U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a conservative health policy expert with deep ties to the pharmaceutical industry, to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the White House said on Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, Gottlieb would be in charge of implementing Trump's plan to dramatically cut regulations governing food, drugs, cosmetics, dietary supplements and tobacco. Gottlieb is well known on Capitol Hill, where he has testified multiple times on hot-button health issues, including complex drug pricing matters, and is viewed favorably by drug companies and pharmaceutical investors. He sits on the boards of several small drug and biotech companies and is an adviser to GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L). "Thank God it's Gottlieb," Brian Skorney, an investment analyst at Robert W. Baird, wrote in a research note. "We view this as a favorable development for the sector." Gottlieb was chosen over Jim O'Neill, a libertarian investor close to Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder who now advises Trump on technology and science matters. O'Neill's stated view that drugs should be approved before being proven effective generated widespread alarm. Gottlieb, 44, is a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank and a partner at a large venture capital fund. He is a former FDA deputy commissioner who has advocated a loosening of requirements needed for approval of new medical products. "Scott knows how the agency works and he will move it forwards, though maybe not always in ways the agency is comfortable with," said John Taylor, a lawyer and president of compliance and regulatory affairs with the consulting firm Greenleaf Health and a former acting FDA deputy commissioner. In addition to his public health and health policy roles, Gottlieb has for the past decade been a partner at New Enterprise Associates, a large venture fund with investments in the life sciences, medical technology and healthcare services. Critics of the nomination say Gottlieb's financial background present an array of potential conflicts of interest. Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said Gottlieb "has spent most of his career dedicated to promoting the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry." If confirmed, he added, "he will have to be recused from key decisions time and time again." Stephen Ubl, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said it "looks forward to working with Dr. Gottlieb in his new role and engaging with him and the Agency as they seek to modernize the drug discovery and review process." Gottlieb, who declined to comment on the nomination, is unlikely to up-end the FDA in the way O'Neill might have, but he is nonetheless expected to bring significant change, including moving the agency to increase flexibility in the clinical trial development process. In this he will be supported by the recently passed 21st Century Cures Act which instructs the FDA among other things to consider the use of "real world evidence" to support new drug applications. This could include anecdotal data, observational studies and patient reports "People don't want to take chances with safety, but there's increasingly some clamor to be more flexible on the efficacy side," said Kathleen Sanzo, who leads the FDA practice at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. "You need to have some signal of efficacy. The question is, how much?" The FDA has attempted to push back against moves to sideline randomized clinical trials, long considered the gold standard. In January it issued a report documenting 22 cases in which drugs that appeared to show promise in early trials turned out to be either ineffective or unsafe or both in larger trials. One of Gottlieb's priorities will likely be to streamline the process for approving generic versions of complex, difficult-to-copy therapeutics. He has stated publicly that he does not believe the FDA has good tools or policies to move such products and has advocated the creation of different approval standards. "He's a thoughtful and nuanced kind of guy, and not solely an industry shill," said Jim Shehan, head of Lowenstein Sandler's FDA regulatory practice. A survey conducted by Mizuho Securities USA Inc of 53 pharmaceutical executives found that 72 percent favored Gottlieb over other potential candidates. Many described him as knowledgeable, experienced and balanced. "Gottlieb is someone who the industry and investors view as an incremental positive," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee. "The industry and investors need rational scientific logic and an understanding of risks and benefits." Patient advocates welcomed the news. Gottlieb "has firsthand experience at the FDA and as a physician that has treated patients understands the breadth of work that needs to be achieved on their behalf," said Ellen Sigal, founder of Friends of Cancer Research.


Public approval of President Donald Trump has dropped to its lowest level since his inauguration, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday, after Trump was accused of mishandling classified information and meddling with an FBI investigation. The May 14-18 opinion poll found that 38 percent of adults approved of Trump while 56 percent disapproved. The remaining 6 percent had "mixed feelings." Americans appear to have soured on Trump after a tumultuous week in the White House during which the president fought back a steady drumbeat of critical news reports that ramped up concerns about his administration's ties to Russia. The week started with revelations that Trump shared highly classified information with Russian diplomats in a private meeting. That was followed by reports that former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, whom Trump recently fired, had written memos expressing concerns that the president had pressured him to stop investigating Trump campaign ties to Russia. Later in the week, the Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to oversee an independent probe into contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign. Trump has denied colluding with the Russians and called ongoing efforts to investigate him a "witch hunt." No politician in history, he said, "has been treated worse or more unfairly." While Trump remains popular with members of his own party, many rank-and-file Republicans appear to have backed off their support for the president during the past week. Among Republicans, 23 percent expressed disapproval of Trump in the latest poll, up from 16 percent in the same poll last week. The decline in support from Republicans appears to be a primary reason why Trump's overall approval rating is now at the lowest level since he took office. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English across the United States. It gathered responses from 1,971 adults, including 721 Republicans and 795 Democrats. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire group and 4 percentage points for the Democrats and Republicans. (This version of the story has been refiled to delete link to poll results)


Nancy Pelosi is obviously geographically challenged She thinks we can dig a hole to China to hear the communist regime laughing at President Trump. Wrong! We believe they re laughing at Pelosi for her ridiculous statements During a press conference on Capitol Hill, the House Minority Leader told reporters all we have to do is dig a hole because she thinks China is on the other side of the world from America .It s not.Criticizing the president while he s overseas a taboo practice when President Obama was in office told the media, Candidate Trump said that what s happening in China trade was the greatest theft in the history of the world. And yesterday, he said our trade deficit with China, which was huge is not China s fault, Pelosi said.Trump blamed Obama s poor negotiating and incompetence for the imbalance, according to a Thursday tweet. You can almost hear the leadership of the Chinese government laughing from China to America, she continued. Maybe you can feel it coming through the ground because if you dig a hole here, you will reach China, Pelosi said.What Pelosi did not mention is the president also noted, during his same remarks this week, that while he doesn t fault China for doing what is in its best interest, he does fault previous administrations for entering into bad trade deals. He said trade between the United States and China is unbalanced and steps must be taken to change that.Trump is right on this but Pelosi continues to pull out all the stops to bash the president Shame on her! This drama queen needs to go!


Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish journalist detained by Ankara since February, has accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan of subjecting his entire society to a regime of fear and said Turkey is drifting toward fascism. Yucel, 44, a correspondent for the newspaper Die Welt, made the remarks in a lengthy interview with the German newspaper die tageszeitung to be published on Saturday. Turkish authorities arrested Yucel, on Feb. 14 on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organization, during a wave of arrests prompted by a failed coup attempt in July 2016. Germany is backing a complaint filed by Yucel with the European Court of Human Rights, and has repeatedly called for him and other Germans being held in Turkey to be released. The detentions have contributed to a sharp deterioration in relations between the two NATO allies. In total, Ankara has jailed more than 50,000 people pending trial and suspended or dismissed some 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers since the coup, which Turkey blames on the movement of U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen has denied any role, and condemned the coup. Yucel told the newspaper he remained in solitary confinement at Silivri prison, west of Istanbul. Solitary confinement is torture, he said. Yucel also said that even his prison guards were afraid of making a wrong move: A regime of fear is not directed solely at its critics, but also affects members of the oppressive apparatus. He said Erdogan himself had the most to fear: He knows what to expect if he loses power, and that is why he is subjecting the whole society to his regime of fear. Yucel said he hoped the European Court would act quickly on his case after a Nov. 28 deadline for Turkey to submit its position, but that he was not sure what to expect. He said that, like many of Erdogan s critics, he was disappointed that the court had rejected cases brought by teachers and government workers affected by the crackdown, which Erdogan says is necessary to guarantee Turkey s stability. But I also know the European Court of Human Rights was founded to deal with individual human rights violations, not to stop a whole country drifting into fascism, he said. The newspaper said the interview had been conducted in writing via Yucel s lawyers.


South Korean test-takers expressed confusion and dejection on Thursday as the country s highly competitive annual university entrance exam, called a life assignment exam by some, was postponed a week for the first time ever due to safety concerns. South Korea postponed the exam after a rare earthquake rattled the country on Wednesday, causing damage to buildings including some schools. The exam is life-defining for many high school seniors, as a prestigious university on one s resume is seen a minimum for securing a place in limited corporate jobs in Asia s fourth-largest economy, which is dominated by conglomerates. Because the wrong answer to a single question in the roughly 200-question exam can mean dropping in the national ranking and failure to enter one s choice of university, tensions ran high. It s a bit hellish thinking I have to do this for one more week, said 20-year-old Cho Hyun-lee, studying at one of Seoul s largest cram schools to take the test again after last year. People are dispirited, lying with their faces down. Some scrambled to recover books they d thrown away yesterday or buy new ones, two test-takers told Reuters, while others gave up , uploading pictures of classmates sleeping or reading online comics on social media. Still others agonized over missing concerts of their favorite singers or South Korea s largest online game exhibition this week. Meanwhile, South Korean society, geared for the exam s smooth progress, prepared to do it all again next Thursday. Airplanes, barred from taking off or landing for 35 minutes on Thursday morning to prevent their noise from interfering with the exam s listening section, were allowed to land or take off, the transport ministry said. But the stock market and banks still opened an hour late on Thursday a device to help keep roads clear for students getting to test sites. The defense ministry allowed extra leave for soldiers in mandatory military service who had taken personal leave to sit the exam. Four police officers were stationed on double shifts at each of the 85 locations exam questions are kept and police patrolled the premises every two hours to prevent their leaking. As fainter aftershocks continued on Wednesday and Thursday, many Koreans said they support the postponement but some were inconsolable. It feels like I was turning the handle on the exit door from hell then returned to square one, said Lee Yoon-mi, a high school senior in Incheon. If you re not a test-taker, you could never understand.


The Turkish government has launched an investigation into a poster unfurled by fans of Istanbul s Galatasaray soccer team that pro-Turkish media said was clearly linked to organizers of the 2016 attempted coup. Just before Sunday s match kicked between Galatasaray and local rivals Fenerbahce, the home fans opened a giant red and yellow poster behind the goal showing Sylvester Stallone s famous fictional boxer Rocky , with the caption Stand Up and They look big because you are kneeling. Pro-government Turkish media linked the poster and its caption to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the July 2016 failed coup attempt. Pro-government daily Takvim said the poster was a reference to a speech by Gulen, where he was quoted reading from a poem that ends with the words Stand Up Sakarya . Sakarya is a province in northwest Turkey. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday ordered authorities to carry out an investigation into the poster, sources from his office said. The game between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, Turkey s biggest fixture, ended in a 0-0 draw after a match that was marred by violence in which a referee was injured. In a statement, Galatasaray said the accusations were a pathetic attempt to discredit the club, adding that the same poster was used at a match in May. We will use all our legal rights against any institution, person and social media account who tried to put the Galatasaray name next to that of the red-handed leader of the heinous terrorist organisation by using the choreography as an excuse, the club said on its website. Some 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over suspected links to last year s failed coup and more than 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from their jobs in the military, public and private sectors. Rights groups and Turkey s Western allies have said President Tayyip Erdogan is using the failed coup as a pretext to crush dissent, but the government says the measures are necessary to fight the threats it is facing. Following the statement from Yildirim s office, Galatasaray s shares were down 4.89 percent as of 1535 GMT. Current league leaders Galatasaray are Turkey s most decorated soccer club, with 20 league championships, and became the first Turkish club to win a major European trophy when they won the 2000 UEFA Cup, the predecessor to the Europa league.


The U.S. Congress was ironing out a new plan on Wednesday to rescue Puerto Rico from crippling debts that threaten the island territory's funding for hospitals and emergency services, as the treatment of bondholders simmers as a point of contention. The Obama administration and congressional Democrats raised concerns about legislation being floated by Republicans. It would steer creditors and holders of Puerto Rico bonds toward a new, independent board that would seek a fair way to write down an estimated $70 billion in debt. Puerto Rico's economy has struggled for years and the U.S. territory's government has borrowed heavily to pay its bills. Its bankruptcy reorganization options are limited under present law and Congress has become involved. The Republican bill "imposes an unworkable, mandatory process" on debt restructurings "that will only delay the ability to reach a comprehensive resolution," Treasury Department Counselor Antonio Weiss told a congressional panel. All of Puerto Rico's many debtors "would have to complete a complicated process before any single entity could begin to restructure," Weiss said in prepared testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, which hopes to advance legislation soon. Republicans control the U.S. Congress, but they likely will need support from Democrats to pass a rescue plan. Weiss painted a dire picture of Puerto Rico, where he said essential government services are being curtailed because of a lack of cash, hospitals have closed some floors amid layoffs, and fuel for emergency vehicles is running dry. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters, complained of television ads airing in some parts of the United States that she said were misleading. The actions being weighed, Pelosi said, "do not cost the taxpayers one dollar." Pelosi said Democrats are concerned "about the negative impact of the legislation on working people in Puerto Rico, as well as the effects of transferring federal lands on Vieques without providing for strong conservation protections." If the House committee can amend the bill in a way that a majority of members approve, it would advance to the full House. Many investors would face a loss under the Republican plan and are lobbying Congress to protect their bottom lines. The rescue plan adopts some principles of bankruptcy law, and some lawmakers have balked at the idea of letting Puerto Rico modify its bonds, saying it would create chaos for municipal markets.


A suggestion by President Donald Trump that a U.S. regulator pull broadcast licenses from TV networks over what Trump calls "fake news" has been met by silence from the watchdog's head Ajit Pai, who has a history of defending free speech rights. Pai, who was reconfirmed last week for a new five-year term at the Federal Communications Commission and named chairman by Trump in January, has been urged by members of Congress to denounce Trump for a proposal that has little, if any, chance of success. That is because the commission does not actually license broadcast networks or cable stations and the hurdles to denying licenses to individual stations are extremely high. Trump's remarks on Wednesday that threatened to muzzle the media and fellow-Republican Pai's strong support for press freedoms could conflict as Pai mounts ambitious plans to overhaul federal communications regulations. Trump said in a Twitter post: "Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!" His ire was raised by an NBC News report that said he had called for a massive increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, a report Trump denied. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly used the term "fake news" to cast doubt on media reports critical of his administration, often without providing any evidence to support their case that the reports were untrue. Pai's office has declined to comment, despite Reuters' repeated requests Wednesday and Thursday. The FCC, an independent agency, does not issue licenses to individual networks but to local stations, including those directly owned by broadcasters such as Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) that owns NBC. Comcast and NBC declined to comment on Trump's remarks. Pai has defended the First Amendment and press freedoms. In October 2016, he said anyone at the FCC "has the duty to speak out whenever Americans' First Amendment rights are at stake." In a 2014 Wall Street Journal piece, Pai said "the government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories." Pai has an ambitious agenda, which he is expected to unveil details of in the coming months. It includes proposing to eliminate some significant media ownership restrictions and a plan to roll back former Democratic President Barack Obama's so-called net neutrality rules. Senator Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, said on Twitter Trump's comments were "unacceptable attacks on the #FirstAmendment by @POTUS. @AjitPaiFCC committed to Congress to speak up at times like this. We are waiting." U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan defended press freedoms Thursday but did not directly criticize Trump. "I'm for the First Amendment. I don't always agree and like what you guys write, but you have a right to do it," Ryan said. Republican Senator Ben Sasse asked if Trump was "recanting" the oath of office to defend the First Amendment. In March, Pai told the U.S. Congress he did not agree with Trump when he said that "the media is the enemy of the American people." Pai said he would act independently of the White House on media-related matters. Last month, Pai lamented that people on Twitter demand "the FCC yank licenses from cable news channels like Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN because they disagree with the opinions expressed on those networks. Setting aside the fact that the FCC doesn't license cable channels, these demands are fundamentally at odds with our legal and cultural traditions."


Country: China North Korea's announcements of the completion of its Nuclear Weapons Development Programme have caused an outburst of discussion on "who is to blame". More accurately, it concerns who is primarily responsible for the escalation of the situation to its current level. Against the backdrop of growing USA-China opposition, now Beijing has even been accused this, with accusations varying from "did nothing, although it could" to "actively assisted". Let's start with statements made by US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. On October 13, 2016 the Associated Press, referring to WikiLeaks, reported that in June, 2013, during a lecture to Goldman Sachs officials, Hillary Clinton pointed out that the Chinese People's Liberation Army is the main sponsor of North Korea. It was at that time when she stated her position – if Beijing is not able to keep North Korea from creating an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons, the USA may encircle China with a ring of missile defence systems and naval bases. Sankei Shimbun (Japan) quotes the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter: "China is a primarily responsible for North Korea's current actions. It covers up the dangerous behaviour of this country". It presents readers with the idea that Beijing is engaged in an obvious plot. Having been on the receiving end of criticism from Washington for its great-power policy, it has decided respond in this way. As proof, the Japanese refer to Chosun Ilbo, which reported that, according to a former employee of the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, Bruce Vector, whose opinion was published on September 1, the North Korean rocket is an exact copy of the Chinese Tszyuylan-1 two-stage solid-propellant ballistic missile, which is designed to be placed on submarines. Giving a lecture at the Seoul National University, the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, also announced that the North Korean economy can not be discussed without mentioning China. Pyongyang is totally dependent on cooperation with Beijing, so China is particularly responsible for the implementation of sanctions against North Korea. The goal of such accusations is to force China to be "more constructive." Meanwhile, Chinese politicians constantly state that the Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula is not caused by Beijing's actions, and China cannot wave a magic wand and resolve the situation. The roots of the issue stem from conflicts between the USA and North Korea, and it is America who should demonstrate a constructive approach. On September 12, 2016, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, noted that the core of the Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula is in the conflict between the USA and North Korea, and it is America who should take responsibility. "We once again call upon all the parties to look at the overall situation, to act with caution, to avoid mutual provocations, as well as to jointly promote denuclearization, and to make real efforts to achieve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula", said the Chinese diplomat, noting that the current situation is testament to the real importance and urgency of returning to the six-party negotiations as soon as possible . On September 14, 2016, American suggestions that China should actively participate in isolating North Korea were rejected in Renmin Ribao Newspaper ( China ). The newspaper states that the prime responsibility for the current situation cannot be placed on North Korea, but on the United States. On September 21, in his speech at the UN, the Prime Minister of China, Li Keqiang, also did not mention sanctions. On November 2, 2016, Hua Chunying once again announced that it is not possible to achieve the fundamental solution of the Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula by sanctions and pressure alone. Commenting on the recent meeting of the heads of delegations from the USA and the Republic of Korea at the six-party negotiations, during which there were repeated calls to tighten sanctions and increase pressure against North Korea in the hope that the new resolution of the UN Security Council would introduce the forced restriction of North Korean coal exports, Hua Chunying said that the UN Security Council was considering and discussing the North Korean nuclear issue. However, a substantial part of UN Security Council Resolution 2270 refers to the need to resume the six-party negotiations and to seek to reduce tension in North-East Asia via political and diplomatic means. This is how a meaningful solution to the North Korean nuclear issue can be found . Two days later, on November 4, she stated that the deployment of the US Missile Defense System on the Korean Peninsula would undermine the strategic balance of forces in the region, and Beijing reserves the right to take the necessary measures to protect its own safety. The actions of the USA run contrary to the efforts to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, said Hua Chunying, calling on relevant parties to take China's legitimate concerns into account. The heart of China's policy is both the THAAD issue (seen by China as aimed at containing its missile capabilities) and the broader perception that US military preparations against North Korea are actually directed against China. As a result, despite a number of serious differences between the countries, relations between Beijing and Pyongyang are based on the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". It is easier to support North Korea, rather than risking more serious consequences that may occur if it were pressed too hard. China's willingness to investigate illegal trade links between a number of Chinese companies and North Korea shows that "the window is not completely closed", and it can be seen as an attempt to weaken US efforts to impose sanctions against Chinese companies that do legal business with North Korea. China and North Korea are simultaneously expanding economic cooperation despite the effects of international sanctions. According to the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission of North Korea and China was held in Pyongyang on October 25 where border issues were discussed. The Chinese party headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs – Liu Zhenmin, and the North Korean – the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs – Pak Myong-guk. Organising a new border crossing was discussed as a bridge between Sinuiju city (North Korea) and Hunchun city (China) was built this September. In addition, in the near future a bridge between Sinuiju city and Dandong city (China) will be opened. Besides, the trade turnover between North Korea and China in the third quarter of this year increased by 3.4% compared to the same period of last year. The Chinese are building new warehouses and offices in the Rason Special Economic Zone which means an inflow of investments. The import of cars from North Korea into China increased sharply. The import of Chinese rice also increased. According to the Customs Administration of China, in September 2016 18,477 tons of grain crops were delivered from China to North Korea. This is 2.7 times higher than in August, and 6 times higher than last September. In September, 16 thousand tons of rice were imported (2 thousand tons more than from January to August). Although South Korean experts explain this fact by the decision made by the North Korean leadership to stabilize prices for rice, as rice stocks in the past year have worn thin, any fact related to North Korea has been solely considered a sign of imminent starvation and collapse for some time now. In general, while one party is accusing the other and bearing its weapons, the other is looking for ways to resolve the issue, which clearly shows who could encourage dialogue but does not want to do so. Konstantin Asmolov, Ph.D. in History, Chief Research Fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine " New Eastern Outlook. "


Words matter. And from the moment he became president, Donald J. Trump has unleashed so many of consequence that the public has barely had time to parse their full implication. Words about the dishonest media, the end of Obamacare, the construction of that border wall with Mexico — this is an abbreviated list, and he hasn't even completed his first week in office. Amid the verbal deluge, President Trump this week repeated an assertion he made shortly after his election: that millions of ballots cast illegally by undocumented immigrants cost him the popular vote. If true, this would suggest the wholesale corruption of American democracy. Not to worry: As far as anyone knows, the president's assertion is akin to saying that millions of unicorns also voted illegally. But such a baseless statement by a president challenged the news media to find the precise words to describe it. This will be a recurring challenge, given President Trump's habit of speaking in hyperbole and his tendency to deride any report as "fake news. " The words needed to be exactly right. "And the language has a rich vocabulary for describing statements that fall short of the truth," said Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information. "They're 'baseless,' they're 'bogus,' they're 'lies,' they're 'untruths. '" Rarely are these words, each with its own nuance, applied directly to something said by a president, though others have also dissembled (like Bill Clinton on whether he had sex with an intern). "This is the very unique situation that we find ourselves in as journalists and as a country," said Joshua Benton, the director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. "We have an administration that seems to be asserting a right to its own facts and doesn't seem to be able to produce evidence to back those claims. " Still, carefully chosen words can capture that. "A whole vocabulary has come bubbling up that would not have been used five years ago," Mr. Nunberg said in an interview. "People are going to have to sit down and decide: Are we going to want to go over the moral consequences of telling an untruth? The mere fact of it being untrue? Or the fact that it's bogus, baseless or groundless?" Some news organizations used words like "falsely" or "wrongly" — adverbs that tend to weaken the impact — in framing what the president said. Some used "with no evidence," or "won't provide any proof," or "unverified claims," or "repeats debunked claim. " The New York Times, though, ultimately chose more muscular terminology, opting to use the word "lie" in the headline. After initially using the word "falsely," it switched to "lie" online and then settled on "Meeting With Top Lawmakers, Trump Repeats an Election Lie" for Tuesday's print edition. People noticed, and debated its use. That is because, from the childhood schoolyard to the grave, this is a word neither used nor taken lightly. It stands apart from most other terms in the linguistic ballpark of untruths, including "falsehood," which Chuck Todd, the host of "Meet the Press," recently used to counter the Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway's Orwellian phrase, "alternative facts. " To say that someone has "lied," an active verb, or has told a "lie," a more passive, distancing noun, is to say that the person intended to deceive. In addition, Mr. Nunberg said, "a certain moral opprobrium attaches to it, a reprehensibility of motive. " The question of intent has informed National Public Radio's approach to covering Mr. Trump's many disputable claims: that he saw thousands of people in Jersey City cheering as the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, for example, or that the news media had made up a feud between him and the country's intelligence agencies, despite his own tweets likening those agencies to Nazi Germany. On NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday, Mary Louise Kelly explained that she had looked up the definition of "lie" in the Oxford English Dictionary. "A false statement made with intent to deceive," Ms. Kelly said. "Intent being the key word there. Without the ability to peer into Donald Trump's head, I can't tell you what his intent was. I can tell you what he said and how that squares, or doesn't, with facts. " Michael Oreskes, NPR's senior president for news, supported the decision. In an article on the NPR website, Mr. Oreskes said that "the minute you start branding things with a word like 'lie,' you push people away from you. " The inherent risk, he suggested, was that news organizations would be seen as taking sides. Editors at The Times also consulted dictionaries. And they had some prior experience with the matter, having approved the use of the L word once before in reference to Mr. Trump. In September, when he grandly announced the findings of a yearslong investigation into what nearly everyone else never doubted — "President Obama was born in the United States, period" — The Times published a Page 1 article with the headline "Trump Gives Up a Lie but Refuses to Repent. " Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, said that he learned of Mr. Trump's latest comments in a text message from an editor on Monday night. After consulting with other top editors, he decided that the use of "lie" was warranted. For Mr. Baquet, the question of intent was resolved, given that Mr. Trump had made the same assertion two months earlier through his preferred mode of communication, the tweet: "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. " (Nota bene: The tweet actually contains what might be considered two untruths — or falsehoods, or erroneous assertions, or bogus claims — since Mr. Trump's victory was no landslide, but among the closer elections in American history.) Mr. Baquet said he fully understood the gravity of using the word "lie," whether in reference to an average citizen or to the president of the United States. He emphasized that it should be used sparingly, partly because the term carries such negative connotations, and partly so that it does not lose potency. "On the other hand, we should be letting people know in no uncertain terms that it's untrue," Mr. Baquet said, referring to the president's assertion of a epidemic. "He repeated it without a single grain of evidence, and it's a very powerful statement about the electoral system. " Mr. Baquet said that emails from readers seemed split on the appropriateness of the word's use. Meanwhile, Mr. Benton, of the Nieman Journalism Lab, applauded its use as a noun in the Times headline ("Trump Repeats an Election Lie") in this construction, he said, "the lie can exist as a reality distinct from the speaker's intention. " Over all, the tension between the Trump administration and much of the mainstream media is — what's the word? Troubling, according to Sara Brady, a specialist based in Florida. She says that a complete breakdown of the already fractious relationship affects everyone. "The media run the risk of being disrespectful to the president of the United States," she said. "But the problem is: If he doesn't get called out in some way, we as Americans are never going to know what's true and what's not. " In other words: Words matter.


By now, everyone knows that Donald Trump is up to his eyeballs in Russian scandals. Anyone who is smart enough not to believe Team Trump s bullsh*t about the Special Counsel investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians during the 2016 presidential election being a hoax, a witch hunt, and fake news is definitely paying attention.Well, now, some activists in New York City have made sure to remind everyone just what is up with Trump s mysterious inability to criticize Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. They have projected amazing images onto Trump Tower in SoHo. One is a photo of Vladimir Putin. Another is a message to Special Counsel Robert Mueller when it comes to investigating Trump s finances that says, FOLLOW THE MONEY. Here are those images:It seems that the activist is willing to self-identify, and posted this video to Twitter:Hi @realDonaldTrump, I'm projecting #followthemoney on the SoHo Trump hotel. On #nationaldollarday of all days. https://t.co/5neeXq57kx robin bell (@bellvisuals) August 8, 2017Of course, Mueller is definitely smart enough not to adhere to Trump s so-called red line when it comes to taking the probe in the direction of Trump s own personal finances, as well as those regarding his business dealings through the Trump Organization. In fact, like most cops, Trump s infantile demands will likely make Mueller MORE curious about any financial ties Trump may have to the Russians or other foreign powers.These activists are beyond brave. Trump and his people will be furious, and they are quite powerful right now. However, this is what freedom and speaking truth to power looks like. Keep it up, folks, and, yes follow the money.


Two human heads were discovered in a cooler outside an office of broadcaster Televisa in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, authorities said on Tuesday. It was not clear who the heads belonged to, but the cooler contained a threatening message signed off with CJNG , the Spanish initials of a drug gang, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a security official in the western city said. A second official at the office of the Jalisco state prosecutor said the cooler was left outside an office of the Televisa station. However, media in the state suggested the gruesome find was directed at an official, not at the broadcaster. Elsewhere in the city, authorities found a second cooler containing a message threatening a judge, and a bag with suspected human remains with another threat, the second official added. Both officials declined to be identified. In recent years, the CJNG has become one of the most powerful Mexican drug gangs, and authorities blame it for violence that has convulsed much of central and western Mexico.


The investigation into the Las Vegas massacre Stephen Paddock just keeps getting more and more strange. Since the shooting massacre that took the lives of 59, and injured hundreds of others in Las Vegas at the Rt. 91 country music festival, we ve seen several timeline changes, a lockdown of the Las Vegas coroner s office, a very strange protection around the security guard at the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort, including an armed guard and a scripted appearance on the Ellen Show. And now like some of the most well-known mass shooters before him, Stephen Paddock s hard drive is missing ?ABC News A laptop computer recovered from the Las Vegas hotel room where Stephen Paddock launched the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was missing its hard drive, depriving investigators of a potential key source of information on why he killed and maimed so many people, ABC News has learned.Paddock is believed to have removed the hard drive before fatally shooting himself, and the missing device has not yet been recovered, sources told ABC News.Investigators digging into Paddock s background also learned he purchased software designed to erase files from a hard drive, but without the hard drive to examine it is impossible to know if he ever used the software, one source said.The absence of substantial digital clues has left investigators struggling to piece together what triggered Paddock to kill 58 innocent concertgoers and injure more than 500 others on Oct. 1.Did Paddock remove the hard drive or is there something more to this story? Is there some connection to evidence being removed from laptops or cell phones from suspects of 3 of the most well-known mass shooting cases in America?According to ABC News (who dismisses this curious evidence as a casual coincidence):In 2007, Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung Huiremoved the hard drive of his computer and disposed of his cell phone shortly before the massacre. Authorities even searched a pond for the missing digital media, but the devices were never recovered.The 2008 Northern Illinois shooter, Steven Kazmierczak, removed the SIM card from his phone and the hard drive from his laptop, and neither was recovered.In 2012, Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza had removed the hard drive from his computer and smashed it with a hammer or screwdriver.


Reporter: Mr. President, when did you first learn that Hillary Clinton used an email system outside the U.S. government for official business when she was Secretary of State? POTUS: The same time as everybody else, through news reports. On Sunday, President Obama insisted he knew nothing about Hillary Clinton and her use of a separate server to send email while serving as his secretary of state for four years, and learned about it through news reports along with the rest of us. How many times have we seen this movie? How many times has this administration been confronted with a scandal only to have the president or his spokesmen make this statement with straight faces? It makes you wonder: What goes on behind the scenes that results in these whoppers? Since this administration lives in a fantasy land, let's imagine scenes of our own: RG: Mr. President, we're so very sorry to interrupt your game -- POTUS, staring at VPOTUS, irritated: Why are you here? RG: Sir, it looks like that Air Force One photo-op over Manhattan almost caused a massive panic. We need a response from you. POTUS: Joe, can't you handle this? VPOTUS: It's your plane, sir. Mine was flying over Pittsburgh and no one noticed. RG: We have your talking points, sir. Just tell the press, "It was a mistake. It was something we found out about along with all of you." POTUS: Fine. Now get lost, both of you. That scenario may be fictional -- but those were, in fact, the very words Obama used. March 22, 2011, 11:15 AM. Oval Office. WH Press Secretary Jay Carney and Biden enter. Obama is yawning. JC: Sir, we have a situation. The Republicans have learned about Fast and Furious killing that agent. CNN wants to know how much you knew. POTUS: Big deal. I'll tell 'em -- how's this -- "I heard on the news about this Fast and Furious story where allegedly" -- (laughs) get that? -- "guns were being run into Mexico." What the hell. I'll also say "the Attorney General has been very clear he knew nothing about this." Holder will owe me one. Where's Biden with my coffee? Those were the very phrases Obama uttered that day. JC: The cat's out of the bag, Mr. President. They know about the IRS going after those Tea Party nuts. You have to say something during your presser with Cameron today. Later that day, at White House press conference with British PM David Cameron. POTUS: Well let me take the IRS situation first. I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday. JC: Another problem, sir. DOJ subpoenaed the AP to get those phone records. The press ain't happy about this. POTUS: Can't you see I'm busy? You take care of it. (Looking irritated at Biden) Shouldn't you be at a funeral? JZ: Come on, man, shoot! Ain't got all day. Later that day at the White House Press Briefing: Reporter: When did the president find out about the Department of Justice subpoenas for the Associated Press? JC: Yesterday. We found out about the news reports yesterday on the road. VPOTUS: Jay, we've got a situation. They know about those fraudulent VA reports. This one's big! What should we do? JC: (sigh) I'll take care of it. Get me a Starbucks. Reporter: The delays have been known for some time, but the fraudulent -- JC: If you mean the specific allegations that I think we're reported first by your network, I believe we learned about them through the reports. It is simply inconceivable -- no, unbelievable -- that the press knows more about the scandals surrounding this administration than does the administration. It begs the question: So why do the media put up with this nonsense? They know that they're being played for fools and yet they go along with it, time and again. Their loyalty to Barack Obama is that strong. Why does this administration constantly lie? Because they can. L. Brent Bozell III is founder and president of the Media Research Center.


0 Add Comment  2016 has been an eventful year for Prince George. From meeting the US president to his first day of nursery school, but none of these moments made him smile more than yesterday's Halloween festivities, when he finally got to wear his favourite costume accessory – a necklace of human ears.  "He has been asking us all year if he could wear them," Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton told press reporters yesterday afternoon, "George really, really likes Halloween. It's actually scary how much he likes the whole thing. Myself and William were woken up at 4am this morning to a dead bird at the end of our bed. He means well, and I'm sure he thought it was a nice present to give, but I'll be glad when Halloween is over".  Little is known about the owners of the ears, but sources believe they were a present from his great granddad, Philip, and were originally gifted to the 95-year-old from a tribe of New Guinea cannibals in 1946.  "George loves searching through great granddad's old memorabilia," Royal nanny Maria Cantwell explains, "When he found the necklace, his little eyes lit up.  "They're very close and he loves listening to Philip's stories about the Nazis and the Bengal famine in India. They're like the same person inside".  Later asked by reporters what he wants from Santa for Christmas, the little dote replied 'Putin', clapping manically and repeating the Russian president's name, over and over again, before then chomping down on one of his ears.  "He's teething," insisted the red faced Duchess as she quickly ushered him away.


U.S. voters on Tuesday favored a surge in borrowing for public projects, approving some of the biggest bond measures on ballots, while support for new taxes was mixed, according to election results on Wednesday. Final voting tallies were not immediately available for all of the 682 state, school and local government bond measures, according to data company Ipreo. At $70.3 billion, the amount of bond issuance requested to fund the building and repairing schools, mass transit, roads, and other projects was the largest in a decade. To view the historical amount of bond ballot measures, click on tmsnrt.rs/2e9Z5bb. Some of the largest bond requests won approval, including the biggest bond proposal in Tuesday's election: $9 billion of California general obligation debt in the state's so-called Proposition 51. This will finance new construction and modernization for K-12 and charter schools and community colleges, according to semi-official election results on the California Secretary of State's website. "Passage of Proposition 51 is credit positive for school districts with approved, but unfunded capital projects under the state School Facility Program, which is depleted," Lori Trevino, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service, wrote in a research note on Wednesday. With 195 bond measures totaling $41.7 billion, California issuers accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total par amount of debt on ballots nationwide. California's voters rejected Proposition 53, a proposal to rein in debt by requiring statewide voter approval for revenue bonds exceeding $2 billion for projects financed, owned or managed by the state. The rejection removes a hurdle standing in the way of projects such as the $14.9 billion California Water Fix project for upgrading its water infrastructure. "It assures that the state's water policymakers will have the tools necessary to implement the California Water Fix, although they still face an uphill battle to secure the full approval and financial backing necessary to implement the plan," Shannon Groff, Fitch Ratings director of U.S. Public Finance, said in a statement. As for tax measures, California voters passed a 12-year extension of a temporary state personal income tax increase on earnings of $250,000 or more and a cigarette tax hike. Voters in 35 states weighed 154 state-wide measures, including bonds and taxes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which posted results on its website. Montana voters said no to creating a biomedical research authority funded by $200 million of bonds over 10 years. In Colorado, voters turned down a proposed constitutional amendment calling for a public option universal healthcare payment system, funded by a new 10 percent state payroll tax. They also rejected a cigarette tax hike. Arkansas voters agreed to lift a cap on state bond issuance for economic development projects. Illinois will have to earmark money generated from transportation-related fees and taxes exclusively for transportation uses, under a new constitutional amendment approved by voters. New Jersey voters approved the use of gasoline taxes solely to fund road, bridge and mass transit projects, and to allow $12 billion of transportation borrowing over eight years. Governor Chris Christie signed a 23-cent gas tax hike into law in October. In Missouri, voters amended the state constitution to prohibit any new tax on services or transactions. Oklahoma voters turned down a sales tax hike for public education. A corporate tax hike to fund education in Oregon also failed. Washington state voters rejected the nation's first tax on carbon emissions. At the local level, San Diego voters rejected a measure to raise hotel taxes and direct hundreds of millions of public dollars toward building a new National Football League stadium in downtown San Diego for the Chargers team.


How lovable can a robot be? A study of Roomba owners by the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2009 found that at least a few people considered their appliances to be as close as family members. Effects like light, motion and especially sound can lead us to sympathize with an appliance as mundane as a vacuum. That means that product designers are not just focused on how your appliances work they make deliberate design choices to amplify the consumer's emotional connection to a hunk of plastic. On this week's episode of "Tell Me Something I Don't Know," you'll learn about a beer recipe to bring on a desert island, some particularly uncomfortable sounds and a career that lacks female participation (besides the presidency). The panelists are: Angela Duckworth, author of "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" and a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Interned alongside the most famous intern in our country's political history. Austan Goolsbee, economist at the University of Chicago and former White House economist, who collects movie ticket stubs. Keisha Zollar, actor, comedian, and host of the "Applying It Liberally" and "The Soul Glo Project" podcasts also the proud owner of a semicolon. Our " Human " is Negin Farsad, host of the podcast "Fake the Nation" and the author of "How to Make White People Laugh. " From a desktop or laptop, you can listen by pressing play on the button above. Or if you're on a mobile device, the instructions below will help you find and subscribe to the series. On your iPhone or iPad: 1. Open your podcast app. It's a app called "Podcasts" with a purple icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Tap on the "search" magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, type in "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" and select it from the list of results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, tap on the "subscribe" button to have new episodes sent to your phone free. You may want to adjust your notifications to be alerted when a new episode arrives. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, tap on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you'll be able to stream the episode. On your Android phone or tablet: 1. Open your podcast app. It's a app called "Play Music" with an icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen, search for "Still Processing" and select it from the list of results. You may have to scroll down to find the "Podcasts" search results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, click on the word "subscribe" to have new episodes sent to your phone free. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, click on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you'll be able to stream the episode.


U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan region on Monday to resolve their conflict over Kurdish self-determination and disputed territories through dialogue. Tillerson laid out his position at the start of a meeting in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who in turn defended the role of an Iraqi paramilitary force backed by Iran against criticism the secretary of state made on Sunday. We are concerned and a bit sad, Tillerson said in his opening remarks. We have friends in Baghdad and friends in Erbil and we encourage all parties to enter into discussion ... and all differences can be addressed, he said, referring to the Iraqi and Kurdistan region capitals. The U.S. administration sided with Abadi in rejecting the validity of the referendum held last month in the Kurdish region, which produced an overwhelming yes for Kurdish independence. The administration also called on the two sides to avoid further escalation, after Abadi retaliated against the vote by isolating the Kurdistan region and ordering his troops to seize the oil city of Kirkuk from Kurdish fighters. We don t want to enter into any battle against any Iraqi component, Abadi said. When we entered Kirkuk we sent a clear message that the citizens of Kirkuk are important to us. It was Tillerson s second meeting with Abadi in as many days. After Sunday s meeting, alongside Saudi Arabia s King Salman, Tillerson said it was time for Iranian-backed militias that had helped Baghdad defeat Islamic State to go home . Abadi told Tillerson the paramilitary force called Popular Mobilisation is part of the Iraqi institutions, rejecting accusations that it is acting as Iran s proxies. Popular Mobilisation fighters should be encouraged because they will be the hope of country and the region, he said. A few hours earlier, Abadi s office published a statement rejecting Tillerson s comments. No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters, it said [nL8N1MY1UJ]. Washington, which also backed Baghdad against Islamic State, is concerned Iran will use its increased presence in Iraq, and in Syria where it supports President Bashar al-Assad, to expand its influence in the region. Shi ite Muslim Iran s influence in Iraq, where the population is also predominantly Shi ite, has grown since the U.S. invasion of 2003 that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. Iraq s Sunni Muslim neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, share Washington s concern about rising Iranian influence. Tehran has trained and armed the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation forces that have fought, often alongside Iraqi government units, against Islamic State, which was effectively defeated in July when a U.S.-backed offensive captured its stronghold, Mosul. The United States has over 5,000 troops deployed in Iraq and provided critical air and ground support in the offensive on Islamic State. It is also the main backer of the Kurdish-led Syrian coalition that captured the IS stronghold of Raqqa earlier this month. Of the closest groups to Iran within Popular Mobilisation, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, reacted to Tillerson s comment by saying it would be the Americans who will be forced to leave Iraq. Your forces should get ready to get out of our country once the excuse of Daesh s presence is over, said Asaib s leader, Sheikh Qais al-Khazali, according to the group s TV channel, al-Aahd.


The Internal Revenue Service said on Friday an investigation into a hacking attack revealed in May found that cyber criminals had made attempts to gain access to about 390,000 additional taxpayer accounts. The tax agency said 295,000 taxpayer transcripts were also targeted but access was not successful. (1.usa.gov/1Lj1iRA) The agency said in May the tax return information of about 114,000 U.S. taxpayers had been illegally accessed by cyber criminals over the preceding four months, with another 111,000 unsuccessful attempts made. The IRS then revealed in August a new review had identified 220,000 additional incidents where data was breached and another 170,000 suspected failed attempts to gain access to taxpayer data. From February to May, attackers had sought to gain access to personal tax information through the agency's "Get Transcript" online application, which calls up information from previous returns, the tax collection agency said in May. The nine-month long review, which looked into incidents dating back to the launch of the "Get Transcript" application in January 2014 through May 2015, was conducted by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the IRS said on Friday. The "Get Transcript" web application has been offline since the incident was discovered, the agency said on Friday, adding that mailings to the affected taxpayers will start on Feb. 29. CNN reported in May that the IRS believed that the data theft originated in Russia.


In blunt testimony revealed on Tuesday, former managers of Trump University, the school started by Donald J. Trump, portray it as an unscrupulous business that relied on sales tactics, employed unqualified instructors, made deceptive claims and exploited vulnerable students willing to pay tens of thousands for Mr. Trump's insights. One sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, recounted how he was reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35, 000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. He watched with disgust, he said, as a fellow Trump University salesman persuaded the couple to purchase the class anyway. "I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme," Mr. Schnackenberg wrote in his testimony, "and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money. " For Mr. Trump, whose presidential campaign hinges on his reputation as a businessman, the newly unsealed documents offer an unflattering snapshot of his career since branching out, over the past decade, from building skyscrapers into endeavors that cashed in on his name to sell everything from water and steaks to ties and education. The release of the documents on Tuesday, under court order, was the latest turn in a federal lawsuit, filed in California by dissatisfied former Trump University students, that has bedeviled the businessman since 2010 and could trail him into the White House if he is elected president. Mr. Trump, who started the university in 2005, owned 93 percent of the company. From the start, he acted as its chief promoter, rather than manager, selling it as a tool of financial empowerment that would improve life for thousands of ordinary Americans. It would, he said, "teach you better than the best business school," according to the transcript of a Web video. Within the documents made public Tuesday were internal employee guides encouraging customers with little money to pay for the tuition with their credit cards. "We teach the technique of using OPM . .. Other People's Money," explained the internal instructions for salespeople. The documents pushed employees to exploit the emotions of potential customers. "Let them know you've found an answer to their problems," read confidential instructions to salespeople. The most striking documents were written testimony from former employees of Trump University who said they had become disenchanted with the university's tactics and culture. Corrine Sommer, an event manager, recounted how colleagues encouraged students to open up as many credit cards as possible to pay for classes that many of them could not afford. "It's O. K. just max out your credit card," Ms. Sommer recalled their saying. Jason Nicholas, a sales executive at Trump University, recalled a deceptive pitch used to lure students — that Mr. Trump would be "actively involved" in their education. "This was not true," Mr. Nicholas testified, saying Mr. Trump was hardly involved at all. Trump University, Mr. Nicholas concluded, was "a facade, a total lie. " Lawyers for Mr. Trump on Tuesday challenged those characterizations, saying that the testimony of the former Trump University employees "was completely discredited" in depositions taken for the California lawsuit. Lawyers for Mr. Trump declined to release those depositions on Tuesday. As he has in the past, Mr. Trump argued through representatives that the complaints emanated from a small number of former students and that the vast majority had offered positive reviews of their experience. "Trump University looks forward to using this evidence, along with much more, to win when the case is brought before a jury," said Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump. The court records show the role that Mr. Trump — and his outsize reputation — played in trying to sell the real estate classes to thousands of students. Marketing materials bearing his signature encouraged prospective students to take advantage of a downturn in the housing market to earn quick profits. He offered the kind of assurances that financial advisers have long cautioned consumers to be wary of. "How would you like to your financial future," Mr. Trump asked in one brochure. Mr. Trump started the Trump University just as the overheated American housing market neared its peak, promising that its classes would impart his wisdom about real estate and moneymaking to the general public. But dozens of complaints about the school rolled into the offices of attorneys general in Florida, Texas, New York and Illinois, officials said, prompting multiple investigations and, eventually, the lawsuit from former students in California. Mr. Trump had fought Tuesday's release of previously sealed documents in the case. In an apparent attempt to discredit the judge in the case, Gonzalo P. Curiel, Mr. Trump called him biased and a "hater of Donald Trump," and he sought to draw attention to the judge's ethnic background — "we believe Mexican," Mr. Trump said. (Mr. Curiel was born in Indiana he is of Mexican descent.) On Friday, in response to a legal motion filed by The Washington Post, Judge Curiel ruled that the records be released. Some of the documents unsealed Tuesday were previously made public in connection with other lawsuits. The internal guidebooks for employees of Trump University provide a detailed set of instructions for how to sell the classes, even to skeptical and reluctant consumers, by tapping into their psychological needs. A chart outlines the stages of the "roller coaster of emotions" that a buyer will experience. (The "Blast" phase, it explains, is "giving your clients hope again. " The "Probe" phase, it says, must "slowly bring the client back down to reality. ") When it comes to selling the classes, the guidebooks leave little to chance. Inside the rooms where students are asked to enroll in classes, workers are asked to "confirm that room temperature is no more than 68 degrees. " Of course, Mr. Trump and the promise of his engagement with the school was the biggest draw of all. In the documents released Tuesday, instructors described themselves as " " by Mr. Trump. But in a deposition related to the lawsuit, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he did not pick the instructors. Not all the documents made public on Tuesday were critical. Many former students said the classes delivered exactly what they had expected. "Trump University definitely made me more prepared to tackle the 'real world' of real estate investing," wrote David Wright Jr. who signed up for a program. "We really learned a lot of from Trump University and have found a modicum of success," wrote another student, Kissy Gordon. Former employees like Ms. Sommer took a dimmer view of the school. In her testimony, she said she was startled by the qualifications of some Trump University instructors. Ms. Sommer recalled that a member of the Trump University sales team, who had previously sold jewelry, was promoted to become an instructor. He had "no real estate experience," she said. She added that many of the instructors had the quality that the school seemed to value most: "They were skilled at sales," she said.


U.S. President Donald Trump has re-tweeted anti-Islam videos originally posted by Jayda Fransen, a leader of a far-right British party convicted earlier in November of abusing a Muslim woman. Fransen is deputy leader of the anti-immigrant Britain First group. Here are some details about her organization: Britain First was founded in 2011 by leader Paul Golding with a membership of three individuals. It describes itself as a patriotic political party and street movement , although critics denounce it as a far-right, racist organization. Britain First is committed to preserving our ancestral ethnic and cultural heritage, traditions, customs and values, it says on its website. It wants to deport all illegal immigrants, halt all further immigration, and introduce a comprehensive ban on the religion of Islam with headscarves being outlawed in public. Anyone found to be promoting the ideology of Islam will be subject to deportation or imprisonment, its policy platform states. It holds protests across the country, usually attended by a couple of hundred supporters at most, many of whom hold white crosses because the group argues Christianity in Britain is being threatened by immigration and the growth of militant Islam. Golding was a former senior figure in the far-right British National Party and was elected a local councillor in 2009. In his biography on the group s website it says he was sent to prison in 2016 for confronting a Muslim hate preacher who was secretly recorded saying it s okay for Muslims to keep sex slaves . Golding stood for election as London mayor in May 2016, winning 31,372 votes, 1.2 percent of all cast. Fransen, who was elected deputy leader in 2014, was convicted of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2017, and both she and Golding are facing further similar charges. The group gained prominence in June 2016 when Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot dead on the street by a Nazi-obsessed loner who witnesses said had been shouting Britain first during the attack. Fransen told Reuters the killer had nothing to do with her group.


Videos Protesters Disrupt "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" At UT-Austin The bake sale hosted by the Young Conservatives of Texas — in which prices varied depending on the buyer's race and gender — was meant to protest the consideration of race in admissions. | October 27, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! The Young Conservatives of Texas at UT Austin held a bake sale at the West Mall to discuss affirmative action policies on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. The Young Conservatives were met with criticism, which resulted in a protest and several intense conversations among students. (Photo: Shelby Knowles/Texas Tribune/cc)  A controversial bake sale meant to protest race-based admissions at the University of Texas at Austin drew its own opponents on Wednesday.  The campus branch of the Young Conservatives of Texas hosted the bake sale — in which prices varied depending on the buyer's race and gender — to draw attention to affirmative action, which the event's organizers said "demeans minorities on our campus by placing labels of race and gender on their accomplishments." A cookie cost $1.50 for Asian males, 75 cents for white females and 25 cents for Hispanic females.  More than 100 of their classmates showed up to host a counter-protest, calling the bake sale an offensive and inappropriate stunt.  "The labeling of races and the different prices of each is unacceptable…" said Jarvis Dillard, a UT freshman and one of the students protesting the bake sale. "White males have privilege above all the other races."  In a statement Wednesday, Greg Vincent, the university's vice president for diversity and community engagement, called the event "inflammatory and demeaning."  "Focusing our attention on the provocative nature of the YCT's actions ignores a much more important issue: They create an environment of exclusion and disrespect among our students, faculty and staff," the statement says.  The young conservatives group held a similar bake sale in 2013 and was similarly chastised by Vincent, who called that event "deplorable."  UT-Austin's affirmative action policies have put the university in the spotlight over the past few years. In June 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the university's affirmative action system in a 4-3 vote after it was challenged by a white woman, Abigail Fisher, who was denied admission. Fisher argued she was passed over by UT while less qualified minority students were not.  The university considered the Supreme Court decision — which gives a small boost in admission to black and Hispanic students — a win. As of 2015, however, black students only made up 3.9 percent of the student population. During the protest, UT student body president Kevin Helgren said the campus has a long way to go in terms of inclusivity and diversity.  "Institutionalized racism exists and affirmative action helps to combat that," Helgren said during the protest. "The act of putting financial values on groups of people based on their gender or on their race, in my opinion, is a really prominent way to engage in racism in 2016."  On the young conservatives' Facebook event page, the group wrote: "YCT is a truly colorblind organization and believes that all government institutions are constitutionally prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race in all circumstances, including affirmative action."  Christopher Shafik, a 19-year-old member of the young conservatives group, said "people assume that because we are in a position against affirmative action that we're racist." He said the opposite is true, and that the organization must work to change its image on campus. This work by T he Texas Tribune is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.


South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday asked the High Court to set aside a report by the anti-corruption watchdog on alleged influence-peddling in his government, saying he would instead set up a commission of inquiry into the allegations. The court has been hearing a case brought by Zuma who had challenged the right of the report s author, South Africa s anti-graft agency known as Public Protector, to call for a judicial inquiry to investigate the allegations. Zuma, 75, who previously described the State of Capture report as unfair in parliament, said setting up such an inquiry was his prerogative. The report published a year ago recommended a judicial investigation into allegations of systemic corruption by Zuma, some of his ministers and heads of state-owned companies. The report focused on allegations that Zuma s friends, the businessmen and brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, had influenced the appointment of ministers. Zuma and the Guptas have denied the accusations. In a fresh application on Tuesday, Zuma s lawyers argued that the entire report by former Public Protector head Thuli Madonsela should be set aside. Should the court grant his application, Zuma would set up a separate commission of inquiry himself within 30 days of the date of the order, court papers presented by his lawyers said. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party opposes Zuma s application, saying it is unconstitutional. It says it wants the court to support Madonsela s recommendation for a judicial inquiry.


When Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy on Sunday, the Republicans will no doubt redouble their efforts to make the case that a vote for Hillary is a vote for Barack Obama's third term—and the GOP believes no one wants that, for Pete's sake. Clinton's campaign, by contrast, will almost certainly make a very different case: If they vote for her, Americans will be getting something far closer to Bill Clinton's third term. Tying her husband's administration to her candidacy, Hillary Clinton has started to focus her language and her speeches on the continued struggles of the vast American middle class to adjust to a changed and still-changing economic landscape. That has ranged from addressing inequality of opportunity to less mobility to what she has called the "outrage that so many women are still paid less than men for the same work." In comments she has made over the past year or so, she has portrayed the 1990s as a template for sound economic policies—even when compared with the record of the Republican Party's modern-day hero, Ronald Reagan. "If you want a better future that is going to be reliant on making smart economic policies, compare my husband's eight years with Ronald Reagan's eight years—23 million new jobs, more than seven million people lifted out of poverty," Clinton told PBS last June. At another point last year she declared in a speech: "The 1990s taught us that even in the face of difficult long-term economic trends, it's possible through smart policies and sound investments to enjoy broad-based growth and shared prosperity." The eight years that followed her husband's presidency, she said, showed how bad policy could turn budget surpluses into deficits and "what happens when your only policy prescription is to cut taxes for the wealthy." Given how widespread today's economic concerns are, a new iteration of "It's still the economy, stupid" could be a sound foundation for a successful campaign—one that creates just enough distance on the economy between Obama and Clinton (who, after all, spent her entire tenure in the Obama administration working on foreign policy). Even so, Clinton faces multiple challenges separate from those of her own making: the implied comparison between the economy of the 1990s and the utterly fuzzy nature of our economic world today defies easy characterization. How she threads those issues will likely determine her the outcome of her second quest for the White House. Twenty-four years ago, Bill Clinton campaigned to fix an ailing economy that had seen massive layoffs in manufacturing in the recession of 1991. He assailed then President George H.W. Bush for ignoring the suffering of the middle class. His campaign moniker, "It's the economy, stupid," helped propel him to victory over a sitting president. The situation today is arguably better than it was in 1991-1992, with the unemployment rate averaging 6.8 percent in 1991 and 7.5 percent in 1992 versus 5.5 percent over the past months. The end of the Cold War, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the resounding American sense of triumph in those years, as well as victory in the war to evict Iraq from Kuwait, also placed the United States in a far stronger position internationally, though that is more clear in retrospect than it was just then, when uncertainty about international chaos lent an air of unease. But even though today looks statistically better than the early 1990s, the national mood is arguably worse, though mood gauges are the softest of soft statistics. Jobs numbers as well don't adequately account for the much lower participation rate of American workers, with a smaller percentage of Americans working (nearly 67 percent then versus about 62 percent now). More important, and hence the reason for Hillary's focus on the middle class, wages have barely budged since the early 1990s for the vast majority of workers. In contrast to the early Republican message that government has impeded the progress of the average American, the Clinton campaign looks to stress how government in conjunction with individual initiatives and businesses can help boost opportunities. The subliminal (or maybe not so) implication is that is just what happened throughout the eight years the other Clinton was president. It is undeniably true that between 1993 and 2000, the United States experienced a boom in both employment and economic growth. Sentiment as measured by Gallup polls about satisfaction with the economy also improved greatly, with just 24 percent expressing satisfaction in 1992 compared with 69 percent in 2000. The prevailing buzz was that of an economy firing on all proverbial cylinders, boosted by information technologies that were enhancing worker productivity and by a Wall Street and equity boom that saw tens of millions of Americans trading hot-dot stocks that promised not just wealth but connectivity, peace and happiness.


A prominent Chinese general under investigation for corruption has committed suicide, state media said on Tuesday, the latest development in a sweeping anti-graft campaign that has shaken the armed forces. Zhang Yang, a former member of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), was being investigated over links to disgraced generals Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, the official Xinhua news agency said. The investigation into Zhang, 66, had verified that he gravely violated discipline , was suspected of giving and taking bribes and the origin of a huge amount of assets was unclear, Xinhua said, citing the commission. On the afternoon of Nov. 23, Zhang Yang hanged himself at home, the agency said. A suicide by an officer who held such a senior post is rare, though experts have said the frequency of officials from various levels of government taking their own lives may have increased as a result of the intensity of the corruption crackdown since President Xi Jinping took power five years ago. A commentary carried on both the Defense Ministry and military s official websites said the CMC decided on Aug. 28 to investigate Zhang, who had lost his moral bottom line and used suicide as a means to escape punishment from the party and country , an extremely abominable act . This former general of high position and great power used this shameful way to end his own life, the commentary said. He would exhort loyalty but be corrupt behind others backs, a typical two-faced person , it said. Sources had told Reuters that Zhang, who had served as director of the military s Political Work Department, had been subject to an investigation, but the government had not announced it. Zhang s downfall was foreshadowed in September when he failed to make a list of 303 military delegates to the ruling Communist Party s key five-yearly congress, along with fellow CMC member Fang Fenghui. Both men were replaced at the congress, held last month, as part of a sweeping military leadership reshuffle in which Xi install trusted allies in key positions. China s military, the world s largest and undergoing an ambitious modernization campaign, has been an important focus of Xi s deep-seated fight against corruption. Serving and retired officers have said graft in the armed forces is so pervasive it could undermine China s ability to wage war. Dozens of officers have been investigated and jailed, including Xu and Guo, both former vice chairmen of the commission, which Xi heads. Xu once ran the Political Work Department, which is in charge of imbuing political thought and makes military personnel decisions, and along with Guo was accused of taking bribes in exchange for promotions. Guo was jailed for life last year. Xu died of cancer in 2015 before he could face trial.


The November U.S. presidential election is being sold by the major parties as a defining moment for the next generation of Americans. But stock and options traders, often moved to action by political headlines, are responding with a big 'meh.' Options bets on volatility around the Nov. 8 election are running lower than could be expected given how stocks have performed in past election cycles, BNP Paribas said. Typically, stock market volatility picks up around presidential elections. Traders use options to guard against outsized market reaction to such events. The CBOE Volatility Index, the most widely followed gauge of near-term investor anxiety, had some big spikes this year, hitting a four-month high after the Brexit vote. But there is little to suggest that November is a big worry for stocks. Investors are focused on the quarterly earnings season starting next week. They might also be taking the view that both the Republican and Democratic prospective nominees would be more favorable for business than the current administration, analysts said. "It's like the opposite of 'Alien vs. Predator,'" said Mark Sebastian, chief investment officer at volatility arbitrage hedge fund Karman Line Capital in Chicago, referring to the 2004 American science fiction film which had the tagline 'whoever wins, we lose.' "Here, no matter who wins, Wall Street does better," he said. Despite being called anti-business by some on Wall Street, the Obama administration has been in power over one of the best presidential cycles for stocks on record. Per BNP Paribas data, S&P 500 Index options forward implied volatility, which measures volatility expectations embedded in options, shows no dislocation over the remaining election campaign period. Had there been a big bump-up in this measure for November it would have been a sign that traders were loading up on protective contracts. "The market is not ascribing a large probability to a high volatility scenario over the election period," said Stewart Warther, an equity derivatives strategist at BNP Paribas. Market-makers, or dealers which quote prices for options, are also not expressing a great deal of anxiety over stock gyrations. If stock volatility does not pick up in November, that would be a departure from the norm, according a BNP Paribas analysis of data going back to 1948. "The shape of the (volatility) curve definitely is upward sloping but it's not like there is a huge hump out in November," said Steve Sosnick, an equity risk manager at Timber Hill, the market-making unit of Interactive Brokers Group Inc. "We have seen some demand for options but I would say it's hardly a frenzy."