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The Gun Shop Owner That Banned Muslims Is Now Selling Obama, Bernie And Hillary Targets (IMAGE)

One of Florida s most infamous gun shop owners is yet again making headlines this time for selling targets that have the faces of President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on them.Last year, Florida Gun Supply owner Andy Hallinan raised eyebrows by banning Muslims from his store, when he made this announcement via a YouTube video: I have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all patriots in my community, and so effective immediately, I m declaring Florida Gun Supply as a Muslim-free zone. I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots. This of course, got the attention of the racist murderer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman. Naturally, the two gun nuts joined forces to sell confederate flag paintings through Hallinan s store so that Zimmerman could pay his living expenses. Apparently racism and hate speech works, because Zimmerman was able to make $100,000 on a painting so horrible a first grader could have done better.Now, Hallinan s latest stunt is an idea all of his own. On his website, BernieTargets.com, he is selling the targets with the three Democrats faces on them for $4.99, marked down from $9.99.Bernietargets.com Hallinan has several other classy products for sale on the site, such as a Muslim-free zone vehicle sticker , an ISIS hunting permit , a Mohammed target , a Muslim-free yard sign , Liberal tears gun oil and a Hillary for prison 2016 yard sign .If this guy is a fan of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, that wouldn t be a surprise at all. Hallinan clearly agrees with Trump s anti-Muslim rhetoric, and is probably right on board with The Donald s horrific proposal to ban all Muslims from coming into the country which is pretty much what Hallinan tried to do on a smaller scale with his store last year.This type of xenophobia, and blatant hate toward those with different religious (and political views) is so dangerous. Having targets with the faces of President Barack Obama (who Trump has repeatedly implied is Muslim) and this year s Democratic candidates is truly blurring the line between parody and inciting violence.Featured image is a screenshot

JPMorgan's Dimon says Trump likely to be a one-term president

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co, on Wednesday said he expects to see a new U.S. president in 2021 and advised the Democratic party to come up with a “pro-free enterprise” agenda for jobs and economic growth instead. Asked at a luncheon hosted by The Economic Club of Chicago how many years Republican President Donald Trump will be in office, Dimon said, “If I had to bet, I’d bet three and half. But the Democrats have to come up with a reasonable candidate ... or Trump will win again.” Dimon, who in the past has described himself as “barely” a Democrat, has been going to Washington more often since the 2016 elections to lobby lawmakers on issues including changes in corporate taxes, immigration policies and mortgage finance. In December, Dimon became chairman of the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs who take their views to government policymakers. Dimon, 61, touched on wide range of topics, from America’s political climate to racial discrimination to the effects of the U.K. leaving the European Union. He also commented on foreign affairs, saying, for example, “We should never be rude to a neighbor like Mexico” and cautioning that the political weakness of German Chancellor Angela Merkel “is bad for all of us.” Talks on forming a governing coalition including Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union collapsed earlier this week, casting doubt on her future after 12 years in power. Dimon spoke for several minutes about discrimination over gender and race which he said is not acknowledged enough in the United States. “If you’re white, paint yourself black and walk down the street one day, and you’ll probably have a little more empathy for how some of these folks get treated,” Dimon said. “We need to make a special effort because this is a special problem.” Dimon gave his own bank a mixed review on diversity. His direct reports include people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), and half are women as are 30 percent of the top 200 JPMorgan executives, he said. Now in his 12th year as JPMorgan’s CEO, Dimon also reflected a bit on his own role. “I basically love my job,” Dimon said. “I mean, it’s tiring; it’s exhausting. I have to go down to Washington all the time and it’s a big pain in the ass, but I basically love my job.”

U.S. lawmakers delay bill on European data privacy deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation that would grant U.S. privacy rights to Europeans is being delayed in the U.S. Senate, which may complicate negotiations over a broader trans-Atlantic data transfer pact that faces a January deadline for completion, sources said on Wednesday. The Judicial Redress Act, which would allow citizens of European allied countries to sue over data privacy in the United States, is “likely to be held” from a scheduled vote on Thursday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, a panel aide said. Passage of the legislation is viewed as an important step toward securing a new “Safe Harbor” framework after the previous one was struck down by a top European Union court last year amid concerns about U.S. surveillance. More than 4,000 firms, including tech behemoths such as Google and IBM, have been relying on the 15-year-old Safe Harbor framework to freely transfer data between the United States and Europe, which has far stricter rules on the privacy of personal information. But that deal was ruled invalid last October by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which cited revelations about U.S. mass surveillance by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. European Union data protection authorities have given Brussels and Washington until the end of January to strike a new Safe Harbor agreement for transferring personal data. Industry executives are growing increasingly alarmed that the new Safe Harbor agreement will not be completed in time. The Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington-based trade organization that represents Apple, Microsoft and other major tech companies, sent some of its executives to Europe on Wednesday to press for a quick resolution. A spokesman for the organization, which warned of “enormous” consequences in a letter this week to President Barack Obama and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker if a pact is not forged soon, said its leaders are meeting with government and data protection authorities in several cities, including Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin and London, ahead of the deadline. EU privacy regulators are due to meet on Feb. 2 to decide if they should begin enforcement action against companies if they determine all transfer mechanisms violate EU law and there is no new framework in place.

FAMILY LIVING ‘TRADITIONAL LIFESTYLE’ TORN APART: POLICE SEIZE 10 Homeschooled “Off Grid” Children From Their Family

Conform or pay the ultimate price Police seized ten children from an off grid homeschool family in Kentucky on Wednesday after receiving an anonymous tip about the family s traditional lifestyle.The nightmare story began when sheriff s officers set up a blockade around Joe and Nicole Naugler s rural property before entering the premises. Eight of the kids were out with their father but Nicole and two of her oldest children were at home. Nicole attempted to drive away but was subsequently stopped and arrested for resisting (attempting to prevent officers from taking her two boys away).The sheriff then demanded Joe Naugler turn over the other eight children by 10am the next day or face felony charges, an order with which he complied. They are an extremely happy family, said family friend Pace Ellsworth, who asserts that the Nauglers were targeted because of their back to basics life and their decision to homeschool their children.Friends reported no concerns about how the children were being treated by the parents, who follow an educational model called unschooling where the children decide their own curriculum based on the subjects that interest them and what their strengths are. This is the natural way to live, said Ellsworth. It s actually a growing movement. They want to have a personal education and not a factory education. They are completely open about their life. Everyone is learning by living. They are all extremely intelligent. The family s Facebook page entitled My Blessed Little Homestead, is a charming testament to their way of life. The Naugler children are obviously living a blissful free range lifestyle amongst 26 acres of land in Breckinridge County. They frequently post pictures and videos of their children, animals and their off-grid life, reports Off the Grid News. A May 5 post showed a video of a toddler, Mosiah, learning to walk. An April 24 post showed a happy family, gathering around a campfire, roasting marshmallows. The family have set up a GoFundMe page to try and raise money for legal expenses.A website for the family spells out their plight with the heart-wrenching words; This Kentucky family of 12 people, 6 dogs, 2 farm cats and a few random farm animals was just torn apart. Their crime: Living a simple, back to basics life. This shocking story once again illustrates how families attempting to simply get on with their lives in a traditional manner are being treated as extremists by other Americans, snitched on, and targeted by authorities.Here is a Facebook link to the Nagger family business: Blessed Little Grooming Company, LLCVia: InfoWars

leaked emails reveal hillary cant speak for very long without a podium so were the debates rigged

daily mail october republicans say theyll keep the heat on hillary clinton if she wins the oval office with new investigations into her family charity and quid pro quo allegations judicial watch a conservative group thats been at the forefront of clintons email scandal is already talking impeachment for the notyet president i know this generation of republican leaders is loath to exercise these tools but impeachment is something thats relevant the organizations president tom fitton told nbc news fitton noted however that congressional republicans were unlikely to follow his advice they see the oversight process as an opportunity in some measure to keep their opponents offkilter but they dont want to do the substantive and principled work to truly hold corrupt politicians or the administration or anyone accountable he charged republicans on capitol hill are gearing up for a bevy of new investigations involving clinton in the next congress

Entire Seattle Seahawks Team Will Join Kaepernick In Protest During National Anthem On Sunday

The Seattle Seahawks will become the first team to join 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in protesting during the National Anthem.According to starting linebacker Bobby Wagner, the team has a big surprise in store for the opening game of the season when the Star Spangled Banner is sung. Wagner said that the entire team will be taking part, but he did not say if the players plan to sit or kneel. Anything we want to do, it s not going to be individual. It s going to be a team thing. That s what the world needs to see. The world needs to see people coming together versus being individuals, Wagner said.Last Thursday, Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane became one of the first two players to join Kaepernick when he sat on the sidelines during the National Anthem. He was supported by head coach Pete Carroll, who recently stood up for Lane when the inevitable criticism came following last week s game. [Lane] s pretty clear on what he did and what he was trying to express and I think it is very simple and so we ll leave that up to him, Carroll said of Lane s decision to protest.Starting wide receiver Doug Baldwin also expressed his support for Kaepernick and his protest via social media. Baldwin defended Kaepernick s protest when he faced harsh criticism for his decision to sit, and later kneel in honor of the military, during the National Anthem. Baldwin blasted those condemning the 49ers quarterback and reminded them what free speech actually means.We honor those who fight for our right to freedom of speech and then condemn those who exercise that right? Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) September 2, 2016Don t tell me you just disagree with the methods. You really mean to say you disagree with the cause. Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) September 2, 2016To change the status quo you have to upset the status quo. Not by going with the flow.You have to stand/sit for what you believe in. Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) September 2, 2016Kaepernick was joined in kneeling on the sidelines during the anthem last week by fellow 49er Eric Reid. U.S. Women s National Team soccer player Megan Rapinoe, and several members of the West Virginia Tech volleyball team have also chosen to sit or kneel rather than stand during the Star Spangled Banner, to show their solidarity with Kaepernick and the issues he is trying to bring attention to.Kaepernick has said that he is not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. Speaking of the police brutality epidemic plaguing America, Kaepernick added that, There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder. Featured image via Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

SUNDAY SCREENING: Counter Intelligence – ‘The Strategy of Tension’

21st Century Wire says Our weekly documentary film curated by the editorial team at 21WIRE.The following is Part 3 of a 5 part series which deals with the Deep State The Strategy of Tension examines the history of false flag operations used for war, propaganda and psychological operations or psy-ops . Operation Northwoods and Operation Gladio are examples used to illustrate the nature of clandestine operation planning and execution; as well as shedding light on the intent and extent to which the National Security apparatus manipulates events and manufactures outcomes to suit its goals. This programme also looks at the issues that spin off from the history of false flag operations such as how conspiracy theories are used to discredit inquiry and investigative journalism; and also how the cultural preconditions around dismissing false flag operations serve to protect their continuation and plausible deniability Watch:. Run time: 55 min Writer and Director: Scott Noble Production: Metanoia FilmsSEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERESUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV

UK criticizes Muslim Brotherhood, defends Western policy

LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign secretary Boris Johnson singled out the Muslim Brotherhood and its associates for criticism on Thursday in a speech calling for a renewed western diplomatic push in the Middle East to tackle Islamic extremism. Speaking to diplomats and experts at the Foreign Office in London, Johnson called for better engagement with Muslim populations worldwide and argued that blaming Western intervention for the rise of Islamist extremism played into the jihadi narrative. He said the West needed to collectively re-insert itself in the process towards peace in Syria and called for the United States to bring fresh impetus to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Johnson said the Muslim Brotherhood - a global Islamist organization which started in Egypt in 1928 - was one of the most politically savvy operators in the Muslim world, but he also criticized its conduct in the Middle East and Britain. It is plainly wrong that Islamists should exploit freedoms here in the UK - freedoms of speech and association - that their associates would repress overseas and it is all too clear that some affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood are willing to turn a blind eye to terrorism, he said. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was designated as a terrorist organization in that country in 2013. A 2015 British government review into the organization concluded that membership of or links to it should be considered a possible indicator of extremism but stopped short of recommending that it should be banned. Johnson admitted there had been policy missteps in Iraq and Syria interventions, but said that did not justify a diplomatic retreat from the region. British foreign policy is not the problem, it is part of the solution, he said, calling for a renewed role in Syria, more work to halt conflict in Yemen and progress in bringing factions together in Libya. We need more engagement, not less, he said. His remarks come a day after the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, drawing international criticism. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that decision was wrong, and Johnson repeated the government criticism that the U.S. move was premature. We ... think that the future of Jerusalem must be settled as part of the negotiated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and as part of the two-state solution, he said. This decision, having been announced by President Trump, the world would like to see some serious announcements by the U.S. about how they see the Middle East peace process and how to bring the two sides together.

Canadian groups seek to overturn Quebec ban on Muslim veil

TORONTO (Reuters) - Two Canadian groups on Tuesday asked a court to overturn a new Quebec law that bans observant Muslim women from wearing a full-face veil when providing or receiving government services. The National Council for Canadian Muslims, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Quebec Muslim resident Marie-Michelle Lacoste asked a provincial court to declare the law invalid, arguing that it discriminates against Muslim women and violates equality and freedom of religion protections in the Canadian and Quebec constitutions. The provincial Liberal government that backed the law, passed on Oct. 18, has rejected claims that it targets Muslim women. It argues that the ban on all face coverings was necessary for security reasons and to facility communication and identification of people. Debate has focused on the niqab, a veil worn by a small minority of Muslim women that covers the whole face save for the eyes. Opponents of the law say it targets a visible minority that has been subject to threats and violence in the primarily French-speaking province. Quebec had about 243,000 Muslims as of 2011, according to Statistics Canada. The government believes the law is constitutional and will defend it in court, Isabelle Marier St-Onge, a spokeswoman for Quebec Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee, said by phone on Tuesday. The law affects teachers, police officers, hospital employees and daycare workers in government agencies, and users of public services, from school to mass transit systems. Such blatant and unjustified violations of freedom of religion, as well as of the equality guarantees of the Quebec and Canadian Charters, have no place in Quebec or Canada, the groups court submission said. The plaintiffs stand a good chance of success, said political scientist Emmett Macfarlane, who has written extensively about Canada s constitution and Supreme Court. It s a pretty clear case, where we know who s being adversely affected and we know it s a distinct minority, Macfarlane said. In January a gunman walked into a Quebec City mosque and shot six people to death. A French-Canadian university student has been charged as the sole suspect. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and the German state of Bavaria have imposed restrictions on the wearing of full-face veils in public places. Denmark plans to institute its own ban.

How a homemade tool helped North Korea's missile program

SEOUL, (Reuters) - In 2009, a pop video from North Korea celebrated a new national hero - one that outside experts would later realize was at the heart of the secretive state s banned nuclear and missile programs. That hero, widely available in factories across the world, was the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine. Big, grey and boxy, CNC machines use pre-programmed guides to produce intricate parts for everything from automobiles and mobile phones to furniture and clothes. They offer accuracy that human machine tool operators are unable to achieve. In North Korea, thanks to a combination of homemade technology and reverse engineering, the machines now play a critical role in the weapons programs. They allow Kim Jong Un to build nuclear bombs and missiles without relying as heavily on outside technical aid or imports. Nuclear weapons experts say this has helped him accelerate missile and nuclear testing despite international sanctions on the transfer of sensitive equipment. Special Section: North Korea revealed. Interactive: Nuclear North Korea Interactive: Kim s latest act of defiance North Korea s centrifuges and new missiles all depend on components made with CNC machine tools, said Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies at Monterey, California. (They) are the essential underlying technology for producing missiles and nuclear weapons, said Lewis. Since 1996, CNC machines have been included in the Wassenaar Arrangement an international arms control regime aimed at stopping the proliferation of equipment with both civilian and military uses. North Korea is not a signatory. The country s celebrations of its CNC technology have been fulsome. Hundreds of dancers in luminous orange and green performed the CNC pop song, titled Break through the cutting edge, at a Korean Workers Party celebration in 2010. In 2012, the year the South Korean hit Gangnam Style was released, the North s CNC title was on karaoke machines nationwide, according to Choson Exchange, a Singapore-based company that trains North Koreans in business skills. The official video for the song opens with a long-range North Korean rocket soaring into a blue sky. North Korea likely started to develop its own CNC machines in the early 1990s as part of a drive to build sophisticated missiles and nuclear weapons, nuclear experts say. It probably learned how to make them by taking apart machines it had imported from the Soviet Union. Its first homemade CNC machine was introduced in 1995. Former leader Kim Jong Il gave the machine the Ryonha brand, according to a 2009 article in the country s official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun. That was the first time state media mentioned the technology. By 2009, the machines had become a mainstay of North Korean propaganda, as Pyongyang launched a nationwide campaign to boost domestic industry. Sanctions were mounting after its second nuclear test and a long-range missile launch that year. At the time, arms control experts raised concerns about a visit by former leader Kim Jong Il to a North Korean factory where homemade CNC machines appeared to be producing aluminum tubes. These could be used for nuclear centrifuges. By around 2010, it seemed they were capable of manufacturing various types of CNC machines, said Kim Heung-gwang, a North Korean defector who taught at Pyongyang s Hamhung Computer Technology University before defecting to South Korea. But it wasn t until 2013 that the Korea Ryonha Machinery Joint Venture Corporation, which produced the machines, was blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council for supporting the weapons programs. And it was only in August this year that U.S. intelligence officials told Reuters North Korea likely has the ability to produce its own missile engines themselves. (Full Story) Now, Kim Heung-gwang estimates, North Korea has about 15,000 CNC machines. He bases this on North Korean state media reports and photos as well as interviews with more than a dozen defectors who were scientists, professors or factory workers. Pyongyang hailed the homemade machines as a triumph for its governing ideology of Juche , which champions self-sufficiency. But that wasn t strictly true. In August 2016, state media released photos of Kim Jong Un visiting a factory using CNC machines with the logo of Swiss engineering firm ABB ABB.UL, one of the leading players in the global CNC machine market. It s not clear when or how the machine reached North Korea. ABB said the firm respects all applicable trade sanctions against North Korea, and undertakes not to deliver ABB equipment to the country. That said, we cannot rule out that some of our equipment may have been resold to DPR of Korea without our knowledge or permission, the company said in response to a Reuters inquiry, using North Korea s official title. A United Nations panel monitoring sanctions on North Korea said in a report this year that Tengzhou Keyongda CNC Machine Tools Co of China had been a supplier of Pyongyang s new CNC machines. A sales representative for Tengzhou Keyongda told Reuters the company stopped selling CNC machines to North Korea four years ago, and no longer maintains trade relations with the country. Despite sanctions, CNC machines are commonplace across North Korean manufacturing and can be brought in through China and Russia, said Lee Choon-geun, a senior fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute in South Korea. The biggest loophole has been that while some CNC machines are banned because they can have both military and civilian functions, most serve civilian industry. Given their dual-use capability, you could even import the machines for other purposes, take them to pieces and use them however you want, said Lee. The CNC song highlights this in its opening line: Whatever it is, once we put our mind to it, there s a program to make it, it says.

U.N. experts urge Hong Kong to uphold rights of democracy activists

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights experts urged Hong Kong to uphold the fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly on Tuesday when a court hears a final appeal of three prominent pro-democracy activists convicted of unlawful assembly in 2014 mass protests. Hong Kong s highest court granted bail to two of the three activists, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law, on Oct 24 pending their appeal scheduled for Tuesday against their respective jail sentences of six months and eight months. Hong Kong s appeals court jailed Wong, 21, Law, 24 and Alex Chow, 27, leaders of the Chinese-ruled city s democracy movement, in August. Chow did not apply for bail. Their sentencing came as a blow to the youth-led push for universal suffrage and prompted accusations of political interference. We urge the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal to consider the cases of Wong, Law and Chow in accordance with Hong Kong s obligations under international human rights law, David Kaye, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Michel Forst, U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said in a joint statement issued on Monday in Geneva. We fear that if their sentences are upheld, this will have the effect of stifling the expression of dissenting opinions, the right to protest and the overall work of human rights defenders. The right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly protects people, especially those sharing dissenting opinions, they said. The trio of activists helped lead the largely peaceful Umbrella Movement that blocked major roads for 79 days in 2014, demanding Beijing grant Hong Kong full democracy. The independent U.N. experts also raised concerns that the Hong Kong Secretary of Justice had previously intervened in the case, to apply for a change and review of the men s original lighter sentences . We call on the Hong Kong authorities to respect the independence of judicial powers and the rule of law, they said. Hong Kong is a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a so-called one country, two systems formula that promises the city a high degree of autonomy, including an independent judiciary. On Saturday, China s largely rubber-stamp parliament formally extended a law banning disrespect of the national anthem to cover Hong Kong, a move that critics have said undermined the Chinese-ruled city s autonomy and freedoms.

Factbox: Republicans to keep an eye on as Senate nears vote on tax bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress reached a deal this week on a final version of their debt-financed legislation to cut taxes for businesses and wealthy Americans, with House and Senate votes expected early next week. Republicans control both chambers but have only a 52-to-48 Senate majority, meaning they can lose no more than two votes and still pass their tax bill, which Democrats oppose. The following are the Republican lawmakers to watch: The Florida senator and former presidential contender said on Thursday he will vote against the tax plan if its proposed refundable amount for the child tax credit is not increased. Rubio told reporters that tax negotiators have made many changes to the legislation, including lowering the top rate paid by wealthy individuals. “My concern is that if you found the money to lower the top rate ... you can’t find a little bit to at least somewhat increase the refundable portion of it?” Rubio asked. The Utah senator also is unhappy with the legislation’s child tax credit approach and “undecided” on whether he will vote for the measure if there are no changes, his spokesman has told Reuters. Lee and Rubio are in negotiations aimed at making more of the tax credit refundable so more low-income families can benefit from it, his office said on Thursday. The Maine moderate has said she cannot say whether she will be supportive “until I see the bill.” Republican leaders persuaded Collins’ to support the Senate’s version of the bill earlier this month by promising to take up two healthcare provisions before the end of the year that would help mitigate her concerns about repealing Obamacare’s “individual mandate.” Republican tax writers also included amendments offered by Collins to woo her support. One preserves the deductibility of property-tax payments at a cap of $10,000. The final bill goes further by preserving the same deduction for state and local income-tax payments. Corker, a deficit hawk from Tennessee, stalled momentum on the Senate tax bill earlier this month, then ended up voting against it due to its expansion of the federal deficit. Nonpartisan government estimates have shown the Republican tax bill will expand the deficit by about $1.5 trillion in a decade, or $1 trillion after accounting for economic growth. Corker has said this week of the compromise bill: “My deficit concerns have not been alleviated.” The Arizona conservative voted for the Senate tax bill earlier this month after announcing he had succeeded in eliminating an $85 billion expensing “budget gimmick.” Flake also got a commitment from Senate leaders and the Trump administration to work on permanent protections for immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. Flake has not yet said whether he will support the compromise bill and was not specific about his hesitation in brief hallway remarks to reporters this week.     The Arizona senator, war hero and former presidential nominee voted for the Senate bill but his office said this week he is undergoing treatment for side effects of cancer therapy at a military hospital outside Washington. McCain, 81, missed non-tax votes this week. His office said he “looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible.” The Mississippi senator, who also voted for the Senate bill, was absent from Capitol Hill for nearly a month earlier this year and has missed votes in recent weeks. Cochran’s office said the 80-year-old senator is in Washington and expects to vote for tax legislation next week. Vice President Mike Pence has delayed a planned trip to the Middle East in case his vote is needed to break a tie on the final tax bill. Pence has played the role of dealmaker during Senate negotiations, assuring both Collins and Flake their concerns about the legislation would be addressed. Johnson endorsed the Senate bill after getting a 23 percent tax deduction for pass-through business income. The Wisconsin senator has said he is encouraged by the compromise bill, which has a 20 percent tax deduction for pass-through business income, and a lower top individual rate of 37 percent.

Factbox: Trump on Twitter (Oct 1) - Rex Tillerson, Puerto Rico

The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico. Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates,... [0822 EDT] - ...people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military. All buildings now inspected..... [0826 EDT] - ...for safety. Thank you to the Governor of P.R. and to all of those who are working so closely with our First Responders. Fantastic job! [0830 EDT] - I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man... [1030 EDT] - ...Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done![1031 EDT] - Being nice to Rocket Man hasn’t worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Clinton failed, Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won’t fail.[1501 EDT] - Congratulations to #TeamUSA on your great @PresidentsCup victory! bit.ly/2hH6rKW [2122 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Taiwan says it aims to keep strong ties with U.S., China

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan will keep close contact and deepen its ties with the United States, the Presidential Office said Friday, in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s phone call with China’s leader in which he agreed to honor the “one China” policy. “Taiwan and the U.S. both maintain close contact and communication so as to keep a ‘zero accident’ approach (to the relationship),” Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang said in a statement. “Maintaining good Taiwan-U.S. and cross-Strait relations (with China) fulfill our national interest and are key for regional peace and stability.”

Factbox: Trump budget boosts military, slashes domestic programs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will propose beefing up military spending and slashing domestic programs and foreign aid in his fiscal year 2018 budget to be released on Thursday. Here are the highlights: The budget calls for an increase of $52 billion for the Defense Department above the 2017 base budget of about $522 billion, enacted under the Obama administration. There is an additional $2 billion increase in defense spending in other departments, including Energy and State. That is still less than some of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress have called for, including the heads of the committees in the Senate and House of Representatives that oversee the U.S. military. But at a time of broad cuts elsewhere in the budget, the Pentagon is unlikely to complain. The plan earmarks the new funds to accelerate the fight against Islamic State militants, reverse Army troop reductions, build more ships for the Navy and ramp up the Air Force – including by purchasing additional F-35 fighter jets, built by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N). The Department of Homeland Security would get a 6.8 percent increase, with more money for extra staff needed to catch, detain and deport illegal immigrants. Trump wants Congress to shell out $1.5 billion for his promised border wall with Mexico in the current fiscal year - enough for pilot projects to determine the best way to build it - and a further $2.6 billion in fiscal 2018. The combined budget for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, would fall by 28 percent, with funding cuts for the United Nations, climate change and cultural exchange programs. The plan preserves $3.1 billion in security aid to Israel. The budget also requests $12 billion in so-called Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO, funding for extraordinary costs, chiefly in war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. No comparison was provided for the current year’s OCO spending. Current commitments on HIV/AIDS treatment under PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, will be maintained. PEPFAR is the world’s largest provider of AIDS-fighting medicine and enjoys bipartisan support. The Environmental Protection Agency’s budget would be cut by 31 percent, eliminating its climate change programs and trimming back core initiatives aimed at protecting air and water quality. The proposal would eliminate 3,200 EPA employees, or 19 percent of the current workforce, and effectively erase former Democratic President Barack Obama’s initiatives to combat climate change by cutting funding for the agency’s signature Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Healthcare companies such as drug makers and device makers will pay more than twice as much in 2018 to have their medical products reviewed for approval by the Food and Drug Administration under the proposed budget. The proposal budgets over $2 billion in fees to be collected from industry, twice as much in 2017. Oversight of air traffic control would move from the federal government to an independent group under the proposals, which include a 13 percent cut for the Department of Transportation’s discretionary budget. The plan also calls for cutting the U.S. space agency NASA budget by 0.8 percent to $19.1 billion. The budget for the Department of Energy would include $120 million to restart licensing for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada, a project that has been stalled for years because of lawsuits and local opposition. The Agriculture Department’s discretionary spending would be cut to $17.9 billion, a 21 percent drop from the temporary 2017 funding levels approved by Congress late last year. [L2N1GS2K1]

U.N. political affairs chief to visit North Korea this week

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations political affairs chief will visit North Korea this week, making the highest-level visit by a U.N. official in more than six years as tensions grip the region over Pyongyang s nuclear and weapons programs. Jeffrey Feltman, a former senior official of the U.S. State Department, will visit from Tuesday to Friday and meet with officials to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern, the United Nations said. He will meet with North Korea Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Minister Pak Myong Guk, said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, adding that the visit was in response to a long-standing invitation from the authorities in Pyongyang for a policy dialogue with the U.N. He will also meet with the United Nations Country Team and members of the diplomatic corps, as well as visit U.N. project sites, Dujarric told reporters, adding that Feltman was also visiting China. Feltman will be the first senior U.N. official to travel to North Korea since his predecessor Lynn Pascoe visited in February 2010 and former U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos visited in October 2011, the United Nations said. The visit comes at a time of high tension over North Korea s program to develop nuclear tipped missiles capable of hitting the United States, including the test of Pyongyang s largest intercontinental ballistic missile last week. An official of the U.S. State Department said it was aware of the planned trip, when asked in Washington backed the initiative. The United States will continue to work with other countries, including the members of the U.N. Security Council, to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on (North Korea) to convince the regime to abandon its illegal nuclear weapons and missile development programs, the official added. It is imperative that the countries of the world present North Korea with a unified, unambiguous response to its unlawful provocations. The official said the U.S. focus remained on finding a peaceful diplomatic solution to the crisis, but the reality is that the regime has shown no interest in credible negotiations. While stressing that it favors a diplomatic solution, President Donald Trump s administration has said it will never accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state and has warned that all options, including military ones, are on the table. On Monday, the United States and South Korea went ahead with large-scale joint aerial drills, a move North Korea had said would push the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war. Russia and China wanted the drills called off. North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its missile and nuclear programs. At a U.N. Security Council meeting last week to discuss the missile test, U.N. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that while Washington does not seek war with Pyongyang, if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed. Dujarric said North Korea issued the invitation for Feltman to visit on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York in September, but the visit was confirmed only late last week. When asked if Feltman was paving the way for a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Dujarric said: We hope to have more afterwards. There are about 50 international staff working for six U.N. agencies in North Korea - the U.N. Development Programme, the U.N. children s agency UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.N. Population Fund.

U.S. House Freedom Caucus backs Republican tax reform framework: statement

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The conservative Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives said in a note posted on Twitter on Wednesday that it had taken an official position in support of the Republican framework for tax reform. It said it would issue a statement later.

U.S. lawmakers chastise officials at all levels over Flint crisis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers criticized environmental officials at a hearing on Wednesday for not acting sooner when they saw a report that drinking water in Flint, Michigan was polluted with dangerously high levels of lead. “I never thought this could happen in America,” and in a state, “surrounded by fresh water of the Great Lakes,” Brenda Lawrence, a Democrat of Michigan, said at a House Oversight panel examining the water crisis in Flint, a city of 100,000. The panel issued subpoenas to officials who did not show up to testify about water found to have lead levels that hamper brain development and cause other health problems. Thousands of children are believed to have ingested the polluted water in Flint, a mostly African American and Latino suburb near Detroit. Lawrence asked Keith Creagh, head of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, why his agency did not act on a report by a federal Environmental Protection Agency expert that showed the water was polluted. She did not get a clear answer. “We all share responsibility in the Flint water crisis, whether it is the city the state or the federal government, we all let the citizens of Flint down,” said Creagh, who took the job last month. Marc Edwards, a water engineer who first raised the issue of Flint’s lead contamination, told the panel the EPA broke laws by not notifying the public about a report of tainted water. “If it’s not criminal, I don’t know what is.” EPA water official Joel Beauvais said he did not know why his agency did not tell the public. Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, complained that the Republican-led panel did not invite Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, to testify at the hearing. Representative Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania criticized Snyder and his hand-picked emergency managers for Flint who were responsible for switching the source of Flint’s tap water from Detroit’s system to the Flint River, a dumping area, in April 2014. Flint is grappling with the health and political fallout over the switch after the more corrosive river water leached lead from old pipes into the system. “He got caught red handed poisoning the children of Flint,” Cartwright, a Democrat, said of Snyder. “There’s no two ways about it. That’s the headline here.” A Snyder spokesman responded in an email: “It’s unfortunate when people who are not working toward a solution inject partisan politics and incendiary rhetoric into an emergency that can best be addressed by people working together.” Snyder will ask state lawmakers in his next budget proposal to approve a $30 million water payment relief plan for Flint residents to keep their water service on and reimburse them for lead-contaminated water they cannot drink, his office said. A busload of Flint residents traveled to Washington to attend the hearing. “We’re serious about making sure that the people responsible for this manmade disaster are held accountable,” said Bernadel Jefferson, a bishop. Lawmakers also slammed the EPA for not sending Administrator Gina McCarthy to Flint until this week, even though the agency has known about the crisis for months. An EPA spokeswoman said the agency had formed a Flint task force last October, and has had a team there for weeks. The head of the oversight panel, Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, a Republican, said he subpoenaed EPA’s Susan Hedman to appear at a deposition in Washington later this month. Hedman, who announced last month that she would resign on Feb. 1, had played down the memo by the EPA’s Miguel del Toral that said tests had shown high levels of lead, telling Flint and Michigan administrators it was only a draft report. The EPA has agreed to provide all of Hedman’s emails by the end of the week, Chaffetz said. Chaffetz said his panel had also issued a second subpoena to Darnell Earley, who was Flint’s state-appointed emergency manager when the city switched from Detroit’s system. A. Scott Bolden, Earley’s lawyer, said his client has not been given enough time to respond to the initial subpoena, which was served last night. Bolden said Earley is “not hiding anywhere” and will honor a subpoena issued with a reasonable response time. Earley only implemented the plan to change the city’s water source that others had put in place before he started, Bolden said. “There was nothing put before him by the environmental folks, the water testers or anyone connected to ensuring the quality of the water to suggest in any way that a water disaster was looming.” Political fallout over the crisis could also hold up a wide-ranging bill on energy. Democrats in the Senate threatened to block a bipartisan energy bill if it fails to include immediate aid for Flint. Federal authorities including the FBI have started a criminal probe into the contamination.

CNN’S JIM ACOSTA Schooled on the Meaning of the Statue of Liberty by Trump Senior Advisor [Video]

We wish President Trump could clone SENIOR ADVISOR Stephen Miller! He s so brilliant and knows immigration like no other! We can t say the same for the White House Press Corp! The Trump administration made some positive announcements on immigration and the left went nuts! Miller got the best of them!Stephen Miller has been with President Trump from the earlier days of the 2016 campaign. He would give incredible speeches to the rally audience. He s so well versed on immigration and American history that he could take on anyone and win in a debate! We love the guy! He s a PATRIOT!FYI: The Statue of Liberty had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with immigration. The Emma Lazarus poem that Acosta refers to was affixed to the pedestal as an ex post facto inscription in 1903. ONE OF OUR FAVORITE MILLER MOMENTS WAS A SPEECH DURING THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT AWESOME!Trump spokesperson Stephen Miller just hammers Hillary Clinton! You will love every minute of this!HERE S A PREVIOUS REPORT WHERE MILLER RIPS INTO CHUCK TODD ANOTHER AWESOME MILLER MOMENT!There was a big hit piece in WaPo on Stephen Miller that called him every nasty thing in the book. He battled back and steamrolled over Chuck Todd. Keep it up Stephen Miller! We absolutely love how you re calling out the left!WATCH Stephen Miller SMOKE @chucktodd on Immigration. Chucky keeps trying to interrupt Miller steamrolls over him! pic.twitter.com/kOurG4cpWH Boston Bobblehead (@DBloom451) February 12, 2017

Turkey to detain 79 former teachers in post-coup probe: Anadolu

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities issued detention warrants on Friday for 79 former teachers, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, as part of a widening crackdown since last year s failed coup attempt. The teachers were formerly employed at schools allegedly linked to the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of orchestrating last July s abortive putsch, Anadolu said. The schools were shut down after the coup attempt. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies involvement. Anadolu said security forces were carrying out operations to capture the suspects in Ankara, where thousands of teachers from across the country arrived to visit the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, to celebrate the national teachers day. Since the abortive coup, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over alleged links to Gulen, while some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the military, public and private sectors. Rights groups and some of Turkey s Western allies have voiced concern about the crackdown, fearing the government is using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government says only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says deeply infiltrated institutions such as the army, schools and courts.

president elect trump a new era of unpredictability awaits

by mike maharrey voters in north dakota and arkansas have approved ballot measures legalizing medical marijuana taking a first step toward nullifying the unconstitutional federal prohibition of

Russian envoy, at heart of U.S. investigations, ends tenure in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia’s ambassador to Washington Sergei Kislyak, a key figure in ongoing U.S. investigations into Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, ended his tenure on Saturday. The Russian embassy in Washington said on its Twitter feed that Minister-Counseler and Deputy Chief of Mission Denis V. Gonchar would serve as Charge d’Affaires until Kislyak’s successor arrived. Kislyak, who held the post since 2008, is expected to be replaced by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Antonov. Antonov’s nomination for the post, which has yet to be approved by the Kremlin, comes at a time of intense scrutiny over Moscow-Washington relations following U.S. allegations that Russia meddled in the U.S. election last year. Kislyak’s name has emerged in relation to several of Trump’s associates as a special counsel and congressional panels investigate Russian meddling and possible ties with the Trump campaign. On Friday, the Washington Post reported Kislyak was overheard by U.S. spy agencies telling his bosses he had discussed campaign-related matters, including issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race. As Attorney General, Sessions recused himself in March from matters connected to an investigation by the FBI following his admission he had talked to the Russian envoy. Sessions has denied discussing campaign issues with Russian officials and has said he only met Kislyak in his role of U.S. senator. Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign in February after it became known that he had failed to disclose the content of conversations he had with Kislyak and misled the vice president about their meetings. Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner also failed to disclose contacts with Russia when seeking his security clearance, the New York Times reported in April. The White House disclosed in March that Kushner met with Kislyak at Trump Tower in December 2016, in addition to seeing Kislyak when he attended an April 2016 campaign speech in Washington. The White House said the December meeting was to establish “a line of communication.” Kushner also had phone calls with Kislyak between April and November 2016, Reuters reported. Kushner’s attorney has said that Kushner had “no recollection” of the calls as he had participated in “thousands of calls in this time period.” Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Russia. The White House said this week Trump would nominate Jon Huntsman as his new ambassador to Russia.

NUMEROUS PUBLIC Rapes Of Teenage Girls Reported At Swedish Music Festivals: “Rapes at Swedish festivals are not really news anymore”

Last year, we reported about women who attended an anti-racism music festival in Sweden that were raped and molested by migrant men. This report is yet another shocking example of how the west is actually importing a real rape culture.According to police spokesman Stefan Dangardt, numerous foreign men sexually assaulted the women during Borl nge s Peace and Love festival, although three suspects who were arrested were later released because they claimed they were minors.It appears that nothing has changed since last year. Yesterday, Swedish police received several reports of rape after music festivals at various locations on Friday evening.A 15-year-old girl was raped during a concert at the Br valla Festival in Norrk ping on Friday night.According to the police, the girl was held and raped by a man in the midst of the crowd in front of the concert goers, without anyone intervening. It s terrible that one has to experience such a thing with a lot of people around, says police spokesman, Thomas Agnevik, to Aftonbladet.We have little information about the perpetrator and about what has happened, he said, while encouraging those present during the concert to contact the police if they saw anything suspicious.The girl was taken care of and underwent a medical examination.During the City Festival in V ster s, two rapes were reported, one of a 16 year old girl. We have talked to her and obtained information, but we currently have no suspects, said spokesperson for the police in V stmanland, Thomas Gustafsson.A 26-year-old woman has also reported rape after the festival. She has been sent to hospital and we have been unable to talk to her. Therefore, I do not have any more details, says Gustafsson.Rapes at Swedish festivals are not really news anymore. It is merely about announcements. We are actually there now. Speisa

U.S. lawmakers seek looser energy development rules for tribal lands

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to ease restrictions on energy development on U.S. tribal lands has a good chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress this year, after several failed attempts since 2013, the chair of the Senate Indian affairs committee said. Many Republican lawmakers, along with President Donald Trump, have expressed support for more oil drilling, coal mining and other energy projects on Native American reservations, which are overseen by the federal government. Several additional layers of regulatory bureaucracy have slowed those efforts. “I think we will be able to get the bill through the House this go around,” Republican Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, who authored the bill with seven other Republican Senators, said in a recent interview with Reuters. He said he believed the bill also had the support of “a broad spectrum of tribes across the country” and would “empower” Native Americans. The bill, dubbed the Tribal Energy Development and Self Determination Act, would authorize tribes to conduct their own energy resource appraisals. It would streamline the permitting process for drilling and mining and provide incentives for tribes to enter into joint-venture agreements with private companies. Former President Barack Obama had opposed a previous House version of the bill in 2015 because it would have exempted tribes from some federal environmental regulations. Other versions were blocked after being rolled into broader bills that were defeated. Tribal lands cover just 2 percent of the nation’s surface but by some estimates contain as much as a fifth of all remaining U.S. oil and gas reserves. But clearing regulatory hurdles for a single project on tribal lands can take as many as 50 steps, compared to a half dozen on private property, according to Reuters interviews conducted in January with tribal leaders, lawyers, oil company executives and federal regulators. Hoeven and Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines joined around a dozen representatives of mineral-rich tribes for a meeting with White House officials last week to discuss ways to reduce those barriers. Tribal participants at the meeting included representatives of the Crow Agency of Montana, the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, the Navajo Nation and the Southern Ute Indian tribe of Colorado - all tribes that currently produce oil, gas or coal. “We are just trying to amplify our opportunities, change the narrative of Indian country, and establish access to the administration,” said C.J. Stewart, a representative of the Crow.

DEMS BOOED GOD At The Last Convention…This Time They Booed During The Opening Prayer…You Won’t Believe Why [VIDEO]

No respect for God No respect for our Constitution And no respect for America What a sickening bunch of heathens Because the Democrats leftist ideology trumps God every time In case you missed it, here s what it looked like when the Democrats voted to remove God from the party platform at the 2012 DNC:

Senate confirms Trump pick Perry as energy secretary

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Energy, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has promised to renew America’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Perry’s rise to America’s top energy official came against opposition from Democrats worried about his ties to oil companies, his doubts about the science of climate change, and the fact that he once called for the department’s total elimination – a comment he has since said he regrets. The Senate voted 62 to 37 in support of Perry. Perry, 66, was governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, making him the longest-serving governor of the oil-producing state in its history. As energy secretary, Perry would lead a vast scientific research operation credited with helping trigger a U.S. drilling boom and advancements in energy efficiency and renewables technology, and would oversee America’s nuclear arsenal. In his Senate confirmation hearing, Perry said much of his focus running the department would be in renewing the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Trump wants to ensure the arsenal is at “the top of the pack” and said the United States had fallen behind in its nuclear weapons capacity. Democratic lawmakers expressed worry Perry would weaken the department’s functions and potentially target its army of scientists focused on climate and clean energy research. Perry sought to reassure them saying he would protect scientists and the growing renewable energy industry. Democratic Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a senior Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Perry had failed to persuade him he would push back against Trump administration plans to cut the department’s budget and focus on clean energy R&D. “As Trump is threatening to slash DOE’s budget, Gov. Perry hasn’t convinced me he’s up to the task of creating those jobs and putting points on the board in the fight against climate change,” Wyden said. Republican Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, chair of the energy committee, said Perry would be “a strong partner as we focus on everything from reducing rural energy costs to advancing the Alaska gasline project.”

americans preparing for strong possibility of violence on election day

by vin armani you know the state is in trouble when theyre afraid of one man with an internet connection the case of julian assange

BOOM! TOMI LARHEN Destroys The Idiotic “Day Without Immigrants”: “A load of horsecrap!” [Video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCS4RB9G13M

Some in Oklahoma statehouse urge Obama impeachment over bathroom rule

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Republican state lawmakers in Oklahoma have introduced a resolution urging the state’s congressional delegation to start an effort to impeach President Barack Obama over a White House recommendation that schools accommodate transgender students. The Obama administration told U.S. public schools last week that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice. The recommendation upset Republicans and raised the likelihood of fights over federal funding and legal authority. The Oklahoma resolution, introduced on Thursday night, calls on the state’s members of the U.S. House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against Obama, the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. secretary of education and others over the policy. A vote has not yet been scheduled on the resolution. Legal experts told local media the impeachment call is on shaky ground since the recommendation offered non-binding guidance and did not have the force of law. Lawmakers in the socially conservative state took up another measure on Friday that would allow students to claim a religious right to have separate but equal bathrooms and changing facilities to segregate them from transgender students. That bill, introduced on Thursday night and referred to a Senate committee on Friday, could force schools into costly construction, which would be difficult for them to complete after lawmakers significantly cut education funding to plug a $1.3 billion state budget shortfall. State Representative John Bennett, a Republican, said in a statement the White House policy was “biblically wrong,” and a violation of state sovereignty. The Oklahoma bill would allow for segregation at school restrooms, athletic changing facilities and showers if a request is made to accommodate religious beliefs. It also allows the attorney general to file lawsuits to implement the changes. Impeachment advocates say Obama overstepped his constitutional authority. Troy Stevenson, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, an LGBT advocacy group said the measure promoted fear-mongering and was out of place “In a time when our state is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, our lawmakers should be focused on righting the ship rather than stigmatizing transgender youth,” he said in a statement.  The measure was introduced just hours after state lawmakers approved a bill that would make abortions a felony punishable by up to three years in prison for doctors who perform them. Governor Mary Fallin, an anti-abortion Republican, vetoed the bill because it would not withstand a criminal constitutional legal challenge, her office said.

Pope says its crazy to see his meeting with Bernie Sanders as political

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Saturday that his meeting with Bernie Sanders, contesting the Democratic candidacy for the U.S. Presidency, was not meddling in politics and that anyone who thought otherwise should “look for a psychiatrist”. Sanders and the pope met briefly on Saturday morning at the Vatican guest house where Francis lives and where Sanders and his wife spent the night after he addressed a Vatican conference on social justice. “When I came down, I greeted him, I shook his hand and nothing more. This is called good manners and it is not getting involved in politics,” the pope told reporters in answer to a question aboard the plane returning from the Greek island of Lesbos, where he visited a refugee camp. [L5N17J063]. “If anyone thinks that greeting someone is getting involved in politics, I recommend that he look for a psychiatrist,” he said, laughing. In an interview with ABC News after the meeting, Sanders called the pope “a beautiful man”, adding “I am not a Catholic, but there is a radiance that comes from him.” “I just conveyed to him my admiration for the extraordinary work he is doing raising some of the most important issues facing our planet and the billions of people on the planet and injecting the need for morality in the global economy,” Sanders, a Brooklyn-born son of Polish Jewish immigrants, told ABC. The Democratic hopeful from Vermont has campaigned on a promise to rein in corporate power and level the economic playing field for working and lower-income Americans who he says have been left behind, a message echoing that of the pope. The meeting came just days before Tuesday’s Democratic party primary in New York, where polls say he is trailing Hillary Clinton. After he won seven of the last eight state contests, a loss in Sanders’ home state would give front-runner Clinton a boost toward the party’s presidential nomination. Sanders has said the trip was not a pitch for the Catholic vote but a testament to his admiration for the pontiff.

Watch Joy Behar And Trump Supporting Audience Member Go Head To Head (VIDEO)

While many in the United States have come to the logical decision that Donald Trump is stark raving mad, there are still those who apparently have made him their choice for president. One of those people was just in the audience for a taping of ABC s The View and was questioned by host Joy Behar after the show.When the woman who supports Trump (yes, woman) is asked why, she refuses to say why which if I may add is very Trumpian, because Trump always makes claims with nothing to back it up either he then explains that she voted for President Obama, but said that it was the biggest mistake of her life. Then she said she works in a hospital and hates Obamacare, even though moments later she said she s been unemployed for a year. She somehow thinks that Trump would actually be better for healthcare and the unemployed. When asked if maybe she should support Bernie Sanders, who wants to provided single payer and a better safety net, she adamantly refused.Now, not to speak ill of a woman who clearly doesn t understand how the parties operate and who stands for what, but it seems she wants to go back to a system that will harm her more than help her. And I think a lot of the blame for her misunderstanding comes down to misinformation and even lack of information being spread by not only candidates, but the media.This woman wants change. Sure. That s great. However, what she wants she s not going to find in Trump.Watch the back and forth here: Watch what happens when @JoyVBehar questions an audience member s support for Donald Trump: https://t.co/kQ9dGmHJ1O The View (@TheView) May 12, 2016Featured image via video screen capture

‘Beyonce, Jay Z, Hillary Clinton – You Don’t Represent All Blacks, Women’

21st Century Wire says One of the great myths being spun by the establishment media was that Donald Trump had no support from women, latinos and blacks in the US. As it turned out, this was a lie propagated in a failed attempt to margnalize Republican voters and give a false impression of a liberal Democratic mandate in America. In the end Trump gathered 29% of Latinos, 9% of African Americans and 49% of college educated white women. For months, mainstream media pundits and polls insisted that all of these demographics were exclusively for Hillary Clinton. How could they have got it so wrong?Psychologist and intenet radio personality Kiki Green explains how blacks were conned into voting for Hillary Clinton by the partnership between the Democratic Party, Hollywood and the Clinton campaign by cynically using celebrities like Beyonce, Jay Z and Katie Perry WARNING: ADULT LANGUAGE please be advised: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

Senators say they might confirm Obama's high court pick after election

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators on Thursday raised the possibility they would confirm Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland before the U.S. president leaves office in January if Democrats retain the White House in the Nov. 8 election. Garland began the customary meetings with senators that kick off the confirmation process. He visited the offices of Democrats Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy a day after Obama nominated the appeals court judge and former prosecutor to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. Republicans are concerned that if Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state and the Democratic front-runner, wins the presidential election, she could send the Senate a far more liberal nominee after taking office. Garland, 63, is widely viewed as a moderate acceptable to many Republicans, who also worry they could lose control of the Senate to the Democrats in the November vote. Nominations to the lifetime Supreme Court post require Senate confirmation. Republicans have said they want the next president to make the selection, hoping their party wins November’s election. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Utah’s Orrin Hatch and Arizona’s Jeff Flake, Republican members of the Judiciary Committee that would hold any confirmation hearings, said it was possible the Senate could act on Garland’s nomination in a “lame-duck” session after the election and before a new president and Congress take office in January. “I would choose a less liberal nominee. And this nominee is a less liberal nominee than we would get, I’m quite certain, with Hillary Clinton,” Flake told reporters. Senate Republican leaders have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Obama. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky reiterated that stance on Thursday. Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, said the White House will watch developments over the next several weeks and months but expected Republicans eventually would hold a vote on Garland’s nomination. Any Democratic appointee to the high court, now with four liberals and four conservatives following Scalia’s death, could tip it to the left for the first time in decades. That could shape rulings on such issues as abortion, gun rights, religious rights, affirmative action, union powers and political spending. Flake said while Republican leaders were “fully justified” in delaying action on confirmation, if the Republicans lose the White House race the Senate “ought to look at this nomination in a lame-duck session in November.” Hatch in 1997 backed Garland’s nomination to his current judgeship. “To this day, I think well of Merrick Garland, and I think he’s a fine person,” Hatch told National Public Radio. “I remain convinced that the best way for the Senate to do its job is to conduct the confirmation process after this toxic presidential election season is over.” While McConnell is refusing even to meet with Garland, Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa indicated he was willing. “If I can meet with a dictator in Uganda, I can surely meet with a decent person in America,” Grassley said, according to CNN. Garland met with Nevada’s Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, and Vermont’s Leahy, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Garland did not address reporters, but Leahy expressed hope that Republican leaders would change course. If they followed a normal routine, senators could hold confirmation hearings and a vote by the Memorial Day holiday in late May, Leahy said. Reid pledged to keep up the pressure on Republicans to confirm Garland. “Do it now. Why wait?” Reid said when asked about a lame-duck confirmation scenario. “To hold up a nomination so that Donald Trump can give a nomination? That should scare everybody.”

Mexico military helicopter crashes in northern state, seven presumed dead

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican military helicopter crashed on Friday in the northern state of Durango, seriously injuring one military member aboard and likely killing seven others, the defense ministry said in a statement. The helicopter, a Bell 412 model, crashed 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) northeast of the town of El Salto in the mountainous state of Durango during a training flight. The one survivor was in grave condition in hospital, while authorities are searching for the bodies of seven other military members which were presumed to be among the remains of the aircraft. The northern state of Durango borders Sinaloa state, home of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Military authorities are investigating what happened to the helicopter, the ministry said.

Former Catalan cabinet members to appear before Supreme Court

MADRID (Reuters) - Eight former Catalan cabinet members currently in custody awaiting trial will appear before the Supreme Court on Friday, after requesting their release ahead of a regional election Dec. 21 in the wake of a disputed independence referendum. Sacked regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras, one of his ERC party s main candidates for the election, has asked to be allowed to leave jail in order to campaign in the vote which was called by Madrid. Junqueras and seven other former members of the Catalonia regional cabinet were jailed on Nov. 2 pending trial on charges of sedition, rebellion and misappropriation of funds after the Catalan government declared independence from Spain. The Oct. 1 referendum, declared unconstitutional by Spain, and the subsequent proclamation of independence by the wealthy northeastern region pushed Spain into its worst political crisis in decades and led Madrid to impose direct rule on Barcelona. The eight jailed cabinet members, whose original hearing was at the Spanish High Court, had their case moved to the Supreme Court after the presiding judge argued the different Catalan cases should be tried in the same court. Earlier November, the Supreme Court released Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell on bail of 150,000 euros after she agreed to renounce any political activity that went against the Spanish constitution. All the eight former cabinet members have said they would abide by a ruling giving Madrid control over the region, according to their lawyers, although some of them said they did not agree with this unprecedented move stripping power from the rebel administration. Campaigning for the Dec. 21 election, seen by pro-independence parties as a de facto plebiscite on secession from Spain, starts on Monday at midnight. The former leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, in self-imposed exile in Belgium and subject to an arrest warrant from Spain for rebellion and misuse of public funds, has called the elections the most important in the region s history. Barely a quarter of Catalans want to continue with the project of creating an independent state, a recent survey by pollsters Metroscopia showed. However, polls show the vote split evenly between parties seeking independence from Spain and those wanting to remain part of a united country. The leaders of Catalan civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and Omnium Cultural Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart - who were imprisoned last month - also testify before the Supreme Court over their role in the independence drive.

Germany's far-right AfD has more immigrant MPs than Merkel's conservatives

BERLIN (Reuters) - The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) will have proportionally more lawmakers with an immigrant background in the new parliament than Chancellor Angela s conservatives, according to a survey. The AfD, which enters parliament for the first time after winning 12.6 percent of the vote in Sunday s election, has been sharply critical of Merkel s decision to take in 1.3 million mainly Muslim migrants and says Islam has no place in Germany. Yet 7.5 percent of the AfD s 93 lawmakers have an immigrant background compared with only 2.5 percent of the conservatives, according to the survey by Mediendienst Integration, an online portal that collects data on immigration and asylum. That leaves the AfD and the conservative bloc each with seven lawmakers with a recent immigrant background. Ironically, by entering parliament, the anti-immigrant AfD has contributed to a rise in the number of deputies with an immigration background, said Jannis Panagiotidis of Osnabrueck University. Some 22.5 percent of Germany s 82 million population have an immigrant background, which means they did not have German citizenship at birth or were born to at least one parent who was not born German. Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Christian Social Union (CSU) Bavarian allies won most seats in the election on Sept. 24, which secured Merkel a fourth term but saw her conservatives support plunge to its lowest level in the post-war period. The CDU/CSU, which together have 246 seats in the Bundestag lower house, are expected to try to build a coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens. The AfD is the third largest party in the new lower house Bundestag, behind the center-left Social Democrats. The new 709-seat assembly will have a total 57 members with an immigration background, 20 more than in the outgoing Bundestag, which had 630 seats. The far-left Die Linke has the highest percentage of immigrant deputies - nearly 19 percent.

WATCH: Bill Maher HAMMERS Trump In Final Plea To Voters On Fallon

Bill Maher made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and made sure everyone knows exactly who Donald trump is and why we shouldn t vote for him.Fallon asked for Maher s thoughts on the election and he did not disappoint. Maher conceded that Hillary is not the best candidate, but said she will be a good president.He then slammed Trump for cheering for Russian hackers to keep committing espionage against the United States.When the subject of locker room talk came up, Maher was even more emphatic.Maher said that what Trump said is not locker room talk, it s a guy bragging about committing sexual assault. GOP now stands for grab our p*ssies, Maher declared.When Fallon joked that it sounds like Maher supports Trump, Maher got serious. It s not funny, he said. This is a different thing. I did a whole mea culpa on my show Friday night, I talked about Mitt Romney, George Bush, Reagan, McCain like it was the end of the world. It would never have been the end of the world with those guys. This is different. This guy is different. They have no respect for the rule of law. It s only about vengeance. When asked what he would say to undecided voters, Maher made things simple. First of all, really? I mean, he s a racist, a liar, a tax cheat, a deadbeat, a Russian agent, and a sexual predator. How do you find your way out of the door in the morning? is what I would say to the undecideds. Maher concluded by slamming conservatives for creating an alternate reality where America is failing and President Obama did a horrible jobs. The facts, however, paint a different story before unemployment is down to 4.9 percent and the stock market has more than recovered since the Great Recession.Here s the video via YouTube.Americans need to vote in this election no matter what. The future of this nation depends on it.Featured Image: Screenshot

Flynn lawyer denies reports of quid pro quo plan to deliver cleric to Turkey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The lawyer for former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn on Friday labeled as “outrageous” and “false” media reports suggesting his client may have been involved in an alleged plan to seize a Muslim cleric and deliver him to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars. The rare statement from lawyer Robert Kelner came after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was investigating an alleged proposal under which Flynn and his son would receive up to $15 million for seizing Fethullah Gulen from his U.S. home and delivering him to the Turkish government. The Journal cited people familiar with the investigation. NBC also reported on Friday about an alleged December 2016 meeting, saying Mueller’s team was investigating whether Flynn met with senior Turkish officials in the weeks before President Donald Trump’s January 2017 inauguration about a possible quid pro quo in which Flynn would be paid to do the bidding of Turkey’s government while in office. NBC cited multiple people familiar with the probe. “Out of respect for the process of the various investigations regarding the 2016 campaign, we have intentionally avoided responding to every rumor or allegation raised in the media,” Kelner said in an emailed statement. “But today’s news cycle has brought allegations about General Flynn, ranging from kidnapping to bribery, that are so outrageous and prejudicial that we are making an exception to our usual rule: they are false.” The Wall Street journal reported that the alleged plan involving Flynn and Turkish officials emerged during Mueller’s wider investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any collusion by the Trump campaign. Flynn was fired by Trump after just 24 days in the job for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the extent of his conversations with then Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak last year. Barry Coburn, a lawyer for Flynn’s son, Michael Flynn Jr., declined to comment. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen of instigating a failed coup in July 2016 and wants him extradited to Turkey to face trial. Gulen has denied any role in the coup. A spokesman for Mueller’s team declined to comment on the report on Friday. Flynn is a central figure in Mueller’s investigation because of conversations he had with Kislyak and because he waited until March to retroactively register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for work he did for a Turkish businessman. The Journal reported that FBI agents asked at least four people about a December meeting in New York where Flynn and Turkish government representatives discussed removing Gulen, citing people with knowledge of the FBI’s inquiries. NBC also reported that investigators had questioned witnesses about an alleged December meeting between Flynn and Turkish officials where Gulen was discussed. The group also discussed how to set free a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab. Zarrab is in prison in the United States on federal charges that he helped Iran skirt U.S. sanctions, NBC said. A Reuters report on Oct. 26 said one of Flynn’s business associates, former CIA Director James Woolsey, pitched a $10 million contract to two Turkish businessmen to help discredit Gulen while Woolsey was an adviser to Trump’s election campaign. Woolsey was a member of Flynn’s firm, the Flynn Intel Group, according to a Justice Department filing by the firm and an archive of the company’s website. Mueller’s team has also interviewed White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, the highest-level Trump aide known to have spoken with investigators, CNN reported on Thursday. (This story corrects to Friday from Thursday in first paragraph)

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Perfectly Explains Why Black Lives Matter Exists

No matter how well dressed, or how intelligent or how wealthy a black person is, there s no escaping skin color and there s no escaping the racial profiling that goes along with it. If anyone can prove that point, it s renowned physicist, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who in a Facebook post from Tuesday, described dozens of encounters he s had with police, for no reason other than his being African-American.In the post, Tyson told of a conference for black physicists he attended in 1991. One evening, after enjoying good food and wine, the discussion turned to the police. The physicists began relaying stories of being pulled over by the police.While most people probably have stories of being pulled over a handful of times in their lives, this table full of physicists had more than a handful of stories, and the intrusiveness of the stops was pretty telling.As for me, I had a dozen different encounters to draw from. There was the time I was stopped late at night at an underpass on an empty road in New Jersey for having changed lanes without signaling. The officer told me to get out of my car and questioned me for ten minutes around back with the bright head lights of his squad car illuminating my face. Is this your car? Yes. Who is the woman in the passenger seat? My wife. Where are you coming from? My parents house. Where are you going? Home. What do you do for a living? I am an astrophysicist at Princeton University. What s in your trunk? A spare tire, and a lot of other greasy junk. He went on to say that the real reason why he stopped me was because my car s license plates were much newer and shinier than the 17-year old Ford that I was driving. The officer was just making sure that neither the car nor the plates were stolen.In my other stories, I had been stopped by the police while transporting my home supply of physics textbooks into my newly assigned office in graduate school. They had stopped me at the entrance to the physics building where they asked accusatory questions about what I was doing. This one was complicated because a friend offered to drive me and my boxes to my office (I had not yet learned to drive). Her car was registered in her father s name. It was 11:30 PM. Open-topped boxes of graduate math and physics textbooks filled the trunk. And we were transporting them into the building. I wonder how often that scenario shows up in police training tapes. In total, I was stopped two or three times by other security officers while entering physics buildings, but was never stopped entering the campus gym.As a scientist, Tyson is cautious about jumping to conclusions. He noted that he and his colleagues had these police stops in common. Were police targeting physicists for some reason? Are smart people automatically suspicious? It couldn t have been the cars. Some were old, some were new. Some stops were during the day, some at night. The conclusion Tyson made, though is that:We were guilty not of DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), but of other violations none of us knew were on the books: DWB (Driving While Black), WWB (Walking While Black), and of course, JBB (Just Being Black).It s rare that Tyson jumps into politics, and he didn t specifically mention Black Lives Matter or any of the infamous black victims of police, but one can certainly infer by the timing of his post, that it s in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and it s further proof that all the education and poise in the world doesn t stop black people from being targeted. This is the very definition of white privilege.He s also right. Black people are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police and they re also more likely to be innocent of any wrongdoing during traffic stops. Fortunately, Tyson never had to go to jail, but black people are far more likely to be arrested, convicted, and yes, shot. If a group of scientists can conclude that there are racial disparities in the justice system, perhaps we should listen.Featured image via Dimitrios Kambouris with Getty Images

Democrat Senator Warns Mueller Not To Release Findings On Russia Before 2018 Midterms

According to The Hill, Democrat Senator Bob Casey is warning special counsel Robert Mueller against issuing his Russia report near the 2018 electionSen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) on Sunday warned special counsel Robert Mueller against issuing a report on his findings in the ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election near the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.Speaking to radio host John Catsimatidis on New York radio station AM 970, Casey said he couldn t make any assumptions about where the Mueller investigation is going in light of indictments issued on Friday. But he added that he would recommend Mueller not release a report on his findings near the midterms when it would distract from elections or cause people to question the election s integrity. I don t think we ll know anywhere near the full story until [Mueller] issues his report, Casey said. But once you get into the summer, and you get close to the election, I think it s a mistake for him to release it late. I think you should wait until after [the election] Casey said.

Senior Quds force commander says Trump's threats against Iran will damage U.S.: report

ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump s threats against Iran will damage the United States, a senior commander in Iran s Quds force, the overseas arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was quoted on Friday as saying. We are not a war-mongering country. But any military action against Iran will be regretted ... Trump s threats against Iran will damage America ... We have buried many ... like Trump and know how to fight against America, the Tasnim news agency quoted Quds deputy head, Esmail Ghaani, as saying. The IRGC is Iran s most powerful security entity and wields control over large swathes of Iran s economy as well as considerable influence within its political system.

U.S. top court rejects Trump bid to include grandparents in travel ban

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Wednesday a bid by President Donald Trump to include grandparents and other relatives of Americans in his travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries. But in a partial win for Trump, the court gave the government more leeway to enforce a separate ban on refugees that was included in a March 6 executive order the president said was necessary for national security. A federal judge had ruled against the government on the scope of both bans last Thursday, prompting the administration to seek Supreme Court intervention. The high court’s mixed decision means that, for now, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and siblings-in-law are not covered by the 90-day travel ban on people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who want to enter the United States. The court’s action on refugees could block entry of up to 24,000 refugees who have a connection to a U.S. resettlement agency, according to court papers. The Trump administration has said that even if all 24,000 were able to travel, not all of them would have been able to do so during the 120 days the refugee ban is in effect. The brief order said the court’s decision is temporary while the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers a separate appeal on the same issue. Three of the conservatives on the court of nine justices noted that they would have granted Trump’s request in full. In a statement, the U.S. Department of Justice said it “looks forward to presenting its arguments” to the 9th Circuit. Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin, who challenged the bans in court, said in a statement that his office also is preparing arguments for the appeals court on the refugee issue. Chin said the Supreme Court had validated Hawaii’s position “that the Trump administration over-reached in trying to unilaterally keep families apart from each other.” Naureen Shah, senior director of campaigns at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement that the decision on refugees “jeopardizes the safety of thousands of people across the world including vulnerable families fleeing war and violence.” The Supreme Court also announced on Wednesday that it has scheduled oral arguments on broad questions on the lawfulness of the ban for Oct. 10. The Trump administration last Friday asked the high court to overturn a decision on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii, which limited the scope of the administration’s temporary ban on travelers and the 120-day ban on refugees. The latest round in the fight over Trump’s executive order began after the Supreme Court intervened last month to partially revive the two bans. Both had been blocked by lower courts. The Supreme Court said then that the bans could take effect, but that people with a “bona fide relationship” to a U.S. person or entity could not be barred. The administration had narrowly interpreted that language, saying the ban would apply to grandparents and other family members. Hawaii asked Judge Watson to expand the definition of those who could be admitted and he ruled in favor of the state.

About 146,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar violence to Bangladesh

YANGON (Reuters) - About 146,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from violence in Myanmar after insurgent attacks on Aug. 25 sparked clashes with security forces and provoked a military counter-offensive, a U.N. source said on Wednesday. This bring to 233,000 the total number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October, when Rohingya insurgents staged similar, but smaller attacks on security posts.

Pope urges Trump to show concern for poor, be guided by ethical values

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged U.S. President Donald Trump to be guided by ethical values and as he took office on Friday, saying he must take care of the poor and the outcast during his time in office. “At a time when our human family is beset by grave humanitarian crises demanding farsighted and united political responses, I pray that your decisions will be guided by the rich spiritual and ethical values that have shaped the history of the American people and your nation’s commitment to the advancement of human dignity and freedom worldwide,” Francis said in a message sent to Trump minutes after he was inaugurated. “Under your leadership, may America’s stature continue to be measured above all by its concern for the poor, the outcast and those in need ...,” Francis said in the message released by the Vatican. Francis, the first pope from Latin America, has made concern for the poor and the weakest members of society a key platform of his nearly four-year-old papacy. Last year, in response to an answer about Trump’s views on immigration and his intention to build a wall on the border with Mexico, Francis said a man with those views is “not Christian”. Trump struck back, calling the pope’s comments “disgraceful.”

(VIDEO)GREAT NEWS! IRS FORCED TO GIVE STORE OWNER’S LIFESAVINGS BACK AFTER SEIZING IT VIA CIVIL FORFEITURE LAW

I heard Mr. McLellan on the radio yesterday and he was very unsure about getting his money back from the seizure by the IRS. He sounded like he was pretty defeated and still shocked that via civil asset forfeiture laws he could have his life savings taken from him forever. We ve reported on this before and feel it s a law that s certainly being abused. Bravo to Mr. MCLellan for standing up for himself! After publicly humiliating the Internal Revenue Service, a North Carolina man received more than $100,000 from the agency.Lyndon McLellan had the bank account for his convenience store seized by the IRS, and at first he wasn t even sure why. The agency used civil asset forfeiture laws to take McLellan s money without convicting or charging him of a crime.The IRS said it suspected McLellan was violating federal structuring laws, which prohibit making multiple cash deposits of less than but near $10,000.The federal government has taken criticism for stretching the bounds of structuring laws to seize property from well-intended people.But even after policies were changed in 2014 to not seize property in these kinds of cases, it still wouldn t relent on McLellan.U.S. Attorney Steve West threatened McLellan that going public would only make things worse for him. He told McLellan it just ratchets up feelings in the agency. My offer is to return 50% of the money. McLellan went to the press anyway. The IRS quickly changed its tune and gave Lyndon McLellan back all $107,702 of his money.Read more and photo courtesy of: Institute for Justice

Hurricane Irma kills at least six on French island of Saint-Martin

PARIS (Reuters) - Hurricane Irma, described as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, has killed at least six people in the French Caribbean island territory of Saint Martin, a local government official said. This is not, by far, a definitive number... we have not explored all the parts of the island, Guadeloupe prefect Eric Maire told reporters, adding the death toll was likely to rise in the next few hours. Hurricane Irma had previously been described as a potentially catastrophic storm placed in Category 5, the highest U.S. classification for hurricanes.

Hillary Has BIG Lead Over Trump In Latest National Poll

It appears Clinton s post convention bump has not ended quite yet. In a new national poll released from Quinnipiac, Hillary Clinton is trouncing Donald Trump by 10 points, which has been consistent with her post-convention spike in the polls.Not only is Clinton beating Trump by 10 points in this stage of the game, she has nabbed 51 percent of the vote, a milestone not reached in polling until now. With now a majority of the country supporting Clinton, Trump will have to work hard to overcome his self-inflicted controversies and multiple shakeups that have hardline conservatives anxious.The poll shows Clinton winning with the support of the Obama coalition:The Democratic nominee drew wide levels of support from women (60 percent to 36 percent), those between the ages of 18-34 (64 percent to 29 percent), and 35-49 (53 percent to 39 percent). Trump, meanwhile, holds a smaller advantage among men (48 percent to 42 percent) and a large lead over Clinton among whites who do not have a college degree (58 percent to 35 percent).Independent voters prefer Clinton slightly, 46 percent to 41 percent, while likely voters between the ages of 50-64 are split, with 46 percent behind Clinton and 47 percent backing Trump. Voters 65 and older supported Trump 49 percent to 45 percent.Clinton also holds a lead of 62 points among non-white voters, 77 percent to Trumps 15 percent. Looks like his African American outreach and immigration flip-flopping is going swimmingly.The poll, which was conducted on Aug. 18-24, surveying 1,498 likely voters, and with a margin of error of 2.5 percent, shows that nine of ten voters surveyed said they have made up their mind about who they were going to vote for.Even when factoring in third party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, Clinton still beats Trump by 5 points.The time for Trump to appeal to undecided, independent voters is quickly coming to a close, as early voting begins mid September.Clinton s RealClearPolitics average has her up by 5 points, and Nate Silver s FiveThirtyEight gives her an 84 percent chance of winning the election, so the poll conducted by Quinnipiac is not an outlier.Featured image via Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

White House says opposes House bill on restaurant calories

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday it opposes a bill from the U.S. House of Representatives that it said would undercut regulations aimed at requiring fast food and chain restaurants to disclose the calories in food they sell. But the White House stopped short of issuing a formal veto threat for the bill, which it said “would undercut the objective of providing clear, consistent calorie information to consumers.” Tackling the American obesity epidemic has been a signature issue for the White House and first lady Michelle Obama. The menu regulations, finalized by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014, require calories to be listed on menus and menu boards of certain chain restaurants with 20 or more locations, and on certain vending machines.

Trump says will quit Pacific trade deal on day one of presidency

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump released a video on Monday laying out actions he will take on his first day in office on Jan. 20, including withdrawing the United States from a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Trump also said he would issue a rule cutting government regulations, direct the Labor Department to investigate abuses of visa programs, and cancel some restrictions on energy production, including shale oil and gas and coal.

Kenya opposition, ruling party MPs exchange blows at rival news conferences

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Legislators from Kenya s ruling party and opposition exchanged blows on Thursday, after polls closed in a controversial repeat presidential election. Live national television showed MPs tumbling into a hedge at Nairobi s Panafric Hotel when the two sides clashed after attempting to hold near-simultaneous news conferences at the same venue. One lawmaker shouted profanities on camera, prompting nervous giggles from anchors. The fistfight reflected larger tensions within the country, that saw polling stations in some counties unable to open after opposition leader Raila Odinga called for a boycott of the Oct. 26 poll, saying it would not be free and fair. Odinga s withdrawal left President Uhuru Kenyatta as the only serious contender for the presidency, although six other candidates were also on the ballot. Kenyatta won a presidential poll on Aug. 8 that was later nullified by the Supreme Court on procedural grounds. They (the government MPs) came here, instead of addressing their own issues, they started attacked Raila, Anthony Oluoch, opposition MP for Mathare constituency, told Reuters at the Panafric Hotel after the brawl. I was not engaging in physical violence, I was attacked by more than 10 or 15 people. Opposition MPs said a joke against Odinga from Senator Kipchumba Murkomen from the ruling Jubilee party sparked the brawl, but the senator blamed the other side for the violence. We met the ODM (opposition) MPs in the gallery, they asked me to buy them drinks, I bought them drinks. These people are just violent, he said.

At least one killed by Hurricane Irma on Dutch side of Saint Martin

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - At least one person was killed and several others injured by Hurricane Irma on the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, the Dutch government said on Thursday. French officials earlier said there had been eight fatalities on the French side.

France's Le Pen congratulates German far-right AfD

PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen congratulated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on its breakthrough result in Sunday s German parliamentary election. Bravo to our AfD allies for this historic showing! It is a new sign that the people of Europe are waking up, tweeted Le Pen, the leader of France s National Front who reached the run-off of the French presidential election in May. According to early projections, the AfD was set not only to enter the national parliament for the first time, but to become Germany s third-biggest party with 13.5 percent. It is the first time that the far-right has been represented in the parliament for more than half a century.

TOMI LAHREN: “I Guess Jill Stein Wants To See Hillary Be The First Female To Lose The Election, Twice” [VIDEO]

The shrill, old socialist Carla Marx wannabe who got less than 1% of the vote nationally, has requested an election recount in the Michigan even though Trump officially won that by 10,704 votes. She s also pushing for, and suing for a recount in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. So let s take a look at the totals to fully understand how ridiculous this is.

PROOF THEY KNOW SHE’S LOSING…Hillary’s Campaign Spokesman Tells Trump: “Go F*ck Yourself” During Debate

Hillary s foreign policy spokesperson showed his hand tonight when he saw Crooked Hillary getting hammered by Trump in the second debate.Lehrich lost it after Trump s brilliant response after Hillary attempted to use the death of Muslim-American Captain Khan to somehow show that Trump is a xenophobe. Trump told Hillary if he were President, Khan would still be alive. Here s who Democrat spokesperson for Hillary responded:hey, @realDonaldTrump regarding your claim that Captain Khan would be alive if you were president:go fuck yourself.#debate Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) October 10, 2016

FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT EXPLAINS TRUMP: “He’s a Queens guy”….”It’s time for the brawler” [Video]

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino has an explanation of the hometown identity of politicians and how it leads to an insider swamp creature like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.Bongino defended President Trump and dismissed criticism by former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper who questioned Trump s fitness for office following a rally in Phoenix, Arizona. They just don t understand Trump. He s a Queens guy, Bongino said on Fox & Friends Thursday.OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON JAMES CLAPPER TRYING TO SLAM TRUMP S FITNESS FOR OFFICE : Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was way out of line and way too political last night when he showed his cards BIGTIME on President Trump. He followed the latest leftist line that Trump isn t fit to serve Yes, the loony left has a new play book that makes the false claim that somehow Trump is unfit to be president.We ve reported on clapper before but his not wittingly comment before the Senate is legend. Remember when he was asked if the NSA spies on Americans and he replied not wittingly ? Yes, well, that was perjury.More recently Clapper bashed President Trump during a discussion on national security and the Trump/Russia fake scandal.It s clear that Clapper is a political pawn who is out to try and make our president look bad. This is serious Deep State stuff.We re sure this isn t the end of James Clapper s involvement in the opposition to President Trump.

Labour leader and other UK lawmakers could lose seats in cost cutting plan

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of Britain s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, and other politicians could lose their seats if proposals to cut the cost of politics go ahead, a report suggested on Tuesday. Under former prime minister David Cameron, the governing Conservative Party pledged to reduce the number of lawmakers from 650 to 600 to make cost savings after criticism of expense claims made by those working in parliament. The independent boundary commission has made proposals to make sure most electoral districts in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are roughly equal in the number of voters, meaning certain seats, like Corbyn s, are set to be abolished. But it is not clear whether parliament will back the plan, which is not due to take effect until 2022. Since losing the Conservatives parliamentary majority at an election in June, Prime Minister Theresa May is dependent on the support of a small Northern Irish party, the Democratic Unionist Party, which has opposed any changes in earlier votes. Labour has also said it would vote against the measures, accusing the Conservatives of using the review to pursue their own political advantage . The Daily Telegraph newspaper said if the changes had been in place before the June election, May s Conservatives would have won a majority.

Merkel says Geneva talks should aim to agree safe areas in Syria

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that she did not favor classical “safe zones” in Syria which would need to be protected by foreign forces but believed that peace talks in Geneva could agree areas where fleeing Syrians could feel safe from bombardment. “I believe that if you had followed what I said yesterday in Turkey, it is something that has to come out of the Geneva peace talks; it is not about classical safe zones,” she said during a news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama. “Can one, when one speaks about a ceasefire, identify regions in the talks between the negotiating partners in Geneva where people can feel particularly safe. It is not about some influence from the outside but rather from within the talks,” she added.

Mike Pence Once Said The Most INSANELY LAUGHABLE Thing About Condoms On CNN

While it s often useless to talk about things politicians said more than a decade ago, there are times when those things are relevant to current events. Such is the case with Trump s running mate, Mike Pence. He s a religious nut, as evidenced by the discriminatory religious freedom law he helped pass in Indiana, which specifically targeted the LGBT community. But, as bad as that is, it s not the most insane thing he s ever said or done.During a 2002 interview with Wolf Blitzer, Pence discussed his opinion of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell s call for better education and protection against STDs, particularly in the form of condoms. For Pence, who once advocated for prayer to stop an HIV outbreak, rather than a clean needle exchange, saying that condoms can help protect against STDs was just too much.He spouted this absurdity in response: Well, I just simply believe the only truly safe sex, Wolf, as the president believes, is no sex. And we ought to, with leaders of the stature of the secretary of state, we ought to be sending a message to kids across the country and the opportunity had across the world that abstinence is the best choice for young people. But let s be clear, last year, the National Institute of Health, Wolf, and some 28 separate experts said at least a half dozen to ten sexually transmitted diseases for which condom use has zero preventative value. The secretary of state is simply wrong.The problem is it was too modern of an answer, Wolf. It was it truly was a modern, liberal answer to a problem that parents like me are facing all over America, and frankly, all over the world. Yes, condoms are too modern and too liberal for an abstinence-only nutbag like then-Congressman, now-VP candidate Mike Effing Pence. Everything everyone s parents ever said about condoms, everything every sex-ed program has ever said, even everything the CDC has said, is wrong. Pence knows things.This is the man who wanted to redefine rape so that federal funds would only pay for abortions in the instance of forcible rape. That s the same thing as the infamous Todd Akin s legitimate rape comment. Pence is known as a pioneer in the fight against Planned Parenthood, and has signed multiple bills limiting abortion access in his state of Indiana.Pence is also the man that said working mothers stunt their children s emotional growth, and who diverted $3.5 million from the state s TANF fund to pay an anti-abortion group known for lying to, well, lie to Indiana s women about abortion.So, while it seems silly to bring up something he said as a congressman 14 years ago, it s also frighteningly relevant to who and what he d be as vice president, because he s still that man. It wouldn t be surprising to hear him say that he and Trump will seek to ban sex-education (if not condoms themselves) in favor of telling girls just to keep an aspirin between their knees is they don t want to get pregnant, or an STD.Featured image by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

Frankfurt starts evacuation before attempt to defuse WWII bomb

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Frankfurt emergency service staff started to evacuate patients from two hospitals in Germany s financial capital on Saturday ahead of the planned defusing of a massive World War Two bomb. Some 60,000 people have to leave their homes early on Sunday in Germany s biggest evacuation since the war while officials disarm the 1.4 tonne British bomb. It was discovered on a building site in Frankfurt s leafy Westend, where many wealthy bankers live. More than 100 hospital patients, including premature infants and those in intensive care, were evacuated on Saturday, Frankfurt city councillor Markus Frank told Reuters television. More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are found each year in Germany, even under buildings. In July, a kindergarten was evacuated after teachers discovered an unexploded World War Two bomb on a shelf among some toys. Frankfurt fire and police chiefs said they would use force and incarceration if necessary to clear the area of residents, warning that an uncontrolled explosion of the bomb would be big enough to flatten a city block. The HC 4000 bomb is assumed to have been dropped by Britain s Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 war. The country was pummeled by 1.5 million tonnes of bombs from British and American warplanes that killed 600,000 people. German officials estimate 15 percent of the bombs failed to explode, some burrowing six meters (yards) deep. Three police explosives experts in Goettingen were killed in 2010 while preparing to defuse a 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb. The compulsory evacuation radius of 1.5 km (roughly a mile) around the bomb includes police headquarters, two hospitals, transport systems and Germany s central bank storing $70 billion in gold reserves. Frankfurt s residents have to clear the area by 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday and police will ring every doorbell and use helicopters with heat-sensing cameras to make sure nobody is left behind before they start diffusing the bomb. Roads and transport systems, including the parts of the underground, will be closed during the work and for at least two hours after the bomb is defused, to allow patients to be transported back to hospitals. Air traffic from Frankfurt airport could also be affected if there is an easterly wind on Sunday. Also, small private planes, helicopters and drones will be banned from the evacuation zone. Frankfurters can spend the day at shelters set up at the trade fair and the Jahrhunderthalle convention center. Most museums are offering residents free entry on Sunday, and a few of them will open their doors earlier in the morning than usual.

NZ Green Party leader in talks with Labour-led coalition government

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand Green Party leader James Shaw said on Thursday he was confident of reaching an agreement with Labour and New Zealand First to provide support for the formation of a coalition government. Shaw said a final decision would be made on Thursday evening and he was very confident of a change in government after nearly a decade of center-right National governments. The incoming Labour-New Zealand First coalition needs the Greens to commit to a confidence and supply agreement in parliament to ensure they have a majority.

U.S. Commerce chief Ross divesting shipping interests: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has divested his interests in oil tanker company Diamond S Shipping and is in the process of selling off his holdings in another shipping firm, Navigator Holdings, a Trump administration official said on Tuesday. Ross had originally intended to retain his shipping interests following his confirmation in February. But the 79-year-old investor came under criticism after disclosures on Sunday that one of Navigator’s major clients is the Russian gas company Sibur, a firm whose owners include members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Information about the business ties between Navigator, which operates gas-carrying ships, and Sibur was based on leaked documents from offshore law firm Appleby that are part of the so-called Paradise Papers, which show details of business dealings by wealthy people and institutions ranging from Ross to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and trading firm Glencore (GLEN.L). Reuters has not independently verified the documents. “He began divesting his Navigator interests in May,” the administration official said of Ross. “He is nearing completion of that process.” An office of government ethics disclosure filed by Ross on June 20 showed that he sold an interest in Navigator valued at $15,001 to $50,000 on May 30. The official did not provide an explanation for Ross’s divestitures. Ross had owned stakes in the firms through several partnerships. Ross, a billionaire investor who is helping to shape Republican President Donald Trump’s trade policy, had told U.S. senators during his confirmation hearing in January that his research showed that retention of shipping interests would not present a conflict of interest. U.S. ocean shipping regulation is handled by the Federal Maritime Commission, a separate, independent agency. Diamond S Shipping, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, operates 33 petroleum product tankers and 12 crude oil tankers operated under the flags of Hong Kong, the Marshall Islands and Malta. Ross told media on Monday that he had nothing to do with London-based Navigator’s relationship with Sibur and had never met any of Sibur’s owners. These include Putin’s son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov, and Gennady Timchenko, a Putin associate who is subject to U.S. Treasury sanctions. Ross said in multiple media interviews that he had fully disclosed his stake in Navigator Holdings as part of government ethics requirements.

Top U.S. diplomat in China quits over Trump climate policy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - David Rank, the chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, has left the State Department over the Trump administration’s decision to quit the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. A State Department spokeswoman confirmed Rank’s departure, but said she was unable to verify Twitter posts that said he resigned as he felt unable to deliver a formal notification to China of the U.S. decision last week to quit the agreement. “He has retired from the foreign service,” said Anna Richey-Allen, a spokeswoman for the department’s East Asia Bureau. “Mr. Rank has made a personal decision. We appreciate his years of dedicated service to the State Department.” Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, President Donald Trump’s pick as the next U.S. ambassador to Beijing, is expected to take up the post later this month. A tweet from China expert John Pomfret quoted unnamed sources as saying that Rank had resigned as he could not support Trump’s decision last week to withdraw from the Paris agreement. Another tweet from Pomfret said Rank called a town hall meeting to announce his decision to embassy staff and explained that he could not deliver a diplomatic note informing the Chinese government of the U.S. decision. A senior U.S. official confirmed the account given in the tweets but added that after Rank announced his intention to retire on Monday in Beijing, he was told by the State Department to leave his post immediately. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. On June 1, the U.S. State Department accepted the resignation of its top personnel officer, who had been among its few remaining senior Obama administration political appointees, another U.S. official said. Arnold Chacon had served as the director general of the foreign service and director of human resources. The official said Chacon had tendered his resignation when Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, along with all presidential appointees, who serve at the pleasure of the president and secretary of state. The acceptance of Chacon’s resignation was first reported by the DiploPundit website. It was not immediately clear whether he would be offered another post at the department. Other than Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, his deputy John Sullivan and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon, the third-ranking U.S. diplomat, most of the State Department’s senior posts are currently vacant or filled by acting officials. Chacon could not immediately be reached for comment. Contacted by Reuters for comment, Rank, a career foreign service officer who took over the post of deputy chief of mission in Beijing in January 2016, referred all questions to the U.S. embassy. Jonathan Fritz, the embassy’s economics councilor, would serve as chargé in his place, Richey-Allen said. Rank had been with the department for 27 years and served as the political councilor at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. Trump’s announcement on Thursday that he would withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, saying it would undermine the U.S. economy and cost jobs, drew anger and condemnation from world leaders and heads of industry. “The world has paid attention to the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris agreement”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing on Tuesday, but added that personnel changes were the United States’ “internal affairs”.

Trump says 'nothing is off the table' for response to Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday said “nothing is off the table” in terms of a response to Iran’s ballistic missile test. Trump made the comment in response to a question about whether he would consider military options to respond to Iran, a day after his national security adviser put Tehran on “notice.”

Climate doubter Pruitt takes EPA reins as Trump targets regulations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday over the objections of Democrats and environmentalists worried he will gut the agency, as the administration readies executive orders to ease regulation on drillers and miners. The installation of Scott Pruitt, who sued the agency he intends to lead more than a dozen times as Oklahoma attorney general, reinforces expectations on both sides of the political divide that America will cede its position as a leader in the global fight on climate change. Senators voted 52-46 to approve Pruitt, who was to be sworn in later on Friday afternoon at the White House. Only one Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, voted against him. Two Democrats from energy-producing states, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, voted for his confirmation. “I have no doubt that Scott will return the EPA to its core objectives,” said Republican Senator James Inhofe, also of Oklahoma, adding the agency had been guilty of “federal overreach, unlawful rule making, and duplicative red tape,” during President Barack Obama’s presidency. The nomination of Pruitt, who sued the EPA more than a dozen times on behalf of his oil-producing state and has doubted the science of climate change, upset many former and current agency employees. Nearly 800 former EPA staff urged the Senate to reject Pruitt in a letter this week, saying he had “shown no interest in enforcing environmental laws.” Earlier this month, about 30 current employees at an EPA regional office in Chicago joined a protest against Pruitt held by green groups. Trump is likely to issue executive orders as soon as next week to reshape the EPA, sources said. The Republican president has promised to kill Obama’s Clean Power Plan, currently held up in the courts, that aims to slash carbon emissions from coal and natural gas fired power plants. Trump also wants to give states more authority over environmental issues by striking down federal regulations on drilling technologies and getting rid of an Obama rule that sought to clarify the EPA’s jurisdiction over streams and rivers. Conservatives warmly welcomed Pruitt’s confirmation. “For far too long the EPA has acted in an overzealous manner, ignoring the separation of powers, the role of states and the rights of property owners,” said Nick Loris, an economist at the Heritage Foundation. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, however, said he was concerned that if the administration does not enforce emissions cuts such as outlined in the Clean Power Plan, it would increase U.S. pollution and harm the country’s leadership in international efforts to curb climate change. Opponents of Pruitt also protested his ties to the energy industry. Republicans have the majority in the Senate, but Democrats spoke through Thursday night and Friday morning on the Senate floor, trying to extend debate on Pruitt until later in February when 3,000 emails between him and energy companies will likely be revealed by a judge. An Oklahoma judge ruled this week that Pruitt will have to turn over the emails between his office and energy companies by Tuesday after a watchdog group, the Center for Media and Democracy, sued for their release. The judge will review and perhaps hold back some of the emails before releasing them, a court clerk said. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell had moved to “strap blinders” on his fellow Republicans by not waiting for the release of Pruitt’s emails. Environmentalists decried the approval. “If you don’t believe in climate science, you don’t belong at the EPA,” said May Boeve, the head of environmentalist group 350.org.

OOPS! NY GOV CUOMO Announces Statues of Confederate Generals “Will Be Removed Because NY Stands Against Racism”…IGNORES STATE Was Named After OWNER of African Slave Trading Company

Really Andrew? Does all of New York really stand against racism? Isn t Al Sharpton, one of the greatest race agitators of all time, a resident of New York? Wasn t he one of Barack Obama s generals in the race war he spent eight years orchestrating from our White House? Wasn t Al Sharpton behind the massive march in New York City where organizers held bull horns calling for the death of police officers? Where was your selective outrage when Al Sharpton was one of the most frequent visitors to our White House?Who could forget the infamous Beer Summit, where former President Barack Obama hosted Prof Henry Gates, a prominent black scholar, and Sgt James Crowley, a white police sergeant, for beers in the White House Rose Garden, that was actually a photo-op for Obama where he pretended to be working towards the goal of defusing racial tension in America.And now, as though the last 8 years of race agitating from the highest office in the land never happened, Governor Andrew Cuomo s joining the leftist mob in an attempt to erase American history, foolishly believing that if Democrats are seen as the party removing confederate statues, perhaps Americans will forget that the Democrat Party was in fact, the party who fought so hard to keep slavery alive in America.Here s the ridiculous tweet from Governor Andrew Cuomo:Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson will be removed from the CUNY hall of great Americans because New York stands against racism. Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 17, 2017Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist quickly schooled the leftist governor on the history behind the naming of the state of New York:New York is named after the head of a British slave-trading monopoly. https://t.co/edp3ZzYWyr Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 17, 2017The Duke of York was the main shareholder in and the director of the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading in Africa; established at the time of the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. The shareholders in this Company were a combination of the Stuart Royal family along with a number of wealthy London merchants. The Company established London s monopoly of the English slave trade. It created slave ports on the West coast of Africa where British-produced goods were exchanged for Africans who were then transported as slaves to colonies in the Caribbean and the Americas.In 1664, the Duke of York, as Admiral of the Navy, annexed the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (it was then renamed New York in his honour). When the Duke took over New York one of the first actions of the new authority was to grant the colony port privileges and the right to use warehouses to ships engaged in the slave trade (1) ~ i.e. ships owned by the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading in Africa in which the Duke was the largest shareholder.Previously, under the Dutch West India Company, the African slaves of New Amsterdam had lived in what was known as half-freedom ; that is to say under the Dutch they had some rights and some, limited, independence. However, once under Stuart, British rule they became chattel slaves (i.e perceived as personal property of the slave owners in a way that was different from previous slave-systems. It was slavery used as labour under an emerging and consolidating capitalism). Though it is worth noting that these urban slaves of New York never accepted the complete servitude endured by their rural counterparts.President Trump took to Twitter this morning to denounce decisions being made by leftists in positions of authority to erase the history of our great nation:Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You .. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017 can't change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson who's next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! Also Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017 the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017

Australia's Turnbull goes rural in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at widening appeal

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday named a new attorney general and promoted two junior lawmakers from rural Queensland state to his cabinet in a reshuffle he hopes will bolster his flagging popularity. Australian leaders often revamp cabinets before the start of a new year but for center-right Turnbull the move is an attempt to salvage his leadership, ravaged by dismal opinion polls. Last month, Turnbull s ruling Liberal-National coalition made its worst showing in a Queensland election in more than a decade, when it won 34 percent of the vote as Pauline Hanson s populist One Nation clawed into its conservative base. A large number of marginal seats in the country s third most populous state of Queensland often give its voters a crucial say in deciding federal elections. The reshuffle was sparked by the resignation of Attorney General George Brandis from the Senate. Turnbull said he would ask Brandis to be the country s next High Commissioner, or ambassador, to the United Kingdom. Turnbull gave cabinet positions to Queenslanders John McVeigh and David Littleproud, who both took office 18 months ago. He dropped infrastructure minister Darren Chester, from the urban state of Victoria, giving the portfolio to deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the Nationals, which features prominently in Queensland. It s a ministry that showcases the depth of the Liberal and National team, with well-earned promotions for talented individuals, a number of young and upcoming MPs bringing new skills and energy to the frontbench, Turnbull told reporters in Sydney. Asked why he removed Chester, whose duties included running the Australian part of the fruitless search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Turnbull said his cabinet had to take into account matters of geography , but did not elaborate. The pitch to voters in the northeastern state of Queensland was obvious, said Stewart Jackson, a specialist in Australian politics at the University of Sydney. Everybody s been spooked by One Nation, Jackson said. The emphasis will shift back towards Queensland where the National Party was traditionally strong. The overhaul also brings youth into a government that has narrowly retained its razor-thin majority in parliament after a constitutional crisis triggered a series of by-elections. The two promoted Queenslanders, Littleproud and McVeigh, are 41 and 52 respectively. The new attorney general, social services minister Christian Porter, from the iron ore-rich state of Western Australia, is 47. Employment minister Michaelia Cash, who takes the expanded title of minister for jobs and innovation, and Nationals member Bridget McKenzie, who joins cabinet as minister for sport, rural health and regional communications, are also 47. Turnbull gave no reason for the departure of Brandis after 17 years, but called him a stalwart who had backed tougher national security laws and the legalization of same-sex marriage, a measure parliament passed this month. In 2015, when Turnbull unseated then prime minister Tony Abbott, he said the move was necessary because Abbott s government had lost 30 opinion polls in a row. Under Turnbull, the government has lost 25 opinion polls in a row. Many commentators say that if the figure reaches 30, which could happen as soon as March, Turnbull s party may consider removing him.

Trump Messes Up BIG TIME At Liberty University When He Majorly Flubs Bible Verse (VIDEO)

If there s one quality Republican voters are looking for in a candidate, it s being a Christian. You don t have to know much about foreign policy, or domestic issues, or for that matter, the Constitution, but if you say you re a Christian, well, that s your golden ticket into the hearts of GOP voters everywhere. Knowing this fact, for the past several months Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has been telling people far and wide about how much he s a Christian, how much he loves the Bible, and even that it s his favorite book. Unfortunately for Trump, his blatant maneuvering to try to convince people that he s a great Christian who follows the Bible is all crumbling down. This was incredibly evident at a campaign event at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia Monday morning.In front of a large crowd of people who actually do know their Bible verses, Trump says: We re going to protect Christianity. I can say that. I don t have to be politically correct Two Corinthians, 3:17, that s the whole ballgame. He then goes on to call Liberty University Liberty College and it s clear that he s reading something someone prepared for him to say. Because anyone who s ever gone to church at one point or another in their lives knows that the book of the Bible Trump is referring to is Second Corinthians, not Two Corinthians. However, if you re reading it off a piece of paper and you re just trying to pander to your crowd, but don t really know what you re talking about, it s going to read Two Corinthians. The verse he s referring to is Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, which does indeed sound like the perfect Republican slogan to try to pander to freedom loving Christians everywhere. However, too bad Trump doesn t actually know what he s talking about.And as fellow candidate Marco Rubio s faith outreach director said, so honestly:"Two" Corinthians It won't matter. Nothing seems to matter. Eric Teetsel (@EricTeetsel) January 18, 2016 And it likely won t.Watch the moment for yourself here: // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]&gt; Two [sic] Corinthians, right? Two [sic] Corinthians 3:17. That s the whole ballgame. Posted by BuzzFeed Politics on Monday, January 18, 2016Video/Featured image: Facebook

Groups sue to obtain White House visitor logs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A coalition of nonprofit groups on Monday sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to obtain logs of visitors to President Donald Trump’s homes. The lawsuit accused the Secret Service, which maintains the logs, of violating the law by ignoring several requests for lists of visitors to the White House, Trump Tower in Manhattan, and the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Monday’s complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the National Security Archive, and archive researcher Kate Doyle. The plaintiffs had requested the logs under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Similar litigation by CREW in 2009 prompted the Obama administration to disclose White House visitor logs on a delayed basis, and according to the complaint led to the release of 5.99 million records. A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Secret Service, said the department does not discuss pending litigation. The lawsuit was reported earlier by the Washington Post. The website where White House visitor logs were available went dark after Trump became president. That page now reads: "This page is being updated. It will post records of White House visitors on an ongoing basis, once they become available." (here) Several Democratic lawmakers last month called on Trump, a Republican, to make logs public again. Many FOIA lawsuits against federal agencies are filed in Washington rather than New York. But in August 2013, the federal appeals court in Washington said Congress did not intend to authorize FOIA requesters to obtain records “indirectly” from the Secret Service that they could not obtain directly from the President. That decision involved a request by the conservative group Judicial Watch for records of all White House visitors over seven months. It was written by Chief Judge Merrick Garland, whose Supreme Court nomination by Obama was never acted upon by Congress. Federal judges in Manhattan can use Garland’s opinion for guidance, but need not follow it. The case is Doyle et al v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-02542.

Islamic State targets Iranian aid convoy in eastern Syria

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State mortar shells on Wednesday targeted an Iranian aid convoy to areas recently captured by the Syrian army and its allies in Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria, a military media unit run by the government s ally Hezbollah said. The mortar injured one person and caused material damage, Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar television reported, but the convoy, carrying over 1,000 tonnes of aid, was not damaged, it said.

RACIST RANT From Supreme Court Justice Exposes Slanted Personal Opinion On Law Enforcement

Supreme Court Justic Sotomayor went on a racist rant about how law enforcement has targeted minorities and put fear in black and brown people: It is no secret that people of color are disproportionate victims of this type of scrutiny. She s weighed in before in a racist manner: I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn t lived that life Supreme Court Justice SotomayorSotomayor once again brings her racist view to the court clouding her decisions on ALL Americans:Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday issued a vehement dissent in a Fourth Amendment case writing that the majority s opinion sanctions police stops that corrode all our civil liberties and threaten all our lives. The fiery objection came on case where a Utah man challenged his arrest based on a stop that was later found to be unlawful. The 5-3 majority opinion, Sotomayor wrote, will have dramatic ramifications for law-abiding citizens targeted by police, especially minorities. It is no secret that people of color are disproportionate victims of this type of scrutiny, she wrote. For generations, black and brown parents have given their children the talk instructing them never to run down the street; always keep your hands where they can be seen; do not even think of talking back to a stranger all out of fear of how an officer with a gun will react to them. By legitimizing the conduct that produces this double consciousness, this case tells everyone, white and black, guilty and innocent, that an officer can verify your legal status at any time, she added. It says that your body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights. It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged. With four major decisions due in the next week, including cases on affirmative action, abortion and immigration, Sotomayor s anger signals that what has been a quiet term since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia could get increasingly contentious. Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, she said, for jurists who are women and nonwhite, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Via: CNN

Karma In All Its Glory: Republican Chairwoman Forced To Resign Over ‘Obama Is A Chimp’ Facebook Post

A little over a month ago, Linda Sorenson, the Republican Chair for Delta County, Colorado, posted the following Facebook meme:Oh those wacky Republicans and their unbelievable racism!At first, Sorenson was defiant in the face of public condemnation, stating, I really don t care if people are offended by it, she told me of the post, which was sent to me by a source. Un-friend me. Stop looking at me on Facebook. After all, this is a new day in America. This is Donald Trump s America and gosh darn it! White people won t stand for being oppressed by the PC Police any longer! Let freedumb ring!But a funny thing about Trump s America it doesn t actually exist. At least not yet. And certainly not in the very purple state of Colorado. Clearly, Sorenson thought the people would rally to her bigoted side. Instead, according to the The Daily Sentinel:That posting not only prompted calls of her resignation from fellow Delta County Republicans, but also from several outside groups, including the Colorado branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance.Whoops.In the face of all of this pressure, Sorenson changed her story from, I m racist and I m proud! to the perennial favorite of politicians who make a social media blunder: Someone hacked my account! I m the victim here! After four accountability meetings though, including an investigation into Sorenson violating party rules by endorsing a local Republican primary candidate, Sorenson saw the writing on the Facebook wall and resigned. The Republicans Central Committee was quick to distance themselves:Suppes, who is not a member of the central committee, said it was an appropriate move. There s no room for racism, intended or unintended, in society, he said. It s best for the party, best for the county, that she step down. On the one hand, bravo to the Colorado GOP for dealing with this appropriately. On the other, Sorenson is hardly an outlier. Republicans have spent decades turning their party into a haven for racism and bigotry in all its many forms. Sorenson was simply stupid enough to say it out loud; a trend that has been exacerbated, but certainly not started, by Donald Trump.I wonder who she ll blame for her downfall? I m going to guess Obama. What do you think?Featured image via screencap

KARMA: Manufactured Race War Backfires…Missou Loses Top Football Recruit, Says “Their campus is out of control.”

kar ma k rm /Submit noun destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.Protests Cost Missouri a Top RecruitLouisiana high school football standout Sci Martin removed Missouri from his top five list of schools he was considering attending next fall.Sci Martin is one of the top high school recruits in the country.Sci Martin, from New Orleans, Louisiana, told reporters, Their campus is out of control. SEC Cuuntry reported: As if enough wasn t already going on at Missouri, the protests and racially-charged controversy have now hit the recruiting trail.Sci Martin, a 3-star defensive end and the No. 42 player in Louisiana, told SEC Country he has removed Mizzou from his top five. That narrows his list down to LSU, TCU, Utah and Oklahoma.Martin, who leads the New Orleans area in sacks this season, said he wanted no part of what s taking place in Columbia, Mo. Their campus is going out of control, Martin said Wednesday night.Martin said Missouri was pretty high on his list. He previously said he liked the Tigers coaching staff and how he fit in their defensive scheme.Because of what s going on, Missouri will no longer receive consideration. They were pretty high, Martin said of Missouri, but I m not going back in time with this type of madness. Sci Martin spoke with NOLA earlier this season.Via: Gateway Pundit

Kurdish government holds meetings in Baghdad on eve of independence vote

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government held talks with the Iraqi ruling Shi ite coalition in Baghdad on Saturday, two days before a planned referendum on secession from Iraq. The delegation will discuss the referendum but the referendum is still happening, Hoshiyar Zebari, a top adviser to Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, told Reuters. We said we would talk to Baghdad before, during and after the referendum. The KRG has said the vote is intended to give its autonomous territory a legitimate mandate to achieve independence from Iraq through dialogue with Baghdad and neighboring powers Turkey and Iran. Ankara and Tehran are worried that the vote could revive the separatist aspirations of their own Kurdish populations. The Kurdish delegation met with representatives of the Shi ite ruling coalition in Baghdad, and with the Iraqi president, Fuad Masum, himself a Kurd, whose role is largely ceremonial. Executive powers are concentrated in the hands of the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, a Shi ite. Abadi s office said he didn t meet the delegation. Hemin Hawrami, an assistant to Barzani, tweeted: Our delegation in Baghdad to deliver a message: We re ready for talks after 25/9. Turkey said on Saturday it would take security and other steps in response to the planned referendum, which it called a terrible mistake . The Turkish parliament convened for a debate and vote on extending a mandate that authorizes Turkish troop deployments to Iraq and Syria, and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim alluded to possible military moves. The United States has urged the KRG to cancel the vote, while the U.N. Security Council warned in a statement of its potentially destabilizing impact on Iraq. Washington and other Western powers say the vote distracts from the fight against the Islamic State militant group. The KRG counters that its Peshmerga fighters have made a crucial contribution to that fight. (This version of the story corrects to say meeting was with the Iraqi ruling Shi te coalition in Baghdad, not with the government in Baghdad)

newsbud launches phase funding drive

corbett comments the voting machines have decided who will be the next puppet figurehead of the pax americana deep state for the next four years the circus is over and the peanut shells are being swept out of the stands so what do we have to show for all of it well i have some good news some bad news and some notsogood news for you lets start with the bad news apparently some people voted for trump in the belief that he was some sort of antiestablishment truthtelling hero of the working class i hate to be the one to disabuse you of this notion so lets just look at his transition team his campaign team the people who have already been tapped to be part of the new administration and the people who are being contacted for potential cabinet appointments warning its not a pretty picture for free access to this editorial please click here for full access to the subscriber newsletter and to support this website please become a member only site members can access this content already a member

China, U.S. must avoid excessive mutual suspicion: Chinese envoy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China and the United States must avoid being overly suspicious of each other’s strategic intentions, China’s ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday while looking ahead to the Presidency of Donald Trump. Trump lambasted China throughout the U.S. election campaign, drumming up headlines with his pledges to slap 45 percent tariffs on imported Chinese goods and to label the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office. He has also vowed to build up the U.S. Navy in what advisers say will be a strategy to reassure countries in the Asia-Pacific worried about China’s assertive pursuit of territorial claims. China’s Washington envoy, Cui Tiankai, told a film screening to commemorate the 1979 normalization of U.S.-China ties that after “a most unusual political season,” it was important to build consensus and identify common ground. He said both countries were already cooperating on many issues, but added: “We have to make greater efforts to promote better mutual understanding and we should be careful not to be overly suspicious about each other’s strategic intentions. “There are people here in the United States who believe that everything that China does is aimed at challenging the United States’ s global dominance, and there are people who believe that everything the U.S. is doing is aimed at containing China. “I think both views are wrong.” There would inevitably be problems and challenges in the next four years, Cui said, “but ... I am quite confident that, on the whole, the relationship will move forward on a stable and right track.” Cui said the countries had a shared responsibility to cooperate on issues such as terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. “We both want stability in the world. We both strive for a stronger global economy, and we both need a better natural environment. Common goals call for a close partnership.” Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone on Monday and Xi told the U.S. President-elect cooperation was the only choice for the world’s two largest economies, while Trump said they had established a “clear sense of mutual respect.” Nevertheless, Trump’s election has created uncertainty when Beijing hopes for stability as it faces daunting reform challenges at home, slowing growth and a leadership reshuffle that will assemble a new party elite around Xi in late 2017. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who as U.S. National Security Adviser drove normalization with China in the late 1970s told the same Washington event the world was watching U.S. political developments “with some stupefaction.” “We are now living in a political system, a worldwide system, that is experiencing a very serious crisis... . (I)t is potentially threatening to both sides, to the well-being of global stability,” he said. “You can have serious political problems in China … there are serious problems in the United States. We don’t know how we will be managing responsibilities in the foreseeable future, given some of the initial warning signals,” Brzezinski said. (This story has been refiled to remove extraneous word from headline)

Trump LIVID After His Twitter Attacks HELP ‘Hamilton’ Break Broadway Sales Record (TWEETS)

It was just a few weeks ago that President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly attacked the cast of Broadway show Hamilton for giving a respectful speech about equality and diversity to his Vice President, Mike Pence. Despite the fact that Pence was not offended and did not want an apology, Trump railed against the cast for days, causing his rabid supporters to call for a boycott.It turns out, Trump and his supporters got a brutal reality check today. Hamilton, the Broadway show that Trump called overrated in one of his tweets, just broke a record for ticket sales. Guess the #BoycottHamilton movement didn t really have the effect Trump and his minions had hoped!TwitterHamilton shattered the Broadway record for the most money made in a single week, selling $3.3 million in tickets. The last time any Broadway show came close to this was in 2013, when Wicked sold $3.2 million in a nine-show week. Hamilton only had eight shows, and it still surpassed Wicked. And that s not all. According to the New York Times, whom Trump also attacks regularly, this also happened: [Hamilton] set a record for the highest premium ticket price charged by a Broadway box office $998 although some people have paid more buying tickets from resellers. TwitterTwitterIt just goes to show that although Trump, Pence and their moronic supporters want to set this country back several decades, that s not what the majority of the country wants. When the Hamilton cast spoke about freedom, diversity, and equality, those are the values that resonate with most of us. The outpouring of support that Hamilton has received since the #HamiltonBoycott proves that the majority of the country does not agree with Trump (after all, he lost the popular vote by MILLIONS) and his bigotry has no place in America.Featured image via Alex Wong and Facebook

WATCH: GERALDO RIVERA’S Trip To Puerto Rico Opened His Eyes About “WICKED” and “NEGATIVE” Treatment Of Trump By LYING Media and Democrats

Geraldo Rivera said his trip to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria confirmed how badly biased the press is against President Trump. Having seen how he was treated in Puerto Rico and then seeing the press about how he was treated in Puerto Rico it was almost an absolute 100 percent disconnect, the Fox News contributor told Fox & Friends on Saturday.Rivera visited Puerto Rico and interviewed the president and first lady as they surveyed storm relief efforts in the devastated country.He remembered crowds who were ebullient about the president s visit.The federal government s response to Hurricane Maria has been far better than it is given credit for, he continued. This president has the worst relationship not only with the press but with those on the other side of the aisle that I have seen since Richard Nixon, Rivera said.This wasn t the first time Geraldo Rivera exposed the lies and mischaracterizations of Trump and his actions. Watch Geraldo tell Fox and Friends about Trump s actual handling of the Puerto Rican crisis versus the media s false narrative: He does not get the benefit of the doubt for anything. Anything he does is construed in the most wicked, negative way possible. FOX News

Trump plans to keep Comey as FBI director: source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump intends to keep FBI Director James Comey in his post, a person familiar with the decision said on Tuesday, amid reports that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are scrutinizing Trump associates over their ties to Russia. Comey, a Republican, drew furious criticism from Democrats for announcing just 11 days before the Nov. 8 election that the FBI was looking at additional emails related to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server. Four days after the election, Clinton privately blamed Comey for her election loss to Trump, telling donors Trump was able to use the FBI chief’s comments about the emails to attack her in the waning days of the campaign. On Sunday, Comey got a warm handshake and pat on the back from Trump during a reception at the White House. On Tuesday, Trump would not confirm that Comey was staying on when asked about it during an Oval Office appearance with top U.S. auto industry executives. The news about Comey keeping his job was first reported by the New York Times, which said he told his top agents Trump had asked him to remain in the post he has held since 2013. An FBI director is appointed to serve a 10-year term, but may be fired by the president at any time. For example, former President Bill Clinton in 1993 dismissed William Sessions after a Justice Department internal watchdog report that revealed unethical conduct such as taking FBI aircraft on personal trips. Trump had sharply criticized the Justice Department during the campaign for not bringing criminal charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server to conduct government business during her 2009-13 tenure as secretary of state. Comey sent a letter to the U.S. Congress on Oct. 28 announcing that the FBI was investigating more emails as part of its investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information when she used the private email server. The FBI director then announced two days before the election that a review of the new emails did not change the bureau’s previous finding that no criminal charges were warranted against Clinton, but the political damage had already been done. The Times reported last week that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are looking into intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a wider investigation into potential ties between Russian officials and Trump associates including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Clinton calls national security team after attacks, as Trump challenges her credentials

WASHINGTON/HIGH POINT, N.C. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton consulted national security advisers on Tuesday after weekend bomb blasts renewed fears of domestic attacks, as Republican Donald Trump accused her of pushing policies that made the United States less safe. The two rivals in the Nov. 8 election have been vying to portray themselves as the best equipped to protect the nation. The domestic security issue returned to the forefront after a New York City bomb injured 29 people, a pipe bomb went off and unexploded bombs turned up in separate incidents in New Jersey, and a man stabbed 10 people at a Minnesota mall. Clinton spoke by phone with former Defense Department official Michele Flournoy, former CIA deputy head Mike Morell and other advisers, her campaign said in an email. “We can’t lose our cool and start ranting and waving our arms,” Clinton said on the call, according to her campaign in an apparent reference to Trump. “We shouldn’t toss around extreme proposals that won’t be effective and lose sight of who we are. That’s what the terrorists are aiming for.” The call was supposed to be open to news media, but when reporters called in, they could not hear anything. Clinton’s campaign provided notes to reporters afterward. Clinton has called for better intelligence, new efforts to counter online recruiting of militants and smashing Islamic State strongholds in the Middle East. She has said Trump’s rhetoric against what he calls “radical Islamic terrorism” is helping Islamic State recruit more fighters. At a rally in High Point, North Carolina, Trump countered by saying that Clinton, as Democratic President Barack Obama’s first secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, backed policies that made the United States less safe. “I’m much tougher than her on this horrible situation, but she goes around saying it’s a recruiting tool,” Trump said. The New York businessman accused Clinton of supporting policies in Iraq and Syria that he said allowed Islamic State to take root. Trump has pointed to the pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011 - which occurred after the Obama administration and Iraqi leaders could not agree on the withdrawal - and what he has characterized as a push for regime change in Syria. A U.S.-led coalition has conducted air strikes on Islamic State in Iraq and northern Syria. Trump also criticized Clinton for supporting the entry of some Syrian refugees into the United States, reiterating his call for tougher vetting of people seeking admission. He has instead proposed safe zones for refugees, which he says Gulf states would fund. “There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money,” Trump said at a rally later on Tuesday in Kenansville, North Carolina. On Monday, U.S. authorities arrested Ahmad Khan Rahami following a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, in connection with the Saturday night bombing in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. Rahami, 28, is a naturalized American citizen born in Afghanistan. Law enforcement officials were also investigating the stabbings, also on Saturday night, at the St. Cloud, Minnesota, mall as “an act of terrorism. An off-duty policeman fatally shot the attacker, Dahir Adan, 20, whom an Islamic State news agency claimed as “a soldier” of the militant group. Reuters could not verify the claim. Adan came from a Somali family that settled in the United States. At the Kenansville rally, Trump said he would dislodge a political establishment that he said ignored working people. “They go to the same restaurants, they go to the same conferences, they have the same friends and connections, they write checks to the same think tanks and produce the same papers, it’s a gravy train that never ends,” Trump said. Democrats, in turn, criticized Trump’s business activities. U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called the real estate developer a “fraud” in a speech on the Senate floor, pointing to his multiple bankruptcies and lawsuits. Clinton’s campaign repeated its call for Trump to release his tax returns after The Washington Post reported Trump’s charitable foundation had spent thousands of dollars to settle lawsuits involving his businesses.

Turkey charges three Bulgarians with migrant smuggling

SOFIA (Reuters) - Turkey has charged three Bulgarians with illegal migrant trafficking and assisting a criminal organization, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The three were detained on Friday and held in custody in the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne pending investigations, a ministry statement said Last week the Bulgarian authorities smashed a gang suspected of smuggling migrants into Western Europe. Eight people, including two Pakistanis, were charged with smuggling offences after they transported migrants, mainly Pakistanis, Afghans and Iraqis, from Turkey into Romania and then on to Hungary and Austria. Bulgaria has built a fence on its border with its Balkan neighbor Turkey and has bolstered its border controls to prevent inflows of illegal migrants.

Niger deaths probe outcome expected in January: U.S. military

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday it has told families of four American soldiers killed during an ambush in Niger on Oct. 4 that it expected to complete its investigation into their deaths in January. Families were informed that (the Africa Command s) investigation team will travel to locations in the U.S., Africa and Europe to gather information related to the investigation, the Pentagon said in a statement. It said the probe was to be led Army Major General Roger Cloutier, the command s chief of staff, and families would be told if more time was needed.

U.S. healthcare bill's collapse escalates Republican infighting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The failure by President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans to dismantle Obamacare has infuriated the party’s conservative flank and is intensifying intra-party warfare ahead of the 2018 U.S. congressional elections. Donors and activists upset by the collapse of the latest Senate healthcare bill said it hardened their determination to back conservative candidates in next year’s elections, even if that means ousting Republican incumbents. “I am fed up. I’m beyond frustrated,” said Mica Mosbacher, a Houston-based Republican fundraiser, who added she was “extremely disappointed in Ted Cruz,” a Republican U.S. senator from Texas who had threatened to oppose the latest healthcare bill because he wanted to see changes. Texas is scheduled to hold the first nominating primary of the midterm elections in March 2018. Trump vowed during the 2016 election campaign to scrap the 2010 Affordable Care Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, which Republicans see as a costly government overreach. Democrats say it has extended health insurance to millions. The latest bill to overturn Obamacare failed on Tuesday after three Senate Republicans, including moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul, said they could not support it. Republicans narrowly control the chamber by 52-48. In November 2018, all 435 seats of the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate will be up for election. In the Senate, that includes 23 Democrats and eight Republicans, with several in both parties in fights expected to be competitive. If a large number of Republicans are forced to defend their seats against challengers from their own party in primary fights, Democrats will seek to exploit weakened candidates in the general election in their effort to wrest control of the House and Senate from Republicans. A shift of either chamber into Democratic hands would make it even more difficult for Trump to pass his agenda of tax reform, toughening immigration laws and rolling back Obamacare. Republicans have not delivered a significant legislative win on any topic since Trump took office in January. Mosbacher said she was “leaning toward supporting” Cruz’s primary opponent, Stefano de Stefano, even though she served as fundraiser for the incumbent’s 2012 campaign. Whoever prevails in that fight would likely face Beto O’Rourke, a well-funded Democrat, in the general election. Texas last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1988. The conservative group Club For Growth has already begun interviewing Republican primary challengers it will consider backing next year. “We’ll continue to push for full repeal of Obamacare, and we’re disappointed Republicans have been unable to deliver on their seven-year promise,” said Rachael Slobodien, a spokeswoman for Club for Growth. Club for Growth is not alone in its frustration over the defeat of the Obamacare repeal effort. David Bozell, president of ForAmerica, a conservative grassroots organization, said incumbents who failed to line up solidly behind repeal had “shown some true colors” and in doing so, were inviting primary fights for their party’s nomination. Republican Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona and Dean Heller of Nevada are top targets for conservative groups. Conservative Kelli Ward has already announced her candidacy challenging Flake, and is seeking to amass support as a more conservative option. Dave Tamasi, a Republican lobbyist and fundraiser, said he thought it was too soon to know if the healthcare failure would hurt Republicans. “Opponents may try to use today or the failure to pass a repeal of the Affordable Care Act to give their candidacy a little bit of a push. The question is can that fuel today sustain itself over the long term of an election cycle,” he said. So far, Trump has been hedging his bets on the Republican primaries. But many of his allies are already backing conservative primary challengers. Trump has blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over Congress’ inaction. Such criticisms could help turn next year’s elections into a referendum on congressional incumbents, rather than on the president himself. “I think we are entering an era of more primary challenges in general, The disappointment by activists over the inability for Republicans to repeal Obamacare only adds fuel to this fire,” said Craig Robinson, former political director of the Iowa Republican Party.

media shame these journalists are now presstitutes their madam is hillary clinton

can normal transistors act like a qubit page link hi i guess i have a question relating to quantum computing since qubits are what makes up quantum computers that being a qubits can act like a transistor that can be either on off or both on and off at the same time in usual computing transistors are either on or off in quantum they can be both on and off at the same time the question i have is simply this is it possible to make a transistor that can act as on off and on and off at the same time even if you had to add an extra layer of circuitry to get that same reading from that single transistor i mean a normal transistor operate that if it gets no voltage or low voltage then the transistor is in an off state if it gets a certain voltage it is in an on state couldnt you make the voltage extra high to get a both onoff at the same time state or half voltage to get the same onoff state at the same time to essentially create a fake qubit scenario there might have to be additional transistors to help make sure of that determination of a transistor appearing in an onoff state but couldnt it be possible perhaps a circuit of transistors could determine whether the proceeding transistor should act as both onoff by checking the voltage some how idk please answer me like im a drunk stupid idiot perhaps laymen terms i can be quite the idiot sometimes thanks for hearing me out im currently drunk and just pondering things link a reply to darage im sure we could do weird stuff with circuitry to store more than one bit of data in the circuit but that doesnt really give an advantage over just storing more bits with our conventional technology which has been highly refined the advantage of the qbit isnt really that it stores more information its that it can be used to process more information at the same time quantum computing quantum computing the key features of an ordinary computerbits registers logic gates algorithms and so onhave analogous features in a quantum computer instead of bits a quantum computer has quantum bits or qubits which work in a particularly intriguing way where a bit can store either a zero or a a qubit can store a zero a one both zero and one or an infinite number of values in betweenand be in multiple states store multiple values at the same time if that sounds confusing think back to light being a particle and a wave at the same time schrödingers cat being alive and dead or a car being a bicycle and a bus a gentler way to think of the numbers qubits store is through the physics concept of superposition where two waves add to make a third one that contains both of the originals if you blow on something like a flute the pipe fills up with a standing wave a wave made up of a fundamental frequency the basic note youre playing and lots of overtones or harmonics higherfrequency multiples of the fundamental the wave inside the pipe contains all these waves simultaneously theyre added together to make a combined wave that includes them all qubits use superposition to represent multiple states multiple numeric values simultaneously in a similar way just as a quantum computer can store multiple numbers at once so it can process them simultaneously instead of working in serial doing a series of things one at a time in a sequence it can work in parallel doing multiple things at the same time only when you try to find out what state its actually in at any given moment by measuring it in other words does it collapse into one of its possible statesand that gives you the answer to your problem estimates suggest a quantum computers ability to work in parallel would make it millions of times faster than any conventional computer if only we could build it so how would we do that explainthatstuffcom if i understand correctly a quantum computer will just be a smaller more energy efficient version of a massive parallel computer

WATCH: Cruz Is Grabbing Delegates From Trump And Trump Supporters Are FREAKING OUT Like This

As the Republican Party establishment continues to ratchet up its support of Ted Cruz and his campaign in order to stop Donald Trump from capturing the party s presidential nomination, a backlash appears to be growing amongst Trump supporters.One Trump fan took to YouTube to reveal his anger at the establishment s machinations:According to the video s description, the man is a Republican Party State Delegate in Colorado, and he burned his party registration card in protest of the recent party event because he was removed from his position because he voted for TRUMP. The video is in response to the recent event in that state where Cruz was able to engineer a maneuver where he got all the delegates available. Cruz took all 13 of the delegates up for grabs on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of the state. Delegates endorsed by his campaign swept all seven congressional district conventions held over the last week as well, which added another 21 delegates. Another three slots are reserved for state party officials. Today was another resounding victory for conservatives, Republicans, and Americans who care about the future of our country, the Cruz campaign said in a statement Saturday night.Trump was completely out hustled at the event, and repeating that campaign s habit of being ill-prepared, handed out incorrect fliers and forms advising their supporters how to get through the delegate process.In response to the effort to deny Trump the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican Convention, where he is required to have 1,237 delegates in support, Trump ally and professional Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone recently announced that in cooperation with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, he plans to hold rallies in Cleveland during the convention. Stone also said he was encouraging Trump supporters to go to the private hotel rooms of delegates in order to intimidate them into backing Trump.Despite the theatrics, Trump still has a nearly 200 delegate lead over Cruz. Trump has 743 delegates, Cruz has 545, and John Kasich has 143. Trump is expected to do very well in the upcoming Republican primary in his home state of New York.Featured image via YouTube

just how wrong were the pollsters the final polls vs the final results

go to article the day after donald trumps historic upset of the inevitable hillary clinton rush limbaugh took to the radio waves to help out all the leftwing driveby media struggling to understand what they had just witnessed though they probably werent thrilled to hear his summa

Climate change should not be 'partisan issue,' Kerry says

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Work to avert the problems caused by climate change should not be a partisan issue, outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry told students at an elite U.S. engineering school on Monday, in one of his final speeches as the nation’s top diplomat. Kerry noted U.S. officials from military and intelligence leaders to the mayors of coastal cities agree the problem of rising sea levels and erratic rainfall is one that they want to take action on, and he urged the incoming administration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump to tackle head on. Trump, a New York real estate developer who has never held elected office, has described climate change as a hoax and vowed to pull the United States out of the deal negotiated in Paris in 2015 to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. But in an interview with the New York Times in November, Trump said he was keeping an open mind on whether to pull out of the accord. “I’m not going to speculate about the policies that our President-elect and his Secretary of State will choose to pursue, but I will tell you this ... some issues look a lot different when you’re actually in office compared to when you’re on the campaign trail,” Kerry said at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “The truth is that climate change shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It’s an issue that all of us should care about, regardless of political affiliation.” The U.S. Senate this week is due to begin the process of confirming Trump’s political appointments, including proposed Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma, who has repeatedly challenged the agency’s authority in the courts. Many Republicans in Congress argue environmental regulations slow business growth and job creation, both expected to be top priorities for the Trump administration. Kerry referenced a U.S. intelligence report published on Monday that listed climate change among the factors that could raise the risk of conflict between nations. Obama on Monday echoed the message in an article published in Science magazine. Kerry called on researchers and students at MIT to keep up their work on improving energy efficiency and inventing new energy sources, regardless of government policies. “It’s going to be innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders ... who will continue to create the technological advances that forever revolutionize the way we power our world,” Kerry said. “Every person in this room – indeed, every person on the planet – has an interest in making sure that transition happens as quickly as possible.”

[VIDEO] CHRIS MATTHEWS IS “ASTOUNDED” WHEN CARLY FIORINA SCHOOLS HIM ON WHY HILLARY IS A “LIAR”

We re still wondering how Carly Fiorina was relegated to the happy hour debate while Gov. Kasich (and a few others we won t mention) were standing on the stage during the prime time debate Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina shut down MSNBC host Chris Matthews Thursday over her criticism of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton during the first GOP debate.Matthews took issue with Fiorina calling Clinton a liar in her closing statement, but Fiorina shot back that Clinton lied about Benghazi, the Middle East, and her private email server. First, I was very specific about the subjects about which I think she has lied. I didn t say she lied about everything, Fiorina said. I was very specific, very fact-based, actually. You are the one who has made a generalized comment now about her, not me. Matthews tried to interrupt the only female Republican candidate, but Fiorina spoke over him and explained why she thought Clinton lied. She then made her case why Clinton should fear debating her. I will debate her on the issues facing this nation, she said. I will debate her on her positions. I will ask her, for example, how she can possibly continue to defend Planned Parenthood. I will ask her why she continues to say she is a champion of the middle class while every single proposal she has put forward makes crony capitalism worse and worse and worse [and] makes income inequality worse. I would ask her why she declared victory in Iraq in 2011, why she called Bashar al-Assad a positive reformer, why she thought she could stop Putin s ambition, a man I have met, with a gimmicky red reset button. I will ask her why she got every policy wrong as secretary of state. That s how I ll debate her, on the issues. After their exchange, Matthews had only one thing to say to Fiorina, who was praised by the Washington Post as the first debate s winner. I see why you stood out tonight, he said.Via: WFB

Donald Trump Takes Credit For Being ‘Right’ About Terrorism After Orlando Shooting

As if there wasn t enough reasons to hate Donald Trump, his response to the Orlando shooting that claimed 50 lives and possibly more will make your blood boil.Even as bodies are still being counted and families await to hear the fate of their loved ones, Trump decided to take the opportunity to prove that he was right about terrorism and that he appreciates people congratulating him on being right in a tweet just sent out:Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016When Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren told him to delete his account, they were right. Any person who uses any platform to praise themselves after a tragedy should never be allowed to hold any office, let alone the presidency.Does the country need any more proof that Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit for the job? Perhaps the blowhard should stop hiding behind his phone and actually come out with a comprehensive policy idea oh wait, he boasts that he doesn t have or need policy ideas. He ll just wing it and see what happens.But he has a comprehensive plan for guns, apparently. After his circus endorsement from the NRA, Trump laid out every right-wing talking point veiled as policy, which includes the lie that Hillary Clinton will take everyone s guns (the same argument that will be on full blast following this tragedy).It should come as no shock Trump used this tragedy to congratulate himself. Republicans are reeling from his racist ranting, let s see if they step up to the plate to denounce this politicized, sensationalist egotistical crap.Can Twitter finally deactivate this idiot s account once and for all?Featured image via Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Trump hosts lunch with Republican senators, Obamacare repeal on menu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Senate Republicans to pass a “generous” replacement program for Obamacare, as the Senate struggled to produce an alternative to the healthcare law. Capitol Hill sources who asked not to be named said Trump described the version of the legislation that passed the House last month as “mean.” That House bill was widely criticized for letting states seek waivers from insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Trump discussed the healthcare bill at a White House lunch he hosted for Republican senators in a bid to help the lawmakers find common ground to move forward with healthcare reform legislation this summer. The White House declined to comment on private conversations between Trump and lawmakers. During the portion of the lunch open to reporters, Trump told the lawmakers their healthcare bill would need to be “generous” and “kind.” “That may be adding additional money into it,” he said, without offering details on how much money might be needed or how it might be used. Trump stepped up pressure for the repeal with a tweet Tuesday morning declaring that the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare, “is in a death spiral.” He cited the government’s announcement Monday that some 2 million people who signed up for Obamacare have dropped out this year. Although Trump’s Republican Party has a majority in both houses of Congress, Trump blamed “obstructionist” Democrats for the lack of progress in repealing President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. Senator John Thune, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, who attended the lunch meeting, said Trump was open to suggestions that some federal cost-sharing payments to health insurers under Obamacare continue in the near term but that the president did not make any definite pronouncements on that issue. Those payments help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans. Trump has said he might consider withholding them but insurers say that would wreak havoc in the markets. Thune also said Trump did not give any deadlines to the senators on passing the bill. “I hope that we can stay on schedule to have floor action before the Fourth of July break,” Thune said. The House of Representatives narrowly approved its version of repeal last month but Senate Republicans have been unable to coalesce around their own version of a bill, with moderates and conservatives pushing in different directions in meetings behind closed doors. The senators Trump invited to lunch included Republicans from both ideological camps. Moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were on the list as well as conservatives Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said senators are closer to bringing up a proposal and other Republicans have predicted for some time that a bill would be ready for a vote before the August recess. Senate aides said the Senate bill was not expected to touch insurance protections that are included in Obamacare for people with pre-existing medical conditions, after the controversy over the House bill that would let states seek waivers from those protections. In states with such waivers, people with pre-existing conditions could still get coverage but they would not be shielded against potentially higher costs. Another senator at the lunch, Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, said after the meeting that there still was a lot of work to do before legislation can be unveiled. “The total bill hasn’t been resolved,” he said.

Turkey's Erdogan says no problem with Russian S-400 purchases: Haberturk

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said there was no problem with Turkey s planned purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and talks have also been held on the S-500 system, Haberturk and other newspapers reported on Friday. His Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted on Monday as saying NATO member Turkey could seek a deal to acquire a missile defense system with another country if Russia does not agree to joint production of the defense shield. Speaking to reporters as he returned on his plane from a trip to Ukraine and Serbia, Erdogan said there would be no joint production in the first stage of S-400 purchases, but in the second stage God willing we will take joint production steps , Haberturk reported. In our talks with (Russia President Vladimir) Putin we are not thinking of stopping with the S-400s. We have had talks on the S-500s too, he added, referring to a missile system currently under development. Ankara s decision to buy the S-400s has been seen in some Western capitals as a snub to NATO, given tensions with Moscow over Ukraine and Syria, while the deal raised concern because the weapons cannot be integrated into the alliance s defenses. However, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this week Turkey was not seeking to antagonize the U.S.-led alliance by purchasing the system and is in talks with France and Italy to buy similar weapons.

Hillary’s Secret Weapon For The End Of Her Campaign Is Trump’s Biggest Piece Of Kryptonite

Hillary Clinton has a much better run campaign than Donald Trump does. She has a ground game, and get out the vote operation, and she also has voter targeting and demographics on her side. However, despite all of this, the polls are tightening in these final hours. So, what is Hillary doing to make sure everyone remembers just who Trump is? Why, bringing out a secret weapon that has been one of Trump s biggest pieces of kryptonite of the entire campaign: Khizr Khan.We all remember how Khan, the father of a fallen Muslim-American soldier, Army Captain Humayun Khan, excoriated Trump at the Democratic National Convention this summer. As a result, the notoriously thin-skinned Trump went on a tirade against Khan. He insulted Khan s wife in a fight there was no way he could win politically as he lost control of himself and spent nearly a week attacking the Gold Star family. Now, Khan plans to campaign with Hillary in the 11th hour.This all-important joint campaign trail appearance between Hillary and Mr. Khan will happen Sunday night, just two days before Election Day. Trump is already feeling anxious and aggrieved, thanks to the fact that his path to 270 electoral votes is so much more narrow than Hillary s. In trotting out Mr. Khan, Hillary is setting the perfect Trump trap especially if Khan lays into Trump the same way he did at the Democratic National Convention.Now, this late in the game, it could be argued that everyone is already in their corners, and many have already voted. There s likely nothing either candidate can do or say between Sunday and Tuesday to make a supporter not vote the way he or she had planned to vote. But what a Trump meltdown of Khan-level qualities could do is to remind soft and Independent voters, who were going to hold their noses and vote for Trump, just what makes them so uneasy about his being president, and they will stay home or maybe even vote for Hillary.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Tension in South Sudan capital after bid to disarm detained ex-army chief

NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan s government has sought to disarm the bodyguards of detained former army chief Paul Malong on fears he might escape and launch a rebellion, his wife said on Saturday, highlighting tensions within the leadership. Malong - the man who has led President Salva Kiir s campaign against rebels - has been under house arrest since May after Kiir sacked him following a string of military resignations by senior generals alleging abuses and ethnic bias. Malong had initially fled the capital Juba with a convoy of vehicles for his home state of Aweil following his dismissal - raising fears he might join opposition forces, before returning to the capital. On Saturday, his wife Lucy Ayak told Reuters security officials arrived at their home late on Friday with specific orders from Kiir. They came carrying the order from the president and told General Malong that they had been ordered to disarm his bodyguards, she said, adding that they also tried to take his phone and said his family members would not be allowed to visit. The government is thinking that General Malong might take the country back to war. The tension is still high ... we do not know if they might come back and arrest him by force if he resists. Residents in Juba told Reuters heavily-armed soldiers have blocked the main road leading to his house. Media outlets from Juba also reported that a senior commander in the army who is allied with Malong has also defected with the aim of launching a rebellion. President Kiir s press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny declined to comment, saying the issue was purely an army matter . South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 but plunged into civil war in 2013 after Kiir fired his deputy Riek Machar. The conflict, largely fought along ethnic lines, has pitched parts of the oil-producing country into severe hunger, paralyzed public services and forced a quarter of the population - three million people - to flee their homes.

Republican House Speaker Ryan told Trump retirement report was rumors were not true: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Speaker Paul Ryan has told President Donald Trump a report on Thursday that Ryan was considering retiring was not true, the White House said. “The speaker assured the president that those were not accurate reports, and that they look forward to working together for a long time to come,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters at a news briefing. Politico reported that Ryan would like to retire after the November congressional election.

French union says will not join far-left protest against Macron reforms

PARIS (Reuters) - France s hardline CGT union on Wednesday said it would not join the far-left party of Jean-Luc Melenchon in Sept. 23 protests against labor reform in a sign that opposition to President Emmanuel Macron s plan is divided. The union will instead march next week, its leader Philippe Martinez told Paris Match magazine. France s second-largest union the CGT and Melenchon s France Unbowed party are the main opponents of the plan, which includes a cap on payouts for dismissals adjudged unfair and greater freedom for employers to hire and fire. The largest and third-largest union, the CFDT and FO, have said they would not take to the streets. The CGT is independent from political parties, Martinez said. He held a rare meeting with Melenchon on Wednesday. Opinion polls show voters do not like the reforms overall but back most of its individual measures, including direct negotiations between bosses and their staff in small firms. Many in the conservative Republicans party, the biggest opposition bloc in parliament, back the reform. The CGT can mobilize tens of thousands of activists and its absence could impact turnout for Melenchon s rally. The union lost its position in March as France s biggest. France Unbowed has 17 lawmakers and so can do little to block reforms in the 577-strong parliament but Melenchon is popular and attracted 19.6 percent of the votes in the first round of the presidential election in April. The rally is a key test of the party s capacity to mobilize voters against Macron. Forty-five percent of voters say Melenchon s party is Macron s strongest opponent, more than twice the figure for the Republicans or the far-right National Front, an Ifop-Fiducial poll showed on Tuesday.

Jeb Bush Kicks Off GOP Convention By Going Full #NeverTrump

The Republican National Convention starts this coming Monday, and things are not looking good for the GOP s biggest event for the next four years. The problem, of course, is their standard-bearer, Donald Trump. Many prominent Republicans are staying as far away from the convention as possible, they are still about $6 million short of actually paying for the whole thing, and to top it all off, it seems that RNC Chair Reince Priebus still can t get the #NeverTrump delegates to fall in line behind Trump. Now, former presidential candidate Jeb Bush has become the latest to go on record saying that he is most definitely #NeverTrump.On Friday, Bush took his anti-Trump sentiments to the Washington Post, where he said that Trump had tapped into anger and frustration in Americans: They have given rise to the success of a candidate who continues to grotesquely manipulate the deeply felt anger of many Americans. Trump s abrasive, Know Nothing-like nativist rhetoric has blocked out sober discourse about how to tackle America s big challenges. Bush then continued to slam Trump throughout the article, and cautioned fellow Republican politicians about the tone of Trump s campaign and the stain he was putting upon the party. He then went on to beg them to reintroduce civility, ideas and optimism back into politics. Let s find ways to campaign and govern inclusively. Let s find ways to ease the angst and fear of people, without cynically feeding it. He then went on to say that he would not be voting for either Trump or Clinton, but might go for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson: I haven t decided how I ll vote in November whether I ll support the Libertarian ticket or write in a candidate but I do know there are a lot of things Republicans can do in the coming months to lay the groundwork for rebuilding our party and the foundation for a true conservative renewal in our country. The only sort-of compliment Bush had for Trump was his choice to choose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for the #2 spot on the GOP ticket, and it came via Twitter:Mike Pence is a good man. He will add value to the ticket. Jeb Bush (@JebBush) July 16, 2016Well, that s something I guess. At the end of the day, good on Jeb Bush and the other #NeverTrump Republicans. We don t agree on much, but we do agree that Donald Trump is dangerously unfit to be president of the United States.Featured image via Michael Vadon/Wikimedia

GET OUT OF JAIL FREE: How Obama’s Race War Is Quietly Being Funded By Jay Z

Keep buying Jay Z and Beyonce s music and keep telling us you like their music and see no connection between buying their music and using it to fund Obama s race war Rap mogul Jay Z has quietly used his wealth to post bail for people arrested in protests across the United States against police, an author close to him said Sunday.Dream Hampton, a writer and activist who worked with Jay Z on his 2010 memoir Decoded, made the revelations in a series of messages on Twitter that were deleted but were posted by the hip-hop magazine Complex. When we needed money for bail for Baltimore protesters, I hit Jay up, as I had for Ferguson (and he) wired tens of thousands of dollars within minutes, read one tweet.She also tweeted that Jay Z and his pop superstar wife Beyonce wrote a huge check to support the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement aimed at stopping police brutality.Protests spread last year after a white police officer shot dead African American teenager Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.Major demonstrations, some turning violent, erupted last month in Baltimore after another African American man, Freddie Gray, died from a spinal injury sustained in police custody. The tweets appeared aimed at defending Jay Z and Beyonce, who have faced accusations from some activists that they have only paid lip service to the cause without tapping into the couple s estimated $1 billion net worth.Hampton later wrote that she deleted the tweets because Jay Z would be pi-issed to see I was offering evidence that he is taking action.Jay Z on Saturday performed in New York as an exclusive for Tidal, the music streaming service he has launched with fellow stars.In a freestyle segment, Jay Z paid homage to Brown and Gray and belittled Tidal s rivals Spotify and Apple.Jay Z and Beyonce met with Brown and Gray s families last week at a peace concert in Baltimore by Prince, leaving without making public appearances.The power couple are also strong supporters of President Barack Obama, throwing a multimillion-dollar fundraiser for him during his 2012 campaign.Via: Yahoo News

Top Intelligence Committee Member: ‘No Evidence’ To Back Up Trump’s Bogus Wiretap Claims

FBI Director James Comey met with the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday to discuss Donald Trump s claim that former President Obama had his wires tapped at Trump Tower during the election. A day later, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee said that he hasn t seen one shred of evidence to back up Trump s bogus claim.Rep. Adam Schiff is a member of what is known as the Gang of Eight, which is the group of House members who are privy to the most classified information out there. Schiff said that Thursday s meeting with Comey didn t provide the committee with any evidence whatsoever that Trump s phones had been tapped by Obama or anyone else. I think when Sean Spicer isn t even willing to talk about it, you know there s a real problem, Schiff told CNN.Rep. Devin Nunes, who is the Republican heading up the intelligence committee, said earlier this week that he hadn t seen any evidence to support Trump s wiretapping claims either. After meeting with Comey, he said that nothing had changed.Comey has said previously that Trump is full of it when it comes to the allegations of his phones being tapped. Schiff thinks Comey will answer questions regarding this fiasco during a committee hearing scheduled for later this month. He certainly is prepared for the question, Schiff told CNN. I don t see any reason why he wouldn t answer it. He might even welcome the opportunity. Trump decided last weekend that he would get on Twitter and accuse Obama of tapping the phones at Trump Tower, even if he had no evidence to back up this allegation.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images

Watch This Democratic Congressman OBLITERATE Republicans For Their Racism

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) pummeled the Republicans for their xenophobia and racism following calls to create Muslim patrols in the United States in response to the terror attack in Brussels. Takono, whose parents were interned in concentration camps by the United States during World War II, said: Responding to Brussels [terror attacks] by advocating for patrols of Muslim neighborhoods or suggesting that we torture our enemies is not only counterproductive, it violates the moral code that separates us from our enemies. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktJsrBrUIBw]Takano compared today s Islamophobia with the way his own family as well as over 100,000 Japanese Americans were treated in the U.S. during World War II when they were singled out and relocated to concentration camps for simply being Japanese. Takono said:Seventy years ago, my parents and grandparents were held prisoner during World War II without trial and without a reason other than their Japanese heritage. In that moment, no one was willing to speak up for them. We cannot ignore the lessons of history. Takono was responding to Republican calls to target Muslim communities in the wake of the Brussels attacks. Senator and presidential contender Ted Cruz has called for draconian measures including Muslim patrols. He said: We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized. Not to be outdone, Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump also called for targeting Muslims. He echoed Ted Cruz s calls to patrol Muslim communities and he also advocated for the use of torture.Takono s impassioned speech should be a wakeup call for Republicans, whose divisive rhetoric and Islamophobia will divide Americans rather than unite it and make it safer. Featured image via video screenshot.

Republicans kill border tax, focus on corporate rate cuts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposed border tax in the House of Representatives was killed on Thursday, bringing relief to retailers and other large importers whose profits faced threats and removing a hurdle that had kept negotiations on the long-promised Republican overhaul of the U.S. tax code from advancing. The border adjustment tax was part of a broad reform of the tax code being pushed by House Republican leaders. It was meant to discourage companies from manufacturing products overseas and then importing them into the United States for sale instead of producing goods in the U.S. The tax would have generated roughly $1 trillion in revenue, allowing tax-code writers to slash the corporate tax rate without increasing the nation’s deficit. Removing the controversial provision could make it easier to pass tax legislation, but likely narrows the scope of what could become law. It suggests Republicans are more likely to implement simple rate cuts and not accomplish sweeping tax reform on the scale of the last major overhaul in 1986, such as moving to a territorial tax system, in which companies would pay tax only on profits earned in the United States. Without a new source of revenue, it will make it more difficult for Republicans to make tax code changes permanent and deficit-neutral. The Republicans are looking to use rules that would require passage of a tax bill only with a simple majority - meaning they would not need any Democratic votes. Those rules restrict creating long-term deficits, so if the bill is not deficit-neutral the tax cuts would likely carry an expiration date. The group of six Republican negotiators working on tax reform on Thursday did not announce any agreement on their target for corporate rate cuts - a signal that tax lobbyists said shows continuing divisions among Republicans about the closely watched rate. Corporate profits are currently taxed at 35 percent, but President Donald Trump wants them slashed to 15 percent, which he says will promote business spending, economic growth and job creation. “While we have debated the pro-growth benefits of border adjustability, we appreciate that there are many unknowns associated with it and have decided to set this policy aside in order to advance tax reform,” the “Big Six” Republican tax negotiators said in a joint statement. Large retailers and other importers had lobbied aggressively against the border tax proposal, including a coalition that included automakers like Toyota (7203.T) and stores like Target (TGT.N), Autozone (AZO.N) and Best Buy (BBY.N). The retailers argued that the border tax would drastically increase consumer prices, hitting low- and middle-class households the most. The Big Six is comprised of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, the head of the National Economic Council - both representing Trump - House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the heads of the two tax-writing committees in Congress, Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Kevin Brady. In addition to killing the border tax, the group offered other vague goals but no details, saying they remain committed to increased expensing for corporations, or allowing them to write off the cost of new equipment more quickly, and to return profits held by American companies overseas, known as repatriation, at a lower tax rate than the current 35 percent. The statement offered no specific goals or targets on the personal income tax code. “We have always been in agreement that tax relief for American families should be at the heart of our plan,” the Big Six said. Trump has vowed to finish a tax overhaul by the end of this year. Republicans leaders in Congress are hopeful that the current debate on repealing and replacing Obamacare, which is now before the Senate, can be completed quickly, allowing Congress to then turn its attention to the tax code. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce praised the announcement as progress toward an ultimate goal of overhauling the code. “We’re pleased, but we’re not satisfied until we get an outcome,” said Neil Bradley, the head of policy for the business group.

Fox News Gives The Most Cringeworthy Reason Why Ivanka Deserved To Sit In At G20 (VIDEO)

Donald Trump and his favorite daughter, Ivanka, are still getting a lot of heat for the stunt they pulled at the G20 summit in Germany last week. The entire world was shocked when Trump stepped out of the G20 meeting and Ivanka took his seat and sat in for him at the leader s table a move that earned Trump and his administration a massive amount of criticism and outrage.While most of the country was disgusted that Ivanka, who was not elected or qualified, was allowed to sit next to the attending world leaders, Trump and his daughter found refuge on Fox News Outnumbered, who passionately defended their favorite dictator and his daughter. Ignoring the fact that this was highly inappropriate, Fox News Jason Chaffetz and the rest of the Outnumbered panelists were more than happy to defend it. Chaffetz said: Ivanka Trump, she is part of the administration. She does have her father s ear. She can actually get things done. and they were talking about a topic in which she s personally engaged. I think it was wholly appropriate. If that wasn t ridiculous enough, the segment was made far worse by Harris Faulkner, who actually said that Ivanka was qualified to be at the G20 meeting because her products were hot online. Faulkner said: It must be so frustrating for Democrats not to have any low hanging fruit. They re grasping now. They re really grasping. She is there in a capacity of someone who has run a very successful corporation and her items are selling by the way, hot online. It really does not get any dumber than that especially considering that Ivanka s brand has seen a major decline since her father s presidential campaign and failing presidency ruined the family s name and reputation. Fox News has been known to shamelessly promote Trump and his family, but this is just embarrassing.You can watch Fox News defend Trump and Ivanka below:Featured image via Sean Gallup / Getty Images