition partners provided combat air patrols and conducted airstrikes as part of the final two waves. "We warned Syria not to engage U.S. aircraft. We did not request the regime's permission. We did not coordinate our actions with the Syrian government. We did not provide advance notification to the Syrians at a military level, or give any indication of our timing on specific targets. Secretary [of State John] Kerry did not send a letter to the Syrian regime," Psaki said. — The Islamic State in its Syrian headquarters of Raqqa. — The al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra, in northwest Syria. — A shadowy group known as Khorasan that the U.S. says is planning an imminent attack against the United States and Western interests. NPR's Deborah Amos tells Morning Edition that militants with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, were a major focus of the attacks. The Pentagon said the strikes "employed 47 [Tomahawk cruise missiles] launched from USS Arleigh Burke and USS Philippine Sea operating from international waters in the Red Sea and North Arabian Gulf, as well as U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fighter, remotely piloted and bomber aircraft deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations." According to Deborah: "What is striking about this air campaign is that it was expanded to include the Nusra Front. NPR's Tom Bowman says not much is known about the Khorasan group: "The Pentagon says they took this action to disrupt an imminent attack plotting against the United States by this group that's made up of seasoned al-Qaida veterans. There were eight strikes around Aleppo targeting this group. [The Pentagon says] it had training camps, explosives and munitions productions facility, communications building and also command and control facilities." Gen. Mayville said that "we've been watching" Khorasan and that the group "clearly is not focused" on fighting the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad but instead had been "putting down roots" to work toward attacks on the U.S. Mayville said in the first strike, which began about midnight Syrian time and involved mainly Tomahawk cruise missiles, the U.S. unilaterally hit Khorasan command and control in the country's northeast. The second wave employed F-22 Raptors in their first combat roles, as well as F-15s, F-16s and B-1 bombers, he said. The third and final wave against Islamic State militants in the east employed F-18 Hornets from the USS George H.W. Bush as well as ground-based F-16s, he said. Mayville said the majority of support from Arab allies came in the third wave. He showed journalists "before and after" bomb-damage assessment photos and video of various structures that had been hit. An unnamed U.S. official tells The New York Times that the Khorasan group is led by "Muhsin al-Fadhli, a senior Qaeda operative who, according to the State Department, was so close to [Osama] Bin Laden that he was among a small group of people who knew about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks before they were launched." The Times says: The Wall Street Journal reports: "So far, more than a dozen airstrikes have hit Islamic State military targets and administrative buildings in Aleppo and Raqqa provinces in the north as well as al Qaeda's official arm in the country, al Nusra Front in the northwestern city of Idlib, the opposition said." What Are The Consequences? Reuters quotes a resident in Raqqa as saying there is an "exodus" from the city in the wake of the bombardment. "It started in the early hours of the day after the strikes. People are fleeing toward the countryside," the resident tells Reuters. The participation of the partners "gives the operation some legitimacy — more legitimacy in the region because Arab governments took part. There [are] political optics about this operation put together in Washington," NPR's Deborah Amos says, adding that the agreement to participate "changes the stakes" for the Arab partners. The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner speculates that the Islamic State "will be enraged by this — it has no effective military answers to US air power — so those Arab countries that supported or took part in the action may well now be bracing themselves for possible reprisals." The Associated Press quotes Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as saying, "There is confirmed information that there are casualties among Islamic State group members." Speaking on MSNBC, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby says the U.S. "is still assessing the effectiveness of these strikes." Later, Gen. Mayville said: "Last night's strikes are the beginning of a credible and sustained campaign to destroy" the Islamic State.


President Donald Trump is committed to overhauling the U.S. tax code before the end of 2017, a top White House economic advisor said on Monday. "The president is 100 percent committed to getting tax reform done this year," said Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, at the start of a listening session with real estate industry groups on taxes. "We just had a cabinet meeting ... the No. 1 topic at the cabinet meeting was talking about taxes and tax reform and what it would take to get tax reform done this year," Cohn said.


Thousands of Zimbabweans poured onto the streets of Harare after President Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday, and cars were hooting in the streets. Some people were holding posters of Zimbabwean army chief Constantino Chiwenga and former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this month triggered the military takeover that forced Mugabe to resign.


When Donald Trump began his improbable run for president 15 months ago, he offered his wealth and television celebrity as credentials, then slyly added a twist of fearmongering about Mexican rapists flooding across the Southern border. From that moment of combustion, it became clear that Mr. Trumps views were matters of dangerous impulse and cynical pandering rather than thoughtful politics. Yet he has attracted throngs of Americans who ascribe higher purpose to him than he has demonstrated in a freewheeling campaign marked by bursts of false and outrageous allegations, personal insults, xenophobic nationalism, unapologetic sexism and positions that shift according to his audience and his whims. Now here stands Mr. Trump, feisty from his runaway Republican primary victories and ready for the first presidential debate, scheduled for Monday night, with Hillary Clinton. It is time for others who are still undecided, and perhaps hoping for some dramatic change in our politics and governance, to take a hard look and see Mr. Trump for who he is. They have an obligation to scrutinize his supposed virtues as a refreshing counterpolitician. Otherwise, they could face the consequences of handing the White House to a man far more consumed with himself than with the nations well-being. Heres how Mr. Trump is selling himself and why he cant be believed. Don Levi September 27, 2016 Just went through the history of the endorsements over the last 45-years from NYT. Except for Bill Clinton, who was a moderate. The Times... Divorce is Good For American Economy September 26, 2016 The evidence is here that the Establishment is really, really desperate.Evidently enough of ordinary Americans are ready what their British... Liberty Apples September 26, 2016 'Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President'I assume this is Part One. SEE ALL COMMENTS Despite his towering properties, Mr. Trump has a record rife with bankruptcies and sketchy ventures like Trump University, which authorities are investigating after numerous complaints of fraud. His name has been chiseled off his failed casinos in Atlantic City. Mr. Trumps brazen refusal to disclose his tax returns as Mrs. Clinton and other nominees for decades have done should sharpen voter wariness of his business and charitable operations. Disclosure would undoubtedly raise numerous red flags; the public record already indicates that in at least some years he made full use of available loopholes and paid no taxes. Mr. Trump has been opaque about his questionable global investments in Russia and elsewhere, which could present conflicts of interest as president, particularly if his business interests are left in the hands of his children, as he intends. Investigations have found self-dealing. He notably tapped $258,000 in donors money from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses, according to The Washington Post. A straight talker who tells it like it is? Mr. Trump, who has no experience in national security, declares that he has a plan to soundly defeat the Islamic State militants in Syria, but wont reveal it, bobbing and weaving about whether he would commit ground troops. Voters cannot judge whether he has any idea what hes talking about without an outline of his plan, yet Mr. Trump ludicrously insists he must not tip off the enemy. Another of his cornerstone proposals his campaign pledge of a total and complete shutdown of Muslim newcomers plus the deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants across a border wall paid for by Mexico has been subjected to endless qualifications as he zigs and zags in pursuit of middle-ground voters. Whatever his gyrations, Mr. Trump always does make clear where his heart lies with the anti-immigrant, nativist and racist signals that he scurrilously employed to build his base.


Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins, who has demanded changes to a Republican tax bill, said she had "good discussions" with the White House and colleagues on the legislation and that "productive negotiations" continue. "Many of these discussions have focused on my proposals to help middle-income families, including allowing a deduction for property taxes and helping to lower insurance premiums on the individual market to offset any increases that might result from repealing the individual mandate," Collins said in a statement. Republican Senator Bob Corker, who has expressed concerns about the bill's effect on the deficit, said details about a provision of the legislation known as a "trigger," which would raise taxes if expected economic growth does not materialize, will be unveiled on Thursday.


Ivanka is not her father, no more than you are yours. No one is perfect and making Ivanka responsible for Don's actions are bullshyte. I suuport her, even though I cannot afford her products! I am a woman and Donalds remarks did not fall out of Ivanka's mouth.


This is too good to miss! Mr. Teleprompter didn t do so well when he went off script during an appearance in Indiana.


With Donald Trump writing Executive Orders that ban Muslims from several countries, including refugees from war torn countries, it s left many wondering if Trump even has a soul.There are literally families dying, children dying, communities ravaged, and Trump has the audacity to turn his cold shoulder to all of them. It s not only cruel, it s brutally un-American and stands against everything we ve ever been as a nation.The Statue of Liberty still stands, and the message of refuge cannot be lost.With one of the most honest and poignant messages yet, Malala Yousafzai wrote a statement regarding Trump and his orders. Everyone needs to listen to it and take it to heart, most especially Donald Trump.Here is Malala s statement regarding Trump s executive orders: I am heartbroken that today President Trump is closing the door on children, mothers and fathers fleeing violence and war. I am heartbroken that America is turning its back on a proud history of welcoming refugees and immigrants the people who helped build your country, ready to work hard in exchange for a fair chance at a new life.I am heartbroken that Syrian refugee children, who have suffered through six years of war by no fault of their own, are singled-out for discrimination.I am heartbroken for girls like my friend Zaynab, who fled wars in three countries Somalia, Yemen and Egypt before she was even 17. Two years ago she received a visa to come to the United States. She learned English, graduated high school and is now in college studying to be a human rights lawyer.Zaynab was separated from her little sister when she fled unrest in Egypt. Today her hope of being reunited with her precious sister dims.In this time of uncertainty and unrest around the world, I ask President Trump not to turn his back on the world s most defenseless children and families. Hopefully, he listens sooner rather than later. Featured Photo by Dan Kitwood WPA Pool/Getty Images


Email  Media coverage has recently been saturated with distressing scenes showing the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, where aerial bombardment has led to a heavy loss of civilian life. The severity of the crisis instinctively makes us want to help – scores of protesters gathered outside the seat of the British prime minister on Saturday holding signs calling on the government to "Save Aleppo" and impose a "No-Bomb Zone Now". While the anger is understandable, the way it is being channeled reflects a circumscribed policy debate – there are other options than a No-Fly Zone, which should be avoided as it would harm rather than help efforts to alleviate the suffering of Syrian civilians.  In any area of policy, the mainstream debate revolves around policy alternatives that reflect establishment divisions. For example, in economics, 'there is no alternative' to neoliberalism, at least there wasn't until Keynesianism was rediscovered by some elites after the 2008 crisis. The debate over what is to be done over Syria revolves around two policy alternatives: the hawks, including likely next U.S. president, Hillary Clinton, advocate a NFZ and the doves, including the current U.S. administration, maintain that the sanctions regime should be increased. This effectively reflects a division within the establishment on how to proceed. Serious policy alternatives are not discussed. In particular, discussion of increasing aid and support to refugees, surely the most obvious way of directly helping civilians in Syria, and what the UN has called on industrialized countries to do , is curious by its absence.  This circumscribed debate does not logically follow from its supposed pretext – stopping civilian loss of life. In fact, a NFZ is a policy that would unavoidably lead to civilians dying. Enforcing a NFZ means destroying air defenses, which are located to defend cities – i.e. they are located in areas where there are many civilians. Even the flagbearer for the hawks, Hillary Clinton, has admitted privately that with a No-Fly Zone "you're going to kill a lot of Syrians"; such intervention will "take a lot of civilians". This realization would seem inconsistent with the often-used humanitarian pretext, but it makes sense given Hillary Clinton's recent admission that her top priority in Syria is removing Syrian President Assad.  There is a clear parallel with the imposition of a NFZ in Libya, which prolonged the conflict and worsened the situation for civilians. NATO bombing directly led to scores of civilian deaths and facilitated the overthrow of the regime by rebel militias that have killed, and are continuing to kill , thousands. Particularly repugnant was the ethnic cleansing of black people , including through public lynching . In a 2013 paper , Alan Kuperman, a Harvard academic, argued that NATO intervention extended the war by a factor of 6 and increased the death toll 7 to 10 times; given that Libya is now a failed state, torn apart by warlords, we can safely say that these estimates were too conservative. President Obama privately calls the situation in Libya a " shit show ". Only last month a report from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament found that the humanitarian justification was an insufficient pretext and based on falsehoods, the supposedly limited intervention led "ineluctably" to regime change, and that the (British) government, and by implication other participating Western powers, did not seriously consider diplomatic alternatives to military action.  Regardless, the mantra of Western foreign policy is "it will be different this time" – unlike all recent Western military interventions this one will be limited, successful and won't leave a worse humanitarian situation in its wake. Although, if the dire humanitarian situation in Aleppo necessitates immediate action, then why are there not equally loud calls for action for civilians facing similar situations? U.S. bombing in Manbij and Kobane in Syria and Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and flattened entire neighbourhoods ; more than a third of US and UK backed Saudi airstrikes in Yemen have hit civilian sites, including schools , hospitals , weddings and funerals .  Talking about this is not meant as a distraction or relativization; the fact that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are engaged in similar activities does not make the bombing of Aleppo less objectionable. However, it does raise questions about the motives of those pushing so hard for a no-fly zone. If western foreign policy actors, and their allies in press, were motivated by humanitarian concerns, then surely stopping these atrocities should appear on the policy agenda – especially given that the action required is easier and does not risk war with Russia.  If humanitarian considerations were really the important factors in the foreign policy debate, then there would be discussion on the legitimacy of aerial bombardment of cities and towns, given that this invariably leads to civilian deaths. International agreements have been successful in making chemical and biological weapons illegal, a prohibition which is generally followed ( though not always ). The first well-publicized use of aerial bombardment, the Nazi bombing of Guernica in 1937, caused righteous, popular outrage. Tragically, however, its use became normalized during the Second World War and a ban on aerial bombing of cities was not included in the post-war international settlement. The fact that this seems so hopelessly idealistic reflects the fact that it is geopolitics, not humanitarian considerations, that govern international relations and foreign policy discussion; human suffering is nothing more than a useful pretext for whatever actions you want to take in order to secure geopolitical advantage. The U.S. and its allies want to remove Syria from Russia's orbit, so therefore the dictator there must go, but airstrikes to support the dictator in Yemen are fine, because the dictator there is a friend of close U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.  There is an added complication with the NFZ in Syria in that it marks a return to Cold-War era brinkmanship and possible armed confrontation with Russia. The logic of brinkmanship runs that to make geopolitical gains, one must escalate to a level that will make the other side back down, partly by convincing your enemy you are ready to commit irrational acts. There is an inherent danger in this game: both states are nuclear armed and the consequences of a spiral of escalation could be devastating .  Syria hawks, or what close Obama aide Ben Rhodes called the " pro-stupid shit " caucus, argue that a NFZ will lead Russia to effectively back down: for example, Clinton argued that it will "give us leverage in our conversations with Russia". (Interestingly, in the exchange this quote from Clinton indicated the war goal: a NFZ will make Russia "put the Assad future on the political and diplomatic track" – i.e. Russia will be forced to accept regime change.) After all, despite the panic in the press, Russia is actually a feeble successor state to a superpower, and would come off worse in a direct conflict with the preeminent might of North America, or so the logic runs.  However, 'dovish' Western foreign policy actors point to the danger that advanced Russian materiel support to Syria poses to the enforcement of a NFZ. Unlike other recent U.S. military adventures, enforcing a NFZ in Syria could lead to significant, and politically unpalatable, American casualties – pilots will be shot down. This realization means that saner establishment figures are opposed to a NFZ. For example, U.S. Army General Carter Ham, who oversaw the NFZ in Libya, said a NFZ is a "violent combat action that results in lots of casualties and increased risk to our own personnel".  Instead, relative doves like current Secretary of State John Kerry advocate intensifying the sanctions regime against Syria and Russia. Again, this does not seem to be seriously about helping civilians. A leaked UN report has revealed that the existing Western sanctions regime is preventing humanitarian aid and creating a humanitarian disaster that threatens to rival that caused by the Oil-for-Food program in Iraq during the 1990s. The history of sanctions tends to show that the costs are borne by civilians, and a Petersen Institute study of all sanctions incidents since WWII shows that sanctions failed to achieve their goals in about ⅔ of cases, and are even less successful when applied against enemies and autocrats.  So, what is to be done? What should people in the West and globally push for to help the people of Syria? Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any quick fixes – the situation in Syria is complex and involves diverse actors, with competing interests. Immediate relief to the refugees fleeing the conflict should be a priority. In terms of foreign policy, campaigning for de-escalation and diplomacy against constant militarism remain the best solutions for the Syrian people, and humanity generally.


Indonesian police have pledged to bar Islamist groups from staging a rally on Friday at the Borobudur Buddhist temple in central Java to protest against the persecution of Myanmar s Rohingya Muslims. Islamist groups say they plan the demonstration close to the stupa-topped Borobudur temple, which dates from the 9th century and is a popular tourist site, to call for an end to violence against the religious and ethnic minority in Myanmar. Indonesia has the world s largest population of Muslims and there have been a number of anti-Myanmar protests in Jakarta and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur over the treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Rohingyas. Almost 125,000 Rohingyas have been forced to flee clashes between Rohingya insurgents and the army in the northwest Rakhine state. Tens of thousands have crossed the border into neighboring Bangladesh. The action at Borobudur temple will be prohibited, National Police Chief Tito Karnavian told reporters, according to media. This is not just part of the heritage of Indonesia, but that of the world. There is no need for protests in response to the Rohingya conflict because the Indonesian government is taking action on it already. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Monday met Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and top security officials to call for a halt to the bloodshed. Marsudi was due in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, on Tuesday. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif expressed deep anguish at the ongoing violence against the Rohingya Muslims and urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take immediate and effective action to bring an end to all human-rights violations against innocent and unarmed Rohingya Muslim population . An organizer of Friday s planned protest said the groups wanted to protest peacefully near the Borobodur temple to show Indonesia s tolerance. The Borobudur is an extraordinary symbol of tolerance, said Anang Imamuddin. We want the world to know that it is in a majority Muslim country but it is safe. Buddhist monks are safe here too.


U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday a policy of engagement with Cuba has financially benefited the island's government in violation of U.S. law, further fueling expectations that President Donald Trump this week will roll back parts of former President Barack Obama's opening to Havana. Speaking ahead of Trump's expected trip to Miami on Friday to announce his new Cuba policy, Tillerson insisted that Havana "must begin to address human rights challenges" if it wants Washington to continue normalizing relations between the Cold War-era foes. Tillerson, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged that rapprochement with the communist-ruled island has led to an increase in U.S. visitors and U.S. business ties. However, Tillerson added: "We think we have achieved very little in terms of changing the behavior of the regime in Cuba .... and it has little incentive today to change that." His comments came as Trump's aides sought to finalize rules that, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the discussions, are likely to bar U.S. trade with Cuban enterprises linked to the military – which controls a large part of the economy – and tighten some rules on Americans traveling there. But the new policy will stop short of closing embassies or breaking off relations re-established in 2015 after more than five decades of hostility, the sources said. In his speech, Trump is expected to claim fulfillment of a campaign promise to the Cuban-American community to tighten the screws on the government of Cuban President Raul Castro. While Tillerson declined to confirm any details, he left no doubt that the Trump administration was prepared to undo some pieces of Obama's policy that it sees as boosting the Cuban government financially, which would violate U.S. law. "As we're developing these business relationships and as we're enjoying the benefits on the economic and development side, are we inadvertently or directly providing financial support to the regime? Our view is we are," Tillerson said. "And the question is ... how how do we bring that back into compliance with longstanding statutory obligations" he said. Many of Trump's fellow Republicans, and some Democrats, objected to Obama's policy shift, saying he gave too much for too few concessions from Cuba. But Obama's measures have proven popular with the public, U.S. businesses and many lawmakers from both parties. Tillerson agreed that moves toward more normal relations with the United States have helped some Cubans lift themselves out of poverty and provided opportunities for U.S. companies. However, Tillerson said there is a "dark side" to relations with Cuba, noting that the government in Havana continues to jail political opponents and harass dissidents. "We are supportive of the continued economic development, as long as it is done in full compliance with our existing statutes to not provide financial support to the regime," Tillerson said. "That's the focus of our current policy review." But divisions remain within the Trump administration over how far to go. Some aides have argued that Trump, a former real estate magnate who won the presidency promising to unleash U.S. business and create jobs, would have a hard time defending any moves that close off the Cuban market. But other advisers have contended that it is important to make good on a promise to Cuban-Americans whose support they considered significant in winning Florida in the 2016 election. Miami is home to the largest Cuban-American community. One proposal under consideration, according to the U.S. sources, would tighten enforcement to make sure Americans legally fit the authorized categories they claim to be traveling under. Another tougher change being weighed would revert to regulations requiring at least some types of U.S. travelers to seek a special license to travel to Cuba. However, airline officials say they do not expect the Trump administration to revoke any flights to Cuba approved by the Obama administration but said new measures to restrict visits to Cuba could result in less demand for seats.


Print journalism and longstanding papers have been struggling since the advent of the internet and increased competition faced by blogs and op-ed sites. That, combined with poor understanding of marketing on new platforms, has combined to really cause a struggle in the journalism industry.So, on a certain level, journalists can thank Trump. Despite unleashing a war on freedom of the press never before seen in our nation s history, he s been a boon to business, with massive public backlash against Trump and his fake news army resulting in a thirst for facts and information.Take the New York Times, for example. In the first quarter of 2017, the NYT signed on more new subscribers than any other period in history. Stock is up 50 percent. Digital advertising revenue went up nearly 20 percent. So when Donald Trump says when is the failing NYT going to go out of business, as he did today, the answer is not soon. They ve been around for 160 years and don t look to be going anyplace anytime soon.Here s the specific tweet in question:How much longer will the failing nytimes, with its big losses and massive unfunded liability (and non-existent sources), remain in business? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2017And here s the reply by the New York Times, completely demolishing whatever little remnants of dignity Trump has left at this point:That is incorrect. NYT s business is thriving. Most ever paid subs: 3.3 million; and growing profit, income and revenues. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/NE5fqu8RVW NYTCo Communications (@NYTimesComm) August 7, 2017They went on to establish the veracity, at length, of a particular article Trump took issue with. Unfortunately for the NYT, Trump won t (or can t) read anything over 140 characters, so it seems somewhat unlikely they will have broken through.


At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, was lonely and desolate. "There used to be a lot more people coming," said Magnant, a 51-year-old nursing assistant, sighing. The anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. Scott Walker a national Republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more transformative than many had predicted. Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their merits, and local governments would save money. Unions had warned that workers would lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers. Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving public-sector unions were not just shrunken — they were crippled. Unions representing teachers, professors, trash collectors and other government employees are struggling to stem plummeting membership rolls and retain relevance in the state where they got their start. Here in King, Magnant and her fellow AFSCME members, workers at a local veterans home, have been knocking on doors on weekends to persuade former members to rejoin. Community college professors in Moraine Park, home to a technical college, are reducing dues from $59 to $36 each month. And those in Milwaukee are planing a campaign using videos and posters to highlight union principles. The theme: "Remember." [ Questions linger over Walker's college exit as he mulls White House bid ] But recalling the benefits that union membership might have brought before the 2011 law stripped most public-sector unions of their collective-bargaining rights is difficult when workers consider the challenges of the present. "I don't see the point of being in a union anymore," said Dan Anliker, a 34-year-old technology teacher and father of two in Reedsburg, a tiny city about 60 miles northwest of Madison. The law required most public employees to pay more for health insurance and to pay more into retirement savings, resulting in an 8 to 10 percent drop in take-home pay. To help compensate for the loss, Anliker said he took an additional 10-hour-a-week job. "Everyone's on their own island now," he said. "If you do a good job, everything will take care of itself. The money I'd spend on dues is way more valuable to buy groceries for my family." Sean Karsten, a 32-year-old middle and high school reading instructor in his first year of teaching in Reedsburg, said the unions are "just not something I concern myself with." "I just look to keep improving my teaching in the best way I can and try to keep my nose out of the other stuff," he said. Walker has pointed to the unions' membership troubles as a victory — presenting himself as a conservative warrior unafraid of taking on big battles against liberal interests. Walker's administration has said forcing public employees to contribute more to retirement plans and health insurance helped local governments save $3 billion. The governor also has credited the 2011 law with saving homeowners money on property taxes while giving school districts the ability to make reforms that increased third-grade reading levels and high school graduation rates. And the law has emboldened Republican state lawmakers to further challenge Wisconsin's labor movement this year by pushing right-to-work legislation that would allow private-sector workers to opt out of paying union dues — a measure Walker has said he would sign. "We took the power away from the big-government special interests and put it firmly in the hands of the hard-working taxpayers," Walker told Iowa Republicans recently. "That is what we need more of in this great country. The liberals don't like that." Union officials declined to release precise membership data but confirmed in interviews that enrollment is dramatically lower since the new law was signed in 2011. The state branch of the National Education Association, once 100,000 strong, has seen its membership drop by a third. The American Federation of Teachers, which organized in the college system, saw a 50 percent decline. The 70,000-person membership in the state employees union has fallen by 70 percent. The decline is politically significant in Wisconsin, a presidential battleground where the unions have played a central role in Democrats' get-out-the-vote drives. John Ahlquist, a University of Wisconsin political scientist who specializes in labor movements, said Walker had "effectively dismantled the financial and organizing structure of unions in Wisconsin." "Although it is too early to tell if unions are near the end of their political power here, they are in a very vulnerable position," Ahlquist said. The mass protests that gripped the state Capitol have subsided, but anxiety remains high in union halls across Wisconsin. At Magnant's meeting in King on a frigid February afternoon, union members finally began trickling in, one by one, filling a few of the empty seats. A groundskeeper at the veterans home complained that supervisors were no longer assigning overtime based on seniority because "there was no union." Others complained that there were no longer enough nursing assistants on shifts, while management positions seemed to grow. "This is what we are trying to live with," Magnant said. "But we can't continue like this." Dean Johnson burst through door with a big grin on his face. Johnson, 55, told the story of how he felt so bold at work that he yelled "Join the union!" in the middle of the veterans home. A stalwart union supporter, he vowed he'd do anything to keep the movement going. But Johnson said he could no longer do it as an employee. He told the group he was retiring — prompting a discussion about the new mantra for those choosing to leave union work: "Goodbye tension, hello pension." While some union members have been energized by the fight, they say they notice a new, more vocal animosity toward them. It has been particularly pronounced in rural areas, where public-sector jobs were some of the most prized gigs in town. In King, population 1,700, Magnant said she couldn't change a sign at the union hall without someone giving her the finger. Farther west, in Stanley, prison workers said they ditched their favorite pizza pub because the owner stood by while other customers called them "leeches." In Reedsburg, that tension surprised Ginny Bourgeois, 52, who clerks at a local Kwik Trip. The community had always been divided, defined as much by the factories manufacturing car parts as it was by cornfields now blanketed in snow. Still, it was a place where the community got together for spaghetti and corn feeds and filled bleachers to watch the Reedsburg Beavers play. Now, she said, people were fighting over politics at gas stations. Still, she felt unions needed to sacrifice. "Everyone knows teachers' insurance was some of the best you could get," Bourgeois added."They do fairly well around here, and they do a good job teaching. But everyone in this town has had to tighten their belts. They should too." Judy Brey, a 58-year-old speech therapist who taught in the community for 22 years, said such sentiment hurt teachers' morale. She said she grew up admiring her dad, who put six children through college on his union-supported job as a forester. " 'I don't make a lot, but we'll be okay with retirement,' " she said he told her. That, she was taught, was the reward for public service in Wisconsin. "Now I'm always nervous that everyone will think they're moochers," Brey said. "That I'm a moocher." While some union members across the state knocked on doors to court members, Brey tried another strategy: finding more allies. A day before Magnant opened the doors for a meeting at the union house in King, Brey went to a local restaurant to call to order the meeting of the Reedsburg Area Concerned Citizens. On the top of Brey's list was deciding guests for a planned panel discussion on the state of public education. Someone raised a hand. "Are we getting any interest from the schools in this?" one man asked. "I haven't seen any of the teachers out here since we were marching with them on the streets four years ago." At the meeting, the husband of the columnist called Walker "a pig" — which prompted the board supervisor to wonder why he was insulting pigs. They debated whether or not it's worth it to invite Republicans to the education event, but Brey insisted it's important to keep things balanced. Eventually, the group agreed. "We're getting somewhere," Brey said as a waitress handed out checks. But were the unions? Brey vowed not to give up on them. Two days later, she attended a union meeting that had been called to discuss possible changes in teacher retirement. Ten of the district's 192 teachers had gathered at the meeting. They appreciated that the superintendent had previously met with union leaders even though he didn't have to. Still, they grew agitated when discussing his proposal to reduce retirement benefits. Another teacher, Linda Zauner, 58, said she was working to build a case that teachers wanted to keep benefits the same, but she had struggled to get teachers to respond to a survey. She said she wanted to emphasize that teachers still thought of health care as a "bargained right." "This is the closest thing we're going to get to negotiations," Zauner said. "You have to be mean," she said. "We never got anything by being nice. We've had to walk out. We got things when we banged our fists on tables." "Sometimes I think," she stopped to collect the words delicately. "Sometimes, I think, . . . that's . . . why they came after us, Jenny. Because they thought these teachers were too demanding." "No, we have to fight," Fish responded. "It's for our students." Brey nodded. As long as there were teachers, she said, she'd be fighting along with them.


Callista Gingrich, wife of the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, on Friday became U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, which is at odds with Washington over immigration, climate change and Jerusalem. Callista Gingrich, 51, an author, documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide, presented her credentials to Pope Francis at the Vatican to officially assume her role. Her husband Newt Gingrich was an early supporter and vocal ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. Newt Gingrich is expected to continue his role as a political contributor to Fox News from his new base in Rome. Trump's nomination of Callista Gingrich to the post at the Holy See in May caused some controversy because of her marriage to Gingrich, with whom she became involved when he was still married to his second wife. Both are Roman Catholic. On Thursday they attended the funeral at the Vatican of Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as Archbishop of Boston 15 years ago after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests. The pope has implicitly criticized Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris accord on climate change. He said last month that denying climate change or being indifferent to its effects were "perverse attitudes" that blocked research and dialogue aimed at protecting the future of the planet. Francis is also opposed to Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The pontiff has called for respect for the city's "status quo," saying new tension in the Middle East would further inflame world conflicts.. On Thursday at the United Nations, where the Vatican has permanent observer status, more than 120 countries defied Trump and voted in favor of a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition. The U.S. embassy said in a statement that the new ambassador "looks forward to working with the Holy See to defend human rights, advance religious freedom, combat human trafficking, and to seek peaceful solutions to crises around the world".


British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Monday apologized for causing distress with remarks about a Iranian-British aid worker jailed in Iran. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the Islamic Republic s clerical establishment. She denies the charges. Johnson said on Nov. 1 that she had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016, contradicting her and her employer, who said she had been on holiday visiting her family. Of course I apologize for the distress, for the suffering that has been caused by the impression I gave that I believed she was there in a professional capacity. She was there on holiday, Johnson told parliament. I do apologize. Of course I retract any suggestion she was there in a professional capacity.


Here's something interesting from The Unz Review... Recipient Name Recipient Email =>  I was born on July 20, 1944, the day of the failed officers' plot against Adolf Hitler. That means I preceded the official dawning of the nuclear age by exactly 369 days, which makes me part of the last generation to do so. I'm speaking not of the obliteration of two Japanese cities by America's new "wonder weapon" on August 6th and 9th, 1945, but of the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexican desert near Alamogordo on July 16th of that year. When physicist Robert Oppenheimer , the "father of the atomic bomb," witnessed that explosion, the line from the Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad Gita , that famously came into his head was: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."  How apt it still remains more than seven decades later, at a moment when nine countries possess such weapons — more than 15,000 of them — in their arsenals, most of which are now staggeringly more destructive than that first devastating bomb, and as TomDispatch regular Michael Klare points out today, some of which are closer to possible use than at any point in at least a couple of decades. For those of us who lived through the years of bomb shelters, atomic movie monsters , the Cuban Missile Crisis (which left me, age 18, fearing I might be toast in the morning), the rise and fall of antinuclear movements, and nuclear nightmares of a sort I still remember vividly from my youth in a way I no longer recall the dreams of last night, it's a horror to imagine that nuclear war is still with us; even more so, because, in Election 2016, we have a presidential candidate who is not only ignorant about those weapons in hard-to-believe ways, but who wonders why "we can't use them," and who might months from now have his finger on that "nuclear button" (or rather command of the nuclear codes that could launch such a war). Don't tell me that this isn't a living nightmare of the first order.  I find it eerie in the extreme and unnervingly apt that the Clinton campaign has brought back a living icon of our nuclear fears, the little girl from the 1964 election who appeared in the famous (or infamous) " Daisy " ad President Lyndon Johnson ran against Republican contender Barry Goldwater (who, in retrospect, seems like the soul of stability compared with you know whom). She was then seen counting to 10 as she plucked petals off a daisy just before an ominous, echoing male voice began the countdown to an atomic explosion that filled the screen. Now, that girl, Monique Luiz , a grown woman, is shown saying , "The fear of nuclear war we had as children, I never thought our children would ever have to deal with that again. And to see that coming forward in this election is really scary."  She's now 55 years old and, however the Clinton campaign may be using her, there's still something deeply unnerving for those of us who had hoped to outlast the nuclear age simply to see her there more than five decades later. And if you think that's unnerving on the eve of the most bizarre presidential election in memory, then read today's piece by Michael Klare and imagine just how unsettling, in nuclear terms, the years ahead may prove to be.


White house Nazi Stephen Miller is a scumbag. At this point, there s no question about it. He s a Nazi and therefore is a scumbag.But there are other reasons Miller is a piece of trash outside of his struggle, or kampf, with people remembering his long history of riding the white rage train to the White House, spouting Nazi dog-whistle terms like cosmopolitan (it means Jew, in case you re unaware) when insulting opponents.Miller, whose family mostly seems to hate him based on their social media remarks, is now beset by the FAKE NEWS fake newsing up some more fake news about oh, the White House confirmed this one?The New York Times reports that in high school Miller showed his contempt for women by leaping into the final stretch of a race they had been running for quite some time:Mr. Miller set off on a patriotic semi-striptease before the editor of the student newspaper, according to the editor, Ari Rosmarin, theatrically removing a button-down to reveal an American flag T-shirt in protest of an article he found inconsistent with the national interest. (The White House denied any symbolic unbuttoning, though officials confirmed Mr. Miller s fondness for the T-shirt.)He jumped, uninvited, into the final stretch of a girls track meet, apparently intent on proving his athletic supremacy over the opposite sex. (The White House, reaching for exculpatory context, noted that this was a girls team from another school, not his own.)Miller apparently hoped to take advantage of this head start to show that he is genetically superior to women by crossing the finish line first (this, of course, perfectly matches his current professed views on women).Donald Trump hires only the best people.


The FBI's acting director promised on Thursday to tell the Senate Intelligence Committee of any effort to interfere with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into links between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. "I absolutely do," acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who leads the agency following President Donald Trump's abrupt firing of former director James Comey on Tuesday, told the committee, which is also investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.


Globalization and technology are routinely cited as drivers of inequality over the last four decades. While the relative importance of these causes is disputed, both are often viewed as natural and inevitable products of the working of the economy, rather than as the outcomes of deliberate policy. In fact, both the course of globalization and the distribution of rewards from technological innovation are very much the result of policy. Insofar as they have led to greater inequality, this has been the result of conscious policy choices. Starting with globalization, there was nothing pre-determined about a pattern of trade liberalization that put U.S. manufacturing workers in direct competition with their much lower paid counterparts in the developing world. Instead, that competition was the result of trade pacts written to make it as easy as possible for U.S. corporations to invest in the developing world to take advantage of lower labor costs, and then ship their products back to the United States. The predicted and actual result of this pattern of trade has been to lower wages for manufacturing workers and non-college educated workers more generally, as displaced manufacturing workers crowd into other sectors of the economy. Instead of only putting manufacturing workers into competition with lower-paid workers in other countries, our trade deals could have been crafted to subject doctors, dentists, lawyers and other highly-paid professionals to international competition. As it stands, almost nothing has been done to remove the protectionist barriers that allow highly-educated professionals in the United States to earn far more than their counterparts in other wealthy countries. This is clearest in the case of doctors. For the most part, it is impossible for foreign-trained physicians to practice in the United States unless they have completed a residency program in the United States. The number of residency slots, in turn, is strictly limited, as is the number of slots open for foreign medical students. While this is a quite blatantly protectionist restriction, it has persisted largely unquestioned through a long process of trade liberalization that has radically reduced or eliminated most of the barriers on trade in goods. The result is that doctors in the United States earn an average of more than $250,000 a year, more than twice as much as their counterparts in other wealthy countries. This costs the country roughly $100 billion a year in higher medical bills compared to a situation in which U.S. doctors received the same pay as doctors elsewhere. Economists, including trade economists, have largely chosen to ignore the barriers that sustain high professional pay at enormous economic cost. In addition to the items subject to trade, the overall trade balance is also very much the result of policy choices. The textbook theory has capital flowing from rich countries to poor countries, which means that rich countries run trade surpluses with poor countries. While this accurately described the pattern of trade in the 1990s up until the East Asian financial crisis (a period in which the countries of the region enjoyed very rapid growth), in the last two decades developing countries taken as a whole have been running large trade surpluses with wealthy countries. This implies large trade deficits in rich countries, especially the United States, which in turn has meant a further loss of manufacturing jobs with the resulting negative impact on wage inequality. However, there was nothing inevitable about the policy shifts associated with the bailout from the East Asian financial crisis that led the developing world to become a net exporter of capital. The pattern of gains from technology has been even more directly determined by policy than is the case with gains from trade. There has been a considerable strengthening and lengthening of patent and copyright and related protections over the last four decades. The laws have been changed to extend patents to new areas such as life forms, business methods, and software. Copyright duration has been extended from 55 years to 95 years. Perhaps even more important, the laws have become much more friendly to holders of these property claims to tilt legal proceedings in their favor, with courts becoming more patent-friendly and penalties for violations becoming harsher. And, the United States has placed stronger intellectual property (IP) rules at center of every trade agreement negotiated in the last quarter century. In this context, it would hardly be surprising if the development of "technology" was causing an upward redistribution of income. The people in a position to profit from stronger IP rules are almost exclusively the highly educated and those at the top end of the income distribution. It is almost definitional that stronger IP rules will result in an upward redistribution of income. This upward redistribution could be justified if stronger IP rules led to more rapid productivity growth, thereby benefitting the economy as a whole. However, there is very little evidence to support that claim. Michele Boldrin and David Levine have done considerable research on this topic and generally found the opposite. My own work , using cross-country regressions with standard measures of patent strength, generally found a negative and often significant relationship between patent strength and productivity growth. There is also a substantial amount of money at stake. In the case of prescription drugs alone, the United States is on path to spend more than $430 billion in 2016 for drugs that would likely cost one-tenth of this amount in the absence of patent and related protections. While we do need mechanisms for financing innovation and creative work, it is almost certainly the case that patent and copyright monopolies as currently structured are not the most efficient route, even if their negative consequences for distribution are quite evident. The structuring of trade and rules on IP are two important ways in which policy has been designed to redistribute income upward over the last four decades. There are many other ways in which the market has been structured to disadvantage those at the middle and bottom of the income distribution, perhaps most notably macroeconomic policies that result in high unemployment. While tax and transfer policies that reduce poverty and inequality may be desirable, we should also be aware of the ways in which policy has been designed to increase inequality. It is much easier to have an economic system that produces more equality rather than one that needlessly generates inequality, which we then try to address with redistributive policies. This article was originally published by the Institute for New Economic Thinking .  Dean Baker is a macroeconomist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at Bucknell University.


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was encouraged by progress in the Colombian peace process after meeting on Monday in Havana with representatives of Colombia's Marxist FARC guerrilla group and the Bogota government, a State Department spokesman said. Kerry, in Cuba as part of U.S. President Barack Obama's historic visit to the Communist-run island, met the two sides separately and called for them to redouble their efforts to resolve the remaining issues in the talks, spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. Kerry told both sides he was "encouraged that the 'end of conflict' issues are now front and center in the negotiations, including a formal bilateral ceasefire monitored by the U.N. Security Council, a timetable for disarmament, and security guarantees post-conflict for all lawful political actors," according to the statement. His involvement at the request of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos marked the first time a U.S. secretary of state had met with negotiators from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since peace talks started in Havana more than three years ago. The meeting between the Colombian government delegation and Kerry was "very productive," lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle told journalists. "There were extraordinarily concrete elements," de la Calle said. "For example, the announcement of help from the United States relating to the security of people who lay down arms, which is a critical subject at the talks." The FARC thanked the U.S. for its support of the peace talks and said they hope to reach a final peace agreement in the coming months. "On a not-distant date we will give good news to the country and the world - that Colombia has reached peace," the rebel group said in a statement on its website. Last year, the two sides agreed a March 23 deadline for a final accord, but negotiators have said a deal by that date now looks unlikely. Washington designated the FARC a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, and many of its leaders have been indicted in the United States on charges of cocaine trafficking. The United States sees the Colombian peace talks hosted by Cuba as an example of how restoring normal relations with Havana can help it achieve its wider goals in Latin America. The Colombian war is the region's longest-running conflict, with some 220,000 people killed and millions of others displaced since 1964.