A gunman who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 more when he opened fire in a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. early Sunday. It was the worst mass shooting in American history. President Obama was in Orlando on Thursday to meet with victims' families. Here is the latest: • The gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, was killed in a shootout with the police. Mr. Mateen, an American citizen whose parents were from Afghanistan, claimed allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 call he made at the time of the attack, law enforcement officials said. He lived in Fort Pierce, Fla. • On Tuesday, a senior F. B. I. official said investigators suspected the gunman's second wife, Noor Zahi Salman, might have been aware that he was plotting an attack, and the agency was trying to determine her level of involvement. Ms. Salman, the mother of his young son, told the F. B. I. that she had driven him to the Pulse nightclub at some point before the attack and that she had also been with him when he bought ammunition. NBC, which reported the development, said Ms. Salman, 30, lives in Port St. Lucie, Fla. with Mr. Mateen's father. The woman told officials she had tried to talk Mr. Mateen out of any attack, but whether she knew of his true plans was unclear. • Mr. Mateen was born in Queens, New York, according to public records. His Sitora Yusufiy, said her marriage to Mr. Mateen had been abusive, and that he had at times displayed erratic behavior. "There were definitely moments when he'd express his intolerance toward homosexuals," she said. The marriage ended in divorce. • Mr. Mateen was removed from his job as a security officer at the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce, in 2013 at the request of county sheriff's officials who had grown concerned about his demeanor and his "inflammatory" comments. The sheriff then informed the authorities, prompting an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the sheriff's office said Tuesday. Mr. Mateen was transferred to a job as a security guard at a nearby residential golfing community, leading him to lodge a discrimination complaint, an official with the private security company that employed him said on Tuesday. The F. B. I. director, James Comey, said Monday that the gunman was on a terrorism watch list from 2013 to 2014, but that months of investigation into his foreign travels, his inflammatory remarks and his motives did not produce enough evidence to charge him. • The global security company G4S, based in Britain, said Mr. Mateen had worked for it as a guard since 2007. A said he had repeatedly complained to the company that Mr. Mateen used racial, ethnic and sexist slurs, and talked about killing people. • The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Mr. Mateen had legally bought both weapons used in the attack, a handgun and a long gun, in Florida within the last week. • Mr. Mateen opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a popular gay club, at about 2 a. m. He was armed with an assault rifle similar to the and a handgun. • Mr. Mateen shot about of the people in the packed club. Hundreds of panicked clubgoers escaped and fled into the streets. • As more police officers rushed to the scene, Mr. Mateen retreated to a bathroom where he is believed to have held four to five hostages. About 15 to 20 people were in another restroom, frantically texting friends and family for help. • The police chief, John Mina, said that when police negotiators began to talk with Mr. Mateen, he appeared "cool and calm. " The gunman made statements that led officers to think he was going to begin killing more people, the chief said, and he spoke of having explosives. Mr. Mateen was killed by a police SWAT team when it raided the building about 5 a. m. with an armored vehicle and stun grenades. One police officer was wounded, and at least 30 people were rescued. • President Obama said that the attack was a kind of "homegrown extremism" because it appeared the gunman had been inspired by extremist information he found on the internet, but that there was no clear evidence he was part of a wider terrorist plot. • The City of Orlando set up a special web page where it released the names of victims. The New York Times has compiled brief portraits of the victims. • A staggering 90 percent of the 49 victims were Hispanic or of Hispanic descent, including Mexican, Colombian and Dominican, community leaders said. Of those killed, 23 were Puerto Rican. • Medical officials said the victims had deep, gaping wounds from the rounds fired from the assault rifle and handgun. In some cases, the rounds bounced around inside their bodies, inflicting internal injuries. • More people were killed in Orlando than in any previous mass shooting in the United States. The 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech killed 32 people, while 26 people were killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. • This is the second mass shooting in the United States linked to sympathizers of the Islamic State since December, when a married couple killed 14 people in a rampage in San Bernardino, Calif. The Orlando shooting was the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the massacre in a statement released over an encrypted phone app. The group said the attack "was carried out by an Islamic State fighter," according to a transcript provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist propaganda. • The gunman made a series of Facebook posts, according to Senator Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, including one in which he raged against the "filthy ways of the west" and another that warned of more attacks by the Islamic State "in the next few days. " He even searched for references to the massacre while he was carrying it out, the senator wrote in a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chairman and chief executive. • Mr. Mateen's father, Seddique Mir Mateen, posted a video on his Facebook page early on Monday in which he expressed regret and confusion about why his son had carried out the mass killing. "I don't know what caused this," said Mr. Mateen, speaking in Dari, a language spoken in Afghanistan. "I did not know and did not understand that he has anger in his heart. " • At a news conference on Monday, A. Lee Bentley, the United States attorney for Central Florida, said the investigators had collected a large amount of electronic and criminal evidence and were trying to determine whether Mr. Mateen acted alone. The statement by the Islamic State did not provide details about its relationship with Mr. Mateen. • The F. B. I. director, Mr. Comey, said Monday that there was no evidence directly linking the gunman to an outside group, though he appeared to be — that is, he claimed allegiance to the Islamic State but had no direct tie — like the husband and wife team behind the attack in San Bernardino last year. • Investigators continued looking into whether Mr. Mateen's wife knew what he had planned, but officials have deflected questions about possible criminal charges against her. They are also scouring his past movements and possible accomplices. • Mr. Mateen told the police by phone that he would strap explosives to four hostages and place them strategically in the corners of the building, Mayor Buddy Dyer said on Wednesday. But investigators have not found any evidence of explosives.


http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/10/26/1010359-65-us-journalists-at-a-private-dinner-with-hillary-clintons-team-and-john-podesta/  I just heard an NPR presstitute declare that Texas, a traditional sure thing for Republicans was up for grabs in the presidential election. Little wonder if this report on Zero Hedge is correct. Apparently, the voting machines are already at work stealing the election for Killary.  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-25/texas-rigged-first-reports-voting-machines-switching-votes-hillary-texas  From my long experience in journalism, I know the American public is not very sharp. Nevertheless, it is difficult for me to believe that Americans, whose jobs, careers, and the same for their children and grandchildren, have been sold out by the elites who Hillary represents would actually vote for her. It makes no sense. If this were the case, how did Trump get the Republican nomination despite the vicious presstitute campaign against him?  It seems obvious that the majority of Americans who have been suffering terribly at the hands of the One Percent who own Hillary lock, stock, and barrel, will not vote for the people who have ruined their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren.  Furthermore, if Trump's election is as impossible as the presstitutes tell us—Hillary's win is 93% certain according to the latest presstitute pronouncement—the vicious 24/7 attacks on Trump would be pointless. Wouldn't they? Why the constant, frenetic, vicious attacks on a person who has no chance? Trump takes aim at those rigging the system  There are reports that a company associated with Hillary backer George Soros is supplying the voting machines to 16 states , including states that determine election outcomes. I do not know that these reports are correct. However, I do know for a fact that the oligarchic interests that rule America are opposed to Trump being elected President for the simple reason that they are unsure that they would be able to control him.  It is hard to believe that dispossessed Americans will vote for Hillary, the representative of those who have dispossessed them, when Trump says he will re-empower the dispossessed. Hillary has denigrated ordinary Americans who, she says, she is so removed from by her wealth that she doesn't even know who they are. Clearly, Hillary, paid $675,000 by Goldman Sachs for three 20-minute speeches, is not a representative of the people. She represents the One Percent whose policies have flushed the prospects of ordinary Americans down the toilet.  What is really disturbing is the pretense by the presstitute scum that Trump's lewd admiration for female charms is deemed more important than the prospect of nuclear war. At no time during the presidential primaries or during the current presidential campaign has it been mentioned that Russia is being assaulted daily by propaganda, threatened by military buildups, and being convinced that the United States and its European vassals are planning an attack. Architects of "Regime Change" Wars  A threatened Russia, made insecure by inexplicable hostility and Western propaganda, is a danger manufactured by the neoconservative supporters of Hillary Clinton.  If the American people are really so unbelievably stupid that they think lewd remarks about women are more important than avoiding nuclear war, the American people are too stupid to exist. They will deserve the mushroom clouds that will wipe them and everyone else off the face of the earth.  Donald Trump is the only candidate in the primaries and the general election who has said that he sees no point in conflict with Russia when Putin has shown nothing but desire to work things out to mutual advantage.  In contrast, Hillary has declared the thrice-elected president of Russia to be "the new Hitler" and has threatened Russia with military action. Hillary talks openly about regime change in Russia.  Surely, in a free media at least one person in the print and TV media would raise this most important of all points. But where have you seen it?  Only in my columns and a few others in the alternative media.  In other words, we are about to have an election in which the important issue has played no role. And yet allegedly we are the exceptional, indispensable people, a people's democracy protected by a free press.  In truth, this mythical description of America is merely a cloak for the rule of the Oligarchs. And the Oligarchs are risking life on earth for their continual supremacy.  Also see:  The Saker explains how Vladimir Putin wrest the sovereignty of Russia away from the Anglo-Zionist Empire. He hopes that Donald Trump can rescue America. His article is republished with his permission.  Can Trump Save America Like Putin Saved Russia?


The first meeting of a Russian-North Korea military commission is discussing the implementation of a 2015 agreement on preventing dangerous military activities signed by the two nations in 2015, Russia s embassy to Pyongyang said on its Facebook page on Thursday. Russia s defense ministry delegation arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday. It will stay in North Korea until Saturday, an embassy official told the RIA news agency.


Source: Arctic News  For some time, Arctic sea ice extent has again been at a record low for the time of the year. The image below shows Arctic sea ice extent on October 26, 2016, when extent was only 6.801 million km².  One reason for the low sea ice extent is the high and rising temperature of the Arctic Ocean. On October 27, 2016, the Arctic Ocean was as warm as 14.8°C or 58.6°F (green circle near Svalbard), 12.1°C or 21.7°F warmer than 1981-2011, as the image below shows.  On October 29, 2016, the Arctic Ocean was as warm as 14.9°C or 58.8°F (green circle near Svalbard), 12.1°C or 21.8°F warmer than 1981-2011, as the image below shows.  As the sea ice shrinks, less sunlight gets reflected back into space, while more open water and higher sea surface temperatures also cause storms and cyclones to become stronger. Stronger cyclones also cause greater amounts of water vapor to move up the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean toward the Arctic. [ click on image to enlarge ] [ click on image to enlarge ]  Less Arctic sea ice and a warmer Arctic Ocean make that more heat and water vapor gets transferred from the Arctic Ocean to the atmosphere. The two above images show temperature forecasts for November 1 & 2, 2016. In both cases, temperatures over the Arctic as a whole are forecast to be as much as 6.40°C higher than 1979-2000.  As these images show, temperature anomalies in many places are at the top end of the scale, i.e. +20°C or +36°F.  Above combination image shows record low Arctic sea ice for the time of the year (left) and near record low Antarctic sea ice for the time of the year (right), with a combined sea ice extent of only 23.751 million km² on October 28, 2016. In other words, the world is now absorbing a lot of sunlight that was previously reflected back into space.  Below are two further temperature forecast:  Above image shows forecasts for October 31, 2016. The Arctic is forecast to be 6.07°C warmer than 1979-2000, while the Antarctic is forecast to be 4.56°C warmer than 1979-2000.  Above image shows forecasts for November 1, 2016. The Arctic is forecast to be 6.42°C warer than 1979-2000, while the Antarctic is forecast to be 3.70°C warmer than 1979-2000.  Rising temperatures over the Arctic further contribute to a rise in the amount of water vapor in the air over the Arctic at a rate of 7% more water vapor for every 1°C warming. Since water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas, more water vapor further accelerates warming in the Arctic.  The Climate Reanalyzer image below shows the temperature rise in the Arctic over time.  In the video below, Dr. Walt Meier of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center describes how the Arctic has been losing its thicker and older sea ice over the years (1991 to September 2016).  The Naval Research Lab 30-day thickness animation below (up to October 28, 2016, with forecasts up to November 5, 2016) further shows minimal recent growth of the Arctic sea ice, especially in terms of the ice with a thickness of 1m or above.  As the Arctic Ocean gets warmer, the danger grows that large amounts of methane will erupt from destabilizing hydrates at its seafloor. Ominously, high methane levels are visible over the Arctic on the image below, showing methane levels as high as 2424 ppb on October 24, 2016.  The animation below, made with images from another satellite (and a different scale), shows high methane levels over th Arctic Ocean from October 26 to 28, 2016.


Actor and director George Clooney, a supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, broke ranks over campaign financing on Saturday to condemn the "obscene" sums of money in U.S. politics and praised Clinton's chief political rival in the process. Clooney made the remarks in an interview with NBC News' "Meet The Press" the day after he and his wife, Amal, hosted a fundraiser on Democratic Party hopeful Clinton's behalf Friday night with a price tag of up to $353,400 per couple. "We had some protesters last night when we pulled up in San Francisco and they're right to protest. They're absolutely right. It is an obscene amount of money," Clooney said in excerpts released on Saturday. The interview will air on Sunday. Bernie Sanders, a U.S. Senator from Vermont and Clinton's rival in the race for the Democratic nomination to run for the White House in the Nov. 8 election, has pounced on former secretary of state Clinton over the big-ticket event and for accepting large sums of money for her campaign. "The Sanders campaign when they talk about it is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree completely," Clooney said. In response to the dinner, the Sanders campaign on Friday evening sent out an email to supporters asking them to help reach their fundraising goals by chipping in $3.53 apiece, instead.


PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Investigators were reviewing a range of possible terror and hate-crime links to a gunman who professed his allegiance to the Islamic State from the scene of a horrific mass shooting at a crowded Orlando nightclub early Sunday that left at least 50 dead and 53 others wounded, the FBI said. Omar Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Fla., acknowledged his support for the terror group during a 911 call to local law enforcement from the nightclub, Orlando FBI chief Ron Hopper said. During the call, placed in the pre-dawn hours after the first round of shots were fired, Mateen also made reference to the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, said a separate federal law enforcement official who was not authorized to comment publicly. The disclosure closely tracked an account provided earlier Sunday by California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff said that a Department of Homeland Security briefing indicated that Mateen had made the radical proclamation before he died in a shootout with authorities. "Whether this attack also was ISIS-directed remains to be determined,'' Schiff said in a statement. Hopper also confirmed Sunday that Mateen had been interviewed by federal authorities three times in connection with two investigations during the past three years. In the most recent case, the FBI reviewed Mateen's alleged contacts in 2014 with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, an American suicide bomber from Florida who died in Syria the same year. Hopper said the case was closed when investigators determined that Mateen's contacts were "minimal.'' A federal law enforcement official later said a review of the Abu-Salha case found no direct contact between Mateen and the bomber. The two attended the same mosque, the official said. In a 2013 investigation, investigators interviewed Mateen twice about "inflammatory comments'' the gunman made to a co-worker about possible ties to international terrorism. That case also was closed when authorities were unable to "verify'' the comments. In both cases, the federal law enforcement source said, Mateen agreed to be interviewed and cooperated with investigators. Mateen was not under investigation at the time of the shooting, a status that allowed for his purchase of a handgun and an AR-15 rifle which were used in the assault. A Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives trace found that the firearms were purchased "legally'' in Florida within the "last few days.'' Investigators, meanwhile, were interviewing members of Mateen's family Sunday in an attempt to learn what may have prompted the assault, two federal law enforcement officials said. NBC News reported that the attacker's father indicated that Mateen recently expressed anti-gay sentiments, but one of the officials said investigators were still reviewing a wide range of possible motivations. The official also said investigators were reviewing Mateen's recent travels and contacts to learn more about possible preparations for the attack, now the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. According to Florida court records, Mateen was married in 2009 and divorced two years later. Mateen married Sitora Yusufiy on April 16, 2009. The marriage license was issued in St. Lucie County, Fla., records show. A dissolution of marriage was filed in July 2011. Yusufiy could not be immediately reached. But in an interview with The Washington Post, the ex-wife claimed she was beaten repeatedly. A former Fort Pierce police officer who once worked with Mateen as a security guard at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla., said Mateen was "unhinged and unstable." Daniel Gilroy said he worked the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift with G4S Security at the south gate of the community for several months in 2014 and 2015. Mateen took over from him for a later shift. Gilroy said Mateen frequently made homophobic and racial comments. Gilroy said he complained to his employer several times and quit after he said Mateen began stalking him with up to 20 or 30 texts per day. He also left Gilroy 13 to 15 phone messages a day, the former officer said. "I quit because everything he said was toxic," Gilroy said Sunday, "and the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people." John Kenning, a regional G4S chief executive, confirmed that Mateen had been employed there since September 2007. "We are shocked and saddened by the tragic event that occurred at the Orlando nightclub,'' Kenning said in a written statement. "We are cooperating fully with all law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, as they conduct their investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the friends, families and people affected by this unspeakable tragedy.'' Two of Mateen's prior acquaintances described the gunman's actions as completely out of character for the person they knew. "He would never shoot anybody or kill anybody,'' Lamont Owens said, adding that he had not seen Mateen for a "few'' years. Another associate, Ryan Jones, described Mateen as "normal,'' though he also acknowledged not having contact with Mateen for several years. "He was a cool, calm and collected person,'' Jones said. Born in New York, Mateen lived in a Fort Pierce apartment complex that was teeming with law enforcement officials Sunday. He also used a mailing address at his parents' nearby Port St. Lucie, Fla., address. Mateen received an associates of science degree in criminal justice technology in 2006 from Indian River State College, according to college spokeswoman Michelle Abaldo. Contributing: Anthony Westbury and Nicole Rodriguez in Port St. Lucie; Johnson reported from Washington.


Zimbabwe s stock market has shed $6 billion while its main index has slumped 40 percent since last Wednesday when the military seized power leading to the fall of Robert Mugabe, stock exchange data showed on Thursday. The main industrial index was at 315.12 points compared with 527.27 points on Wednesday last week when the military announced its takeover and put former president Mugabe under house arrest. On Thursday the index fell 4.4 percent. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange had been on a rapid rise in the last two months, driven by investors seeking a safe haven for their investment amid fears of a return to hyperinflation in an economy suffering acute shortages of foreign exchange. But analysts said the market had entered a period of correction on investor optimism of a change in economic policy in a post-Mugabe era. Market capitalization was $9 billion, down from $15 billion last week, bourse data showed. On the currency front, black market rates for buying cash dollars softened further on Thursday. Buying $100 using electronic transfer cost $150, down from $180 last week. Some black market traders said they were not buying dollars at all, anticipating further softening of rates. Zimbabwe adopted the U.S. dollar in 2009, along with Britain s pound and the South African rand, to tame inflation that topped out at 500 billion percent. The market is adjusting back to reality, an analyst at a Harare-based asset management company said. The gains that we had seen were being fueled by an outlook of a return to hyperinflation, continued isolation of Zimbabwe by international lenders as well as well as a depressed economic outlook. An analyst at a local stockbrocking firm said Mnangagwa had hit the right notes with his speech on Wednesday. Mnangagwa said he wanted to grow the economy, create jobs and for Zimbabwe to re-engage the international community as the country has faced isolation since 1999 when it defaulted on its debt with the International Monetary Fund. Most of Zimbabwe s 13 million people remain poor and face currency shortages and sky-high unemployment, something Mnangagwa promised to address.


While Trump works like crazy to win your vote, Hillary and Bill are rocking the night away. The Limousine liberals love these two grifters and just keep throwing cash at them. Pretty sickening!Rock superstars Sir Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi and Jimmy Buffett took to the stage at a glamorous fundraiser for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Monday night. The trio serenaded the crowd with the Beatles classic Hey Jude while both Hillary and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, danced with other guests at the bash in the Hamptons.Video from the $25,000-a-ticket event at Jimmy and Jane Buffett s estate shows Buffett, Bon Jovi and McCartney singing on stage for the grand finale: The Democratic presidential nominee hopped from mansion to mansion in the ocean-front vacation destination, appearing at parties and dinners where the contributions ranged from $1,000 to $100,000 for guests and hosts. The top-dollar tour concluded last night with an event in Sag Harbor complete with the stellar musical line-up.On an outdoor stage, Buffett entertained for more than an hour, playing hits like Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise. Bon Jovi serenaded the crowd with Who Says You Can t Go Home, and McCartney s numbers included Can t Buy Me Love and Lady Madonna. The trio closed out the show with a performance of Hey Jude. Attendees said Clinton even hit the dance floor with McCartney during one of Buffett s numbers. McCartney joked with the crowd, according to fundraiser guests, saying that this was the first time I ve paid to hear myself sing.


The White House on Friday said it was not given any prior notice on the FBI's announcement that it was investigating additional emails relating to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email system. "We did not have advance warning," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama to a campaign event for Clinton in Orlando, Florida. Schultz said news of the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe has not affected Obama's support for Clinton. "I don't think anything has surfaced to changed the president's opinion and views of Secretary Clinton," he said.


The hotline rings, but nobody answers. China's Ministry of Public Security opened the line last month to answer questions about the new law regulating foreign nonprofit organizations, which takes effect on Sunday. But this week and last, calls went unanswered, exemplifying the uncertainty that still surrounds the law, raising concern among thousands of nongovernmental organizations about their ability to continue their work in the new year. The law, which places a raft of new requirements on foreign nonprofits operating in China, is another building block in President Xi Jinping's fortification of rule, which he sees as threatened by foreign influence and unfettered civil society. Under the law, foreign nonprofits such as foundations, charities and many business associations must register with the police, persuade state agencies and organizations to act as their sponsors, and submit regular, detailed reports on their activities. According to an official estimate, there are 7, 000 foreign nongovernmental organizations in China. They range from institutions like the Ford Foundation and Oxfam to groups of a few people working on issues like rural education, nature conservation and health care. But groups working on politically sensitive issues like human rights, legal reform and the rule of law, or those concerning ethnic minorities, are seen as most at risk. Some foreign organizations have already pulled back. The American Bar Association, which has a program providing training and support to strengthen the rule of law, recently closed its Beijing office until it could gain formal approval for its work. Elizabeth Andersen, the association's associate executive director, cited the "heightened scrutiny of foreign organizations working in China and the uncertainties and lack of information surrounding how the new law will be implemented. " But the uncertainty has also unsettled groups far removed from political concerns. Numerous aspects of the law remain opaque, and many groups are anxious about the vagueness and expense of the new requirements, while some fear their work will be curtailed or even banned. "Nothing's clear," said Corinne Richeux Hua, executive director of Stepping Stones, a locally registered charity in Shanghai that organizes English teachers for children from the countryside. "We've got vague directives and guidelines. " The local police, with whom her group must now register, had been helpful, but "they are still figuring it," she said. "The rules haven't been made completely clear to them yet. " Ambiguity about how the law will be enforced is likely to make foreign groups extra cautious, and the Ministry of Public Security, which administers the law, "has every incentive to maintain uncertainty," said Jessica C. Teets, a political scientist at Middlebury College in Vermont who studies nongovernmental organizations in China. "This will mean that the government is able to more closely monitor the foreign NGOs, and, more importantly, the Chinese citizens working and interacting with them, while allowing them to continue the work that the government deems beneficial," Ms. Teets said by email. "The NGOs have every right to fear the closing off of space for advocacy and programs, but I think the impact will be really differentiated. " Indeed, a Ministry of Public Security official told diplomats in Shanghai last month that "the Chinese government will continue welcoming and supporting foreign nongovernmental organizations coming to China. " After Deng Xiaoping opened up China in the 1980s, foreign foundations, associations and charities became important channels for sharing money, ideas and inspiration. Officials often welcomed their help, especially in poorer parts of the country, even though the rules governing their status were murky. But certain kinds of organizations, especially those that work in law and contentious social issues, have garnered distrust. Through the new law, the government wants to narrow permissible activities of foreign groups and monitor their work much more thoroughly. A list of permitted categories of assistance issued last week suggested that foreign groups offering technical help on environmental, health and other relatively uncontroversial issues had strong chances of gaining approval. Those working on legal issues will have a much narrower foothold. "Human rights," for example, is not on the list of permitted issues. "Rather than seeing foreign NGOs as potential partners who can help aid in economic, social and legal development in China, instead they see a latent threat that needs to be controlled," said Thomas Kellogg, the East Asia director of the Open Society Foundations, which has financed some work in China. "People on the international side are definitely worried. And well they should be. I think it will be difficult for many foreign NGOs working on legal reform to register. For those that are able to register, the law will likely restrict what they are able to do. " Even before the new law, combative rights lawyers and advocates, feminists and labor activists have come under Mr. Xi's heavy grip. Peter Dahlin, a Swedish citizen in Beijing, was arrested, forced to apologize on television and expelled from China early this year for working for an unregistered group that did advocacy for legal rights. The party sees groups like his as potential Trojan horses of political subversion. A propaganda video promoted by public security agencies this month warned that forces were "using foreign nongovernmental organizations to nurture 'proxies' and to establish a social basis" for insurrection. The groups' worries have been compounded by confusion about many requirements, the belated release of crucial rules, and signs that public security bureaus are poorly prepared for their new role. But it is not just activists and charities who are concerned. The opaque rules mean that organizations such as business groups, universities and education programs that seemingly pose no political threat are also unclear whether they must register for some of their activities. "Business and trade associations, civil society, environmental groups and educational institutions that are concerned about how their operations in China may be affected" have met with American diplomats to discuss the law, said Mary Beth Polley, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy in Beijing. "We remain deeply concerned about the uncertainties and potentially hostile environment for foreign nonprofit, nongovernment organizations and their Chinese partners that this law creates," she said. Foreign organizations working in China have long had to seek out domestic agencies or organizations to act as their sponsors. But the new law narrows the list of permissible sponsors, and those permitted may be reluctant to take on the risk of vouching for foreign groups, or feel they do not have the personnel available for the task. "Who wants to assume this burden?" asks Lester Ross, a partner in the Beijing office of the WilmerHale law firm who has been advising companies and organizations on the new law. "I think there's a real issue of capacity. The NGO community serves as an important ballast for relationships, and if this is mishandled, it won't help. " While some foreign organizations are resigned to months of uncertainty, some said they would keep working full time in the country, confident that public security offices will let them stay open while the registration is ironed out. Several American trade associations said they thought they would be allowed to stay, and some groups said they looked forward to gaining official status under the new rules. "We see these new regulations as a pretty positive thing for us," said Steve Blake, the acting chief representative in Beijing of WildAid, which works with the Chinese government to fight illegal trading in wildlife. "We have a big presence here, but we've never been completely officially on the books. " But organizations working on legal issues or social problems said they were unsure of their futures and may face hard choices. Registration may mean sacrificing autonomy, but the alternative may be abandoning people in China who need their help, said Mr. Kellogg of the Open Society Foundations. "I would urge foreign NGOs to adopt a attitude before they make any final decisions about either registering or pulling out of China," he said. "Once there is more clarity about how the law will be enforced, it will be at least a bit easier to come up with mitigation strategies. "


Kenya s Supreme Court will rule on Monday on cases that seek to nullify the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta last month and the judges could order a fresh vote or clear the way for the incumbent to be sworn in for a second term. The two cases appear to represent a final chance for legal scrutiny of the Oct. 26 election and the ruling could end a protracted political crisis in which more than 60 people have been killed. Kenya is a hub for trade, diplomacy and security in East Africa. We will deliver judgment on the 20th, Chief Justice David Maraga told lawyers at the end of a hearing on Thursday. Kenyatta defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga in August but Odinga challenged the election and the court voided it citing procedural irregularities and ordered a fresh vote. The court s decision was the first of its kind in Africa. Odinga boycotted last month s poll, saying the election commission had failed to carry out sufficient reforms. Kenyatta won with 98 percent of the vote. Lawyers for the petitioners, a former lawmaker and two human rights activists, urged the court to nullify the repeat poll due to a lack of fresh nominations for candidates and violence in some areas that prevented voting. Their counterparts for the election board, its chairman and Kenyatta, rejected the petition and urged the court to uphold the result to help end a crisis that has hurt the economy. The Supreme Court was created by a 2010 constitution that followed a crisis over a disputed election in 2007 in which around 1,200 people were killed in ethnic clashes. Analysts said the September ruling by the Supreme Court could embolden other judiciaries in Africa. This month, Liberia s Supreme Court halted a presidential run-off until the election board investigates claims of fraud in the first round of voting.


Russia will offer Turkey partial financing for Ankara s purchase of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a Russian presidential aide. Turkey has been in talks to buy the system for more than a year. Washington and some of its NATO allies see the move as a snub because the weapons cannot be integrated into the alliance s defenses. Turkish and Russian officials would meet to finalize the deal next week, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Ankara that credit for the defense industry would be signed with Turkey in the near future. When asked by Interfax whether the Russian financing would cover the full cost of the deal, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin said: Not the whole, partially. Technical questions are being discussed, the interest rate. Everything is in the Finance Ministry, he said of the deal. Turkey expects to receive the first missile system in 2019, Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said in November. The deal included two S-400 systems and a third optional one.


You d think in the year 2016 we d no longer have to deal with discrimination of this magnitude anymore, but alas, the nation is still filled with bigoted morons, so, we still have businesses refusing service to customers based upon, in this case, religion.The Oktaha, Oklahoma gun range Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gun Range (what a name) decided to prohibit 29-year-old Raja ee Fatihah from their establishment because he s a Muslim. And now the U.S Army reservist, who proudly serves his country despite being openly discriminated against by bigots, is throwing a much-deserved lawsuit back in their face.The gun range, quite openly, prohibits Muslims, as can be seen in the photo:Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gun Range via CAIRLittle did they realize that the person whom they banned from their establishment was none other than a board member in the Oklahoma chapter of the Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the one who helped file the suit, and the legal director of the Oklahoma chapter, Brady Henderson perfectly stated: Whether the sign in question says no Muslims or whether it says no coloreds or whether it says no women or no Christians or no Buddhists it is just as un-American and fundamentally it is just as wrong. Fatihah said the range was fine and pleasant with him until he revealed that he was, in fact, Muslim. He said: At that point, they started treating me with suspicion. The ACLU released this as part of their press release: The lawsuit alleges that the policy violates Oklahoma s non-discrimination law as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids certain places of business from denying service to customers based on their race, color, religion, or national origin. Although the business is open to the general public, in July 2015, the owners posted a sign near the front entrance announcing that Muslims are not permitted at the facility and that the business is a Muslim free establishment. There is no justification for a business denying people service based on religion, said Fatihah. I am a servant of my community in every respect, and as a proud American, I have enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve to protect this country. I should be afforded the same rights and privileges as anyone else. When Fatihah arrived at the business s main counter, owners required him to fill out a liability form and provide his name, address, and driver s license number standard procedure for patrons seeking to use the gun range s facilities. However, after Fatihah identified himself as a Muslim, the owners armed themselves with handguns and demanded to know whether he was there to commit an act of violence or as part of a jihad. Fatihah was then made to leave the gun range without receiving service. According to WBRZ: The Oklahoma store owner s attorney, Robert Muise, says Fatihah was denied service because he was belligerent, not because of his religion. However, if you look at the sign on the front door that reads plain as day, MUSLIM FREE ESTABLISHMENT, it s hard to buy that story line. It will definitely be interesting to see how this lawsuit moves forward and if justice will be served.Featured image: Council on American-Islamic Relations via Mother Jones


Supporters of Obamacare staged rallies across the country on Thursday denouncing efforts by President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders to repeal the landmark law that has extended medical insurance coverage to some 20 million Americans. Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles marking the seventh anniversary of enactment of Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become widely known. Many talked about a very personal stake in the outcome of the healthcare debate roiling Capitol Hill. "I feel sick today, but I came here because I'm terrified," said Steve Martin, 27, an unemployed Los Angeles resident who was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. "The legislators have the best healthcare in the world, and we deserve the same." The ACA, considered former Democratic President Barack Obama's premiere domestic achievement, has drawn unrelenting scorn from Republicans, with promises to repeal and replace it a centerpiece of Trump's presidential campaign. Thursday's rallies coincided with planned action in the House of Representatives on a Republican-backed bill to begin dismantling Obamacare, but the vote was indefinitely postponed as Republican leaders and the White House scrambled to muster enough votes for passage. Many moderate Republicans as well as Democrats have raised concerns that repeal-and-replace would leave too many Americans without health coverage. Supporters of the bill say it would lower premiums, but critics counter that those savings would in many cases be more than offset by higher co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs. Obamacare backers also worry about the fate of millions who gained insurance under the bill's major expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state program providing coverage for the needy, the elderly and the disabled. In the nation's capital, several hundred chanting protesters gathered at Freedom Plaza, a few blocks from the White House, carrying signs with slogans such as "We Fight Back" and "Keep America Healthy." Robinette Barmer, 61, a former seamstress and caterer from Baltimore now on a disability pension, said that without Obamacare she could not afford the various medications she takes for ailments such as asthma and high blood pressure. "It's co-pay this, co-pay that. I can't pay that. I'm struggling as it is right now," she said. After the rally, protesters marched a block to the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, where several dozen sprawled on the sidewalk in a "die-in" symbolizing the effect of rolling back Obamacare. Some 24 protesters were arrested in front of the White House after they refused get off the ground, organizers said. Protest organizers said smaller gatherings were also held outside the congressional district offices of various Republican lawmakers around the country.


Rumors that the DNC hack was tied to Russia have been swirling for several days, but now, this is no longer just a mere suspicion. Researchers with ThreatConnect, who specialize in cyber security, have traced the hacker back to a Russian internet server.According to the Arlington, Va. based ThreatConnect, Guccifer 2.0, the DNC Hacker who has described himself/herself as Romanian, has been linked to a Russian internet server and a digital address that has been associated with various Russian online scams. Guccifer 2.0 is not thought to be a sophisticated hacker. Researchers with ThreatCOnnect believe it is more likely that this is propaganda by a group of people working with the Russian government in an effort to take attention off Moscow as the actual force behind the DNC hack. Now, after further investigation, we can confirm that Guccifer 2.0 is using the Russia-based Elite VPN service to communicate and leak documents directly with the media. We reached this conclusion by analyzing the infrastructure associated with an email exchange with Guccifer 2.0 shared with ThreatConnect by Vocativ s Senior Privacy and Security reporter Kevin Collier. This discovery strengthens our ongoing assessment that Guccifer 2.0 is a Russian propaganda effort and not an independent actor. The experts with ThreatConnect are the first to trace the self-proclaimed hacker back to Russia.Rich Barger, ThreatConnect s chief intelligence officer, reiterated his believe that the party responsible was not a sophisticated hacker when speaking with The Daily Beast. These are bureaucrats, not sophisticated hackers, he insisted. Barger backed up his assessment up with the following:Republican nominee Donald Trump has had an ongoing bromance with Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Many have said they believe that the DNC hack and subsequent email dump were an attempt by Putin to help out his billionaire buddy s bid for the presidency.


Billionaire Carlos Slim said on Friday that Mexico should not fear Donald Trump, seeing opportunities for his country in the U.S. president's economic policies, and praising Mexicans for uniting behind their government in talks with the northern neighbor. In a rare news conference, the telecommunications and construction mogul called Trump a negotiator, "not Terminator" and said his repeated attacks on Mexico had united the country, giving President Enrique Pena Nieto "strength" in trade and border security talks. "This is the most surprising example of national unity that I've had the pleasure of seeing in my life," said Slim, who turns 77 on Saturday. He compared Mexicans' response to that when a devastating earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985. "We have to back the president of Mexico so he defends our national interests." Slim spoke to reporters after Pena Nieto on Thursday canceled a planned Washington summit with Trump following a tweet by the American that he should stay away unless Mexico agreed to pay for a border wall. Aiming to cool tensions, the two presidents spoke for an hour by phone on Friday, and the battered peso currency strengthened. Trump's threats to impose steep tariffs on Mexican products have ravaged the peso and spread worries about the economy, which is heavily dependent on the U.S. market. However, Slim, who spoke out against his fellow billionaire during the U.S. election campaign but had dinner with him after the Nov. 8 victory at the polls, said Trump's policies aimed at growing the U.S. economy would boost Mexico's growth as well as provide jobs for Mexican laborers living north of the border. "The circumstances in the United States are very favorable for Mexico," Slim said, adding that he has not had any communication with Trump's team since the December dinner. "It wasn't a romance," he joked about the meeting. Referring repeatedly to Trump's books and other writings, Slim argued that people should not be surprised at Trump's actions because it is all in his book "Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America," which Slim said he had not finished reading. "He's a great negotiator," Slim said. He said businesses should not be too worried if Trump's policies led to the collapse of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) underpinning Mexico's economy, saying the country could fall back on World Trade Organization tariffs. He said Mexican workers in the United States would benefit from Trump's planned infrastructure push, but warned that U.S. protectionism and other policies could hurt American consumers. "Among these changes is a return to the past, what a dear friend called 'regressive utopias'," he said, calling on the United States to focus on advanced manufacturing. Asked about Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Slim said the best barrier to illegal immigration would be investment that created opportunities and jobs in Mexico. Before the highly-anticipated news conference, speculation had been growing about whether Slim might try to run for president in 2018, but he poured cold water on that talk. "I think I can do more on the business side," he said. Slim's largest companies do not have much obvious exposure to any border tax Trump might impose on Mexican imports. His high-profile holding in the New York Times Co, made him a target during the U.S. campaign, when Trump accused him of using the newspaper to try to help Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. Slim's shares have limited voting rights. Slim on Friday said he had been selling New York Times stock, but his son-in-law later said this was not correct. At the conference he was flanked by two of his sons, Carlos and Marco Antonio, and his son-in-law, Arturo Elias, with other family members watching. Most of the Slim family's wealth comes from Latin America-focused telecoms giant America Movil. America Movil does have a substantial U.S. business called TracFone which sells prepaid phone plans to customers and rents the networks of big operators. His next largest companies are retail and industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso and Mexico-focused bank Grupo Financiero Inbursa.


Barron Trump, President Donald Trump's son, reportedly "panicked" and became distressed after seeing Kathy Griffin's "beheading" photograph because he didn't know who Griffin was or understand the context of the photo. [According to TMZ, Trump's youngest son was watching television Tuesday when he saw the image of Griffin holding a fake, bloody decapitated head meant to resemble the president's head. Sources told the gossip outlet that Barron "panicked" and began calling for his mother, First Lady Melania Trump. "He's 11. He doesn't know who Kathy Griffin is and the head she was holding resembled his dad," the source told TMZ. The photo of Griffin holding up Trump's severed head — taken during a photo shoot with L. A. artist Tyler Shields — was first published Tuesday morning by TMZ and sparked a firestorm online, with backlash coming from both sides of the political aisle and thousands of people calling for a boycott of Griffin's national comedy tour. The president responded Wednesday morning, saying the photograph had been particularly difficult for his children, including Barron. "Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!" Trump tweeted. Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017, Griffin apologized in a video posted to her Twitter account Tuesday, in which she said she "crossed the line" and that the photo had gone "too far. " The Secret Service has reportedly opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the photo shoot. Meanwhile, the fallout from the incident has continued CNN, where Griffin has a live New Year's Eve broadcast with Anderson Cooper since 2007, announced it was "evaluating" her future role in the program, while the comedian's scheduled performance at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been cancelled. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum


Warner Bros. superhero tentpole Wonder Woman held on to the top spot at the box office while Universal's Tom The Mummy reboot failed to unwrap big gains domestically as Hollywood's bleak summer continued this weekend. [Wonder Woman — starring Gal Gadot as the Amazonian World War I peacekeeper — raked in $16 million Friday for an estimated $57. 2 million weekend total in its second week of release, according to Box Office Mojo. The Patty film, with a 93 percent "fresh" rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, fell just 45 percent in its second weekend for a domestic total of $205 million. The film has fared even better overseas, with its international tally standing at $435 million. Wonder Woman's success — (the 45 percent drop is the one of the lowest ever for a superhero movie) — provides a shot in the arm to DC's universe of superhero movies as Warners preps the launch of Justice League later this year. Meanwhile, Universal's monster movie The Mummy debuted to a paltry estimated $32. 2 million frame to come in second place for the weekend. The Tom film, meant to launch Universal's "Dark Universe" of monster movies, reportedly cost $125 million to produce before marketing, meaning the film will have to perform exceptionally well overseas to turn a profit for the studio. For comparison, each of the three Brendan Mummy films in the early 2000s opened higher than this latest iteration. Mummy did fare far better overseas, where Cruise's name still carries a ton of star firepower. The film opened to an estimated $52. 2 million in China, a record for a film in the country, on its way to an international total of $141. 8 million, the best international launch for any film in the actor's career. Universal undoubtedly hoped for a better opening for Mummy, as it was meant to serve as the first film in its "Dark Universe" series. Upcoming entries in the series are reported to include a Bill Bride of Frankenstein movie in 2019, and the Johnny The Invisible Man. Dreamworks Animation's Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie came in third place with an estimated $12. 3 million haul. The animated movie featuring the voices of Kevin Hart and Ed Helms has earned $44. 5 million domestically, according to Box Office Mojo, a solid if unremarkable result for a film that reportedly cost just $30 million to produce. Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales continued its underwhelming run at the box office with a estimated take of $10. 7 million and a finish, bringing its domestic total to around $135 million. Johnny Depp's fifth outing as the buoyant Captain Jack Sparrow has delivered overseas, however, with an estimated global tally of close to $600 million. Disney's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 rounded out this weekend's top five with an estimated $6. 2 million in domestic receipts. The James superhero ensemble kicked off the summer season in early May with a $145 million debut weekend, and until Wonder Woman, was this summer's only real box office hit. The film's global haul stands at $828 million. Overall, the summer to date has been a disaster for studios, with only Wonder Woman and Guardians breaking out as bona fide hits. The season has suffered with a string of bombs, including Mummy, the aforementioned Pirates sequel, the Ridley sequel Alien: Covenant and Warner Bros.' Charlie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Other misfires included Paramount's Baywatch reboot and the Amy Hawn kidnap caper Snatched. According to Bloomberg, theater companies AMC and IMAX have seen their stock fall precipitously this year due in part to poor box office results. Cowen Co. analyst Doug Creutz told the outlet that this summer's offerings to date have collectively fallen $300 million short of expectations, and summer 2017 could beat out the summer of 2014 to become the worst summer at the box office since at least the . Industry observers will be holding out hope for other scheduled releases this summer, including next weekend's Pixar animated sequel Cars 3, Michael Bay and Universal's Transformers: The Last Knight, and Warner Bros' Christopher World War II epic Dunkirk. Other movies will include Universal's Despicable Me 3, Pictures' : Homecoming and Fox's War for the Planet of the Apes. View this weekend's full box office results at Box Office Mojo. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum


On Friday's Breitbart News Daily, author Ann Coulter praised the cadre of sharp advisers and feisty defenders assembled around President Donald Trump and said, "We need more of them. "["I mean, there are a hundred thousand on the other side," she noted. She predicted President Trump would not get any pushback — and probably not the credit he will deserve — for bringing jobs back. "When he calls these companies and harangues them and makes them build their plants in America, makes them invest in America, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, they're not going to come out and denounce Trump. They'll say, 'Oh, it was just a hundred thousand jobs. It was just three thousand jobs.' Okay, if that's your best argument, no problem. " But when it comes to issues like immigration, Coulter predicted "every single entity" would strike out at Trump, and he'll need stalwart political fighters to man the battlements. "The media and the Democrats most of all because, like I say, this is life or death for them, and idiot Republicans who seem to think that we owe Somalis, Guatemalans, and Mexicans for the legacy of slavery, it's the damndest thing," she remarked, surveying the forces that will line up against Trump on immigration reform. As an example of furious pushback, SiriusXM host Alex Marlow described MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, speaking as the voice of the centrist establishment, "going on a tear" against Marlow's longtime friend Stephen Miller, who now serves as one of President Trump's advisers. He characterized the attack on Miller as "dirty and dishonest. " "I will give our opposition credit: they have figured out the most powerful nerve center, besides Trump himself, within the Trump White House," Coulter said. "Yeah, it would be great for them to take out Trump. This is when we ought to be throwing a party for Stephen Miller and saying, 'Congratulations! They can't call you dumb they realize you're a very important component. '" "He's brilliant," she said of Miller. "You know, what I would like to do is go back to when you and he were growing up in L. A. and I don't know, get ahold of the soil conditions or the water or something. The two of you — oh, my gosh! So patriotic, so smart. You love your country. " "I was describing Steve Miller to some reporter recently. I was on a plane at the time, so I was writing out adjectives, and at the end of the sentence, I said, 'I'm not just listing adjectives I'm actually pausing and thinking about each one. But the main ones are brilliant and patriotic,'" she recalled. "The same with you," she told Marlow. "And to have that in these young kids, out of all places, Los Angeles! And then a few years later — well, I won't even say her name, otherwise, she'll just start being attacked, the opposition will figure out the other person they need to take out of the Trump White House. " "But oh, my gosh. Thank God — not taking the Lord's name in vain I mean it literally — that Stephen Miller is on our side," Coulter said. Marlow proposed that Miller's effectiveness at moving the " Trumpian agenda" as the reason he has been taking so much fire, even when his critics cannot pinpoint anything he did wrong. "Yes, he's very, very bright," Coulter agreed. "It always struck me, especially kids from Los Angeles, the very epitome of coastal elites, how seriously and genuinely Stephen Miller cared about Americans. He's such a perfect fit for Trump. It would just casually come up in conversation. It was driving him crazy that they were being screwed over. " She said she did not see the Joe Scarborough rant against Miller herself but had received many emails about it. "I didn't even know what it was about at first because they were just blistering, Tourette' emails about how they were never going to watch Morning Joe again," she said. "I don't really understand it, other than I gather the opposition has figured out, 'Danger, danger, person who loves America! '" "I probably don't need to worry because every time I do worry about something on Donald Trump's behalf, it turns out I didn't need to worry it's Trump," Coulter said. "But you know, there is the White House bubble. I was just thinking, I travel a lot, I know a lot of people, and a lot of people from different walks of life. Just this week, I've talked to a Hollywood producer, and a union executive, and lots of cab drivers in New York City, Los Angeles, and so on, an actress, a Broadway actress and singer — okay, I don't need to list them all. But it's been amazing to me how popular the the ban is, and how popular Donald Trump is, and in particular with — I'm not a liberal I don't think immigrants' opinions are more important than American opinions, but it's interesting because it's contrary to the media narrative. Lots of immigrants in this country [are] wild about Trump, wild about the Muslim ban. " "I mean, out there in the middle of the country, he is more beloved than he was the day he was inaugurated. And, by the way, got a larger crowd than Obama. I don't know if you've written much about that, but I have the briefing book. It was a much bigger crowd, and we should probably spend the rest of the radio interview allowing me to prove that. But I kind of think he needs a rally in Washington or someplace. Go out to America," she advised. Ann Coulter is the author of numerous books, most recently In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN:


President Barack Obama suggested on Wednesday that moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem could have "explosive" results and said he was worried that the prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were waning. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to re-locate the embassy to Jerusalem, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy. Israel and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital, and such a change would draw international condemnation. "When sudden unilateral moves are made that speak to some of the core issues and sensitivities of either side, that can be explosive," Obama said at his last news conference as president. He said his administration had warned the incoming Trump administration that big shifts in policy had consequences. "That's part of what we've tried to indicate to the incoming team in our transition process, is pay attention to this because this is ... volatile stuff," he said in response to a question about a potential embassy move. Obama has said repeatedly that Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is an impediment to creating two states, which the United States believes is the best solution to decades of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. He said his administration did not block a recent U.N. resolution on Israeli settlement activity because it felt a two-state solution was the only option for peace. "The goal of the resolution was to simply say that the ... growth of the settlements are creating a reality on the ground that increasingly will make a two-state solution impossible," Obama said. "It was important for us to send a signal, a wakeup call that this moment may be passing." Israel described the decision by the United States to abstain in the vote rather than wield its veto as "shameful." The U.S. move, along with a sharp speech by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the issue, reinforced tensions between the outgoing Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


There is a particular photo of a little refugee boy lying dead on the beach that went viral last year.It is true that the photo is very sad and makes you reflect on the distress of people fleeing their country at the risk of their lives.The above photo shows people walking to reach their final objective, life in a European country. Even if this photo were to make it around the world, only 1% of the people would notice the truth.In the photo, there are seven men and one woman. This should tell you everything you need to know about who is really being left behind to face unimaginable persecution by radical Muslim terrorists.Look a bit closer, and you ll notice that the woman has bare feet. She is accompanied by three children, and of the three, she is carrying two. Notice that none of the men are helping her. Why? Because in their culture the woman represents nothing. She is only good enough to be a slave to the men. Do you really believe that these men could integrate in our society and respect our customs and traditions?Now you know why this picture is worth 1,000 words.-100% FED Up!


U.S. senators called on Congress on Tuesday to take back its authority to determine whether the country goes to war, saying recent U.S. strikes in Syria were not covered by existing authorizations for the use of military force. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has begun considering legislation that would cover military action in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen against the Islamic State, al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups. "I have always believed that it's important for Congress to exercise its constitutional role to authorize the use of force," the committee's chairman, Republican Senator Bob Corker, told a hearing on Tuesday. As President Donald Trump has ordered stepped-up military activity in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, members of Congress also want Trump to present a strategy for defeating Islamic State and other militant groups. "It's difficult for us to carry out our responsibility unless we know what the commander in chief needs," Senator Ben Cardin, the committee's top Democrat, said. The Trump administration, like former President Barack Obama's, has been using a 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against al Qaeda passed after the Sept. 11 attacks as the legal basis for a wide range of military action since. Although there is bipartisan support for Congress to debate and vote on a new AUMF introduced by Republican Senator Jeff Flake and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, the measure faces stiff opposition. Lawmakers have introduced war authorizations repeatedly in the past several years. But they have failed to advance amid sharp divisions in Congress over whether, or how, to limit commanders' use of military resources. Many war-weary members of Congress also do not want to vote for anything that might become a foreign military quagmire consuming taxpayer dollars or leading to widespread U.S. casualties. Trump has ordered stepped-up military operations against Islamic State and delegated more authority to his generals. U.S.-led forces said on Tuesday they had shot down an armed "pro-Syrian regime" drone near the border between Iraq and Syria. A U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet over Syria on Sunday. Democratic Senator Tom Udall voted for the 2001 authorization while he was a member of the House of Representatives. "I would have never imagined that vote supporting U.S. troops in Syria in 2017 and engagements with the Assad regime," he said.


Spain s economy is expected to be impacted by the political crisis with Catalonia next year, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Monday. For 2018, we expect growth of 2.3 percent, which would be 2.7 or 2.8 percent without the Catalan issue, he told reporters as he arrived at a meeting with his EU counterparts. The government had already lowered the 2018 forecast from 2.6 percent to 2.3 percent last month due to Catalonia. (This version of the story corrects quote)


On Friday's "Outfront" on CNN, former Obama administration green jobs czar and network contributor Van Jones said President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord was "one of the dumbest moves in politics" history and a "big "for his base. Jones said, "Trump has said basically it took 25 years for 190 countries to come together and now he says he wants to start something on his own. Nobody is saying they want to do that. In fact, what has happened is exsactly what people predicted. He had created the biggest power vacuum on the planet by calling that press conference. And now you see China rushing forward, California rushing forward, and what he's actually done is give a tremendous gift to his opponents. You see the emerging of what you can call a green growth alliance where cities and states and businesses and tribes and governments are coming together, going around the president of the United States. He gave away power. " He continued, "The one thing nobody's talked about is that he also threw his own base under the bus. His rustbelt base needs jobs. Had he doubled down, they could be building wind turbines right now, smart cars right now, smart batteries, solar panels. Instead, he gave all that away to Germany. He not only gave his opponents a huge opportunity he gave his base a big nothing burger when they could have had jobs. It was one of the dumbest moves in politics. It's going to go down in history. Not just bad for the planet, bad for Donald Trump and his voters. " Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN


U.S. President Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to ease growing Asian worries about the raucous election campaign to succeed him which has been dominated by the incendiary rhetoric of mogul Donald Trump, now the Republican Party's nominee. "I think other people sometimes look at our election system and say 'what a mess'," Obama told a townhall meeting with young leaders in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. "But usually we end up doing okay because the American people are good people ... Sometimes our politics doesn't express all the goodness of the people," he said, without referring specifically to any of the presidential candidates. Obama made the comments just before ending a three-day trip to Vietnam, whose high point was an announcement that Washington's ban on sales of lethal weapons to the country - a vestige of the Vietnam War - would be completely lifted. Obama repeatedly insisted that lifting the embargo was not a response to Beijing's assertiveness in the South China Sea. Critics accused Washington of throwing away a powerful lever it had to press communist-ruled Vietnam for improvements in human rights. White House officials say the arms move was a natural step to take with a country that, once an enemy, is now a key part of Obama's strategic 'rebalance' towards Asia and an important trade partner as its economy grows apace. Obama also announced the Peace Corps would begin operating in Vietnam for the first time. Across Asia, policymakers have been startled by Trump's "isolationist" foreign policy pronouncements, which have challenged much of the status quo in Washington's relations with the region. Many fear Trump will feed insecurity in nations worried about China's growing power, embolden nationalists and authoritarians, and unravel Obama's 'pivot' to the Asia-Pacific. At the townhall in Ho Chi Minh City, a young woman who had been an exchange student in Montana asked Obama what he thought of the prospects that Trump or Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders following him to the White House. "Usually, eventually the voters make good decisions and democracy works," replied Obama, whose criticism of Trump has sharpened since he all but clinched the Republican nomination. "Things are going to be ok. I promise." Thousands of people lined the streets of Ho Chi Minh City for a second day to cheer enthusiastically and wave mini-flags of Vietnam and the United States as Obama drove by on his way to the airport for a flight to Japan. At his freewheeling townhall, where he was greeted with a standing ovation, Obama noted that two-thirds of the country's population were born after 1975, when the war ended with North Vietnamese tanks rolling into Saigon to bring U.S.-backed South Vietnam under communist rule. Obama prodded Vietnam's leaders on political freedoms during his visit after critics of the government were prevented from meeting him. When a woman rapper at the townhall asked him about supporting arts and culture, he segued into an appeal for people to be allowed to express themselves. However, his unusually long one-country visit was warm and mostly about strengthening diplomatic and economic relations. Annual U.S.-Vietnam trade has swelled from $450 million when ties were normalized in 1995 to $45 billion last year. Washington is a big buyer of Vietnam's televisions, smartphones, clothing and seafood. Obama repeatedly touted the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, of which export-led Vietnam will be one of the biggest beneficiaries, if it survives opponents in Washington concerned about competition and a loss of U.S. jobs. He also talked about the challenges of climate change when asked about the drying-up of the Mekong River in the rice-bowl delta of southern Vietnam, urging Southeast Asian countries to work together. The Mekong River, which sustains 60 million livelihoods as it flows through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is under threat from at least 39 hydro-electric dams being built or under development upstream of Vietnam, most of them in China. Low river levels have allowed seawater to penetrate inland, ruining vast swathes of cropland in the fertile delta. Obama did not name any of the upstream countries but said the United States would provide smaller member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with technical assistance and evaluations of what needs to be done. "Hopefully ... that information can be used to negotiate on an international level to try to prevent some projects that might have very bad effects," he said. "One of the things that we've seen in ASEAN is that when small countries band together as a unit, then the power magnifies." Japan is the final stop on Obama's swing through Asia, where he is attending a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations starting Thursday.


The Republican Party is truly screwed if Fox News is thinking like this.During an appearance on the O Reilly Factor on Friday night, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace delivered a scathing analysis of the GOP Debate held on Thursday, calling it an embarrassment for the Republican Party. Let me just say first of all- big picture- I thought it was an embarrassment for the Republican party. There were a lot of shots taken, a lot of shots scored, but there was precious little vision. Almost no serious discussion of issues, you know, what are are you going to do, how are are you going to improve people s lives? If you saw someone acting presidentially on that stage, you got better eyesight than I do. Here s the video via YouTube:Indeed, the GOP Debate was a complete circus that saw every candidate sniping at each other with ridiculous attacks. Clearly, Trump brought Cruz and Rubio down to his level of gutter politics.Here s a clip demonstrating the debate in a nutshell:// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>#GOPDebate In A NutshellIn case you couldn t watch the laughable mess that was the GOP debate, here s the clip that really showcases what it came down to. Do ANY of them seem presidential? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Want to make it extra fun? Tag your favorite Republican friend and ask them to explain this.Like Americans Against The Republican Party for more!Posted by Americans Against The Republican Party on Thursday, February 25, 2016It truly was a pathetic display that should horrify the Republican Party and the American people. And Republicans only have themselves to blame because they welcomed crazy extremists into the mainstream of the party years ago when they sold out to the Tea Party in 2010. Now it s coming back to bit them in the ass so hard that not even Fox News can spin them out of it.Featured Image: Screenshot


The nation's consumer watchdog agency on Tuesday ordered the agencies TransUnion and Equifax to pay more than $23. 2 million in fines and restitution for deceiving customers about the usefulness of credit scores and the cost of obtaining them. The watchdog agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the payments would resolve charges that TransUnion and Equifax had lured consumers into enrolling in credit services advertised as free or costing only $1, but which could cost more than $200 a year. TransUnion will reimburse $13. 93 million to consumers and pay a $3 million civil fine, while Equifax will reimburse $3. 8 million and pay a $2. 5 million civil fine, the bureau said. Both companies will also modify their marketing practices. Among the changes, they will obtain customers' consent to enroll them in services in which fees begin after free trials and make it easier for them to cancel services they do not want. The bureau said the wrongful conduct had violated the law and had occurred at TransUnion since July 2011 and at Equifax between July 2011 and March 2014. Many lenders rely on credit scores from TransUnion, Equifax and their rival Experian when lending money. But TransUnion and Equifax falsely represented the credit scores they sold to consumers as being the same scores that lenders used, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said. "Credit scores are central to a consumer's financial life, and people deserve honest and accurate information about them," Richard Cordray, the bureau's director, said in a statement. Neither TransUnion, which is based in Chicago, nor Equifax, which is based in Atlanta, admitted or denied wrongdoing. A TransUnion spokesman, David Blumberg, and an Equifax spokeswoman, Ines Gutzmer, said their companies believed that they had complied with the law and were committed to better educating consumers about their credit. Experian was not charged. A spokesman for the bureau did not immediately have additional comment. In 2015, under a separate settlement with 31 state attorneys general, the agencies agreed to improve how they fixed mistakes and addressed disputes.


Brazilian President Michel Temer's government introduced to Congress on Tuesday a landmark constitutional amendment to cap public spending, seeking to press ahead with unpopular reforms in the wake of last weekend's municipal elections. Temer's new center-right government hopes the proposal, which would limit growth in spending to the rate of inflation for up to 20 years, will clear a Congressional committee this week and be put to a vote in the lower house by next week. The amendment is designed to curb a budget deficit equivalent to 10 percent of gross domestic product last year. Hopes for its passage have made Brazilian assets among the best performing in the world this year despite an economy submerged in a two-year recession. In a concession to ease its passage, the government announced on Monday that a cap on health and education expenditure would not go into effect until 2018, rather than next year. Leftist opponents have demanded more time to debate a measure they say violates the spirit of Brazil's 1988 constitution, which made generous provisions for social spending. They plan to seek a court injunction to block the amendment. Backers warn that Latin America's largest nation, which is wrestling with a sprawling corruption scandal, could follow Greece's path to financial meltdown if spending is not controlled. Temer said on Monday that public debt, which ended last year at a level equivalent to two-thirds of economic output, would reach 100 percent of GDP by 2024 without the measure. "If this change is not adopted, fiscal collapse and the insolvency of public accounts are inevitable," lawmaker Darcisio Perondi said in his report to the committee studying the measure. "Brazil could repeat the tragedy of Greece." Perondi said the previous government of Dilma Rousseff, who was removed from office in August for breaking budget laws, left an onerous legacy of overdrawn accounts, and he called on the lawmakers who impeached her to back the cap. The conclusion of municipal elections in most cities across Brazil last weekend allows Temer's ruling Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) and its coalition allies a freer hand to back the measure. A small number of cities face a second-round runoff this month. But resistance from Rousseff's Workers Party and its allies, as well as division within Temer's own coalition, point to a difficult path for a proposal that requires two approvals in each chamber of Congress by a three-fifths majority. "We will seek an injunction because this violates the Constitution and the right of five future governments to decide their economic policies," said opposition leader Jandira Feghali of the Communist Party of Brazil. Temer, 75, who was sworn in to serve the remainder of Rousseff's term through 2018, had vowed to put Brazil back on its tracks and investors like his promises of fiscal discipline. But a poll published on Tuesday showed Temer has failed to convince Brazilians that his government is any better than Rousseff's. The survey by pollster Ibope showed that Temer's approval ratings remain low and some 68 percent of Brazilians do not trust him. The lower House is also expected to vote on Tuesday on a bill that changes the rules for the exploration of Brazil's vast offshore oil reserves in the costly subsalt layer, aimed at boosting private investment in the oil industry. The proposal removes the obligation for scandal-plagued, debt-ridden state oil company Petrobras to be the only operator of these oil fields and have a minimum 30 percent stake in their development.


Six months ago, Senator Mike Lee and I offered a variety of ideas on how to reform America's tax code to be both pro-growth and pro-family. Our goal was to slash rates, shrink the IRS, create jobs, grow wages, and empower parents all at the same time. Since offering these ideas, I have gathered input from Americans of all economic backgrounds and engaged in discussions with leaders across the conservative movement to form a complete, pro-growth, pro-family tax reform agenda for the 21st century. My plan is a significant departure from the old school tax reform ideas that so often come out of Washington. First, on the individual side, my plan reduces the number of brackets from seven to three: 15%, 25%, and 35%. The plan eliminates all exemptions and deductions, except for a charitable contribution deduction and a reformed home mortgage interest deduction. Taxpayers will instead receive a personal tax credit that phases out for higher-income Americans. This greatly simplified code will cut taxes for the vast majority of people. Second, my plan cuts rates for all businesses – large and small – to no higher than 25%, which would finally make us competitive again with the rest of the developed world. My plan recognizes that big businesses shouldn't get a larger tax cut than small businesses, which are the main drivers of economic growth. To further spur job creation, I will end federal taxation of business investment by allowing for immediate expensing. I will also shift to a territorial tax system, thus ending the double-taxation of profits earned abroad for both businesses and individuals. Furthermore, my plan eliminates the double-taxation on saving and investment income. It provides a transition period during which we will move to a 0% tax rate on dividends and capital gains, which is a forward-looking way to benefit millions of everyday savers across all income levels. My plan also eliminates the death tax, finally putting an end to one of the IRS's most insulting practices. A critical component of my plan is tax relief for middle-class parents. By providing a new child tax credit of up to $2,500, which phases out for wealthier Americans, we can ease the extraordinary financial burdens of parenthood. While some well-respected voices oppose this tax relief, I remain adamant that empowering struggling families should be a priority for any modern reform plan. I know from firsthand experience how expensive it is to raise children in the 21st century, and I believe our tax code should support parents rather than drain their budgets. My reforms will target some of the highest costs facing families today. As part of my efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, I will reform the tax treatment of health care to reduce costs and promote individual ownership of health insurance. I will consolidate all higher education tax incentives into one simple provision that will help millions of Americans pursue higher education. I will also promote an individual and corporate tax credit to finance school choice. I believe one of the greatest threats to family life today is that too many Americans have to give up being with loved ones in times of great need in order to avoid losing their jobs. I will begin to solve this problem by providing a limited 25% non-refundable tax credit to any business that offers between four and twelve weeks of paid leave to workers with qualifying family or medical issues – for example, a newborn child in need of care, an elderly parent with declining health, a personal health crisis, or a spouse's deployment. My tax reform plan is designed to advance America's two most important goals in this century: a growing, opportunity-rich economy and strong, financially-secure families. Everyone in politics claims to support these goals, yet I can already hear the establishment voices saying my modern approach to tax reform is all wrong. They will say the tax code of the 20th century will continue to work in the 21st. They will say we can continue to raise taxes and increase spending without long-term consequences. They will say that to protect your job we need to raise your boss' taxes – or that for you to climb up the economic ladder we have to pull someone else down. I disagree. I believe everyone can benefit from a pro-growth and pro-family tax reform plan. I believe by cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code, we will grow our economy and create more taxpayers rather than more taxes. I believe the plan I've offered is a vital step toward creating high-paying modern jobs, fostering more opportunity for more Americans, and making the 21st century a New American Century. Republican Marco Rubio represents Florida in the U.S. Senate. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.


U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the Senate will vote early next week on a motion that would pave the way for a vote on a bill to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan. McConnell's decision to hold a vote comes despite opposition from at least four Republicans, which likely dooms its prospects.


Laura Ingraham reported to Sean Hannity that Republican leaders don t want the border wall built and are actively working against Preisdent Trump One thing I know for sure, Sean, is that we have way too many people on Capitol Hill who are not on the president s side of this. I m talking Republicans. So I have no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump wants this wall to be built. Congress has to appropriate the money. I heard over two months ago that GOP leadership, the most senior senators on Capitol Hill, and I heard it from someone who was in the room with them, they were laughing at an idea a wall would ever get built. Out loud laughing. They were recently telling that source of mine, Don t worry, it s not going to happen. In the mean time, Lou Dobbs gives a classic take down of Paul Ryan:Yes, just get out of the way!BORDER RANCHERS VOUCH FOR BUILDING THE WALL:Fred Davis and John Ladd are two Arizona ranchers who were guests on Fox & Friends to tell their story of what its like to be on the front lines at the border:REPORT: THE COST TO YOU FOR NOT BUILDING THE WALL (Note that this report is from 2013!):The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States TaxpayersThis report estimates the annual costs of illegal immigration at the federal, state and local level to be about $113 billion; nearly $29 billion at the federal level and $84 billion at the state and local level.The study also estimates tax collections from illegal alien workers, both those in the above-ground economy and those in the underground economy.Those receipts do not come close to the level of expenditures and, in any case, are misleading as an offset because over time unemployed and underemployed U.S. workers would replace illegal alien workers.Key FindingsIllegal immigration costs U.S. taxpayers about $113 billion a year at the federal, state and local level. The bulk of the costs some $84 billion are absorbed by state and local governments.The annual outlay that illegal aliens cost U.S. taxpayers is an average amount per native-headed household of $1,117.The fiscal impact per household varies considerably because the greatest share of the burden falls on state and local taxpayers whose burden depends on the size of the illegal alien population in that localityEducation for the children of illegal aliens constitutes the single largest cost to taxpayers, at an annual price tag of nearly $52 billion. Nearly all of those costs are absorbed by state and local governments.At the federal level, about one-third of outlays are matched by tax collections from illegal aliens.At the state and local level, an average of less than 5 percent of the public costs associated with illegal immigration is recouped through taxes collected from illegal aliens.Most illegal aliens do not pay income taxes. Among those who do, much of the revenues collected are refunded to the illegal aliens when they file tax returns.Many are also claiming tax credits resulting in payments from the U.S. Treasury.With many state budgets in deficit, policymakers have an obligation to look for ways to reduce the fiscal burden of illegal migration. California, facing a budget deficit of $14.4 billion in 2010-2011, is hit with an estimated $21.8 billion in annual expenditures on illegal aliens. New York s $6.8 billion deficit is smaller than its $9.5 billion in yearly illegal alien costs.The report examines the likely consequences if an amnesty for the illegal alien population were adopted similar to the one adopted in 1986. The report notes that while tax collections from the illegal alien population would likely increase only marginally, the new legal status would make them eligible for receiving Social Security retirement benefits that would further jeopardize the future of the already shaky system.An amnesty would also result in this large population of illegal aliens becoming eligible for numerous social assistance programs available for low-income populations for which they are not now eligible. The overall result would, therefore, be an accentuation of the already enormous fiscal burden.


President Barack Obama knows that President-elect Donald Trump doesn t know what the hell he s doing, and is putting more time in on Twitter than actually trying to figure it out and learn the ropes.Obama has not only agreed to hold Trump s little orange hands and remain close to guide him through this transition period, but he s also just made an unprecedented move to save the world from Trump and his deadly administration. On Monday, our beloved Commander-in-chief released a memo that is basically a guidebook on how to use military force for dummies.The document lays out specific details on national security-related topics, such as how and when to use military force. This is a major move by Obama and the first time a President has EVER had to do this to prevent a completely unqualified person from destroying everything. The Washington Post reported: On the eve of a new administration that has promised more aggressive counterterrorism operations, the Obama White House has released a lengthy compendium of its own policies governing the use of force.The 61-page document outlines eight years of the administration s legal opinions, executive orders and military directives. In a strong defense of the administration s actions, it lists rules for lethal drones and terrorist detention, and describes the international and domestic law that undergirds them. In the introduction of the guidebook, Obama said he d created it to reduce the risk of an ill-considered decision an obvious observation of Trump s lack of emotional stability and impulsive, erratic behavior. And then he wrote something that Trump will REALLY hate when he said it was critical to give as much information as possible to the public so that an informed public can scrutinize our actions and hold us to account. Obama is truly amazing for this. It s clear that even though he won t be America s President in a few weeks, he still deeply cares about the future of our country and the world. Even on his way out, he s committed to serving the people and minimizing the damage our moronic President-elect might do. We re really going to miss him.


Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump in which he discussed migration and Britain's exit from the European Union, the Irish government said in a statement on Tuesday. "Particular topics discussed included migration, Brexit and the movement of goods and citizens across the border, climate change, free trade, Irish inward investment in the United States, and the undocumented Irish," the statement said, as well as the Northern Irish peace process. The border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, will become the only land frontier between the UK and the EU after Britain exits the bloc in March 2019.


Venezuelan authorities overnight freed two activists who were in jail for more than a year after being accused of plotting against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, the opposition said on Saturday. Delson Guarate, who had been a mayor in central Aragua state, and former student leader Yon Goicoechea were among nearly 400 jailed anti-Maduro activists who rights campaigners say are political prisoners but whom the government calls coup-plotters. I m with my family today, tweeted Goicoechea, displaying a photo of himself against the backdrop of Caracas Avila mountain. Tomorrow I ll address the country. God is with us. I m free! Guarate tweeted. The pair s freedom, with some unspecified conditions attached, was confirmed by opposition parties and a rights group, but the government had no comment. The releases came as Maduro called for one of the most prominent opposition leaders, congress head Julio Borges, to face treason charges for lobbying against his government in global financial circles. And the pro-Maduro Supreme Court began moves this week to remove parliamentary immunity for congress deputy leader Freddy Guevara, so he can be tried for instigating violence. Guevara runs the militant Popular Will party, which both Goicoechea and Guarate belong to. It has been at the forefront of anti-Maduro protests, including four months of demonstrations this year that led to 125 deaths. Critics say Maduro has turned the OPEC nation into a dictatorship. His supporters say the 54-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez is resisting a Western-backed push to oust him. In a New York Times column earlier this year, Goicoechea described how a dozen policemen put a black cloth over his head when they arrested him before taking him to a cell without natural light or ventilation. When I stretched my arms, I could touch two opposite walls, he wrote in the column smuggled out of prison. The door was blocked with black garbage bags, leaving the room in total darkness. There was rotten, worm-infested food on the floor alongside scraps of clothing covered in feces. It felt as if I had been buried alive. Senior officials said Goicoechea was an imperialist agent caught with explosives in his possession, while Guarate had been financing terrorism. Neither was tried. Popular Will, which the government has threatened to proscribe as a terrorist organization, said it would not stop fighting for the freedom of all activists. The dictatorship s justice is a revolving door, said party legislator Juan Mejia. Some leave, while others come in at its discretion and to its benefit.