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Surprisingly a lot of people are standing with Colin Kaepernick in his decision not to stand during the national anthem, "calling the Star Spangled Banner "weak" and saying that he doesn't truly love the song. Here is what he had to say on twitter: For those defending the current anthem, do you really truly love that song? I don't and I'm very good at singing it. Like, one of the best He continued to add: My vote is for America the Beautiful. Star spangled banner is a weak song anyway. And then you read this... https://t.co/iAE62FAbxj John Legend linked to an article titled, "Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is A Celebration Of Slavery" The article makes the arguement that an unsung verse of the Francis Scott Key poem is a moral "atrocity." The author claims the end of the rarely sung third verse "literally celebrated the murder of African-Americans." The verse reads: No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. @johnlegend not sure why it's turned into a battle over the lyrics of our anthem. The lyrics were never Colin's argument in the first place All of John Legend's tweets were made in support of the 49ers quarterback who refused to stand while the national anthem was being played during a preseason game. Kaepernick said that his sitd own was for "people that are being oppressed" and he'll end the protest when "I feel like that flag represents what it's supposed to represent."

From Israel’s prime minister down to the lowliest clerk, from the Commander in Chief down to the lowest ranking officer, from the Mossad down to the police by way of the Shabak – since 1994, everyone has been chanting the same mantra about peace with Jordan. The prevalent reasoning is that peace with Jordan is Israel’s most important strategic resource for the following reasons: 1.Security: The 500-kilometer border between Israel and Jordan is Israel’s longest border with another country, reaching from Hamat Gader and the Yarmouk River in the north down to Eilat in the south. Jordan makes sure the border is quiet along its entire length and prevents hostile forces from approaching it and continuing west into Israel. If not for the peace declared between the two states, Israel would have to keep large forces along the border to guard it against infiltration. Israel sees the very existence of Jordan to its east as a security asset in itself because Jordan acts as a buffer zone between the Jewish state and the violent chaos in Iraq, Syria, and Iran. There is full cooperation between the Jordanian and Israeli armies, including visits by officers, the handing over of information, and coordinated activity along the border, under the assumption that radical groups are a shared enemy. In exchange for this, it is said, Israel played a part in guarding Jordan’s northern and eastern borders during the years 2014-16, the period when ISIS posed a threat to Jordan. 2. Jordan is the second Arab nation to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, proving that Israel can find itself accepted in the Middle East as a sustainable country with whom former enemies can make peace by rethinking their previous positions. This could occur despite the August 1967 Khartoum Arab summit where it was declared that the Arab nations would not recognize Israel, would not negotiate with Israel and would not make peace with it. King Hussein of Jordan was a party to these decisions but carried on negotiations with Israel, recognized it and signed a peace treaty, as did Egypt before him. The obvious conclusion is that any Arab nation can do the same, making peace with Jordan a significant accomplishment, 3. There is a wide array of cooperative ties between Israel and Jordan, mostly in the economic sphere. Three issues are involved: a. Israel has a multi-billion dollar contract with Jordan according to which it sells gas extracted from Israel’s Mediterranean gas fields to Jordan’s electricity company; b. Israel recognized “Qualified Industrial Zones” in which Israeli funds are invested, Jordanians are employed and Americans are the buyers, providing employment for thousands of Jordanian families; c. cooperative ventures such as the Water Canal, tourism, flights, trade, and academia – thousands of Israeli Arab students attend Jordanian Universities and their degrees are recognized in Israel. In exchange for recognition, Israel granted the Hashemite Kingdom, and especially its king, special status in the Jerusalem sites considered holy by Islam, mainly the al Aqsa Mosque, giving Hussein and his son Abdullah today, a significant stamp of approval in the Islamic world. This stamp of approval is especially important in granting much-needed legitimacy to the Hashemite Kingdom. The Palestinian majority and even some Bedouin groups question that legitimacy, since the Hashemites are not originally Jordanian, having come from the western section of the Arabian Peninsula, Hijaz, where the two Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina are located. The British gave the Transjordan Emirate to Abdullah I, great grandfather of today’s Abdullah. He is considered a foreign transplant, giving rise to questions of legitimate rule, and the special status at al Aqsa is intended to give him a shot of legitimacy, stabilizing his regime. The king pays the salaries of hundreds of Jerusalem Waqf officials. Another payment Israel took upon itself is the handing over of 50 million cubic meters of drinkable water to Jordan every year. The plan was to bring this water from the Sea of Galilee, but the drought of the last few years has lowered the level of the water in the lake, so Israel has substituted expensive desalinated water instead. Jordanian agriculture in the Jordan Valley is made possible in part because of this Israeli water. All the points raised here give Israel the feeling that the peace agreement with Jordan is successful, certainly more successful than the one with Egypt, with whom there is much less cooperation on non-security related issues. Israel’s payment for this by handing over water and securing Jordan’s status in Jerusalem is one Israel can handle in exchange for the premise that peace with Jordan serves Israeli interests. All the parties to Israel’s government are united in supporting the maintenance of peace with Jordan at all costs. Where did we go wrong? The first and main point is that Israel ignores the fact that the peace agreement is totally dependent on the continuation of the illegitimate Hashemite dynasty. In 1994 that meant Hussein, today it is Abdullah II, but the future is unclear because there are quite a few people in Jordan and outside it who see Abdullah as the last Hashemite monarch. What comes next? There are several possible answers to that query, ranging from a military junta made up of local Bedouin ruling the various populations, on to a civil war that leads to the country splitting in two, with a Palestinian state rising in the northwestern part of the country where there is a Palestinian Arab majority. It is no secret that the Palestinian majority in Jordan is opposed to the peace treaty with Israel. One reason is the recognition a treaty grants Israel and another is the fact that it does not include the so-called “right of return” of the 1948 refugees to within Israeli borders, including compensation for the possessions they left behind them and the years of suffering they underwent in refugee camps. The Palestinian majority in Jordan feels no commitment to the peace agreement; it was signed by King Hussein, not by them. For this reason, most of the professional associations in Jordan – lawyers, journalists, doctors and others – do not allow their members to partner with Israelis. Most of their members are Palestinian Arabs who see the peace agreement as the result of the king’s betrayal of their cause. The peace agreement upon which Israel and Jordan are signed and everything Israel has paid, is paying and is willing to pay to preserve and guard that peace will be utterly worthless the day a rebellion breaks out against the king, or some assassin or suicide bomber, G-d forbid, succeeds in killing him. The house of cards Israel built around him will collapse instantaneously, the peace agreement and any others signed in its wake will become fond memories. Whoever takes the king’s place will restart the process and expect Israel to pay even more than it had originally paid – that is, if the country remains united. If that new leader is a Palestinian Arab, the price will entail the return of a significant number of 1948 refugees to the state of Israel, not to the Palestinian State that may exist by then. The king knows full well that the possibility that he could be assassinated by a Palestinian Arab, as his great grandfather was in 1951 in Jerusalem, is not far-fetched. That is the reason his armed bodyguards are not Arabs, but members of the Circassian ethnic minority who stem from the Caucasian Mountain region and do not have their eyes on the throne, meaning that they are not suspected of planning to murder the king or poison his food. The king’s mistrust of the Palestinian Arabs, who make up the majority of his subjects, has led him to keep them out of the armed forces, police, foreign ministry and especially from internal security organizations and intelligence. There are several Palestinian Arabs in the government and parliament who serve as token representatives, but the majority of them know exactly what the Hashemites think of the majority of Jordan’s citizenry, those who define themselves as Palestinians – never calling themselves Jordanians because that is used for Bedouin, viewed as lower class by the Palestinians, who are farmers and city dwellers. The Palestinian Arabs in Jordan are the economic engine of the country. They make up most of the merchants, manufacturers, businessmen, lawyers, accountants, academics, journalists, arts and media personalities, and they generally avoid contact with Israel and Israelis. They conduct a consistent and strict boycott of Israel. The king respects their position for two reasons: One, he has no way to force the peace agreement upon them, and two, he is quite content to show Israel that the peace agreement is not secure because of Palestinian opposition, allowing him to demand more and more from Israel in order to guard its interests and keep the king in power. The cost of the peace agreement with Israel is prohibitive. First, Israel respects the status it granted the kingdom in Jerusalem, even though there is no precedent in the entire world for a sovereign state granting another country special rights in its capital city on that state’s most holy site. In 1994, when this was decided during the peace talks, Israel wasn’t worried about Hussein who hated Arafat and agreed with Israel that there must never be a Palestinian state. The status Israel granted him on the Temple Mount was in order to prevent Arafat and the Islamic Movement from taking over the site. King Abdullah II has turned Jordanian policy around and is an ardent supporter of the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria., one that will be able to look over at Israel and threaten it with missiles and short range mortars that hit from Dimona and Beer Sheva in the south, up along the coastal plain from Ashkelon, the Ashdod port, greater Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport, to Haifa and its port and all the way to Afula and Beit She’an. Long range weapons will threaten all the rest of Israel. Abdullah is actively creating a strategic threat to the state of Israel that will most probably be ruled by Hamas, which won most of the seats in the Palestinian legislature in 2006 and led a violent takeover of Gaza in 2007. Abdullah would like to see these scenarios repeat themselves, a most realistic possibility. King Abdullah displayed his hostility towards Israel poverty in two recent events. This past March he freed the Jordanian soldier who, in cold blood, murdered seven school girls from Beit Shemesh in 1997 as they took part in a class trip to the “Peace Island” (!!!) in Naharayim. His father, King Hussein, came to pay a condolence visit to the families in Beit Shemesh, while his son lets the murderer go free. What price did he pay for this slap in the face to Israel? Zilch. Nothing. Jordan acts against Israel as a matter of course in international circles, especially UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council, two places that constantly attempt to delegitimize Israel. Jordan encourages and pushes for the decisions that deny Jewish tradition in Jerusalem, undermining the historical and religious foundations for the existence of the Jewish State. This is meant to spread the feeling to the world that Israel’s establishment is a result of British colonialism, one that must be canceled so that “Falestin” is restored to its “historical owners” – the Palestinians. Abdullah, like the Palestinian Arabs, thinks that if he succeeds in removing Jerusalem from the State of Israel, the resulting demoralization will send the Jews packing. Establishing a Palestinian Arab state that will threaten Israel’s security and destroy the Jewish state, is the strategic objective of King Abdullah because it will prevent a Palestinian State from arising in Jordan. If a Palestinian state is created in the hills of Judea and Samaria, the king intends to get rid of all the Palestinian refugees who entered Jordan in the 1948 war, about one and a half million people, plus several hundred thousand who entered Jordan over the last seventy years. A demographic pressure in the Palestinian state will become terrorist pressure that turns life in Israel into Hell – exactly what Abdullah wants. He coordinates his activities with Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, seeing eye to eye with them on the main goal – destroying Israel in order to save the Hashemite Kingdom from becoming a nation of Palestinians. We would do well to remember what most of us have long forgotten: The clueless group of irresponsible Israeli politicians who gave Jordan its unconditional and unlimited special status in Jerusalem is the same group whose idiotic policies brought terrorist Arafat back from the garbage bin of politicians in Tunisia and granted him the closest thing to a state, The stars of this stellar group included Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin, and Alon Liel, who dragged Yitzchak Rabin into the most dangerous political trap, endangering the continued existence of the State of Israel. Jordan today, it must be concluded, is working non-stop on the cover of its peace treaty with Israel to destroy the Jewish State and create a Palestinian one instead. What is worse is that Israel refuses to admit to the situation and continues most carefully to keep the agreement, hoping calm will prevail along the border until the next elections. Every politician knows that if during his term, relations with Jordan deteriorate, the media – our shallow, slanted and agenda-ridden media – will accuse him of being the cause of the agreement’s nullification, making him pay the price for the next round of elections. That is why politicians bolster up the temporary tactical quiet, ignoring the strategic threat to the very existence of the state posed by the peace agreement. If Israel’s leaders felt endangered by the actions of Abdullah, they would do something to prevent his destructive activities, cleverly disguised as military and economic cooperation. The problem is that in their view, short term tactical advantages are preferable to attending to strategic problems that affect the long term. We are all going to pay a high price for this way of running things on the part of Israel’s decision makers – as can be seen by the security equipment crisis last month in Jerusalem. King Hussein was all for Israel’s continued existence and did not question Jerusalem ‘s status. That’s why peace with him was positive in general. His son Abdullah changed his father’s strategy and works tirelessly to create a Palestinian state on the ruins of the destroyed Jewish one. Now that King Abdullah’s nefarious scheme has been revealed, Israel must rethink its Jordanian route and work to create a Palestinian Arab state in all or part of Jordan, since the majority of the people there are Palestinian Arabs. The alternative is establishing a Palestinian state on Israeli territory with its capital in Eastern Jerusalem, a strategic danger to Israel. There is no reason that the Jewish people, who returned to its land after 2000 years of exile, should pay with its very existence for the survival of the Hashemites brought by the British from Hijaz to rule the most artificial country in the world – Jordan. Reprinted with author’s permission from Israel National News

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, thinks “much too much” has been made of Hillary Clinton’s statement to the FBI that she did did not know that the “(C)“ markings on her emails meant and speculated that they referred to “paragraphs marked in alphabetical order.” Pelosi was asked by CBS News’ Josh Elliott whether Americans should be concerned that Clinton said she didn’t know what the markings meant. “I think they shouldn’t be that concerned,” she said on “CBS This Morning.” “I think that the secretary of state deals with a large number of issues -- 30,000 emails -- we’re talking about a few that may have been marked ‘confidential.’ ‘Classified...’ and ‘secret’ and ‘highly sensitive’ is where it becomes more problematic.” “The fact is that whatever it was that Hillary Clinton dealt with in that manner had no threat to our security,” Pelosi continued, “and I think that too much has been made of this.” The attention being paid to the issue, she called “a distraction” from Congress’ unfinished business. Congress returns this week for a brief session before the November elections. There are two things it must get done -- prevent the government from shutting down on Oct. 1 by passing a short-term spending bill and provide funding for the fight against the Zika virus. The House minority leader complained that the president had asked for the resources to fight Zika in February, but “not one cent has been appropriated by Congress.” Zika funding has been held up because Democrats and Republicans have been fighting over how much to allocate to stop the virus, whether the money should be taken from anti-Ebola efforts, and they’re also arguing about funding for contraceptive measures. Pelosi said Republicans were rejecting anything that has to do with reproduction in the bill. Zika, which has been linked to birth defects, is transmitted by mosquitoes, and by sexual contact.

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, has hired a lawyer as he prepares to appear before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, according to a report. Bannon hired Bill Burck, a co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP’s Washington, D.C., office, according to The Daily Beast. White House counsel Don McGahn and former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus hired Burck in September to represent them in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Bannon is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee next week. Sources told The Daily Beast the former chief strategist intends to “fully cooperate.” Bannon was hired as chief executive of the Trump campaign in August 2016 and was tapped by President Trump to serve as White House chief strategist. He left his post there in August 2017 and returned to Breitbart News as its executive chairman. But, Bannon and Breitbart parted ways earlier this week amid a spat between President Trump and his former chief strategist. Bannon made derogatory comments about the president and his family in a new tell-all book, prompting a fiery condemnation from Trump. Though Bannon had previously avoided being swept up in the Russia probe—until the House Intelligence Committee asked last month for him to appear before lawmakers—he had been discussing the probe with Trump behind the scenes.

Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama have enlisted Chance the Rapper for their first-ever Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. Taking place Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, the inaugural event is set to bring “hundreds of leaders from around the world” together to “exchange ideas, explore creative solutions to common problems and experience civic art, technology and music from around the world,” according to Billboard. In addition to performing, Chano will serve as curator alongside some all-star musical guests, including Gloria Estefan and the National, who will headline. I’m curating a concert on Nov. 1 for the #ObamaSummit. Follow @ObamaFoundation so you don’t miss it. That’d be a terrible thing. — Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) October 13, 2017 Chance has a rich history with the Obamas. His father once worked for President Obama, while Michelle has publicly praised his $1 million donation to Chicago Public Schools. “Chance, I am grateful for everything you’ve done on behalf of our young people back home,” said the former POTUS during a recent concert. “I’m hopeful that everyone who is at the concert today, everybody who is getting involved, everybody who’s been part of the parade, all of you are of the mindset that you can do anything that you want to do, as long as you put your mind to it.” Last year, Chance beamed while discussing his famous supporters, who still resided in the White House at the time. “If you go up there, you’ll probably hear Coloring Book,” he said. “This is not a joke at all…Malia [Obama] listens to Coloring Book. And I send them stuff sometimes…Barack was talking about it. Or, uh, President Obama was talking about it.”

Dumbfounded that Donald Trump beat his hand-picked successor, Hillary Clinton, as president, former President Barack Obama and a top aide began plotting to “destroy” the president-elect around Christmas, according to a new book on Democrat efforts to undermine President Trump. What’s more, the goal was to not just damage the Trump presidency but set the Republican president up for impeachment, according to Ed Klein’s latest from Regnery Publishing, All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump. It goes on sale tomorrow. In an exclusive excerpt provided to Secrets, Klein described a "Christmastime" dinner during which national security adviser Susan Rice pushed plans to “unmask, or disclose, the names of several Trump campaign associates who were mentioned or whose conversations were captured in intelligence intercepts of Russian officials.” Klein, a former New York Times editor who has written several insider accounts critical of the Clintons and Obamas, said that Obama knew of Rice’s efforts to disclose the names in hopes they would leak to the media and spark an investigation. “He knew Rice wanted to encourage leaks to the Washington Post and the New York Times accusing Trump and his campaign of colluding with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the American presidential election,” Klein wrote. “If Rice’s plot succeeded — that is, if it could be proved that Trump had colluded with Putin during the campaign or, later, if it could be proved that he had tried to prevent an investigation into such collusion — Trump would likely face charges of impeachment,” said the new Klein book. But, he added, Obama didn’t know that his closest aide, Valerie Jarrett, was behind the plot. Rice eventually had to testify to Congress about her actions, and denied leaking Trump campaign and associate names. Klein does not reveal his source other than offering the source as Jarrett’s “friend.” During the dinner, wrote Klein, first lady Michelle Obama raised concerns that the effort was clearly a political plot to “sandbag” Trump. Rice, however, is quoted saying she was worried about national security and she referenced the leaks of Democratic National Committee emails, embarrassing to the Clinton campaign, by Russian sources. She wanted, said the book, to make sure that the alleged links to the Trump campaign and Russia became public before Trump came to office. “She said she was afraid that once Trump got into the White House, the evidence of collusion would be covered up or destroyed,” wrote Klein. At that point during the dinner, the former first lady, said the book, cautioned that the plot could “bite us in the ass.” As her husband mulled Rice’s plea to unmask the names by lowering security clearances, Jarrett’s “friend” told Klein, “Most of the time he had to choose between the lesser of two evils. This was an example of such a dilemma. It was clearly unethical to use illegal leaks to sabotage Trump. But Barack could argue that it was his patriotic to duty to draw attention to the possibility that the Trump campaign had conspired with the Russians to influence the outcome of an American election.” At point, his source said, “Valerie piped up. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘[FBI Director James] Comey thinks Susan’s on to something. He’s investigating whether the Trump campaign cooperated with the Russians. There must be something there.’” Klein concluded, “Valerie has a sixth sense how to handle Barack and Michelle. She understood Michelle’s reservations and her desire to protect her husband, and she wanted to give Michelle a chance to vent. But Valerie left no doubt that she was in favor of Barack going along with Susan’s scheme.” Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com

"There’s something happening here." — Buffalo Springfield, 1967 Every major leftist movement the world has seen has been totalitarian by nature. Occasionally this brand of extremism arises elsewhere along the ideological spectrum, such as Islamo-fascism, but Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany remain the archetypes of the socialist genre of dictatorship among many incarnations which clearly include today’s “liberal Democrats” in the United States. Contemporary liberal Democrats reveal their totalitarian proclivities in many subtle ways, such as support for single-payer healthcare and all other forms of big government, and some that are not so subtle. Recent years have seen a surge in the latter variety. Shouting down conservative speakers on college campuses to silence their views has been ongoing, but now the practice has graduated to violent attacks on speakers and audiences. There is no record of comparable suppression of speech by conservatives. And why is it only the left that abides no dissent from its preferred orthodoxy? The adherents expose through their own behavior that they fear a fair debate of ideas, so they attempt to quell intellectual challenge through brute force—just as all autocrats do. America’s so-called liberal Democrats resort to the most aggressive tactics out of the Saul Alinsky manual, i.e., destroy any threat to the radical agenda. Truth is beside the point to them. To substantiate via illustration of such Stalinist “politics of personal destruction,” here are a few examples: (1) Mitt Romney, as 2012 presidential candidate, was Mr. Nice Guy until Democrats got ahold of him. Then the public found out that he had abused his dog, caused an employee to die of cancer, and sadistically imprisoned women in a torture device known as a binder! All this derived from the Obama campaign’s suitably-named “ kill Romney” strategy. Of course, candidate Obama’s own personal history was deemed off-limits. Hypocrisy is a familiar trait of leftist totalitarians. (2) Poor George W. Bush. Investigations by three different governmental commissions concluded that he did not lie about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. If anything, he received the same information worldwide intelligence agencies did about Saddam’s WMD arsenal. Yet “Bush lied” was burned into the national consciousness through liberal Democrat propaganda, paving the way for election of a true leftist president. (3) Barack Obama advanced the practice of despotic repression by weaponizing every office of his government for domestic political use. The IRS campaign of terror against conservative groups was only one of the most obnoxious. Richard Nixon received an article of impeachment for much less. (4) The grand master of personal destruction politics was Bill Clinton, who slimed anyone seen as a threat whether James McDougal, Ken Starr, or Juanita Broaddrick. This m.o. was the whole point of the “war room” of Clinton’s permanent campaign, not to mention Hillary’s “bimbo eruption" squad. A colorful couple, those Clintons. Hillary, in particular, was a disciple of leftist Saul Alinsky. (5) Currently we have liberal Democrat rioters, following the Occupy Wall Street slow-motion riot. Black Lives Matter extremists demand the murder of police, and the misnamed Antifa ironically lives the fascist ideal of causing mayhem whenever someone utters a thought contrary to liberal Democrat political correctness. After the first violent act by a right-wing fringe fanatic in many years, in Charlottesville, the fake news narrative is that conservatives are the violent ones. In reality, almost all political violence in this country is committed by the far left (for example, a Bernie Sanders-supporting maniac actually attempting to assassinate Republican members of Congress). (6) A telling symptom of the left’s nascent despotism is the public shaming of any entity that disagrees with them, e.g., organizing against businesses that violate leftist dogma by supporting a traditional position. For instance, dare to agree with the view on homosexual marriage held until a few years ago by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and you become a target. (Recall Alinsky’s “isolate it, freeze it, personalize it.”) Likewise, the revelations about leftist groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center demonizing those they disagree with. The left decided long ago to downplay debate over ideas—their ideology having failed empirically all over the world—and to simply use neo-McCarthyist tactics instead. (7) In Animal Farm, some pigs really are more equal than others. Hillary Clinton was found to have committed numerous email felonies, and then the gutless James Comey said “never mind.” Clinton’s Benghazi malfeasance with Barack Obama also has gone unpunished. The political elite elevating itself above the law is a hallmark of leftist dictatorship. (8) One of the liberal Democrats’ favorite slander devices is the accusation of racism, which has become the supreme insult in our society. White-on-black racism, in particular, has become socially unacceptable, which actually is a measure of how anti-racist America has become in overcoming vestiges of its more primitive state. Recognize, however, that for the past 45 years, the only legally permissible, sometimes legally mandated, racial discrimination in the U.S. is that which is committed in favor of minorities against Caucasians. This is the extreme state of our social law, for better or worse, yet many on the left trot out “white supremacist” allegations more often than we can count. There is a more substantive reason for the liberal Democrat amalgam’s resort to this odious tactic, beyond findings of its marketing effectiveness: Liberal Democrats cannot permit the mass healing of race relations in our country. They need to aggravate those relations so their side is better able to exploit the issue. Is there no limit to their neo-McCarthyist cynicism? Politics is everything to liberal Democrats, because government power is everything to them. (9) Perhaps the worst of the Big Lies was “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor,” designed to give liberal Democrat government absolute life-and-death power over all citizens through the enactment of Obamacare. What better way to achieve totalitarian rule than mortal power over all the ruled people? See why socialized medicine is the liberal Democrats' Holy Grail? A broader explanation for the liberal Democrats’ current hysteria: Their camp had some very sinister plans for the country, and was oh-so-close to ultimate success. With the election of President Hillary Clinton, a prospective second straight subversive in the office, Democrats could have finally amnestied 11 million illegal aliens, i.e., new Democrat voters, thereby ensuring that no Republican could ever again be elected president. This outcome would establish their goal of a one-party dictatorship, in effect―if only it had happened. The dream scenario having been snatched away is what has driven the liberal Democrats over the edge. So, in their delirium, they lash out. It is all understandable for a group of closet totalitarians in the throes of catastrophic disappointment. And if they tear the nation apart as they act out, so much the better, in their warped view. They always despised the country anyway. Now the plan is for arch-socialist Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren (who misrepresented her own race for financial gain), to win the presidency in 2020 for a slightly postponed takeover. Pleasant dreams, America. There is something happening here. John Gaski is an associate professor at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. He is a long-time registered Democrat and long-time registered Republican—intermittently, not simultaneously. If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at his election night rally in New York early on Nov. 9, 2016. Trump stunned America and the world Wednesday, riding a wave of populist resentment to defeat Hillary Clinton in the race to become the 45th president of the United States.

Yet again we see more evidence that the media and leftist government officials are lying to the American public. What is the agenda? What reality are they try to protect? Why are they risking violence when it is unnecessary? Watch this video posted on Facebook by Will Johnson, a common sense conservative, who intends to be a part of a free speech rally this weekend in San Francisco. As he states it is intended to be a pro Trump rally, however it is clearly being painted by politicians and the media as a white supremacist rally with a call for the presence of Antifa. How is it possible to have a white supremacy rally when the rally barely has any white people attending? I’ll let you figure that one out! Watch the video below. https://www.facebook.com/newlypress/videos/1875854002678972/

Considering over 60 percent of United States citizens support going to war with North Korea, one would hope the majority would be able to, at the very least, locate the country on a map. Unfortunately, no such luck. The laughable discovery was made when Jimmy Kimmel and his team visited Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, and asked passersby to locate North Korea on a map. Many citizens were upfront about their lack of geographic knowledge but guessed anyway. Their estimates ranged from Canada to the Middle East to Australia. Only the minority actually knew where North Korea is located. Though the political situation in the United States is less than ideal at present, at least the people interviewed aren’t in charge of firing any missiles. What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday called allegations of Russian election meddling a “hoax,” and insisted the media was the “greatest influence” on the 2016 campaign. Trump’s tweets early Friday appeared to respond to Facebook’s announcement that the social media giant will provide to congressional investigators the contents of 3,000 ads bought by a Russian agency. “The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favour of Crooked Hillary?” He later added: “The greatest influence over our election was the Fake News Media ‘screaming’ for Crooked Hillary Clinton. Next, she was a bad candidate!” The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary? The greatest influence over our election was the Fake News Media "screaming" for Crooked Hillary Clinton. Next, she was a bad candidate! Facebook has faced growing pressure from members of Congress to release the content of the ads. The company has already handed over the ads to the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook also says it will now require political ads to disclose both who is paying for them and all ad campaigns those individuals or groups are running on Facebook.

Nelly has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman, TMZ reports. According to Law enforcement sources, a woman has accused the rapper of raping her on his tour bus in Washington. The alleged rape is reported to have occurred at approximately 3:45 AM Saturday, with Nelly being arrested on second degree rape charges around 7:00 AM. Nelly is currently on tour with country act Florida Georgia Line. He was set to take the stage in Ridgefield, Washington Saturday night. Friday night's show took place at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, WA. Q13 FOX correspondent and anchor Brandi Kruse reports that Nelly met the alleged victim in Seattle after the show. There has been no official word from Nelly's representatives at this time. Further coverage to come as information arrives. UPDATE: Nelly's attorney has released a statement to Page Six, among other publications. Read it below. Nelly is the victim of a completely fabricated allegation. Our initial investigation, clearly establishes, this allegation is devoid of credibility and is motivated by greed and vindictiveness. I am confident, once this scurrilous accusation is thoroughly investigated, there will be no charges. Nelly is prepared to address and pursue all legal avenues to redress any damage caused by this clearly false allegation. Nelly's last tweet was at 3:23 AM EST or 12:23 AM PDT (local Washington time) Saturday. It reads, "Anytime you feel like the whole world is against you you need to scratch that shit its really you against the whole world because the whole world don't know you exist." TMZ has posted a video of the rapper that was reportedly filmed earlier in the night. Watch it below.

A lot of Californians are mad as hell. Some even say they’re not going to take it anymore. "It" is the result of November’s presidential election. What these Californians are doing is organizing a secessionist movement — as in, taking California out of the United States. Their movement is called Calexit, as in Brexit. Their inspiration is the growing gulf that separates them — politically, culturally, demographically — from the rest of the union. Hillary Clinton outpolled Donald Trump by a two-to-one margin here. "Without California, Trump would have won the popular vote," tweeted conservative pundit and Trump critic David Frum. The Golden State has a population of 39 million people, more than any other state in the union, and more people than in all of Canada. Metro Los Angeles alone is home to close to 19 million, a total greater than Ontario and Alberta combined. As Frum points out, those are numbers that come with economic clout, and therein lies the rub for many Californians. The U.S. without California, he writes, would be the world’s second-ranked technology power instead of the first. It’s home to Silicon Valley and companies such as Google, Apple, Cisco, Intel, Oracle, and SpaceX. California boasts the world’s sixth largest economy, greater than France, Italy, South Korea and India. California is also culturally distinct from much of the rest of the U.S. It’s synonymous with liberal causes, from environmental protection to gun control to health care, and that has other Americans judging Californians, and not in a flattering way. It’s a reality not lost on Marcus Ruiz Evans, one of the movers and shakers behind Calexit. "California," he admitted to the Washington Post, "(is) seen as weird." That weirdness extends to politics beyond the presidential variety. Gov. Jerry Brown has vowed to ensure Californians have health insurance coverage, offered through the state-run health exchange called Covered California, even if Trump Republicans repeal ObamaCare. But where the state most hears a different drummer is on immigration. Californians are decidedly in favour of it, and it’s easy to see why. California has the largest immigrant population in the union, approximately 10 million in total, a quarter of those undocumented. If you’re not an immigrant in California, you know one. Or two. Or more. In response to Trump’s ambitions to engage in large-scale deportation of illegal immigrants, the state legislature is considering a bill that would declare the state a "sanctuary." Lawmakers have even hired former Obama attorney general Eric Holder to battle the Trump administration on the issue. That step earned the enmity of the new president. "Trump claims California is ‘out of control,’ " writes columnist George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times, though the irony is undoubtedly lost on the president. Trump has threatened to cut off federal funds to California. "We’ll defund," Trump told Fox News. "We give tremendous amounts of money to California." The problem is that, like residents of Canada’s "have" provinces, Californians contribute more money to the federal treasury than what comes back. There has been much grousing about the Trump administration ever since the threats were levelled, fertile ground for Calexit. The secessionists even have the support of Silicon Valley billionaires Peter Thiel and Shervin Pishevar. Companies like Google have expressed concern about their ability in an anti-immigrant climate to recruit foreigners for jobs not enough Americans are qualified to fill. In January, the group Yes California was given permission to circulate a petition with the intention of putting the sovereignty question on the 2018 ballot. If the petition is successful — close to 600,000 signatures are required — a special vote to decide the state’s future would follow in 2019. Calexit does have its skeptics. "Canadians know you don’t escape the shadow of your giant neighbour by drawing a border," wrote Prof. Timothy William Waters in the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he believes secession is a bad idea. Such opinions are far from universal. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll taken in California, one-third of respondents support "peaceful withdrawal from the union." As one tweeter wrote: "We’ll just take our avocados and legal weed and go." Terry McConnell is a former Edmonton Journal columnist, editorial writer and copy editor now living in California

TAMPA BAY, Fla. - Americans around the country are being urged to donate blood at their local blood center in order to assist victims of Hurricane Irma. OneBlood, a Florida based blood center, resumed blood collections on Tuesday. All blood types are needed, however, there is an urgent need for platelet donors and people with O negative blood. Hurricane Irma forced OneBlood to suspend operations for three days and as a result, there is an urgent need to replenish the blood supply in Florida. Donors should visit www.oneblood.org for donor center hours and blood drive locations. OneBlood, in coordination with America’s Blood Centers and Blood Centers of America, has been actively arranging for shipments of blood to be brought in to Florida by blood centers from around the country. OneBlood is urging people living outside of Irma’s path to visit their local blood center and donate blood as soon as possible to assist those desperately in need in Florida. Those interested in donating blood may contact the following organizations to find a local blood drive and to schedule an appointment:

Facebook has set up a crisis response page so people who are in Las Vegas can let people know they are safe. More than 50 people died in the shooting and at least 400 people have been injured in the shooting, according to Las Vegas police. The shooting started around 10:08 p.m. local time. Those numbers would make this the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. The suspect has been identified as local man Stephen Paddock, 64. Paddock was shooting from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. Lombardo said the shooter is dead. Police believe Paddock killed himself before law enforcement entered the room, Lombardo said. People can check in to let Facebook friends now they are in Las Vegas and that they are safe. Police also advise people to call 1-866-535-5654 to check in on loved ones.

Ninety-two percent of Muslims in the U.S. are proud to be American, even though 75 percent say there is "a lot" of discrimination against Muslims in the U.S. Nine-in-ten Muslims reported having a positive feeling about living in the U.S., even though 75 percent believe it has become harder to be Muslim in the U.S. in recent years. The survey found that Muslims feel that the main problems they face in the U.S. are negative media coverage about the religion (60 percent), misconceptions about Islam (9 percent) and President Trump’s attitudes and/or policies towards Muslims (9 percent). The survey was conducted Jan. 23 to May 2, and 1,001 U.S. Muslim adults participated. Nearly 48 percent have experienced some type of discrimination. Researchers at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) found that the number of hate groups specifically targeting Muslims in the U.S. has nearly tripled in the past year. SPLC reported that there were 34 hate groups in 2015 and the figure has risen to 101. The SPLC attributed the increase in hate groups in part to Trump's campaign rhetoric. "The growth has been accompanied by a rash of crimes targeting Muslims, including an arson that destroyed a mosque in Victoria, Texas, just hours after the Trump administration announced an executive order suspending travel from some predominantly Muslim countries," SPLC said in a statement. But despite the backlash Muslims have received from Trump's presidency, participants said they have experienced support in the past few months from non-Muslims

It is a rich if tragic irony that the same progressives denouncing Richard Spencer and demanding that municipal statues be torn down for their alleged white supremacist qualities are themselves closely aligned with a white supremacist-tied group. I am speaking, of course, of Planned Parenthood, which is to the abortion-loving Left what Adolf Hitler’s bunker would have become to fascists had Germany not demolished it in the late 1980s: a sort of holy shrine upon which adulation and adoration can be fixated. Read Full Article »

Donald Trump ran on many braggadocios and largely unrealistic campaign promises. One of those promises was to be the best, the hugest, the most competent infrastructure president the United States has ever seen. Trump was going to fix every infrastructure problem in the country and Make America Great Again in the process. That is, unless you’re a brown American. In that case, you’re on your own, even after a massive natural disaster like Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico’s debt, which the Puerto Rican citizens not in government would have no responsibility for, has nothing to do with using federal emergency disaster funds to save the lives of American citizens there. The infrastructure is certainly a mess at this point after a Category 5 hurricane ripped through the island, and 84 percent of Puerto Rican people are currently without electricity. Emergency efforts after Hurricanes Irma and Harvey reportedly went very well and Trump praised himself as well and even saw his disastrous approval ratings tick up slightly as a result. However, the insufficient response in Puerto Rico has nothing to do with Trump, in his mind, and can only be blamed on the people there who do not live in a red state and have no electoral college votes to offer the new president for 2020. They’re on their own. Twitter responded with sheer incredulity at Trump’s vicious attack on an already suffering people. YouTube

The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - HAPPY EASTER! [0827 EDT] - Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. "Caravans" coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL! [0956 EDT] - Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL! [1025 EDT] - These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act! [1028 EDT] -- Source link: (http://bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (http://bit.ly/2jpEXYR) (Compiled by Bengaluru bureau)

Plastic is plaguing the environment left and right and one of the single biggest contributors is the use of single-use plastic bottles. This includes water bottles and those used for other beverages, like sodas and sugary sports drinks, and the demand for them is only increasing despite global efforts to stem plastic usage in the bud. Plastic bags and bottles ravage the Earth from production to disposal, and yet humans buy approximately one million bottles per minute, according to Euromonitor, a market research group. Those numbers are expected to increase by another 20% by 2021, which will devastate climate, beaches, oceans, and all of the animals that reside in these areas. According to figures from Euromonitor, humans bought 480 billion plastic bottles in the year 2016, which is 300 billion more than the numbers from a decade ago. To make matters worse, less than half of those bottles was collected for recycling and only about 7% of those collected were turned into new bottles. Manufacturers complain that using recycled plastic ruins the appeal of the bottles and that it costs more to use these materials, which will fall on the consumer. Experts speculate that this demand for 20,000 bottles per second has been exacerbated by the on-the-go, urban culture that has taken over in cities in China and the Asia Pacific region. With an increased population comes a rise in the demand for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, which is why Chinese citizens bought 73.8 billion bottles last year, up more than 5 billion since the year before it. “[China] is a critical country to understand when examining global sales of plastic PET bottles, and China’s requirement for plastic bottles continues to expand,” said Euromonitor’s head of packaging, Rosemary Downey. It’s not enough that reusable water bottles are trending right now because that doesn’t help the nations who can’t trust the cleanliness of their tap water. This surge in buying plastic bottles is also largely driven by developing countries, where disposability is more important than sustainability and being eco-friendly. “This increase is being driven by increased urbanization,” Downey said. “There is a desire for healthy living and there are ongoing concerns about groundwater contamination and the quality of tap water, which all contribute to the increase in bottle water use.” If municipalities would clean up their water or work to provide safe drinking water to certain regions for the first time, it’s likely that plastic pollution, especially when it comes to bottles, would decline dramatically and slow the environmental health crisisthat is building every day. Sadly, it’s estimated that approximately 5 to 13 million tons of plastic leak into the ocean every single year, ultimately to be worn down into fragments that float in the water column and can sometimes become a part of one of the many garbage patches. Fish, sea birds, and other marine life will eat the specks of plastic or even consume larger pieces, which can eventually kill them. Since humans consume a variety of fish from the ocean, these plastics can also make their way onto our dinner plates. “The plastic pollution crisis rivals the threat of climate change as it pollutes every natural system and an increasing number of organisms on planet Earth,” said Hugo Tagholm, the CEO of Surfers Against Sewage. “Current science shows that plastics cannot be usefully assimilated into the food chain. Where they are ingested they carry toxins that work their way on to our dinner plates.” There are several solutions that groups and experts have suggested to reduce the number of plastic bottle usage, ranging from cutting bottles out cold turkey to encouraging a payment system to use plastic bottles. While some places, like San Francisco, banned the sale of plastic bottles, other groups advocate for what’s called a circular economy. In the circular economy, plastic bottles would be used, recycled, refilled, and reused, effectively reducing waste. Surfers Against Sewage is currently campaigning for a deposit return system to be implemented in the UK, which the equivalent of CRV that is collected in the U.S. that can be returned to people that recycle their bottles or cans. If you aren’t compelled by these reasons to stop using plastic bottles, consider what your beaches will look like once plastic dominates the world even more. Remote islands with little to no beach clean-ups have shown evidence of extreme pollution along their coast and upwards of 18 tons on their beaches, revealing what the future of even the nicest beaches will be. Consider purchasing a reusable water bottle today and making a huge difference for the environment.

In Washington, the ostensible story is rarely the real story. We know, for example, that former President Clinton engineered a meeting with President Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch, on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport on June 27, 2016. That’s the official story, replete with the charming and intentionally disarming detail that all they talked about was their grandchildren. It was just coincidental, don’t you know, that at the time the FBI was looking into Hillary Clinton’s use of a “personal” email server to send, receive and store classified information. And it was also simply coincidental that just a few days later, the director of the FBI – who served under Attorney General Lynch – announced that he wouldn’t recommend a prosecution of Hillary Clinton. Richard Nixon must be rolling over in his grave. What we haven’t known, until now, is that a frantic scramble erupted in the halls of the FBI to cover up this meeting. What we haven’t known, until now, is that a frantic scramble erupted in the halls of the FBI to cover up this meeting. In fact, the FBI turned its sharp light not on the scandalous meeting between the attorney general and Bill Clinton – but rather on one of the whistleblowers who got the word out. The organization I head, Judicial Watch, asked the FBI on July 7, 2016, for any records that might pertain to the infamous tarmac meeting. We had to sue after we were ignored by the agency. Then the FBI told us flat-out that it couldn’t find any records. And we now know that was flat-out untrue. Because, in responding to another one of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits, the Justice Department gave us heavily redacted documents that showed there were additional documents tucked away at the FBI headquarters. If not for Judicial Watch's lawsuits these documents would still be hidden today. Because of the revelation in our other lawsuit, the FBI – without our knowledge—"reopened" our FOIA request. The agency supposedly found about 30 pages of information, which it needed six weeks to review. The FBI finally gave them to us late Thursday. Now we know why the FBI played shell games. The documents show that FBI officials were concerned solely about the leaking of details of the tarmac meeting. None of the documents show top agency officials cared one whit about the propriety of the meeting itself, but only about who blew the whistle on the covert tête-à-tête. In one email, an FBI official writes “we need to find that guy.” And in another we learn that the Phoenix FBI office was contacted “in an attempt to stem any further damage.” An FBI official working on Lynch’s security detail even goes so far as to suggest non-disclosure agreements to keep the full facts from coming forth. No wonder the FBI didn’t turn these documents over until we caught it red-handed, hiding and lying about them. Simply put, the FBI appears to be fully complicit in a cover-up that attempted to influence a presidential election for a favored candidate – Hillary Clinton. And the truth was trampled on a Phoenix tarmac. Tom Fitton is president of Judicial Watch. Founded in 1994, Judicial Watch Inc. is a constitutionally conservative, nonpartisan educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

Ever since a 2015 poll revealed that a certain slice of Americana supported bombing Agrabah, the fictional city Disney's Aladdin calls home, it's been interesting to consider what other fictional countries have actually messed with the United States and totally gotten a pass. Agrabah didn't actually damage its relations with the U.S., presumably because the U.S. either doesn't exist yet in that world, or because they don't have oil. Meanwhile, a number of other countries have attacked America and/or its American heroes and haven't yet met the full-on retaliation they deserve. These guys have been sending special agents to try and kill American heroes FOR YEARS. Pottsylvania is populated entirely by special agents and saboteurs. Their children are taught assassination techniques and espionage practices from an early age, their highest medal is the Double Cross and their mysterious dictator (known only as "Fearless Leader") makes Kim Jong-Un look like a teddy bear. Their two most active agents are skilled infiltrators and have never been captured. Bilya is supposed to be a fictional Arab state in the Middle East. These guys had the balls to shoot down an American F-16, capture its pilot, and then sentence him to hang in a show trial. Luckily, the pilot's 16-year-old son Doug (an Air Force Academy reject) and Chappie, an Air Force Reserve pilot, steal two F-16s of their own and fly off to Bilya to rescue him. What should have happened was America launching an all-out raid on Bilyan infrastructure and military targets. Then, after they released the American they took for no reason, the Bilyans would pay us back the $18 million they owe us for shooting down our F-16. This nondescript South American country has more coups than a flock of pigeons (say that sentence aloud for the full effect). For some reason, all of their worst representatives seem to end up in the United States, ready to coerce American heroes to do their bidding. Fortunately, John Matrix lives inside an unlimited ammo cheat code world. In "Commando," a deposed dictator named Arius kidnaps John Matrix' daughter to force him to kill the current president (of Val Verde). Spoiler Alert: he doesn't even make it to Val Verde. Instead, he ices every single person who came near his daughter. In "Die Hard 2," terrorists hit an airport to free another captured dictator, ruining John McClane's Christmas, everyone's flight schedules, and never taking any blame for what they do. In "Predator," Dutch Schaeffer's commando team has to mount a hostage rescue from guerrillas in Val Verde. You might know what happens next (hint: it has something to do with an invisible alien). Seriously, how many times do they get to mess with America before we do something about this? Who is the President in this movie universe? And I am dying to know more about this place – what are the exports, other than terrorism and contras? Latveria is an Eastern European nation tucked back into the Carpathian Mountains, led by a guy whose name is freaking Dr. Victor von Doom. Even George W. Bush could convince the world that this guy needed to be ousted, and he wouldn't have to throw Colin Powell under a bus to do it. Dr. Doom is obviously a state sponsor of terrorism. Doom is responsible for the proliferation of chemical weapons, attempted assassinations of allied heads of state, and oh so many crimes against humanity. The Fantastic Four can bring down Hitler, a being who eats planets, and the Prince of Darkness, but can't seem to overthrow this tiny country and oust its metal-faced dictator? It's time to send in the Marines.

Donald Trump has responded to the emotional speech given by the father of a fallen Muslim U.S. Army soldier at the Democratic National Convention this week. In an interview with ABC News‘ George Stephanopoulos on Saturday, Trump fired back at Khizr Khan’s statement that he has “sacrificed nothing” for his country. “I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,” Trump said. “I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.” Khan addressed Trump directly in his Thursday speech at the DNC, challenging the Republican presidential nominee’s proposed ban on Muslim immigrants to the U.S. “Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities,” Khan said. “You have sacrificed nothing and no one.” In his interview with Stephanopoulos, Trump also took a jab at Khan’s wife Ghazala, who stood silently next to her husband at the DNC as he spoke about their son Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed by a car bomb in Iraq in 2004 and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his heroism. “If you look at his wife, she was standing there,” Trump said. “She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.” Trump echoed this sentiment in an interview Friday with the New York Times‘ Maureen Dowd. When Dowd asked him about Khan’s heartfelt speech, Trump’s only response was, “I’d like to hear his wife say something.” Ghazala told MSNBC in an interview on Friday that she was too emotional to speak about her son at the DNC, but opened up to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell about her son’s bravery.

You cannot vote for Donald Trump and pretend that this is just another election, and he is just another candidate. Evan Vucci/AP It’s easy to make fun of the hats. It’s not so easy to contemplate what makes so many people think America’s greatness is in desperate need of reformation, or what would make them turn to someone like Donald Trump to make it a reality. America has flaws as deep as its founding, when the men who laid down basic principles of human rights – principles that have endured 240 years – were fed and clothed by human beings they owned. That paradox still defines the fault lines of our nation, and it’s along those lines we are drawing the ugliest election in modern history. It isn’t just economic anxiety or trade deals or the opioid epidemic driving the mostly white, mostly male movement behind Trump’s campaign. It is the existential fear of displacement from a world that has slowly – too slowly, for too long – been chipping away at white male supremacy. The “grab ’em by the pussy” moment was disastrous for Trump’s campaign; it reinforced the defining narrative of his sexism. But it drew his strongest supporters even closer to him, because it reminded them of the world they’re losing. They want to live in an America where they can grab women by the pussy and brag about it to their friends. They want to casually use the n-word – just for the bad ones; they’re not racist! – without being set upon by the PC police. They want what’s coming to them, what’s owed them. And they are willing to burn down the world to get it. Donald Trump is the worst major-party candidate for president in American history. This is not a close call. By virtually any measure, he is unfit to lead a Cub Scout troop, let alone the nation with the world’s most powerful military. It’s worth going back and reading the transcripts of his debates with Hillary Clinton just to remember how he speaks when he’s answering questions off the cuff. It’s breathtaking how incapable he is of forming a single coherent thought. The expectations for him were so low that there was little to no coverage of his failure over four-and-a-half hours to say anything intelligent about any issue important to the American people. He meanders, he interrupts, and he whines. He is uninformed and unprepared. Trump’s values are, in a word, deplorable. He launched his campaign calling Mexican immigrants rapists, issued a call for a ban on immigration by Muslims, and said women should be punished for getting an abortion. He lies, constantly, about everything. He stokes anger and fear and even violence among his supporters. He nurtures their very worst instincts. He brags he has the best temperament, but that’s nonsense. He’s lashed out and punched down, attacking the parents of a dead soldier, a former beauty pageant winner who gained weight, countless reporters and anyone he perceives as insulting him. It is impossible to predict exactly how deep a disaster Donald Trump’s presidency would be, but there’s no limit to the potential for horror. Think how much we still don’t know about Trump – how he hasn’t released his taxes, how many women there likely are who haven’t come forward – and you can imagine the scandals and corruption that lie in wait. Consider how thin his policy knowledge is and how impulsively he reacts to insults, and imagine his twitchy little fingers on the nuclear button. Donald Trump cannot be president of the United States. And while Trump has a considerable movement of supporters who see him as a great conquering hero, who believe every word of his lies, no matter how outlandish and easily disproven, there are many people, even at this late hour, who are torn about whether they can support him. Maybe they’re deeply conservative Republicans who despise what they believe Clinton would do to the country. Maybe they’re independents who see constant stories about her emails and have genuine fears about her judgment. But now is the moment for every last American to decide what it truly means to be a citizen. You can be reluctant about Hillary Clinton. You don’t even have to vote for her (though I did, without doubt or hesitation). What you cannot do is vote for Donald Trump and pretend that this is just another election, and he is just another candidate. It is your minimum duty as a citizen not to support a racist, sexist, unqualified, dishonest, corrupt manchild who celebrates everything that’s ugly about America and not a single thing that’s great about it. No matter how left out or left behind you feel, voting for Trump is nothing short of a moral failure. It’s a vicious act against the human beings, mostly women and people of color, who would suffer miserably under his presidency. It’s an act of violence against America itself, whose greatness has always been about progressing from more oppression to less – slowly, sometimes haltingly, but forward. The promise on those red hats is to turn back in the other direction. The greatness they sell is a lie. Watch Donald Trump’s acceptance speech after becoming the new President-elect of the United States.

The NFL plans to allow the FBI and IRS investigations into the businesses run by new Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam to sort itself out before it decides whether it will take any action. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said a report that Haslam might be asked to step down as the investigation into Pilot Flying J continues is inaccurate. "There are no such plans," Aiello said. Haslam told the Associated Press on Friday that he will continue to run the Browns. "No change," Haslam said. "I look forward to the draft next week." Haslam said earlier Friday he won't resign from his position as CEO of Pilot Flying J. "Why would I step down? I haven't done anything wrong," Haslam said Friday while speaking at his company's headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn. "It still appears to us that this investigation is focused on a very narrow band of a very large company -- questions about how rebates were handled to a very small percentage of our trucking company customers." An FBI agent's affidavit, which was unsealed Thursday alleges that Pilot Flying J -- the truck stop operator owned by the Haslam family -- engaged in a fraud scheme designed to keep money owed to its customers. According to the documents, multiple current and former employees of the company told authorities that Haslam, who purchased the Browns for $1.05 billion last October, knew of the fraud and was present at meetings where it was discussed. The NFL declined to comment on the matter. Haslam released the following statement Thursday: "I've read the affidavits. I now understand more clearly the questions the federal investigators are exploring. I maintain that the foundation of this company is built on its integrity and that any willful wrongdoing by any employee of this company at any time is intolerable. We will continue to cooperate with the federal investigation and continue our own investigation in these allegations. I value the relationships we have with our customers, our vendors and our team members across this country and regret that they have to go through this with us, but I trust and believe their faith in this company and its principles has never been misplaced." According to The Associated Press, Haslam arrived in Cleveland on Thursday, three days after FBI and IRS agents executed four search warrants at Pilot Flying J company headquarters. The AP reported that at a Tuesday news conference in Knoxville, Haslam revealed the government is investigating rebates offered by the truck stop chain, but said, "We believe we did nothing wrong." His family -- including his brother, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam -- owns 59 percent of the business. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Earlier this morning, President Trump took to Twitter to announce his decision to ban transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military. After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017 ….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017 ….victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017 “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” Trump announced via Twitter. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.” The announcement drew swift responses on the social media platform. “No American, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be prohibited from honor + privilege of serving our nation #LGBT,” tweeted Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). “Pleased to hear that @realDonaldTrump shares my readiness and cost concerns, & will be changing this costly and damaging policy #readiness,” tweeted Rep. Vicky Jo Hartzler (R-MO). Just spoke to a Trump administration official about the transgender military decision. Here's what they said… pic.twitter.com/eOWdvlxTfd — Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) July 26, 2017 Trump’s decision will roll back military policy after the Obama administration lifted the ban last year, allowing transgender soldiers to openly serve in the United States Military. The Department of Defense policy drew sharp criticism, as it supported service members looking to change their gender, making them eligible to receive coverage for “medically necessary care and treatment.” “This is the right thing to do for our people and for the force,” former Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in announcing the policy. “We’re talking about talented Americans who are serving with distinction or who want the opportunity to serve. We can’t allow barriers unrelated to a person’s qualifications prevent us from recruiting and retaining those who can best accomplish the mission.” It is not yet clear what effect this decision will have on the roughly 250 transgender individuals currently serving openly in the armed forces. SOUND OFF: Do you support Trump’s decision to ban transgender citizens from serving in our armed forces?

As the New Year 5778 begins, 88% of Israeli Jews say that they are happy and satisfied with their lives. This makes sense. Israel’s relative security, its prosperity, freedom, and spiritual blossoming make Israeli Jews the most successful Jewish community in 3,500 years of Jewish history. The same cannot be said for the Jews of the Diaspora. In Western Europe, Jewish communities that just a generation ago were considered safe and prosperous are now besieged. Synagogues and Jewish schools look like army barracks. And the severe security cordons Jews need to pass through to pray and study are entirely justified. For where they are absent, as they were at the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket in Paris in 2015, assailants strike. Western European Jewry’s crisis is exogenous to the Jewish communities. It isn’t the Jews who caused the crisis, which may in time cause the wholesale exodus of the Jews from Europe. The crisis is a function of growing levels of popular antisemitism spurred by mass immigration from the Islamic world and the resurgence of indigenous European Jew-hatred, particularly on the far Left. This is not the situation among American Jewry, which at the dawn of 5778 also finds itself steeped in an ever-deepening crisis. And while antisemitism is a growing problem in America, particularly on university campuses, unlike their European counterparts, American Jews could mount and win a battle against the growing anti-Jewish forces. But in large part, they have chosen not to. And they have chosen not to fight the anti-Semites because they are in the midst of a self-induced identity crisis. First, there is the problem of demographic collapse. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2013 study of American Jewry, nearly 60% of American Jews intermarry. Based on the Pew data, the Jewish People Policy Institute published a report in June that noted that not only are 60% of American Jews who get married marrying non-Jews, only half of American Jews are getting married at all. And among those who are getting married, less than a third are raising their children as Jewish in some way. Earlier this month, a study of American Jews was published by the Public Religion Research Institute. It found that not only hasn’t the situation improved since the Pew survey was published, the trend toward assimilation and loss of Jewish identity among American Jews has accelerated. In 2013, 32% of American Jews under 30 said that they were not Jews by religion. Today the proportion of Jews under 30 who say they have no relation to the Jewish faith has ballooned to 47%. Not surprisingly, the wholesale abandonment of Jewish faith by nearly half of young American Jews has taken a toll on the two liberal streams of American Judaism. According to the study, the percentage of American Jews who identify as Reform or Conservative Jews is in free fall. Whereas in 2013, 35% of American Jews identified as Reform, today, a mere four years later, only 28% identify as Reform. The situation among Conservatives is even worse. In 2013, 18% of American Jews identified as Conservatives. Today, only 14% do. Among Jews, under 30 the situation is even starker. Only 20% of American Jews under 30 identify as Reform. Only 8% identify as Conservative. To be sure, the trend toward secularism and assimilation among US Jewry is not new. And over the years, Reform and Conservative leaders have adopted varying strategies to deal with it. In 1999 the Reform movement tried to deal with the problem by strengthening the movement’s religious practices. Although the effort failed, the impulse that drove the strategy was rational. American Jews who seek spiritual and religious meaning likely want more than a sermon about Tikkun Olam. The problem is that they also want more than a rabbi donning a kippa and a synagogue choosing to keep kosher. This is why, as the number of Reform and Conservative Jews is contracting, the number of American Jews who associate with the Orthodox movement is growing. Between 2013 and 2017, the proportion of young American Jews who identify as Orthodox grew from 10% to 15%. Moreover, more and more American Jews are finding their spiritual home with Chabad. Today there are more Chabad houses in the US than Reform synagogues. Unable to compete for Jews seeking religious fulfillment, the Reform and Conservative movements have struck out for new means of rallying their bases and attracting members. Over the past year, two new strategies are dominating the public actions of both movements. First, there is a selective fight against antisemitism. While antisemitism is experiencing a growth spurt in the US progressive movement, and antisemitism is becoming increasingly overt in US Muslim communities, neither the Reform nor Conservative movements have taken significant institutional steps to fight them. Instead, both movements, and a large swath of the Jewish institutional world, led in large part by Reform and Conservative Jews, have either turned a blind eye to this antisemitism or supported it. Take for instance the case of Davis, California, imam Amman Shahin. On July 21 Shahin gave a sermon calling for the Jewish people to be annihilated. His Jewish neighbors in the progressive Jewish communities of Davis and Sacramento didn’t call the police and demand that he be investigated for terrorist ties. They didn’t demand that his mosque fire him. Instead, led by the Oakland Jewish Federation, local rabbi Seth Castleman, and the JCRC, they embraced Shahin. They appeared with him at a public “apology” ceremony, where he failed to apologize for calling for his Jewish colleagues, and every other Jew, to be murdered. All Shahin did express regret that his call for genocide caused offense. On the other hand, the same leaders stand as one against allegations of antisemitic violence stemming from the political Right. In the face of an utter lack of evidence, when Jewish institutions were subjected to a rash of bomb threats last winter, Reform and Conservative leaders led the charge insisting that far-right antisemites were behind them and insinuated that the perpetrators supported President Donald Trump. When it worked out that all of the threats were carried out by a mentally ill Israeli Jew, they never issued an apology. So, too, the Reform and Conservative movements, like the rest of the American Jewish community, treated the Charlottesville riot last month like a new Reichstag fire. They entirely ignored the violence of the far-left, antisemitic Antifa protesters and behaved as though tomorrow neo-Nazis would take control of the federal government. They jumped on the bandwagon insisting that Trump’s initial condemnation of both groups was proof that he has a soft spot for neo-Nazis. The problem with the strategy of selective outrage over antisemitism is that it isn’t at all clear who the target audience is. Survey data shows that the more active Jews are in the synagogue, the less politically radical they are and the more devoted to Jewish causes they are. So it is hard to see how turning a blind eye to leftist and Muslim antisemitism will rally their current membership more than they already have been rallied. Moreover, the more radicalized Jews become politically, the more outlets they have for their political activism both as Jews and as leftists. No matter how anti-Trump Conservative and Reform leaders become, they can never rival the progressive forces in the Democratic Party. Prospects for success of the second strategy are arguably even lower. The second strategy involves cultivating animosity toward Israel over the issue of egalitarian prayer at the Kotel. Last June, the government overturned an earlier decision to build a passageway connecting the Western Wall Plaza with Robinson’s Arch, along with the Southern Wall, where egalitarian prayer services are held. The government also rescinded a previous decision to have representatives of the Conservative and Reform movements receive membership in the committee that manages the Western Wall Plaza. The government’s first decision was non-political. The Antiquities Authority nixed the construction of the passage due to the adverse impact construction would have on the antiquities below the surface. As to the second decision, it is far from a matter of life and death. The committee has no power to influence egalitarian prayers for better or for worse. And yet, rather than acknowledge that the decision was a setback but it didn’t harm the status of egalitarian prayer at the Wall, the Reform and Conservative movements declared war against the government and dragged much of the organized Jewish establishment behind them. The Reform leadership canceled a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and the Jewish Agency Board followed suit. Six hundred Conservative rabbis signed a letter to Netanyahu accusing him of betraying Diaspora Jewry and announcing they would be forced to reconsider their support for Israel. Ambassador David Friedman, who had just taken residence in Israel a month before the explosion, used his first public remarks as ambassador to call his fellow American Jews to order. Friedman said, “Yesterday, I heard something that I thought I’d never heard before. And I understand the source of the frustration and the source of the anger. But I heard a major Jewish organization say that they needed to rethink their support for the State of Israel. “That’s something unthinkable in my lifetime, up until yesterday. We have to do better. We must do better,” he said. But in the intervening months, the Conservative and Reform movements have not relented in their attacks. They have ratcheted them up. The thinking appears to be that if they can make this problem look like a life or death struggle between Israel and progressive Jewry, they can both keep their dwindling bases engaged and attract members of the increasingly anti-Israel Jewish far Left. The problem with this is that just as they cannot outdo the Democratic Party in their hostility toward Trump, so the Conservative and Reform movements cannot be more anti-Israel than Jewish Voices for Peace and other anti-Israel Jewish groups. The question for Israelis is what this failure of the mainstream American Jewish leadership means for the future of Israel’s relationship with American Jewry. Jewish survival and continuity through the ages have been predicated and dependent on our ability as Jews to uphold the commandment of the sages that all Jews are responsible for one another. As the most successful Jewish community in history, Israel has a special responsibility for our brethren in the Diaspora. The first step toward fulfilling our duty is to recognize the basic fact that while it is true that the American Jewish community is in crisis, the leaders of that community are in an even deeper crisis. And the key to strengthening and supporting the community is to bypass its failed leadership and speak and interact directly with American Jews. Reprinted with author’s permission from Caroline Glick

We have made great strides in the policing of thought in this country. Just ask Brendan Eich, one of the founders of Mozilla, developers of the web browser Firefox. Eich had just landed a promotion to the big chair as Mozilla’s CEO. He lasted all of nine days. The reason? Back in 2008 Eich donated a thousand dollars to support Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage. The unearthing of this donation led to protests from gay rights activists and the h igh profile call for a boycott of Firefox by dating site OkCupid.com. Eich, as many people in circumstances such as his, was stricken with the sudden desire to “spend more time with his family” and quietly resigned. Regardless of your position on same sex marriage, those activists who led to Eich’s resignation should be ashamed. Their basic message? “You’d better be tolerant. Or else we will show you a display of true tolerance. By crushing you.” In fact, it is no longer enough to be tolerant. Prior to his resignation, Eich told tech site CNET “[i]f Mozilla cannot continue to operate according to its principles of inclusiveness, where you can work on the mission no matter what your background or other beliefs, I think we’ll probably fail.” In the same interview, he said that he wished for those who were calling for his ouster to know that “without getting into my personal beliefs, which I separate from my Mozilla work — when people learned of the donation, they felt pain. I saw that in friends’ eyes, [friends] who are LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered]. I saw that in 2012. I am sorry for causing that pain.” Wow. Eich sounds like an intolerant jerk! No, strike that. He sounds like a dedicated and thoughtful professional who was able to separate his work and personal lives–as well he should have been. But to the activist crowd, it’s not enough that people are tolerant. They must offer affirmation of the LGBT agenda or pay the price. Their much vaunted toleration doesn’t extend to those who might have opposing viewpoints, like Eich. Of course, gay rights activists claim that Eich’s views are not deserving of toleration because he sought to strip them of their rights. This may or may not be the case, but I’d wager that many of them aren’t such dogged defenders of rights when asked about, say, the Second Amendment. And I’m hearing curiously little from these champions of freedom about the fact that 70 percent of California’s African Americans and over 50 percent of Hispanics voted for Prop 8. The uncomfortable fact for the left is that 2008 was the same election in which minority voters pulled the levers in droves for President Obama. Even more uncomfortable? President Obama himself was opposed to same sex marriage in 2008. But, then, it’s not about principle. It’s about ramming through the “right” outcomes. An Associated Press piece about Eich’s resignation asks “whether the episode undercuts the well-groomed image of Silicon Valley as a marketplace of ideas and diversity of thought, and whether, in this case, the tech world surrendered to political correctness enforced through a public shaming on social media.” Geez, ya think? Andrew Sullivan, the unreliably conservative columnist had this to say: Will [Eich] now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us. The trite knock at the religious right is to be expected from a regular guest on Bill Maher’s show, but Sullivan is right to call the gay rights activists out on their bullying tactics. And the man has skin in the game, as an openly gay man who has long supported same sex marriage. Kudos to Sullivan for recognizing that support for an issue doesn’t require the squashing of all dissenting viewpoints. Liberals like to mock those who speak of the “gay agenda.” The real agenda, they claim, is for homosexuals to be able to live out their lives in dignity with their loved ones. Such efforts at destroying opposition unfortunately make that more difficult to believe. And activists forget that perhaps next time, they won’t be the ones to define which thought crimes should be prosecuted. In a society which encourages the personal destruction of dissenters, any one of us can develop the desire to “spend more time with family” at any time.

Internet censorship is hurting conservative websites like DC Clothesline. If you enjoy our articles please consider making a small donation today. Thank YOU! ******************************************************************************** Earlier this week, CNN published a story titled “ White supremacists by default’: How ordinary people made Charlottesville possible,” which basically said that every single person that voted for Donald Trump to be president was a White Supremacist by Default. John Blake, CNN Enterprise writer/producer, is the article’s author. Blake blamed Trump voters for helping to advance white supremacy. How, you may ask? Because even the ordinary, non-racist Trump supporter was giving space for white supremacists to operate and are ultimately the reason for what took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. “It’s easy to focus on the angry white men in paramilitary gear who looked like they were mobilizing for a race war in the Virginia college town,” Blake wrote. “But it’s the ordinary people — the voters who elected a reality TV star with a record of making racially insensitive comments, the people who move out of the neighborhood when people of color move in, the family members who ignore a relative’s anti-Semitism — who give these type of men room to operate.” Now, Blake is a Black man. Given the fact he is writing at CNN, would it be safe to assume he supported Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Soebarkah? If so, would it also, given the fact of his warped logic here, be fair to use his logic against him and say that he is responsible for the violence of the knockout game, Black Lives Matter and the advancement of Black Power movements like the New Black Panthers and Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam? Yeah, it makes a point, but it wouldn’t be fair to say, would it? Blake was not alone in putting this piece together. He cited Mark Naison, a political activist and history professor at Fordham University in New York City, who compared Trump supporters to the “nice people” in Nazi Germany and Rwanda. “That was the twisted formula that made the Holocaust and Rwanda possible and allowed Jim Crow segregation to survive: Nice people looked the other way while those with an appetite for violence did the dirty work,” Naison said. “You have to have millions of people who are willing to be bystanders, who push aside evidence of racism, Islamophobia or sexism. You can’t have one without the other.” Blake then went on to say that there are four groups of people who play a part in racial divisions in the country, based on Ms. Naison and others. “Many of the white racists who marched in Charlottesville were condemned because they openly said they don’t believe in integration or racial equality,” Blake wrote about Trump supporters. “But millions of ordinary white Americans have been sending that message to black and brown people for at least a half a century. They send it with their actions: They don’t want to live next to or send their children to school with black or brown people, historians say.” Then there are those who thought Trump’s comments about both sides having issues when it comes to racial hatred. “Trump’s ‘many sides’ response, though, wasn’t that abnormal in the context of US history,” wrote Blake. “It used to be the norm for white political leaders to draw a moral equivalence between racists and those who suffered from their acts of brutality, historians say. It’s the “yes, but” rhetorical maneuver — condemn racism but add a qualifier to diminish the sincerity of what you just said.” Trump’s comments were spot on for anyone paying attention. Obama had stirred up racial tensions in America to the point that even Black people were saying he was doing it. Then Blake decided to list a third group. This group is those who “choose chaos.” “Many voters knew Trump would bring something else to the Oval Office — chaos,” Blake wrote. “That’s why they chose him. He’s their first reality TV president, one writer says.” “Many voted for Trump because they liked the persona he cultivated as the star of ‘The Apprentice,'” he continued. “Reality TV rewards characters who say rude and reprehensible things, characters are often cast as racial stereotypes, and those who provoke the most chaos get the most attention, says Joy Lanzendorfer, author of the Vice article, ‘How Reality TV Made Donald Trump President.'” Again, he never mentions the chaos we saw across the country that was sparked by the Black Lives Matter crowds. To do that would demonstrate the hypocrisy of his article. Finally, there are those that Blake says “look the other way.” “If you want to know why those white racists now feel so emboldened, it may help to look at all the ordinary people around you, your neighbors, your family members, your leaders,” Blake wrote. “But first, start by looking at yourself.” Well, turn about is fair play. Perhaps, Mr. Blake should look in the mirror and then take a look at the lying, manipulative and deceitful propaganda outlet he is working for, then maybe, he might get a clue at just how badly he has been indoctrinated before he points the finger at people who have light skin and labels them all racist because of some delusional logic that he possesses. Mr. Blake might also wonder how he is emboldening the racism of those in his own community. Courtesy of Freedom Outpost Tim Brown is an author and Editor at FreedomOutpost.com, SonsOfLibertyMedia.com, GunsInTheNews.com and TheWashingtonStandard.com. He is husband to his “more precious than rubies” wife, father of 10 “mighty arrows”, jack of all trades, Christian and lover of liberty. He resides in the U.S. occupied Great State of South Carolina. Tim is also an affiliate for the Joshua Mark 5 AR/AK hybrid semi-automatic rifle. Follow Tim on Twitter.

President Donald Trump once left his son, Donald Trump Jr., stranded on a tarmac after he was five minutes late for a flight, the president's first wife Ivana Trump wrote in her new book "Raising Trump." Ivana referenced the anecdote when describing a key feature of Donald and the rest of the Trump family that she learned when she and the future president first began dating. "The entire Trump clan arrived exactly on time," she wrote. "I learned early on that they were punctual to an extreme. For them, 'on time' meant five minutes early." "When Donald arrived in a boardroom, or took his seat on an airplane and the door closed, that was that," she continued. "If you weren't on the inside, the meeting or the flight would start without you. Donald once left Don Jr. standing on the tarmac for being five minutes late to the airport." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Roger Stone explains what Trump has in common with Richard Nixon See Also: SEE ALSO: McConnell gives strongest hint yet that GOP should gut the biggest weapon Democrats have to halt Trump's judicial nominees

Vice President Biden defended Hillary Clinton’s decision to use a private email server as secretary of state in an interview Thursday with “Face the Nation” moderator John Dickerson. Dickerson asked Biden about a lesson from his Grandfather Finnegan: “Public servants are obliged to level with everybody, whether or not they’ll like what he, the public servant, has to say.” He asked the vice president, “Do you think that applies to Hillary Clinton’s dealing with this private server that she set up?” “Well, I think it’s a combination of a couple of things,” Biden replied. “One, I don’t think she understood the gravity of setting it up. She thought it was, ‘This is okay to do.’” Clinton has said she set up her private server for the sake of convenience, but she has since acknowledged that it was a mistake and that she would use the government system if she had to do it over again. Biden further suggested that Clinton may be a bit battle-scarred from her long time in the public eye, and he said that may have contributed to her initial clumsy response to the email controversy. “This woman has been so battered over 30 years,” Biden explained. “I think then when faced with, ‘This is a problem,’ I think instead of just cutting it and dealing with it immediately, there’s always an inclination to overthink it.” The vice president also weighed in on his own future after his time in the Obama administration. “I’m not going away,” he began. “Everything from this issue of violence against women, to income inequality, to the cancer ‘moonshot,’ I’m gonna devote the rest of my life to this.” “I have been so proud of being involved in public service that I’m not sure exactly how I’m gonna do it,” he added, “other than the structure of [the] American political system.” When Dickerson asked Biden what he’ll do on his final day in office, the vice president replied, “What I’m going to do is go home and begin to figure out what I do for the rest of my life.” More of Dickerson’s interview with the vice president will air Sunday. Check your local listings for airtimes.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his wife, Jane Sanders have hired prominent defense attorneys amid an FBI investigation concerning possible bank fraud, according to CBS News and Politico Magazine. The investigation centers on a loan that Jane Sanders secured to expand Burlington College when she was its president. Jane Sanders allegedly distorted school donor levels in a 2010 loan application for $10 million from People's United Bank to buy 33 acres of land for the school, which shut down in 2016. Bernie Sanders told the Washington Post that the investigation would clear his wife of any wrongdoing. Rich Cassidy has reportedly been hired to represent Bernie Sanders, while high-profile Washington defense attorney Larry Robbins is reportedly representing Jane Sanders.

Hillary Clinton was boring and exceptionally well-prepared. Donald Trump was exciting but embarrassingly undisciplined. He began with his strongest argument — that the political class represented by her has failed us and it’s time to look to a successful dealmaker for leadership — and kept to it pretty well for the first 20 minutes. Then due to the vanity and laziness that led him to think he could wing the most important 95 minutes of his life, he lost the thread of his argument, he lost control of his temper and he lost the perspective necessary to correct these mistakes as he went. Methodically and carefully, Hillary Clinton took over. Her purpose was to show she was rational and policy-driven, the kind of person who could be trusted to handle a careful and delicate job with prudence and sobriety — and that he was none of these things. And she succeeded. By the end of the 95 minutes, Trump was reduced to a sputtering mess blathering about Rosie O’Donnell and about how he hasn’t yet said the mean things about Hillary that he is thinking. Most important, he set ticking time bombs for himself over the next six weeks. As she hammered him on his tax returns, he handed her an inestimable gift by basically saying he pays no federal taxes despite his billions — and moreover, that if he had done so, it would have been “squandered” anyway. By the end of the 95 minutes, Trump was reduced to a sputtering mess blathering about Rosie O’Donnell and about how he hasn’t yet said the mean things about Hillary that he is thinking. That’s not going to go away, nor is her suggestion that his refusal to release his returns is the result of his either not being as rich as he says or not being as charitable as he claims. Clinton quoted him saying in 2006 that he hoped for a housing meltdown because it would provide buying opportunities and thereby goaded him into saying “that’s called business, by the way.” To which she quickly replied that 9 million people lost their jobs and 5 million lost their homes in the housing meltdown he was so excited about. Blammo. His reply to Hillary’s recitation of the fact he’d begun his career settling a Justice Department lawsuit about racial discrimination in Trump housing was that there was “no admission of guilt,” which is the sort of thing the villain said at the end of “LA Law” and sounded no better in real life. Even when he could have taken her down, he was so incompetent he didn’t go for it. A question about cybersecurity was the perfect opportunity to hammer Clinton on her outrageous mishandling of classified information. Instead, he went into a bizarre digression in which he alternately wondered whether his son Barron might grow up to become a hacker and defended Vladimir Putin from the accusation Russia had tapped into the Democratic National Committee’s emails (which the FBI says almost certainly happened). That has to count as the biggest choke of his political life. By the time the last 15 minutes rolled around, he was reduced to yammering about Rosie O’Donnell being mean to him and Hillary running mean commercials about him and praising himself because there are some really terrible things he could have said about Hillary but hasn’t. By this point, even his smart closing zinger — “she has experience but it’s bad experience” — was buried inside a weird word salad that reduced its effectiveness to almost nil. His supporters should be furious with him, and so should the public in general. By performing this incompetently, by refusing to prepare properly for this exchange, by not learning enough to put meat on the bones of his populist case against Clinton, he displayed nothing but contempt for the people who have brought him this far — and for the American people who are going to make this momentous decision on Nov. 8.

Medical science is constantly making cancer breakthroughs, however there’s an extensive process to bring treatments to the public. After making a discovery in the lab and performing tests, there are human clinical trials that require oversight by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before approval. That being said, there are some promising new treatments (with some currently still in the investigational stages) targeting cancer, and they could prove valuable to millions of patients in the U.S. and beyond in the future. Here are six experimental cancer treatments that are catching attention from the medical world… BestMedicalDegrees.com outlines this experimental use of heat to target tumors. This technique can zero in on specific areas or heat the whole body, which will break down protein cells within a tumor and cause them to die, notes the source. While the treatment can potentially blast away existing cells, it could also help prevent new ones from forming. “Hyperthermia Therapy is very exciting because, if it turns out to be a viable treatment, this will destroy the cancerous tumors from the inside out and hinder its ability to infect more healthy cells,” adds the source. Also called adoptive cell transfer, the experimental technique aims to improve the ability of a patient’s natural T-cells (lymphocytes for immunity) to fight cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Doctors can take the best and most active T-cells that have invaded a tumor and extract them to multiply in a lab – the patient’s immune cells are then wiped out and the lab-grown cells are re-infused back to them, it adds. There are variations of this treatment, and the first use of it targeted metastatic melanoma, which can spread quickly through the body. Modified T-cells are also being looked at to treat other solid tumors as well as hematologic cancers (cancers of the blood), it adds. ABC News says in an article that this therapy consists of drugs that are aimed at destroying only specific cancer cells, without negatively affecting healthy cells as many existing treatments do. “Thus, people taking the drugs too often suffer horrible side effects on top of whatever havoc the cancer itself is already wreaking,” notes the source. ABC says the leading drug in this new therapy is called Glivec (or STI571). It is designed to treat a specific form a leukemia called chronic myeloid leukemia, which has about 7,000 new cases per year in the U.S., adds the source. “Doctors are extremely hopeful that the drug could provide a model for similar drugs to treat cancers affecting many thousands more people,” it notes. The National Cancer Institute detailed a potential new cancer therapy in early 2017, which looks to target ovarian cancer cells. The basics are that tumor cells “express” a protein called TNFR2, which can prevent a patient’s natural immune system from attacking a tumor. Researchers have developed new antibodies that target TNFR2, as well as having the ability to kill ovarian cancer cells, thus “killing two birds with one stone,” notes the source. The team found that ovarian cancer cells express an abnormal level of TNFR2 that can promote tumor growth – and the source points out other types of cancers, such as colon and kidney cancer, also show unusual TNFR2 production. This therapy, which the American Brain Tumor Association said was recently approved by the FDA for glioblastoma (an aggressive brain cancer), usually follows surgery and radiation therapy, adds the source. It involves ceramic discs called transducer arrays to deliver electromagnetic energy to the scalp. “These electrical fields exert selective toxicity in proliferating cells thereby halting cell division and destroying the cancer cells,” notes the source. While the treatment is used in conjunction with oral chemotherapy drugs for glioblastoma (GBM), it can be used on its own to target recurrent (returning) GBM when other options have been exhausted, according to the source. Usually, having a virus is a bad thing. However, this therapy essentially involves introducing a virus to cancer cells that leave healthy cells alone, notes StandUp2Cancer.org. The virus only seeks out cancer cells due to their genetic mutation that normal cells don’t have, it explains. One treatment in particular is called Reolysin, developed by a Canadian biotechnology company, notes the source. The site notes that almost 300-patients “with various forms of cancer” in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. have been treated with this therapy, which infects cancer cells and causes them to explode. Apparently, side effects (such as a low-grade fever) are a lot milder than those associated with chemotherapy and radiation, it adds.

Metal Man is the easiest second easiest third easiest Robot Master from Mega Man 2, AKA the Best Mega Man game ever. Dr. Wily made Metal Man for combat purposes. But since Wily is stupid enough to model Metal Man after Cut Man, Metal Man is weak to the Mega Buster. But he never really died. He is now figuring out his revenge alongside Quick Man against Mega Man (And Air Man). You'll figure it out. Metal Man's real name was Harper Jose, a Hispanic dentist.

Writing in the Yorkshire Post, Sir Bernard Ingham warned Donald Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be “contained by sweet talk”. He also told the President-elect he was “America’s people’s idea of the best of a bad job”. Sir Bernard, who was the former Prime Minister’s press secretary from 1979 to 1990 warned Mr Trump could not succeed by ignoring US debt and hoping to “bomb Islamic terrorism out of existence”. He wrote: “You need to convince people that what is good for Americans would be good for them, too. “You will only do that if America becomes happier with itself. “You will be considered a great president if, at the end of your first term, the world is more stable and prosperous than you found it on taking the oath.”

President Obama won't just be handing over the keys to the Oval Office in January — he will also be relinquishing the all-important @POTUS Twitter account. Obama is the first sitting president to join Twitter, making this transition unprecedented. However, there's already a plan for what happens next. On January 20, 2017, when either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton takes office, they'll gain access to the @POTUS account and its 11 million followers, according to Twitter. The National Archives and Records Administration will also archive other Twitter handles, including @WhiteHouse, @VP, and @PressSec, according to Twitter. One big question mark is what will happen to the @FLOTUS Twitter account. While it's also included in the transition, it's possible Twitter may need to change that to @FMOTUS come January 20 if we elect our first female president.

News Modal Trigger Alex Jones and his conspiracy-obsessed website InfoWars prompted a series of disruptions at pro-Clinton rallies this week by offering $5,000 to anyone who can be heard shouting “Bill Clinton is a rapist.” During an event in Greensboro, NC, on Tuesday night, President Obama was bombarded by protesters who donned shirts with slogans accusing the ex-president of rape. “Those folks are auditioning for a reality show,” Obama joked at the hecklers. “Get your own rally!” POTUS repeatedly barked. “If you can’t get your own rally, don’t come mess up somebody else’s rally.” Jones, an avid Donald Trump supporter, has been offering up the bounty to Bill-bashers for about a week now. His supporters have since been spotted at Hillary events in Miami and Wisconsin, where the former president was targeted during an appearance in Milwaukee Saturday. The typically-jovial Arkansan looked visibly rattled when a protester shouted “rapist” at him during a discussion about the billionaire candidate’s position on global warming. “No one can dispute the fact,” Clinton said about climate change, after which the person in the audience added: “That you’re a rapist!” After several uncomfortable seconds, the former commander-in-chief began laughing and smiling. “You gotta feel sorry for them. They had a bad day yesterday,” he said, in reference to Friday’s video leak in which Trump was caught speaking crudely about women. It was not clear if Jones has actually made good on his $5,000 offer. An InfoWars spokesman told The Post on Wednesday night that at least 13 “successful participants” had so far come forward to claim their $5,000 prize. However, many people who participated had still not contacted the site for their payouts as of 9:30 p.m. The spokesman added that none of the protesters had been paid yet and that checks were set to be mailed at the end of the week. According to the website, the “Bill Clinton Rape” offer will be running through the election, or until $100,000 in prizes have been given out.

President Trump fired back at North Korea’s taunt, claiming that his nuclear button is bigger and better than Kim Jong Un’s. The administration also cut aid to Pakistan, citing its protection of terrorists, and Trump took aim at former White House strategist Steve Bannon, after the release of a bombshell book.

As seen on Watters' World 'More Scandalous Than We Can Fathom': Huckabee Goes Off on Clinton Foundation RPT: Aggressive Protesters Push, Spit on Trump Supporters at Fundraiser Trump: 'Obama Ought to Get Off the Golf Course' and Go to Louisiana Flood Zone On last night's "Watters' World" special, Jesse Watters dropped by New York City's Dominican Day Parade to learn about Dominican culture and to ask revelers about Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and the 2016 race. "Are you guys out here celebrating or are you just looking for girls?" My vote is for Hillary Clinton, because I think she represents women. To be honest, Trump doesn't know how to make up his mind. You don't like Trump or Hillary... what about me? Watch more the "Watters' World" clip above. 'Low-Level Simpleton': Thief Leaves Nasty Note After Stealing Man's Trump Sign

The hotel security guard wounded in the Las Vegas mass shooting has been arrested as an accomplice to that event. Fake news web sites capitalized on the tragedy of the 1 October 2017 mass shooting event in Las Vegas by proffering various unfounded conspiracy theories as “news,” particularly those positing that a “second shooter” took part in the carnage in additional to the one who rained bullets onto a concert crowd from a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel. In particular, fake news sites focused on Jesus Campos, the Mandalay Bay security guard who reportedly went to investigate a door alarm on the 32nd floor and was wounded in the leg when the shooter fired an estimated 200 bullets through his hotel room door. Those sites initially reported (without any evidence) that Campos was not an innocent victim wounded in the course of his duties, but was actually suspected of being an accomplice in the mass shooting. On 12 October 2017, an impostor CNN lookalike web site doubled down on that tidbit of fake news by posting an article holding that Campos (whose name was repeatedly misspelled as “Compos”) was not only suspected of being an accomplice to the shooting, but had actually been arrested on the grounds that he, too, shot at concert-goers from the Mandalay Bay’s 32nd floor suite — and then shot the real perpetrator in the head (fatally) and himself in the arm (superficially) to provide cover for his actions: Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Compos has been arrested accused of being an accomplice and second shooter in the Las Vegas massacre that claimed the lives of 59 people and injured more than 500. Jesus Campos had originally been praised for his apparent heroics on October 1st, as he supposedly rushed to Paddock’s suite, was shot in the upper thigh through the door, and continued to help get people to safety despite his wounds. However, FBI officials involved in the investigation now believe he was an accomplice of Paddock’s, and was involved in the initial shooting as a second gunman from the other broken window in Paddock’s 32nd-floor room. According to a senior FBI official, authorities became suspicions by the extreme amount of gunpowder residue found on Campos’ hands and inconsistencies in his timeline of events. “We believe he killed [the shooter], shot holes through the door and his own arm to produce physical evidence for his cover story, then went and lay next to the elevator,” the FBI official told CNN. Although some confusion remains, as of this writing, about the precise timing of when Campos was wounded relative to the onset of the larger mass shooting rampage, law enforcement has not at any time suggested that Campos was an accomplice to that mass shooting, much less taken him into custody on that basis. Snopes.com has long been engaged in the battle against misinformation, an effort we could not sustain without the support of our readers. If you'd like to learn more about how you can support us, click here.

Here’s one thing we can all say for certain regarding the latest twist of the Hillary Clinton email scandal: James Comey, who was once regarded as the Eliot Ness of law enforcement, a modern day straight-shooter impenetrable to political pressure, will instead leave the office of FBI chief as something closer to Inspector Clouseau. Don’t take my word for it; that’s the assessment of just about every law enforcement official, both former and present, I spoke to in the hours following his bizarre decision on Friday to reopen the case on the legality of Hillary Clinton’s email server, just days before the Nov 8 presidential election. It was bizarre, these people tell me, because the whole sordid Hillary Clinton email saga should never have gotten this far; Comey launched an investigation that developed far more evidence than anyone in law enforcement ever believed existed that Hillary Clinton broke the laws involving the receipt of sensitive government documents over an easily hacked private email server while she was President Obama’s secretary of state. My sources in law enforcement were pretty convinced Comey would do the right thing and recommend charges to the Obama Justice Department, despite its political consequence, because the evidence was there and Comey was supposed to be so non political. He was a Republican appointed by Democrat Barack Obama to run a quasi independent investigative arm of the DOJ because he had a fierce independent streak. He famously brought white-collar cases during the pro-business Bush Administration as the US Attorney for the Southern District. Later in a senior position in the Bush DOJ, he refused to approve aspects of the government's domestic surveillance program. But there appears to be limits to Comey's independence, these same people now concede. In July, Comey came up with an odd excuse for not recommending criminal charges against Clinton: He couldn’t develop enough evidence that Clinton intended to break the law under the standard of “gross negligence.” It was such an odd set rationale that Comey laid out for not bringing that case that most people listening to him at first thought he was laying out his reasoning to bring charges, as he explained one reckless move after another from Clinton in establishing the private server and private emails for handing all her government business. Indeed he initially laid out such a convincingly damning case against Clinton that markets began to crash for much of Comey’s tortured remarks as investors initially came to the conclusion that Hillary Clinton would be indicted and someone as crazy as Donald Trump could become president. That didn’t happen, of course, as Comey would explain -- and the markets that day recovered as he announced how Hillary Clinton may have done something criminal even if she never intended to do it and as a result he was giving her pass. Note to reader: Markets will take criminal over crazy any day of the week. But that wasn't the sentiment inside the FBI, where according to my law enforcement sources, a near mutiny broke out among career agents who believe there was plenty of evidence pointing to Clinton's gross negligence that Comey initially said never existed, and that their boss caved to political pressure from the Obama DOJ. Recall, Attorney General Loretta Lynch just had a private meeting with former president and possible first husband Bill Clinton just days before Comey handed in his verdict, which added to the fetid smell of the FBI chief's decision. Then there was the evidence: Remember, Clinton has never given much of a rationale for using only a private email account via her own server to send and receive state department related emails other than its convenience, which should never outweigh national security. Meanwhile, career agents argued her intent was inherent in simple creation of the private email server and exclusive use of a private email is supposed to be verboten under various laws including the Espionage Act. Her supporters point out that others like Bush Administration Secretary of State Colin Powell used a private email account, but that omits the fact that Powell’s email was from a computer he kept at the state department and he used it before the document laws were beefed up post 9-11. He also didn’t go through the process of creating his own easily hacked private server. Another difference: Clinton used her private account exclusively, and Powell didn’t. That’s probably because Powell didn’t have a reason to have a private server that he could control and erase its contents; He didn’t have a private charity that would do business with the federal government and would become a private enrichment vehicle, as Hillary and her former-president husband Bill have in the form of the Clinton Foundation. Now we have Comey possibly looking to make amends with his troops, possibly looking to cover his rear end, definitely looking incompetent, because of all people Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman, and soon-to-be ex husband of Hillary Clinton confident, Huma Abedin. FBI agents, investigating Weiner’s alleged depravity with an underage girl, stumbled across some more Hillary-related emails from Abedin, and as we learned Friday an investigation that was "closed" is now suddenly open. I say closed in quotes to underscore the murkiness of FBI investigative procedures. Cases are rarely officially closed and even when they are the bureau will leave the door open that additional information would re-ignite their efforts. If you think this story could get any more surreal consider the following: law enforcement sources tell Fox Business that Weiner could soon cooperate with the Feds, and that can’t be good news for his wife or her boss. (an attorney for Anthony Weiner tells Fox News there is no cooperation agreement in place) Weiner, I am told, was miffed at the Clinton’s for keeping him away from the campaign before his latest sexting episode. Now facing a possible prison term for alleged dealings with an underage girl he has even more incentive to cooperate against his soon-to-be ex-wife and the Clintons. I can't tell you whether the new emails will reach Comey's standard for gross negligence, but that's really besides the point. The country could have been spared this spectacle if he had just done the right thing in July and recommended a charge against Clinton. Then the Democrats could have regrouped and given the nomination to Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden or someone who doesn't stand a chance of being indicted or impeached if elected. Yes if Hillary Clinton manages to win, she will be a sitting duck for every GOP investigative committee, particularly as the odds grow the Republicans will now keep the House and possibly the Senate. If you thought the last eight years were contentious, you ain't seen nothing yet. Thank you, James Comey.

The military taught me at an early age that one must know their enemy. This adage does not simply pertain to combat either. In all facets of your life, you must always endeavor to see things from the perspective of others. Not only does this allow you to empathize with them, but it also shows you the way to gain the tactical advantage. The greatest pundit of this would have to be Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese warlord who wrote the book The Art of War. This book is one of the best books on strategy ever written. This strategy goes far beyond the confines of combat, however. He spends a great deal of time discussing how war is mostly a mental game, explaining that force is simply one facet within an expansive set of options. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” I do this very well. In fact, I do it too well. Just ask my wife. I know how I argue and I know how she argues, and I use this knowledge to my advantage every time. It is not intentional at this point, just something that has been ingrained into me. So at the end of the day, I can respect an adversary who is capable of truly manipulating a situation to gain the psychological advantage. It is for this reason that I must tip my hat to the Democratic party as a whole. I try very hard to be honest regardless of which side of the political aisle you may be on. When someone does something wrong, I will call them out for it. Typically, this is very easy to do with the Democrats, as virtually everything about their platform goes against what I believe the Constitution stands for. With that being said, I must also recognize when my enemy is gaining the advantage through manipulation; while I may not agree with their methods, I have to respect and be impressed with their results. Consider this—the Democrats have for the past eight years seen a huge loss in political power. According to Fox News, the total loss of Democrat-held elected positions as of December 2016 was 1,042. In fact, during the Obama reign, they went from 55 to 46 Senate seats and from 256 to 194 House seats at the federal level. Things didn’t improve at the state level, with the number of Democratic governors going from 28 to 16 and a total loss of 958 legislative seats. No compatible source was found for this video. There is only one way to look at these numbers—a complete and total repudiation of liberal policies and beliefs. What made this even funnier at the time was how the Democrats then doubled down on their divisiveness. A great example is when Sally Brown, DNC Chair hopeful, stated that, “My job is to listen and be a voice and shut other white people down when they want to interrupt…We have to teach [others] how to communicate, how to be sensitive and how to shut their mouths if they are white.” Or even when Howard Dean said that hate speech wasn’t protected speech. My favorite, though, was when Tom Perez, Democratic National Committee chair, said that if you wanted to be a Democrat, you had to be pro-choice. However, what was originally funny to me quickly curdled into shock. The problem is that the Democrats have something going for them that those on the other side simply don’t seem to be able to do. They know their enemy. They know how to manipulate the Republicans in office to give the left everything they want. I would never have believed that this was possible. The Republicans own both houses of Congress and had the overwhelming support of the American people. They were elected into office to enact the items that they ran on: defunding planned parenthood, repealing Obamacare, enacting tax reform, and building a wall. What did they accomplish out of that? Nothing! To make it even worse, they showed their incompetence by releasing Obamacare version 2.0. How is it possible for a party to have the majority control at both the state and national levels and yet not be able to enact the very legislation that it ran on? The answer to that is the Democratic party. Not only were they able to keep the Republicans from moving on their platform, they now get to pass the buck on the failure of Obamacare to the Republicans. Now, in a continuing show of their exceptional ability to control the government even when not in power, they have managed to have special council appointed to look into the Russian involvement in the election cycle. This ensures that even though there has been no evidence to suggest that the Trump administration did anything illegal, the question remains front and center over his presidency. They were even able to avoid the same scrutiny within their own party, where there were a plethora of potentially illegal actions that were swept under the rug. I hate to say it, but my hat is off to you, Democratic party. You have managed to ensure the catastrophic collapse of the party who won control of the country due to your failed policies. So how is it possible that they were able to do this? The answer is simply that they actually believe in their cause. This has both helped and hurt them. Wanting an America with less freedom and constricted liberties does not sell well. At the end of the day, there is only so much crazy talk the populace can endure without finally shutting you down. However, when you truly believe in your cause, the elected posts are secondary to what your message is. This is not true for the Republicans, who clearly covet power over the interest of the country. They are so worried about keeping their control that they would turn on their own principals to protect themselves. Knowing this allows the left to continue to move their position and policies forward, even when not in power, and the right is doing the same thing that they always do. They are sitting by and watching out of fear that they will be blamed. The typical Republican politician is clearly not capable of real leadership. Real leadership inspires those around them and rallies them under a single banner. The sad thing is that in this case, this was the banner that the American people elected their officials to turn into reality. If the Republicans do not figure this out quickly, they are setting themselves up for more than just a loss. They are looking at a complete shakeup of their party. Maybe that is what is needed, though. Maybe this is actually for the best. I remember right before retiring telling my son that there comes a point in every career when you are no longer able to bend and adapt. You have grown too complacent in your ways and view new ideas and thoughts as a threat to your existence. It is at this point that you have become the dinosaur. I am pretty sure that at this point, what the party needs is an extinction-level event, and the Democrats are more than willing to lead us to that well.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway called on President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton to calm protests that have broken out in opposition to Donald Trump’s election as president. Referencing thousands of protesters outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, chanting “Not my president”, Conway said “I think it’s time for them to give this man a chance, too.” According to Conway, President-Elect Trump has already addressed the protesters and “he will continue to address them. He’s going to be the president of all people.” But, she added, “This is a two-way street.” “It’s time really for President Obama and Secretary Clinton to say to these protesters: ‘This man is our president,’” Conway continued. Conway cited what she claimed was media hypocrisy, saying that if Hillary Clinton had won and “if there were two Donald Trump protesters somewhere, people would be freaking out that his supporters were not accepting the election results.” Speculation has already begun about what President-Elect Trump’s administration will look like, especially who will serve as his Chief of Staff in the White House. Conway commented on reports RNC Chair Reince Priebus and Trump Campaign CEO Steve Bannon are the top candidates being considered for the post. While she said both will “have big roles in a Trump administration”, she particularly highlighted what she sees as Bannon’s qualifications for the job. “I think having worked with him and known him, Steve Bannon, in this particular campaign, was the general. And he is much more the Goldman Sachs managing partner and much more the naval officer, I think, than people realize. That’s a big part of his background.” Conway denied that Bannon, who also served as editor of conservative site Breitbart, would come to Washington to proverbially “burn it down.” Finally, Conway commented on recent reports that Hillary Clinton partially blamed her loss in the election on FBI Director James Comey. While calling Secretary Clinton “a woman of enormous gifts and talents”, Conway said “I just can’t believe it’s always somebody else’s fault. Sometimes you just have to take a look in the mirror and reflect on what went wrong.”

Singer Seal is calling out critics for suggesting he attacked Oprah Winfrey over her relationship with Harvey Weinstein, insisting he was speaking out against hypocrisy in Hollywood. The Kiss From a Rose star came under fire earlier this week after he took to Instagram to question Oprah’s friendship with the disgraced producer, writing. “Oh I forgot, that’s right… you’d heard the rumours but you had no idea he was actually serially assaulting young stary-eyed (sic) actresses who in turn had no idea what they were getting into. My bad,” he snapped, adding a meme featuring Oprah and Harvey at events together. But now the singer insists he wasn’t trying to discredit Winfrey. “Now let’s get straight to it,” he says in a new video posted on Facebook. “Let me start by saying that I have an enormous amount of respect for everything that Oprah has achieved and contributed in her life.” “What I re-posted was not an attack on Oprah at all,” he adds. “She just happened to be the person photographed with the pig (Weinstein) in the picture. No, what I re-posted was commentary on the hypocritical and double standard nature and behaviour of Hollywood…” In his message, Seal also slams actress Stacey Dash for tweeting a link to an article about Seal’s original post and writing, “Ouch, he does make a good point though.” “And Stacey Dash, keep my name out of your mouth,” he continues. “Do not re-tweet, re-quote anything I have said in order to reinforce your self-hating agenda… Again, this was not an attack against Oprah. This was an observation of the toxic nature of Hollywood and I believe that a conscious people are a progressive people…” Oprah addressed the Weinstein sex scandal on her Facebook account late last year, writing: “I’ve been processing the accounts of Harvey Weinstein’s hideous behavior and haven’t been able to find the words to articulate the magnitude of the situation.” More than 80 women, including Mira Sorvino, Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, and Gwyneth Paltrow, have now accused the disgraced studio boss of inappropriate behaviour, assault, rape, and misconduct. Weinstein maintains that while he may have behaved badly in the past he has never forced a woman to have sex with him.

Many liberal talking heads have made a big deal out of the supposed demographic wave facing Republicans and conservatives as the nation morphs into a more diverse population. Growth rates amongst minorities have begun to exceed those of whites. The narrative goes like this — as the white, European-based population diminishes, America will become less conservative and more socialist, demanding more and more free stuff. The rich will just have to pay for it — in other words, the takers will get more from the makers. While the demographic trend may be true, the pre-conceived outcome is anything but. I’m not one to forecast a ‘conservative century’, but I will say the notion that the up-and-coming generation largely believes in socialism is a falsehood. First of all, many minority groups have historically held conservative values. Although this trend has diminished to some extent, due to the brainwashing and self-imposed victimization of minority youth, it has not gone away entirely. Hispanics go to church; they believe in hard work. I’ve know many Hispanic businessmen and families who are angry at the open border crowd pushing for illegal immigration and benefits for millions of undocumented immigrants. They did not go through the process legally as many immigrants have and this annoys successful minority entrepreneurs. There is also the fact that ‘Obamanomics’ and social welfare policies did nothing to help the minority groups he promised to assist. Aside from increasing dependency on government, every other statistic for prosperity for minorities went down. No compatible source was found for this video. Many minorities are starting to see this. I recently overheard one minority veteran tell someone at the VA that the government aid was helpful but what he really needed was a job. Trump is right — the dignity of work is a beautiful thing to behold. The election of President Donald J. Trump has been a game changer when considering the political support for one side of the spectrum. The identity politics of the Left has done nothing but cause election losses. That is a fact. The white, working-class, middle-American will be missing for a long time in the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton made it perfectly clear that the Left did not care about flyover country during the election. The overt racism of Black Lives Matter and other minority hate groups has further cemented this condition. What does the Left offer the hard-working American? It doesn’t offer a job. It doesn’t offer dignity. It just offers derision of other Americans and government dependency. This is not what American wants — hence the election of Donald Trump. Trump sure has delivered, on his promises that is. Jobs are being created; economic optimism is soaring; plants are opening; coal mines are being dug; and business investment is growing again. I read today that Trump will push for America to be the energy capital of the world. The optimism is only going to grow. The business climate is only going to get better. Americans have seen the results of a decade of socialist, liberal, culturally Marxist policies, and they don’t like it. But most of all, the policies don’t work. All Obama and his minions brought to the table was failure, massive failure. Failure in government, failure in the economy, failure in foreign policy and national security, and failure in the ability of a citizen to realize the American dream. Americans have had enough. Of course, there will always be those who choose to be dependent on government and live off the largess of others. But my gut tells me as Trump makes America great again, many of those people will see the light and actually get a job. The younger generation, who is now moving to college age and called Generation Z, have seen all of this happen. They have seen their parents struggle. They have seen their parents lose their dignity. They have seen their parents becoming dependent on the local commissar for a handout. They will also see the opposite — they will see the fruits of capitalism. They will see factories open. They will feel the optimism. There will be no where else to attribute this change in circumstances except to Trump and conservative policies. America is becoming one big learning lab for its younger citizens. In addition to the national policies changing the face of America, there will be changes in our university and educational systems. We are at the zenith of cultural Marxism right now in this country. It is painfully obvious that the communism lovers in our institutions of higher education have had the run of the asylum and wreaked havoc. There will be changes here. I don’t know what form it will take or how it will happen, but the groundswell of public outrage and alumni queasiness about the lack of freedom of speech on campus is coming to a head. There will be consequences. It is not okay for speech to be restricted anywhere in our educational process. It is not okay for due process to be withheld from male victims of rape accusations. It is not okay for tenured professors to spew racist and communist propaganda at our young people. This will change, I am confident of it. The pendulum is slowly starting to swing the other way. Generation Z will face a smaller sea of Neo-Bolsheviks as they enter college. This is a good thing. There was a study released recently which delved into the political beliefs and tendencies of Generation Z as they move to take the place of the Millennial generation. There could not be a more striking divide between the ‘live in your parent’s basement’ generation and the new group coming of age. The study concluded that Generation Z is the most conservative since the end of World War II. This is a stunning revelation and I believe it is due to the factors I have outlined above. They have been able to observe the two different views of the world, the two ways of living your life as a taker and a maker. They want to be the latter. Perhaps it is deeper and more simple than that. Perhaps they have seen that the Democratic Party — the Left, the ‘progressives,’ the cultural Marxists, the racists, whatever you want to call this rag-tag opposition to President Trump and Make America Great Again — have nothing to offer that will make their lives more successful or fulfilling. Perhaps Generation Z has seen with their own eyes that the Democratic Party is nothing more than a huge, stinking mountain of organized crime, that desires to steal from other’s hard work and vision. Maybe that is why even the term ‘hard work’ is now deemed a ‘micro aggression’ by these idiots. Yes, I believe that America is about to experience a generation of success and prosperity, driven by a reawakening of conservative principles. Before the election, I did a book signing in a hotel near an airport. The young manager of the place was an Indian man. He came over and started asking me questions from time-to-time when the crowd thinned down. The conversation quickly turned to politics and he guardedly asked me my opinions on Trump and Hillary — I gave them to him. As I was packing my things to leave an hour or so later, he came over and quietly informed me that he was voting for Trump. “My family did things legally,” he declared, “I can’t stand the Democrats.”

(Newser) – President Trump defended Michael Flynn on Monday by invoking Hillary Clinton. While speaking to reporters, the president said he felt "very badly for Flynn" and declared that the FBI treated the former national security adviser much more harshly than it did Clinton. "Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI," said Trump, per Politico. "Nothing happened to her. Flynn lied, and they destroyed his life. I think it's a shame." He specifically referenced Clinton's grilling by the FBI over her email server in July 2015. "It was the most incredible thing anyone's ever seen," said Trump. "She lied many times, nothing happened to her. Flynn lied and it's like they ruined his life. It's very unfair.” As USA Today points out, former FBI chief James Comey testified to the contrary before Congress. "We have no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI," Comey said in July 2016, when he still ran the agency. There's no such gray area on Flynn: He admitted lying to the FBI in his plea agreement. (Controversy over a presidential tweet on the subject continues.)

Not too long ago we wrote about KFC following 11 people on Twitter: The five Spice Girls and six guys named Herb (including UFC referee Herb Dean). That’s right, six herbs and five spices! If you missed the article, check it out here. Well the gentleman that noticed this (@edgette22 on Twitter) has now been rewarded. You might think that the obvious choice would be a life supply of KFC right? Wrong… that’s not KFC’s style. What do you know, that’s Edge being given a piggyback ride by the Colnel himself! A work of art yes, a strange gift… also yes. But wow KFC’s marketing team are inventive. People on Twitter went mad for this of course! Edge had also been the victim of some controversy surrounding the whole debacle, so this will come as a welcome treat. What do you think? Images via: Twitter / @edgette22

Shoutout To This Father-Son Duo Who Avenged Their Daughter/Sister’s Death By Kidnapping And Kicking The Shit Out Of Her Heroin Hookup Until He Named Names Want to advertise with Turtleboy? Email us at Turtleboysports@gmail.com for more information. Trashlive: Hours after a 32-year-old woman from Western Massachusetts fatally overdosed in Rhode Island on Monday, her father and brother were arrested in what police are calling a kidnapping and attack on her suspected heroin hookup. Police arrived on Baldwin Hill Road in the small Berkshire County town of Egremont around 4:15 p.m. to find the late woman’s father allegedly choking and striking a struggling man while his son helped hold down his arms. Both father and son were “screaming different versions of ‘you killed my [expletive] daughter’ and ‘you killed my [expletive] sister,'” according to a report by Egremont Police Officer Hans Carlson, obtained Friday by MassLive. The man was able to escape the slow-moving van on Baldwin Hill Road, whereupon both Lombardis allegedly followed him out and continued the attack, which residents of the street observed and reported to police, who intervened in a quick response. I don’t normally condone vigilantism, but at the same time, we’re living in a state filled to the brim with Deval Patrick judges that let scumbags out onto the street time and time again. Some times you just gotta do what you gotta do. Nah mean? Big shoutout to this father and son duo who realized that this was the only way they were going to receive any sort of satisfaction. There’s no way the idiot they kidnapped ever saw it coming either. There’s a reason it was just the son that was supposed to show up. The Dad looks like he done killed 4-5 people before. Plus his name is Ralph. I don’t fuck with guys named Ralph who wear shirts like that. That’s just common sense. Meanwhile the son appears to be your average Berkshire hippie jock who is no stranger to craft beer festivals: Never in a million years did the “victim” think that guy right there was gonna kidnap him in a van and waterboard him to kingdom come until he named names. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – there is no one more gutless than a heroin dealer. Pot dealers are great, and coke dealers I don’t have strong opinions on. Know why? Because they do their own product. Heroin dealers don’t. Because they’d be dead pretty quickly. If you can’t stand by your product then you’re a piece of shit. People who sell heroin are choad monkeys because they KNOW they’re profiting off of the self-destruction of another person. There has never, ever, ever been a positive affect of heroin. Ever. You are selling poison to stupid and vulnerable people who don’t know any better. You are the lowest of the low. Granted the guy they kicked the shit out of wasn’t the actual dealer. But he knew who the dealer was and it was time to name names. This is the only way to get that information. Big props for doing it mafia style too by using a van, and telling the idiot they picked up that they were gonna magically fix his debt problems. The only surprising part about this story is that they got caught in Egremont. Egremont is easily top 5 places to dump a body in Massachusetts. Ever been there before? It’s a real trip. Nestled next to Alford, Mount Washington (there’s a town called Mount Washington), New York state, and the metropolis of Great Barrington, there’s no reason for anyone to ever go to Egremont. Ever. The fact that this nudnik jumped out of the van and people were actually there to see it is nothing less than a statistical miracle. I don’t wanna say that father and son are heroes, but they kind of just revolutionized the opiate epidemic. If you sell heroin, you no longer get a free pass from some SJW judge. You get old school punishment from the family. At least that might present a detriment for potential dealers down the road. We urge you to support the following local businesses. They provide terrific services for the community!

Published March 12, 2015 BREAKING: Two police officers reportedly were shot early Thursday outside the police department in Ferguson, Mo. amid protests that followed the resignation of the town’s police chief. The shooting was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ferguson Police Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff told the paper that he did not believe the officers were from his department and had no information on the extend of their injuries. The Post-Dispatch reported, citing a police source, that one of the officers was from St. Louis County, while the other was from Webster Groves, another St. Louis suburb located south of Ferguson. KTVI reported that as many as 200 protesters had gathered outside the police station to demand more changes in the city’s government after the resignation of Police Chief Tom Jackson Wednesday afternoon. The station reported that at least one person had been arrested and that protesters were blocking traffic on nearby Florissant Road. The Associated Press reported that the crowd had appeared to be dwindling when the shots were heard. The Missouri Highway Patrol told the AP that troopers were heading to the scene. Jackson was the sixth Ferguson employee to resign or be fired after a Justice Department report cleared white former officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges in the shooting of black 18-year-old Michael Brown this past August, but found a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias in the city police department. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Department of Homeland Security and counter-terrorism officials are in contact with Spanish authorities in the aftermath of the terrorist attack that killed at least 13 people and left more than 80 injured on Thursday at a busy tourist area in Barcelona, Spain, according to DHS officials who spoke with Circa. DHS spokeswoman Anna Franko, said that the acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke has been briefed on the situation in Barcelona, Spain and remains in contact with U.S. allies in Europe in lieu of the ongoing investigation. A van slammed its way through crowds of people in the well-known area of Las Ramblas avenue. The area was reportedly crowded with locals and tourists who frequent the restaurants and shops in the historic district. The above message in Spanish was posted on a confirmed ISIS media page on the secure Telegram app. Islamic State praised the attack on their official Telegram account and have claimed responsibility in statement carried on its Aamaq news agency. Some U.S. Law enforcement officials say the attack bears similar hallmarks of past attacks and the groups of has reportedly called for using vehicles as primary weapons against civilians, followed by secondary attacks using weapons against bystanders. Catalan Interior Minster Joaquim Forn confirmed at a press conference that 13 people were killed and more than 50 injured. Catalan police are treating the incident as a terror attack and have sealed off the area, according to reports. The city has canceled public events. Metro and train stations are also closed at the request of city officials and emergency services. Police at the scene in Barcelona after the van crash. The situation is being closely monitored by Duke, who is being kept apprised of developments, Franko said. "DHS has reached out to Spanish authorities, and the Department is standing by to support our allies as they respond to and recover from this horrendous attack," Franko added. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and those affected. We will not let terrorism become the new normal. Instead, such acts of violence only harden our resolve to fight back against violent extremists, bring them to justice, and dismantle their networks. DHS will continue its efforts to raise the baseline of our security across the board and to work with foreign partners to help them do the same." FBI is not currently commenting on the situation as it is fluid and the Spanish authorities are leading the investigation. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson weighs in on the attack in Spain. State Department officials did not immediately respond for comment, as to whether or not Spanish authorities have asked for assistance from the United States to help with the terror investigation. Spanish authorities continue to remain vigilant and local authorities have asked people in the Las Ramblas area of the city, where the attack took place to remain on alert, according to reports. RELATED STORIES: 13 are dead and more than 50 injured in the Barcelona attack a government official said Sen. Grassley says partisan lawsuits against President Trump should also implicate Hillary Clinton U.S. Ambassador to Israel asks organization to reconsider it's opposition to McMaster and Tillerson

Eminem ignited a social media firestorm at the BET awards Tuesday with the release of a blistering rap on President Donald Trump. The recorded video shows the rapper in a parking garage freestyling on political controversies like the NFL's national anthem protests, Trump's proposed border wall and his international diplomacy. Warning: Explicit language in video below In one verse he rapped: "This is his form of distraction/Plus, he gets an enormous reaction/When he attacks the NFL, so we focus on that/Instead of talking about Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada/All of these horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather cause a Twitter storm with the Packers." In another: "But we better give Obama props/Because what we got in the office now's a kamikaze that'll probably cause a nuclear holocaust." Soon after "The Storm" was released, the video became a top trending topic on Twitter, racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and sparked reactions from multiple celebrities. LeBron James quoted his lyrics in a tweet: "Racism is the only thing he's Fantastic 4(fantastic for), cause that's how he gets his rock off, he's orange. Sheesh @Eminem." Racism is the only thing he's Fantastic 4(fantastic for), cause that's how he gets his rock off, he's orange. Sheesh @Eminem!! 🔥🔥✊🏾🔥🔥 #United pic.twitter.com/wcL28BCWpy In the video, Eminem also raised a fist in support of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose decision to kneel during the anthem sparked the current controversy. In response, Kaepernick tweeted: "I appreciate you @Eminem." Ellen DeGeneres also tweeted her praise: "I (heart) @Eminem." There was no immediate reaction Tuesday from Trump or the White House press office.

Pentagon officials are used to looking for ISIS everywhere they can nowadays, and have found a security threat from them in the Caribbean, where ISIS obviously isn’t a huge thing, but where growing numbers of people trying to join ISIS are seen as a concerning trend. Marine General John Kelly, set to retire later this month, says that these small numbers of ISIS supporters are a particular risk, because in small nations like Trinidad and Tobago, they don’t have anything comparable to the US military or the TSA to combat ISIS. Gen. Kelly declared that “just a few of these nuts can cause an awful lot of trouble down in the Caribbean,” complaining many of the islands don’t even have proper militaries, let alone something like the US military, a leviathan that intervenes globally and rivals the scope off any in human history. ISIS issued a video for Trinidadian recruitment way back in 2015, showing a recruit from the island and his three young children calling on the island’s Muslim population to join the fight. About 5% of the island’s population is Muslim, or about 60,000 people. The indications are that Caribbean-wide ISIS recruitment was around 150 people, up from 100 the prior year. In reality, the “threat” here is much less about Trinidad not having a globe-hopping military, than that ISIS isn’t making such a big deal about recruits coming to Syria anymore, and is instead pressing them to launch attacks at home. This is particularly problematic for the US because many Caribbean islands are popular tourist destinations, and American tourists are a likely target.

The readers of my column are well aware I’m not a fan of MGM CEO Jim Murren. I’ve called him “the worst CEO in America” because he entangled his company in radical leftist politics — including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an organization tied to terror and called by many experts a front group for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. I actually felt bad for MGM when this tragedy first happened. But could it have happened to any Vegas resort? Or were there factors at play that led to this property being chosen for this terrible mass murder? Murren was appointed by Barack Obama to the Homeland Security Council. From that perch, Murren had insider access to the detailed threats aimed at Vegas. What did he do to prepare and adequately safeguard his guests? Several MGM security guards and ex-security guards have called my radio show in recent days. They described MGM’s security as “woefully undertrained and understaffed.” One ex-MGM security guard called to say Murren’s first act in taking over Luxor and Mandalay Bay was to disarm most of the guards and declare MGM hotels “gun-free” zones. Maybe that’s why the shooter chose Mandalay Bay. Why has the timeline involving Mandalay Bay guard Jesus Campos changed so many times? Did he approach the shooter’s room before or after the mass murder started? If it was before, why weren’t the police called? Did the shooter choose a MGM property because VIP high roller clients were free to use service elevators, thereby avoiding scrutiny? Finally, was the CEO of MGM focused on his properties? Was the security of his customers a main priority? Or was he distracted? SEC records for September reveal more than $200 million in stock selloffs from MGM officers and directors. From July 31 to early September, Murren sold more than 80 percent of his MGM stock. This certainly paints the picture of a CEO with a lack of faith in his own company. Or did Murren have one foot out the door? Was he distracted and uninterested, perhaps making plans to leave? Why else would a CEO sell off a large majority of the shares he owns in his own company? Was Murren focused on MGM security as a major terror attack was being planned at his property? Or was he too busy selling off his shares, at the right price, into the open market, without Wall Street noticing? MGM’s top executives and key board members also sold huge amounts of stock in September. How about this eye-popping number? In the past three months, according to SEC Form 4, MGM insiders sold off 6,387,163 shares. Guess how many those same insiders bought? Zero. Also in September, while MGM’s CEO and insiders were selling off huge amounts of their own company stock, MGM announced a billion-dollar stock buyback program. In other words, they used “other people’s money” to buy back MGM stock on the open market to prop up the price. Talk about the world’s worst conflict of interest. Shareholders were forced to spend $1 billion to buy “undervalued MGM stock” at the same time the CEO and his team couldn’t wait to get out. Question: What if MGM had used that same $1 billion to upgrade security or hire twice as many security staff instead of to prop up its stock price while the CEO was selling? Lastly, did Murren sign for a special “terrorism rider” on MGM’s liability insurance policy? Will a designation of “terrorism” vs. criminal mass murder affect the payout from the insurance policy? Could declaring this a terror act change MGM’s bottom line by billions of dollars? Inquiring minds want to know. Contact Wayne Allyn Root at Wayne@ROOTforAmerica.com. Hear or watch the nationally syndicated “WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show” from 3 to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now and at 5 p.m. on Newsmax TV.

Chris Brown, 27, was stopped from a potential physical altercation by police at a charity basketball game on the anniversary of 9/11 (video below). The singer got into such a heated argument with someone in the stands that the cops were called in to intervene before the situation escalated any further. The incident occurred at the Power 106 Celebrity Basketball Game at USC, reports TMZ. Video footage shows Brown becoming visibly upset as he leans over the bench seats to argue with a spectator. The music was too loud to make out exactly what words were exchanged, but USC cops can be heard saying, “ I don’t care who’s here, get it straight.” Brown walked away twice but came back moments later each time to continue the quarrel, according to the Daily Mail. At one point, the R&B singer was encircled by cops as he tried to explain the situation. Brown has become the latest high-profile star to join Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest against police brutality and racial inequality in America. Before the basketball game, Brown did not observe the anthem. Instead, Brown laughed with friends as he sat during the song’s performance. The anthem was sung by R&B singer Tank, who asked the audience to stand “in the wake of 9/11” and in respect for those who lost their lives in the September 2011 terrorist attacks. However, Brown applauded Tank at the end for his effort. Brown was arrested just last week after a standoff with police officers at his Tarzana home over allegations he threatened a woman with a gun. During the event, Brown posted videos on social media in which he denounced the police and said he was being unfairly demonized.

Barack Obama has shortened the sentence of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, She will be released on May 17, instead of remaining in military custody until 2045 as originally sentenced.

The German public have, as predicted, kept ahold of nurse. But it is the breakthrough of the AfD into the German Parliament that is causing headlines around the world. Of course the four-year old party’s electoral success is also unsurprising. In elections last September the AfD were elected to representative roles in most of the country’s regional assemblies and beat Merkel’s party into third place in her own constituency. Nevertheless, yesterday’s electoral breakthrough is stunning and the success of this four-year-old party is among other things now causing a predictable rash of 1930s analogies. In a media landscape where very few papers can afford any foreign coverage at all, and a social media landscape which blows around slightly sourced stories with a further splash of personal self-aggrandisement, understanding a phenomenon like the AfD is harder than it should be. Many Europeans find themselves caught. Firstly by the fact that the mainstream political class has done something mad in recent years. As I recently explained at book-length, it is inevitable that things will get complicated when the people in charge of Europe make decisions as appalling as those Angela Merkel made in 2015. What she occasioned in unilaterally opening the continent’s doors to the world may have been humanitarian and may have had some good intentions. But it was also reckless, short-sighted and will cause severe issues for German society for generations to come. Most of that impact – including the daily reports of crime and sexual assault – never make it further than the German-language press, and often not even there. What are the public to do when their leaders and media behave like this? One idea is that the public shouldn’t have any choice and should be forced to keep voting for the same old parties anyway. This obviously suits the incumbents, and is best achieved by depicting any and all parties concerned about immigration – including the mass immigration which people across the political spectrum now say they acknowledge to have been an unrepeatable disaster – as Nazis, fascists and racists. The incumbent politicians and parties acknowledge they have made mistakes, promise not to repeat those mistakes but insist that anyone wishing to make them pay any political price must recognise that they are voting for a Fourth Reich. It’s a clever, cynical ploy, employed by politicians and much of the media across Germany even more than the UK. Their problem is that at some point the public recognise the ploy. And in particular a moment arrives when the spell-words used by the political mainstream begin to fail. Already terms like ‘racist’, ‘Nazi’, ‘far-right’ have been worn down almost everywhere in Europe. The few people who continue to claim that the public’s concerns are all racist are themselves the ones who now look ridiculous. All they do is ensure that the public care less and less about the words they are called. This has a follow-on problem which is especially worth pondering in Germany. For if the media and political class call everybody a racist and a Nazi for years, and the public can see that these people often called racists and Nazis (Ukip in Britain, for instance) are – whatever else you might think of them – clearly not Nazis or racists, then you set up another problem down the road. Anyone who has heard a hundred different people being called Nazis who they knew not to be Nazis is unlikely to have their anti-Nazi antennae intact when the accusation is made for the hundred and first time. This is among the problems that Merkel and co have now set up. The AfD’s platform and pronouncements require close and unbiased attention. This should include having their words and actions reported accurately. To her credit, Merkel – the great absorber of political difference – has said that she will work to bring back the people who voted AfD this weekend. This suggests that she might – just might – take what is essentially the second broad option for Europe’s political mainstream. That is to stop pretending that anything from a quarter to three-quarters of the general public across Europe are Nazi, fascist, racists who need to be reprogrammed, fought, denounced or ignored. Instead it is to recognise that the concerns of the public are concerns that should be addressed and remedied by the political mainstream. Which isn’t, surely, such a radical idea. We’ll see which path Germany now goes down. More than Germany’s politics will depend on it.

Internet censorship is hurting conservative websites like DC Clothesline. If you enjoy our articles please consider making a small donation today. Thank YOU! ******************************************************************************** While North Korea dominated much of the news of late and the recent events in Charlottesville, VA have been the talk of the internet over the last couple of days, the recent revelation of the “Memo that rocked Washington,” which exposes the deep state subversion against President Trump and explaining the tactics being utilized, is being spun as “crazy” with the writer of the memo being labeled a “nutcase” by the MSM, who has converged on a narrative in a weak attempt at damage control. The memo is embedded in full below, so readers can read the seven-page memorandum produced in May by the former director of strategic planning at the National Security Council, Rich Higgins. Before we detail some of the highlights from the memo, then offer the document in full, lets take a look at Higgins credentials, the man that the media is doing their best to discredit with labels like nutcase (MediaIte) with outlets like Washington Post calling the memo itself “crazy.” Not only was Higgins the the former director of strategic planning for the NSC, before being fired by Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster for writing the memorandum, but perhaps more impressive, the Army veteran was also a former Pentagon official who specialized in irregular warfare. Department of Defense defines Irregular Warfare in a 100 page document from 2007, in the following manner: Irregular warfare (IW) is defined as a violent struggle among state and nonstate actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations. IW favors indirect and asymmetric approaches, though it may employ the full range of military and other capabilities, in order to erode an adversary’s power, influence, and will. It is inherently a protracted struggle that will test the resolve of our Nation and our strategic partners. Our adversaries will pursue IW strategies, employing a hybrid of irregular, disruptive, traditional, and catastrophiccapabilities to undermine and erode the influence and will of the United States and our strategic partners. Meeting these challenges and combating this approach will require the concerted efforts of all available instruments of US national power. Influencing foreign governments and populations is a complex and inherently political activity. This Joint Operating Concept (JOC) describes the military role in protracted IW campaigns; however, these campaigns will fail if waged by military means alone. The nature of IW requires the US Government (USG) to achieve the level of unified action necessary to integrate all available instruments of national power to address irregular threats. The USG will have to develop “Whole of Government” approaches to waging IW at the political, strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Other government agencies must build their capacity to operate in unstable or hostile environments. Irregular warfare is about people, not platforms. IW depends not just on our military prowess, but also our understanding of such social dynamics as tribal politics, social networks, religious influences, and cultural mores. People, not platforms and advanced technology, will be the key to IW success. The joint force will need patient, persistent, and culturally savvy people to build the local relationships and partnerships essential to executing IW. So a man that specialized in irregular warfare tactics for the Pentagon, writes a seven-page memo which details a plot to overthrow the President of the United States, by globalist members of the deep state, with the intentional help of propaganda being fed to the media in order to influence the public, using tactics he was responsible for observing while at the Pentagon in order to save American militarylives, and the media starts screaming “nutcase,” and “crazy,” and “conspiracy theory!” Something doesn’t smell right here. MEMO THAT ROCKED THE NSC & SENT THE MSM INTO DAMAGE CONTROL MODE The memo is titled “POTUS & Political Warfare,” and starts off detail some background on the “information campaigns designed to first undermine, then delegitimize and ultimately remove the President,” calling it “political warfare at an unprecedented level that is openly engaged in the direct targeting of a seated president through manipulation of the news cycle.” While naming the actors, such as the media, Democrats, establishment Republicans, and explaining what each gains in their political warfare campaign against the president, it is on Page 5 of the document embedded below, where Higgins detailed the “Adversary Campaign Plan,” in the following manner: Adversary Campaign Plan. Political Warfare has been described as “propaganda in battledress.” The effort directed at President Trump is executed along one overt, as well as two covert, lines of effort: • The overt line of effort is PUBLICITY. Publicity is the straightforward projection of a case that builds a picture in the audience’s mind designed to garner support. It is facts without context and information the adversary wants the audience to possess that creates an impression and sets conditions. It seeks to establish good will and receptiveness to additional inputs. • There are two covert lines of effort: PROPOGANDA and INFILTRATION/SUBVERSION. o Propaganda is the deliberate direction, even manipulation, of information to secure a definite outcome. It is an attempt to direct the thinking of the recipient, without his conscious collaboration, into predetermined channels that are established in the Publicity line of effort. It is the unwitting conditioning of the recipient by devious methods with an ulterior motive that seeks to move them incrementally over time into greater belief and acceptance of message transmitted in the Publicity line of effort. o Infiltration and subversion operate internal to the targeted organization in order to inform, target, coordinate, and amplifythe effects of the publicity and propaganda. Both operate to gather intelligence, obstruct legitimate courses of action, provide inside information, and leak sensitive information that undermines the leadership and suppresses the morale of friendly elements. o Infiltration of political and social groups within a target state is done for the purpose of extending counter-state influence and control. The endgame is concealed and may involve illicit activities. o Subversion undermines or detaches the loyalties of significant political and social groups within the target state and transfers political and/or ideological loyalties to the counter-state. As thcounter-state forms, a counter-elite of influential individual and key leaders within the target state will later facilitate the legitimacy and permanency of the new regime. On page #6 we see “Political Warfare Executive – The Meaning, Techniques and Methods of Political Warfare,” which accurately captures what we at ANP have been documenting and reporting on for years, including how the media is being used to deliberately push “pseudo-realities,” in a campaign to “delegitimize President Trump,” with preferred narratives including the “Russia hacked the election”, “Obstruction of Justice”, “Hiding Collusion”, and “Putin Puppet.” As is explained, each of these “pseudo-realities,” is geared toward a specific propaganda point, the first an attempt to push the “illegitimate” narrative, the second to push the “corrupt” narrative,” the third to push the “dishonest” narrative and the last to push the idea of “treason.” Supporting Narratives. Meta-narratives are supported by an ongoing series of supporting-narratives that can be swapped out as circumstances warrant. It is important to recognize that these stories do not have to be true, valid or accurate to serve their purpose. Over time, deserved or not, the cumulative effect of these supporting narratives will result in a Trump fatigue. From a political warfare perspective, President Trump’s inability to meet this challenge will cast him as a weak failed leader. The entire memo is embedded below, read it and decide for yourself. Below the memo we analyze why a man that specialized in irregular warfare for the Pentagon, was fired by McMasters for detailing what many in the Independent Media have been documenting since Trump won the election. WHY WAS HIGGINS FIRED? We have largely refrained from weighing in on H.R. McMasters, despite the fact that his stances on Iran, Islamic Terrorism, the Paris Accord, were more in line with Obama policy than President Trump’s policy, where in each case McMasters lost his argument and the President aligned himself with the promises made, keeping them rather than allowing McMasters to influence his decisions, but according to recent reports, the second McMasters saw this internal memo, he “detonated,” and then proceeded to fire the man that wrote it. The memo was written in May, but after McMaster discovered it, Higgins was called into the White House counsel’s office on July 18 and questioned about it. On July 21, he was fired by McMaster’s deputy, but not explicitly given a reason why. As to McMasters stances on a variety of issues that do not align with the president’s base, that can be chalked up to “politics” as Trump the businessman was well known for hiring people with opposing views as to look at all angles before making his decisions, it was not surprising in the least that he brought McMasters on. The firing of the director of strategic planning for the NSC on the other hand, for utilizing his experience in known irregular warfare methods for and tactics for the Pentagon, to warn of a campaign against a sitting president by multiple factions, including globalists, deep state members within the intelligence community, and the media, forces us to ask the question of whether McMasters is part of the “political warfare” campaign against President Trump? That is a question President Trump should be asking. BOTTOM LINE The fact that the media was called out directly in the memo, highlighting the part they play in pushing “pseudo-realities,” in order to generate a narrative to influence the general public, explains clearly why they are in all-out damage control mode trying to discredit the writer of the NSC memo that rocked Washington, because he just publicly exposed them all. The fact that the media, Trump haters, neverTrumpers, establishment Republicans, and Democrats are all supporting McMasters, also begs the question: Is he one of the enemy within? The fact that he fired a man trying to protect the president from other enemies within, might be the answer to that question. A couple other articles detailing other Trump loyalists fired by McMasters and the campaign to #FireMcMasters, discussed below: Help Keep Independent Media Alive, Become A Patron for All News PipeLine at https://www.patreon.com/AllNewsPipeLine h/t SHTFplan.com

He thinks children these days have too much freedom. She has the freedom to do as she likes. a political prisoner struggling to win his freedom These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'freedom.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Martin Truex Jr. stands during the national anthem before opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series. More than 100 NFL players took a knee during "The Star Spangled Banner" on Sunday in response to President Trump's fiery comments slamming players who kneeled during the National Anthem. But during Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series opener in Loudon, New Hampshire, seemingly all drivers, crew and team members stood with their hands on their hearts before the race after multiple team owners threatened to fire drivers who refused to do so. AP has further details: Several team owners and executives had said they wouldn’t want anyone in their organizations to protest.Richard Childress, who was Dale Earnhardt’s longtime team owner, said of protesting, “It’ll get you a ride on a Greyhound bus.” Childress says he told his team that “anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in." "So many people gave their lives for it. This is America.” Dale Earnhardt Jr.—who's set to retire with a staggering 26 wins at the end of this season—disagreed with his late father's former colleague. The racing legend came out in support of Americans' "granted rights" to conduct "peaceful protests" and quoted President Kennedy in a tweet. Seven-time NASCAR champion and team owner Richard Petty took the strongest stance on the issue. The 72-year-old Hall of Fame driver said that anybody who takes a knee should be thrown "out of the country. Period" Richard Petty’s sentiments took it a step further, saying: “Anybody that don’t stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country. Period.""What got ’em where they’re at? The United States.”When asked if a protester at Richard Petty Motorsports would be fired, he said, “You’re right.” NASCAR'S organization-wide refusal to protest garnered praise from President Trump, who tweeted that he was "proud" of supporters and fans who "won't put up with disrespecting" the flag. As the final game of NFL Week 3 commences Monday night, many are wondering if the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones—who contributed $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund—will protest alongside his players before taking on the Arizona Cardinals in Phoenix. What do you think?

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.") Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed! I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years. Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free." The free? Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today. O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again. Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America! O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

Jimmy Kimmel addressed crestfallen Clinton supporters on Wednesday night in the hopes of helping them cope with Trump’s election victory. “A lot of voters woke up this morning happy that Donald Trump had won the election, but the other half of them, especially here in California, were very upset,” Kimmel noted. “People were shocked, despondent, some were even crying.” As a result, the late-night host decided to walk his viewers through the five stages of grief. The first stage in the process is denial, which Kimmel summarized as “no, the host of Celebrity Apprentice can’t possibly be our president, CNN must have the math wrong.” After that comes the anger stage: “Who do I blame for this?” Kimmel wondered. “Bernie? The FBI? Gary Johnson? Jill Stein?” “How is it possible that half the country is too busy to even vote?” he continued. “They all managed to play Pokémon Go.” After getting that out of his system, Kimmel moved on to the third stage: bargaining. “Maybe this needed to happen to wake up everyone up,” he reasoned. “Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe he’ll only build the wall waist high, to keep short people out.” This rationalization period was quickly followed by depression, “where you get a spoon and you just eat peanut butter out of the jar.” Finally, many jars of peanut butter later, Kimmel suggested that tearful voters will eventually reach acceptance – possibly with the aid of some narcotics. “No matter how you feel about it, Donald Trump is the president of the United States of America,” Kimmel said. “So thank god we legalized marijuana yesterday.” California passed Proposition 64, a law legalizing recreational marijuana. Watch here.

Muslim Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has called on Trump to clarify whether to not Brits travelling to the US will be subject to ideological tests in order to gain entry. Back in August, Trump spoke about introducing “extreme vetting”, which would involve would-be immigrants being questioned on subjects such as their religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights. But his campaign team were not clear on whether this process would apply to the millions of tourists who visit the country each year. Trump did state that if he was elected, those excluded from visiting the country would include people who didn’t believe in the U.S Constitution, support bigotry and hatred, believe Shariah law is more important than US law, or would not “flourish in the country”. Tulip, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, told the Telegraph: “With the stark reality of the American election now beginning to settle in, Mr Trump needs to clarify immediately whether or not British tourists will have to take these so-called ‘ideological tests’ before being able to continue on their holidays in the US. “Millions of British Muslims will feel feel despair at the possibility of being singled out for this sort of prejudiced scapegoating, which will only encourage division and hatred in society.” Jack Dromey, a shadow Labour business minister, added: “Is Donald Trump really saying that a proud British Muslim mum and dad travelling to America to their daughter’s wedding will have to undergo extreme vetting first? “He needs to clarify whether or not he will treat a million Muslims in Britain as second class citizens, potentially a risk to American security? Tue, October 18, 2016 “It is foolish and irresponsible behaviour which can only feed fundamentalism.” Those planning to travel to the US soon may find immigration changes will have passengers speeding through customs. Anyone who has travelled to the US will know the queues in the airport for their passports to be inspected are long. It is the last thing people want to be doing after a long-haul flight and a dose of jet lag. But now, travellers will find this process has just got a lot faster. The Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to expands pre-clearance programme. The pre-clearance programme will see passengers going through the immigration and customs inspection before they board the flight to the US. This in turn will mean that once they arrive, they can move swiftly on to collect their baggage.

Ever since Kimmel became a DNC talking head, he’s become America’s “moral conscience.” — But now the host isn’t so sure! He claims he isn’t — and therefore need not crack jokes about Harvey Weinstein. That’s rich! “First of all, the Harvey Weinstein thing, people like this false equivalence of that’s somehow equivalent to what happened in Las Vegas,” Kimmel added, arguing that the alleged assault of dozens of women does not deserve the same reaction as the killing of nearly 60 people. He said that Weinstein is “not a friend of mine,” adding, “I’m not in the movie business.” As a once and future Oscar host who is friends with many of the movie stars in Weinstein’s orbit, that claim is a hard one to buy. On GMA, Kimmel went on to accuse “gun nuts” of “trying take any comedy bit I did out of context and use it as some kind of proof” that he is not an ally for women, including some pretty gross moments from The Man Show. Kimmel doesn’t seem at all bothered that conservatives want nothing to do with him and his show now. Washington Examiner reports: Critics like conservative commentator Ben Shapiro have slammed Kimmel for parading as a “moral arbiter.” “I’m not. I mean, I agree with him. I’m nobody’s moral arbiter,” Kimmel told CBS. “You don’t have to watch the show. You don’t have to listen to what I say.” A defiant Kimmel added that he doesn’t say “I don’t mind” because he preferred “everyone with a television to watch the show.” “But if they’re so turned off by my opinion on healthcare and gun violence then, I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t want to have a conversation with them anyway,” he continued. “Not good riddance, but riddance.” The last place you want to be is on the receiving end of Ben Shapiro’s laser sharp tongue. The Daily Wire founder obliterated late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s “abhorrent,” and “nasty” gun control views. Almost two weeks after demolishing Jimmy Kimmel over his asinine health-care tirades, conservative star and podcast host Ben Shapiro obliterating the ABC late-night host on Tuesday for an “abhorrent, “gross,” and “nasty” gun control rant touting confiscation and mauling those against his views as monstrous. “Jimmy Kimmel should not cheered for what he did last night. Jimmy Kimmel should be asked to provide the evidence for his suppositions rather than the evidence for his emotions. Again, I believe he’s sincere. Sincerity does not make what you’re saying smart,” Shapiro argued at the end of his podcast, which featured over 20 minutes on Kimmel’s post-Las Vegas shooting rant. Key highlights below: Shapiro on leftists dividing America: “Last night, he did a long shitck about gun control that was entirely based on emotion and it was really nasty. It was really nasty. I don’t think it was nasty because he doesn’t care. He cares. It’s really nasty because he’s suggesting that you and I don’t care. It doesn’t matter that you lost sleep last night and I lost sleep because of what happened. It doesn’t matter that we’re all heartbroken over what happened. We don’t agree with Jimmy Kimmel’s evidence-less suggestions about gun control. That means that we don’t care. We are bad people. You want to know why the country is not unified? It’s because of stuff like this. It’s not because we disagree on policy. We’ve been disagreeing about policy forever. It’s because there are certain people in the American public discourse who feel it necessary to impute bad motives to people who disagree and that’s what Kimmel’s doing here.” Shapiro on Kimmel’s take about AR-15s: “So, number one, the Founders would have wanted us to have AR-15s because the fact is, back in the day, all the weapons that people had were military grade weapons, right? A musket was a military-grade weapon. Now, AR-15s aren’t military grade…Civilian guns are very different from military-issued guns. For him to say the Second Amendment doesn’t cover things like AR-15s — a semi-automatic rifle, is akin to me saying the First Amendment doesn’t cover TV because the Founders hadn’t seen a TV, would never know what it’d look like, and don’t understand how it works. It’s a silly argument. As far as the idea that ARs aren’t used for home defense, again, asinine. I have a bunch of friends who use ARs for home defense.” Sponsored Sponsored

Deputy Editor, Politics and Military & Defense Pamela is the deputy editor overseeing the Politics and Military & Defense sections of Business Insider. She was previously the politics editor, and before that was a senior reporter covering domestic politics, foreign policy, and national security. Before BI, she worked for the Associated Press in Indianapolis. She has also written for The Columbus Dispatch, the Scripps Howard news wire, and the New York Observer.

Male voters must break their sexist inclinations so the country can “get over the hump” and elect its first female president, President Obama said Tuesday. In a message directed “to the guys out there” at a campaign rally at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, Obama said, “[T]here’s a reason why we haven’t had a woman president before…” “And we have to ask ourselves, as men — because I hope my daughters are going to be able to achieve anything they want to achieve — and I know that my wife is not just my equal but my superior,” he continued. “I want every man out there who’s voting to kind of look inside yourself and ask yourself, if you’re having problems with this stuff, how much of it is that we’re just not used to it. So that, like, when a guy is ambitious and out in the public arena and working hard, well, that’s okay; but when a woman suddenly does it, suddenly you’re all like, well, why is she doing that?” he added. Obama’s closing argument for his possible successor comes as GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has a slight edge over Hillary Clinton in the Buckeye State. The RealClearPolitics average of Ohio pollsshows the mogul with a 2.5-percentage-point lead, with Trump getting 46.8 percent of the vote and Clinton 44.3 percent.

On Friday, a day after former Mesa, Arizona police officer Philip Brailsford was acquitted of second-degree murder charges, state officials released a graphic video of the shooting, showing the victim begging for his life. In the video, another officer, now-retired Sgt. Charles Langley, orders seemingly-terrified Daniel Shaver to cross his legs, crawl and keep his hands raised straight up in the air prior to the fatal shooting. The officers were responding to a call alleging a man was pointing a gun out of a window, The Washington Post reports: "After the officer involved was acquitted of second-degree murder charges, officials in Arizona released graphic video showing Daniel Shaver crawling on his hands and knees and begging for his life in the moments before he was shot and killed by police in January 2016." …. "The shooting, by Philip “Mitch” Brailsford, then an officer with the Mesa Police Department, occurred after officers responded to a call about a man allegedly pointing a rifle out of a fifth-floor window at a La Quinta Inn. Inside the room, Shaver, 26, had been doing rum shots with a woman he had met earlier that day and showing off a pellet gun he used in his job in pest control." Wrongful-death lawsuits against the city of Mesa have been filed by Shaver's family members. WARNING: Video contains graphic, disturbing content. test test Please support CNSNews today! (a 501c3 non-profit production of the Media Research Center) DONATE

Modal Trigger Comedian Tom Arnold is claiming Hillary Clinton begged him to release footage of President Trump using racial slurs just days before the November election. The 57-year-old alleged last year he had video of Trump repeatedly saying “n—–” and “every bad thing ever, every offensive, racist thing ever,” but is now saying Clinton called him just two days before Americans went to the polls to plead for its release, the Telegraph reported. “I had all the outtakes from Trump saying the N-word on ‘The Apprentice,’” said Arnold, who was just voted off Australia’s “I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!” “[Clinton] called me two days before the election and said, ‘Please release that,'” Arnold claimed, alleging that the Democratic nominee said, “The weight of the free world is on your shoulders.” “I’d love to be a hero, but I can’t hurt these families,” he claimed to have responded. Arnold says he might still release the reel with “their permission,” thought it remains unclear if he was referring to the targets of Trump’s vitriol or “The Apprentice” producers. In an interview before going on the British sitcom, Arnold told a radio host he didn’t want to release the hate speech out of respect for those involved. “Well, now, these people — two editors and an associate producer — are scared to death. They’re scared of his people, they’re scared they’ll never work again,” he said on Dori Monson’s radio show. The American actor and comic, who starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1994 film classic “True Lies,” also said he didn’t think releasing the racist rant “would work.” “I don’t think people would care,” he said. Trump still managed to cinch the electoral vote despite national outrage surrounding the October release of the notorious “grab them by the p—-” video.

According to the latest damning snippet from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, President Donald Trump tried to “rationalize” why people would join the KKK. From the New York Times review: There are lots of arresting details in the book. We learn that the administration holds special animus for what it calls “D.O.J. women,” or women who work in the Justice Department. Wolff writes that after the white supremacist mayhem in Charlottesville, Va., Trump privately rationalized “why someone would be a member of the K.K.K.” Many believe the anecdotes and quotes from Wolff’s book should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism, but this one is not implausible. Trump went on the record in the wake of the Charlottesville white supremacy march that left Heather Heyer dead, saying he believed there were “ good people” on both sides of the protest, one side of which was rife with Neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Trump was widely criticized for the response, which many considered a tacit endorsement of white supremacy. During his presidential campaign, an old New York Times story was unearthed that reported Trump’s father, Fred, back in 1927, was arrested at a rally in 1927 where KKK members were present. It was never proven whether he was participating in the rally or a member of the group. David Covucci is the Layer 8 editor at the Daily Dot, covering the intersection of politics and the web. His work has appeared in Vice, the Huffington Post, Jezebel, Gothamist, and other publications. He is particularly interested in hearing any tips you have. Reach out at dcovucci@thedailydot.com.

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Former Colts head coach Tony Dungy announced on Twitter Thursday morning that he's donating money to help a city near Tampa Bay remove a Confederate statue. Dungy tweeted a picture of the front page of the Tampa Bay Times saying Hillsborough would need $140,000 in private funds in the next 30 days to move the statue. He said he and his wife "are in for $5K" and then challenged Tampa's sports teams to pitch in as well. Since Charlottesville, there has been a surge in efforts to move or outright destroy statues of Confederate war leaders from Gainesville, Florida to Baltimore, Maryland. There has also been a renewal of efforts to protect the monuments. President Donald Trump tweeted that it's "Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart" with the removal of such statues around the country. Maine's Republican governor Paul LePage went so far as to say removing Confederate statues is "just like" removing a monument to victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Stinkin’ Dinkadoodles! Gupta Patel Slams New Bill Passed To Teach Your Kids Anal Sex In Public School And He’s Fired Up Like A Samosa Fresh Out The Pan! Want to advertise with Turtleboy? Email us at [email protected] for more information. Everyone knows and loves Gupta Patel – Turtleboy’s crazy Indian Tech Guy and proud convenience store proprietor. He’s never blogged for us before but something caught his eye in the news that sent him reeling. Let’s give him a warm welcome as he has a meltdown about the statehouse deciding to teach kids as young as 12 how to safely take it in the back door! Your uncle Gupta read this one news article last night and choke on his Vodka Slushee! Last Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate passed new sex education package by a 31-6 vote in favor. Look like the usual chutiyas in the statehouse been drinking the same strange flavor KoolAid again. Take a look at this nutty-ass booshit: From New Boston Post— As it did in 2015, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill nearly entirely along party lines on Thursday dictating how school districts teach sex education; and just like two years ago, the biggest sticking point for the bill’s opponents was the lack of an opt-in stipulation for parents and guardians. Unlike in 2015, however, it is likely this version of the bill will reach the House floor for a vote, but it remains to be seen if lawmakers on the other side of the State House attach the failed parental opt-in amendment touted Thursday by House Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). Following the 31-6 vote in favor that saw the only Democratic opposition come from state Senator Michael Rush of West Roxbury, Tarr praised the “robust and healthy debate” that transpired Thursday afternoon but expressed “hope that as it makes its way through the legislative process” that lawmakers outside the Senate will wind up adopting proposals like a parental consent stipulation. The bill’s lead sponsor, state Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) took issue with Tarr’s opt-in proposal. “This amendment would gut the bill,” DiDomenico claimed, noting that the legislation already features an opt-out amendment for both parents and school districts. “This amendment would effectively take all the work we put together and throw it out the window. “We do not have opt-in for science, math, English — we don’t have any opt-in initiative for any other subjects in our schools — this subject in particular could save lives.” Other Democrats who spoke out in opposition to Tarr’s amendment included state Senator John Keenan of Quincy, Worcester’s Harriet Chandler, and Boston’s Sonia Chang-Diaz. Keenan and Chang-Diaz added that a parental consent requirement would add an unnecessary level of bureaucracy, with Keenan claiming that it “would require school districts to chase down the parents of every single student” while Chang-Diaz noting that “many of my colleagues in the chamber in the minority are avid proponents of small streamlined government.” Chandler claimed that an opt-in provision would result in a “very limited number of people who would be taking advantage of it.” “The alternative of what we’re talking about is our children learning about these behaviors from what they hear on the school bus or read on the Internet,” she added. State Senator Vinny deMacedo (R-Plymouth), responding to Keenan’s point, used student field trips as an example of opt-in protocol. “I don’t think that’s an impossible hurdle to overcome,” he said. “The reality is that asking parents if they’re comfortable with this or not is not a stretch by any means.” Tarr appeared to take issue with the claim linking parental approval to an added layer of bureaucracy. “Well well well, it is interesting that some of these folks have stood at this microphone and suggested somehow that obtaining parental consent is so burdensome that we shouldn’t follow through with this,” Tarr quipped. “Suggesting that the role of a parent should be subordinate to the role of bureaucracy, now that’s a deeply concerning thought.” Tarr also challenged DiDomenico’s claim that an opt-in provision would “gut the bill.” “That somehow this bill is jeopardized by the fact that we might want to involve parents in the decision making — what does that suggest about the priorities of the bill?” Tarr questioned. “It suggests that somehow we ought to subordinate the role of the parent to the role of the state. “It’s also been suggested that we don’t have opt-in provisions for math, science, and other things, well that is true, but we also don’t have opt-out provisions for those things, because they don’t fit the same matter as the subject matter that we’re discussing here.” Conservative organizations, including the Massachusetts Family Institute, are vehemently opposed to the bill over the proposed curriculum’s subject matter, which suggests that instruction regarding sexual aspects such as anal intercourse is age-appropriate for children as young as 12.Some of the instructional material approved by state education officials was created by Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “If you have to have an affirmative act from a parent in order to go on a school trip, should you not have to have the affirmative act of a parent to be involved in education that involves morality, subjective judgment, and important health matters?” Tarr said. “I think the matter speaks for itself.” DiDomenico responded to Tarr’s argument by noting he is not looking to subvert the role of parents and countered that he “would put this in the same category as English, math, and science.” “In some respects I’d put it ahead of those subjects,” DiDomenico added. “There are life-ending, life-long consequences, and a critical mistake can change their lives forever.” State Senator Barbara L’Italien (D-Andover) also spoke, mentioning an incident in which her older sister became pregnant during high school. “Getting married at age 17 locked her into a life of virtual poverty,” L’Italien said. “I wish there had been accurate health information when she was a student back in the ’70s, I think her life might have changed dramatically. “There are times when government needs to be proactive, and protective, and this is one of those situations.” Sweet Baby Vishnu! The anal sex education is age appropriate for 12 year old? What fucking version of goddamn Kama Sutra they been reading? The Paul Georgio translation? This Hindu had the very very bad nightmares after reading this news! In my dream, my daughter, Gupta Jr, was back in the grade school. I was watching my favorite American movie “Mansion of Blood” and Mindy Robinson was just about to show all the peoples her hot hot Samosas when my daughter come running through the door, She say “Papa! Papa! I have the question about the sex!” And I say “Yes my little one, I have been preparing for this conversation long time. Ask your papa your questions”. She say “Papa, when will it stop hurting my ass so much?” Your old Uncle Gupta almost had the bad heart attacks! “As it did in 2015, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill nearly entirely along party lines on Thursday dictating how school districts teach sex education; and just like two years ago, the biggest sticking point for the bill’s opponents was the lack of an opt-in stipulation for parents and guardians.” Really? Uncle Gupta think the biggest sticking point probably gonna be the anal sex. Seriously though. You can opt out of goddamn Pledge of Allegiance in school in Massachusetts without facing the punishments, but you can’t opt out of learning how to send your pork soldier to the battle in Brownsville? “The bill’s lead sponsor, state Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) took issue with Tarr’s opt-in proposal. “This amendment would gut the bill,” DiDomenico claimed, noting that the legislation already features an opt-out amendment for both parents and school districts. “This amendment would effectively take all the work we put together and throw it out the window. “We do not have opt-in for science, math, English — we don’t have any opt-in initiative for any other subjects in our schools — this subject in particular could save lives.” Ganesha, please take me now, These chutiyas gonna drive this humble Hindu to carnivorism. “Johnny, study the maths and the science good so you can be great physicist someday!” “Susie! finish your English homeworks so you can be excellent writer someday.” Mary! Make sure you don’t miss any of the Massachusetts mandated sex education class so you can be great wide receiver some day!” In the name of heavenly teacher Guru Deva please reincarnate these people as pimples on Kim Kardashian’s face at bukake session after Black Lives Matter rally. State Senator Barbara L’Italien (D-Andover) also spoke, mentioning an incident in which her older sister became pregnant during high school. “Getting married at age 17 locked her into a life of virtual poverty,” L’Italien said. “I wish there had been accurate health information when she was a student back in the ’70s, I think her life might have changed dramatically. Ms. Barbarabhen! Did you really just say “Damn, my sister’s life would be so much better now if only she had taken the rusty trombone in her swamp starfish that one time instead of in her hoo-ha.”?? It Take one real classy lady to say she wishes her niece or nephew had taken a wrong turn down Willy Wonka’s garbage chute. Uncle Gupta don’t think it’s too strange that Barbara L’Italien advocating for taking it from the behind. Nobody gonna want to be looking at this in the face during the hot nookie-nookie session.. Holy mother of Kali! Blowjob from this one probably count as anal anyways. No surprise here really . Both L’Italien and Chandler recently vote to give themselves fat pay hike, so they have lot of experience stuffing the pepperonis in the peoples hot pockets. This one Hindu here don’t know about you, but when I see Hariette Chandler’s face, the first thing that come to mind not going to be anal sex: Sweet baby Hannuman! Her ass probably look like dying Yoda’s forehead. Going to work up her Lincoln Log Factory probably sound like punching a fist into the open jar of Miracle Whip! (Miracle Whip! Two jars for five dollar at my Main South Happy Hindu Mart Convenience Store in Worcester. Next five minute only.) She so old her dunghole probably look like the hopper on a meat grinder after Porketta night. This one Sonia Chang-Diaz though? Would. This Hindu just saying. “There are times when government needs to be proactive, and protective, and this is one of those situations.” I agreeing that government should be protective and proactive. Maybe if they had voted to give the Police the Kevlar Vests instead of giving their fat samosa asses big raise it would have been good start. Educating the 12 years old child about anal sex? Not so much. You know what going to happen in the class full of 12 years old kids when teacher start talking about the anal and oral sex? Gonna be like comedy scene in bad Hindi movie. Maybe not during class, but afterwards they gonna make the fun. “Rectum? Damn near killed him!” joke gonna get old real quick in the cafeteria. State Legislators are calling this bill the “Healthy Youth Act”. That really nice way of putting it. As usual with these “Dheela Lund Ni Olaad” (That my Gujarati language for “Sons of the broken penis”), the devil is in the details…and Uncle Gupta all about the details! One of the textbooks approved in the bill is called “Get Real: Comprehensive Sex Education That Works,” put out by the Planned Parenthood. Book is only available in bundles of 50, and this thrifty Indian man not buying if he can’t find the coupon or get the good deal. I ferret couple passages out on the internets for you. You’re welcome. One lesson teaches the childrens that A dental dam is “placed over the vulva or anus during oral sex”. Then it goes on to say the people can also use the “Non-Microwaveable Saran Wrap”. Papa Gupta spend most of his daughter’s pre-teen years yelling at her to do the healthy things. “Don’t touch that! Do not step in the dog mess! Don’t put the statue of Baby Krishna in your mouth! Wash Your hands before eating! Use the Purell after shaking Senator McGovern’s hand!”. Now, she would have to go to school next day and learn how to toss the big salad?? It’s ok though…. Happy Hindu Mart sell plenty of non-microwaveable Saran Wrap. This handsome Indian TurtleBoy don’t think Saran Wrap company be too happy knowing sex education class teaching the children to use their product to cover the chocolate cannoli. Another lesson talk about using the “ internal condom that is inserted into the anus.” They say it acts as a barrier but warns that “it may slip out of place during vaginal or anal intercourse and may be difficult to insert.” Wait…what you say? I had to call my cousin the Gastroenterologist about this one. Dr. Dharmendra Tubupyeresh. I say “Hey, Dharmendra, you ever hear of such thing?” He say to me “Gupta, you been lighting up the porn hub again? Yes there is such the thing.” He send me over this picture. “Insert two fingers inside the condom and gently push it into the anal cavity. The inner ring can be removed after inserted if desired.” Lovely. 12 year old gonna learn how to shove the ziplock bag up the friend’s wazoo before doing the zoom-zoom in the boom-boom. When Uncle Gupta first read this news, he knew something smell funny…and not just the anal sex! Then this bald prick rears his ugly head and everything make sense… Senator Jamie Eldridge. You might remember him from such blogs as these. This bhenchod one real professional turtle poking man! In my former country he would not have been problem because we would have already kill him already. Notice how he don’t tweet about the content of the bill…only that the Mass Senate GOP (all six of them) oppose it. Let me tell you something, Senator Jamie…nobody going to oppose young adults learning the safe ways to make the sweet nookie-nookie, but not letting parents opt them out? What kind of glass dinka-doodle you been smoking from? This Hindu gets it. Too many kids having the sex at young age… Definitely should be options available to teach healthy sexual practices to children, but if any citizen ever texted the contents of some of these lessons to a child, they would go to the prison. And we all know what happen in prison. Dunghole come out looking like Saarlac sand monster from the Return of the Jedi. Anyway, this Hindu try hard to reach these senators on Twitter but they not responding. Wonder why. Namaste TurtleBoy Nations! May the supple trunk of Ganesha goose your buttocks!

On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order that will begin to deplete the Affordable Care Act, and allow companies to offer cheaper healthcare plans with fewer benefits. Or, as he put it, he is “saving the American people from the nightmare of Obamacare.” Just a few hours later, the Trump administration announced it's ending federal subsidies for health insurance companies that help millions of low-income people pay deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. These subsidies were projected to cost about $9 billion this year, according to the New York Times, and nearly $100 billion in the coming decade. The new decision will go into effect immediately, the Health and Human Services Department announced on Thursday. According to the Times, without the subsidies, "insurance markets could quickly unravel." Insurers have already threatened to pull out of the insurance exchanges created under Obamacare if subsidies are cut off, because they said they will need much higher premiums. “The government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments,” the White House said in a statement. “Congress needs to repeal and replace the disastrous Obamacare law and provide real relief to the American people.” In a joint statement, Senate and House Minority Leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi said Trump has “apparently decided to punish the American people for his inability to improve our health care system.” They consider Trump's decision "a spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage leveled at working families and the middle class in every corner of America."

(GMG) - The question is going to be asked many times, by many people: Did global warming cause or have any impact on Hurricane Irma? What about Harvey? While there is tremendous agreement among scientists about the basic science of climate change, politics and social media have created an atmosphere where a lot of incorrect information is being bantered about. Here's the truth about the relationship between global warming and hurricanes Irma and Harvey. Scientists are uncertain about whether global warming will cause more hurricanes. In fact, some scientists say that a warmer planet will actually result in fewer hurricanes. However, that is not the entire story. A warming world means that ocean temperatures increase, too. And we all know that warm ocean water is the fuel that power hurricanes. So, even if the coming decades show a decrease in overall hurricanes, those hurricanes that do develop in otherwise favorable conditions will likely be stronger. The bottom line is that our future may be one of fewer but stronger hurricanes. Is that good or bad news? Fewer hurricanes mean a lower chance that one hits Florida. But a hurricane that does form and heads our way will likely be stronger, with a more severe storm surge and higher winds. Something else to consider is that, as the world warms, more ocean water evaporates into the atmosphere (which has been documented...it's happening). This water vapor is what hurricanes turn into rainfall. Our warmer world with higher atmospheric humidity means that tropical weather systems have more moisture to tap into, which means greater potential for increased rainfall. Statistics show that extreme precipitation events nationwide are increasing, and this also applies to tropical systems. What most people don't realize is that, as summer wanes and we transition into fall, hurricanes are the atmosphere's natural mechanism to return the summertime water vapor back into the ocean. So, hurricanes are necessary to balance the planet's water budget. The only problem is that people get in the way, and hurricanes of the future likely will have higher rainfall and increased potential for catastrophic flooding events -- also due to higher storm surges, resulting from higher sea levels from the warming climate. Now, let's apply all of this information to hurricanes Irma and Harvey: --------- Did global warming cause Irma or Harvey? No. Both hurricanes could have developed, regardless of the warming climate. Could global warming have affected Irma’s record strength, or Harvey's rapid intensification, just before landfall? Harvey strengthened rapidly from a Category 1 to a Category 4 storm in just over a day, undoubtedly due to very warm Gulf of Mexico waters it traveled over in otherwise favorable conditions. It was the first Category 4 storm to make landfall in Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961. Irma became the strongest Atlantic basin hurricane when its winds increased to 185 mph, also due to very warm ocean temperatures and otherwise favorable conditions. There is no question that the warmer ocean temperatures we’re experiencing now have been impacted by the warming climate. So, global warming may have been part of the reason that Harvey rapidly intensified just before landfall, and Irma became a record-breaking hurricane. Did global warming cause the incredible rain amounts that Harvey produced? As we discussed above, increased atmospheric humidity due to global warming is making storms such as Harvey more predisposed to heavier rainfall. However, this is not the only reason Texas saw such extraordinary rain totals. Remember that most hurricanes (such as Irma) come and go: they make landfall and keep on moving. Hurricane Harvey became a tourist. It hung around for a while and meandered due to weak steering currents. While most people focus on wind, the true destructive power of that storm was water. Bands of torrential rain plagued southeast Texas for more than five straight days. Think about that for a moment: Hurricane and tropical storm-induced heavy rain bands, day after day. The bottom line is that, while global warming may have provided Harvey with extra water vapor to generate increased rainfall, the bigger reason for the catastrophic rain amounts was the storm's unusually slow movement. And by the way, there is no way to know, based upon our current knowledge, whether global warming had any impact on Harvey's slow movement. Hopefully, future research will answer that question. By Meteorologist Paul Gross Graham Media Group 2017

President Donald Trump took a new swipe at U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday, referring to him in a tweet as "beleaguered" and wondering why he isn't digging into Hillary Clinton's alleged contacts with Russia. (REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein) President Trump took his criticism of Jeff Sessions to a... good grief, you're going to always have squabbles of course the president wasn't happy that Sessions recluse himself from the Russian investigation from the Russian investigation... it's one of those situations damned if you do and damned if you don't... User from CA 2017.7.25 You will not get another ine because the democrats will not put another attorney general through Get down to business now and let all this other junk go by the way side repeal obama care and put another health care in but if you guys do not get together and quit going against each other because you want more medical Vicky Walters 2017.7.25

© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP A chat with the host of the trashiest talk show in television history about Trump, Hillary, and the State of the Union. You can see it, almost: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sitting just a few steps from each other onstage, going at each other’s throats. “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” Clinton levels. Trump cuts in with a threat: “Because you’d be in jail.” The audience goes wild, collectively gasping, then cheering, either for their audacious, say-it-like-it-is savior, or because they’re just thrilled with the entertainment. Maybe a chair gets thrown. It’s not hard for Jerry Springer to picture some of the crazier moments from the 2016 presidential election on the set of his eponymous talk show. After all, the Jerry Springer Show traffics in drama and dysfunction, and that ugly scene—minus the chair throwing—played out live at the second presidential debate last week, one of the most brutal in recent history. “I've never had a guest on my show who I thought should be president,” says Springer, laughing. “Ever. Except the guy who married his horse.” Faced with the prospect of a Trump presidency, Springer, a former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati who once ran for governor of Ohio, has thrown his hat back in the political ring to make the case for Clinton. Last month, he tweeted his assessment of the options facing the American people: “Hillary Clinton belongs in the White House. Donald Trump belongs on my show.” We’ll let him explain. GQ: The second debate was one of the most savage—and personal—we’ve ever seen. How much did it remind you of your show? Jerry Springer: I mean, good God. Other than his money, how in the world is he different than people that are on my show? And that's not trying to be cute. That's the truth. I mean, I think about the issues of the people that come on our show, the language they use, the relationship dysfunctions. You know, other than your net worth, what is the difference, and why do people wind up calling people on my show trash? I've always said that wealthy people haven't cornered the market on propriety or morality or decency. We keep thinking, just because people are poor and maybe didn't go to college or something that all of the sudden they're trash, and then we see this running for president? The behavior's the same. After the first debate, you tweeted that Trump belongs on your show. In the style of segments like “My Girlfriend is a Man” and “I Married a Horse,” what would you call the episode starring him? [laughs] Great question. Oh gosh, I’ve gotta think…"I’ll Beat That Blank To The White House." A hallmark of your show is when people start throwing chairs at each other. Be honest: Do you ever feel like thwacking Trump with a folding chair? [laughs] Well, I’m nonviolent. I think he wouldn’t come on my show—nothing to do with chairs—he wouldn’t come on my show because he wouldn't want his hair pulled. You know, they're always pulling off the wig? That's why he wouldn't come on the show. There’s been speculation that Trump is planning a new media empire to capitalize on his momentum after the election. Are you worried he’s going to take your job? "I'm sorry. I've ruined the culture." Well he’s far better on television than I am, so I'm not worried, because I'm 73 years old. [phone rings in the background] Some other person calling for money. [laughs] It's funny because, on a side note, and then I'll answer your question, once you're identified as being a Democrat and Hillary supporter, etc., then every Democrat running in the country starts calling you for money. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The problem with him doing my show is you've got to be able to tell the difference between a host and the guests. So they would have to run a graphic, they would have to keep saying, "He's the host, he's the host, he's the host." But other than that, yeah, he's phenomenal on television. You’re an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter. Aside from “she’s not a demagogue,” what’s your case for her? Certainly in my lifetime, there’s never been a human being more prepared, and more knowledgeable and more balanced to be president of the United States who hasn't already been one. In other words, when you run for reelection for president, you already know all of the world issues. But for someone who hasn't yet been president, I don't think there's another human being that could sit down with her and would know as much about what's going on in the world, has thought more about all these issues for her whole lifetime, than she has. She really is the most qualified person ever to run for president who hasn't been president before. And there's no particular benefit for me other than I love my country. I mean, I'm not looking for a political job. I'm literally just a citizen. And I do take it seriously. I'm [from] an immigrant family. So I take the State of Liberty very seriously. I mean, my family was lost in the Holocaust. We believe in the State of Liberty. This was the place we were going to come. And then you have someone running for president who is opposed to the idea [of] America? Religious, ethnic and all that kind of freedom? And wants to replace the State of Liberty with a wall? So I compare that to the qualifications of a Hillary. You’ve talked about how the election is personal for you. How does it hit home? Someone comes to me and says, "Well, if you knew Trump, he isn’t personally bigoted." It doesn't matter—that's irrelevant. He’s smart enough to know that he is giving cover, he is giving voice to a very ugly notion that you will be judged in this country based on where you're from and what your religion is, what your ethnicity is, and in some instances, even what your color is. And gender. And your disabilities, if you have any. Well, we all have some disabilities. But it’s, like, oh my god, this is so un-American. It's, like, a cruel irony to say we're going to make America great again. Hey! First understand what America is. That is personal. You’re the former mayor of Cincinnati. What have you learned about politics in the two decades you’ve been doing your show that you didn't know during your political career? I always knew we were all alike and the only thing that separated us [is] some of us were luckier in the gene pool of parents, and some of us had more money, and stuff like that. And I saw that in politics, and I see it in the people on my show. ... 99 percent of what we are, we had nothing to do with. Not one person you will ever meet had anything to do with the decision to be born, to whom you'd be born, what kind of health, what kind of brain, what era, what country. None of this stuff. The last one percent of what we become is maybe due to our own efforts. But even that is based on what we were born with. If you understand that, then you will never ever judge people based on what they are. You will only judge people based on what they do. I guess I kind of knew that all along, and every job I’ve ever had just confirmed what I've always believed, is that human beings are alike. Some are just luckier. Your show is in its 26th season— I apologize. [laughs] I'm sorry. I've ruined the culture. I'm so sorry. Oh, please, Rebecca, forgive me. I forgive you! What’s one moment from this election that would have been way better on your stage? Well, any of the debates, clearly. And obviously the video. I mean, really. You can’t even make a parody of it anymore. I can't—it's almost, they’re throwing softballs at me. It's, like, "Hey! Here's a show topic, here's a show topic." I mean, I could have done a whole season of shows just on this campaign. But again, it’s one thing to have a television [show] about that, which is the purpose of the show, to have it about dysfunctional behavior, and another thing to say, "Gee, why doesn't the person on this show run for president?" What? Who thought that was a good idea? You’ve said Trump’s blurring of politics and entertainment helped propel him to the GOP nomination. Are shows like yours to blame for Trump’s rise? No, no one show. Lots of people watch the show and behave properly.

Remember back in August of 2015, when Donald Trump's women problem was contained to calling Rosie O'Donnell a "pig" at the first Republican debate and saying Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her wherever" for asking legitimate questions about his sexist treatment of women? Fast forward to present day (or, more accurately, last night), and we now have former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (and current Trump surrogate) literally daring Kelly to call Bill Clinton a "sexual predator" on live television after trying to denounce the coverage of Trump's numerous sexual misconduct allegations as unfair and biased. Thank goodness there are only 13 more days till the election because, honestly, how much more of this can the American people take? What began as a conversation between the Fox News anchor and former speaker of the house about Donald Trump's dwindling poll numbers soon turned into a hostile exchange about sexism, media bias, and the election. Recent reports, including one conducted by Fox News, show Clinton's numbers growing in several key states, making Trump's chances of becoming president all the more slim. Gingrich quickly interjected that all these polls are biased—"Fox News? I don't think so," Kelly countered—before he launched into an attack on the media as a whole for focusing on the Access Hollywood tape and the numerous women who have come forward to corroborate the things Trump articulated on the leaked footage, rather than the leaked transcripts of Hillary Clinton's Wall Street speeches or her plans to allow "600 million people" to migrate to the country. "The three major networks spent 23 minutes attacking Donald Trump [after the third presidential debate] and 57 seconds on Hillary Clinton's secret speeches," Gingrich said. "You don't think this is a scale of bias worthy of Pravada and Izvestia?" (Quick history aside: Pravada and Izvestia were two newspapers published in Soviet Russia.) Kelly articulated that "if Trump is a sexual predator"—which Gingrich quickly denied—and was revealed to have a lengthy history of sexual misconduct, Americans—especially American women—have the right to know this about a presidential nominee and the media should be required to cover it. Or so she tried to articulate before Gingrich once again interrupted her for using "inflammatory" language "that is not true." "You are fascinated by sex and you don't care about public policy," said a man who spent his tenure as speaker of the house obstructing the president and twenty-plus years dwelling on Bill Clinton's sexual history. "Me? Really?" Kelly countered, before Gingrich doubled down, saying, "That's what I get out of watching you tonight." Kelly responded to this, saying, "You know, Mr. Speaker, I'm not fascinated by sex, but I am fascinated by the protection of women and understanding what we're getting in the Oval Office and I think the American voters would like to know." "Therefore we're going to send Bill Clinton back to the East Wing because, after all, you're worried about sexual predators?" Gingrich interjected. "Listen, it's not about me. It's about the women and men of America. The poll numbers show us that the women of America, in particular, are very concerned about these allegations, and, in large part, believe they are a real issue and don't want to dismiss the women." Kelly barely made her point before Gingrich once again interrupted, saying, "You want a comment on whether the Clinton ticket has a relationship to a sexual predator?" "We, on The Kelly File, have covered that story as well," she countered. "I want to hear you use the words 'Bill Clinton, sexual predator.' I dare you. Say 'Bill Clinton, sexual predator," Gingrich said, smirking all the while. Kelly, as expected, kept her cool, explained that she had, in fact, covered Clinton's past behavior on her show, before making the most sound counter-argument to Gingrich's challenge. "He's not on the ticket,” Kelly said. “The polls also show the American public is less interested in the deeds of Hillary Clinton’s husband than they are in the deeds of the man who asks us to make him president, Donald Trump.” As the segment drew to an end, Kelly bid farewell to her contentious guest, saying, "We’re going to have to leave it at that and you can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for being here.” To which Gingrich replied, "And you too." Watch the full segment below.

Prior to Sunday's presidential debate, four women who have accused the Clintons of wrongdoing, including allegations of sexual deviancy, spoke at a press availability with Republican Donald Trump. Observers said Trump meant to contrast his vulgar leaked 2005 audiotape with the allegations from the women about their mistreatment at the hands of the Clintons. "It's so important...when people are talking about... the words that Donald Trump uttered--he's very embarrassed...he's apologetic for those words," Juanita Broaddrick, 73, told Sean Hannity. Broaddrick has accused Bill Clinton of sexually assaulting her in 1978, and has said that Hillary Clinton attacked her character after she came forward with the original accusations. "I've never heard one apology for what Hillary Clinton did to me after she threatened me after her husband raped me. I did have an apology from Bill Clinton, although he'll never admit it--I'd like to see him do it in-person," she said. Broaddrick added that she "feared" a Clinton presidency because she suspected that Hillary Clinton would seek retribution against her for speaking out once more. Watch the full clip above and let us know what you think in the comments. Krauthammer: Trump Threat to Prosecute Hillary Sounds Like a 'Banana Republic'

Hillary Clinton called Monica Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony tune.” She called Gennifer Flowers “some failed cabaret singer.” She said Republicans in Congress had organized “a vast right-wing conspiracy” against her husband, President Bill Clinton. And now the former secretary of state and defeated Democratic presidential candidate says those of us still interested in the investigating of her conduct are engaging in an “abuse of power.” Hillary Clinton expects special treatment. She always has. The real question is: why did the FBI give it to her? The FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton was referred to as “special” in an email sent by current FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. He was the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office before his promotion to the second-ranking spot in the bureau. Despite a deep web of connections to Clinton, McCabe formally recused himself from the email investigation only a week before the 2016 election. McCabe’s admissions are telling, but not inaccurate. Four months have passed since 20 members of the House Judiciary Committee demanded a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton. No action from the Department of Justice has been taken. Only a special person could have her spouse meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on a tarmac in Phoenix during an ongoing criminal investigation. Recently released emails show that Bill Clinton purposely altered his departure to get time alone with Lynch. While the FBI was very concerned with punishing the agent who disclosed the Lynch-Bill Clinton meeting, the impropriety of the gathering garnered far less attention. When Lynch told then-FBI Director James Comey to refer to the Hillary Clinton investigation as a “matter” rather than an “investigation,” language had a special meaning. According to McCabe, “the decision was made to investigate (Hillary Clinton) at HQ with a small team.” The double standard is glaring. More prosecutors are currently investigating President Trump than were assigned to the Oklahoma City bombing, but Hillary Clinton got the small team at HQ. And how did the “small team at HQ” handle the investigation? In a word – special. Somewhere between the first and the final draft, Comey’s statement changed. He first wrote that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server was “grossly negligent.” The final draft said she was “extremely careless.” Comey’s exoneration was drafted before the FBI interviewed key witnesses – including Clinton herself. When Intelligence Community Inspector General Charles McCullough confronted officials about the depth of Clinton’s crimes, he faced threats and “personal blowback” against him and his family. McCullough’s reports were delivered to then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Clapper spoke of the “heartburn” that exposure would create for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In every instance, being special has redounded to Hillary Clinton’s political and legal benefit. Not so for President Trump. Some at the Department of Justice and the FBI seem to have a special bias against the president. FBI Agent Peter Strzok sent biased anti-Trump text messages. He worked on both the Clinton email scandal and the Mueller probe. It remains unclear what evidence he reviewed, generated or damaged in either investigation. Four months have passed since 20 members of the House Judiciary Committee demanded a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton. No action from the Department of Justice has been taken. As members of the Judiciary Committee, we have demanded an investigation into the FBI’s procedures, practices, oversight and reporting. If biased agents have tainted evidence, we need to see it. If politically-interested prosecutors have an agenda, we need to know it. If our government institutions are being undermined by the deep state, we must expose it. After all, equal treatment under the law is just one thing that makes America so special. Republican Matt Gaetz represents Florida's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As seen on Justice With Judge Jeanine Issa: Comey Reopening FBI Clinton Email Probe 'Matter of His Integrity' In her Opening Statement last night, Judge Jeanine Pirro said FBI Director James Comey owes it to the American people to reveal what new information made him decide to reopen the Hillary Clinton email investigation. "He's got to tell us what was discovered what was so big that he violated Justice Department and FBI guidelines and alerted the nation. He cannot hide behind protocol," Judge Jeanine said. She also called for a "thorough, unbiased investigation," with search warrants, empaneling a grand jury and a deal with Huma Abedin to get the top Clinton aide to talk. "Jim, go back to your roots," Judge Jeanine said. "You were once a great prosecutor. Don’t let Washington ruin you, too. You need to send these Clintons back to where they came from." Read the full transcript below, and let us know what you think in the comments. Liberals Bash FBI Director Comey Over Clinton Probe After Praising Him in July Mother of Jailed Sailor: 'Hold Hillary to Same Standards' as My Son on Classified Info The FBI’s ability to get Huma Abedin- Hillary Clinton's closest advisor, confidante and State Department deputy chief of staff - to sing will make or break this election. Right now, reports are the FBI is negotiating with Huma's lawyers, stemming from her joint computer with pervert husband, disgraced ex -congressman Anthony Weiner. Here we go again: We are nine days from an election that will redefine this nation. And as I said last night, we're on the precipice of yet another constitutional crisis because of the Clintons. This time, involving an alleged pedophile, our nation's top secrets and a couple of grifters from Arkansas. You already know how I feel about all this from my open last night. The American people are entitled to know before we go to the voting booth what it was that caused FBI Director Comey to reopen the case. He's got to tell us what was discovered what was so big that he violated Justice Department and FBI guidelines and alerted the nation. He cannot hide behind protocol. The Justice guidelines 'don't let me talk' rule doesn't work anymore. The 'we don't comment on pending cases' doesn't work anymore. There are no ethical prohibitions. You have been invited by the target and her surrogates to release the information that caused you to reopen a closed case. If there is an indictment, Hillary is now foreclosed from objecting to such disclosure. My bet is, she knows you wont - but thinks that she’s calling your bluff. If she really wanted to know, all she has to do is sit down with Huma and ask her. The investigation is then not compromised, since documentary evidence - here emails - do not change. So it's time to do what you didn't do last year- a thorough unbiased investigation, using all the tools available search warrants and empaneling a grand jury. No more mother may I routine. You’re the one who got yourself in this mess. And now the American people are in a bigger mess. In 2013 Huma signed a document under penalty of perjury when she left the state department that she had turned over all classified materials and that she was not retaining copies. It seems that metadata on 650 thousand emails suggest otherwise. Huma swore under oath that she searched thru all her devices for anything state related. She had a chance to turn things over and she didn’t. Start your negotiation there, Mr. Director. You've got her in a corner. It's time to throw some punches. Make your deal with Huma now. If you don't and Hillary gets elected, no one will care. Hillary will do what she’s always done. She'll be appalled at Huma. She’ll say she didn't know. She didn't remember. She short-circuited. She had a brain clot. She had no idea. Look, the American people are already traumatized by the Clinton scandals and we just can’t take 4 more years of them. Word is that although Justice told your FBI guys to shut down the Clinton Foundation investigation, it’s still ongoing. The justice dept. is dirty and you know it. Our attorney general actually pleaded the fifth on the Iran ransom probe. Loretta Lynch meeting with the spouse of a target and then the target herself days later saying I will keep Loretta Lynch as my attorney general is bribery pure and simple. Jim, go back to your roots. You were once a great prosecutor. Don’t let Washington ruin you too. You need to send these Clintons back to where they came from. It’s time for you to buck up put on your big boy pants and make a deal with Huma for the sake of this nation. You've got till Tuesday.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called out former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon just days after he accused the Catholic Church of having ulterior motives in helping undocumented immigrants. James Rogers, the USCCB's chief spokesman, called Bannon's comments "preposterous" in a interview on Sirius Radio. Rogers was referring to Steve Bannon's interview with Charlie Rose on "60 Minutes" where he claimed the Catholic Church only needs "illegal aliens" as worshipers. Rogers says Bannon's statements are untrue. "Our pro-immigration stance is based on fidelity to God's word and honors the American dream. For anyone to suggest that it is out of sordid motives of statistics or financial gain is outrageous and insulting," he added. "And the Bible is so clear, so clear, that to treat the immigrant with dignity and respect, to make sure that society is just in its treatment of the immigrant is Biblical mandate," Dolan said. "It's clear in the Old Testament -- my Jewish neighbors remind me of that all the time -- and it's clear from the lips of Jesus when he said, 'Whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do to me. When I was a stranger -- meaning an immigrant or a refugee -- you welcomed me.'" Bannon's comments have drawn widespread criticism. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said in an interview on the Catholic Channel on Sirius XM, "I don't really care to go into what I think is a preposterous and rather insulting statement that the only reason we bishops care for immigrants is for the economic because we want to fill our churches and get more money." The full interview of Steve Bannon on "60 Minutes" will air this Sunday. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is accusing the Catholic Church of needing "illegal aliens" as worshipers. “The Catholic Church has been terrible about this,” he said while discussing immigration policy in a new interview Thursday. “The bishops have been terrible about this.” “[It’s] because [they’re] unable to really to – to – to come to grips with the problems in the church,” Bannon continued on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” “They need illegal aliens, they need illegal aliens to fill the churches.” “They have an economic interest. They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration, unlimited illegal immigration.” Bannon was discussing President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA temporarily blocks undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and lets them get renewable work permits. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced that Trump’s administration would eliminate the program in six months. Nearly 800,000 “Dreamers,” or DACA recipients, have benefited from the program since former President Barack Obama’s administration implemented it in 2012.

Briefly: In our opinion, full (150% of the regular full position) speculative short positions in gold, silver and mining stocks are justified from the risk/reward perspective at the moment of publishing this alert. Gold moved back and forth on Friday and the accompanying volume was high, but that’s not the only important thing that we can discuss today. The week is over and we have weekly changes and weekly volume levels to analyze and we saw major moves in the important ratios. Additionally, we discovered a self-similar pattern in gold that has critical and volatile implications going forward. Let’s start with Friday’s session and the changes in the gold market (chart courtesy of http://stockcharts.com). Gold moved sharply back and forth as both positive and negative data was released and ultimately it ended the session a few dollars higher (based on kitco’s prices, the closing price was $1,279.60). Why was the reaction so significant? The reason could be technical – the apex of the triangle was likely to be accompanied by a turnaround and since we just saw a more visible top a couple of days ago and apparently gold doesn’t want to form a bottom here, then the only remaining outcome is a local daily top that doesn’t change much – which is what we saw. Why do we think that gold doesn’t want to bottom here? Because if it did, it would have ended Friday’s session much higher. If gold doesn’t want to move higher, then silver must really hate that “thought”. The white metal declined once again and even though gold closed a bit higher, it managed to close lower. The move lower by itself is already bearish as it took place on visible volume, but it’s very bearish once we take into account Thursday’s breakdown. We previously commented on it in the following way: Silver declined and it reversed before the end of the session, which appears to be a reversal. But does this reversal really have bullish implications? It doesn’t seem to be the case. The volume wasn’t huge enough to confirm the reversal and it was not low enough to invalidate the bearish implications of the decline either. The key thing to the proper analysis of the silver price swing is the awareness of what the USD and S&P 500 did. The former declined a bit, while stocks truly soared, which created perfect circumstances for a silver rally. Yet, instead of a rally, we saw a decline and a move below the rising support line based on the August and October lows. Consequently, silver’s action was very bearish as it showed great weakness in this market. Moreover, the mentioned support line could be viewed as a neck level of a head and shoulders pattern (with a rather long right shoulder, similar to the one that we saw in the euro), which serves as an additional bearish indication (it’s only a small addition to the bearish implications of the breakdown as such, as its implications are bearish regardless of the H&S formation being in place or not). On Friday, the general stock market declined significantly but almost the entire decline was reversed before the end of the session. If we consider Thursday and Friday together, the S&P 500 index still rallied considerably, but silver declined and was unable to invalidate its breakdown. The implications are strongly bearish. Let’s move back to gold for a few minutes. In terms of the euro, the bearish signals are much more profound. Gold has just broken below the rising, medium-term support line and the most recent local top was formed approximately at the apex of the triangle pattern (in terms of time). The latter makes it considerably more likely that an important top was just formed and thus that the breakdown that we just saw will be confirmed. As far as the apex of the triangle is concerned, it’s actually a combination of two such patterns – they are based on the same tops and bottoms, but in one case (red lines) they are based on the intraday extremes and in the other case (black lines) they are based on the daily closing prices. The most recent top took place right between the apexes created based on both patterns. The mentioned breakdown is almost confirmed. Almost, because we would prefer to see three consecutive closing prices below the support line to see it as strong resistance, but we have already seen two of them, a weekly close and also a failed attempt to move back above the line. The breakdown is very close to being fully confirmed and the bearishness of the implications increased significantly based on Friday’s session. Speaking of breakdowns, we saw one in the gold to S&P 500 ratio, which… is nothing new, but still quite exciting and important. Why? Because due to several failed attempts to break below this level, we had to be skeptical toward the breakdown this time. The question was: ”Would this time be any different?” It turned out that this time was different as the ratio moved back to the previously broken level, verified it as support and then continued to move lower on huge volume (precisely, the ratio itself doesn’t have volume, so what we mean is the ratio of volumes). Why would the above be a big deal? Because this ratio moves in tune with gold when it comes to major price moves and – more importantly – there was only one similar case in the past 15 years when we saw a similar breakdown and it was in the early stages of the 2012 – 2013 decline. Back then, it was a warning sign that practically nobody noticed. You’ll probably not see it anywhere (except for this publication) this time either. Naturally, the implications are strongly bearish as the breakdown now appears believable. From the weekly point of view, we see that mining stocks declined and broke below the rising support lines based on the 2016 and 2017 lows and that the breakdown took place on big volume. All that happened after two weeks of low-volume upswings that we commented on in last Monday’s alert: Finally, the weekly volume levels in the GDX ETF paint a very bearish picture for the following weeks. The GDX ETF is after 2 small, weekly rallies that were accompanied by very low volume when compared with the previous weeks. The last week had less trading days, but that doesn’t explain the previous week’s low volume reading. Moreover, we didn’t see similarly low volume readings in the past Novembers, which suggests that we are correct to view the low volume levels as something important and meaningful. The only comparable situation from the recent past took place in mid-2014 (marked with a black arrow). In the following weeks, the GDX price was cut by a third. The bearish implications of the above just became more bearish as back in 2014, the first big-volume weekly decline meant that the big slide had just begun. The breakdown can also be seen in the case of the HUI to S&P 500 index ratio. In other words, by looking at gold stocks’ performance relative to other stocks. The breakdown is clear and confirmed by both weekly and monthly closing prices. The implications are bearish. All in all, the medium-term outlook is clearly bearish based on the above and based on the factors that we discussed previously and it seems that we’ve been correct to be holding the short positions in metals and miners (especially in silver and miners). Still, it seems that the vast majority of the potential that these positions have is still to be realized. This is particularly the case given the similarities between what we’re seeing now and what we saw before the previous slides. We already discussed some of those similarities above, but there’s also something else that is likely in play right now. In early October, we described the analogy in performance between 2008 and the current period (at the moment) in gold stocks. It was almost two months ago, so even if you read it at that time, it might be worth reading it once again today (by the way, we are making that alert available publicly, so if you know someone who’s interested in precious metals, but has doubts about using technical analysis to analyze it, please send them the link to that alert – they might change their minds - https://www.sunshineprofits.com/gold-silver/gold-trading/the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same/) – it’s truly amazing how the similarity continued almost to the letter even though the two cases are almost a decade apart. Even the initial retracement of the HUI Index (38.2%) was identical. However, today we are not going to repeat the October analysis – we are going to discuss something alike… in gold. That’s right, the gold market features similarities to its performance back in 2008. Before moving to details, let’s state that the analogy is far from perfect. That’s probably why we didn’t discover it earlier. However, it’s not the point to be picky about a technique, but rather to see if there is anything that it can give us and make us particularly aware of things that could come. With regard to the latter goal in mind, it seems that we have something very valuable. In both cases, we have a sharp rally that preceded a top, then we saw some kind of consolidation and another attempt to move higher, which failed (mid-2008 and second half of 2012) and started a decline. The decline was more or less twice the size of the decline from the key (March 2008 and late 2011) top. In 2008, we saw a corrective upswing that was followed by a move to almost the final bottom and from mid-2013 to early 2015 we saw several such corrective upswings. After the initial bottom (September 2008 and the final part of 2015) gold soared sharply. The sizes of the upswings differ on a relative basis, but it’s understandable as back in 2008 the moves took place in a very short time, so the levels of emotionality among market participants were much higher. After the sharp rally, gold consolidated a bit (late September 2008 and mid-2016), then declined and moved close to the previous highs once again (October 2008 and September 2017). The decline that started thereafter in 2008 was the biggest and sharpest decline in many years. Naturally, this does not bode well for the near-term gold outlook. Conversely, it seems that we can expect the most important part of the decline to be just around the corner. The above implication is not the only interesting thing about the analogy, though. The detail that could be important going forward is the moment when the decline took a breather. At this time, the moves take more time, so the pauses could be longer and more visible as well and if we get enough bullish confirmations once gold moves to certain price levels, we might even adjust the trading position temporarily. In 2008, the first interim pause was at the most recent important low and the second pause was approximately the level from which the sharpest part of the previous huge rally started, which was strengthened by another support level (the previous low). We don’t have price levels that would be 100% analogous, but we can see which levels are most similar. In our view, the most recent important lows would be close to the $1,200 level (March, May, and July 2017 bottoms) and the next strong support will be provided by the $1,120 - $1,130 area. That’s approximately from where gold soared most sharply in early 2016 and this level is strengthened by the December 2016 low. These levels are most likely to generate support strong enough to trigger at least corrective rallies based on the analogy to what we saw in 2008 and based on their own strength as support. Naturally, that’s what appears likely based on the data that we have today and the likely scenario could change as new developments unfold. There’s one more thing that we left for the analytical dessert. Namely, back in 2008 the previous key low (September 2008 low, which is analogous to the late 2015 bottom) didn’t trigger even a small rally. Consequently, even though a bottom or at least a correction will be widely expected once gold moves below $1,100, gold may continue to move lower and slide through $1,050 like a hot knife through butter. Finally, there’s one more thing that makes the current situation in gold similar to 2008 – the overall increase in the volume levels. We already discussed, why the yearly volume levels at record highs should not be viewed as bullish (final part of the November 14 alert that we’re linking to) and today we would like to add the observation that back in 2008 the volume levels also broke to new highs and stayed there for a long time. Yes, the volume has been growing almost constantly, but the 2008 and 2017 buildups in volume still stand out. The growth is much sharper than in other years and no other period is comparable to those years. Since the 2008 volume buildup was followed by a sharp decline in the precious metals sector, it seems that we might see something similar also this and/or the next year. Summing up, there are multiple bearish signals in the gold market and in the rest of the precious metals sector and the analogies to previous major declines further support the bearish outlook. The big decline in PMs appears to be underway as the previously discussed long-term signals remain in place: gold’s huge monthly volume, the analogy in the HUI Index, the analogy between the two most recent series of interest rate hikes, and the RSI signal from gold priced in the Japanese yen. To summarize: Trading capital (supplementary part of the portfolio; our opinion): Short positions (150% of the full position) in gold, silver and mining stocks are justified from the risk/reward perspective with the following stop-loss orders and exit price levels / profit-take orders: In case one wants to bet on junior mining stocks' prices (we do not suggest doing so – we think senior mining stocks are more predictable in the case of short-term trades – if one wants to do it anyway, we provide the details), here are the stop-loss details and exit prices: Long-term capital (core part of the portfolio; our opinion): No positions (in other words: cash) Insurance capital (core part of the portfolio; our opinion): Full position Whether you already subscribed or not, we encourage you to find out how to make the most of our alerts and read our replies to the most common alert-and-gold-trading-related-questions. Please note that the in the trading section we describe the situation for the day that the alert is posted. In other words, it we are writing about a speculative position, it means that it is up-to-date on the day it was posted. We are also featuring the initial target prices, so that you can decide whether keeping a position on a given day is something that is in tune with your approach (some moves are too small for medium-term traders and some might appear too big for day-traders). Plus, you might want to read why our stop-loss orders are usually relatively far from the current price. Please note that a full position doesn’t mean using all of the capital for a given trade. You will find details on our thoughts on gold portfolio structuring in the Key Insights section on our website. As a reminder – “initial target price” means exactly that – an “initial” one, it’s not a price level at which we suggest closing positions. If this becomes the case (like it did in the previous trade) we will refer to these levels as levels of exit orders (exactly as we’ve done previously). Stop-loss levels, however, are naturally not “initial”, but something that, in our opinion, might be entered as an order. Since it is impossible to synchronize target prices and stop-loss levels for all the ETFs and ETNs with the main markets that we provide these levels for (gold, silver and mining stocks – the GDX ETF), the stop-loss levels and target prices for other ETNs and ETF (among other: UGLD, DGLD, USLV, DSLV, NUGT, DUST, JNUG, JDST) are provided as supplementary, and not as “final”. This means that if a stop-loss or a target level is reached for any of the “additional instruments” (DGLD for instance), but not for the “main instrument” (gold in this case), we will view positions in both gold and DGLD as still open and the stop-loss for DGLD would have to be moved lower. On the other hand, if gold moves to a stop-loss level but DGLD doesn’t, then we will view both positions (in gold and DGLD) as closed. In other words, since it’s not possible to be 100% certain that each related instrument moves to a given level when the underlying instrument does, we can’t provide levels that would be binding. The levels that we do provide are our best estimate of the levels that will correspond to the levels in the underlying assets, but it will be the underlying assets that one will need to focus on regarding the signs pointing to closing a given position or keeping it open. We might adjust the levels in the “additional instruments” without adjusting the levels in the “main instruments”, which will simply mean that we have improved our estimation of these levels, not that we changed our outlook on the markets. We are already working on a tool that would update these levels on a daily basis for the most popular ETFs, ETNs and individual mining stocks. Our preferred ways to invest in and to trade gold along with the reasoning can be found in the how to buy gold section. Additionally, our preferred ETFs and ETNs can be found in our Gold & Silver ETF Ranking. As a reminder, Gold & Silver Trading Alerts are posted before or on each trading day (we usually post them before the opening bell, but we don't promise doing that each day). If there's anything urgent, we will send you an additional small alert before posting the main one. ===== Latest Free Trading Alerts: On Wednesday, Trump nominated Goodfriend to the Fed’s Board of Governors. What does it mean for the gold market? S&P 500 index lost 0.2% on Friday, following volatile trading session and a bounce off support level at 2,600 mark. Is this a topping pattern or just another consolidation within medium-term uptrend? ===== Hand-picked precious-metals-related links: ===== In other news: ===== Thank you.

Here’s some good advice. Please don’t place valuables likes money and passports in a planes overhead compartment! A couple was flying from Chicago back to Munich last week when they forgot some very precious and valuable cargo onboard. The couple left a bag containing $166,000 in the planes overhead compartment! Lucky for them, the story has a happy ending… The couple was able to go through customs using ID cards, not realizing that the bag they left behind contained their passports and “American cashier’s checks – worth a total of $166,000,” according to T+L. The man had just inherited the large sum of money from his mother. A cleaner saw the bag on the plane and turned it over to the airline. The airline then gave it to the local police who found the cashier’s checks inside. When the police figured out who the owners of the bag were, they had already left the airport. According to T+L the “police tracked them down to their home about two hours away“. Once the man was told what he had left on the plane he headed right back to the airport to claim the valuable bag! Lucky for them this story ended well!

Postpartum depression has become more visible as celebrity moms including Brooke Shields, Drew Barrymore and Chrissy Teigen have publicly shared their struggles with feeling sad and hopeless after birth. But when a father – Adam Busby, from reality TV show “OutDaughtered” – recently opened up about his own postpartum depression, he received instant backlash, including comments telling him to “man up.” Despite the skepticism, postpartum depression in fathers is very real, with estimates that around 10 percent of men report symptoms of depression following the birth of a child, about double the typical rate of depression in males. Postpartum depression in women has been linked with hormonal shifts, but the role of hormones in men’s postpartum depression has been unknown. In an attempt to solve this mystery, my colleagues and I recently tested whether men’s levels of the hormone testosterone are related to their postpartum depression risk during early parenthood. We found that men’s testosterone levels might predict not only their own postpartum depression risk, but their partner’s depression risk as well. Testosterone levels in flux through life changes Testosterone is an androgen hormone, responsible for the development and maintenance of male secondary sex characteristics. It promotes muscle mass and body hair growth, and motivates sexual arousal and competitive behavior. Many studies have found that testosterone dips in new fathers across the animal kingdom. Among animals that engage in the biparental care of offspring – Mongolian gerbils, Djungarian hamsters, California mice and cotton-top tamarins – males show lower testosterone levels following the birth of pups. Human males also often show declines in testosterone around the birth of their infants. In one of the largest studies of testosterone and fatherhood, anthropologist Lee Gettler and his colleagues followed over 600 single men in the Philippines for about five years. If men became partnered fathers during that time, their testosterone levels decreased more than the men who stayed single. Gettler also found that fathers who spent more time with their children showed lower testosterone, suggesting that testosterone may be suppressed by paternal caregiving. Along similar lines, psychologist Robin Edelstein and I found that men assessed repeatedly over their partner’s pregnancy showed declining testosterone levels from early to late pregnancy. Men whose testosterone dropped more dramatically were more likely to report postpartum commitment and investment in their romantic relationships with their partners. Researchers still haven’t identified exactly what causes men’s testosterone to change over the transition to parenthood. Possible suspects include proximity to the partner or infant, increased stress or disrupted sleep and exercise routines. Lower testosterone, higher depression Previous research has linked testosterone with men’s depression levels in general. Low testosterone may contribute to the feelings of lethargy and disinterest in normally pleasurable activities that characterize depression. In fact, some psychiatrists have even suggested prescribing testosterone supplements to treat depression in men. However, no studies had specifically looked at the potential role of testosterone in fathers’ postpartum depression. My colleagues and I analyzed data from the Community Child Health Research Network, a National Institutes of Health-funded study of new parents’ health and well-being. The study recruited moms after the birth of an infant and followed them for several years, along with their partners. At one of the study sites, in Lake County, Illinois, men also provided saliva samples for testosterone analysis when their infants were around nine months old. Both moms and dads reported on their symptoms of depression several times across the first few years of parenthood. We found that dads with lower testosterone reported feeling more depressed. This fits with other research into how testosterone and depression work together. But ours is the first study to observe this relationship specifically in fathers of infants. Given that many men show drops in testosterone over the transition to parenthood, this finding may help explain why the postpartum period is such a high-risk time for depression in men. An unexpected side effect – for the moms We were surprised when we examined links between men’s testosterone and their partners’ depression. Yes, low testosterone seemed to put men at higher risk for depressive symptoms. But men’s levels had the opposite effect for their partners: Women with lower-testosterone partners actually reported fewer symptoms of depression. Why would that be? We tested one possible explanation by looking at how women rated their relationships. It turned out that moms paired with low-testosterone men reported higher relationship satisfaction, and their higher relationship satisfaction predicted lower rates of depressive symptoms. In other words, having a low-testosterone mate might make for a better-quality relationship, in turn reducing the likelihood that women will become depressed. We know social support from a partner can protect women against developing postpartum depression, so our finding fits with that research. Lower-testosterone men may be more dedicated to their relationships or spend more time with children, helping to relieve some of the pressure on moms. At around 15 months postpartum, we also checked moms’ ratings of whether their partners hurt, threatened, yelled at or insulted them. If men had higher testosterone, moms reported higher levels of intimate partner aggression about six months later. Testosterone is associated with more aggressive and competitive behavior. Our finding shows a potential dark side to high testosterone in the postpartum period. Dads also told us about their parenting stress at 15 months postpartum, reporting on emotions such as feeling trapped by parenting responsibilities, believing their children made too many demands on them and lacking warm feelings toward their children. At first, we didn’t find a link between men’s testosterone levels and their parenting stress. But after we statistically controlled for the relationship between low testosterone and depression, we saw that higher testosterone put men at greater risk of experiencing problems in the parenting relationship. This result suggests that, once you adjust for their potentially lower risk of depression, high-testosterone men may find parenting to be more stressful. A happy medium for testosterone? Our results suggest that fathers of infants might be at risk at both sides of the postpartum testosterone spectrum. At low levels, they might be more vulnerable to depression. But at high levels, they might have less satisfying and more aggressive relationships, less happy partners and more parenting stress. In terms of resilience to depression and stress, men with average levels of postpartum testosterone seemed to fare best. Our findings reveal that men’s postpartum testosterone has a complex relationship with family health. From an evolutionary perspective, lower testosterone during the transition to parenthood may help motivate men to invest in their family. In the animal kingdom, lower-testosterone males spend more time with infant pups and show less aggression toward them. So it makes sense that human males would show shifts in testosterone as they adapt to parenthood. But these shifts may make men more vulnerable to mood disorder symptoms. Perhaps this is because lower-testosterone men are taking a more hands-on role in the family and helping more with infant care. Their contributions are great news from the family’s perspective, but may put men at heightened risk of some of the same depressive symptoms that many new mothers face. After all, caring for infants is hard, draining work. In modern industrialized societies like the United States, many new parents lack the extended family support networks that can help lighten the burden of childcare. And in the U.S., paternity leave is a rarity, and many dads struggle with family-unfriendly work arrangements that drain time and energy. Just as new moms can feel overwhelmed and isolated after spending long hours tending to their babies, so too can dads. If new dads (or moms) are experiencing depressed moods after the birth of their infants, they can take some comfort in the fact that these feelings are normal – and may even be rooted in our evolutionary biology. There’s no shame in seeking help, whether it’s talking to a friend, prioritizing sleep and exercise, or visiting a therapist. Postpartum depression affects the whole family and should be taken seriously. Darby Saxbe, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Days after Steven Bannon’s blustery, accusatory interview on “60 Minutes,” in which he warned the apostates blocking President Trump’s agenda that he’s coming after them, Trump confirmed it -- there is no such thing as Trumpism. In recent weeks he’s assured Democrats he backs legalizing the Dreamers, affirmed a commitment to foreign aid in front of the United Nations, and said he’s adding troops in Afghanistan. Will Trump now accept “better” terms he wants in the Paris climate accord? Too bad for Bannon, because none of this is remotely the fault of his favorite punching bags, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, just Trump himself. Bannon’s new self-described role as “wingman” growling from outside instead of inside the White House -- where as chief strategist he fought openly against the “globalist” forces he believed included Trump’s family members -- isn’t going very well. Trump keeps screwing things up for the Breitbart News commander. After getting fired last month he lamented to the Weekly Standard that “the Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over.” But upon reflection, Bannon realized that lame duck talk diminishes his own power, so he’s in overdrive fighting for scraps of a policy vision the president embraces spasmodically. Bannon says he’s enjoying having “my hands back on my weapons,” but he’s outside looking in at a West Wing filled with elites from Goldman Sachs -- the very definition of “the swamp” that Bannon is always frothing about. There, a president is spending political donations on legal fees while his staffers go deep in debt with mounting lawyer bills, visitor logs are kept secret so voters have no idea who is permitted into the Oval Office to influence the president, and a kleptocracy thrives where Trump and his children continue to be enriched by business connected to foreign governments, including the Chinese. Cabinet secretaries are using government planes for private use and private planes for government work -- violations that would have sparked endless Breitbart bonfires under President Obama. In reality, however, there was little left of Trumpism to trumpet even before Bannon was fired. He’s got the travel ban (or at least a modified version of it), and maybe the promised withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement; Bannon will claim credit if Trump pulls out of the Iran nuclear deal -- but that’s about it. On trade and immigration, the president has retreated from Bannon’s barricade-crashing proposals and has not withdrawn from NAFTA, not imposed tariffs on Chinese steel imports, has three times backed off threats over funding for a border wall and now come out in favor of what Bannon calls “amnesty.” Yet Bannon has declared war, promising to take out incumbent Republican senators who aren’t sufficiently loyal to the president. Targets are guilty of insufficient fealty to Trump himself, not to an agenda once thought of as Trumpism. With the backing of loyal mega-donor Robert Mercer, the Bannon forces are targeting Sen. Jeff Flake, and potentially Sens. Bob Corker and Roger Wicker as well. GOP leaders are incensed over the millions more they will spend protecting those lawmakers, money that could be spent trying to knock off Democrats. Currently Bannon is working to elect Roy Moore to replace sitting Sen. Luther Strange in the Alabama Senate race. Trump has endorsed Strange, also backed by McConnell. Bannon is backing the more Trumpian candidate and, well, Trump is not. Bannon, ironically, purports to be interested in protecting GOP majorities in Congress. Before he could imagine Trump giving away the store on DACA to Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, Bannon declared in his “60 Minutes” interview that preserving President Obama’s executive order would cause a GOP civil war. He expects Dreamers to run out their permits and “self-deport,” because “amnesty is non-negotiable.” He also said, “I’m worried about losing the House now because of this,” adding that his fear is “in February and March it will be a civil war inside the Republican Party.” But if civil war in the GOP isn’t Bannon’s aim, it's hard to know what is. He blames everything on Ryan and McConnell. “They do not want Donald Trump’s populist economic agenda to be implemented. It’s very obvious. It’s obvious as night follows day,” he told Charlie Rose. In the name of Trumpism, Bannon swallows heavy doses of denial. After all, when Trump threatened to withdraw from NAFTA, the president’s kids and other aides made calls to the Canadian government and arranged for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call Trump and talk him off the ledge. It wasn’t Ryan or McConnell. Trump’s approval ratings remain low, Bannon said, “because he hasn’t -- we haven’t gotten the wall built.” Earth to Steve: Trump has signaled to Congress the wall is a joke. In the wake of the DACA debacle, Breitbart called the president “Amnesty Don,” yet Bannon himself has stayed sheepishly silent. Ann Coulter, author of “In Trump We Trust,” tweeted: “Looks like Bannon got it wrong. That shadowy force trying to nullify the 2016 election ... is @realDonaldTrump.” Rep. Steve King told the Associated Press the president was destroying his support by betraying his campaign promise, and that his base is “irreparable, disillusioned beyond repair.” King added, “No promise is credible.” Sam Nunberg, a close Bannonite, conceded: “The reality is sinking in that the Trump administration is on the precipice of turning into an establishment presidency.” But Bannon isn’t just breaking plates at Breitbart, he’s building his own brand. Last week, like any other dime-a-dozen elitist, Bannon attended an investor conference in Hong Kong. He told the exclusive gathering he speaks to Trump every two-to-three days, despite White House denials that the president has spoken more than once with Bannon since he left. Before Trump disappointed him on DACA, Nunberg had hailed Bannon’s increased influence with Trump. “I think Steve leaves and a week later he [Trump] pardons Arpaio and they suspend DACA. I don’t think there was any coincidence there,” Nunberg told BuzzFeed. Bannon remains fixated on the threat China poses to the United States, has grimly predicted we will be at war with that nation within five-to-10 years over its buildup of military installations in the South China Sea, and said we’re already “at economic war” with China. Yet his domestic bark in this regard doesn’t seem to be the same as his overseas-investor-conference bite. Once there, the New York Times described Bannon as “more subdued about the purported Chinese threat.” The Wall Street Journal reported he described Trump’s great respect for President Xi and prospects for trade, but that “the U.S. needs to play a stronger role in changing the system in China, an attendee recalled.” It’s a far cry from a trade war on steel. Perhaps over time, Bannonism will go the way of Trumpism. A.B. Stoddard is associate editor of RealClearPolitics and a columnist. She is also host of "No Labels Radio" on Sirius XM's POTUS Channel.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is refocusing on Donald Trump and turning away from the latest investigation of her emails, reminding voters of all the reasons why she believes Trump is unqualified to be president. At three Florida rallies Tuesday, CBS News’ Nancy Cordes reports that Clinton ticked through her opponent’s most notorious comments about the opposite sex. “I want all the girls in America to know: you are valuable,” Clinton said at a rally in Fort Lauderdale. “Don’t let somebody like this bully tell you otherwise!” To another crowd in Dade City, Florida, she added: “He calls women ugly, disgusting, nasty, all the time... He doesn’t see us as full human beings.” For proof of her closing argument, Clinton turned to former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who Trump publicly shamed in 1997 for gaining a little weight. “He said to me, Miss Piggy, Miss Housekeeping, Miss Eating Machine,” Machado said, joining Clinton in Dade City. It’s a closing argument aimed not just at female voters but also the men who love them. The Clinton campaign released a series of ads Tuesday -- all of them with the same message. “I wouldn’t feel good as a father voting for somebody like that,” one man says in an ad. In Columbus, Ohio, President Obama warned that Trump is unlikely to change. “If you disrespected women before you were elected, you will disrespect women once you’re president,” he said. But in Fort Lauderdale, a protester interrupted Clinton with a sign that said her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is a rapist -- a common sight at Clinton rallies that set her off last night. “I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous divisions and behaviors of people who support Donald Trump,” Clinton said. Aides to the Democratic nominee insist the race is not as tight as new polls suggest. And yet they’ve begun airing ads in four states that supposedly tilt their way: Michigan, Virginia, Colorado, and New Mexico. The campaign says that is not a sign of nervousness -- it’s a sign that they still have a startling $150 million in the bank so why not put it to good use, especially if it helps Democrats down the ballot. But that doesn’t explain why Clinton has added a stop in one of those states -- Michigan -- to an already packed schedule.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Rolling Stone’s deputy managing editor admitted on the stand Thursday that mistakes were made with the magazine’s since-discredited campus rape story, testifying that it “broke a lot of us.” “Everyone was yelling at us and rightfully so,” Sean Woods said of the reaction to the story after gang rape claims made by a University of Virginia student, identified only as Jackie, were called into question. “We needed people to know that we were addressing it as our story was falling apart.” The editor testified at the defamation trial against Rolling Stone, which is being sued for $7.85 million by former UVA associate dean Nicole Eramo, who claims the magazine’s “A Rape on Campus” story painted her as being indifferent to Jackie’s allegations that she was gang raped at a fraternity. “I’m sorry if I hurt you,” Woods told Eramo in court. “If? Did you hurt her or not? …Do you think Ms. Eramo was hurt by this story?!” the former dean’s lawyer, Libby Locke, asked him angrily. “I do. I think she is a public figure and subject to criticism,” Woods explained. Earlier, he’d said that none of the journalists involved with the piece ever fully “recovered.” “You pick up the pieces and you move on,” he said. “I think all of our reputations were trashed. It was a terrible blow.” Woods said he offered to resign after they decided to retract the story in Dec. 2014, but Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner wouldn’t let him. He testified that he was in denial when he left a voicemail for Jackie after the story was retracted saying, “We are standing behind the story. We want to stand by the story.’” “It’s like the stages of grief,” he told jurors.

WASHINGTON Newly leaked emails show consternation among those closest to Hillary Clinton about how Bill Clinton’s business dealings might damage his reputation and potentially affect her presidential hopes. The emails, posted Monday by the WikiLeaks organization, also give insight into tension and turmoil within the Clinton Foundation while Clinton was serving as secretary of state. The chief operating officer of the family charity was reported to be threatening to commit suicide over the stress. WikiLeaks began releasing on Friday what it says are years of messages from the accounts of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta. Podesta has acknowledged his emails were hacked, but warned the messages may have been altered or edited to do political damage to Clinton. It wasn’t immediately clear who hacked Podesta’s emails, though U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches and leaks intended to influence the presidential election. The emails that circulated among Podesta, Chelsea Clinton and former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band detail internal tensions that simmered inside the Clinton Foundation and appear to have played a role in Band’s departure from the family charity. Internal concerns among Clinton family intimates about Band and the private corporate advisory firm he co-founded, Teneo Holdings, have been previously detailed in several media accounts. But the new emails provide raw glimpses of an apparent power struggle between the Clintons’ daughter and Band, who worked closely for Bill Clinton for more than a decade after the end of the Clinton administration. In an email exchange from December 2011, Chelsea Clinton tells Podesta and others - including Clinton adviser and current Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe - that she’s increasingly concerned about Teneo. The email includes a forwarded news article that alleges that Bill Clinton had collected $50,000 a month through Teneo from MF Global, the commodities brokerage formerly run by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, while MF Global was preparing to file for bankruptcy. Chelsea Clinton told Podesta and others that two people separately came up to her at a London event for the Clinton Foundation to raise concerns that someone representing Teneo clients had been calling members of the British Parliament “on behalf of President Clinton” without her father’s knowledge. Chelsea Clinton said the calls had people in London “making comparisons” between the “profit motivations” of the former president and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. “Which would horrify my father,” Chelsea Clinton wrote. Band wrote in an email that Chelsea Clinton seemed more concerned about critical news coverage about MF Global, a derivatives broker, and Band’s advisory firm, Teneo, than published reports about Bill Clinton’s infidelity. “I realize it is difficult to confront and reason with her but this could go (too) far and then we all will have a real serious set of other problems,” Band vented in an exchange sent to Podesta. “I don’t deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect. ... She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what she’s doing because she, as she has said, hasn’t found her way and has a lack of focus in her life.” The emails reflect the ascendance of Chelsea Clinton - as early as 2011 - inside the family charity. The younger Clinton was recently was anointed as the Clinton Foundation’s future leader if her mother wins the presidency next month. Bill Clinton announced in August that he planned to step down from the charity’s board if his wife becomes president. Chelsea Clinton will remain on the organization’s board. Bill Clinton explained in a letter to supporters in August that he would resign and stop raising funds for the charity to eliminate “legitimate concerns about potential conflicts of interest.” Calls seeking comment from the Clinton Foundation and from Teneo, where Band works, received no response Monday. Also in December 2011, Clinton Foundation chief operating officer Laura Graham contacted Band to complain that stress she blamed on the former president and Chelsea Clinton was causing her to consider suicide. Band wrote that when Graham called him, she was in her car parked near the water with her foot on the gas pedal. He said he dissuaded her from hurting herself. “She called me to tell me the stress of all of this office crap with wjc and cvc as well as that of her family had driven her to the edge and she couldn’t take it anymore,” Band wrote in an email to Podesta and Cheryl Mills, then Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff. Graham later departed the Clinton Foundation, taking a new job with the Empire State Development Corporation. Phone messages left for Graham on Monday received no response. © 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

As we are writing this, Donald Trump is clothed in his war regalia as he prepares for a battle with the judiciary, the press, the CIA and probably innocent Americans. The good news is that we have a powerful and high-ranking military officer is not going to let Trump oppress the world. Air Force Chief of Staff Dave Goldfein may not have called Trump out directly, but his words are pointed at the president. In his interview with the press, Goldfein didn’t spare words of wisdom that Trump should better listen to. Earlier this week, President Trump aka ‘Orange Tyrant’ was at the MacDill Air Force Base to give his ridiculous and meaningless speeches. Imagine what he told the military officers who left what they should be doing to listen to him if they don’t like him, he is not going to like them. Barely a day after the president made this comment; Goldfein apparently seemed to implicitly attack what the president said. He said that “This is a great opportunity to step back and remind ourselves and the American people of the oath we take as members of the military.” Goldfein said that the oath they too and they always retake every time they were promoted was to defend and support the American Constitution against any enemy both in the domestic and foreign arena. By design, these military officers do not pledge to defend or support any leader or party because they are apolitical. The military is not too friendly with the president according to Goldfein, one day; the military may be protecting the people from Trump. Goldfein indirectly criticized the disastrous raid in Yemen authorized by Trump, the assurance of Trump that the SEAL was going to have a field only pointed out that he was a local fish without the experience of swimming in the international waters. One of the things that Goldfein is proud of is the fact that the military cannot lose sight that they go to war with their values. People who are critical of the efforts that the military undertakes each day to stop causalities are not aware of who the military are. Indeed, Goldfein is a true patriot who defends the real values of American. We are happy with the service that he is offering passionately to our country to ensure that our ideals are maintained. It doesn’t look like the upper class of the military really like Trump. They have rejected the requested Trump made for the military to go for the fascist-style military parade for his Inauguration Day. Americans need patriots like Goldfein. It is time for each one of us to stand up.

(ThyBlackMan.com) Even though I am black, I was raised on Superman’s; truth, justice and the American way. I always believed Americans were the world’s good guys. As a kid, I watched my mom cry over “I Love Lucy” TV stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz getting a divorce. I remember our entire family, mom, dad and five kids gathered around our single television; nail-biting tension in the air as we nervously awaited the final out for our Baltimore Orioles to win the World’s Series over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite our country’s racial issues, we patriotically embraced the distinct American culture. We were Americans. When President JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country“, I believe a majority of Americans agreed with him. For years, I sang my song, “Celebrate America” http://bit.ly/2h0Swyv at Naturalization Oath of Allegiance Ceremonies. I thought it was pretty cool that mine was the first song new Americans heard after taking their oath of allegiance. I witnessed thousands of immigrants who jumped through all the hoops, learned our language and history and tearfully pledged their allegiance. I still remember a gentleman who appeared to be in his 90s, raised to his feet from a wheelchair by a grandchild on each arm. Their entire family wept as he took his oath. Clearly, it meant something extremely special to become an American. It pained me deeply watching Obama lower the bar, redefining and dumbing down what it means to be an American. Obama rolled out the red carpet welcoming tens of thousands of illegals to invade our country for welfare benefits; even benefits unavailable to American citizens. http://washex.am/2eL6TGl For immigrants legally becoming new citizens, Obama made pledging to defend our county optional. http://bit.ly/1MkmOmR Assuming Hillary would win the WH, Obama figured his illegal invaders would eventually be gifted voting rights. It did not matter to Obama that they had no desire to embrace our culture, respect our flag or learn to speak English. In essence, Barack Obama took the majestic shine off of becoming an American. The late queen of cosmetics, Mary Kay Ash said the speed of the leader is the speed of the gang. Unarguably, Obama’s disdain and disrespect for Americanism trickled down infecting our country. Public schools banned the singing of “God Bless the USA/Proud to be an America“. http://bit.ly/2mFeyFG Students were barred from wearing t-shirts to school featuring the U.S. flag on Cinco De Mayo http://fxn.ws/2ojaNGY, claiming it was hateful and insensitive to illegal Mexican students. Multimillionaire pro athletes refused to stand for our national anthem, proclaiming themselves victims of America. Their example of dissing our flag trickled down to high and middle school athletes across America. http://bbc.in/2uuuyAu Under Barack Obama, JFK’s words inspiring Americans to strive for excellence for the good of their country were thrown on the junk-heap of forgotten history. Obama’s new Americanism was about demonizing and punishing self-reliant achievers, pandering to lazy parasites and addicting as many Americans as possible to big government dependency. Due to decades of our Leftist controlled public schools abandoning teaching U.S. history, far too many Americans quickly surrendered their precious God-given and fought for freedom and liberty for a free Obama phone and his promise to Robin Hood the rich. Ben Franklin said, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Barack Obama actually launched an ad campaign begging illegals to apply for food stamps. http://dailym.ai/1PPPdR1 Using a Hispanic soap opera , Barack Obama told illegals that applying for as many U.S. government freebie programs as possible was the honorable thing to do for their families. http://bit.ly/2tH14AA It was also painful watching Barack Obama insidiously divide Americans into supposed victimized voting blocs; blacks, Hispanics, women, transgenders and so on. Suddenly, we became an entitlement-minded gimme-society; everyone running around claiming America abused them and therefore owed them a living. I kept thinking what the heck is going on. We are better than this. I wanted to scream from the roof tops, “This is not who we are. Darn it, we are AMERICANS!!!” In my song, “We Are Americans” http://bit.ly/1AIVqp6 , I ask my fellow Americans to repent and return to our founding principles. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Mark Levin recently penned a book in which he brilliantly articulated the source of my heartache for my country; the well-orchestrated cultural and moral decline of America. Levin’s book is titled, “Rediscovering Americanism And The Tyranny of Progressivism” http://amzn.to/2udTux9 The good news is Donald Trump winning the WH in an electoral landslide proves that despite decades of Leftists trying to convince Americans that we are the greatest source of evil in the world, the masses still love our country and long to see her made great again. And for that, I am extremely hopeful and grateful. Prayerfully, Trump will usher in us becoming Americans again. Staff Writer; Lloyd Marcus Chairman of The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama. Please help me spread my message by joining my Liberty Network. Lloyd is singer/songwriter of the American Tea Party Anthem and author of Confessions of a Black Conservative, foreword by Michele Malkin.

Only hours after President Donald Trump's aide, Kellyanne Conway, had a fiery exchange with CNN's Chris Cuomo over whether or not the White House was obsessed about Hillary Clinton, the president completely undercut her argument. On Thursday morning, the president, spending his " Executive Time" watching "Fox & Friends," angrily tweeted about his Democratic opponent in 2016, while slamming the infamous dossier in an attempt to distract from the ongoing probe by special counsel Robert Mueller into the Trump campaign's alleged ties to the Kremlin. Disproven and paid for by Democrats “Dossier used to spy on Trump Campaign. Did FBI use Intel tool to influence the Election?” @foxandfriends Did Dems or Clinton also pay Russians? Where are hidden and smashed DNC servers? Where are Crooked Hillary Emails? What a mess! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 But just the night before, Conway vociferously defended Trump and insisted no one in the White House cared about Clinton. "We don't care about her. Nobody here talks about her," Conway said. "Nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton, I promise you." "We don't care about her. Nobody here talks about her." Kellyanne Conway claimed that while many cannot get over the 2016 presidential election, the White House does not talk about Hillary Clinton. https://t.co/VvVVbeeLyK pic.twitter.com/W73q9nZnF5 — CNN (@CNN) January 11, 2018 Conway also asserted that the public still had not gotten over the election and that most haven't moved on. Trump, however, was handing out electoral maps last year touting his victory. "So many people can’t get over the election results," Conway said. Cuomo fired back, "Says my friend who can’t keep Hillary Clinton’s name out of her mouth." "I'll make you a deal," Conway said. "I'll never talk about her [Clinton] again, but then you can't talk about the 2016 election." "I'm not, I haven't mentioned the election once," Cuomo replied. In recent months, Conway has tweeted about Clinton on numerous occasions herself. It took Hillary abt 5 minutes to blame NRA for madman's rampage, but 5 days to sorta-kinda blame Harvey Weinstein 4 his sexually assaults. — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) October 10, 2017 So, Hillary blames Bernie 4 Trump's "Crooked Hillary", blames Obama 4 "lay off Bernie", blames Bernie Bros 4 sexism. https://t.co/6MjMmc3q8m — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) September 5, 2017 The two continued to talk over each other, and Cuomo brought up the alleged Russian election meddling, as well as the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting in which top Trump campaign officials met with a Russian lawyer with potential ties to the Kremlin in order to receive dirt on Clinton. "The idea that we would have to look any further than Hillary Clinton to beat Hillary Clinton is a fantasy," Conway said. The CNN host added, "Is we inconclusive of Don Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, who went to a meeting with a Russian lawyer who was promising dirt on Hillary Clinton?" "And what came of that meeting? Absolutely nothing," Conway responded. "That's not the point," Cuomo emphasized. "The point is why you went." In essence, Conway's behavior was a larger metaphor of the Trump presidency. Either Conway — who delivered to America the phrase "alternative facts" — was deliberately lying about Trump's personal obsession with deflecting and pointing the finger at Clinton, or she has proven yet again that the right hand still has truly no idea what the left is doing. The exchange didn't end on television, though, continuing on Twitter Thursday morning. So fun to see the predictable heads exploding, but I should've finished that sentence #CuomoPrimeTime @CNN. "Nobody in the White House talks about Hillary Clinton" when noting whose presidential leadership = historic tax cuts & economic boom, reg reform, put ISIS in retreat. — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) January 11, 2018 hey kellyanne - good thing no one talks about hrc in the white house. is "nobody" new potus code name? https://t.co/3r9q0VWKOK — Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 11, 2018 Hey @ChrisCuomo - when we are forced to think/talk about hrc it's because you and your colleagues can't let go of an election she/you lost. Sad!Proven further by after a 30-minute interview about policy and accomplishments, HRC is all you and others can say... https://t.co/SuL5EspkRE — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) January 11, 2018 And the coda of this story comes from Kellyanne Conway, who went on "Fox & Friends," where she talked about Hillary Clinton. "We only have to talk about her because people won't let go of an election she lost miserably." -- @KellyannePolls on Hillary to @foxandfriends this morning.Yes, really. — Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 11, 2018

The newly-installed constitutional assembly led by President Nicolas Maduro has ousted Venezuela's chief prosecutor on Saturday, a move that signals that the embattled government is making swift moves to consolidate power. Hails of "traitor" and "justice has arrived" erupted from the 545 pro-government delegates during the unanimous vote to remove the top law enforcement official, Luisa Ortega, from her post. The assembly replaced her with a staunch government supporter. The delegates said they were acting in response to a ruling by the government-attacked Supreme Court, which was separately considering a request to sanction Ortega. Speaking to journalists after her removal, Ortega said dozens of national guardsmen in riot gear barred her from entering her office, alleging that authorities wanted to get their hands on sensitive information implicating high-level officials in dirty dealings. "Do you know what they want to achieve with this? They want to hide the corruption and violation of human rights taking place in Venezuela that I will continue to denounce," Ortega said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro plans to seat a new controversial constituent assembly in an effort to rewrite the country's constitution despite continued opposition protests. The new legislative body's constitution would nullify the other branches of government, leading opposition leaders to call on citizens to protest in the streets in objection. Maduro is expected to seat the 545-member body at the legislative palace in the capital of Caracas on Friday, just yards from the opposition-led National Assembly. He plans to attend the assembly's opening session and promised to use the assembly itself to attack his political opponents. "The only way they'll get us out of here is by killing us," National Assembly first vice president Freddy Guevara told the Associated Press. "They will never have a seat that the people of Venezuela gave us." Maduro's assembly was elected on Sunday, despite opposition claims that the election itself was rigged in favor of Maduro supporters, resulting in a boycott. The U.S. State Department condemned the assembly on Thursday, claiming the rigged election only served to empower "the Maduro dictatorship." Several U.S. lawmakers joined in the condemnation, including Sen. Marco Rubio who issued a message of support to the Venezuelan people in Spanish. "At a time of deep divisions in our own politics, both the left and the right here in the United States support the people of Venezuela and condemn the Maduro government," said Rubio. "Even those who sympathized and defended the late Hugo Chavez, condemn the direction Nicolas Maduro has taken your country." The senator added that Venezuelans are "only a free and fair election away from a better future." Sen. Bob Menendez, senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, claimed a "sham election" was used to elect the pro-Maduro assembly. "Nicolas Maduro's decision to move forward with a sham election to create a constituent assembly and shred his country's constitution offers yet another disturbing example of how dangerously unfit this man is to lead country," said Menendez in a statement released on Monday. Venezuela's legislative palace has been the scene of violent protests in recent weeks. Three months of bloody protests and a beleaguered economy have taken a serious toll on Venezuelans. Conditions are expected to worsen should Maduro and his supporters be successful in rewriting the constitution. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

According to the mayor of the Cadiz town Rota, on Spain's southernmost coast, the authorities have found 12 of the migrants after they fled on foot and are looking for 30 others. It has been reported in the Spanish media that all of the asylum seekers are men and the missing migrants fled by running into nearby fields when they arrived. Wed, February 15, 2017 The 12 migrants who have been found are from the sub-Sahara and Morocco and they arrived on the beach known as Juan and Juana. A crane has moved the dinghy from the beach where the migrants managed to paddle their craft ashore despite strong winds in the area. In October, dozens of migrants protested about the living conditions in a Spanish detention centre. The protesters held up banners demanding freedom and dignity. After thousands of migrants from Africa crossed over to Spain in 2014 and 2015, the country’s authorities stepped up security and passed a law enabling its border police to refuse migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum. The European Union (EU) is now desperately attempting to cut the number of African migrants making their way to Europe. Thousands of migrants have targeted Spain as a route into the EU and the UK. Migrants have particularly targeted the Spanish colonies of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco.

Hollywood will not easily recover from Harvey Weinstein -- not for a long time. The hypocrisy level has hit Defcon 1, 9.9 on the Richter scale. Hollywood’s politics have always been a self-serving charade, a liberal masquerade for a rapacious and lubricious lifestyle. But now, thanks to the Weinstein scandal, we see it more clearly than ever. And it couldn't be more repellent. (I had always thought Bill Clinton would have made the greatest studio executive of all time. Now I'm convinced of it.) If conservative investors had any courage, this would be the time to make a hostile takeover of the movie business. Unfortunately, they don’t. I know this from bitter personal experience. Wealthy conservatives are delighted to support the Philharmonic, but when it comes to popular culture they turn away, as if afraid to get their hands dirty. That this is a huge mistake should be obvious. They have abandoned the culture -- and our children -- to the creepiest people imaginable. What is going on in Hollywood is far from being just about Harvey. It’s approaching a pandemic. So many previously silent assaulted or raped women are coming out of the woodwork, it seems like a long-belated remake of “Cheaper by the Dozen.” No one knows who will be next or if it will stop at Harvey. The rot is everywhere, even, perhaps especially, in the precincts of “high art.” Gwyneth Paltrow says now is the time to put an end to these attacks on women. But where was she years ago when Harvey got “handsy” with her? Looking the other way while earning millions and garnering Oscars. Meryl Streep claimed she was clueless about Weinstein’s repulsive antics. Time to award her her greatest Oscar yet -- for playing someone deaf, dumb, and blind while living as a troglodyte in the Gobi desert. Either the woman’s a liar or an utter nincompoop. I’ll go with the former. As for the great feminist George Clooney -- the first male star out of the box to condemn Weinstein’s behavior -- let’s give him the Nobel Prize in virtue signaling. By coming forward, he was able to ace out his competition -- Howard Zinn-loving Matt Damon, who disgraced himself forever by covering up for Harvey a decade ago. (For those who may have missed it in the onslaught of sleazy details, Damon assured then New York Times reporter Sharon Waxman that Miramax’s high-paid Italian representative was a genuine “creative film executive” and not Harvey’s European procurer, as was, evidently correctly, rumored. Damon is the same “progressive” movie star who makes films opposing school choice for the masses while living in a thirty million dollar house and sending his kids to private school. I take it back -- maybe we should give him the Nobel in virtue signaling.)

ODESSA, TX (KWES) - An Odessa man and his company are donating $1 million to the American Red Cross towards Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. The Red Cross said they're expecting to spend $30 million from their funds on the rebuilding. As The Red Cross is helping with the aftermath, they're also preparing for an even stronger hurricane to hit the country. "This is a marathon, it's not a sprint, so this is gonna go a long way to help those people recover," said Tracy Austin, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of The Permian Basin. John Bushman, owner of Investment Centers of America (ICA), decided to give back after watching families and single mothers trying to survive the high floodwaters. He describes to us what he saw on TV. "So all she [single mother] can do is put out a white flag for the police to come help her. She's just standing there with an 8-month-old baby in her arms, I don't know where the other two minor children were that got mentioned were, probably on top of the roof already," said Bushman. "So if that doesn't bring tears to your eyes or makes you think, then I don't know [what will]." The American Red Cross can't ignore a stronger hurricane, Irma. Irma could possibly hit Florida or the east coast, needing the American Red Cross to give even more help. "We will deploy and we encourage everyone to take cover, to go to their shelters, and also to prepare in advance," said Austin. "Right now, that's our messaging to make those preparations in advance and to take cover and go to a shelter because this is going to be a massive storm." The American Red Cross won't know what help to deploy until after Hurricane Irma makes landfall. Even though many resources are in South Texas, they say they're "Red Cross ready." You can donate or sign up to volunteer at redcross.org Copyright 2017 KWES. All rights reserved.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The reporter of a botched Rolling Stone article about a brutal gang rape at the University of Virginia willfully ignored facts and statements that disproved her preconceived storyline about the school’s callousness toward sexual-assault victims, an attorney for the former associate dean of students said in his closing arguments Tuesday. University administrator Nicole Eramo is seeking $7.5 million from the magazine over its portrayal of her in the 2014 story by Sabrina Rubin Erdely about the alleged sexual assault of a woman identified only as “Jackie.” Eramo claims she was unfairly portrayed in the article as trying to sweep Jackie’s sexual assault under the rug in order to protect the university. Attorney Tom Clare argued Tuesday that Erdely set out from the beginning to tell a story of “institutional indifference,” brushed off statements from her sources that didn’t fit that narrative and pushed her own views about the administration onto the vulnerable women she was interviewing. “Once they decided what the article was going to be about, it didn’t matter what the facts were,” Clare said. The story about Jackie’s rape set off a firestorm at the University of Virginia and in schools nationwide and prompted police to launch an investigation into the alleged assault. Eramo received hundreds of angry letters and emails and faced protesters outside her office. The story crumbled after other news outlets began asking questions and police found no evidence to back up Jackie’s claims. The article was officially retracted in April 2015. Eramo must prove that Rolling Stone statements about her made her appear “odious, infamous or ridiculous” and that the magazine acted with “actual malice,” meaning it knew that what it was writing about her was false or should have known it was false. A lawyer for Rolling Stone, Scott Sexton, said in closing statements there is no evidence the magazine knew a botched story about a gang rape at the University of Virginia was false before publishing it. While the women Erdely interviewed - including Jackie - told her that Eramo was their fiercest advocate, Clare argued that Erdely was so invested in her preconceived storyline that she was “blind to the facts.” He argued that Erdely purposely set out to make Eramo the “villain” because she knew she was an “easy target” and couldn’t speak publicly about Jackie’s case due to federal privacy laws. “It’s reckless, it’s cavalier and it’s intentional,” Clare said. Over the course of the more than two-week trial, the 10 jurors have watched 11 hours of video testimony, heard from a dozen live witnesses and have examined nearly 300 exhibits. Seven jurors will deliberate and three will be named as alternates. © 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTHR) - Indiana lawmakers in Washington are joining the chorus against white supremacist groups. Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.) is co-sponsoring legislation with more than 30 members of Congress that calls for President Donald Trump "to strongly condemn white nationalists, the Ku Klux Klan, and other hate groups that make up the 'alt-right'." The lawmakers are also demanding the president fire officials in the Trump administration who support white supremacists, specifically naming Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller and Sebastian Gorka. BREAKING: I've introduced a resolution with 31 co-sponsors demanding Trump fire any staff who've endorsed or supported white supremacists. pic.twitter.com/2WuGMqhQPa "The President of the United States and his advisors should serve as an example to the rest of the country," Rep. Carson said. "As the country unites against this violent and hateful movement, people who fail to stand up to white nationalism and neo-Nazism should not be in a position of power." The legislation, outlined in a release from Carson's office, also calls for Trump to "use all available resources" to address the growth of hate groups in the country and to "unite all Americans against hate." Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) took to Twitter Tuesday evening to denouce the groups:

Shelly Yost is a cashier at Kroger. One day, she noticed an older woman making a bizarre purchase. The woman was buying $2,000 worth of iTunes gift cards. Something seemed off. Yost asked the woman why she was buying so many gift cards. The elderly woman said her granddaughter was in jail with a broken nose and that she needed to buy the gift cards to bail her out. The story was a red flag. The cashier had heard this one before. The woman was in a panic. She was terrified for her granddaughter’s well-being. “I want to let you know your granddaughter is OK. This is a scam that we know happens,” Yost told her, but the woman refused to believe it. “I asked her if she would please wait, and let me call the Sylvania police, so they could tell her that they would never accept gift cards as payment for somebody in jail. I didn’t want her to go somewhere else.” Yost stalled the frightened woman for as long as she could while she quickly slipped away to call the police. Yost also noticed the woman had a keychain from an assisted living facility and called them. The police arrived and talked the woman down. The assisted living facility was grateful. “The next day, they showed up, and they were the most genuine people,” said Yost. “They hugged me so tight and thanked me over and over. And they handed me a card, which I took and said ‘Thank you’. When I opened it later, there was super-nice gift in there.” Please SHARE if you think Yost went above and beyond what any cashier would normally do! Due to restrictions, this video cannot be viewed in your region.

Former George W. Bush communications director Nicolle Wallace reported Tuesday multiple senior Republican officials have told her that to expect that special counsel Robert Mueller is pursuing an obstruction of justice case against President Donald Trump. “Three Republicans with close ties to the Trump White House, all veterans from previous Republican administrations, tell me that it’s clear from their conversations and contacts with the president’s inner circle that Bob Mueller is trying to build an obstruction of justice case,” MSNBC host of “Deadline: White House” reported Tuesday. “One of them going even farther and saying that the White House is now flying blind and doesn’t know who else might already be cooperating with Mueller’s team,” Wallace explained. That was not the only major news Wallace broke in the first minutes of her show. Wallace also introduced former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, who worked on the staff of both Robert Mueller and James Comey of the FBI. “Would you surmise that Donald Trump’s taxes are something that Bob Mueller either has or will seek to obtain?” Wallace asked. “I would, Nicolle, and here’s why. I was a federal prosecutor for a long time and a white collar prosecutor, at the beginning of any case what you need are leads, how do you get those? The first thing you do, you get credit reports and you get tax returns,” Rosenberg explained. “I don’t know that they have the tax returns, but I know what white collar tax attorneys do, they get tax returns,” Rosenberg noted.

Illustration by Shakeil Greeley for GQ / Getty Images Laugh to stop yourself from crying. There are only seven days left in the 2016 presidential. Seven more days and, barring a last-minute constitutional crisis, this non-stop misery ride will finally be over. How long has it been? Eight? Twelve? Thirteen years? No one really knows any more. All we know is that the 2016 election has done to American democracy what cocaine did to Gary Busey's career, and, much like being stuck in an elevator with Gary Busey, it's hard not to pray for the sweet release of death. A presidential candidate bragging about sexual assault, a presidential candidate threatening to put is political opponent in jail, dog-whistle racism, actual straight-up racism; it's fair to say we're at a historic low-point in the story of American democracy. If only President Obama could wipe the Internet clean before he leaves office, so we never have to be reminded of this god-awful mess ever again. All that said, there was one bright light during these dark times: Twitter.com. Previously home to die-hard One Direction fans and a few hundred-thousand accounts pretending to be Will Ferrell, Twitter was undoubtedly responsible for some of this election cycle's most vile rhetoric—I mean, just look at Trump's tweets. But there's no denying it also came into its own during the 2016 election. It wasn't fun watching Donald Trump routinely debase our country's political system, but I'm not going to pretend the well-crafted tweets that sparked into existence as a result weren't also a welcome catharsis. To commemorate this bizarre time in our nation's history, we've compiled a chronological list of the 100 funniest* tweets of this genuinely terrible, and mostly unfunny, election. Hopefully, if there's anything left in the smoldering rubble that will be America after November 8th, they can be a reminder that there was at least some good in the parade of garbage. Now let's all agree to never ever do this ever again. *According to us. Please don't @ me. https://twitter.com/robdelaney/status/595313535489581056 https://twitter.com/mulaney/status/634155794724814848 https://twitter.com/IamEnidColeslaw/status/634517124124381188 https://twitter.com/ruinedpicnic/status/637482075638075392 https://twitter.com/SirEviscerate/status/638537356342075392 https://twitter.com/harikondabolu/status/666764215949074432 https://twitter.com/sageboggs/status/667828163557232644 https://twitter.com/pattymo/status/672896890237775872 https://twitter.com/iamchrisscott/status/673952110761807875 https://twitter.com/TheDweck/status/687844188881293312 https://twitter.com/bazecraze/status/691284564170375170 https://twitter.com/recordsANDradio/status/703051814669852673 https://twitter.com/kibblesmith/status/718541379966738433 https://twitter.com/TheNardvark/status/694968109040586754 https://twitter.com/behindyourback/status/695438054887026688 https://twitter.com/RexHuppke/status/701237173291524096 https://twitter.com/danguterman/status/708229794299645952 https://twitter.com/Ethan_Booker/status/713479005387767808 https://twitter.com/HumanPog/status/713741562761584640 https://twitter.com/InternetHippo/status/716365904901083136 https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/720259227067920385 https://twitter.com/sbstryker/status/727658556233670657 https://twitter.com/DanMentos/status/728320591598526464 https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/728299373176737792 https://twitter.com/i_zzzzzz/status/733518431740252160 https://twitter.com/danreilly11/status/751259888433582084 https://twitter.com/cafedotcom/status/740378718925950978 https://twitter.com/Reince/status/740993607289688065 https://twitter.com/badbanana/status/740949015009710080 https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/742041665251205121 https://twitter.com/meiamanthony/status/743160996320129024 https://twitter.com/MattOswaltVA/status/751267557311586304 https://twitter.com/FullFrontalSamB/status/754005058786910208 https://twitter.com/PaulBegala/status/754343099157979137 https://twitter.com/KidFury/status/755279481917566976 https://twitter.com/amfmpm/status/755449902931607557 https://twitter.com/mattaukamp/status/755511596047298564 https://twitter.com/iamchrisscott/status/756323071871574017 https://twitter.com/GarrPhillips/status/756568645564850176 https://twitter.com/AJemaineClement/status/756347488601272320 https://twitter.com/OwensDamien/status/757640786091671552 https://twitter.com/MikeDrucker/status/758139850214244352 https://twitter.com/joshgondelman/status/758508667058659328 https://twitter.com/TimDuffy/status/758417030827696128 https://twitter.com/Walldo/status/758868709251293185 https://twitter.com/ingridostby/status/758869304037158912 https://twitter.com/MazMHussain/status/759573678480887808 https://twitter.com/gilbertjasono/status/760303035742576640 https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/760593157176176640 https://twitter.com/DLin71/status/761023573158789120 https://twitter.com/LeonHWolf/status/717111637317173249 https://twitter.com/JosephScrimshaw/status/763100832124456961 https://twitter.com/emilynussbaum/status/771921076775489537 https://twitter.com/mitchellvii/status/772460287572185088 https://twitter.com/desusnice/status/772477614191742976 https://twitter.com/theferocity/status/772835879043928064 https://twitter.com/DannyZuker/status/774718154412961793 https://twitter.com/pixelatedboat/status/775542746157158400 https://twitter.com/JoshMarvine/status/775835316078784512 https://twitter.com/evepeyser/status/776592616934805504 https://twitter.com/MattMackowiak/status/776619326862299136 https://twitter.com/abwhite7/status/776481595721129984 https://twitter.com/joereid/status/776811718345449472 https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/777560106837929985 https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/779369940402921472 https://twitter.com/SylviaObell/status/779762088101212161 https://twitter.com/DanaSchwartzzz/status/780219640744120321 https://twitter.com/aparnapkin/status/782039812404412416 https://twitter.com/McJesse/status/783145829267898368 https://twitter.com/ziwe/status/783289615977414656 https://twitter.com/michaelschaub/status/783490647361671168 https://twitter.com/JennyJohnsonHi5/status/784120727158951936 https://twitter.com/laurenreeves/status/784526072851357696 https://twitter.com/willrahn/status/784501181464846340 https://twitter.com/aedwardslevy/status/784504443047911424 https://twitter.com/BillDixonish/status/784531620539822081 https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/784529991463755776 https://twitter.com/shani_o/status/784576626248024064 https://twitter.com/gabedelahaye/status/784887498333827072 https://twitter.com/johncbussey/status/784769252758806528 https://twitter.com/BuckyIsotope/status/784605739058880514 https://twitter.com/meganamram/status/785273637901185024 https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/785291824273428480 https://twitter.com/SkipperClay/status/785294315270660097 https://twitter.com/Moochie_BMN/status/785296514792976384 https://twitter.com/jonnysun/status/785299378705670145 https://twitter.com/kibblesmith/status/784985960631205888 https://twitter.com/saladinahmed/status/786387229908152320 https://twitter.com/McJesse/status/786237633282400256 https://twitter.com/ch000ch/status/786983664571781120 https://twitter.com/RobbySlowik/status/786936084710166528 https://twitter.com/TheRealDratch/status/787830961895575552 https://twitter.com/double_cupp_me/status/789088080426831872 https://twitter.com/cecicardelle/status/789588565604925441 https://twitter.com/jrhennessy/status/790293668183670784 https://twitter.com/dubstep4dads/status/790298630100021249 https://twitter.com/saladinahmed/status/791407536884764672 https://twitter.com/Powerful/status/791812553659875328 https://twitter.com/GrahamDavidA/status/792085787529674756 https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi/status/792078001064280064

Fulfilling his role as the titular head of “The Resistance,” Barack Obama took to Facebook Tuesday to snipe at the Trump administration’s announcement that it was rescinding the 44th president’s 2012 executive action called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. “We shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own,” Obama said. His post was florid and self-serving. But five words in his lengthy screed —“through no fault of their own” -- are undeniably true. It’s not the fault of the “dreamers” that their parents brought them here, without papers, as minors. On that we can agree. But whose fault is it that they are still in limbo? For that answer, Obama needn’t take to social media. He can simply look in the mirror. Ten years ago, a narrow consensus was forged in Washington, if only briefly. Its architects were Edward Kennedy and John McCain. Their carefully crafted legislation created a new temporary work visa, established an electronic data base for employers to check employees’ work status, and earmarked money for border enforcement. It also provided a path to citizenship for an estimated 11.6 million illegal immigrants, provided they paid a fine and back taxes, met English and civics requirements, and stayed on the right side of the law. President George W. Bush signaled his support. But the vote was going to be close, which Kennedy and McCain knew. Conservatives dismissed the path-to-citizenship as a fig leaf for amnesty. Organized labor hated the guest-worker program, known as Y-1. McCain and Kennedy could have overcome that opposition, albeit narrowly, except for one last little group of senators. Call it the Senate Presidential Wannabe Caucus. Its membership included Illinois freshman Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. That’s only two votes, but it was enough. On June 6, 2007, Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, introduced an innocuous-sounding rider to the McCain-Kennedy bill. Its official description was “an amendment to sunset the Y-1 non-immigrant visa program after a 5-year period.” As everyone in the Senate understood, this was a “poison pill” designed not to shore up the bill, but sink it. Dorgan got his way, too. The amendment passed 49-48, essentially killing comprehensive immigration reform. Kennedy was incensed. He’d implored Dorgan and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid not to do it. McCain felt particularly sandbagged by Obama, who’d inserted himself into the legislative negotiations uninvited, wrangled a concession he wanted, then voted with Dorgan. McCain assumed Obama didn’t want George W. Bush or himself -- the man Obama expected to face in 2008 -- to get credit for immigration reform. Ted Kennedy, who ended up endorsing Obama over Clinton anyway, believed this, too. Kennedy died in 2009 before he could convince Obama to revisit this issue. It wouldn’t have mattered. The GOP was becoming more nativist, the Democrats more cynical. The chance for a legislative solution had come and gone. But what about a non-legislative solution? This turned out to be President Obama’s specialty, the niceties of constitutional democracy be damned. In June 2012, with shifting public opinion polls now in his favor, Obama issued DACA, which he called “a temporary, stopgap measure” to curb the practice of deporting undocumented Americans brought to this country before their 16th birthday. Was this constitutional? It might have been, had the president announced that because his Justice Department lacked the personnel to adequately adjudicate 11 million cases, it was necessary to prioritize law enforcement’s areas of emphasis and that, henceforth, no federal government resources would be spent on deporting the “Dreamers.” Wink. Wink. But that’s not what Obama did. He announced a formal new government program granting work permits to those without papers. This “temporary, stopgap” measure superseded existing federal immigration law and, two years later, Obama sought to expand DACA, prompting a legal challenge from several states. Was the president on shaky constitutional ground? One assumes so, if for no other reason than Obama repeatedly said so himself – and he did it in precise and colorful language. On Cinco de Mayo in 2010, he said, “Anybody who tells you … that I can wave a magic wand and make it happen hasn't been paying attention to how this town works.” “I am president, I am not king,” he said that October. “I can't do these things just by myself.” “I know some here wish that I could just bypass Congress and change the law myself. But that’s not how democracy works,” he said in April 2011. “I swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books,” he added in July 2011. “… Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting … but that's not how our system works. That's not how our Constitution is written.” Later, he had the temerity to claim he hadn’t changed his stance, a howler that blew the minds of media fact-checkers. So that’s the backstory to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Tuesday announcement that the administration will rescind DACA because it’s unconstitutional. Trump has not spoken against DACA itself; moreover, he sent out a tweet reassuring “Dreamers” that they have nothing to worry about for six months. This gambit suggests that Trump wants DACA codified into law, apparently as part of a comprehensive package. Instead of responding to this overture in a spirit of compromise, Democrats chose vitriol and name-calling, their default position in the Trump era. Luis Gutiérrez, an Illinois congressman, called White House Chief of Staff John Kelly a “disgrace to the uniform he used to wear” over DACA. Remember last summer when every Democrat and most of the media went medieval on Trump for picking a fight with a Gold Star family? Well, John Kelly is a Gold Star dad, too. Luis Gutiérrez never wore the uniform. For sheer demagoguery, it was hard to top Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton’s erstwhile rival had this to say: “Trump’s decision on DACA is the ugliest and most cruel decision ever made by a president of the U.S. in the modern history of this country.” When one considers Woodrow Wilson re-segregating the federal workforce or FDR interning 110,000 Japanese-Americans who committed no crime, the thought occurs that this is possibly the most ignorant utterance by a U.S. senator in the modern history of this country. But historic amnesia was the Democrats’ de facto strategy and, in the interest of efficiency, they used the same talking points. “Trump is clueless & cruel,” tweeted former California Sen. Barbara Boxer. “Above all he is a coward.” Nancy Pelosi described it as “cowardice” and “cruelty.” Chuck Schumer called it “heartless.” And so it went. One wonders if this was DNC-circulated messaging, drawn up by some 24-year-old staffer. Someone apparently too callow to know that today’s Democrats are a historic anomaly. Normally Congress likes it when a president respects their prerogative to make law. Or perhaps these talking points weren’t written by a millennial. Perhaps they were written by a certain ex-president trying to help us forget that when he and Hillary Clinton -- along with Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, and Bernie Sanders -- had the chance to grant 11 million immigrants access to the American Dream, they instead chose, for partisan purposes, to keep them in the shadows.