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LAURA INGRAHAM’S Brilliant Idea On How To Shake Up Liberal College Campuses [Video]

Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity are hysterical! During an interview about free speech, they discuss a tour of liberal college campuses BRILLIANT!TUCKER CARLSON JUST HAD A PROFESSOR ON HIS SHOW WHO BELIEVES IN SHUTTING DOWN FREE SPEECH: Last night on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show, Tucker debated a loony leftist English professor at Colby college wrote a piece in the New Republic where he essentially argued that it s okay for colleges to shut down free speech on their campuses based on value judgments the colleges make about the speakers. From Hanlon s piece in the New Republic:Rejecting campus speakers is not an assault on free speech. Rather, like so many other decisions made every day by college students, teachers, and administrators, it s a value judgment.Aaron Hanlon of Colby College in Maine said on Tucker Carlson Tonight that Ann Coulter does not meet the standards for speakers that should be invited to campus.Hanlon said he was personally very speech-permissive but that colleges should be able to make judgments based on a speaker s value but not their ideology before allowing them to speak.Carlson asked Hanlon to name one speaker who was disallowed on campus due to a liberal viewpoint under that rule. FOXDuring the exchange between Tucker Carlson and leftist professor, Tucker attempts to wrap his mind around what he s actually hearing Hanlon is saying. At one point, Carlson is so stunned by the professor s attempts to justify the shutting down of free speech on college campuses simply because you don t agree with them, that he actually breaks out into laughter. Tucker is visibly stunned by the responses to his questions about the removal of free speech from campuses, as this Colby English professor unashamedly argues that fascism should be acceptable on college campuses. Carlson asks Hanlon, Can you hear yourself? You re a college professor and you re against intellectual debate that s deliberately provocative. Watch the insane exchange here:

Russian security service says dismantles Islamic State sleeper cell

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s FSB security service said on Monday it had detained members of what it said was an Islamic State sleeper cell in the Moscow region that had been planning to launch a series of high-profile attacks on the country s transport system. A video of the detentions showed masked FSB agents detaining men in a residential apartment where they could be seen finding and confiscating grenades, pistols and explosives. The FSB said in a statement on its website that the detentions had occurred on Sept. 30 and that the cell included Russian citizens from the North Caucasus region who it said were committed to trying to set up a global Islamic caliphate and were directed by foreign militants. It said the cell had been planning to set off explosives in crowded public places and to target transport infrastructure. The FSB said it had detained all of the cell s members, but did not say how many people it had taken into custody. The question of opening criminal cases against them was being decided, it added. Islamic State, banned in Russia, has threatened to take revenge for Russian air strikes in Syria by shedding blood on Russian soil, and a bomb attack on the St Petersburg metro in April killed 14 people.

Florida's Puerto Ricans strongly favor Clinton: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Florida’s rapidly growing Puerto Rican population heavily favors Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential race, according to a poll released on Wednesday by groups with links to the Democrats. Seventy-four percent of Puerto Ricans now registered to vote in Florida said they would likely pick Clinton in the Nov. 8 election, versus 17 percent for Trump, according to the poll from the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Latino Decisions. Puerto Ricans, who traditionally lean toward voting Democratic in Florida, are a big enough group to swing the closely-fought state. Florida, the third-largest state in the country in terms of electoral college votes needed to win the White House, has seen an influx of people from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, as the Caribbean island’s economy has floundered in recent years. More than one million Puerto Ricans now live in Florida, according to the Pew Research Center, making up about 5 percent of the total population. The Center for American Progress Action Fund is a progressive non-partisan organization that has been critical of Trump in the past. Latino Decisions has consulted for the Clinton campaign. Florida is currently too close to call between Clinton and Trump, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, and both candidates have been focusing their campaigns there heading into the election. Trump angered many Hispanics when he launched his campaign last year by calling some Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers, and his hardline immigration policies have done little to attract Latino voters. The poll did not gauge the level of eligible Puerto Rican voters who have registered in Florida, an important measure given historically low Latino turnout. Latino voter registration lagged white and African-American voters in the 2014 congressional elections by 12 to 15 percentage points nationally, according to the U.S. Census. But it said Puerto Rican voters now registered in Florida appeared motivated. Some 84 percent said they would definitely vote, with another 14 percent saying they would probably do so. Only 2 percent said they definitely would not. The poll included 504 registered Puerto Rican voters in Florida with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. It was conducted from Sept. 17 to Sept. 26.

Halloween Fireside Book of Suspense Vol. 2: Boiler Room EP #133

Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Jay Dyer of Jays Analysis, Daniel Spaulding (of Soul of the East) Andy Nowicki (The Nameless One.) Randy J & Fvnk$oul (ACR & 21Wire Contributors) for the hundred and thirty third episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.On this episode of Boiler Room the ACR Brain-Trust is kicking back with a Halloween vibe, discussing the absurdity of the British government creating a beef with the U.N. over the linguistic virtue of referring to pregnant women as pregnant people so as not to offend any trans people (I ve never put so many sarcastic quotations in one sentence before now.) The Boiler gang is also discussing Twitter, Google, Facebook and Youtube suppressing freedom of speech in the U.S. while serving as a lapdog to the intelligence agencies and the left leaning technocrats to literally do social engineering (not kidding, that is in Mark Zuckerberg s own words.)Direct Download Episode #133 Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research:

RECKLESS: CLINTON PRESIDENCY Could Mean U.S. Muslim Population Would Exceed Germany’s 4.8 Million [VIDEO]

Hillary Clinton always putting a radical ideology and her own personal financial gain before the best interests of America. Is this really the kind of leader America needs after 8 miserable, lawless years of Barack Obama? Under two terms of a President Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Muslim population would exceed Germany s current Muslim population, according to data from Pew Research Center and the Department of Homeland Security.According to a Pew report published earlier this week, as of 2010, there were 4.8 million Muslims in Germany. In September, 2015, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that the United States should accept 65,000 refugees from Syria to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis created by the war there. We re facing the worst refugee crisis since the end of World War II and I think the United States has to do more, the former secretary of state said Sunday on CBS Face the Nation. I would like to see us move from what is a good start with 10,000 to 65,000 and begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in. Via: CBS NewsHere s Trump on the out-of-control refugee crisis and common sense ideas on how he thinks America should deal with it:A Pew report from January of this year estimated that there are roughly 3.3 million Muslims living in the United States. This means that today the U.S. already has a larger Muslim population than does Kuwait, or Brunei, or Bahrain, or Djibouti, or Qatar. Under current policy, Pew projects the number of Muslims in America will outnumber Jews by 2040. However, under a President Hillary Clinton it s possible that date could come much sooner.Under two terms of a Hillary Clinton presidency, the U.S. would have a Muslim population that is larger than Germany s Muslim population of 4.8 million.Based on the most recent DHS data available, the U.S. permanently resettled roughly 149,000 migrants from predominantly Muslim countries on green cards in 2014.Yet, as Donald Trump explained during Thursday night acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Clinton has called for a radical 550% increase in Syrian refugees on top of existing massive refugee flows coming into our country under President Obama. Specifically, Clinton had said that, as president, she would expand Muslim migration by importing an additional 65,000 Syrian refugees into the United States during the course of a single fiscal year. Clinton has made no indication that she would limit her proposed Syrian refugee program to one year.As Trump explained, Clinton s Syrian refugees would come on top of the tens of thousands of refugees the U.S. already admits from Muslim countries.Adding Clinton s 65,000 Syrian refugees to the approximately 149,000 Muslim migrants the U.S. resettled on green cards in the course of one year, means that Clinton could permanently resettle roughly 214,000 Muslim migrants in her first year as President. If Clinton were to continue her Syrian refugee program throughout her Presidency, she could potentially resettle roughly 1.5 million Muslim migrants during her first two terms.These projections suggest that after seven years of a Hillary Clinton Presidency, the U.S. could have a Muslim population that is larger than Germany s Muslim population of 4.8 million.These projections are rough estimates, and the population size could be impacted by additional various factors including births, deaths, and conversions. Via: Breitbart News

George Takei Is Ready To Wage War Against The NRA

Normally mild mannered George Takei is pissed at gun violence in this country, and he s planning to organize an LGBT army to do something about it.In an op-ed in The Daily Beast, the former Star Trek star and current Facebook sensation is beyond upset about the brutal massacre at the Pulse gay club in Orlando, Florida that left 49 dead and more than 50 injured. Takei, and many in the LGBT community, took the attack personally. Why wouldn t they? It was a terrorist attack, but it was also a very specifically targeted hate crime. It was an attack on all LGBT people. Takei argues that they were not the only community targeted, though. Nearly every casualty was also Latino. Those two communities is where Takei sees opportunity..Takei, a liberal, was very fair in his assessment, but he argues that the Second Amendment is in direct opposition to the First Amendment, especially in situations like mass shootings.For the average American, it is the First Amendment that articulates many of our most basic and fundamental civil rights: freedom of speech and of worship, but also of assembly and association. On Sunday, the latter two rights came under direct assault for the LGBT community. There is little doubt, for instance, that the killer targeted his victims out of hate. He intended to strike not just at people, but at a closely-knit community. After all, if his goal were sheer bloodshed and horror, Orlando boasts far more tempting and, some might even argue, more sympathetic targets. The killer apparently had issues with gay people; his father stated that, two weeks prior, his son got very angry at the mere sight of two men kissing in public, and even angrier that his own boy should witness it. At the same time, the killer was known to frequent the very establishment he attacked, suggesting that he may have deeply internalized the hate he heard from religious extremists.Takei didn t give ISIS a pass. He mentioned that they hate gay people and that the shooter claimed allegiance with the terrorist organization, but the fight to stop gay marriage and the fight to criminalize bathroom usage by transgender people pretty much shows that our attitudes aren t much better.Takei goes on to say that freedoms, even those guaranteed by the Constitution, have limits:But this is not so rare a circumstance. Indeed, there is no freedom within the Bill of Rights that is absolute. Even freedom of speech, a bedrock of our participatory democracy, has some established limits. I may not jokingly yell fire inside a crowded theater, precisely because the value of that speech is heavily outweighed by the danger to others who might panic. Nor may I cavalierly libel others without fear of legal repercussions. This is because we have decided, as a society, that the cost of the injuries that might arise outweighs any benefit from the freedom to say whatever I want.Takei is done with the gun debate. He has no desire to get rid of the Second Amendment, but he sees no reason everyday American should have assault rifles. He s ready to take on that fight, with a little help from his friends and he feels the LGBT community has spent the past several decades getting ready:Now this latest and most deadly attack has targeted a group that has spent the last few decades learning how to organize, fight for, and protect its rights. Perhaps, then, the next chapter of LGBT history might not be just about the struggle to gain equality for ourselves, but also how we might help lead this country towards a collective right to participate and live free of fear and terror, and ultimately toward a common-sense, permanent ban on weapons designed for mass slaughter.Like it or not, this history and this obligation have been thrust upon us, and we must now rise to its challenge. For if there is one group in this country with more will, more experience, and more tenacity than the NRA, it is the LGBT community.You don t want to mess with us.Featured image via Slaven Vlasic with Getty Images.

Likely successor to Cuba's Castro rejects U.S. demands for change

HAVANA (Reuters) - The man forecast to replace Cuban President Raul Castro early next year rejected U.S. demands that the Communist-run country change its political and economic system. In a Sunday speech blasting U.S. pressure on the Venezuelan government and what he termed an effort to discredit the Cuban tourism industry, First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel said these and other recent events in the region proved imperialism can never be trusted, not even a tiny bit, never. Diaz-Canel was quoting Ernesto Che Guevara at a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of the revolutionary who had helped lead a Bolivian uprising modeled after Cuba s. Cuba will not make concessions to its sovereignty and independence, nor negotiate its principles or accept the imposition of conditions, Diaz-Canel said, apparently responding to U.S. President Donald Trump s recent statement at the United Nations that sanctions would not be lifted until the Caribbean island restores democracy and capitalism. The changes needed in Cuba will solely be carried out by the Cuban people, Diaz-Canel said. Castro, 86, has announced he will step down as president in February. Experts expect Diaz-Canel, 57, to become the first head of state since the early 1960s without Castro as a last name. There are no direct elections in Cuba for national office. Trump said in June that he would once more tighten sanctions on Cuba and seek a better deal from the country than the gradual detente achieved by predecessor Barack Obama. The Trump administration has drastically reduced staffing at its embassy in Cuba and ordered a reciprocal reduction of Cuban diplomats in Washington due to a series of alleged health attacks on U.S. personnel in Havana. The United States has not blamed Cuba for the still unsolved incidents but holds it responsible for not protecting its personnel. The administration has also issued a travel warning stating U.S. citizens might be targeted. Some unnamed officials are propagating unusual nonsense without any evidence, with the perverse aim of discrediting the impeccable reputation of our country as a safe destination for foreign visitors, including from the United States, Diaz-Canel said.

BREAKING: Republican Majority House Caves To Obama…Narrowly Passes TPA Bill

Just when you thought the 2014 election results would provide America with some checks and balances U.S. lawmakers narrowly approved legislation key to securing a hallmark Pacific trade deal on Thursday, partly reversing a defeat less than a week before, in a boost to President Barack Obama s goal of strengthening U.S. economic ties with Asia.The House of Representatives voted 218 to 208 to give the White House authority to close trade deals such as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which encompasses 40 percent of the global economy and is close to completion.But the bill, a stripped-down version of legislation which failed at a vote last week, must now go back to the Senate for approval, where a vote is likely next week.The House has been wrestling for weeks with fast-track authority, which lets lawmakers set negotiating objectives for trade deals, such as the TPP, but restricts them to a yes-or-no vote on the finished agreement.Democrats last week dramatically rejected a personal appeal from Obama to back legislation central to his hallmark Pacific Rim trade deal by voting down a companion measure to renew an expiring program to help workers hurt by trade.The trade package consists of three basic components.That measure was cut from the bill approved on Thursday, but the change from the original legislation ensures a return to the Senate, delaying final passage further.In debate before the vote, many Democrats lined up on the House floor to voice their anger with Obama s trade initiative. This thing is modeled after NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), which cost us 5 million jobs, said veteran Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter.RELATED COVERAGE House speaker: Confident in pretty good place on trade vote Republicans, weary of the long struggle to pass fast-track, urged the House to vote and move on. Enacting trade promotion authority is critical for our economy and for our national security, and so we re going to get it done here today, Ways and Means Committee chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican, said.CLOCK TICKINGDemocratic Senator Ron Wyden told Reuters pro-trade Democrats were determined to pass both fast-track and the worker aid program and were working on a plan to achieve that goal.House Speaker John Boehner said he hoped the Senate would soon take up fast-track and the worker aid program, which would be tacked on to a bill renewing trade benefits for African countries.But members of the Congressional Black Caucus have warned against using the bill as a bargaining chip and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who voted against fast-track, said she did not see a path forward for the worker aid program.Many Democrats, who have strong links to trade unions, fear trade deals such as the TPP will cost U.S. jobs as employers chase lower costs in signatory countries.The House vote is a good sign for the TPP, which would harmonize standards on issues like intellectual property and labor protections and lower trade barriers among the dozen emerging and developed countries.Approval of the TPP would open new markets for major U.S. exporters such as Boeing (BA.N), Ford (F.N), IBM (IBM.N), Caterpillar (CAT.N), Merck (MRK.N) and Cisco (CSCO.O), policy analysts said.Negotiators are under pressure to finish the pact, which is already more than five years in the making, to allow the TPP to clear Congress before 2016 U.S. presidential election campaigns dominate the agenda.Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has yet to take a stand on the deal, but the former secretary of state has said Obama should take on board legitimate concerns expressed by fellow Democrats.Some TPP partner countries, including Japan and Canada, want fast track in place before making final offers on the trade deal, which economists estimate would boost the global economy by almost $300 billion a year.Trade deals are controversial in the United States, which has a share of exports to gross domestic product roughly half that of China, partly because of the country s past experience with NAFTA.That pact freed up trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico and, more than two decades later, is blamed by many for U.S. factory closures and job losses and has soured sentiment toward the TPP.

U.S. Senate intelligence panel 'highly likely' to probe Flynn Russia contacts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the Senate intelligence committee is “highly likely” to look at contacts between Michael Flynn, who resigned as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser on Monday, and Russia’s Washington ambassador. “The intelligence committee is already looking at Russian involvement in our election ... it’s highly likely they’d want to take a look at this episode, they have the jurisdiction to do it,” McConnell told a regular press briefing. Flynn quit on Monday after only three weeks in the job amid revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with Moscow’s ambassador to the United States before Trump took office, in a potentially illegal action, and had later misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. [nL1N1FY1L9]

U.S. attorney general vows to examine Eric Garner case: rights groups

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights leaders said Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised on Tuesday to examine the status of a federal probe into the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man whose 2014 death at the hands of New York City police sparked protests. Garner died in July 2014 after a white police officer put him in a chokehold. The Justice Department’s probe into his death has been stalled by internal disagreements over whether federal investigators have enough evidence to proceed, according to news reports. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader from New York, urged Sessions to “move aggressively” on the case, Sharpton told reporters. Garner, a father of six, was accused of illegally selling cigarettes on a sidewalk when an officer put him in the chokehold from behind and brought him down with the help of other officers. Garner complained repeatedly that he could not breathe. The city medical examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide, with asthma and obesity as contributing factors. The Garner case was the only issue on which Sessions promised to take action during Tuesday’s 45-minute meeting with six civil rights advocates who raised concerns over his stance on police reform, voting laws and minority rights, the advocates told a news conference. The Justice Department declined to comment on the meeting. Sessions called three civil rights groups about a week after he was confirmed on Feb. 8 to express his interest in talking with them, Sharpton said. Sessions declined to comment when the advocates urged him to advise President Donald Trump against creating a voter fraud task force, said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The advocates cited numerous studies showing such fraud was rare in the United States, she said. The civil rights leaders said they also expressed disappointment with the Justice Department’s recent decisions to reverse Obama administration efforts to challenge a Texas voter identification law and allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.

EU calls report on May-Juncker talks a smear

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said a newspaper report that Jean-Claude Juncker had disparaged Theresa May s despondent demeanor after a dinner last week was a deliberate smear intended to disrupt Brexit negotiations. It was the second time in six months that a correspondent for Germany s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung who is respected for his access to Juncker s team has published an account of the EU chief executive s reactions after a dinner meeting with the British prime minister on Britain s EU withdrawal. But unlike in April, the Commission hotly denied leaking the story, which painted an unflattering picture of a British leader worn down by party in-fighting and pleading for the EU s help. Nothing is true in all of this, President Juncker told the BBC, adding that May had been in good shape and not tired . The denial came after Juncker s chief-of-staff got into a Twitter spat with his former counterpart in May s team, denying the Briton s allegation that he was the source and pointing a finger at unnamed interests out to hurt relations with London. It seems some have interest in undermining constructive relations @JunckerEU & PM May, Martin Selmayr tweeted after the accusation by Nick Timothy. Who? is the real question. Timothy, who resigned as May s chief-of-staff after an election upset in June, had accused Selmayr, the German head of Juncker s office, of briefing the FAZ to undermine improved relations between May and EU leaders after a summit last week. After constructive Council meeting, Selmayr does this, he tweeted. Reminder that some in Brussels want no deal or a punitive one. Selmayr said neither he nor Juncker made the reported comments. This is false. I know it doesn t fit your clich , @NickJTimothy. But @JunckerEU & I have no interest in weakening PM ... It s an attempt 2 frame EU side & 2 undermine talks. Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters: Some people like to point at us to serve their own political agendas ... or even to undermine our own negotiating position. We would appreciate if these people would leave us alone. He declined to say who might wish the Commission ill. The newspaper stood by its story. Some of the most vocal opponents of May s negotiations have been fellow Conservatives urging her to reject EU demands for money and other concessions and just walk away without a deal. May s spokesman declined comment but recalled that May and Juncker had described the dinner as constructive and friendly . London was irritated that after the earlier dinner, at 10 Downing Street in April, the FAZ reported that Juncker told aides he thought May was in another galaxy with her demands for favors from the European Union after Britain leaves. At the time, EU officials did not contest the thrust of that story. May, who was then expecting the election to strengthen not weaken her, dismissed it as Brussels gossip . But officials on both sides said the April report had been a setback to creating an atmosphere of trust needed to reach a deal. It prompted reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also irritated by the leak for the same reason. On Friday, EU leaders moved to speed up talks and spoke of opening a new phase in December. Some said they understood May s difficulties in forging consensus in London.

Bill Gates Has Sent A Letter To High Schoolers That Could Change The World And P*ss Off The GOP

Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates has written a letter directly to America s high school children that could change the world and it is going to truly p*ss off Republicans.Every year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation releases its annual letter. But never before has it been directly addressed to high school students. This year s letter was all about energy, how we consume it, how we create it, and how climate change should be the number one issue for us all. Now that the Republican Party has tied itself to the oil industry-funded climate change denial, they could have alienated themselves from a generation who can save humanity from itself. The GOP has become, literally, the only political party in the developed world to endorse the scientifically-bogus denial of climate change.As Business Insider reports:The basic premise of the letter is that many people around the world still don t have access to electricity. Those people about 18% of the world s population deserve access to cheap, clean energy. And that clean part is very important: We need to get carbon dioxide emissions, which drive climate change, down to zero by the end of the century, in order to avoid dramatic, long-term changes to the world s climate.While achieving this goal will require an energy miracle, Gates calls on Highschoolers to get involved in making that miracle happen because it is these lofty aspirations that distinguish human beings from their fellow animals. He writes:When I say miracle, I don t mean something that s impossible. I ve seen miracles happen before. The personal computer. The Internet. The polio vaccine. None of them happened by chance. They are the result of research and development and the human capacity to innovate.In this case, however, time is not on our side. Every day we are releasing more and more CO2 into our atmosphere and making our climate change problem even worse. We need a massive amount of research into thousands of new ideas even ones that might sound a little crazy if we want to get to zero emissions by the end of this century.This is the message and the attitude that speaks to the Manifest Destiny of America. This is the reason that Republicans will rail against this message with every tool in their arsenal. Because the only thing that ever beats of Project Fear, is Project Hope. At it s core, America is a hopeful nation of dreamers and doers. By sending this message to High Schoolers, Bill and Melinda Gates might just help change the world. They may trigger that hope and ambition in a new generation, and make it immune to the nay-saying and anti-intellectualism of the American Right. In doing so, they won t just save America from itself, but humanity too.Featured image via Flickr Creative Commons

BOOM! Al Sharpton Is HUMILIATED By FOX Host About Saying Cops Should Be Killed…Best Part Of Watters Interview: “Good Luck With The IRS”

Yep the guys who is caught on tape openly advocated for killing cops is the same guy MSNBC hired to host his own show. It s the same guy who makes regular visits to our White House to discuss strategy with our Race Baiter In Chief. Imagine if this was a white man calling for a group of people to kill cops. Would his presence at the White House be tolerated by a single American? Yet, in the crazy world of the Left, his presence is not only tolerated, it is deemed necessary to stir up the vote for Democrats in the black community in 2016. We all know that without a single black candidate running for President, the only way to get the same voters to the polls that came out in droves for Barack is to stir it up on the streets. By pitting whites against blacks and and blacks against cops they believe their giving the black voter a compelling reason to vote for Hillary or Bernie.Here s Watters interview with Sharpton where denies saying he believes in offing the cops. Here s the clip showing Al Sharpton saying the things he denies saying: I don t believe in marching. I believe in offing the pigs. Well they got pigs out here! What I believe in, I do! Sharpton exclaimed, encouraging the laughing audience to physically take on law enforcement. He added, Do what you believe in. Or shut up and admit you ve lost your courage and guts to stand up. Ain t nobody holding you. I ll off the man. Well off him. Plenty of crackers walking right around here tonight. WATCH here:

Trump's nuclear remarks test bid to improve Russia ties

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump upped the stakes on Friday in a back-and-forth exchange with President Vladimir Putin over nuclear weapons that tested the Republican’s promises to improve relations with Russia. Offering a glimpse of how he might conduct diplomacy after taking office on Jan. 20, Trump reportedly welcomed a nuclear arms race with Russia and China and boasted that the United States would win it. MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski said Trump told her in an off-air phone call: “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.” The television station did not play his comments on air. It was the second brusque comment about atomic weapons in two days from the New York businessman that alarmed nuclear non-proliferation experts worried about fueling global tension. The broadsides from Trump’s resort in Florida appeared to be aimed mostly at Putin even though the two men have vowed to patch up relations between their countries once the Republican enters the White House. Trump tweeted unexpectedly on Thursday that, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” but gave no further details. That comment appeared to be a response to Putin who said earlier on Thursday that Russia needed to “strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces.” Russia and the United States are at odds over Syria’s civil war and Ukraine but Cold War-style nuclear tensions have greatly eased in recent years. Moscow and Washington signed the New START nuclear treaty in 2010 which reduced strategic weapons and delivery systems. Putin, accused by the Obama administration of overseeing a wave of cyber attacks against U.S. political organizations during the presidential campaign, said on Friday he had no interest in competing with the U.S. nuclear weapon program. “If anyone is unleashing an arms race it’s not us ... We will never spend resources on an arms race that we can’t afford,” he said at a news conference. The Russian president said he was surprised by State Department comments that the U.S. military is the most powerful in the world. “Nobody is arguing with that,” Putin said. He said he did not regard the United States as a potential aggressor and said he saw nothing new or remarkable about Trump’s own statement about wanting to expand U.S. nuclear capabilities. The United States is in the midst of a $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of its aging nuclear arsenal and replacement of its ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles. It is a price tag that most experts say the United States can ill afford. Russia, also bound by New START limits, is carrying out its own costly modernization program but is not expanding its warhead stockpile. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the president-elect’s nuclear comments were meant to send a general message of strength to countries like Russia and China rather than indicate the United States planned to build up its nuclear capabilities. “He is going to do what it takes to protect this country and if another country or countries want to threaten our safety and sovereignty, he is going to do what it takes,” Spicer said onCNN. Trump was elected president unexpectedly last month partly on a platform of building up the U.S. military but he also pledged to cut taxes and control federal spending. His nuclear comments suggest that improving relations with Moscow might not be easy. Trump on Friday released what he said was “a very nice letter” from Putin dated Dec. 15 in which the Russian leader sought bilateral cooperation and a “new level” of relations. In an accompanying statement, Trump said he hoped both countries could “live up to these thoughts” rather than “have to travel an alternative path.” The Obama administration has accused Russia of trying to interfere with the U.S. election by hacking Democratic Party accounts. Information from those hacks was leaked online, causing political problems for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Putin dismissed suggestions Moscow had helped Trump to victory. “The current administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are trying to blame all their failures on external factors,” he said at his Friday news conference. “(We are talking about) a party which has clearly forgotten the original meaning of its own name. They (the Democrats) are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame. In my view this, how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity. You have to know how to lose with dignity.” Trump expressed his agreement with Putin’s view of the Democrats. “So true!” Trump tweeted Friday evening. Putin, who spoke positively of Trump before his election win, said that only Moscow had believed in his victory. “Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him,” Putin said, adding with a smile. “Except for you and me.”

“MAXINE WATERS IN A GLITTERY COWBOY HAT” Goes To War With Trump Over Words Said To Grieving Widow

The left is going ballistic over supposed words said by President Trump to a grieving military widow. President Trump made a call to Myeshia Wilson that has been turned into a political football by the left to make Trump out to be crazy . Wilson s husband was killed in Niger while serving in our military.The media also wasted no time covering this story that does it s best to try and make Trump look as bad as possible Just another day in the life of the lefty media.Far left Congresswoman Frederica Wilson jumped right in to trash Trump after the call. She s following the left s narrative by claiming Trump is a sick man . It s pretty funny that Wilson calls Trump crazy while wearing a glittery cowgirl hat 24/7.According to NBC: He said, But you know he must ve known what he signed up for, the Democrat recounted Trump saying more than once during the call to express his sympathy. According to Wilson, the conversation lasted somewhere from three to five minutes. Everyone knows when you go to war you could possibly not come back alive but you don t remind a grieving widow of that, Wilson said. That s so insensitive. Trump didn t even remember his name, Wilson recalled Myeshia Johnson telling her after the call ended, the congresswoman told MSNBC s Morning Joe Wednesday. She hung up the phone and said, He didn t even remember his name, Wilson said. That s the hurting part. The White House said Tuesday that the president had called the families of all four service members who were killed. He offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their family s extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten, the White House said.Asked about Wilson s characterization of the call, a White House official said Tuesday night that the president s conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private. Trump hit back at the claims saying he has proof of what was said on the call:Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017Wilson took no time in shooting back that Trump is a sick man . She s clearly milking this for all it s worth. It s sick that this Democrat would use this call to a grieving widow to bash our president.

Trump Just Admitted He Knew Flynn Lied To The FBI Before He Asked Comey To Drop The Investigation

Donald Trump really should have taken his staffers advise and not tweeted about former national security adviser Michael Flynn because the former reality show star just implicated himself. I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI, Trump tweeted. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide! I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017 Oh my god, he just admitted to obstruction of justice, former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller tweeted. If Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI when he asked Comey to let it go, then there is your case. Oh my god, he just admitted to obstruction of justice. If Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI when he asked Comey to let it go, then there is your case. https://t.co/c6Wtd0TfzW Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) December 2, 2017However, last February, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump asked Flynn to resign from his position because of eroding trust. There is not a legal issue but rather a trust issue, he said at the time.After Flynn left, Trump defended him, calling the disgraced former national security adviser a wonderful man. I think he s been treated very, very unfairly by the media as I call it, the fake media, in many cases, Trump said in February. I think it s really a sad thing he was treated so badly. When Flynn resigned, he apologized for giving an inaccurate assessment of his conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to Mike Pence, who, at the time, was the vice-president elect.Pence then said that Flynn had not discussed sanctions with Kislyak.The day after Flynn resigned, Trump, according to then-FBI Director James Comey, asked him to let go of an investigation into Flynn.Trump admitted that he knew Flynn lied to the FBI, then he asked Comey to drop the investigation. Shorter version: Trump just tripped over his own little d*ck and presented exhibit A for trial because he obstructed justice.Photo by Steve Pope/Getty Images.

WORKPLACE MICROAGGRESSION: ISIS Yells “Alluha Akbar” While Accidentally Blowing Themselves Up [VIDEO]

Obviously not the smartest cowards in the desert https://youtu.be/QsZN_0barc8h/t Weasel Zippers

HILARIOUS! TRUMP Reserves “Special Seats” For NYT’s Reporters At Press Conference After Publishing FAKE NEWS On Russian Probe

Former FBI Director James Comey admitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that he asked a Columbia professor friend to leak a memo he kept regarding his conversation with President Trump to the press.The memo was leaked to one of the key players in the witch hunt for a Russian connection with President Trump Russia, the New York Times, the leftist media arm of the Democrat Party. The New York Times ran with the story that Trump was pushing Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.GP: Comey also told the Senate Intelligence Committee he knew The New York Times was publishing leaked reports that were not accurate. But James Comey said he would not tell the NY Times about their fraudulent report because that would not be right (?).Jame Comey s priorities are a bit confusing.Zero Hedge For those of you who continue to consume anonymously-sourced news from the likes of CNN, NYT, WAPO, etc, as pure fact and a perfect substitute for actual, unbiased journalism, while blindly ignoring the overwhelming evidence which continues to suggest these outlets are simply pushing a sensationalized narrative aimed at bringing down an administration of which they disapprove, please consider Comey s testimony from earlier today in which he describes a February NY Times story, which alleged numerous contacts between Trump associates and Russia, as almost entirely wrong Meanwhile, in earlier testimony with Senator Risch, Comey further explained why anonymously sourced stories can often be pure nonsense. Comey: In the main it was not true. And, again, all of you know this, maybe the American people do not, the challenge, and I m not picking on reporters, about writing stories about classified information is, the people talking about it often don t really know what s going on and those of us who actually know what s going on are not talking about it.And we don t call the press to say hey, you got that thing wrong about his sensitive topic.' I mentioned to the chairman the nonsense around what influenced me to make the July 5th Statement. Nonsense, but I can t go explaining why it s nonsense. As a special reward for publishing FAKE NEWS about President Trump, he offered the New York Times a special seat in the back row of his press conference right next to Univision!The White House has put the New York Times in the last row at today's joint press conference with Trump and Romania's president pic.twitter.com/ChFGMDpGti Gabby Morrongiello (@gabriellahope_) June 9, 2017According to Gabby Morrongiello, a reporter for the NYP, President Trump also made answering the questions of the fake news US reporters a low-priority:Romanian reporters have gotten 5 questions at this press conference so far. American reporters: 2 Gabby Morrongiello (@gabriellahope_) June 9, 2017

Turkey determined to maintain EU accession process, government says

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is determined to press on with its efforts to join the European Union despite tensions with the bloc, the government said on Sunday ahead of an EU summit which will discuss the frayed relations between Brussels and Ankara. The EU, particularly heavyweight member Germany, has become increasingly critical of Turkey since President Tayyip Erdogan launched a crackdown on critics, including journalists and academics after the July 2016 failed coup. Erdogan accused Berlin of Nazi-like tactics in March when it prevented Turkish ministers speaking at expatriate rallies in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an election debate in September that it was clear Turkey should not join the EU and entry talks should end, despite it being a NATO ally. Is there another country that has waited at the EU s doorstep since 1963? There is not, Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency. We are determined to continue this process despite all the setbacks. We, as Turkey, have no intention of pulling back, he said. Turkey s 12-year-long accession talks have ground to a halt since Ankara s crackdown after the failed coup, in which more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the military, private and public sectors. EU leaders will meet on Oct. 19 to discuss deteriorating ties between the bloc and Turkey in a two-day summit. However, Merkel was quoted as saying the summit will not make a conclusive decision on Ankara s accession bid.

Trump nominates former fund manager Quintenz to serve on CFTC: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald J. Trump nominated Brian Quintenz, a former fund manager, consultant and congressional policy adviser, to serve as commissioner on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the White House said in a statement on Friday. Quintenz, who founded and was managing principal at Saeculum Capital Management LLC for three years ending in 2016, was nominated to serve the remainder of a five-year term ending on April 13, 2020, the statement said.

Longtime GOP Consultant Throws His Party Under The Bus By Explaining Voter ID Laws

A longtime Republican consultant, Carter Wrenn, has finally said what the rest of the GOP won t about voter ID laws. In-person voter fraud is an excuse, and the laws that force people to obtain certain identification, along with limiting or eliminating early voting and other provisions, wouldn t happen if the black community would just vote Republican.You can t make this up. Wrenn told the Washington Post: Look, if African Americans voted overwhelmingly Republican, they would have kept early voting right where it was. It wasn t about discriminating against African Americans. They just ended up in the middle of it because they vote Democrat. So it was about discriminating against African-Americans. How on Earth does Wrenn get from If African Americans voted overwhelmingly Republican to, This wasn t about discrimination? There s no way to make that leap of logic without an awful lot of crazy gymnastics.Basically, Wrenn just admitted that Republicans wouldn t push down the black community if the black community would just do what Republicans want. Republicans would probably be all for fixing inner cities, passing jobs bills, passing crime bills, ensuring the social safety net isn t gutted, and more, if the black community voted Republican. But, since they don t, fuck em. The GOP has to protect its majorities, after all.Wake County, in North Carolina, the state whose voter ID law Wrenn was discussing, says that more early voting would just waste tax dollars and cause additional chaos. Excuses, excuses, and flimsy ones at that. All the county boards in North Carolina are Republican under state law because the governor is a Republican. They re apparently all on his side with rationalizing away their blatant discrimination any way they can.The Supreme Court refused to grant a stay on a lower court s decision that North Carolina s law was crafted with the specific intent of suppressing the black vote. Governor Pat McCrory threw a livid fit, saying that the Court had denied basic voting rights to North Carolina that other states are allowed to enjoy.It s really the state that s trying to deny basic voting rights to their black community, all in the name of preventing voter fraud, and protecting one person, one vote. McCrory has his lies all lined up in a neat little row, though, and will use them, one after the other, for as long as he has to.The GOP needs to clean its own house before they cry about voter fraud. Their standard-bearer s own campaign CEO is guilty of attempting voter fraud, which just makes them utter hypocrites for tolerating that and whining up a storm about the need to prevent voter fraud.But don t call them racist, and don t call these laws racist! The GOP has this strange need to convince itself that this isn t about racism. Consider this, though: even if it truly wasn t about racism, they re still working to actively deny people their constitutional right to vote. Wrenn just damned his party with that interview.Featured image by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Actress Salma Hayek Perfectly BURNS Trump For Confusing 9/11 With 7- Eleven (TWEET)

A tweet by actress Salma Hayek clearly demonstrates how ridiculous the Republican Party is for supporting Donald Trump.During a rally in Buffalo on Monday, the Republican front-runner didn t even notice a major slip of his tongue when he confused to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to the convenience store known as 7-Eleven. I wrote this out, and it s very close to my heart, Trump claimed. Because I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen down at 7/11, down at the World Trade Center right after it came down. And I saw the greatest people I ve ever seen in action. Yeah, it s so close to his heart that he couldn t even be bothered to get the date of the attacks right. And he was in New York when he made the unforced error.Trump would end up being crucified on social media for the screw-up, but Salma Hayek won the Internet with her own hilarious reaction. I am a dyslexic Mexican and English is my second language, however even I do not confuse 7/11 with 9/11, she wrote.Here s the post via Twitter.I am a dyslexic Mexican and English is my second language, however even I do not confuse 7/11 with 9/11. #DonaldTrump Salma Hayek (@salmahayek) April 19, 2016Hayek has only been on Twitter for just a year now but it looks like she has mastered the art of the Twitter burn.This has to be a totally embarrassing moment for Trump. In fact, it s probably the most embarrassing gaffe he has made throughout his hateful campaign. The man lives and works in New York for his entire life and yet he can t correctly state the date of the worst terrorist attack on American soil which happened in his own backyard and claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people.Donald Trump is a disgrace and Salma Hayek just put him in his place with a single tweet.Featured Image: Gage Skidmore

NEW LOW: NYT’s And CBS Used FAKE NEWS To Smear Wounded Warrior Project…Triple Amputee Vet And Freedom Daily Expose Them

Freedom Daily The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) has been helping injured veterans since its inception in 2003, 2 years after the deadly terror attacks that rocked the nation on 9-11. Since its inception, the organization became the #1 veterans charity in the world. This year, WWP surpassed the 100,000 mark in terms of veterans they provide assistance to. Work the Wounded Warrior Project does has seen billions of dollars go to help severely injured veterans, and that doesn t even include the charity s day to day operations.After being attacked by the New York Times and CBS News last year, Wounded Warrior Project has fallen on hard times, and many severely wounded veterans are no longer receiving assistance. But now the truth has come out. The reports by the Times and CBS that Wounded Warrior Project was misusing funds has been completely debunked. Not only were tens of thousands of wounded veterans harmed by the lies maliciously told about WWP, but two of the founding members were fired by the board of directors, and now they re speaking out.Freedom Daily spoke exclusively to Al Giordano, a Marine vet & co-founder and former Chief Operating Officer of WWP.In 2009, Steve Nardizzi, another co-founder, became CEO of WWP. Both he & Giordano have been credited with building the Wounded Warrior Project into a charity powerhouse for injured veterans. That s when MSM began running fake news about the organization.On Wednesday, January 27, 2016, the New York Times ran a story based on the testimonies of several employees of WWP who were disgruntled over their termination from the charity. The former employees who had been fired had created a private Facebook page with which to communicate with one another. There they plotted to take down Wounded Warrior Project, and the New York Times was more than eager to help.Here is a response that was published by the NYT s to their article:To the Editor:I read with disgust your slanted article on the Wounded Warrior Project. The saddest part is that it endeavors to hurt an organization that does so much to help our wounded soldiers.I have been involved with the Wounded Warrior Project for over 12 years. I have met over 1,000 soldiers and their caregivers whose lives have been positively affected by the organization. Many soldiers have told me they would have committed suicide were it not for the Wounded Warrior Project.Your article zoned in on some disgruntled former employees rather than the roughly 500 staff members who work tirelessly to honor and empower our wounded. You do not reflect the sentiments of the more than 80,000 wounded soldiers we have helped, focusing instead on a few malcontents. For fiscal year 2015, Wounded Warrior reported a 92.9 percent satisfaction rate with the organization s services.PETER HONERKAMPAmagansett, N.Y.Giordano steered us to Professor Doug White, an author, recognized expert on charities, and former Director of the Masters of Science in Fundraising Management program at Columbia University. Professor White became aware of the hit piece done by the New York Times and compiled a 79-page independent report on the matter.White pointed out in his independent report that the Facebook group included Len Stachitis, Executive Vice President of Strategic Giving of WWP. Stachitis was terminated for covering up the theft of donor dollars from his direct reports including Teresa Nichols, Manager of Major gifts, another member of the Facebook group.Dave Philipps, a reporter for the Times, had been contacted by the group of fired WWP employees in June of 2015. Giordano relayed to us that while some former employees spoke glowingly about what WWP had done for them personally, they lied about how the charity was being managed. They had a score to settle. And Philipps ate it up.Nothing good that Philipps was told about WWP made it into his final article for the New York Times.What did Philipps leave out of his hit piece? Employees told him that WWP saved their lives and even their marriages. Dan Nevins, an Army vet who lost both of his legs in Iraq literally cried about what WWP had done for him. Philipps laughed about it. WWP had awesome morale and the lowest employee turnover for any charity half the industry standard. WWP had been voted the best non-profit to work for 3 years in a row Philipps said it was worst. WWP set up a private health care network with $70 million over three years to 4 hospitals for injured veterans to receive free mental health counseling. WWP set up a Trust Fund with $100 million to take care of veterans whose parents couldn t so they wouldn t have to have the government put them into nursing homes. Al Giordano and Steve Nardizzi got rave reviews from the WWP Board of Directors for how they did their jobs Every. Single. Year. A third party company was even brought in to do the internal polling in order to avoid the possibility of employees feeling pressured to rate their bosses in a favorable light.None of these things made it into the New York Times hit piece on the Wounded Warrior Project. Everything that was perceived to be negative about the charity, even the lies the disgruntled, fired employees told Philipps, made the cut, though. Imagine that.The New York Times cited a report from charity auditor Charity Navigator that WWP spent lavishly on executives & administration rather than on vets. It turns out, the reporting was completely bogus, and just recently, WWP was afforded a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator, it s top rating, for the fiscal year 2015. Of course, for the New York Times, the story is all that matters, regardless of who is hurt if the story is 100% BS.Professor White explained in his report how the inaccurate reporting came about. His conclusions are damning for the Fake News New York Times that is. In his report, he states that:The disgusting thing about all of this? Despite being proven wrong, neither the New York Times nor CBS will publish a retraction of their false stories. The Wounded Warrior Project is on schedule to lose $300 million in donor funds since the fake news stories came out. This has devastated WWP and its ability to help more wounded veterans, according to Giordano. Millions of veterans have been affected.Even the uber-liberal Washington Post reported on WWP being cleared of any wrongdoing under Nardizzi & Giordano.Houston Chronicle After reports they were spending lavishly on things like travel, dinners and team building exercises at posh resorts instead of the needs of combat veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project has been given a clean bill of fiscal health from the Better Business Bureau.The BBB s Wise Giving Alliance said this month that the Florida-based Wounded Warrior Project meets their 20 point standard of charity accountability. According to their report, the WWP gets a passing grade for proper finances, governance, effectiveness and funding raising. WWP provided details of expenses and expense areas to demonstrate there was no evidence of lavish spending, according to the report which found the organization s spending to be consistent with its programs and mission. One of the issues that drew critical attentionin 2016 was a so-called All Hands meeting for WWP s employees at a five-star hotel in Colorado Springs. The audit from the BBB determined that the event cost $1 million and not the $3 million that was reported in the media. That amounted to less than $440 per day for the five-day training for 415 staff members, including hotel, food, travel and conference cost, according to the report.Fox News Bill O Reilly covered the news. Watch at 3:48 into the video.https://youtu.be/JHY3G1r3VSQ

France criticizes Russian stance on Syria toxic gas probe

PARIS (Reuters) - France criticized Russia on Thursday for calling into question an international inquiry into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Russia has questioned the work and future of the joint inquiry by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and said it would decide whether to support extending the mandate after investigators submit their next report. We cannot accept that the credibility and independence of these mechanisms are challenged on the grounds that their conclusions are not suitable for Russia, French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters. This undermines the international consensus that it is our responsibility to build to stop the use of these weapons in Syria. The inquiry, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), is due to report by Oct. 26 on who was responsible for an April 4 attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people. France, Britain and the United States have accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s government of being behind the attack and the probe is expected to back those claims. The United States said on Wednesday it would push the United Nations Security Council to renew within days the JIM s mandate, setting the stage for a likely showdown with Russia, which backs Assad and denies Assad has used chemical weapons. France, under President Emmanuel Macron, has been pushing for closer cooperation with Moscow, especially over Syria, and has said dialogue with Russia on enforcing a 2013 Security Council resolution to prevent the use of chemical weapons in Syria was one of its priorities. The JIM (already) concluded in its August and October 2016 reports the responsibility of the Syrian armed and security forces in three cases of chlorine use and Islamic State in one case. The methodology of the investigation is indisputable, Romatet-Espagne said.

EPIC! CSPAN CALLER Gets His Benghazi Message Out To Hillary…This Is Priceless!

If you ve ever watched CSPAN you ll know how rare it is to get a caller who s like this guy this is priceless!

#AfterTrumpImplodes Hashtag Hilariously Imagines What Will Happen In A Post-Trump World

What will the world be like post-Donald Trump? A new hashtag, #AfterTrumpImplodes, is working its way through Twitter, carrying people s predictions about what such a world will be like. This is especially on target right now because Trump is, in fact, imploding, and he s taking the GOP with him. That s inevitably good for a strong social media lashing.Of course, there are predictions about what will happen to the GOP:#AfterTrumpImplodes I ll sell the leftover scraps of the GOP on eBay. JohnyActionSpacePunk (@JohnyAction) August 6, 2016 #AfterTrumpImplodes The resulting black hole will swallow the Republican Party. Mama Says No (@Mamasaysnonono) August 6, 2016#AfterTrumpImplodes He ll leave behind a noxious green globule, which will get the GOP nod. Crutnacker (@Crutnacker) August 6, 2016There are tweets making fun of Trump s blatantly unworkable Mexican border wall: #AfterTrumpImplodes this will be the only wall with his name on it. pic.twitter.com/5bTiGaFGIP Linda Childers (@LindaChilders1) August 5, 2016#AfterTrumpImplodes he s gonna build a wall, a beautiful wall, around his asylum, and he s gonna make the voices in his head pay for it. Richard Jeter (@MilesToGo13) August 5, 2016 maybe we can build a wall around them #AfterTrumpimplodes https://t.co/zuqlyJX0a1 Kimanne123 (@kimanne123) August 6, 2016And tweets mocking his penchant for touting his own greatness and blaming everyone but himself when the media reports otherwise:He and his followers will blame it on everyone and everything but he and his followers. #AfterTrumpImplodes Lizbuddie (@lizbuddie) August 6, 2016 #AfterTrumpImplodes he ll claim that his mind was rigged, by people with small hands. Token White Karim (@KarimKovacevic) August 6, 2016#AfterTrumpImplodes tries to sue Hitler AND Mussolini for flawed campaign strategies as taught at Hitler University Andrew Brodie (@andrewbrodie331) August 6, 2016There s an attack on something that just came to light about Trump s campaign the fact that people with recurring donations can t cancel them: You MIGHT be able to cancel your recurring campaign donation #AfterTrumpImplodes.Then again, maybe not. https://t.co/HU7ESDkr7D Sue Jensen (@suedinym) August 5, 2016And there s the general mocking that always goes along with a hashtag like this:#aftertrumpimplodes Wikileaks will leak the long awatied TrumpTax Returns, we will see he has paid no taxes for the last 12 yrs Michael (@griffbos) August 6, 2016 We all have to lick that orange dust off our fingers for a year. #AfterTrumpImplodes Dean Lopata (@DLoIndustries) August 6, 2016#AfterTrumpImplodes Americans can travel to Europen without pretending to be Canadians (((katesavage))) (@katesavage) August 6, 2016 #aftertrumpimplodes He ll demand to have the codes to Implosions . AEGreallive (@AEGreallive) August 6, 2016It s pretty clear what people think of a Trump implosion. There are some Trumpkins trying to fight the onslaught by saying that he won t implode, that it s Hillary who s imploded, and blah blah blabbity blabbity blah the typical delusional ranting from that crowd. They re mostly being drowned out by people who see Trump for who he really is.Featured image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Trump Demanded The Anne Frank Center ‘Praise’ Him For Finally Denouncing Antisemitism; Their Response Is EPIC (TWEETS)

When White House spokesliar Sean Spicer demanded that the Anne Frank Center praise Donald Trump for, for the first time since he became President, denouncing the rash of antisemitic violence and other crime that has popped up since his election.Traditionally, Trump has been terrible with even acknowledging that bad things happen to Jewish people. even omitting them from his Holocaust announcement. But for the first time that can t be emphasized enough he named Jews as the actual victims of antisemitism: The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil. While some praised Trump for finally doing the right thing, for most it was too little too late especially when it s considered that his staff is overflowing with Nazis, white nationalists, white supremacists, alt-Righters, and other synonyms. His statement today is a pathetic asterisk of condescension after weeks in which he and his staff have committed grotesque acts and omissions reflecting Antisemitism, yet day after day have refused to apologize and correct the record, Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, wrote in a Facebook post. Make no mistake: The Antisemitism coming out of this Administration is the worst we have ever seen from any Administration. He added: The White House repeatedly refused to mention Jews in its Holocaust remembrance, and had the audacity to take offense when the world pointed out the ramifications of Holocaust denial. And it was only yesterday, Presidents Day, that Jewish Community Centers across the nation received bomb threats, and the President said absolutely nothing. When President Trump responds to Antisemitism proactively and in real time, and without pleas and pressure, that s when we ll be able to say this President has turned a corner. This is not that moment. I think he s been very forceful with his denunciation of people who seek to attack people because of their religion, because of their gender, because of the color of their skin, Spicer lied in response. It is something that he s going to continue to fight and make very, very clear has he has no place in this administration. Trump, of course, chose an alt-right scumbag named Stephen Miller, who has ties to white supremacist Richard Spencer, as a senior adviser and has handed anti-semitic, racist hatemonger Steve Bannon so much power that many people are saying he s actually the President. It s ironic that no matter how many times he talks about this, it s never good enough, Spicer whined, ignoring that Trump literally has never actually defended persecuted Jewish people before. The Anne Frank Center, he says, needs to get with the program and sing The Donald s praises: I wish that they had praised the president for his leadership in this area, and I think that hopefully as time continues to go by, they recognize his commitment to civil rights, to voting rights, to equality for all Americans. The Center shot back on Twitter, giving them a condition that would cause them to do that fire the most blatant and terrible Nazi on staff: @WhiteHouse says our org should "praise" @POTUS @realDonaldTrump on #Antisemitism THEN FIRE STEVE BANNON. https://t.co/gGaoL0buc9 AnneFrankCenter(US) (@AnneFrankCenter) February 21, 2017.@WhiteHouse Sean Spicer you are wrong to claim @POTUS has addressed #Antisemitism many times. No & we had to beg. https://t.co/TNGt186vEv AnneFrankCenter(US) (@AnneFrankCenter) February 22, 2017RIDICULOUS for @POTUS & @WhiteHouse to use Ivanka's religion as defense to #Antisemitism like saying Some of my best daughters are Jewish AnneFrankCenter(US) (@AnneFrankCenter) February 22, 2017Naturally, Trump fans showed their true colors in response:@TotalWarCoach @AnneFrankCenter Whoa whoa whoa, why aren't you people lampshades yet? leftism is autism (@crowsm) February 21, 2017@AnneFrankCenter You really need to shut up. Save your wailing for the wall, not about our president. Do you want Muslim immigrants? ?Jin Saotome? (@JinSaotome) February 21, 2017@murrdogg I'll put my money on them or the Jewish leaders themselves. Lotta hoaxes for attention. And calling Trump anti-Semitic so quickly? ?Jin Saotome? (@JinSaotome) February 21, 2017@AnneFrankCenter @WhiteHouse @POTUS @realDonaldTrump Why fire Bannon? He isn't an anti-semit. No evidence to support baseless charge. N Thompson (@NThompson_3) February 21, 2017Trump hasn t exactly been the civil rights President his team seems to think he is but the notion that everyone should grovel at his feet every single time he does or says something that isn t completely batsh*t f*cking horrifying is simply unacceptable.Don t be fooled by the one gesture he was cornered into making: he s still the same tangerine fascist he s always been.Featured image via Getty Images (Joe Raedle)/screengrab

Don't scrap war crimes court, U.S. warns Kosovo

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Any move by Kosovo to scrap a war crimes court linked to its independence struggle would seriously undermine relations with friendly western nations, its main backer the United States said on Friday. Lawmakers from the governing coalition, who hold a majority, are pressing for a vote to abolish the court. The vote was scheduled for later in the day but it failed twice due to opposition from other parties. Parliament speaker Kadri Veseli said parliament would continue to attempt to vote on the issue in the coming days. Isa Mustafa, Kosovo s former prime minister and an opposition leader, said the proposal was devastating for our state and very damaging for justice . The Specialist Chamber was established in The Hague in 2015 to bring to justice Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas alleged to have committed atrocities during the 1998-99 war that led to the country s secession from Serbia. It has yet to hear any cases. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, President Hashim Thaci and parliamentary speaker Veseli are former KLA commanders. The court s judges and prosecutors are foreign but it has been set up under Kosovan law, giving Pristina jurisdiction over it. Calling for the parliamentary vote to be halted, U.S. ambassador Greg Delawie said it would have extraordinarily negative implications for Kosovo. It is just a disgrace, he told reporters in Pristina. This will be considered by the U.S. as stab in the back. Kosovo will be choosing isolation instead of cooperation. There was no immediate response from Kosovo officials to Delawie s comments. Washington has been Kosovo s leading political and financial backer since it declared independence in 2008. Nataliya Apostolova, the EU representative in Pristina, called the attempt to scrap the court appalling and extremely damaging . The court was set up following U.S. and European pressure on the government to confront alleged KLA crimes against ethnic Serbs. According to Kosovo media, the court could indict or call as witnesses some of current government officials. It was set up in the Netherlands to minimize the risk of witness intimidation and judicial corruption. Kosovo s war veterans association last week launched an initiative to hold a parliamentary debate to abolish the law that established the court. They gathered 15,000 signatures, Kosovo media reported. NATO air strikes on Serbia forced Belgrade to withdraw its troops from Kosovo in 1999, having killed around 10,000 Albanian civilians. NATO has around 5,000 troops stationed in Kosovo to keep a still fragile peace. Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian and 5 percent Serbian, is recognized by more than 110 mainly by western countries but not by Serbia s key ally Russia or China.

Kenya to hold new presidential vote on Oct. 17: electoral commission

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya will hold a new presidential election on Oct. 17, a senior official at the election commission said on Monday, days after the Supreme Court nullified the vote held in August.

Japan PM Abe's ratings regain 50 percent amid North Korea security jitters

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s support ratings have recovered to the 50 percent level, a poll released on Tuesday showed, helped by public jitters over North Korea s missile and nuclear tests and by disarray in the main opposition party. A September 8-10 survey by the Yomiuri newspaper put support for Abe s administration at 50 percent, up 8 points from the previous month. Abe s support had sunk below 30 percent in some polls in July, battered by suspected cronyism scandals and perceptions among voters that he had become arrogant after more than four years in office. His ratings improved slightly cabinet reshuffle in early August. Since then, news has been dominated by rising regional tensions over North Korea s ballistic missile tests, including one that flew over northern Japan. Abe has spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump by phone numerous times, seeking to demonstrate the U.S.-Japan alliance is firm. Pyongyang last week carried out its sixth and biggest nuclear test and Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera warned more provocations could be in store after the U.N. Security Council stepped up sanctions, imposing a ban on the North s textile exports and capping crude oil imports. Japan also wants to take leadership to change North Korea s policies while coordinating closely with other countries, Abe told reporters on Tuesday. With parliament in recess, Abe was able to use the crisis in North Korea to monopolize the spotlight by getting the media to portray him as a strong leader, said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University. Japan s opposition Democratic Party, meanwhile, failed to improve its ratings after the election last month of a new leader, former foreign minister Seiji Maehara. The Democrats also face likely defections to an embryonic party that allies of popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, an ex-ruling party lawmaker, are trying to form. Sixty percent of voters did not hold hopes for Maehara s leadership compared to 33 percent who did. Support for his party languished at 5 percent versus 40 percent for Abe s Liberal Democratic Party, the Yomiuri said. Reflecting Koike s popularity, the yet-to-be-launched Japan First party, fared better, with 41 percent expressing hopes for the new group. Whether Abe can maintain the gains in popularity remains to be seen. The scandals have not gone away and in a couple of weeks, Abe will have to convene the Diet ... so the recovery in support levels may well turn out to be temporary, Nakano said.

Former GOP Congressman TRASHES Paul Ryan: If Trump Were A Dem, You’d Impeach Him

Now that fired FBI Director James Comey has offered explosive testimony to the Intelligence Committee of the United States Senate, Republicans are scrambling to defend Trump and try to make excuses for what could very well be obstruction of justice. Very few of them are willing to break ranks and criticize Trump, when they know damn well that if this were Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, they d be howling for impeachment posthaste. Well, there is one Republican who is willing to call them out on it: Former Congressman Bob Inglis.Rep. Inglis took to Twitter after a story was posted about House Speaker Paul Ryan claiming that he wouldn t impeach a Democrat if that person were to do the same things that Trump has engaged in. In a series of tweets, Inglis trashed Ryan for lying:.@SpeakerRyan you know this isn't true. You know that you would be inquiring into impeachment if this were a D. https://t.co/mBFn4aCGi4 Bob Inglis (@bobinglis) June 9, 2017.@SpeakerRyan, no, it isn't time to draft Articles of Impeachment. But it is time to pursue the Russia investigation with vigor. Bob Inglis (@bobinglis) June 9, 2017.@SpeakerRyan and if the investigation leads to the Pres., his family or his campaign, so be it. Don't obstruct justice. Put country first. Bob Inglis (@bobinglis) June 9, 2017Inglis is correct, of course. Elected Republicans are being craven, cowardly weasels right now. They are putting their party and their political futures ahead of their country while the nation and the world burn under Trump s criminal behavior, rank ignorance, and stunning incompetence. Further, if this were Hillary Clinton, they know they d be trying to find something anything to remove her from office. Hell, they d do that even if she didn t do anything wrong. In fact, House Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz said that he had years of investigations lined up and waiting for Hillary when it seemed sure that she would win. They d be calling for her removal the second she took her hand off the Bible whether she did anything wrong or not. They ve admitted as much.In short, more elected Republicans need to grow a spine and admit the mistake they have made for the nation and the world, and do something about Donald Trump while we still have a nation left to save.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images

STUNNING! FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP Wears Red To Greet Chinese Leader And Wife [Video]

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump officially welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan to Mar-a-Lago. Melania wore a beautiful red dress and looked stunning! Talks will continue up to a working lunch on Friday, that are likely to turn to more serious issues.The summit has been somewhat overshadowed by renewed missile tests in North Korea and an apparent chemical attack in Syria that could prompt US military action.The UN Security Council where both China and the United States hold a veto is expected to meet later to discuss a response to Bashar al-Assad s Syrian regime.No one neither diplomats nor aides could be sure what would happen when the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation met a mercurial American president who has been in office less than 100 days and is capable of unraveling the most carefully-laid plans with a single 140-character tweet.For that reason Xi arrived with a gift-basket of tweetable deliverables , sources say, peace offerings on Trump s signature issues trade and jobs that he hopes will smooth over a relationship that began on shaky ground following disagreements over Taiwan.Top of the list, according to a source briefed on Xi s plans, will be a package of Chinese investments aimed at creating more than 700,000 American jobs the number pledged to Trump by China s regional rival Japan, during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s February Mar-a-Lago visit.There may also be offers to further open China s auto and agricultural markets, insiders say, and even some concessions on Chinese banks transactions with North Korea, a vital financial lifeline for the country.In return, Xi hopes to get assurances from Trump on punitive tariffs and that an American arms sale to Taiwan will be delayed, at least until after a major Communist Party meeting later this year.Trump s position on democratically-ruled Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province, has been a major irritant since the billionaire politician accepted a protocol-breaking phone call from the Taiwanese president after his election victory.The summit stakes, both domestic and international, are high.Disagreements over approaches to North Korea or bilateral trade could, if mishandled, destabilize North East Asia or tank the global economy.On the domestic political front, Xi is heading into a critical year. Ahead of a party congress that could cement his grip on power for years to come, he needs to show that he can deal with the US leader as an equal.He cannot afford to lose face while China aspires to be the new center of gravity for the world order, China political analyst Willy Lam told AFP.On the US side, however, North Korea will likely top the agenda following Wednesday s provocative missile launch.The Trump White House worries Pyongyang is just months away from marrying nuclear and long-range missile technology and putting the west coast of the United States within striking distance.While Beijing has condemned the missile tests, it has hesitated to take dramatic action against Pyongyang, fearing that the country s collapse would generate a flood of refugees across its borders and leave the US military on its doorstep.Read more: YahooRead more: Daily Mail

Senate to take up House Puerto Rico debt bill by end-June: McConnell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the Senate would take up before the end of this month a bill passed by the House of Representatives dealing with Puerto Rico’s debt. McConnell, the top Republican Senate leader, was speaking to reporters. Backers of the House-passed bill are hoping the Senate signs off on the legislation before July 1, when Puerto Rico faces a deadline on a $1.9 billion debt payment.

Rheinmetall CEO says Turkey row holding up defense projects: DPA

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Tensions between Germany and Turkey are holding up planned defense projects at Rheinmetall, the German company s chief executive told news agency DPA in an interview. Ties between the two NATO allies have been strained by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan s crackdown on opponents after a failed coup last year as well as Germany s refusal to extradite people Turkey says were involved in the plot. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in the interview published on Monday that several projects, including the production of ammunition for fighter jets in Turkey and upgrades to Turkey s Leopard tanks, were still awaiting decisions by the two governments. If relations with Turkey don t improve it will be difficult to obtain clearance from Germany, he said. Poor relations have also dimmed Rheinmetall s prospects for playing a role in Turkey s Altay tank project, worth an estimated 7 billion euros ($8.13 billion), DPA said. Turkey s BMC, with which Rheinmetall has a joint venture in Turkey, is among the bidders for the first tranche to build around 100 to 200 of a planned 1,000 combat tanks, DPA said. If BMC wins the contract, Rheinmetall could in theory take part in the development of the tank via joint venture RBSS, in which the German company holds a 40 percent stake, but it would need an export clearance from the German government. Papperger said Rheinmetall had no plans to build its own tank factory in Turkey.

how influential french author alain soral become red pilled

the celebrations have ended and weve all come to absorb the fact that donald trump is our next president an outcome that many of us have aggressively worked for in the past several months now that weve gotten what we wanted its time to describe exactly how a trump presidency will improve our standing if the president can say it then you can say it the biggest effect well see is the death of political correctness we now have a shitlord for president who has insulted ugly women as fat pigs and whose private macho talk which all masculine men have done was relentlessly attacked by the press but not punished in the voter booth this means that when you talk like trump the first thought your listener will have is he sounds like the president of the united states what excuse will they now have for limiting your speech if one man was able to gain the highest office in the land because of it either trump was elected because voters liked a person who makes those kinds of statements or they didnt care enough that he made them whichever explanation you accept means that the will of the american people has stated that you can exercise your free speech your opinions and your desire to flirt with attractive women without having to obey a speech police force that evaluates everything you do based on how offensive it is to a kaleidoscope of races and loony identities you can begin removing your politically correct filter im in a state of exuberance that we now have a president who rates women on a scale in the same way that we do and evaluates women by their appearance and feminine attitude we may have to institute a new feature called would trump bang to signify the importance of feminine beauty ideals that cultivate effort and class above sloth and vulgarity simply look at his wife and the beautiful women he has surrounded himself with to remind yourself of what men everywhere prefer and not the beauty at every size sewage that has been pushed down our throats by gender studies professors and corporations trying to market their product to feminist fatsoes the president of the united states does not see the value in fat women who dont take care of themselves and neither should you liberals will be forced to tolerate us in a way they didnt have to before there are so many of us that we can ease out of the closet and not be afraid of persecution like before what are they going to do fire everyone who supports trump accuse every man who voted for him of rape the way the establishment has been able to marginalize us is to corner men individually and apply intense pressure but now we have natural allies in all men who back trump even if they dont subscribe to our particular interpretation of masculinity liberals will not be able to point and shriek to get you to withdraw like before they will not have easy victories by using labels like racist or sexist they will have to endure us in their midst and bite their lip when we offend their degenerate ideals knowing that the price of attacking us is becoming too costly it may be as simple as whipping out your maga hat as if its a bat signal and having fellow trump supporters come to your aid i know that if i see a trump supporter in trouble i will help him regardless of his race or station liberals will be forced to share space with those whom they hate instead of trying to exile them like in the past it will be easier to find a fellow traveler men who hold our beliefs have long ago learned that we cant go around sharing them in public to those who are not vetted if youre like me you first test a new man you meet with a masculine comment to see how he responds such as remarking on the attractiveness of a woman or how youve heard of a community online that trolls liberals without mercy weve even had to devise a special pet shop code to know if a man is aware of the teachings that are found on rok or the forum we now have a easier shortcut in trump if a man tells you that he voted for trump its safe to say that he is favorable to strong borders nationalism masculinity and beautiful women on a basic level you will be able to get along with this man and build a bond it also works the other way around where you bring up trump to screen out those who are offended by him its fine if someone is politically indifferent but if a man opposes trump then i have to anticipate him attacking or sabotaging me in the future i will distance myself from him for my own wellbeing the cultural decline will halt we now have a president who will not encourage antimale propaganda rape culture and female victimhood while i do have minor concerns on the influence of his feministminded daughter ivanka trump will not continue the attack on men that has been institutionalized since the sexual revolution and accelerated during the eight years of obama because our current cultural dystopia is the result of intense longterm manipulation it is more than enough for trump to simply not touch the gender issue to allow the culture to return to a more patriarchal order stop feeding the rot and it will die off allowing biology to naturally reassert itself weve experienced so many changes in the past decade that we havent had a chance to understand whats going on and adapt instead weve been reacting from one blow to the next whether its the loss of our jobs through witch hunts or the rape culture horror that has turned a banal consensual hookup into possible incarceration trumps victory gives us room to begin pushing back against the fictions that have put men in harms way conclusion paradoxically the benefits of a trump presidency will not involve specific actions from trump his presence automatically legitimizes masculine behaviors that were previously labeled sexist and misogynist while we may still get heat for them it will be less severe and well be less likely to sustain serious damage liberals will have no choice but to silently stew on our words and we can more effortlessly connect with men not only for male bonding but also to push back against a demoralized and fractured left victories will be far easier to achieve under trump than obama this is our moment the door is opening for a renaissance of masculinity where men can take pride in being men and the best part of it is that we dont need to wait for trump to do anything his victory is more than enough for us to apply our own individual strength in seizing the bulls horns where we can come out of the politically incorrect closet and assert our beliefs and behaviors it would be icing on the cake if trump rolled back antimasculine laws and policies but its not required because the power to change ourselves and our country is within our hands return of kings opened in and the only surprise for me is how quickly the name is being fulfilled read next if donald trump doesnt win were screwed

Exclusive - Game of Drones: U.S. poised to boost unmanned aircraft exports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is nearing completion of new “Buy American” rules to make it easier to sell U.S.-made military drones overseas and compete against fast-growing Chinese and Israeli rivals, senior U.S. officials said. While President Donald Trump’s aides work on relaxing domestic regulations on drone sales to select allies, Washington will also seek to renegotiate a 1987 missile-control pact with the aim of loosening international restrictions on U.S. exports of unmanned aircraft, according to government and industry sources. At home, the U.S. administration is pressing ahead with its revamp of drone export policy under heavy pressure from American manufacturers and in defiance of human rights advocates who warn of the risk of fueling instability in hot spots including the Middle East and South Asia. The changes, part of a broader effort to overhaul U.S. arms export protocols, could be rolled out by the end of the year under a presidential policy decree, the administration officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The aim is to help U.S. drone makers, pioneers in remote-controlled aircraft that have become a centerpiece of counterterrorism strategy, reassert themselves in the overseas market where China, Israel and others often sell under less-cumbersome restrictions. Simplified export rules could easily generate thousands of jobs, but it’s too early to be more specific, said Remy Nathan, a lobbyist with the Aerospace Industry Association. The main beneficiaries would be top U.S. drone makers General Atomics, Boeing (BA.N), Northrop Grumman (NOC.N), Textron (TXT.N) and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N). “This will allow us to get in the game in a way that we’ve never been before,” said one senior U.S. official. Regulations are expected to be loosened especially on the sale of unarmed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones, the most sophisticated of which carry high-resolution cameras and laser-guided targeting systems to aid missiles fired from warplanes, naval vessels or ground launchers. Deliberations have been more complicated, however, on how to alter export rules for missile-equipped drones like the Predator and Reaper. Hunter-killer drones, which have essentially changed the face of modern warfare, are increasingly in demand and U.S. models considered the most advanced. The push is not only part of Trump’s ”Buy American” agenda to boost U.S. business abroad but also reflects a more export-friendly approach to weapons sales that the administration sees as a way to wield influence with foreign partners, the senior official said. Under a draft of the new rules, a classified list of countries numbering in double digits would be given more of a fast-track treatment for military drone purchases, a second senior official said. The favored group would include some of Washington’s closest NATO allies and partners in the "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance: Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, according to the industry source. Rachel Stohl, director of the conventional defense program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said if U.S. drone export rules become too lenient, they could give more governments with poor human rights records the means to “target their own civilians.” Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, revised the policy for military drone exports in 2015. But U.S. manufacturers complained it was still too restrictive compared with main competitors China and Israel. U.S. drone makers are vying for a larger share of the global military drone market. Even before the coming changes, the Teal Group, a market research firm, has forecast sales will rise from $2.8 billion in 2016 to $9.4 billion in 2025. Linden Blue, CEO of privately held General Atomics, the U.S. leader in military drones, visited the White House recently to lobby for his industry, a person familiar with the discussions said. Among the U.S. changes will be a formal reinterpretation of the “presumption of denial”, a longstanding obstacle to most military drones sales, that would make it easier and faster to secure approval, the officials said. Britain, and only recently Italy, are the only countries that had been allowed to buy armed U.S. drones. A long-delayed $2 billion sale to India of General Atomics’ Guardian surveillance drones finally secured U.S. approval in June. But New Delhi’s request for armed drones has stalled. A major hurdle to expanded sales of the most powerful U.S. drones is the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR, a 1987 accord signed by the United States and 34 other countries, which set rules for the sale and purchase of missiles. It categorizes drones with a range greater than of 185 miles (300 km) and a payload above 1,100 pounds (500 kg) as cruise missiles, requiring extremely tight import/export controls. To gain an international stamp of approval for the relaxed U.S. export rules, U.S. officials want the MTCR renegotiated. State Department officials attending an annual meeting of the missile-control group in Dublin next week will present a “discussion paper” proposing that sales of drones – which did not exist when the agreement was created – be treated more leniently than the missile technology that the MTCR was designed to regulate, according to a U.S. official and industry sources. There is no guarantee of a consensus. Russia, which has NATO members along its borders, could resist such changes, the U.S. official said. China, which is not an MTCR signatory, has pushed ahead with drone sales to some countries with close ties to Washington, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, but which have failed to pass U.S. regulatory muster. Chinese models such as the CH-3 and  CH-4 have been compared to the Reaper but are much cheaper. U.S. officials said Beijing sells them with few strings attached. The Chinese foreign ministry insists it takes a “cautious and responsible attitude” to military drone exports. Israel, which is outside the MTCR but has pledged to abide by it, competes with U.S. manufacturers on the basis of high-tech standards. But it will not sell to neighbors in the volatile Middle East. Israel sold $525 million worth of drones overseas in 2016, according defense ministry data. U.S. drone makers and their supporters within the administration contend that other countries are going to proliferate drones, so they should not be left behind.

Putin says will try to repair ties with U.S.A. under Trump

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is ready to do its part to fully restore ties with Washington following the election of businessman Donald Trump as the next U.S. President, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favored rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s presidential election, ending eight years of Democratic rule and sending the United States on a new, uncertain path. Among those uncertainties will be the Trump administration’s future relations with Russia. Ties between Washington and Moscow have become increasingly strained over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and allegations of Russian cyber attacks featured in the U.S. election campaign. “We heard the campaign statements of the future U.S. presidential candidate about the restoration of relations between Russia and the United States,” Putin said on Wednesday at a ceremony to receive credentials from new foreign ambassadors. “It is not an easy path, but we are ready to do our part and do everything to return Russian and American relations to a stable path of development,” he added. “This would be good for both the Russian and American people and have a positive impact on the climate of world affairs.” Trump is widely viewed as friendly to the Kremlin and Putin has said previously his future counterpart is a talented and colorful character. The Kremlin said earlier on Wednesday Russia hoped coordination with the United States over the war in Syria, where the two countries back opposing sides, would improve under the new U.S. president.

Eleven injured in car crash near London museum, terrorism ruled out

LONDON (Reuters) - Eleven people were injured on Saturday when a car collided with pedestrians near London s Natural History Museum, in one of the capital s busiest tourist areas, but police doused concerns it was a terrorist attack, saying it was a road traffic incident. Police said it was believed the car had mounted the pavement outside the popular attraction in west London and collided with a number of pedestrians. Officers had arrested a man aged in his 40s at the scene and he was now being questioned on suspicion of dangerous driving after being taken to hospital for treatment. Britain has suffered five attacks blamed on terrorism so far this year, three of which involved vehicles, and the incident in an area packed with tourists at the weekend had prompted concerns that the collision had been a deliberate act. The incident is entirely a road traffic investigation and is not a terrorist-related incident, a police statement said. London s ambulance service said they had treated 11 people, mostly for head and leg injuries, with nine taken to hospital. Police said none of the injuries were life-threatening or life-changing and the majority of those hospitalized had now been discharged. Unverified footage from the scene showed a man being pinned to the ground near a crashed black Toyota car. Oliver Cheshire, a model who is the fianc of British pop singer Pixie Lott, told the Daily Mail newspaper he was one of those who had helped detain the man. He said three female passengers in the car told him it was a private-hire taxi. He was driving down the pavement and hit 11 to 12 people. Then the guy was screaming, he told the paper. He looked at me and I was really in shock. I got out of my car and grabbed him three of us grabbed him and someone phoned the police. Cheshire later wrote on Twitter: Thanks for messaging everybody. I m ok. Thank you to the men who helped me pin him down and the police for coming so quickly. Neither police nor Transport for London, which runs most of the city s transport system, would comment on the status of the vehicle. My thanks to the first responders at this incident this afternoon and the actions of members of the public. My thoughts are with the injured, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Twitter. Britain is on its second highest security alert level, meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. In March, a man drove a car into pedestrians on London s Westminster Bridge killing four before stabbing a police officer to death in the grounds of parliament. Three Islamist militants drove into people on London Bridge in June before stabbing people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight. The same month, a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque in north London which left one man dead.

DEMOCRATS AGAINST TRUMP’S WALL For Lawbreakers…But NOT Against Wall To Keep Bernie Sanders’ Fans Out

Democrats brought illegal after illegal alien on stage today during their communist convention. (We re still wondering how ICE allowed so many illegal aliens to appear on a national stage, embarrassing their entire organization). The Democrats spent no time using these lawbreaker to mock Republicans and the rule of law. They use every opportunity they can to mock Donald J. Trump and the sane Americans who believe it is vital to our national security to build a wall on our southern border.Meanwhile, the DNC has built a massive 4 mile wall around their convention. There have been no known threats of violence from tea party members or Republican operatives, so who are they trying to keep out? Well it appears they re trying to keep out the Bernie Sanders supporters from these telling photos.The party of inclusion seems to have lost its way hmmm maybe they re not quite as inclusive as they d like us to believe Police briefly detained more than 50 people after they tried to storm the barricades outside the Democratic National Convention on Monday in a show of anger over Bernie Sanders treatment by party leaders, even as he urged his supporters to fall in line behind Hillary Clinton.Several hundred Sanders supporters and other demonstrators converged in the sweltering heat on Broad Street and made their way 4 miles to the convention site as the gathering was being gaveled to order, chanting Nominate Sanders or lose in November! and Hey, hey, ho, ho, the DNC has got to go! They carried signs reading, Never Hillary, Just Go to Jail Hillary and You Lost Me at Hillary. Undocumented delegates #Berned #DNCPHL #DNCConvention #NeverHillary pic.twitter.com/m82YX35ebW Lori Hendry (@Lrihendry) July 25, 2016As tensions mounted outside the Wells Fargo Center, police moved metal fences into place and closed the nearest subway station to arriving trains. Fifty-five people were issued citations for disorderly conduct when protesters tried to climb over police barricades at the edge of the security zone surrounding the convention, police said. -Newscenter1

White House wants to help states, cities offload infrastructure

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration told state and local officials on Wednesday that it will use its infrastructure plan to create incentives for the private sector to finance or take over public entities like bridges, tunnels and highways. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told about 150 transportation officials at the White House the administration wants the private sector to play a bigger role in managing and financing public infrastructure. Mulvaney said the administration wants to give states and cities “incentives to move stuff you might own off of your books and into the private sector.” He said that would result in states and cities “getting more money to do new stuff.” The administration has said it wants to spend $200 billion on infrastructure over 10 years, an amount the administration hopes will encourage another $800 billion in infrastructure investment by the private sector, but has not offered a detailed plan. The administration will need congressional approval, and some members of Congress in both parties do not expect to take up the issue until 2018. “The largest piece of the package is going to be wrapped around incentives,” Mulvaney said. He said the incentives will work well in densely populated urban areas in airport, bridge, tunnel, port and other projects. It is harder for rural areas to have private sector-backed projects, citing the lack of potential “cash flow,” Mulvaney said. For example, a bridge in a rural area would have less traffic and potentially less likely be a candidate for private funding. He said the administration plans to target some funds solely for rural infrastructure projects that may not work as private sector-backed projects. Chao said the plan is not yet final but said states and cities that secure some private-sector financing “will be given higher-priority access to new federal funds.” Democrats want more direct federal spending. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer has pointed out that the Trump budget unveiled in May cuts $206 billion in infrastructure spending across several Cabinet departments, including $96 billion in planned highway trust fund spending. “$200 billion is a lot - but it is not $5 trillion, so you still want to be smart with it,” Mulvaney said. The three-prong infrastructure plan will also include backing for big “transformative” projects, Mulvaney said. Trump wants to look at new ways to build bridges, tunnels and ports. “The president is very interested in trying to find that transformative, infrastructure technology, that is this close to being ready for market,” Mulvaney said.

FAMILY FEUD? Why President Trump Is Reportedly Blaming Jared Kushner For Mueller Indictments

Is the last man standing in the West Wing about to be packing his bags? According to insiders, who refer to Trump s favored son-in-law Jared Kushner as the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history, President Trump is fed up with his daughter Ivanka s husband and trusted political advisor With the exception of Sebastian Gorka, who left the West Wing in August, here s a quick look at who s left the White House since Trump s inauguration. Somehow, Jared Kushner has managed to stay put:Breitbart Donald Trump reportedly blames his son-in-law, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, for his role in the decision to appoint special counsel Robert Mueller, according to Vanity Fair s Gabriel Sherman.On a phone call Tuesday with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon, Trump blamed Jared Kushner for his role in decisions, specifically the firings of [former National Security Adviser] Mike Flynn and [former FBI Director] James Comey, that led to Mueller s appointment, according to a source who was briefed on the call.On Monday, Mueller indicted Trump s former campaign chair Paul Manafort on 12 counts ranging from making false statements to conspiracy against the United States as part of the ongoing, so-called Russia Investigation. Richard Gates, Manafort s deputy, was also charged.The New York Times reported that Kushner, along with his wife Ivanka Trump, also pushed Trump to hire Manafort, who was needed to fill the spot of Trump s initial campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, after Ivanka reportedly gave her father an ultimatum to fire him.While Mueller s charges bear no immediate connection to Trump or his campaign, Sherman reports that everyone in the West Wing is freaking out, with advisers on edge, doing whatever they can not to be ensnared. One person close to Dina Powell and Gary Cohn said they re making sure to leave rooms if the subject of Russia comes up. Regarding Kushner, though, there is particular concern. Here s what Manafort s indictment tells me, says former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, Mueller is going to go over every financial dealing of Jared Kushner and the Trump Organization. Trump is at 33 percent in Gallup. You can t go any lower. He s f*cked, he adds.Kushner s finances are already under scrutiny. Breitbart News Adam Shaw reports:Kushner Companies has reportedly become a topic of interest for Mueller as he investigates alleged Russian interference, and the company was subpoenaed for its use of an immigration-for-investment scheme and for promoting the scheme to Chinese investors.Just this week, Maryland s attorney general announced an investigation into Kushner s family business over allegations of abusive debt collection and disgusting living conditions at several properties, reports Shaw.Kushner, who was tasked with a massive portfolio by Trump that includes solving America s opioid crisis, tackling criminal justice reform, and bringing peace to the Middle East despite having no experience in any of these areas and achieving virtually no accomplishments in his time in the West Wing is now reportedly shrinking his role, along with Ivanka, following their repeated terrible advice to the president and periodic confusion and resentment caused by their presence. Jared is the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history, Nunberg tells Sherman. I m only saying publicly what everyone says behind the scenes at Fox News, in conservative media, and the Senate and Congress.

'I am sorry,' British PM May says of botched election

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was sorry her Conservative Party lost seats in June s snap election and pledged 10 billion pounds ($13.4 billion) of extra funding to help people buy new homes. May said she had listened to the message given by the election in which she lost her party s majority in parliament. Announcing changes that would make university graduates 30 pounds a week better off, May said the university fee repayment threshold would rise. ($1 = 0.7465 pounds)

GOP Rep. Wants A $30k A Year Housing Allowance; Twitter RIPS Him A New One

Not long ago, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), said that poor people should have to choose between having an iPhone and healthcare. Never mind that an iPhone costs something like $600 while a poor person would be lucky to spend only $600 a month on health insurance, especially under the Republican plans.Now, while we are still recovering from sticker shock over the Congressional Budget Office scoring of the Senate bill, which will cost us a lot more and cause 22 million people to lose insurance, Chaffetz has the nerve to complain that his $173,000 annual salary just isn t enough. He thinks he and his fellow members of Congress need an extra $30,000, tax free, because housing is expensive and four times the average American salary is far too much of a sacrifice.Twitter, was having none of it:He doesn t even deserve it plus he s leaving so he gets nothing Chaffetz calls for $2,500 legislator housing stipend https://t.co/ychfxDdEcU Jbaby56 (@jbaby56) June 27, 2017Maybe if @jasoninthehouse didn t buy the newest iPhone, he could afford to house his family. https://t.co/s0U56XkkB7 Matt Y (@yantastico) June 27, 2017Can t help but compare Chaffetz s call for $2500 legislator housing stipend to his remarks re: health care + iPhones https://t.co/fM9nMnxEVk pic.twitter.com/abbw6YYUxX Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 27, 2017Chaffetz has some nerve saying Congress deserves a housing stipend while everyone else in America pays 50% or more of their income on rent. Jerry Bird (@BostonJerry) June 27, 2017Jason Chaffetz wants a housing stipend for Congress, because I guess it s only called welfare when you re black.https://t.co/MFfGvlyb2Y Jack Moore (@JackPMoore) June 27, 2017Put aside how you feel about Chaffetz, I know really great leaders who didn t run for Congress because of housing $ https://t.co/FZeJK0uzYK Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 27, 2017When we get a housing stipend, you do too, Chaffetz. And by we, I mean the whole of the people of the United States. https://t.co/n0dPhpnorW LTrotsky 21stCentury (@LTrotsky21) June 27, 2017Just what people making $174K PLUS annually need must be to cover those higher premiums under #Deathcare https://t.co/XoG8DvEcty RC deWinter (@RCdeWinter) June 27, 2017If we were not living in a post-Reagan time, a time when for the last 40 years, Americans have been told that we have to tighten our belts while we wait for the riches to finally trickle down upon us, this might not be as ridiculous a request. Personally, I like the idea of people who have the education and intelligence to be worth a lot of money representing us, but Chaffetz is not one of those people. Besides, it s been a very long time since Republicans actually worked for the people. Once they start doing that, perhaps we d be willing to give them a raise.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Drug exec Shkreli, lawmakers clash ahead of congressional hearing

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was on a collision course with Congress on Thursday as lawmakers warned he could be prosecuted for contempt if he does not appear next week for a hearing about drug prices. A lawyer for Shkreli informed the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of his intent not to answer questions and asked that he be excused from appearing, committee chairman Jason Chaffetz wrote in the letter dated Wednesday. The plan to remain silent contrasts with Shkreli’s prolific use of social media, where he has been outspoken on Twitter and livestream video even after his indictment last month on criminal charges of securities fraud. The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Shkreli to appear on Tuesday to discuss his decision as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals to raise the price of a life-saving medicine, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent. Shkreli, 32, has said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. On Twitter, he told followers it was “disgusting and insulting” for lawmakers to try to subvert that right. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case “to be a witness against himself.” The dispute appeared likely to end in one of two ways: with Shkreli appearing in Washington on Tuesday to invoke that right, or with Shkreli staying home in New York, prompting the committee to vote to hold him in contempt and setting off a potential criminal prosecution. Shkreli resigned as chief executive officer of Turing last month after his arrest on the fraud charges. Turing had acquired Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug, and caused a public furor when it drastically increased the price. Fights over congressional testimony are common, especially when potential witnesses are facing criminal prosecution and their testimony could later be used against them. Some well-known witnesses, such as former IRS official Lois Lerner and former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, refused to answer questions from Congress but were required to appear in person in front of lawmakers and cameras before invoking that right. It was unclear on Thursday whether Shkreli would make the trip to do the same. His release on bond restricts him to certain parts of New York state, and he is required to ask a judge for a waiver to travel. One of Shkreli’s lawyers has informed the Oversight Committee that Shkreli has taken no steps to seek a travel waiver, said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee’s top Democrat. “If he plans on trying to use his own intentional inaction as some kind of bogus excuse for not showing up at Tuesday’s hearing, people will see right through such a juvenile tactic,” Cummings said in a statement on Thursday. Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, warned in his letter to Shkreli defense attorney Baruch Weiss that Shkreli could face criminal prosecution for contempt if he fails to appear. “Mr. Shkreli is uniquely qualified to answer questions about rising prescription drug prices,” Chaffetz wrote. The threat of prosecution is more than theoretical. In 1952, mobster Frank Costello was convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to appear as a witness when he said he had laryngitis. Chaffetz in his letter held out the possibility of a compromise, writing that the committee may agree to hear testimony in a non-public session or to immunize the testimony so that it could not be used in the criminal prosecution. Immunizing the testimony, though, would require the support of two-thirds of the committee. Complicating the dispute is Shkreli’s decision this week to seek new lawyers, replacing a team from the law firm Arnold & Porter with others still to be named. The criminal charges against Shkreli stem from his prior management of hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and biopharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc (RTRX.O). Prosecutors said Shkreli engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme, defrauding hedge fund investors and then misappropriating $11 million in assets from Retrophin to repay them. Shkreli, who was also until recently chief executive of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc KBIOQ.PK has pleaded not guilty, and on Twitter has called the allegations “baseless and without merit.”

WATCH: Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson Makes Debut On FOX News With Hilarious Commentary On Hillary And Bernie

You gotta love the socialist duck analogy

Howard Stern: Having Trump On My Show To Demean Women With Sex Talk Was No Accident

Time and time again, Donald Trump appeared on the Howard Stern Show. During his interviews, he rated women on a scale from one to ten, told Stern it was okay to call his daughter Ivanka a piece of ass, and bragged about his own sex life. (I ll wait while you gag.) These comments have come back to bite Trump in his orange derriere repeatedly throughout his run for the White House.Howard Stern, who happens to be a Democrat, is finally commenting on the impact his past shows have had on this year s election. He said that having the billionaire on his show to talk about sex and degrade women was no accident, Trump fit the part by nature. Stern also said that he was not replaying the tapes of the GOP nominee s old interviews because he considers Trump a friend and doing so would be a betrayal. Donald Trump did the show in an effort to be entertaining and have fun with us, Stern said on his Sirius satellite radio show. I fully knew what I was doing when I interviewed Trump. I knew I had a guy who loved to talk about sex. I had a guy who loved to evaluate women on a scale of 1 to 10. These are avenues I went down because I knew it would entertain the audience. Stern said that he was stunned that the tapes from his show hadn t surfaced earlier. He added that he had asked Trump what the heck he was thinking when he launched his bid for the presidency. I said, Why are you doing this? Why would a guy with billions of dollars (run for president)? Don t you know what they re gonna do to you? Don t you know they re gonna open up everything?' The shock jock also weighed in on the Pu**ygate tapes that recently turned up in which Trump bragged that he could sexually assault women because he is a star. Stern is known for his raunchiness, but even he said that Trump s locker room talk defense was a load of crap. I have never been in the room when someone has said, Grab them by the pussy,' said Stern. No one s ever advocated going that step where you get a little bit, Hey I m going to invade someone s space.' Featured image via Steve Pope/Getty Images and Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Even Trump-Supporting GOPers Are Railing Against Comey For Influencing The Election

James Comey, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is in hot water for sending a vague letter about some emails that were found on Anthony Weiner s computer, which he linked to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton after saying months ago that the matter of Hillary s private server was resolved. While it could be expected that Democrats would be furious that Comey would do such a thing just 11 days before what is easily the hottest national election cycle in recent memory, Comey is getting pushback from unexpected sources as well: Republicans.Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had harsh words for Comey, saying in part, via a letter: Unfortunately, your letter failed to give Congress and the American people enough context to evaluate the significance or full meaning of this development. Without additional context, your disclosure is not fair to Congress, the American people, or Secretary Clinton. Grassley, of course, is far from the only person of influence who is troubled by Comey s actions. Despite his reputation as a man of integrity, people on both sides of the aisle regard Friday s letter as a grave mistake. Grassley s letter continued: In the absence of additional, authoritative information from the FBI in the wake of your vague disclosure, Congress and the American people are left to sift through anonymous leaks from Justice Department officials to the press of varying levels of detail, reliability, and consistency. The American people deserve better than that. Grassley is right. The only possible connection those emails have to Hillary Clinton is the fact that the computer they were found on was shared by her longtime aide, Huma Abedin, who, of course, is the estranged wife of Anthony Weiner. Weiner, of course, is the disgraced former Congressman being investigated for allegedly sexting with a minor. So, in other words, nothing to see here folks.Perhaps most startling of all was a tweet from former Congressman Joe Walsh, who is now a right-wing radio host known for being an avid Trump supporter and is no stranger to controversy, including social media posts that could be interpreted as calls to violence. Even Walsh, however, had to admit that what Comey did was flat-out wrong:Hillary is corrupt as hell, but the FBI Dir has no right to mess with an election.He goes public cuz of emails no one has seen? Just wrong Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 31, 2016At the end of the day, the integrity of our elections are the bedrock of our democracy. That should ALWAYS supersede politics. If Director Comey cannot understand and abide by that principle, he should resign immediately.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images

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Iran's Rouhani: Tehran-Moscow cooperation needed to restore peace in Syria

ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran s President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran and Russia needed to cooperate to restore stability in Syria and the region. Cooperation between Tehran and Moscow is a must to bring stability and peace to Syria ... It is also necessary to fight against regional terrorism, Rouhani said in a televised joint press conference with his visiting counterparts from Russia and Azerbaijan.

UNREAL! RIGHT BEFORE MASSACRE…#LasVegas Concert Crowd Sang ‘God Bless America’ [Video]

Just before the gunman began shooting, the Las Vegas concert crowd sang God Bless America It s an amazing moment of togetherness that would end in horror. Please pray for the victims and their loved ones Sean Hannity showed the video tonight during a segment.Big and Rich performed an hour before Jason Aldene:A woman tells of her firsthand experience at the concert: I can t get the sound out of my head of the gunshots Pray for the victims. Pray for the families and friends of the victims. Pray for America America is reeling from the worst mass shooting in its history after at least 50 people were killed and more than 200 wounded at a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday night.Police say the shooter was 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, described as a local man, who opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas Village from a room across the street in the Mandalay Bay Hotel shortly after 10pm.Officers say Paddock killed himself right before they breached a room in the hotel, where he had stashed an arsenal of weapons used during the massacre.Paddock s companion and roommate, Marilou Danley was apprehended early Monday morning. Investigators are now raiding the Mesquite home he shared with Marilou Danley, described as his companion .Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said investigations are still ongoing and police have not yet determined a motive.President Donald Trump paid his respects on Monday morning after the shooting, writing on Twitter: My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you! My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2017Terrifying footage from the scene shows concert-goers reacting with confusion and then panic as the festival turned into a bloodbath around them.Video from close to the stage shows people hitting the floor as others crawl to safety or run for their lives. Audio from further back in the crowd captured several bursts of sustained automatic gunfire.Footage shows the moment the sound of gunfire stops a Las Vegas concert. There are reports of multiple injuries pic.twitter.com/y5x0bA1F8N Sky News (@SkyNews) October 2, 2017Witnesses said hundreds of rounds of ammunition were emptied into the crowd, with Paddock stopping several times to reload as he carried out his massacre.Among those shot dead at the concert were two off-duty police officers. Attendees said a large number of law enforcement and military personnel had been attending the show.Two on-duty police officers who engaged the shooter have been hospitalized one in critical condition, the other less-severely wounded. They have not been identified.All of the ambulances in the area were been deployed to the location, and victims taken to two hospitals. Singer Jason Aldean flees stage as gunman opens fire into crowd.Video footage of the shooting shows performer Jason Aldean on stage as the automatic gunfire rings out. Aldean continues performing for ten seconds as the gunfire rings out constantly, only stopping after screams begin to rise from the crowds.People in the crowds argue over whether they just heard gunshots as the lights on the stage dim and Aldean and his band leave. He later posted a message on Instagram that read: Tonight has been beyond horrific. I still dont know what to say but wanted to let everyone know that Me and my Crew are safe.Eyewitness Gail Davis tells her horrific story and thanks a law enforcement officer who saved her life. A metro officer, who I owe my life to actually covered me up to protect me from being shot, Las Vegas shooting witness says. pic.twitter.com/X0KxOqgaKL CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 2, 2017 My Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved tonight. It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night. #heartbroken #stopthehate Aldean was the closing act of the festival. Taking to Twitter, many other stars sent out their thoughts and prayers to those affected.Jake Owen, who played the main stage before Aldean, tweeted: Praying for everyone here in Vegas. I witnessed the most unimaginable event tonight. We are okay. Others aren t. Please pray. Lauren Alaina, tweeted: Praying for everyone at Route 91. That crowd was one of the best I ve played for all year. This news is devastating. My camp is home & safe. The Brothers Osborne urged revelers to find cover immediately, tweeting: Just hearing about active shooting at Route 91 Festival in Vegas. Take cover and get safe immediately! Prayers to everyone there. Singer Lee Brice, who performed on the opening night on Friday, posted: Hearts out to Vegas. Route 91 concert, stage I played two nights ago. Musicians, fans, workers, you are all in our prayers right now. Michael Ray said: My heart is breaking we were just there Friday! My prayers are with everyone. Daily Mail

Schumer cites 'untruths' by Trump, Republicans on tax plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans in the Senate were not being truthful about what their tax plan does and how it would affect Americans, referring to a charge by Republican Senator Bob Corker that Trump routinely told untruths. “Unfortunately what the president says about tax reform has been correctly characterized by Senator Corker as ‘untruths.’ And Corker was being kind,” Schumer told reporters. “What the president says and what the Republican plan does are polar opposites.”

BREAKING: Ecuadorian Embassy Admits They Cut Wikileaks Internet After Pressure From John Kerry

The Ecuadorian government admitted on Tuesday they cut Julian Assange s internet on Saturday due to his interference with the US elections.Assange and Wikileaks have released over 12,000 emails showing corruption, theft, lies and scheming by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democrat party in this year s election.Ecuador admitted it took action after Wikileaks published a wealth of documents impacting the US election campaign.Secretary of State John Kerry demanded the Ecuadorian Embassy in London cut off Julian Assange s internet be cut off.Wikileaks said Tuesday that Secretary of State John Kerry asked Ecuador to stop WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, from publishing leaked emails that could disrupt peace negotiations with a guerrilla group in Colombia.Assange, who has been in refuge in Ecuador s embassy in London for more than four years, saw his access to the internet cut over the weekend.WikiLeaks blamed the U.S. government, saying Secretary of State John Kerry had requested the move. The John Kerry private meeting with Ecuador was made on the sidelines of the negotiations which took place principally on Sep 26 in Colombia, WikiLeaks tweeted. Read more: GP

Trump says won't wait for negotiations with Mexico before starting wall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not wait for negotiations with Mexico to be completed before starting to build a wall along the two countries’ border. “I could wait about a year and a half until we finish our negotiations with Mexico which will start immediately after we get into office, but I don’t want to wait,” Trump said at a news conference. He said his vice president-elect Mike Pence is “leading an effort to get final approvals through various agencies and through Congress for the wall to begin.” “Mexico in some form ... will reimburse us,” Trump added.

how hud makes lousy programs look great

by luke rudkowski in this video luke rudkowski covers more geopolitical moves and how the recent presidential election with hillary clinton is making the situation

U.N. warns if no Yemen aid access, world will see largest famine in decades

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock warned on Wednesday that if a Saudi-led military coalition did not allow humanitarian aid access to Yemen then it would cause the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthi movement in neighboring Yemen said on Monday it had closed all air, land and sea ports to the Arabian Peninsula country to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The move, which follows the interception of a missile fired toward the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday, is likely to worsen a humanitarian crisis in Yemen that according to the United Nations has pushed some seven million people to the brink of famine and left nearly 900,000 infected with cholera. Lowcock, who visited Yemen late last month, briefed the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors at the request of Sweden. I have told the council that unless those measures are lifted ... there will be a famine in Yemen, he told reporters. It will be the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims. He said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir earlier on Wednesday and called for an immediate resumption of humanitarian access. Lowcock said the U.N. s World Food Programme was feeding seven million people a month in Yemen. What we need is a winding down of the blockade ... so that we can save the lives of those people, he said. The U.N. Security Council expressed concern about the humanitarian situation, Italian U.N. Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, council president for November, said after Lowcock s briefing. The members of the Security Council emphasized ... the importance of keeping all Yemen s ports and airports functioning, including Hodeidah port, as a critical lifeline for humanitarian support and other essential supplies, Cardi said. The United Nations and international aid organizations have long criticized the coalition for blocking aid access, especially to north Yemen, which is held by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement. Humanitarian access through the ports was inadequate even before the measures that were announced on the 6th November, said Lowcock, adding that there had also been no U.N. flights allowed into Yemen since Monday. The Saudi-led coalition has been targeting the Houthis since they seized parts of Yemen in 2015, including the capital Sanaa, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee. Lowcock called for an immediate resumption of U.N. and other aid flights to Sanaa and Aden, assurances from the coalition that there would be no further disruptions to those flights, and immediate resumption of humanitarian and commercial port access. He also called for the coalition to allow a WFP ship to be pre-positioned off Aden and assurances that there would be no further disruption to its functions and demanded that all vessels that have passed U.N. inspection be allowed to offload.

British police feel strain from attacks after latest London bombing

LONDON (Reuters) - Two of Britain s most senior officers said the pressure on the police forces was not sustainable after last week s attack on a packed London train became the fifth major attack this year. Fewer officers could make it harder to prevent future attacks and it will force difficult choices about where to put police resources, they said. A homemade bomb engulfed a train carriage in flames at Parsons Green underground station in west London last Friday injuring 30. Cressida Dick, London s police Commissioner, said it could have been much worse. Britain had previously faced four deadly incidents since March which killed a total of 36 people. In the long run, if we continue with this level of threat, which is what people are predicting ... this is not sustainable for my police service, Dick said in an interview on LBC radio. Six men have been arrested and four remain in custody since the Parsons Green attack. That was a very very dangerous bomb. It partially detonated, it had a large quantity of explosive and it was packed with shrapnel. So it could have been so much worse, Dick said. While the bombing at Parsons Green was not deadly, the aftermath of the attack still saw extra police on the streets and the threat level raised a notch to critical. Interior minister Amber Rudd has announced an extra 24 million pounds ($32.55 million) of funding for counter-terrorism policing following the bombing, in addition to 707 million previously announced support for 2017/2018. But while the government has committed to increase the overall spend on counter-terrorism by 3 billion pounds, Sara Thornton, head of National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), said that not enough of the budget would support frontline officers. There are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were when Prime Minister Theresa May s Conservatives came to power in 2010 and Thornton said numbers were at levels last seen in 1985 despite a 10 percent rise in crime last year. Every time there s a terror attack, we mobilize specialist officers and staff to respond but the majority of the officers and staff responding come from mainstream policing, she wrote in a blog post on the NPCC website. This puts extra strain on an already stretched service.

Colombia ex-rebels begin building 'commune' cities in rural areas

AGUA BONITA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia s former Marxist FARC rebels have begun to construct communes in rural areas once torn apart by violence, part of their bid to reintegrate into society following a peace deal with the government. More than 11,000 fighters and supporters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have demobilized under last year s deal, ending its part in a half-century war that has killed more than 220,000 people. The group is now a political party, known as the People s Revolutionary Alternative Force, maintaining the FARC acronym in Spanish. The deal has been met with skepticism by many Colombians, who oppose ex-rebel participation in politics and have demanded jail sentences for leaders accused of murder, kidnapping and sexual violence. Former rebels living in the nascent town of Agua Bonita, in southern Caqueta province, say a communal model will help alleviate deep socio-economic inequalities in Colombia, where the rural poor often lack access to public services. This is a project that will create conditions for a dignified life, where people aren t just guaranteed dignified housing, but also health, employment, education, Federico Montes, an ex-rebel and community leader told Reuters. The town, which has 65 modest houses, is carved from Caqueta s jungle and plains, long the scene of battles between the rebels and the military. It is so far home to 250 former combatants and their families, and has a library, health center, communal store and bakery. Towns like Agua Bonita will help fight the country s high poverty rate and offer a model for communal living in line with leftist beliefs, Montes said. We want to build a small model of what a more just, more equal and most of all more humane Colombia could be, where people have basic services and jobs, he said. The FARC were founded in 1964 as the armed wing of the country s Communist party and revere Marxist leaders like Che Guevara. The group has long nurtured ties with socialist and communists governments in Venezuela and Cuba. While local ex-rebels see the commune projects as a chance to build local left-wing utopias, national FARC leaders are more cautious. When asked whether the communities would be run as communist enclaves, Pastor Alape, a leader of the FARC party, angrily denied they would have such an ideology and said any suggestion would open them up to criticism that they want to run independent states. Many FARC members have expressed fears they could be targeted for assassinations in a repeat of the 1980s killings of some 5,000 members of the rebel-allied Patriotic Union party, which grew out of a failed peace process with the government. Residents have begun to plant pineapple, plantain and cassava and plan to hand over the $2,700 they are supposed to receive from the government after demobilization to the community. Agua Bonita is protected by the police, while the army operates nearby in an effort to combat crime gangs who are trying to move into former rebel territory and take control of lucrative coca crops, the base ingredient in cocaine. We need to be united to survive, said 34-year-old Danilo Ortiz, who spent two decades as a FARC fighter, as he sewed a boot in the town s shoe-making workshop, set along a neat red dirt street. Rebels are looking for opportunities in areas that have not had state presence for years, Joshua Mitrotti, the head of the country s reintegration agency, said on a visit to Agua Bonita. The town is a good start to integrating rural areas and could be replicated if it gets sufficient support from the government, said Jean Arnault, the head of the United Nation s verification mission in Colombia.

New Jersey's Christie vetoes bill seeking Trump's tax returns

(Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Monday vetoed a bill that would have required President Donald Trump to release his tax returns in order to run for re-election in the state, calling it “politics at its worst.” The Democrat-controlled state legislature had passed the bill in March in response to Trump’s refusal to make public his tax returns when he ran for president as a Republican last year. Under the law, any candidate for president or vice president could not appear on the ballot without releasing at least five years of returns. Before Trump, every major presidential candidate had done so voluntarily since the 1970s. Christie, who became one of Trump’s earliest high-profile backers after his own White House run fizzled and served on Trump’s transition team, said the legislation was an unconstitutional “form of therapy” for Democrats unwilling to accept Trump’s win over Democrat Hillary Clinton. “The hypocrisy and false outrage underlying this bill is stunning - even by Trenton standards,” he said in a statement accompanying the veto. New Jersey was the first of at least 20 states considering similar legislation to send a bill to its governor’s desk for consideration. The chairman of the state assembly’s judiciary committee, Democrat John McKeon, called Christie’s comments “grandstanding and childish rhetoric.” “This much is clear – Governor Christie is obsessed with protecting and showing allegiance to President Trump,” McKeon added in a statement. “Sad!” The state Senate majority leader, Democrat Loretta Weinberg, said voters “deserve to know what financial ties and interests candidates for the presidency and vice presidency have, including with other countries.” Trump’s critics have said his tax returns represent the only way to assess any potential conflicts of interest related to his sprawling business empire. Democrats have also suggested the returns could reveal politically damaging information, such as Trump’s possible use of loopholes to avoid paying income taxes. During the campaign, Trump said he would not release the returns because he was being audited, and the White House has made it clear he has no intention of doing so after winning the election.

BREAKING: Muslim Clock Boy Family…Give Us $15 Million…Or Else

Teaching kids all across America that bringing fake bombs to school on 9-11 really pays off Is it possible the radical Muslim family who became famous when their son took a fake bomb to school on 9-11 has discovered the cost of living in Qatar is higher than they anticipated? Or is it possible they just miss being in the spotlight? We re thinking America may have a slightly different attitude about the Muslim clock boy post Paris tragedy You know what they say timing is everything .(pun intended).Give us $15 million or else.That s the demand from the family of the world s most famous clockmaker, Ahmed Mohamed, to the City of Irving and Irving ISD. The city and district were each sent letters on Monday demanding money or else a lawsuit would be filed.The family wants $10 million from the City of Irving and $5 million from Irving ISD for damages it claims Ahmed and the family suffered after the teen was arrested. The family also wants an apology from the two entities.Mohamed, 14, was arrested by Irving police in September after he brought a homemade digital clock to school that was mistaken for a bomb by Irving MacArthur High School faculty. The subsequent fallout made international headlines.Mohamed and his immediately family are now overseas in Qatar and enrolling in school after a foundation has offered to pay for his education. The letter demanding money from the city and district says that the family wants more than anything to come home to Irving.The letter gives both the city and the district 60 days to pay up or else face a lawsuit.City and district officials didn t have any immediate comment on the letter. Via: FOX 4 News

Factbox: Republicans to watch in U.S. Senate tax bill fight

WASHINGTON - Some key U.S. senators still had concerns about the Republican tax bill in the Senate, as a procedural motion to formally open debate on the measure was approved on Wednesday. Here is a list of Republicans pivotal to the bill’s fate. The moderate senator from Maine has qualms about Republicans’ plan to include in the tax bill a repeal of a federal fee imposed on people who do not comply with Obamacare’s “individual mandate.” The fee is meant to encourage young, healthy people to get health insurance so that premiums are affordable for old, sick people. Collins and others fear repealing the fine would drive up insurance premium costs, canceling out tax-cut gains that many of their constituents might get from the tax bill. Collins said Republican leaders had promised her to take up two healthcare provisions before the end of the year to help mitigate the impact of repealing the fee. Those provisions would help insurers cover expensive patients and continue Obamacare subsidy payments for low-income people for two years. Collins has also prepared an amendment to the tax bill to make state and local property tax deductible up to $10,000, a provision that is part of the House of Representatives’ tax bill. Both the Senate and House bills end deductibility of state and local tax income and sales tax. Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill ends property tax deductibility too. Collins sidestepped a question on whether she would vote for the tax bill. She said: “We’re doing this one step at a time.” The senator from Alaska will vote for the tax bill, she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening. Murkowski said a number of the bill’s features were “very attractive,” noting that it would lower tax rates, double the child tax credit and double the standard deduction. She said it also included a provision she had written, to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, to oil and gas drilling. Murkowski said it was important to enact reforms separately to help stabilize the individual market in health insurance. The Montana Republican has concerns about the bill’s treatment of “Main Street” businesses. He said on Wednesday he had secured an agreement to increase a 17.4 percent deduction for owners of pass-through businesses to 20 percent. The senator from Wisconsin also has demanded more favorable treatment for “pass-through” businesses, which include sole proprietorships and partnerships, as a condition of his support. Corker, a deficit hawk from Tennessee, said on Tuesday he had the outlines of a deal adding a tax snap-back provision to the bill that would raise taxes automatically if economic growth targets are not hit in the future to offset a higher deficit. Corker said that arrangement would satisfy his concerns that the tax cuts could add too much to the national debt. As of Wednesday evening, the details had not been announced. The snap-back proposal also became a target of growing criticism among conservative Republicans and lobbyists. The tax bill was expected to add $1.4 trillion to the $20 trillion national debt over 10 years. The Arizona conservative said on Wednesday he was more comfortable with the tax bill because of indications there would be provisions in it to protect against ballooning the deficit. Flake told National Public Radio he was concerned about “gimmicks,” but liked other parts of the bill, especially the corporate tax cut. The Arizona maverick and former presidential nominee sidestepped questions on Monday about how he would vote on the tax bill, telling reporters in the hallway to “stay tuned.” Like Corker and Flake, Oklahoma’s Lankford questions whether tax revenues from economic growth will compensate for the expected increase in the national debt under the tax plan. He has been working with them to “trigger” more revenues if needed. The Kansas lawmaker is also wary of the impact on the national debt, pointing to his own state’s recent experience of fiscal problems following tax cuts.

Kerry launches talks with Venezuela but backs disputed referendum

SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced high-level talks to ease tensions with Venezuela’s socialist government on Tuesday, just hours after he backed calls for a referendum that could force President Nicolas Maduro from office. Kerry said the talks would start immediately in Caracas and be led by Thomas Shannon, a veteran of U.S. diplomacy in the region. Attempts last year at dialogue between the ideological foes were stalled by Venezuela’s deepening crisis. The two countries have been embroiled in diplomatic hostilities since the administrations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and U.S. President George W. Bush. Kerry said the goal was to go beyond “the old rhetoric.” “I’ve committed to see if this can work so let’s see if we can improve the relationship,” he told reporters, after huddling with his Venezuelan counterpart on the sidelines of an Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in the Dominican Republic. The talks would also be aimed at fostering dialogue between Venezuela’s government and opposition, Kerry said. Maduro welcomed the proposed talks and repeated his suggestion that the two sides restore ambassadors in each other’s capitals after an eight-year hiatus that began when Chavez expelled the U.S. envoy to Venezuela. “I propose to John Kerry ‘let’s designate ambassadors’, I am ready. They have ambassadors in Beijing, Vietnam and Havana, and they don’t have one in Caracas,” he said in a speech to teachers. Maduro proposed an ambassador in 2014 but U.S. President Barack Obama has not yet accepted his credentials. Once one of Latin America’s most prosperous nations, Venezuela has plunged into unrest and a harsh economic slowdown. Long lines for food and medicines have led to protests and opposition calls for a recall referendum to remove Maduro. That measure is allowed under the constitution, a point made by Kerry to reporters after he met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Earlier in the day, in a speech to OAS delegates, Kerry gave his backing to the referendum push and called on Chavez’s political heirs to release political prisoners and respect fundamental rights. His comments to the 34 members of the main diplomatic body of the Americas marked the strongest show of support yet from the United States for the disputed referendum process. Venezuela’s opposition accuses the election council of stalling the recall at the behest of Maduro by arbitrarily changing criteria for requesting a recall vote. Maduro has said any recall against him would be in 2017 at the earliest, pushing back against opposition pressure. Several opposition politicians are in jail, notably hardline leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has a 14-year sentence for inciting 2014 anti-government protests that spiraled into violence killing more than 40 people. The government denies it holds political prisoners. Kerry’s comments drew a furious response from Rodriguez, who accused Washington and OAS chief Luis Almagro of “international bullying.” “Every day we have evidence of the secretary general’s bias in favor of sectors of the opposition who are seeking a coup in Venezuela,” she said. “I see now this is ordered by Washington. I know they are on Washington’s payroll to meddle in the domestic affairs of Venezuela,” she said, speaking through a translator. Kerry was more conciliatory after his first ever bilateral meeting with Rodriguez, saying the United States did not support a push by Almagro to suspend Venezuela from the OAS for alleged violations of the regional group’s “democratic charter.” “The United States is not taking that position, we are not pushing for a suspension. I don’t think that would be constructive,” he said. At Almagro’s behest, the OAS will hold a meeting later this month to initiate the process that could end in Venezuela’s suspension. But the former Uruguayan foreign minister appears isolated in the group, with even right-wing governments opposed to Maduro in the region balking at throwing Venezuela out. Venezuela and the United States have repeatedly gone through periods of diplomatic fighting followed by generally short-lived eras of reconciliation. Following Washington’s 2014 rapprochement with Cuba, Shannon met with a top Venezuelan Socialist Party official to improve ties with Caracas. The good mood soured within months when the United States criticized the sentence handed to opposition leader Lopez.

U.S. lawmakers ask Facebook, Twitter for information on anti-fracking ads

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House committee investigating whether Russia has tried to influence U.S. public opinion on fossil fuels asked Facebook (FB.O), Twitter (TWTR.N) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) on Wednesday to turn over information about Russian entities that may have bought anti-fracking advertisements. House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican and climate change denier, asked the CEOs of the technology companies to turn over documents by Oct. 10 that detail the involvement of Russian-based or funded entities detected on their platforms, information on ads they purchased, and any communications concerning ads advocating for “so-called green initiatives.” Smith and the Republicans on the committee that oversees U.S. scientific agencies have targeted mainstream climate change scientists, questioning their integrity and calling for eliminating federal funding for climate research. They have also accused environmental groups of colluding with Russians to push for regulations to curb fossil fuel extraction. “The committee is concerned that divisive social media and political messages conveyed through social media have negatively affected certain energy sectors, which can depress research and development in the fossil fuel sector and expanding potential for natural gas,” Smith wrote in letters to the CEOs. The committee, which oversees U.S. scientific agencies, believes such anti-fracking ads reflect “the Russian government’s concern about the impact of fracking ... on the global energy market and potential challenges to profitability” of Russian energy companies, the letter said. The letter says Russia’s meddling in the U.S. energy market has been “well documented in the public domain” and seeks information similar to what Facebook is providing to the U.S. Senate about anti-immigration propaganda and advertising. Both parties in Washington have been stepping up scrutiny of major internet firms, and considering whether to create new disclosure rules for online political ads after Facebook revealed this month that suspected Russian trolls purchased more than $100,000 worth of divisive ads on its platform during the 2016 election cycle. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations is probing whether President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to influence the election. Trump and officials from the campaign have said there was no collusion. Smith is dismissive of local and national protests that have emerged around the country objecting to the process of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas because of its affect on water quality, as well as the construction of pipelines to transport fracked oil and gas.

CHARLIE DANIELS WARNS LIBERALS: Knock It Off Or “There Will Be Blood In The Streets!”

Over a century ago, the United States of America went through a divisive and bloody Civil War that separated the people of this nation bone from marrow. It split friends, families and eventually the nation itself as a line was drawn dividing the Union States of the North from the newly formed Confederacy of the Southern States.Ostensibly, the war that followed was fought over the abolition of slavery, a devilish practice that never should have been allowed in the first place, and although it was the basic issue for the conflict as is the case so much of the time there were a myriad of other issues involved.One in my opinion was just plain stubbornness and pride and the dogged determination that the South would not let itself be told what to do by the other half of the country, but trade, tariffs and different attitudes and beliefs about just how far a federal government could go in setting the tone and making laws to be obeyed by all the states were also involved.The point I m trying to make is that the feelings festered so long and ran so deep that men whose fathers had stood shoulder to shoulder in the war for independence faced off across fields of battle and killed each other.The Civil War never should have happened, and had cooler heads prevailed on both sides, never would have. Southerners had to know that slavery was an abomination to the principles they had fought and died for in the Revolution.No man has the right to own another man, to reap the fruits of his labor for nothing, to consider his children nothing more than commodities to be sold off or traded away on a whim, separating families and breeding human beings like livestock.But instead of acknowledging the very obvious evil of this situation, politicians from the South, convinced that the economy of the Southern States was dependent on slavery, chose to become a separate nation and soon after over six hundred thousand Americans lost their lives in a senseless war that would set the Southern States back a half century.Surely, had it been approached by fair, level-headed men on both sides of the issue, abolition could have been achieved without war. But the rhetoric grew ever hotter. Brash young men on both sides, who had never fired a gun in anger, viewed a war as the pinnacle of romanticism, and implacable politicians refused to give an inch. Is this not the same attitude we see on the streets of America today?I see young people interviewed on television who can t even articulate the reason they are protesting. Others bent on destruction who probably espouse no cause but chaos.I ve seen hysterical protestors screaming about First Amendment rights which they seem to think only protect them and those who think like them and that the opposition has no First Amendment protection and should be shouted down at all costs.The rhetoric is becoming hotter and more nonsensical, the radical element more apparent, the violence and destruction of property more common place.The pot is boiling and it s only a matter of time before there will be blood on the streets.Americans have the right to civil disobedience, a right to gather and demonstrate against some policy they feel is unfair or harmful to the country at large, but they do not have the right to interrupt commerce, break windows, burn cars or do bodily harm to those who disagree with them.People who won t listen to reason, who ignore the law of the land and who try to stifle the opinions of others tend to forget that there is an element of violence on the other side as well, a side that, thankfully, so far has not yet come forth.But, should these conditions continue, someday soon the violent elements of both persuasions will find themselves on the same streets, and what will ensue will not be pretty.Learn from history, or repeat it.What do you think?Pray for our troops, our police and the peace of Jerusalem.God Bless America Charlie DanielsCharlie Daniels is a legendary American singer, song writer, guitarist, and fiddler famous for his contributions to country and southern rock music. Daniels has been active as a singer since the early 1950s. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 24, 2008.

President Obama Smoothly Dances The Tango While Republicans Stumble All Over Themselves (VIDEO)

Coolest. President. Ever.During his scheduled stop in Buenos Aires, Argentina, President Obama was asked to stand up and dance as a tango played at the State Dinner that took place at the Centro Cultural Kirchner on Wednesday night.After a pair of professional Argentine dancers finished performing for President Obama and the First Lady, the duo split off and asked the First Couple to do the tango with them.At first, President Obama politely declined but the beautiful woman in the gold dress finally got her wish.President Obama was every bit the gentleman and smoothly danced the Argentine Tango with his excited partner, proving once again that he is the President of Cool.Obama participated in the dance for a minute and then he returned to his table while the lady in the gold dress embraced First Lady Michelle Obama who looked just as surprised by her husband s moves.Here s the video via YouTube.Can you imagine Donald Trump or Ted Cruz pulling off the tango like President Obama did? Such a nightmarish image would be humiliating for this country and the presidency similar to all those times former President George W. Bush tried his hand at dancing at the White House like when he invited a a group of Africans to the Rose Garden in 2007.But Trump and Cruz would likely top Bush by being more embarrassing and even scarier.As President Obama continues to strengthen U.S. relations abroad, the Republican presidential candidates continue to embarrass themselves and the nation with their hateful and bigoted rhetoric that has made the world cringe.Luckily, President Obama is still in charge until next January and still light enough on his feet to dance the tango and school conservatives at the same time. Featured image via screenshot

LAS VEGAS: ILLEGAL ALIEN ARRESTED For Filming Himself Committing Unspeakable Act Against 4 Year Old Girl

Did you know that in the state of Texas alone over the last few years, more than 2000 illegal aliens were deported after committing sex crimes?Did you know that in the state of Texas alone over the last few years, nearly a thousand illegal aliens have been convicted of sex crimes against children?Of course you didn t. The media has covered these horrors up for years, and even after Donald Trump dared reveal these horrors, the rape-deniers in the media continue to cover them up. The media is covering up all kinds of horrific statistic regarding illegal aliens. Before we get to those, let s start with why.To Democrats and their media allies, a few hundred raped children a year is seen as a small price to pay for the political benefits that come with an unsecure border. Mexicans vote 3-to-1 for Democrats.Of the 862 alien sex offenders deported by the Texas-based offices, about 27 percent were convicted of sex offenses against children. -BreitbartYesterday in Las Vegas, a Hispanic immigrant was been arrested for allegedly raping a toddler in Las Vegas. The man accused of raping a 4-year-old girl and videotaping the entire sexual assault on his cellphone has been placed on an immigrant detainer. It is not currently known if the accused child rapist is a legal or illegal immigrant.Julio Cesar Medrano, 23, also goes by the alias, Julio Rodriguez. The Las Vegas resident was arrested on child rape charges on April 21. The sexual assault happened on April 3, according to the time stamp on the 30-second cellphone video, police investigators.Julio Medrano was arrested after a woman found the video appearing to depict the immigrant raping the child. A tattoo on the hand of the man in the alleged child rape video aided Las Vegas law enforcement investigators in identifying the suspect, the Daily Mail reports.Julio Medrano has been charged with seven criminal counts in connection with the child sexual assault case. The charges levied against the Hispanic immigrant include sexual assault against a child younger than 14, child abuse or neglect, producing and possessing child pornography, possession of a dangerous weapon, and carrying a concealed knife without a permit, according to the Clark County Detention Center online records database.For entire story Inquisitr

election medias movie of reality failed

by mike maharrey voters in florida have approved a ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana taking a big step toward nullifying the unconstitutional federal prohibition of

Trump populism comes to Canada as Conservatives seek leader

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada’s answer to Donald Trump is a pediatric surgeon and former cabinet minister who, like the U.S. president-elect, is railing against immigration and political elites. Kellie Leitch, 46, has vaulted to the front of the race to lead the opposition Conservative Party by pushing a hard-right “Canadian values” platform that taps into discontent over the sluggish economy and Canada’s acceptance of 37,000 Syrian refugees. Leitch is ahead of about a dozen candidates in the most recent opinion polls on the Conservative leadership election, scheduled to be held on May 27, 2017. The candidate chosen by party members will be their flag bearer for the October 2019 general election, against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. “Elites pretend this isn’t an issue, but Canadians want to talk about it (immigration),” Leitch said in an interview last week from her farmhouse in rural Ontario. She has professed admiration for Trump’s embrace of the ordinary voter, and acknowledged similarities in their agendas. “I am talking about screening immigrants, I am talking about building pipelines, I am talking about making sure Canadians have jobs, so yeah, some of the ideas and language are the same,” said Leitch, an energetic and plain-spoken former labor and women’s affairs minister. Just as Trump did not initially have the backing of mainstream Republicans, Leitch has alienated many in her party establishment who fear that she will struggle to win Canada’s urban, mainly immigrant, voter base in the general election.     One of the reasons why the Conservatives had managed to hold power for almost a decade was their successful push into immigrant communities under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had convinced the party that rising immigration made newcomers a must-win constituency. Canada takes in about 300,000 immigrants every year. “She may believe that swimming away from the broad center of the Conservative electoral coalition, the one that wins elections, may make sense. History and demographics argue otherwise,” said Hugh Segal, who has known Leitch for more than 25 years. Segal is a former senator and chief of staff to former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Still, a November poll by Mainstreet/Postmedia showed Leitch led a 12-candidate Conservative race with 19 percent support, and separate data showed she led fundraising as well. The pool of candidates running has since swelled to 14, and more may join, including businessman and reality TV star Kevin O’Leary, who has also drawn comparisons to Trump.     “There is absolutely room for a populist surprise in Canada,” said pollster Frank Graves of EKOS Research. “The type of forces driving Brexit and Trump are very much at work in Canada, albeit somewhat more muted.” In a year marked by ultra-conservative movements in Europe and the United States, Leitch’s vault from relative obscurity to Conservative front-runner is in part boosted by media fascination with the parallels between her “Canadian values” and Trump’s “Make America great again.”     Like Trump, Leitch has been accused of being racist and targeting Muslims with her proposal to make every immigrant go through a face-to-face interview before letting them in. She denies those charges, and says her screening plan is aimed at ensuring each immigrant is a good fit for Canada.     “Even if my colleagues are concerned about the backlash of the media or other elites, that’s okay with me because I’m quite comfortable ... I don’t view it as racist in any way,” said Leitch, a practicing Catholic from the traditionally conservative, oil-rich province of Alberta. Trudeau was elected in October 2015 and promised to accept more Syrian refugees more quickly than the Conservatives, who had been in power for nearly 10 years. But his timeline proved too ambitious, and sparked public criticism that the government was too rushed to adequately screen refugees for security concerns. Amid dissatisfaction with the economy and other issues, Trudeau’s approval rating has fallen 10 percentage points to 55 percent in the last three months, according to a December Angus Reid poll, though he remained more popular than any recent prime minister. While much can change in the next three years before the general election, Graves, the pollster, said a Conservative victory is possible in part because Canada’s economic malaise has sparked the same kind of working class resentment that helped propel Trump to victory. Canada’s economy has been hurt by a two-year slump in oil prices, weak business investment and disappointing non-energy exports. The economy contracted in October and the manufacturing sector logged its biggest decline in nearly three years.     “The reason Trump got his momentum is he was the only candidate who was prepared to talk about immigration,” said Martin Collacott, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, a Conservative think-tank, and a former ambassador. “If Kellie Leitch plays it right, and refines her message, she could probably get quite a bit of support.”

Germany warns against Turkey travel after spate of arrests

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s foreign ministry has warned its citizens traveling to Turkey that they risk arbitrary detention even in tourist areas, revising its travel advice after a spate of arrests of German citizens that it considers politically motivated. The change in travel advice, issued on Tuesday, marks a new low in relations between the NATO allies and is a blow for the tourist sector, which has already been hit by militant attacks and the fall-out from last year s failed coup attempt in Turkey. The trigger for the sharpening of the travel advice was the detention at the coastal Antalya airport last week of two Germans, one of whom has since been released. Berlin believes they, like 11 others, were detained for political reasons. There is a risk of similar detentions in all parts of Turkey, including in tourist regions, the new advice reads. It falls short of a formal travel warning, issued for war-afflicted countries like Afghanistan, Iraq or Yemen, which would make obtaining travel insurance harder. We can t take from tourists the decision whether to travel or not, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. But we have described in detail what you should be aware of before you go. Large numbers of European citizens have been caught up in the crackdown following last year s failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan, in the wake of which tens of thousands of Turks have been imprisoned on terrorism charges. Critics say the crackdown amounts to an undiscriminating purge of Erdogan s opponents.

U.S. takes further steps to block North Korea's access to financial system

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday declared North Korea a “primary money laundering concern” and moved to further block its ability to use the U.S. and world financial systems to fund its weapons programs. The U.S. Treasury Department called for a prohibition on certain U.S. financial institutions opening or maintaining correspondent accounts, which are established to receive deposits from or make payments on behalf of a foreign institution, with North Korean financial institutions. Crucially, Treasury also prohibited the use of third parties’ U.S. correspondent accounts to process transactions for North Korean financial institutions. The announcement came days after the latest failed missile launch by the isolated state. Tensions in the region have been high since January when North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and then followed that with a satellite launch and test launches of various missiles, in defiance of UN resolutions. Those efforts have all fueled calls in Washington, and abroad, for a clampdown on Pyongyang. U.S. law already generally prohibited U.S. financial institutions from engaging in transactions with North Korean institutions, but Treasury’s latest actions would impose additional controls, especially the prohibition on the use of third-country banks’ U.S. accounts to process transactions for North Korea. “This is meaningful,” said Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “This is designating the entire country, which means essentially that any entity that is interested in interacting with U.S. financial institutions should no longer have any business with North Korea.” “Most, if not all, entities, if faced with the choice of having access to the U.S. financial system or doing business with North Korea, are going to make the obvious choice,” Cha added. South Korea’s foreign ministry on Thursday welcomed the move, which it said in a statement would boost the effectiveness of existing sanctions on the North and have a broader impact than a 2005 U.S. Treasury measure that targeted a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau. But China, North Korea’s most important backer despite Beijing’s anger at Pyongyang’s nuclear program and support for U.N. sanctions, expressed concern. “We have consistently opposed any county using its domestic law to impose unilateral sanctions on another country,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters. About $24 million of North Korean funds was frozen at Macau’s Banco Delta Asia (BDA) after the U.S. Treasury accused it of helping to channel earnings from the North’s illicit activities, leading to a frantic attempt by Pyongyang to retrieve the money. The North has since developed tactics to skirt financial restrictions by resorting to informal means to transfer money, including the use of bulk cash hand-carried by officials. Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Washington expected other governments and financial authorities to make similar moves to prevent Pyongyang from “abusing” global financial institutions to support its development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. “The regime is notoriously deceitful in its financial transactions in order to continue its illicit weapons programs and other destabilizing activities,” Szubin said in a statement. The Treasury was required to assess North Korea’s status as a money laundering jurisdiction under the “North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act,” passed nearly unanimously by the U.S. Congress in February. A U.N. Security Council resolution in early March also required member states to sever correspondent banking relationships with North Korean financial institutions within 90 days.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: HERE’S WHY George and Laura Bush Didn’t Vote For Trump Today…It’s Sickening!

RUSH LIMBAUGH GOT IT WRONG EARLIER TODAY BUT MAKES A GREAT POINT ABOUT THE WASHINGTON ELITES:Conservative radio great Rush Limbaugh announced to his audience Tuesday that he s been told that George W. Bush and Laura Bush voted for Hillary Clinton today, the Washington Examiner reports. On one level, it s personal. Remember what Trump said about Jeb. And Trump has had some unkind things to say about George W. Bush, Limbaugh explained, referencing Donald Trump s habit during the Republican primary of calling Jeb Bush low energy. But aside from that, think about party loyalty, think about issues, think about the direction of the country, Limbaugh added. How does anybody vote for Hillary Clinton? Limbaugh issued a stern warning to the elites in Washington and New York, members of the club of powerful, self-interested political and media figures. I submit to you that if you re in the club, and by the club I mean the establishment, if you are among the few elites in Washington and New York that actually, for lack of a better term, run the country, you re going to hang together with other club members, Limbaugh said. That s how I think this happens. Hillary Clinton s not seen as a Democrat She may be, on one intramural level, an opponent, but she s certainly not an enemy when somebody outside the club happens to be running, Limbaugh continued. Members of the club they re going to hang together to preserve the existence of the club and its exclusivity. Via: Breitbart

daesh executing civilians as iraqi forces advance

more filipino fisherman arnel balbero r who was held hostage for nearly five years by somali pirates cries as he meets his relatives after arriving at the manila international airport on october photo by afp five filipino fishermen who were released after being held hostage by somali pirates for nearly five years have reunited with their families the seafarers arrived at the airport in the philippine capital manila on friday i am so happy this is what i had been praying for every night said arnel balbero as he was embraced by his four siblings at the airport just to be with my family even if we have nothing even if we have only little to eat i am already happy he said his sister lilia trembled at the sight of her brother its like a miracle we never lost hope he would be freed she said the filipinos were among freed hostages from cambodia china taiwan indonesia and vietnam who were freed on october the hostages plus three others made up the crew of naham which was seized south of the seychelles in march the captain of their omaniflagged but taiwaneseowned vessel died during the hijacking and two other crew members succumbed to illness in captivity recounting memories balberos cousin and fellow exhostage elmer said the somali pirates had cared little about the health of their captives we asked the pirates for medicine but they did not give us any instead they said where is your money said elmer the captives also said they suffered beatings at the hands of the pirates in our first week they called it our introduction they used bamboo to beat us arnel said to survive the filipinos did chores for their captors washing their clothes and even their weapons we took it as a chance to also wash we couldnt take a bath often because they only gave us a liter of water each day arnel said hugging his two teenage daughters elmer said it was thoughts of seeing his family again that kept him going during his captivity taiwans foreign ministry said the men were freed after a ransom was paid by the ships owner as well as groups contracted to negotiate with the pirates taiwanese media reported john steed who works with the hostage support partnership said the local community and tribal elders were involved in the difficult situation these are poor fishermen the ship had no value they had no insurance and of course governments dont want to be involved in these sort of negotiations either he said sailors who had been held hostage by pirates for more than four years stand for a group photograph as they prepare to board an airplane after being released in galkayo somalia october photo by ap the sailors are believed to be among the last remaining captives seized by somali pirates during the surge in hostagetaking in the mids piracy off the coast of somalia has reduced significantly in recent years due to stronger international naval presence loading

Trump's trust in Flynn had been eroding: White House spokesman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump asked for the resignation of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after his level of trust in Flynn eroded to the point that he felt he needed to make a change, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Tuesday. A day after Flynn’s resignation, Spicer said Trump had been concerned that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence over his contacts with Russian officials before Trump took office on Jan. 20. Trump had been reviewing Flynn’s situation for a few weeks, he said. Amid congressional calls for an investigation into the extent to which Flynn discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to Washington, Spicer said the White House legal counsel had reviewed the situation and believed Flynn’s case was viewed “not as a legal issue but a trust issue.” Spicer said Trump was informed of Flynn’s conversations with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak and asked counsel to review the case. “The erosion of that trust, frankly, was the issue,” Spicer said. He said Trump had not told Flynn to discuss U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian diplomat.

JUDGE NAPOLITANO: TRUMP Plans To Sign 200 Executive Orders ASAP With A Few Key Orders The First Day In Office [Video]

Some of the key regulations are thought to be with energy regulations, Obamacare and other items Trump has at the top of his list like dealing with illegal aliens All in all Napolitano says 200 executive orders will crush the Obama legacy Thank goodness!

UH-OH: Sarah Palin Sounds Ready To Declare WAR On Trump

Sarah Palin has stepped out of the shadows and sent a warning shot across Donald Trump s bow. Largely silent for most of the election since she endorsed Trump some months ago, Palin is speaking out after Trump made comments that have been interpreted as a change in his anti-immigration position.While there s no actual concrete policy shift, and just comments made on cable news, Trump has said he could back away from his proposed plan for a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.That has angered Palin, who went on the record with the Wall Street Journal.In recent days, Mr. Trump has shifted away from calling for mass deportation of illegal immigrants to suggesting some could stay if they paid back taxes. If Mr. Trump were to go down a path of wishy-washy positions taken on things that the core foundation of his support has so appreciated, and that is respecting our Constitution and respecting law and order in America, then yeah, there would be massive disappointment, Mrs. Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008, said in a telephone interview with the Wall Street Journal. Parts of that message we heard in the last week are clearly not consistent with the stringent position and message that supporters have received all along. Support from Palin undoubtedly helped Trump during the primaries, especially when she had previously been associated with more traditional conservatives like Senator Ted Cruz.But since then she has been on the backburner. He has done few campaign events with her, and she did not receive a speaking slot at the Republican Convention in Cleveland. When asked about the apparent snub, Trump made the bizarre claim, It s a little bit difficult because of where she is. We love Sarah. Little bit difficult because of, you know, it s a long ways away. Palin has previously spoken at conservative events like CPAC on the east coast without any transportation problems.Featured image via YouTube

You Really Don’t Want To Miss Ana Navarro PUMMEL Trump’s Chief Racism Apologist (VIDEO)

When it comes to Donald Trump and his number of apologists sent out to every media outlet to justify his horrific behavior, the media has been less than extraordinary at calling out their utter bullsh*t.However, leave it to Ana Navarro, notably a conservative, to absolutely rip Trump s number one apologist apart during a recent segment on CNN.Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is now a regular commentator on CNN. Remember that the next time Trump wants to say the media has a liberal bias. Lewandowski decided he would defend Trump s racism and awful remarks, and Navarro clearly has had just about enough of his shenanigans.Navarro, laying it all out on the table, brilliantly came back at Lewandowski and said: I will tell you something. I will take credit for insulting him. Because he s been insulting communities since the first day he launched his campaign, when he started talking about Mexican rapists The reason I can call Donald Trump names and I can insult him back is because I am the sister of a disabled man and he mocked that disabled man, because I am the friend of a POW and he mocked that POW, because I m an immigrant and he has insulted immigrants, because I m a Hispanic and he has insulted Hispanics, because I am a woman and he has insulted women. So, yeah, we re at the point where there s insults and name-calling. But I would just say that he threw that rock first. He is the one who has lowered the debate to the level that it is at. However, honestly, my favorite part is when Lewandowski tried to go after Navarro personally trying to discredit her own experience, because this is what Trump and his lackeys do, and she swung back with: Oh, Corey, do me a favor, before you go attacking me oh, let me tell you something, let me play my little violin for you. Ha!As it s long been said, the moment you need to enter into personal attacks and not just attacks on policy, you have already lost. Both Trump and his lemmings, including Lewandowski, are nothing but losers who resort to just insulting people because that s honestly all they have. Sad!Watch some of the Navarro takedowns here:Then the absolute destruction of Trump apologist Corey Lewandowski here:BRAVA! That deserves a standing ovation! Brilliant.Featured image via video screen capture

Republican Romney calls Trump 'a fraud,' creates pathway to contested convention

DETROIT (Reuters) - Former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney attacked 2016 Republican front-runner Donald Trump as “a fraud” on Thursday and urged primary voters to keep the outspoken New York billionaire from getting the nomination, paving the way for possible horse trading at a party convention in July. In an unusually harsh speech, party elder Romney warned that former reality TV star Trump would likely lose to possible Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election if he becomes the Republican nominee. Trump’s rise has split the Republican Party between mainstream figures like Romney, and Trump supporters who complain the party does not reflect their concerns about illegal immigration, the slow economic recovery and what they see as America’s diminishing role in the world. That split widened when Romney, the party nominee in 2012, urged Republican primary voters to vote tactically in different states to back Trump’s opponents and block his path to the nomination. “Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” said Romney, 68, who did not endorse any candidate. “I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state,” he said. Rubio is a U.S. senator from Florida and Kasich is the Ohio governor. By calling for targeted voting, Romney was setting up the possibility of a contested convention when Republicans gather in Cleveland in mid-July to select their nominee for the November election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. That could create a pathway to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates needed for nomination. The last Republican convention to go beyond one ballot was in 1948 when Thomas Dewey was nominated. “I think the governor is just being realistic about where things stand and advocating a potential strategy that could stop the Trump nomination,” said former Romney spokesman Ryan Williams. Republican strategist Scott Reed said he doubted the last-ditch tactical voting suggestion would work. “No one will be playing the targeted voting game. There’s too much anger and distrust,” Reed said. Trump, 69, has made his party’s establishment uneasy with his abrasive tone and policy positions, including plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. More than 90 Republican national security leaders have signed a scathing open letter opposing Trump and his stance on many foreign policy issues. Romney’s speech in Utah was the spearhead of a mainstream Republican attempt to rein in Trump after he won most states in this week’s Republican Super Tuesday nominating contests and took a step toward earning the nomination. The address came hours before Trump and his rivals shared a stage in Detroit at 9 p.m. EST for a debate hosted by Fox News. Trump leads many polls for primaries in the remaining states, including in major ones like Florida on March 15, dampening prospects of derailing him. The party establishment’s strategy risks backfiring by further energizing Trump’s supporters, many of them white, blue-collar voters. “If only Romney talked like this four years ago about Obama ... or Trump,” conservative political commentator Michelle Malkin said on Twitter. “Too freaking late and too freaking lame.” Trump dismissed the former Massachusetts governor who lost to Obama four years ago. “Mitt is a failed candidate. He failed. He failed horribly. He failed badly,” Trump told a rally in Maine. Romney decided on his own to give the speech, which he wrote himself. Romney said Trump’s economic policy would sink America “into prolonged recession,” mocked Trump’s ego, and called him a “con man.” “A business genius he is not,” Romney said. David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, called the Romney speech a “break glass” moment he had not seen since 1964, when Republicans abandoned their candidate Barry Goldwater. Axelrod noted thousands of Republicans had already voted for Trump in primary elections. “I wonder about tactic of calling them fools,” Axelrod wrote on Twitter. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Eric Beech, Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

TAKE THE POLL: Tell Us Who You Think Will Be Trump’s Best Choice For VP

Trump will announce his VP pick tomorrow. Rumor has it, he has narrowed the field down to these two candidates, Governor Mike Pence and Donald Trump. Who do you think would be his best choice?TAKE OUR POLL HERE:Indiana Gov. Mike Pence would bring constitutional fidelity, conservative credentials, traditional faith, foreign policy, Washington know-how, and a calm, steady, Midwestern demeanor to a national ticket with Donald Trump, boosting the New York businessman with several types of voters that may prove to be the key to building an electoral coalition that could propel Trump into the White House.Pence was an Indiana talk show host who took on the party establishment to get into Congress. Once there, he was regularly a thorn in the establishment s side, routinely opposing the go-along-to-get-along establishment playbook. But he did so as a happy warrior who kept disagreement focused on policies, while being friendly and personable with his opponents.Over time, Pence became very popular among conservatives, and effective at communicating a conservative message through the national media.Pence repeatedly opposed George W. Bush s proposals to expand government. When Republicans lost the U.S. House in 2006, Pence took the ultimate anti-establishment step of running against John Boehner to be the leader of House Republicans. He lost that bid, but garners almost 30 voters against the future Speaker, making a name for himself as someone willing to oppose anyone who Pence believed would not lead as a conservative.Pence was regarded as an effective legislator under both Republican and Democratic presidents. Trump has no experience negotiating with Congress or experience with the vast complexity of the federal government. Pence could remedy all that.Pence is also an evangelical Christian with a model family.For a much more in-depth look at Governor Mike Pence and what he brings to a Trump ticket: Breitbart1.) Trump said he wants and frankly needs a political person who knows the congressional game as well as the players. As a former House Speaker, Newt fits that bill to a t. 2.) Newt has run for president himself and so is completely familiar with and experienced in being a national candidate. As such, he s also already been vetted to the max. There will be no surprises.3.) The traditional role of the running mate is attack dog against the opposition. Not that Trump needs any help in THAT department, but Gingrich would certainly make a great tag team partner on the campaign trail against Crooked and Pocohantas though Newt will refer to them in far more genial terms.4.) Trump has the right instincts on a wide variety of issues, but Gingrich has thought them all the way through and then some. You want specifics? Gingrich has em. In spades. And he can articulate them in a way the average Joe can understand. A great communicator in his own right.5.) The liberal media can and will chew up and spit out GOP running mates who aren t ready for prime time. Exhibit #1: Dan Quayle. Exhibit #2: Sarah Palin. That won t happen with Gingrich. He gives to the media every bit as good as he gets from the media.6.) Newt has spent a lifetime in politics helping candidates up and down the ballot in every state. He also knows, understands and will assist conservative grassroots organizations, as well as state and county parties. A true GOP party soldier who understands the nuts and bolts of building a political ground game.7.) He is a prolific fundraiser who has his own stable of GOP mega-donors such as Sheldon Adelson of the Las Vegas Sands who stand ready, willing and able to assist the former House Speaker and his running mate.8.) He is an admirer of the tea party and has been openly supportive of the movement. He s also familiar with the GOP establishment and the K-Street gang and can work with them. He s also proven particularly adept at reaching across the aisle and working with the opposition when the situation or issue properly calls for it.For entire list of reasons Newt Gingrich would be Trump s best choice for VP, go here: Chuck Muth s News and Views

Robert Reich Just Ruined A Trump Supporter’s Week With Facts

You ve got to love Robert Reich. The former Secretary of Labor under future First Lady and former President Bill Clinton met a Trump supporter at a coffee shop and couldn t resist stopping for a moment to ruin the poor guy s week by introducing him to a concept that is foreign to him: facts. I finally found a Trump supporter this morning when I went to buy coffee. (I noticed a Trump bumper sticker on his car.), Reich writes in a Facebook post that has gone viral since he posted it Monday morning. Then he completely dismantled Trump politely before the guy s very eyes: Hi, I said. Noticed your Trump bumper sticker. Yup, he said, a bit defensively. I hope you don t mind my asking, but I m curious. Why are you supporting him? I know he s a little bit much, said the Trump supporter. But he s a successful businessman. And we need a successful businessman as president. How do you know he s a successful businessman? I asked. Because he s made a fortune. Has he really? I asked. Of course. Forbes magazine says he s worth four and a half billion. That doesn t mean he s been a success, I said. In my book it does, said the Trump supporter. You know, in 1976, when Trump was just starting his career, he said he was worth about $200 million, I said. Most of that was from his father. That just proves my point, said the Trump supporter. He turned that $200 million into four and a half billion. Brilliant man. But if he had just put that $200 million into an index fund and reinvested the dividends, he d be worth twelve billion today, I said.The Trump supporter went silent. And he got about $850 million in tax subsidies, just in New York alone, I said.More silence. He s not a businessman, Reich concluded. He s a con man. Hope you enjoy your coffee. While it s unlikely that Reich managed to change the Trump fan s mind or even reach him on a level that matters he surely left the guy steaming more than a freshly-brewed cup of go-go- juice. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during that conversation!Featured image via Getty Images (Win McNamee)/screengrab

OHIO ELECTOR TORCHES Anti-Trump Letters He Received From Crybaby Liberals [Video]

pic.twitter.com/KMnLrwB6t1 Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) December 19, 2016

STEELERS PLAYER Gives Surprise Statement On Anthem Before Sunday’s Game

The NFL is in crisis mode after the massive backlash last weekend against the disrespectful behavior of the players who knelt during our national anthem. Fans burned team merchandise and cancelled NFL cable from Direct TV. It was so ugly that the NFL reportedly hired a crisis management person to help deal with the bad feelings from fans. The Steelers were no exception and are backpedaling like crazy We think the Steelers got the memo from their fans After a huge backlash about standing in the tunnel during the national anthem last Sunday, Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey says the team will stand this Sunday: I promise you one thing, this week we will all be standing out there for the national anthem. Trust me. Pouncey says he expects the entire team to be on the field for the anthem. As far as I know it s 100 percent participation, Pouncey told reporters. We love this country. It s America. We know there are injustice in this world, but to me, personally, football is football and that s what we need to approach it as. The Steelers decided to remain in the tunnel during the national anthem during their Sunday game against the Chicago Bears. Tackle Alejandro Villanueva was the only Steelers player who stood outside the tunnel.Pouncey says the whole thing was a big misunderstanding. I promise you this week that we ll all be standing out there for the national anthem. Trust me. We respect our flag, and we respect our military and everything that is a part of it, he said.The Steelers decision didn t sit well with some Steelers fans who took to social media to voice their outrage, and even burn team merchandise. I think this week we are going to show that. We are sorry for all of our fans who are upset about the things that went down, and I think we ll come together and all of this will be out the window, Pouncey said.Read more: CBS

JetBlue offers $99 flights out of Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma

(Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp is offering $99 direct flights from every Florida city where it operates, the airline said on Wednesday, as people hurry to leave before powerful Hurricane Irma hits the state. A price cap through Sept. 10 is also in place for all of JetBlue s Florida connecting flights, a maximum fare of $159 up to the last available seat, the company said. We want those trying to leave ahead of the hurricane to focus on their safe evacuation rather than worry about the cost of flights, JetBlue spokesman Doug McGraw said. Flights in the eastern Caribbean through Sept. 7 and in the western Caribbean through Sept. 8 are also under a fare ceiling. Florida remained under a state of emergency as Irma, packing winds of up to 185 miles per hour (295 km per hour), tracked across the northern Caribbean on a path expected to hit landfall in the United States over the weekend. Airlines have been criticized for raising prices in the wake of deadly episodes such as a 2015 Amtrak derailment, but U.S. officials said last year they found no evidence of wrongdoing in that instance. Irma s arrival marks the second time in as many weeks U.S. airline operations will be disrupted by a powerful storm. Last week, Category 4 Hurricane Harvey landed in Texas and swallowed up much of Houston with powerful winds and deadly flooding. Airline operations were crippled for several days as airports closed, forcing thousands of flight cancellations.

HYSTERICAL LIBERALS CHEER FOR JOHN KERRY…He Came To Protest Something…He’s Not Sure What It Is [Video]

This is scary this guy was our Secretary of State! Yikes! His tongue!

Libya says pushing to be removed from Trump travel ban list

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya s internationally recognized government has appealed to the United States to drop or ease a travel ban imposed on its citizens by U.S. President Donald Trump, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The Libyan Foreign Ministry, through its embassy in Washington, has begun to take measures to lift Libya from the list of countries and to ease the restrictions on Libyan citizens, the ministry said in a statement. Libya is one of six Muslim-majority countries subject to the travel ban. This week the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the ban to take full effect while litigation over its ultimate validity continues. The ban was also discussed at a meeting between Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Siyala and U.S Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke on Monday, the statement said.

supreme court will decide whether boys must pee next to girls

with hillary clinton collapsing in the polls her media guards have now emerged with the dregs of the opposition research barrel the supposed connection between donald trump and vladimir putin

Trump says Supreme Court nominee's comments 'misrepresented'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday repeated his accusation that a Democratic lawmaker had misconstrued private comments from U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. “His comments were misrepresented,” Trump told reporters, when asked about reports that Gorsuch had criticized Trump’s comments on the judiciary during a meeting with Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Keith Olbermann to Betsy DeVos: “The Hurricane is Going to Do Less Damage to Schools Than You Are, Motherf*cker”

The lefty lunatic of the day just can t keep himself from being hateful and disgusting. It doesn t matter that he s calling a lady a mother*cker . The vitriol is disgusting and has no place in ANY media outlet. Potty talk is for crybabies Keith Olbermann is a BIG one!The hatefulness coming from the left never ends If it s not Maxine Waters then it s DNC Chair Tom Perez with his potty mouth. Does the left think this will attract people to their party? They must Check out what Perez said about Republicans: OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON DNC CHAIR TOM PEREZ: Republicans don t give a sh*t about people DNC Chair Tom Perez was on MSNBC (video below) to answer to critics who didn t like his nasty speech last week.He appeared at an event held by New Jersey Working Families Alliance, a re-branded ACORN agency and gave a hateful and divisive speech. He claimed that, Republicans don t give a sh*t about people . Why the Democrats picked this far left radical is puzzling unless the Democrats plan on going full commie Perez is connected to the radical open borders group La Raza. Something tells us that Obama made this pick for the Democrats. Check out a defiant Perez doubling down on is nastiness:OUR PREVIOUS REPORT AND VIDEO BELOW:Perez has a long radical history connected to La Raza and other open borders organizations. His track record is full on radical. e s in cahoots with Obama to continue the fundamental transformation of America. Anyone who s a Democrat should be shocked that he s taking the party in such a far left direction. Do your research and you ll know why he was the choice for Dem Chair.He just fired all Democrat Party staffers and is bringing in all new people. The party is clearly taking a new direction and it s not a good one for any American. DONALD TRUMP DIDN T WIN WATCH ENTIRE VIDEO: Republicans don t give a sh*t about people

Congress sends Obama bill on Zika drug development

(Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday approved a bill to provide financial incentives to companies developing treatments for the Zika virus, and the White House said President Barack Obama was expected to sign the legislation although it is insufficient to meet the challenge. The measure allows the Food and Drug Administration to include Zika drug developers in the agency’s priority review voucher program. The program encourages manufacturers to study treatments for diseases that might not be profitable by expediting the regulatory review of a more lucrative drug in their research pipeline. The House of Representatives passed the bill on a voice vote, without a roll call, weeks after the same measure was approved by the Senate. White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said Obama was expected to sign the bill, which she called a “small step” that could encourage the private sector to tackle Zika. “But it contains no funding and is ultimately insufficient on its own, since it doesn’t provide the $1.9 billion in funding that our public health experts have said is needed right now to prepare Americans for the imminent local transmission of Zika in this country,” she said in a statement. Democrats and administration officials are urging the Republican-controlled Congress to grant nearly $1.9 billion in emergency funds to combat the spread of Zika. In a temporary fix, the White House said last week that it would redirect $589 million in allocated funds to prepare for the mosquito that carries the disease to emerge in the continental United States. According to the World Health Organization, there is a strong scientific consensus that the Zika virus can cause the rare birth defect microcephaly in newborns. But the link between the virus and the birth defects has not been scientifically established. On Tuesday, Brazil confirmed 1,113 cases of microcephaly and considers most to be related to Zika infections in the mother. Drugmakers who are working on Zika-related drugs, or considering such research, include Sanofi SA, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. Zika was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through the Americas. The World Health Organization had declared a global health emergency due to the virus’s possible link to microcephaly in babies and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, in adults. On Monday, top health officials said the mosquito that spreads the virus is now present in about 30 U.S. states, making local outbreaks a possibility. They have also predicted hundreds of thousands of people would be infected in Puerto Rico when the mosquito season kicks in this summer. A pharmaceutical company may be given a priority review voucher to develop a drug for an infectious disease, in this case Zika, which may not generate much profit for the manufacturer. The voucher gives the company the right to an accelerated review by the FDA of any other, more lucrative, drug in its pipeline. Developing a new drug can take years and cost millions of dollars. A standard FDA review takes at least 10 months to complete - longer if the agency requires additional information. Being able to shave time off that process and get a profitable drug onto the market faster can be worth millions of dollars to a manufacturer. Under the agency’s priority review program, companies who submit a drug for review that is intended to treat serious conditions or whose drug shows a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness over existing treatments is eligible to be reviewed in six months, at least four months faster than usual. A priority review voucher gives a company the right to a six-month review on any product, regardless of whether it meets the conditions normally required to receive an accelerated review. It also gives the company the right to sell the voucher to another company. The law currently makes any company eligible for a priority review voucher that is developing a drug for one of more than 20 tropical diseases listed under the voucher program. These include malaria, cholera, leprosy, dengue, tuberculosis, and Ebola. The FDA has the authority to add other infectious diseases to the list which primarily affects poor countries.

Netanyahu orders redraft of law seen as protecting him

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that a draft bill that sets limits on police investigators should be revised so it does not apply to criminal probes in which he is a suspect. The proposed legislation, which has sparked protests in Israel, would prohibit the police from publicizing whether they have found sufficient grounds to charge a suspect. Critics say the bill is an attempt to protect Netanyahu and keep the public in the dark regarding ongoing investigations in which he is a suspect, but its supporters said it is intended to protect suspects legal rights and reputations. Some 20,000 Israelis demonstrated against the bill in Tel Aviv on Saturday and, as public pressure mounted, support among coalition members for the bill began to wane on Sunday, a day before parliament was expected to ratify it. For the debate on the bill to be topical and not be used for political propaganda, I have asked ... that (it) be worded so that it does not cover the ongoing investigations in my matters, Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page. With ratification of the legislation delayed, he said he had told the bill s proponent, David Amsalem, a lawmaker from his own right-wing Likud party, that it had become a political battering ram against the government. But in justifying the legislation, Netanyahu said: The bill is intended to prevent publication of police recommendations which would leave a cloud over innocent people, something that happens every day. Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases. In one, he is alleged to have meddled in the media industry and the other concerns gifts he received from wealthy businessmen. He denies any wrongdoing. But, if charged, he would come under heavy pressure to resign or he could call an election to test whether he still has a mandate to govern. Netanyahu has in the past said he had no interest in promoting personal legislation but he also did not order the bill s sponsors, Amsalem, and David Bitan, another Likud confidant, to withdraw it. Netanyahu has described himself as a victim of a political witch hunt and said he will be cleared. There will be nothing because there is nothing, he has said repeatedly. (This story removes extraneous text from first paragraph)

Obama to meet Senate leaders over Supreme Court next week: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will convene a meeting on Tuesday with the Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate and its Judiciary Committee to discuss a Supreme Court nominee, the White House said on Thursday. The White House has contacted every member of the judiciary panel, both Republicans and Democrats, to discuss efforts to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing.

Clinton wins big in South Carolina on way to 'Super Tuesday'

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton crushed rival Bernie Sanders at the South Carolina primary on Saturday, propelling her into next week’s crucial “Super Tuesday” voting in 11 states on a wave of momentum. The rout of Sanders solidified Clinton’s status as the strong front-runner to capture the party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 election in her quest to become America’s first woman president. With nearly half of the votes counted in South Carolina, Clinton led Sanders by a 50-point margin, dramatically reversing her 28-point loss in the state to President Barack Obama during their bitter 2008 primary battle. The former secretary of state’s victory decisively established her strength among black voters, a crucial Democratic constituency who make up more than half of the party’s primary electorate in South Carolina. After the win, Clinton appeared to be looking ahead to a general-election matchup with Republican front-runner Donald Trump, the billionaire whose campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again” and has called for building a wall on the border with Mexico. “Despite what you hear, we don’t need to make America great again, America has never stopped being great,” she told cheering supporters in Columbia after the win. “Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.” The result was Clinton’s third victory in the first four Democratic contests, and raised more questions about whether Sanders, the democratic socialist U.S. senator from Vermont, will be able to expand his support beyond his base of predominantly white liberals. “Today you sent a message,” Clinton said. “In America, when we stand together, there is no barrier too big to break.” Sanders admitted defeat early in the night. “Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it’s on to Super Tuesday,” Sanders said in a statement. The Democratic race now becomes a broader national contest. Eleven states, including six in the South with large minority populations where polls show Clinton with big leads, will vote on Super Tuesday and four more over the next weekend. “Tomorrow, this campaign goes national,” Clinton said. Clinton’s camp was hoping a big win in South Carolina, after more narrow victories in Iowa and Nevada and Sanders’ clear win in New Hampshire, will set her up for a big night on Tuesday, when about 875 delegates will be up for grabs, more than one-third of those needed to win the nomination. Sanders, who has energized the party’s liberal wing and brought young people to the polls with his message of attacking income equality and reining in Wall Street, needs a breakthrough win in a key state in the next few weeks to keep his hopes alive. “The door is closing fast for Bernie Sanders,” unaligned Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis said. “Movement candidates are about momentum and excitement, and losses sap that momentum. That’s his problem right now.” Recognizing his steep odds in South Carolina, Sanders had spent most of the past week in states that will vote in March. As the results rolled in on Saturday, he was scheduled to hold a rally in the “Super Tuesday” state of Minnesota. (Additional reporting by Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Too soon to tell how U.S. statement will affect settlements: Israeli official

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Friday it was too early to tell how the White House’s latest statement on Israel’s recent drive to build new homes in the occupied West Bank would affect future building. It was a first reaction by an Israeli official to the statement in Washington hours earlier by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel’s building of new settlements or expansion of existing ones in occupied territories may not be helpful in achieving peace with Palestinians. “It’s still too early to tell ... I would not categorize this as a U-turn by the U.S. administration but the issue is clearly on their agenda ... the issue will be discussed when the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) meets the president in Washington,” Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon told Israel Radio. “We will not always agree on everything.”

Russia, Syria intensify bombing of rebel-held Idlib, witnesses say

AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian and Syrian jets escalated strikes on rebel-held Idlib and Hama provinces, several days after jihadist rebels opened an offensive against government-held parts of northwestern Syria, rebels and witnesses said on Sunday. The bombing campaign in heavily populated civilian areas shattered six months of relative calm. Russian-inspired ceasefires had given a temporary reprieve to tens of thousands of people living in rebel-held northwestern Syria. But now thousands of civilians who had been returning to their homes have headed back to the relative safety of refugee camps along the Turkish border, which are protected under Russian-Turkish understandings, residents said. People are very afraid things have gone back to what they were and returned back to camps - there is no longer any hope, Ahmad Thaib, a resident of Jabal al Zawya. The strikes were retaliation for last Tuesday s assault against Hama province, which were spearheaded by Tahrir al-Sham, the jihadist Turkistan Islamic Party and rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The bombing campaign also comes shortly after a tripartite deal struck by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to deploy an observer force in Idlib, a province where the former al Qaeda s Syrian offshoot has cemented its control after it crushed opponents. Western-vetted rebels said the Russian strikes targeted FSA groups who had signed the ceasefire agreements Russia had promoted, casting doubt on whether Moscow had any intention of shoring up the ceasefire. Civil defense workers and residents said dozens of strikes struck the major towns of Khan Sheikhoun, Jisr al-Shaqour, Saraqeb and scores of villages. At least five hospitals and several civil defense centers have been knocked out of action since the start of the counter offensive. Rebel sources said over fifty fighters were killed on Saturday after jets believed to be Russian targeted a training camp run by Failaq al Sham, an FSA rebel group, which is at odds with jihadist groups. Russia s defense ministry says it is attacking hard-line Islamist militants. It denies accusations it has targeted infrastructure and medical centers to force rebels into local truces that effectively restore President Bashar al Assad s grip on the country. On Friday, Russia s defense ministry said a submarine fired Kalibr cruise missiles at Islamist militants, who it said had tried to trap a group of Russian military policemen. In the city of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib, jets believed to be Russian destroyed the town s major power plant on Friday, one witness said. The plant feeds northern Hama and southern Idlib. On the outskirts of Jarjanaz, a strike barely missed a camp where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering, a resident said. At least several people were killed near the town of Kafr Sajna, one of the sites where the Russian missiles landed, witnesses said. A video downloaded by activists showed a rescue worker trying to extinguish the flames on a young body charred by an incendiary bomb.

California moves presidential primary for bigger say in candidate choice

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California will move its presidential primary from June to March under a bill signed on Wednesday by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, a change aimed at giving the liberal-leaning state more influence in choosing candidates from either national party. The most populous U.S. state, which voted heavily for Democrat Hillary Clinton in November’s presidential election, has traditionally held its primary so late that Democratic and Republican voters in other states had essentially already chosen their parties’ candidates. “The Golden State will no longer be relegated to last place in the presidential nominating process,” said Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat who backed the change, in a statement. “Candidates will not be able to ignore the largest, most diverse state in the nation as they seek our country’s highest office.” The bill was passed mostly along party lines in the majority-Democrat legislature. The new date will leave the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary in place as the first and second contests of the presidential election cycle, during which voters in each state choose the candidate they would like their party to nominate for president. Because California’s primary has been in June while others were held earlier, candidates have largely ignored the state, spending less on outreach than elsewhere, making fewer visits, and failing to prioritize California voters’ concerns in their campaigns, supporters said. In 2016, California Democrats chose Clinton and Republicans opted for Donald Trump, the populist businessman who ultimately won the presidency. Backers in the legislature said the early primary would lead to less divisive choices by members of both major parties in the 2020 election cycle, and establish California as a leading voice in the choice of candidates. Progressive Democrats also believe that moving the primary up could result in their party’s selection of more liberal candidates. “California is the beating heart of the national resistance to Trump, and California Democrats are defining the progressive agenda for America,” state Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman said in a press release. “When it comes to deciding the Democratic nominee, our voices need to be heard early in the process.”

Chicago schools would have less funding in governor's budget

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The head of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) said on Tuesday that Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s fiscal 2017 school funding budget would hurt the financially ailing district. Projected per-district funding levels released by the Illinois State Board of Education on Tuesday indicate CPS would receive nearly $893 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, a drop of $74.4 million from the current fiscal year. “It makes our already grave fiscal crisis graver,” CPS CEO Forrest Claypool told reporters. “That’s why his budget must be defeated.” He added that state funding for the nation’s third-largest public school system was cut by $106 million in fiscal 2016. CPS is struggling with a $1.1 billion structural budget deficit caused largely by escalating pension payments. The district, which has credit ratings in the “junk” level, has been dependent on borrowing to generate cash flow. The Republican governor in February proposed boosting per-student funding in K-12 public schools to $6,119, the highest level in seven years. However, some districts like CPS would have a decrease in general state aid based on lower enrollment and other factors. Claypool said Illinois needs to replace its “radically discriminatory education funding formula,” claiming it short-changes Chicago’s poor and minority children. He called a new funding plan unveiled by Senate Democrats last week “a step in the right direction,” but not a complete fix. Legislation unveiled by Democratic Senator Andy Manar is aimed at providing more funding to high-need, high-poverty schools. Claypool said he was also encouraged by Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan’s proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution that would make public education a fundamental right, while giving the state the “preponderant” responsibility for funding schools.

Republican senators criticize CBO, welcome health-care plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the Congressional Budget Office report on a Republican healthcare plan indicated a path to lower insurance premiums, a lower deficit and significant entitlement reform. McConnnell said the Senate would bring up the House of Representatives legislation and have it open to amendment before passing it. At the same news briefing, Republican Senator Roy Blunt said the CBO is “notoriously bad” at anticipating what will happen in the marketplace. McConnell also said lawmakers would talk to the Treasury secretary about timing but “obviously we will raise the debt ceiling.”

Irish border row thwarts May bid to clinch Brexit trade deal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May failed to clinch a deal on Monday to open talks on post-Brexit free trade with the European Union after a tentative deal with Dublin to keep EU rules in Northern Ireland angered her allies in Belfast. The British leader had sat down to lunch with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hoping that a last-minute offer to the Irish government of regulatory alignment on both sides of a new UK-EU land border would remove a last obstacle to the EU open talks next week on future trade. Yet as May and Juncker spoke in Brussels and the pound rose on prospects of free trade and perhaps a very soft Brexit , Northern Ireland s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) issued an uncompromising reiteration of its refusal to accept any divergence from rules on the British mainland. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar cancelled a news conference and the pound fell back, losing a cent against the dollar, as May and Juncker emerged to say there was still not sufficient progress on divorce terms to move ahead. May agreed with Juncker that a deal could be reached in a few days before the EU summit on Dec. 14-15, but that promise did little to stem recriminations at home, where Brexit campaigners want Britain to become what one called a free agent and set its own rules. Varadkar shared the view of some officials in Brussels that it was an opportunity missed. I m surprised and disappointed that the U.K. government appears not to be in a position to conclude what was agreed earlier today, he told a news conference in Dublin. I accept that the British prime minister has asked for more time and I know that she faces many challenges and I acknowledge that she is negotiating in good faith but my position and that of the Irish government is unequivocal. The Irish border has emerged as a defining issue for Brexit, one of the thorniest of three main issues, which include how much Britain should pay to leave and protections for expatriate citizens rights, to be settled before moving talks forward. With time running down after Britain triggered the two-year divorce process in March, May is keen to push the talks to a discussion of future trade to try to offer nervous businesses some certainty over their investment decisions. All sides say they want to avoid a return to a hard border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland, which might upset the peace established after decades of violence. But they have found it difficult to find the right wording on guaranteeing the unguarded border as set out in the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that will suit all sides. Dependent on the support of lawmakers in the DUP for a majority in parliament, May must keep them on board and has repeated that she wants to maintain the economic integrity of the United Kingdom in any Brexit deal. By suggesting May would settle for continued regulatory alignment if there was no alternative way, some in the DUP and in her own party fear Northern Ireland could get a kind of special status that could draw it away from the mainland. A DUP source said the party s leader, Arlene Foster, had spoken to May while she was in Brussels. The phone call took place shortly after Foster told supporters she would not allow a Brexit deal that created regulatory divergence . The leaders of Scotland and Wales, and the mayor of London, also announced that they would want to follow suit if special terms were agreed for Northern Ireland. We haven t decided to dismantle the United Kingdom and give in to the demands of the Irish government, said pro-Brexit lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg after a Conservative Party meeting in London. May s aides were sanguine, saying expectations had been too high for what some had billed as a crunch meeting in Brussels, and they played down any involvement of the DUP in sinking the deal. One EU official even said the last-minute hitch may have been stage-managed to give the British prime minister some scope for saying she had fought hard for her position with the EU. Juncker hailed May as a tough negotiator . May added: We will reconvene before the end of the week and I am also confident that we will conclude this positively. But European Council President Donald Tusk, who met May and who will chair next week s summit in Brussels, said that he had been ready to send draft negotiating guidelines for a free trade pact to EU leaders on Tuesday. It is now getting very tight but agreement at December (summit) is still possible, Tusk tweeted.

Indonesia to reopen Bali airport after closure due to volcano

DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Bali airport will reopen on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, two days after a volcanic eruption spread ash across the island and forced the airport to close. The airport will reopen at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT)

Germany's Schulz says he would demand U.S. withdraw nuclear arms

BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) pledged to have U.S. nuclear weapons withdrawn from German territory if, against the odds, he defeats Angela Merkel to become chancellor next month. Addressing a campaign rally in Trier late on Tuesday, SPD leader Martin Schulz also said he, unlike Merkel, would resist demands by U.S. President Donald Trump for NATO members to increase their defense spending. Trump wants nuclear armament. We are against this, Schulz said, apparently trying to differentiate his party from Merkel s more hawkish Christian Democratic Union (CDU). As chancellor, I will commit Germany to having the nuclear weapons stationed here withdrawn from our country, he said. About 20 U.S. nuclear warheads are thought to be stationed at a military base in Buechel, in western Germany, according to unofficial estimates. The U.S. embassy in Berlin said it does not comment on nuclear weapons in Germany. Taking advantage of Trump s extreme unpopularity in Germany, Schulz also said he would use the money Merkel had earmarked for increased military spending for other purposes. What to do with our money is the central question of this election, he said, referring to a 30 billion-euro tax surplus. Trump demands that 2 percent of GDP, 30 billion euros, should go to military spending, and Merkel agreed to that without asking German citizens. Germany and other NATO members had already pledged to raise their defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product before Trump was elected. While most of them have increased spending on their militaries, only a few have reached the 2 percent goal, and Germany is not one of them. Most recent polls show Schulz s party polling at around 24 percent, some 14 percentage points behind Merkel. Most expect a booming economy and low unemployment will carry her into a fourth term in Sept. 24 elections. However, with Germans historically wary of using military force since World War Two, Schulz s message may resonate among the SPD s core voters. After 12 years in office, Merkel has become increasingly confident on the global stage. She has pushed for Germany to become more militarily self-reliant, partly in response to Trump s hinting that he might abandon NATO allies if they do not spend more on defense. Earlier this year, Merkel said the times when Germany could rely on others to defend it were to some extent in the past .

LEAKED E-MAIL: CLINTON CAMPAIGN Compliments Dem Pundit On How Well He Lied On The ‘Today Show’

Podesta writes: Good idea. Was your nose growing long today? That was rough.

Trump DACA decision followed months of meetings involving senior Democrat

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - No. 2 Senate Democrat Dick Durbin has had multiple conversations with Jared Kushner and other top White House officials about how to protect young immigrants known as “Dreamers” from deportation, the lawmaker said on Thursday. Durbin, in an interview with Reuters, described Kushner as a conduit to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, and open to the idea of doing something to help the 800,000 Dreamers brought illegally to the United States as children. Kushner, a top administration aide with a broad portfolio that includes brokering a Middle East peace agreement, held private meetings at the White House with Durbin and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in April and July, according to Durbin’s office. Durbin, an outspoken advocate for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protected the Dreamers from deportation and allowed them work permits, told Reuters he teamed up with Graham to discuss opportunities with the White House to help those enrolled in DACA. “We initially had a conversation (with Kushner), at Senator (Chuck) Grassley’s invitation, on criminal justice and I asked Mr. Kushner afterwards if we could talk about immigration, separate and apart from Senator Grassley, which we did,” Durbin said. “I went into ... DACA because I was concerned about how this was going to unfold,” the Illinois lawmaker said.The conversations underscore a level of interest in the issue among senior White House aides that could lend momentum to the congressional debate on approving a permanent legislative fix for the Dreamers that Durbin has sought for the past 16 years. The talks also point to a White House that could be moving away from a more rigid immigration stance than during the initial weeks of Trump’s presidency. A White House spokesman said the administration “acted lawfully to correct the unconstitutional actions taken by” former President Barack Obama. “It is now up to Congress to act on behalf of the American people,” he said. The fate of the Dreamers has been in question since Trump won last November’s presidential election on a promise of clamping down on illegal immigration. Several state attorneys general had threatened legal action to kill DACA and set a Sept. 5 deadline for Trump to rescind former President Barack Obama’s executive order protecting the Dreamers or face a lawsuit. On Tuesday, the Republican president said he would eliminate DACA in six months and urged Congress to work on an alternative during that time. Besides the White House meetings, Durbin said there were telephone calls with Kushner as well as calls and meetings with then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who recently became Trump’s White House chief of staff. Durbin said that Kushner invited Trump aide Stephen Miller to attend one of the White House meetings because of his experience as a Senate aide to Jeff Sessions, who now serves as attorney general. Sessions has been a leading voice in the Senate and Trump’s Cabinet for tough enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and curtailing immigration generally. Durbin said that during the meeting with Miller, “there was nothing in my conversation with him that suggested” he had moved away from Sessions’ rigid stance. Durbin said that he had not spoken directly with Trump since an Inauguration Day handshake at a Capitol Hill luncheon when the new president spoke in positive terms about Dreamers. In describing some of the behind-the-scenes efforts, the senator portrayed a roller coaster-like series of “challenging” signals from Trump that began even before his inauguration on Jan. 20. “During the course of his presidency, he has said very positive things about Dreamers and DACA and it’s been a notable exception to his statements on immigration and travel and Muslims and Mexicans. This seemed to be a separate category in his mind and that’s why I explored it,” Durbin said. He said that Trump’s announcement about the program on Tuesday appeared to be a setback “from what I hoped would occur based on his positive comments on Dreamers and DACA.” “But then within 12 hours,” Durbin added, “the president was sending messages by tweet and otherwise that were more encouraging and they continue even until this morning.”