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Vincent Viola, Nominee for Army Secretary, Drops Out - The New York Times

Susanne Craig

Vincent Viola, a billionaire Wall Street trader and President Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Army, abruptly withdrew his name for the post on Friday night after concluding it would be too difficult to untangle himself from his business ties, two government officials said. Mr. Viola is an owner of the Florida Panthers hockey club and a majority shareholder in Virtu Financial and Eastern Air Lines, among a number of other business interests. This week The New York Times reported that Mr. Viola had been negotiating to swap his stake in Eastern Air Lines for a stake in Swift Air, an airline with government subcontracts. If his nomination had continued, he would have faced certain scrutiny for potentially becoming a government official who benefits from federal contracts. The Trump administration did not announce his withdrawal, which was reported earlier on Friday by Bloomberg News, but a senior administration official and a Pentagon official separately confirmed his decision, which the White House accepted Friday. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Viola is a 1977 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and he last served in the Army Reserves at the rank of major. He remained connected to the military through donations to West Point, including to the academy’s Combating Terrorism Center. A former Pentagon official and close friend said Mr. Viola was devastated over having to withdraw from what he described as a lifelong dream job. But the former official said Mr. Viola felt he was unable to sell his interest in some of his holdings because doing so could have destroyed those companies. His decision followed weeks of negotiations between his lawyers and the government as they sought to find a solution. Ultimately, they could not. Mr. Viola has a net worth of almost $1. 8 billion and is a of Virtu. Virtu had planned to go public in 2014, but pulled the plug on the move because of choppy markets and lingering questions around how trading firms like Virtu make money. In a regulatory filing at the time, Virtu said regulators were looking into its trading practices. It is not known if this issue played a role in Mr. Viola’s decision to withdraw his name for the Army secretary job, which is a post that requires Senate confirmation. His decision to withdraw comes the same week another of Mr. Trump’s appointees, Anthony Scaramucci, was told he would not get a top job at the White House amid concerns about the recent sale of his company to a large Chinese conglomerate. In an episode unrelated to the finances of Mr. Viola, it was recently revealed that he was involved in an altercation in August: He was accused of punching a concessions worker at a racehorse auction in Saratoga Springs, N. Y. No charges were brought against him. Mr. Viola was one of the first nominations Mr. Trump issued the day he was inaugurated. “Vincent Viola, everybody likes Vincent,” Mr. Trump said just hours after his as he signed orders nominating his cabinet.

Exclusive — A Star Is Born: Rep. Claudia Tenney Celebrates Memorial Day on Rolling Thunder Ride with Rex Tillerson - Breitbart

Matthew Boyle

Rep. Claudia Tenney ( ) a freshman conservative House GOP member from New York State, rode with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Rolling Thunder in Washington, D. C. on Memorial Day.[ In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News after the fact, Tenney said she was honored to join Tillerson as the only member of Congress on the Rolling Thunder ride to remember prisoners of war and those missing in action on Memorial Day weekend. Tenney told Breitbart News: It was really cool. Harley reached out to me and said ‘hey we see you’re a Harley rider and a member of Congress. Do you want to go on a ride?’ I was like ‘sure, but the complication of getting my bike down there is a lot.’ They said ‘well, we’ll provide you one’ and I was like ‘super.’ So they had this whole little ride on Saturday night and they had the guy who owns the Harley in Annapolis and so we went to his house. When we went to go on the ride, we all met at the Harley offices on Constitution and it was funny — all of a sudden in rides Rex Tillerson with like two people. We didn’t want to say anything because the Secretary of State was riding with us, but we went for a ride — it was like an hour and a half. We went out through the Virginia countryside and it was like the CEO of Harley, the CFO, the government operations people, two other people and it was just fun. He was like right in front of me — it was like him, then a Secret Service guy and then me. So we just rode together. He’s such a nice guy. He was so down to earth and everything, he was just fun. We rode all over the beautiful countryside in Virginia, it was kind of like being in upstate New York. That was kind of neat and then we ended up at Josh Bolten’s house for dinner, you can see him in the pictures, and then the next day we all ended up at Rolling Thunder and rode with him and he was just incredible going around and saying hello to everybody and posing for pictures and mostly I think he was just so gracious. I was really impressed and I had a chance to talk to him about some things about the job and Trump and it was a really interesting opportunity to sort of talk with him. He was sort of stunned that I was on my own bike. He’s like ‘you’re on your own bike?’ and I was like ‘yeah, I ride my own.’ It was cool. He was just incredibly nice. Tenney rides a Softail Deluxe back home, but for the Rolling Thunder ride, Harley Davidson lent her a Heritage Softail for the weekend. She rode behind Tillerson in the Rolling Thunder ride, and told Breitbart News that the U. S. Secretary of State was a “good rider. ” “I rode behind him so I got to watch the whole time,” Tenney said. Former Idaho Governor, U. S. senator, and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne also joined them on the ride. He said: It was great doing Rolling Thunder. I always wanted to do it. My son, who’s an active duty Marine and serving in the Middle East right now, just knowing that we should honor veterans every day but Rolling Thunder is special because we honor our fallen. There’s so many. The ride was instituted to honor the missing in action and POWs, so it’s special in that way. They started it with only 2, 500 motorcycles 30 years ago, and so this was the 30th anniversary — I was the only member of Congress there. Tenney — a strong conservative woman who started her political career fighting both the GOP establishment and the Democrats in the New York State Assembly before taking the fight to Washington — remarked that there were so many Marines in D. C. for the ride it was “amazing. ” Tenney is emerging as one of the strongest conservative women voices in Washington, speaking truth to power on both sides of the political aisle. She cut her teeth in politics working on key issues like immigration and trade policy in New York — the issues that led to Trump’s political triumph nationally — and has in the Congress stepped into the role of champion for the American worker. Tenney said: One of the things I thought was remarkable was how many Marines were out there. I texted my son in Kuwait and I said ‘there are so many Marines out here’ and he said ‘Marines and motorcycles: they go together.’ It was funny because there were just Marines everywhere and I used to be the lawyer for the Marine Corps in our area and I just know a lot because of my son’s affiliation with the Marine Corps, I end up doing a lot of their balls and events, and we have a Marine outreach center that we take care of. Support for the president, Donald J. Trump, ran high among the bikers and veterans in D. C. fo Memorial Day, too. In the words of Claudia Tenney: There were a lot of veterans for Trump and the fact that Trump is so is refreshing. He gave the military increases and we put through a bill that reduces the wait time and facilitates faster appeals at the VA — there’s a lot that’s been done that’s been pushed through for the president on our side and is maybe waiting in the Senate, some of it. Just having the Secretary there — they all wanted Trump to be there because I guess he was there last year — but it was really moving. The number of people on the street was just astounding to me, just the spectators. And it started to rain also. There were people everywhere, wall to wall people the whole ride — and so many motorcycles. I don’t know how many they estimated. About Trump, she quoted Tillerson : “It’s amazing the person you talk to one on one and work with and then the person who’s out in front of a hundred thousand people. He’s just a really good listener, really generous and very kind person when you’re one on one with him. ” Tenney also said she was pleased to see so many Gold Star families: The Gold Star families were some of the most important people represented. They were there, some of the Gold Star mothers from my district were there who I’ve known for years back to my time in the state assembly. Just about everybody had an American flag, and no problems supporting the American flag and the troops and freedom and Second Amendment rights and all those things. It was very interesting times, and very emotional. They’re people who believe in our Constitution, in freedom, and here they are in a massive group supporting our military. I didn’t see any protesters there — I don’t know if it’s because motorcycles are viewed as ridden by people who are pretty badass. I couldn’t believe the number of people. They said there were three full lots in the Pentagon — it was just jammed with motorcycle after motorcycle, patriotic people who care about our veterans and care about our country. That was really moving. And the fact that Rex Tillerson, or or whatever they call him, he was just out there like any other person meeting folks, shaking hands, getting his picture taken with everyone, really down to earth, really gracious, and I was just really impressed. She also said the Marines and veterans and military families loved Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis when he spoke at Arlington National Cemetery before President Trump on Memorial Day. Tenney said: The next day, people loved Mattis too. Marines love Mattis, Mattis is like a hero to the Marine Corps. I thought Mattis did a great speech and I thought Trump’s speech was great, recognizing the Gold Star families — that’s what this is about — was really great. I thought the speech was really well written, and I know he likes to ad lib a little bit and he did a little but not too much. I thought it was really in line with the Rolling Thunder folks. I bet Trump would have loved to have been down at the Rolling Thunder. Tenney, a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast, noted too how she loves to ride her motorcycle around her district to see all the highways and bridges named after veterans and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice serving their country. “I love to ride. It’s really relaxing,” Tenney said. “It gets me away. I like to just go off into the wilderness. There’s no phone. Just relax. It’s actually a sport for a type A personality like me because you have to be careful and you have to pay attention. I used to ride horses too when I was younger, so it’s similar. ”

Comment on This is rich: Clinton News Network warns us about “fake news” by Dr. Eowyn

Dr. Eowyn

From the network that: Cannot (or will not) confirm the authenticity of the Project Veritas videos Cannot explain how Donna Brazile gave a primary debate question in advance to Hillary Clinton (that verbatim was provided by Roland Martin to CNN the next day). Brazile has since been let go from CNN after it was discovered she provided the Clinton campaign another question before a debate. Told us it is “illegal” to possess the stolen documents from Wikileaks. CNN anchor Chris Cuomo said, “It’s different for the media. So everything you learn about this, you’re learning from us.” Wrongly claimed Hillary did not laugh over defending a rapist Brushed off Clinton sex assaults as ‘Conspiracy Theory Land’ Misquoted Trump , then said he sounds like ‘Stalin or Hitler’ Intentionally removed critical audio from the footage of Keith Scott’s death, according to a law enforcement media company Ignored Clinton rape charges while bolstering Hillary From CNN’s post : It’s time for a new rule on the web: Double, no, triple check before you share. Especially if it seems too good to be true. Why? Look no further than Donald Trump’s Twitter account. Trump claimed Sunday morning that “Twitter, Google and Facebook are burying the FBI criminal investigation of Clinton.” Not only was there no proof of this, but it was pretty easy to disprove. The FBI email inquiry was at the top of Google News; FBI director James Comey’s name was at the top of Facebook’s “trending” box; and Twitter’s “moments” section had a prominent story about the controversy . (I guess I’ll have to take their word for it. I don’t use Google nor Facebook. As for Twitter, well, just ask Jack .) You can trust Facebook… Nevertheless, Trump’s wrong-headed “burying” claim was his most popular tweet of the day. About 25,000 accounts retweeted it and almost 50,000 “liked” it, helping the falsehood spread far and wide. The rise of social media has had many upsides, but one downside has been the spread of misinformation. Fake news has become a plague on the Web, especially on social networks like Facebook. As I said on Sunday’s “Reliable Sources” on CNN, unreliable sources about this election have become too numerous to count. So that’s what I recommended a “triple check before you share” rule. New web sites designed to trick and mislead people seem to pop up every single day. For their creators, the incentives are clear: more social shares mean more page views mean more ad dollars. But the B.S. stories hurt the people who read and share them over and over again. Many of these fakes reinforce the views of conservative or liberal voters and insulate them from the truth. The stories prey on people who want to believe the worst about the opposition. A recent BuzzFeed study of “hyperpartisan Facebook pages” found that these pages “are consistently feeding their millions of followers false or misleading information.” (There you have it. From the expert journalism of “BuzzFeed.”) The less truthful the content, the more frequently it was shared — which does not bode well for the nation’s news literacy during a long, bitter election season. “Right-wing pages were more prone to sharing false or misleading information than left-wing pages,” the BuzzFeed reporting team said. On a few occasions, made-up or highly misleading stories have even snuck into Facebook’s “trending” box — a problem that the company says it is trying to address. In a few cases, Trump aides and family members have themselves been duped by fake news stories, including a hoax version of ABC News with a story headlined “Donald Trump Protester Speaks Out: ‘I Was Paid $3,500 To Protest Trump’s Rally.'” A close look at the web site reveals that it is not, in fact, the actual ABC News. But the site tricked Trump’s son Eric Trump in early October. “Finally, the truth comes out,” he tweeted, promoting a link to the bogus story. As soon as I spoke about this on television on Sunday, CNN detractors filled my inbox with messages saying that CNN is the ultimate example of “fake news.” But that’s a deliberate attempt to confuse the issue. Whatever faults CNN has, news organizations small and large try very hard to report the truth. Fake news sites and Facebook feeds, on the other hand, traffic in misinformation. My sense is that there are three buckets of these sites: #1, Hoax sites with totally made-up news headlines that try to trick you; #2, Hyperpartisan sites that aren’t lying, per se, but are misleading, because they only share good news about your political party and bad news about the other party; #3, “Hybrids” that purposely mix a little bit of fact and then a lot of fiction. These sites aren’t going away, so it’s up to Internet users to spot fake news and avoid spreading it. Fact-checking sites like Snopes can help — they are devoted to ferreting out hoaxes and tricks. Josh Stearns from Democracy Fund Josh Stearns, a longtime media activist who now works at Democracy Fund, said newsrooms also have a role to play. “Fact checking has taken center stage in this election, but newsrooms need to go beyond fact checking politicians statements and help debunk viral misinformation too,” he told me. “At a time when trust in media is at an all time low, journalists should call out these fake news stories and help citizens tell fact from fiction.” Trump’s false claim about Google, Facebook and Twitter “burying” bad news about Clinton criticized what he called the “very dishonest media.” Ironically, he was using Twitter to blast Twitter. Trump may have gotten the idea from an inaccurate Zero Hedge blog post alleging a “social media blackout.” The blog post contained false information. I asked the Trump campaign to provide a source for the wild claim, but no one has responded. DCG

Obama's DOJ Issued "Stand Down" Order on Clinton Foundation Investigation

Daniel Greenfield

Obama's DOJ Issued "Stand Down" Order on Clinton Foundation Investigation November 3, 2016 There have been various insider reports on the Clinton Foundation and the Hillary email scandal on FOX. But the curious thing about this Wall Street Journal report is that it's clearly aimed at defending Hillary Clinton and smearing the FBI in the battle with Obama's DOJ officials who wanted to shut it down due to their support of Hillary Clinton. Which means that its information that damns its own side gains more credibility. Justice Department officials became increasingly frustrated that the agents seemed to be disregarding or disobeying their instructions. Following the February meeting, officials at Justice Department headquarters sent a message to all the offices involved to “stand down,’’ a person familiar with the matter said. A stand down order. Much like the one in Libya. And remember McCabe, whose wife's Democratic political campaign received major cash from a Clinton ally? Amid the internal finger-pointing on the Clinton Foundation matter, some have blamed the FBI’s No. 2 official, deputy director Andrew McCabe, claiming he sought to stop agents from pursuing the case this summer. His defenders deny that, and say it was the Justice Department that kept pushing back on the investigation. Not a surprise either. The FBI had secretly recorded conversations of a suspect in a public-corruption case talking about alleged deals the Clintons made, these people said. The agents listening to the recordings couldn’t tell from the conversations if what the suspect was describing was accurate, but it was, they thought, worth checking out. FBI investigators grew increasingly frustrated with resistance from the corruption prosecutors, and some executives at the bureau itself, to keep pursuing the case. As prosecutors rebuffed their requests to proceed more overtly, those Justice Department officials became more annoyed that the investigators didn’t seem to understand or care about the instructions issued by their own bosses and prosecutors to act discreetly. And that's what blew up when Team Hillary lashed out at the FBI. It was a covert war between Hillary's DOJ allies and the FBI coming out of the cold. And they pushed so hard even McCabe was disgusted. As a result of those complaints, these people said, a senior Justice Department official called the FBI deputy director, Mr. McCabe, on Aug. 12 to say the agents in New York seemed to be disregarding or disobeying their instructions, these people said. The conversation was a tense one, they said, and at one point Mr. McCabe asked, “Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation?’’ The senior Justice Department official replied: ”Of course not.” Of course.

Gerard Paul Gallon

Its a work of GOD to prove His EXISTENCE.We must pray for our sins.Praise JEHOVAH!!!!

Refugee Arrivals Decline Sharply under Trump, Says Report

Bob Price

A new report reveals the number of refugees resettled monthly in 46 U. S. states declined sharply in Fiscal Year 2017. Refugee resettlement dropped abruptly following President Donald Trump’s January inauguration. The drop is most pronounced in Texas and California. [The nonpartisan Pew Research Center reviewed data from the U. S. State Department and reported Thursday that the numbers of refugees resettling in the U. S. had dropped nationwide from 9, 945 in October 2016 to 3, 316 in April 2017. Besides Texas and California in the first and second spots, Michigan and New York have also seen marked decreases. These states were followed by Arizona, Washington, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. California, Texas, and New York were three of the 10 states that resettled the most refugees in the fiscal year 2016, and they have seen the biggest drop. Texas experienced a 68 percent reduction in the number of refugees received. That number in California was 58 percent. Michigan and New York saw a 70 and 68 percent cut respectively from October to April. Although there was an abatement during this period, the number of refugees that arrived in April rose 60 percent to 3, 315 when compared to the 2, 070 in March. Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch appeared skeptical of the report’s true meaning. She noted the decline is from a historical peak under the Obama Administration and said October was the “largest month (by far) of any fiscal year in the past 11. ” “I also had a chuckle as I read the Pew story about how the numbers are plummeting in Texas, but not a mention that the state withdrew from the program and that although it is up and running now (without the state government) the transition to the program did cause a slight slowdown,” Corcoran wrote in a post on Refugee Resettlement Watch’s website. “Texas is still the number 2 state behind California for refugee admissions this year. ” President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13780 on March 6 capping the number of refugees coming into the U. S. at 50, 000. The Obama Administration had set that number at 110, 000. The March executive order revoked and replaced the original order issued on January 27 which was signed by the president just seven days after he was sworn into office. As reported by Breitbart News, the new order was designed to also temporarily block migrants from six countries and to freeze arrivals for 120 days. Corcoran noted that had the President’s order been allowed to stand, “That would have caused ‘plummeting’ admission numbers. ” She reported the federal government is on pace to admit approximately 60, 000 refugees this fiscal year. “Compare that to Bush in 2007 and Obama in 2011 and 2012 — all three years under 60, 000,” she concluded. On Thursday, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sitting en banc issued an opinion and upheld a block from a federal district court in Maryland against the executive order. Three of the judges dissented. Judge Paul Niemeyer chastised the majority for impermissibly expanding its review from the text of the executive order itself, Breitbart News reported. Niemeyer stated the U. S. Supreme Court has prohibited such appellate review, and the intermediate appellate court looked to statements made by presidential candidate Donald Trump and other “extratextual search for evidence suggesting bad faith, which is exactly what three Supreme Court opinions have prohibited. ” Judge Niemeyer wrote, “The majority, now for the first time, rejects these holdings in favor of its politically desired outcome. The Pew report from Thursday noted, “If the new ceiling were in place, the U. S. could resettle a maximum of 7, 586 refugees during the final five months of the current fiscal year, which ends in September. ” The report by the Pew Research Center released on May 25 ends with the statement: For U. S. resettlement, the International Organization for Migration and the U. S. Office of Refugee Resettlement work with voluntary agencies such as the International Rescue Committee or Church World Service to resettle refugees. These agencies have offices across the country and resettle refugees across many states. After 90 to 180 days, financial assistance from federal agencies stops. Breitbart News reported in February that U. S. taxpayers would expend more than $4. 1 billion in the 2017 budget to support the 519, 018 refugees resettled in the country since October 2009. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

Talk Nation Radio: Sonia Kennebeck on the Drone as National Bird

DavidSwanson

https://soundcloud.com/davidcnswanson/talk-nation-radio-sonia-kennebeck-on-the-drone-as-national-bird Sonia Kennebeck is director and producwer of National Bird, an amazing new documentary about drones. Kennebeck is an independent documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist with more than 15 years of directing and producing experience. She has directed eight television documentaries and more than 50 investigative reports. She lives in New York where she runs her own production company (Ten Forward Films) that makes films about international politics and human rights. Filmmaker Magazine recently selected her as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film 2016.” Sonia Kennebeck received a Master’s degree in International Affairs from American University in Washington, D.C. and was born in Malacca, Malaysia. National Bird is her first feature-length documentary film.

Southern Poverty Law Center Names Florida-Based Now The End Begins As ‘Active Anti Government Group’

Geoffrey Grider

Southern Poverty Law Center Names Florida-Based Now The End Begins As ‘Active Anti Government Group’ "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." - Declaration of Independence We are not against government , we are against bad government, oppressiv e government, corrupt government and anti-American government. “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:” Romans 13:1-3 (KJV) This is what the Southern Poverty Law Center says about themselves on thier own website: “The SPLC is the premier U.S. non-profit organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists – including the Ku Klux Klan , the neo-Nazi movement, neo-Confederates , racist skinheads , black separatists , antigovernment militias , Christian Identity adherents and others.” So it was with great amusement that I saw on page 60 of their yearly “ The Year In Hate And Extremism ” where they provide a state-by-state listing of anti government groups, Now The End Begins was included in their assessment of Florida. Hmmm…is NTEB really an “anti government” group? No, we are not. My father was a vet of both WWII and Korea, my brother a US Marine, and I have lots of friends who are warfighters, police officers and first responders. I was raised to have a deep and abiding respect for the police and government officials. I have never advocated for any uprising against our government, and certainly never advocated for violence on any level. That being said, NTEB is in 100% agreement with the following statement by founding father Thomas Jefferson: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” – Declaration of Independence NTEB has been very hard on the Obama administration for reasons listed here , here and here . As well as here , here and here . And here . And oh, here , here and here , too. Ugh, enough already! A short Compilation of Barack Obama’s blatant lies: Now The End Begins is not “against government” , but we are against bad government, oppressiv e government, corrupt government and anti-American government. The Obama administration has been an 8 year experiment in white guilt, unvetted illegal immigration and a doubling of the National Debt just to name a few. Barack Obama is the anti-Reagan, a global citizen and the “ president of the world .” That’s not good government for America, that’s slop created for Socialists, Liberals and Communists by true anti-government troublemakers like Saul Alinsky . That’s not us, not by a long shot. Donald Trump: “My policy is America first” In 2016, America is presented with a fantastic opportunity to elect as leader, not a politician, but a businessman whose platform is simple. Put America first , and work to restore our former greatness. Wow, that’s exactly right. That’s a government that I can wholeheartedly support. That’s a government that the founding fathers would support. It’s time to Make America Great Again.

’The Next Revolution? Steve Hilton is the Original RINO’

Oliver JJ Lane

The chairman of Britain’s oldest conservative think tank has slammed political strategist turned media pundit Steve Hilton for portraying himself as a Tea Party style figure, accusing him of being a liberal “moderniser” and RINO (Republican in name only). [Speaking to Breitbart London Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam on Breitbart News Daily, Bow Group Chairman Ben said Fox News’s new anchor Steve Hilton and his show The Next Revolution, with its focus on “how corrupt the establishment is” was far from a friend of the people. Explaining how Hilton has contributed to the collapse of Conservative grassroots in the United Kingdom before jumping ship to the U. S. to become a media pundit, said of Hilton and his long association with Britain’s former prime minister: Steve Hilton was really the original moderniser in the Conservative party … the original RINO. He worked with David Cameron going back 20, 25 years … came up with him through the ranks of the Conservative party. Their whole basis was to move the Conservative Party leftwards to the centre, to ape what [Labour Party Prime Minister] Tony Blair had done in British politics. It is extraordinary to now see him almost placing himself with the Tea Party movement in the United States. Listing the disastrous and unconservative policies pushed by Hilton in the UK, Kassam said: “Let us not forget this man is somebody who was behind implementing the ‘big green’ agenda in the United Kingdom, he was behind telling Conservative Members of Parliament that they could no longer espouse conservative views and that they had to hide behind these liberal left approaches to things. His big flagship policy was what they called the ‘big society’ which really meant big government, and using fluffy words to implement it. ” Both Bow Group Chairman and Breitbart host Kassam agreed they were glad Hilton had suddenly performed a and decided his decades of progressive politicking was a mistake as he looked to populism for a new career, but they also said it was time to hear him admit he had been wrong. said: “Everyone can change their views in politics, everyone can change their opinions. But what I’d like to hear from Steve Hilton is an address as to how he was wrong and why we were right. How did he change his views and why?” Kassam went further, demanding Hilton apologise to the public for the damage he had done. He said: “I’d like to have him look squarely down that Fox News camera and say: ‘I’m sorry for ruining the United Kingdom, I’m sorry for ruining the Conservative Party … I’m sorry for continuing the legacy of Tony Blair … I see one of my fellow countrymen masquerading as something that for so many years he was against. He was ridiculing us, he was mocking us. ’” remarked in reply that not only had Hilton and his fellow travellers damaged conservatism in Britain, they had also attacked those who sought to defend the old principles of the movement, including his own think tank which had been known as a favourite of former Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Explaining how that damage led to the disastrous result for the Conservative Party in last week’s general election, remarked: They took a very uncompromising attitude towards those who continued to defend conservatism. David Cameron personally tried to wipe both myself and the Bow Group out, and what happened with Steve Hilton and David Cameron was to totally disempower the grassroots membership, who tended to stick to traditional conservative values. All of that has actually led to the general election we just saw because the Conservative Party now has one sixth of the membership of the Labour Party because everyone got extremely annoyed that the leadership of the party held the membership in contempt, and left. That legacy is still having a major effect on British politics. I’m glad Steve Hilton has admitted he’s wrong, but he seems to want to rewrite that history. Steve Hilton worked with the Conservative Party on their failed 1997 general election campaign before becoming the director of strategy — known as the “ man” — to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, resigning in 2012. LISTEN: Bow Group Chairman Ben speaks to Breitbart London Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam on the Breitbart Daily Show on Sirius XM 125 Patriot:

The Mysterious Metamorphosis of Chuck Close - The New York Times

Wil S. Hylton

A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit Chuck Close at his beach house on Long Island. The drive there always reminds me of an escape to the Hamptons in reverse. From the aristocratic brownstones of Park Slope, you work your way steadily down the socioeconomic ladder, past the towering style apartment complexes of Coney Island, through strips of pawn shops and gimcrack hotels that give way to rowhouses fronted with plaster statuary, until at last the journey comes to an end at the beaten waterfront of Long Beach, a haven for cops and firefighters looking to blow off summer steam, where you pay for access to the sand amid a throng of rented umbrellas and engorged pectorals, all of which vanish at sundown into a surfeit of bwomping nightclubs along the strip. If all this sounds like an odd place to find one of the world’s most celebrated painters, a master of the modern portrait whose work is displayed in the great museums, all I can tell you is that pretty much every close friend and relative of Close’s feels the same way. After 30 years of splitting his time between the tony enclaves of Manhattan and Bridgehampton, he has recently set about leaving much of his old life behind: filing for divorce from his wife, Leslie, after 43 years of marriage, disappearing for the winter to live virtually alone in a new apartment on Miami Beach and retreating from his summer friends to the crowded isolation of Long Beach. Even when Close ventures into the city for a gallery opening these days, he will often turn up in some outlandish costume, in fabrics printed with giant starfish and sunflowers, with lipstick smeared across his face and billowing, extravagant scarves. Over the past year, I have been stopping off to see Close in various homes and apartments up and down the Eastern Seaboard, trying to get a handle on the changes in his life and their connection to his work. On my most recent visit to his beach house, I arrived a few minutes early, and one of his assistants let me in, gesturing toward a staircase that leads to his bedroom and studio. I found Close waiting at the top with a gentle smile. At 76, it must be said, he is starting to look . Apart from the obvious fact of his being restricted to a wheelchair since 1988, when an arterial collapse left him mostly paralyzed from the neck down, he is also entering that awkward phase in life when bodies degenerate unevenly, so that even as he’s become a little corpulent at the middle, his cheeks are starting to hollow out and his powerful neck to narrow, giving the impression that his shiny bald head and tufted white goatee are elongating with time. What hasn’t changed, and mercifully so, is that smile. It is the most hopeful, eager, childlike smile a person can imagine. It would not be going too far to say that it can fill and break your heart at once. Another element of lingering beauty about him is the contour of his wrists and hands. Thirty years of muscular atrophy have left them as stretched and sinewy as fine silverwork, and with only the slightest motor control, he tends to hold them perfectly flat, gesturing this way and that with all five fingers at once. The effect is vaguely regal. When he needs to pick something up, he will pinch it between the outer edges of his palms, which gives the impression of a man cupping water from a stream. On this particular morning, he wore a splattered smock over a white and blue pants, swishing a small glass of cappuccino with both hands. After a quick hug and hello, we went outside to a balcony overlooking the water. The morning sun raked over the dune grass, and the beach was just filling with tourists. Close leaned back in his chair to let the light pour onto his face. He looked tan and rested, healthier than I’d seen him in months, and had been working all morning in the studio behind us on a large portrait that I knew he was excited about. “I always have at least one portrait in each show,” he said, “but usually no more than one. And then, with the last show, there were a lot of portraits, and I’ve only done portraits since then. I think I’m having a conversation with myself. ” He continued: “Facing death, or whatever the hell it is. I think it comes out of my diagnosis and not knowing how long I have. ” What you need to understand as we get into this further is that nobody saw it coming. I don’t just mean his recent focus on death or his urge toward portraiture, nor do I mean his bewildering decision to remove himself to Long Beach and Miami, or even the trail of late nights and young women he has begun to leave behind. What I mean is the combination of all these things into a period of metamorphic transition here at the end of a legendary life. I think now of an afternoon we spent together three years back. Maybe the signal was already there. It is so hard to know. This was at his studio on Bond Street. It looked about the same as now: fading black facade of peeling paint, windows papered over, without a sign or even a doorbell to announce the light within — and behind that leaden barrier: him, whirling about in his mechanical chair, his body slumped low in the seat, his chin thrust high as he scrambled to complete the day’s work. There was an old television set in the corner, blaring chatty daytime garbage, and the floor was specked with bits of paint under a bank of skylights, with large photographs of Barack Obama propped against one wall and, at the far end of the room, atop an aluminum easel, an incomplete portrait of the artist Cindy Sherman — eight feet high and wrought in a palette that dissolved from creamy greens and grays into a riot of hot pink at the bottom. At the time, I thought little of this shift on the canvas, or what it might portend. The intrusion of pink at the lower edge was unlike anything I’d seen him paint before. It seemed lurid and garish, not at all to my taste, but it was, after all, an incomplete work, and he was Chuck Close. He was Chuck Close. Fifty years of paint on canvas, and if there was anything you came to expect, it was the eccentricity of his vision. He arrived in New York in the 1960s from about as great a distance as any American kid could. Raised in Everett, Wash. on the Puget Sound, he was a tall and stocky child but oddly vulnerable, forever wrestling some new illness — a neuromuscular condition that made it difficult to lift his feet, a bout with nephritis that kept him bound for most of sixth grade. When he did attend school, he was a lumbering student who struggled to read and write. Later he would understand these limitations as dyslexia, but in the 1950s, as he told me once, “you weren’t dyslexic, you were stupid. ” Year by year, he slipped by, mustering what skills he possessed: He would entertain his family with magic tricks, dressed in vaudevillian garb, and when his teachers assigned a paper on the travels of Lewis and Clark, he drew an expansive map of the expedition instead. Afternoons he often spent in silence at his grandmother’s house next door, watching as she knit stars to sew together into a tablecloth. He had always known he wanted to be an artist, but it was difficult to define precisely what that meant. After high school, he commuted to art classes at Everett Junior College, then transferred to the University of Washington and completed a master’s at Yale. By the time he reached Manhattan in his 20s, he may have appeared, at with a beaming grin and a gravelly baritone, the picture of robust confidence, but the picture belied his childhood struggles and insular experience of life. What he knew was that he possessed a gift for portraiture so lifelike that it seemed like malpractice not to express it. Take a look at the early stuff, just after his arrival in the city. Start with “Nancy” from 1968 or “Phil” from ’69. You’re looking at portraits so precise that they actually read as photographs. In fact, if you’re looking at reproductions of the work, it’s difficult to know whether you are seeing a photograph of his painting or the photo on which his painting was based. The detail is mathematical, mechanical, which is not to say rote. Nothing irritates Close more than referring to his early portraiture as “photorealism,” but setting aside the historical baggage of that term, it’s a pretty good description of what you see. Even as you slip forward a few years and he begins adding color in the early 1970s, you’ll find no painterly style on the canvas, no distinctive brushwork — namely because he had given up brushes to work with a paint sprayer, which he considered a homage to Vermeer. “I can figure out how any painting in the history of art got made, with the exception of Vermeer’s,” he told me. “It’s like a divine wind blew the pigment on. ” What you get in those early portraits, then, are paintings in which the viewer’s attention is directed not to the hand of the artist or the texture of the paint, but to the faces themselves — trying to divine, in those expressions, a crumb of attitude or emotion. That is to say, your imagination is drawn to the subject of the work, not the object. Remember that Close was making these portraits at a time of spectacular upheaval in American art, when many of his contemporaries were preoccupied with wild, experimental work — with artists like Walter de Maria, Michael Heizer and Robert Smithson moving into the desert, where they would trap lightning, build a city of black stone and extend a huge spiral walkway into the Great Salt Lake. Just a few years earlier, the prominent critic Clement Greenberg effectively banished the kind of work that Close was doing from the ranks of modern art. “With an advanced artist,” Greenberg wrote, “it’s now not possible to make a portrait. ” So in the world that Close inhabited, his work presented a strange duality. In one sense, the decision to paint photographic portraiture was almost laughably conventional. In another, it was among the most defiant things a downtown artist could do, or anyway, the thing most likely to catch hell on a Saturday night, when you could find Close a few blocks north of his studio at the bar Max’s Kansas City, surrounded by artistic insurgents like Richard Serra and Dorothea Rockburne and struggling to defend his work against the impression that it wasn’t really art at all — or as Close grumpily described the dynamic to me, “Like I might as well have been a prostitute inviting people up to my room to screw me. ” One of the things you hear people say about Close now, with the supposed benefit of hindsight, is that the medical catastrophe he suffered in 1988, which took his mobility and nearly killed him, also revolutionized his work. The nightmare crashed down on a warm Wednesday afternoon in December. He was attending an awards ceremony for artists at Gracie Mansion when a flattening exhaustion swept through him and he stumbled outside, tripping down the street to Doctors Hospital, where he collapsed inside the doorway and, within an hour, lay paralyzed from the neck down. But losing control of his hands, the story goes, forced him to abandon the conventions of realism and develop a novel way of painting: dividing his canvas into a grid and then filling one square at a time to create a dynamic pointillist effect. This is a tidy, wrapped narrative, which should be the first indication that it’s wrong. Something about Close seems to invite this sort of psych exegesis. The other great yarn that circulates about his work involves the medical condition prosopagnosia, which is commonly known as “ blindness. ” Because Close has difficulty remembering new people and believes that he suffers from the condition, the temptation has proved irresistible for his fans and critics to draw a link between prosopagnosia and his interest in painting faces. Which makes for a charming story and might be true, but the evidence is pretty shaky. Some of Close’s oldest friends have told me that they never heard him mention blindness until he reached an age when forgetting people is common, and anyway, he tends to paint the same familiar people repeatedly — like his Leslie, and his daughters, Maggie and Georgia, and his pals Cindy Sherman and Philip Glass — so it’s not clear in what sense you could argue that he’s using the work to navigate an unfamiliar landscape. The evidence that quadriplegia revitalized his work is even more slender. You can look pretty closely at the paintings just before his collapse and the ones right after, and at some point you’ve got to admit there’s hardly any difference at all. The truth is that by the time of the collapse, he had been experimenting with grids and fragmented portraiture for more than a decade. Even as his realistic portraits garnered acclaim, selected for shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Biennial, and Close himself gravitated to the center of the New York art scene, he was also, in the relative privacy of his studio, tinkering with the very qualities he was becoming known for. Not to say that the medical catastrophe was anything short of terrorizing for Close, transforming every other aspect of his life, just weirdly, almost providentially, not so much the work. Examples. A few months before the collapse, Close opened a show at the Pace Gallery in Manhattan, where he included the paintings “Cindy II” and “Francesco II,” each composed with thousands of irregular dots the next year, fresh out of the hospital and eager to return to work, he strapped a paintbrush to his failing wrist and completed “Janet” and “Elizabeth. ” Anyone who looks at these four paintings and claims to discern a after split is talking stuff. Or better yet, compare the paintings “Alex II” and “Lucas II,” which you can see above. One was completed in the year before his collapse and the other the year after — but without the captions, it would be hard to say which is which. What’s startling about this emerging style, particularly as it evolved into the formal structure of the grid, is that it doesn’t just approximate the suggestion of a human face. From a distance, the squares of the grid actually cohere into a portrait that’s nearly as vivid, in its way, as his early photorealist work. Looking at a painting like “Lyle,” you see minute shades of detail: a gentle furrow in the brow, a wrinkle of amusement at the corner of the eye. This impression of detail, where no actual detail can be found on the canvas, is mesmerizing and confounding. What you are seeing isn’t really there. You are no longer looking at the actual surface of the painting, but some apparition hovering above it, a numinous specter that arises in part from the engagement of your own imagination. Through the painting, Close has accessed the perceptual center of your mind, exploiting the way we process human identity: the gaps of knowledge and the unknown spaces we fill with our own presumptions, the expectations and delusions we layer upon everyone we meet. Which is why, by the time I made my way out to see the new house in Long Beach for the first time last year, I had come to think of Close not merely as a painter of enormous faces but as someone engaged in thinking about the fragile boundary between identity and perception. So when I entered his studio on a sweltering afternoon last summer and discovered, mounted upon the easel, a looming portrait in glaring neon, utterly devoid of depth or detail, as if he had taken the pink bottom of that Cindy Sherman portrait from a few years earlier and, rather than complete the painting, embraced its crude quality as a new technique, I couldn’t help wondering what Close, after 50 years of struggling to capture the human face and human identity, was trying now, at the end of his life, to reveal about his own. By this time, it was clear to everyone around Close that something unusual was going on with him. The mystery was what. With each passing season, he seemed to grow more distant, disappearing to Miami and Long Beach, where few of his friends had gone to visit or even knew where to find him. This was the backdrop against which I drove out to see him that day last summer. I arrived just as he was finishing a daily medical ablution and found myself waiting in his studio, gawping at the new portrait in all its coruscant color. It’s difficult to know how to describe that painting, or the series of new work it was part of, except to say that it was a radical departure from the last 20 years of his art. Gone were all the swoops and swirls that he typically paints into each square of the grid. In their place, he had filled each cell with just one or two predominant colors, creating a clunky digital effect like the graphics of a Commodore 64. The colors themselves were harsh and glaring, blinding pink and gleaming blue, while the face in the portrait — his face — was cleaved right down the middle, with one side of the canvas painted in different shades from the other. To the left, his skin was peach, his shirt deep red and the background mint green to the right, his skin was pink, his shirt sapphire and the backdrop orange. There was a splotch hovering over his neck, with a long tail that poked into his nose, and one ear was radioactive yellow the nose was honking blue. As I stood there puzzling over the painting, I heard the elevator in the hallway clatter to a stop, and Close wheeled into the room behind me. He was wearing a pair of huge turquoise eye glasses, a dark blue smock and not much in the way of pants, just his bare legs sticking out from the wheelchair and wrapped in white compression socks. He smiled and, gesturing toward the canvas, said: “It’s almost, what? like?” The painting did not strike me as like by any divination, but rather than say so, I blurted out, “Interesting that it’s halved. ” Close pursed his lips, and we continued staring at the image in silence. Light poured through the windows and skylights, and the sound of the beach blew through the room in gusts of chatter. After a while, I pulled a heavy wooden chair from the side of the room to the middle, taking a seat beside him. “So,” I said. “Tell me how you’ve made this place into a home. ” A tiny frown flashed over his face as if he were making some private calculation, then he shrugged and proceeded to answer the question I hadn’t asked. “I got to the point where I felt it was no longer my art world,” he said. “There’s not a lot of interest in painting. ” By this, I gathered that he meant the renewed emphasis on conceptual art in certain quarters, with its preference for cultural commentary over the old tradition of artistic making. “The dirtiest word in art is the ” Close said. “I can’t even say ‘craft’ without feeling dirty. ” He attributed this change in part to the economic eruption of modern New York. “I blame what’s happened in art on how expensive it became to be an artist,” he said. “When I came to New York in ’67, a foot studio was $85. ” Without access to such large private studios, he said, many young artists have developed alternate ways of working, like drawing plans for an installation or a sculpture they hope to make but not actually producing the work until it has been selected for a show. “It’s studio art!” he said. “Sculptors who never see the work before the exhibition. It’s designed on the back of a cocktail napkin at 35, 000 feet, and then they build it for the first time in Germany. ” For an artist who learns to work this way, he added, a studio can become unnecessary, even when one is available. “I’ve been involved for many years with the American Academy in Rome, the most beautiful studios that anybody will ever be offered, and depending who’s on the jury, some years there won’t be a single person who makes anything,” he said. “They sit in these beautiful studios, they put the work on the wall that they used to get the grant and then they just talk. For a year. It’s criminal. You can talk in any room! Those rooms should be used to make paintings or sculpture. And then out of this studio thing came the absolute scariest notion of all, which is skilled art. Have you heard that? skilled! It’s like — whatever you do, don’t show them you have any facility!” Close mentioned that after his collapse in 1988, he briefly considered shifting to conceptual work himself. “I’m lying in bed, paralyzed — now what am I going to do?” he said. “I thought: I can make work of a conceptual nature. I can put a level on a shelf as well as someone else! But I was going to miss the activity of pushing paint around. So pretty soon, I thought, I’m going to get the paint on the canvas if I have to spit the paint on the canvas. They found me a room in the basement, an therapy room. It was so depressing: unfinished baskets hanging from the ceiling, because the person died before they finished the basket, or they gave them burning. . .. ” His voice trailed off, and he paused for a moment. “You’re paralyzed, doing burning?” he said quietly. Then he paused again, and a look of confusion came over him. “Why am I talking about this?” he asked. “You were talking about the therapeutic role of process,” I said. “Right,” he said, and resumed the story. But a minute later, he lost his train of thought once more. Then another few minutes passed, and it happened again. After half a dozen of these, I suggested we take a break. I was staying in the area for a few days, so it would be easy to return, and we agreed to meet the following afternoon for lunch. I gathered my things and wandered outside to the boardwalk. Toned young couples raced by on Rollerblades, and the shouts of children echoed over the water, and I found myself shuffling through the crowd in a state of bewilderment. I had no idea what to make of the strange forgetfulness that came over Close, or his new style of painting, or whatever had led him to Long Beach, but it seemed to me as I traipsed the boardwalk that I could really only hope to connect with the work through the man. I was reminded of a night a few months earlier, when I was living at an artist colony in upstate New York and attended an evening exhibition of another resident’s work. He was a videographer with a lively sense of humor, and I’d come to enjoy our conversations, but it turned out that he spent his artistic energy shooting footage of himself breaking dinnerware. I mean this literally: His show that evening consisted of more than an hour of film that depicted saucers and cups flying through the air and smashing. As I watched this, I confess, I found little to admire in it, but I was increasingly curious about what in the world inspired him to make it. It seems to me now, with greater reflection, that the value of experiencing another person’s art is not merely the work itself, but the opportunity it presents to connect with the interior impulse of another. The arts occupy a vanishing space in modern life: They offer one of the last lingering places to seek out empathy for its own sake, and to the extent that an artist’s work is frustrating or difficult or awful, you could say this allows greater opportunity to try to meet it. I am not saying there is no room for discriminating taste and judgment, just that there is also, I think, this other portal through which to experience creative work and to access a different kind of beauty, which might be called communion. In any event, as I passed through the clamor of the boardwalk that afternoon, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the new painting, but I was eager to understand what it meant to Close. Removed from his old friends and landscapes, feeling alienated from the New York art world and disconcerted by its inclinations, he was working in this divergent new mode, in a blaring slate of colors, and was painting precisely what he wanted to paint, because he wanted to paint it. In that sense, if no other, it was dazzling to consider the portrait and to witness the audacity of an artist working so independently at the end. I thought of the critic William Hazlitt’s fascination, in the early 1800s, with what he called “the old age of artists,” about which he wrote, “One feels that they are not quite mortal, that they have one imperishable part about them. ” I was also reminded of the long ruminations by Edward Said on the same phenomenon, which Theodor Adorno termed “late style,” when an artist approaching the end of life begins to embrace a newfound dissonance. “Each of us can supply evidence of late works which crown a lifetime of aesthetic endeavor,” Said wrote. “But what of artistic lateness not as harmony and resolution, but as intransigence, difficulty and contradiction?” Thinking of a musician like Beethoven, Said wrote: “Late works constitute a form of exile. ” In Long Beach, exile had the sound of summer, and I spent a few more days with Close, watching the tides roll out. We would sit at the long table on the middle floor, eating Indian takeout and discussing the commercial compromise made by artists who rely on assistants to make their work. “I look at my friend Jeff Koons, and I think, Why in God’s name does he want to do that?” Close said. “Why would he give up the fun part to become the C. E. O. of an manufacturing company?” We drank whiskey overlooking the beach, talking about his relationship with his daughters. “I’ve been in a struggle with my children to see which of us was going to be a first, and they won,” he said. “I still live entirely in the moment. I don’t think about the past. It drives the people around me crazy. ” Then suddenly, in the middle of some wandering thought, often in midsentence, he would stop, and it was clear that he no longer knew where his own voice had taken him. In moments of pique and humor, he talked the critics who savaged his early work. “When Hilton Kramer was the critic at The Times, he reviewed my first big show,” he said. “He took half a page to say how awful it was, and I still remember the quote. He said, What Mr. Close makes is evidence of the kind of crap that washed ashore when the tide of Pop Art went out. Isn’t that great? !” “It’s brutal,” I said. “It’s great,” he said again. “If Hilton Kramer liked my work, I’d slit my wrists. John Canaday hated me, too. Deborah Solomon doesn’t speak to me anymore, because I was at a cocktail party and she’d just written a profile of someone that was so nasty, and I said: I don’t know how you live with yourself. It’s like being a meter maid — all you do is bring people misery. ” He talked about his affinity for younger women. “It turns out that a wheelchair is some sort of funny babe magnet,” he said. “When I’m going through the Miami Art Fair, thousands of beautiful women are hanging all over me. ” I mentioned that this seemed to trouble his and daughters, with whom I was in contact. “They worry whether people are taking advantage of you,” I said. “They do nothing to keep informed,” he said quickly. “I would be happy to let them know. ” At one point, we slipped out of the house, away from his medical staff, whose constant presence can be overwhelming, and we raced down the street with the jittering energy of a slapstick jailbreak, Close barreling over curbs and around corners, his wheelchair canting to the edge of toppling, while I loped along, trying to keep up, and we settled for lunch at the sidewalk table of a Mexican restaurant, where we fed each other forkfuls of fish tacos, empanadas and arepas. During this time, several things became clear to me, and others more confusing. For example, I learned — at first in confidence and then with permission to tell you here — that early last year, Close received a mistaken diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, and that he spent weeks in a panic over the implications, expecting to have only one or two more years of life and believing that his new phase of work would be his last. A few weeks after he told me this, we had lunch at his usual table in the Manhattan restaurant Il Buco, and I asked him how to handle the misdiagnosis in print. Close leaned back in his chair and studied the ceiling for a moment. “Just say that I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s,” he said, “and it turned out to be wrong, but there’s another diagnosis that I haven’t made public. ” What I can tell you about the new diagnosis is that it does not signal imminent demise and that Close today is, as he has been for much of his life, in the grip of an unrelieved cavalcade of physical setbacks, including bedsores and routine catheterization, but none of these things can be made to explain, at least not fully, the rising eccentricity of his manner. Many of the things I learned about Close became apparent in oblique ways. During my first few visits to the beach house, I was under the impression that his second marriage, to the artist Sienna Shields, whom he married in 2013, was still going strong and that any additional flings and forays with other women were simply part of their arrangement. Shields would join us for drinks, chatting amiably about Alaska, her home state, where she and Close were building another house. When Close and I drifted off to chat privately, she spent her time rustling through piles of art supplies and boxes stacked in a room at the western end of the second floor, which she and Close at first explained as having something to do with her changing studios. This seemed a little vague, but I didn’t realize how much they left out until one afternoon, when I arrived for lunch and Shields was gone — while an even younger woman named Eve was at Close’s side, joining us at the banquet table, helping Close eat, touching him affectionately and demonstrating with every gesture her position as his girlfriend. I had arrived that day with the founder of the Pace Gallery, Arne Glimcher, whose renown as the director and producer of movies like “The Mambo Kings” and “Gorillas in the Mist” may at this point approach Close’s own. Glimcher is also a serious sailor who was just about to depart for a journey around the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula with his wife, Millie. It was clear that he was just as baffled as I was by the sudden appearance of Eve, whom he confessed to having never met, or heard about, on our drive back to Manhattan a few hours later, his driver inching through traffic on the Belt Parkway while Glimcher, in a trim blue blazer festooned with a red lapel pin to denote his selection for the French Legion of Honor, calmly stroked the back of a little gray terrier asleep on his lap. A few weeks later, I ran into Glimcher at a gallery opening downtown. He was just back from the sail, and he grabbed my arm, pulling me into a coat room. “So, it’s official,” he said. “Chuck and Sienna are over. ” “O. K.,” I said. “How do you think I should describe the situation with Eve?” Glimcher frowned. “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess just say it’s a fact. ” In between these occasions, I had long and difficult conversations with many people who have been intimate with Close through the years, including both of his daughters, Georgia and Maggie. Although these interviews were on the record, with tape recorders running, each of them later expressed remorse for some of the things they said, and I have chosen to withhold most of what they told me. The takeaway is that Close’s decision to file for divorce from their mother, Leslie, in 2010, seemed to the children like a precipitating event for many of the changes in his life since then, which at various points each of them referred to as an identity crisis in old age. For Georgia and Maggie, tears came readily, and I would characterize their prevailing sentiment as an amalgam of love, heartbreak and longing. Their father’s departure from the family routine and his relocation to, of all places, Long Beach and Miami, left them feeling alienated and displaced. “There’s a social disconnect, an emotional disconnect sometimes,” Georgia told me. “I don’t think any of us, even in our family really, can put our finger on it. ” In a conversation with Maggie, she told me: “I worry about my dad to the point that it’s debilitating. ” Awkward in the role of intermediary but beyond the point of choosing, I conveyed these concerns to Close at various times. His reactions ran from sadness to irritation. “You see, I can’t say I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life without saying that my relationship with their mother did not make me happy or my children did not make me happy,” he told me one afternoon. “You would think that by now they would just want me to be happy. ” “The challenge for me,” I responded, “is to write about these things without overstepping boundaries. ” “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Because I don’t want to paint some phony caricature of you, either. ” Close let out a sigh. “Well, I think you can say that I’ve loved being a father,” he said. “Nothing matters to me more than my children. ” I want to tell you that as he said these words, it was obvious that he meant them, even if they seemed to contradict the sentiment just before. As summer turned into fall, then winter and spring, I found myself gripped by uncertainty about the whole project of writing about Close in a period of such turmoil. He was producing startling new work that I wanted to understand, but it seemed to emerge from a spirit of liberation that left a path of devastation behind. I could not help wondering whether it was right, or fair, or even possible to convey in words the man that Close was becoming, and I also wondered, in a more practical sense, how to write about a person in the midst of transmogrifying flux — what of any certainty could be noted, what insight might be made? It occurs to me now that what this comes down to is the nature of portraiture itself. Writing and painting, descriptive undertakings both, rise and fall on the same ground. The basic mistake of either is to orchestrate too much. If the great insight of Close’s work has been to make portraiture vivid by removing detail, forcing viewers to contribute their own perception to the process, what I have noticed as a reader and writer is that a similar principle applies. The best you can do is provide a constellation of individual points, just enough to let the reader form an opinion of her own. This can be challenging when the writer has something certain in mind to say, but it becomes all the more difficult when there is nothing certain to say at all. A written portrait of a portrait painter is recursive from the start, but when you’re trying to get a fix on the identity of an identity fixer whose own identity is coming unfixed, the whole thing goes uroboric. So, you work with what you have. You mix one color at a time. You think about Close as a child in the timbering Pacific Northwest, a dyslexic kid in a fragile body searching for a way up and out. You find an old photograph of him standing outside his parents’ clapboard home, dressed to perform magic in a towering top hat, an ascot tossed around his neck, one leg cast across the other in calculated nonchalance, as he leans just so on the thick end of a pool cue with his boots cupped like armor around his feeble legs. You think about how he would perform a trick, then reveal the illusion to his audience — and then perform the trick again, confident that the perception of viewers would enhance the show. You think about his father’s death at 48, the same age his own medical calamity struck, and how his mother went off to work, leaving him to sit with his grandmother before the television set, watching the McCarthy hearings while she knitted stars and sewed them together into a tablecloth or a blanket, these rows and columns of individual elements that merge together in a single work. And from these fragments of what you’ve seen and heard, the details you glean from his past, you hope that like one of his vast grid paintings, something will cohere, that within the noise and contrasting elements, a portrait of Chuck Close will rise. On my last visit to Long Beach, Close and I wandered into his studio for a look at his latest portrait. As we entered the room, I felt something jump in my throat and heard myself whisper, “My god. ” The painting, which you can see below, was six feet high and rendered in dusky, ominous tones, with one side of his face dissolving into darkness. It was as if, after months of struggling to present himself in sensational color, he was finally settling into a quiet peace with the twilight of his life. I mean to say, there was nothing gloomy about the painting, nothing tragic or diminished or broken, but it was freighted with the necessary weight of time, emanating the unknown. I had seen the painting once before, six months earlier, when he was beginning it. He had just arrived in Miami from New York, and I was stuck on a layover at the airport, so I decided to slip out of the terminal for a quick glass of whiskey at his apartment. The sky was heavy with incipient rain, giving the city a wounded air, and we sat beside a bank of windows overlooking the ocean. At the time, the canvas that would become his new painting was mounted on the easel, entirely blank except for a few horizontal streaks of pink and blue. Without much thought, I asked, “How is the painting going?” and a strange look washed over his face. He turned to stare out the window for a moment, then said in a low and raspy voice: “I’ve never had an artist’s block before. If I just get to work, it’ll happen. But I worked on a painting in Long Beach after my last show, and I sat there so confused. I didn’t have any idea what I was doing. So I quit that painting and backed up, and hoped a change of venue would make it happen. ” “Could you be happy if the block doesn’t go away?” I asked. “I wouldn’t want to,” he said. Six months later, he was back in Long Beach with the canvas nearly complete. It was the darkest painting he’d ever composed and, to my eye, one of the most beautiful. “I was talking to Paul Simon yesterday,” he said. “Did you see the piece in The Times that he’s going to retire?” Three weeks earlier, Simon had released a new album, “Stranger to Stranger,” with its cover taken from a portrait that Close painted of the musician a few years back. Then, the day before I saw Close, Simon announced that the album would be his last. “I called him up, and I said, ‘Artists don’t retire,’’u2009” Close told me. “I think I talked him out of it. I said: ‘Don’t deny yourself this late stage, because the late stage can be very interesting. You know everybody hated late de Kooning, but it turned out to be great stuff. Late Picasso, nobody liked it, and it turned out to be great. ’’u2009” Close reminded Simon that Matisse was unable to continue painting late in life. “Had Matisse not done the cutouts, we would not know who he was,” Close said. “Paul said, ‘I don’t have any ideas.’ I said: ‘Well, of course you don’t have any ideas. Sitting around waiting for an idea is the worst thing you can do. All ideas come out of the work itself. ’’u2009” He pointed out that Simon is 74, the same age he was early last summer. “I told him, ‘When you get to be my age, you’ll see,’’u2009” he said with a laugh. As he spoke, I became acutely aware of how much it has meant for Close to continue working this past year, to force himself through the block, to confront the canvas anew each day. He had cleared the gantlet and emerged with a painting that seems to me a masterwork, but the glowering threat of time remained and was unlikely ever to relent. I remembered how I had left him that day in Miami, as it grew late and I had to return to the airport. I was packing my things and glanced at the new canvas one last time on my way out the door. The sprawling white emptiness suddenly felt overwhelming, the horizontal streaks of pink and blue insufficient, and I stood there for a moment, wondering where he would take it, whether he would ever complete the painting, or if, as in his deepest fears, he had already finished his final work. The line of pink squares looked to me then like the knuckles on an accusatory finger, pointing through the window to the skein of clouds gathering over a dark, unruly ocean.

Spring Weather? Snowstorm? New York Schools to Close on Thursday - The New York Times

Eli Rosenberg and Christopher Mele

The weather in New York City saw a 62 degrees on Wednesday, but a significant snowstorm expected to move in overnight prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio to close schools on Thursday. The announcement came after the National Weather Service on Wednesday posted a winter storm warning for the city and a blizzard warning for the eastern part of Long Island. Forecasts called for 8 to 12 inches of snow throughout northern New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, Long Island, coastal Connecticut and the city. The heaviest snow was expected from early Thursday morning through afternoon, with wind gusts up to 35 m. p. h. the service said on its website. Nationwide, airports were reporting more than 2, 800 canceled flights for Thursday, according to FlightAware. com, a website. Newark Liberty International Airport had 603 canceled flights, La Guardia Airport, 566, and Kennedy International Airport, 480, the website reported on Thursday night. On Wednesday, the temperature reached 62 degrees in Central Park, beating the previous record of 61 degrees set in 1965. Around the city on Wednesday, people were taking advantage — walking around in and tank tops, sitting outdoors at cafes, enjoying parks and promenades. For children who longed for a snow day, the news of the snowstorm was a reason to cheer. Libby Courtemanche had taken her two sons, Christopher, 2, and Bradley, less than a year old, to a park in Huntington, Long Island, on Wednesday. “You know what’s gonna happen tomorrow?” she asked the . “It’s gonna snow. And we’re gonna get to play in the snow. ” And this roller coaster ride of extremes is sure to provide fuel for those who gripe about the weather. It will be unseasonably warm Wednesday and unpleasantly wintry Thursday, but neither will be just right, of course. Tim Morrin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the drastic shift in weather was “unusual, but it’s certainly not unprecedented. ” The extremes should not be seen as a sign that the gods are angry. Mr. Morrin said it could be explained by two competing weather patterns: cold air masses descending from the North that will push out a warm air mass in time to chill the city and turn precipitation to snow. “Air masses move,” he said. “It’s just the timing. ” At Cozy Coffee in Brooklyn, patrons headed straight for the back patio, where owner Migdalia Medina ran cups of coffee and small plates of food plates to people seated at picnic tables under a canopy of bare tree branches. “As soon as they feel it they start coming out,” Ms. Medina said of her customers. As for Thursday’s forecast, she said the patio seating “also looks good under snow. ” The New York weather historian Steve Fybish, who keeps records of the city’s weather dating to the 19th century, agreed that the weather swing was not unusual. He rifled through his records to find other days of similar extremes: a snowstorm and a afternoon within a couple of days in 1984 69 degrees on a November day followed by five inches of snow in 1896. In February 2014, when the Super Bowl was at the Meadowlands, in East Rutherford, N. J. the weather swung sharply. While there had been concerns that the outdoor game at MetLife Stadium would be affected by the cold, game day registered a mild 49 degrees at the stadium and 57 degrees in the city. But the next day, the temperature plunged to 27 degrees followed by a cold snap that was punctuated by eight inches of snow. On Thursday, the snowfall is likely to be heaviest during the morning commute, Mr. Morrin said. “I don’t think there’s going to be anyone rushing anywhere,” he said. “The commute time will be impacted. ”

Death to the Fascist Insect! The SLA and the Cops

Ron Jacobs

Email I was living in New York City when Patty Hearst was kidnapped in February 1974. Like millions of others at the time, I followed the unfolding story with interest. At a time when news was relayed via the radio, newspapers and a daily evening news show, there was plenty of time to speculate what lay behind the actual story. In other words, there weren’t self-appointed experts on every 24-hour news channel telling the viewer what to think. A few months later, I watched the murder of six of the kidnappers on live television. Many media historians consider that event to be the beginning of the 24-hour news cycle we live with now. As Brad Schreiber points out in his newly published investigation of the group responsible for the Hearst kidnapping titled Revolution’s End: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control, and the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze and the SLA , it was a new technology that first made this live coverage possible. Yet, this is not the focus of Schreiber’s text. Indeed, Revolution’s End is about much more than the kidnapping or its coverage. Instead, it is an investigation into the creation of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), its roots in various law enforcement agencies and its intention to destroy the underground armed left of the early 1970s in the United States. While not a new theory by any means, Schreiber’s narrative is the first such attempt to examine this possibility for the general public. From the moment the public—including the Left—became aware of the SLA’s existence; doubts about their origins were expressed. In large part, at least on the Left, this was due to the group’s confused and nebulous politics. Claiming to be an anti-racist organization, the first public attack they made was on the African-American superintendent of schools in Oakland, California, Marcus Foster. Popular among progressives for some of his pedagogical approaches and his relatively forward thinking on issues of race and class, the SLA gunned him down in 1973. Their rationale was that he was instituting a pass system for students similar to the pass system in use by the South African apartheid authorities. In reality, Foster was opposed to the plan and was working to limits its reach in terms of accessibility by the Oakland Police department. Schreiber describes the assassination, writing that the two men convicted of the murder were not actually the gunmen in the crime. In fact, according to Schreiber and his research, it was the leader of the SLA, Donald DeFreeze aka Cinque, who along with a female member, actually committed the murder. The persona of DeFreeze is the linchpin to the claims about the SLA’s connection to law enforcement investigated in the book and previous investigations. The primary investigation was conducted by the Los Angeles-based Citizen’s Research and Investigation Committee in the 1970s. The Black Panther Party newspaper published some of this research, showing the connections between DeFreeze, well known LAPD informant/provocateur Louis Tackwood, and California law enforcement agencies in Sacramento. In addition, it is alleged that DeFreeze also worked for the FBI and was a participant in various drug and mind control experiments during his imprisonment in Vacaville California Prisons Medical Facility. Like millions of others in the 1970s, I was fascinated by the story of the SLA as it played out in the media. From the kidnapping of Patty Hearst to the distribution of the food ransom to poor people in various California cities to Hearst’s conversion to an urban guerrilla, the unfolding drama was certainly better than most shows on TV. In addition, as a new left activist who was looking (along with many others) for an effective means to make a difference in a political milieu whose numbers were diminishing, I participated in numerous discussions about the SLA and its meaning for the rest of the left. While much of the Left dismissed the group as adventurists, crazy or police provocateurs, the fact of their existence left others wondering if maybe they weren’t sincere, albeit somewhat misreading the political climate both on the Left and in the greater public. Even more fascinating than the publicly known story of the SLA, Schreiber’s text takes an extended and serious look at a possible deep narrative regarding the genesis of the SLA. As noted above, it is a narrative often suspected by many leftists and others regarding the group’s beginnings. By accepting Schreiber’s work, it makes it easier to understand why its members did some of what they did. In essence, Revolution’s End describes a covert operation undertaken by various law enforcement agencies that went off the rail. Succinctly put, Revolution’s End postulates (and does a fairly good job of proving) that the group that became the Symbionese Liberation Army was begun in part as an attempt to ferret out potential violent radicals in California while simultaneously attempting to discredit the revolutionary left. Donald DeFreeze played a role as both patsy and organizer while in Vacaville Prison. His role as provocateur raised suspicions, but somehow he was able to belay them. In the meantime, he took advantage of the leeway given him in the prison to sleep with various women on the outside. According to Schreiber, one of these women was Patty Hearst, who was involved in the prisoner rights movement in the period during which the SLA was originally formed. Schreiber describes the SLA as a group with three distinct phases. The first was set up by informants for the above reasons, the second went from this entity to a genuine, albeit confused political group, and the third came after the deaths of members in a police attack on their hideout. It was the last of the formations that included Patty in a more fundamental role than before, as she hid out in communes and hideouts around the United States until she was finally captured with Wendy Yoshimura in 1975 in San Francisco. Schreiber’s text covers all the manifestations of the SLA except the last. In doing so, he provides the reader with a look at the nature of an element of the radical underground left in 1970s United States. Even more so, though, is the detailed and convincing examination he provides the reader of how police agencies can and do work to destroy the political enemies of the corporate state. It is this latter aspect that seems most important today, when the intelligence capabilities and legally granted powers to law enforcement agencies are so much greater than they were forty years ago. One need only look at the various entrapment schemes arranged by the FBI and other agencies that have cornered various folks into terror plots that would probably never have existed without the financial, logistical and motivational assistance of those government agencies.

Ivana Says Young Donald Trump Was A Cry-Baby – Has Anything Changed? (VIDEO)

Carrie MacDonald

Ivana Says Young Donald Trump Was A Cry-Baby – Has Anything Changed? (VIDEO) By Carrie MacDonald on October 27, 2016 Subscribe Ivana Trump, the first wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, confirmed what many of us have been thinking for a long time now: Trump is a childish buffoon. Her story of a young Donald Trump on the ski slopes is telling of the temperament we see in the nominee now. Ivana Trump: ‘He Could Not Take It’ Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio spoke with Ivana Trump about her marriage to The Donald, and she remembered a time he took her skiing. This was early on, before they married, and one would think Donald would want to show his best side, right? No. You see, Ivana neglected to tell the young Donald Trump that she was a very accomplished skier. According to Ivana Trump, Donald skied down the slope first, and then: “… He goes and stops, and he says, ‘Come on, baby. Come on, baby.’ I went up. I went two flips up in the air, two flips in front of him. I disappeared. Donald was so angry, he took off his skis, his ski boots, and walked up to the restaurant. He could not take it. He could not take it.” She said he stormed off, saying: “I’m not going to do this for anybody, including Ivana.” We all know by now that Donald Trump is a man who doesn’t like to lose. Ever. He is a man easily baited, easily goaded, and he has the temper of a petulant child. His outbursts have sparked the hashtag #trumpertantrum . Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was correct when she said, in her speech at the Democratic National Convention: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.” Nor is a man who storms off in a huff when bested by his girlfriend on the ski slopes. Donald Trump: ‘I Loved To Fight’ D’Antonio also said that Donald told him how he loved a good fight. “I loved to fight. I always loved to fight. All types of fights. Any kind of fight, I loved it, including physical.” There’s a word for people who act like that: Bully. Of course, Trump has put his childish, bullying ways on display for the world during this election cycle. Ivana just happened to be one of his earlier victims. Watch their appearance on Oprah in 1988, when Trump said she does what he tells her to do: Featured image via screenshot from YouTube video About Carrie MacDonald Carrie is a progressive mom and wife living in the upper Midwest. Connect

Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic Sit Atop U.S. Open Draw, With Injuries Sharing Spotlight - The New York Times

David Waldstein

Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic arrived at the United States Open as the top seeds and favorites to win, but both are nursing injuries. Williams is recovering from a sore right shoulder that forced her to withdraw from an event in Cincinnati last week. Djokovic has a left wrist issue that may have contributed to his loss to Juan Martín del Potro in the first round at the Rio Olympics. This is a far different entrance into the United States Open than Williams and Djokovic made a year ago. Each surged into the tournament in 2015, with Williams on a highly publicized quest to win the Grand Slam, and Djokovic in search of his third major title of the year. Djokovic collected his championship, but Williams came up short of her goal. Now attention will focus squarely on how they are able to negotiate through their maladies, at least in the early rounds. “It wasn’t very easy, I think, physically,” Williams said of her past few weeks. “I was just trying so hard and trying everything to get better. At the end of the day, I knew I gave the best effort I could, and it just wasn’t enough. ” Williams said that her sore shoulder first cropped up the day after she won Wimbledon in July. Then she went to the Olympics and sustained an uncharacteristic loss to No. 20 Elina Svitolina, . Just two months earlier, Williams had pounded Svitolina, at the French Open. “At the Olympics, I just practiced two days before playing my match,” she said. “It’s not ideal, but it was all I could do. ” As is usually the case with Williams, there is a lot at stake. There is no Grand Slam to tantalize her, but if she wins the Open, she will pass Steffi Graf with her 23rd major tournament victory, an Open era record. She would also pass Chris Evert for the most United States Open singles titles with seven. At the same time, she is fighting to maintain her long hold on the No. 1 ranking. Last week, Williams went to Cincinnati intent on protecting her No. 1 ranking against an assault by Angelique Kerber, who is No. 2. But after an uncomfortable practice there, the aching shoulder forced Williams to withdraw. Kerber could have passed Williams in the rankings if she had won in Cincinnati, but Kerber lost in the final to Karolina Pliskova. Depending on how each fares at the United States Open, Kerber can still end Williams’s reign at No. 1. Williams has held the top spot for 184 consecutive weeks, two short of Graf’s record. Williams was handed a challenging matchup against Ekaterina Makarova, ranked No. 36. Williams holds a advantage over Makarova, who beat Williams at the 2012 Australian Open. They also met in the semifinals of the 2014 United States Open. Williams said her shoulder was starting to feel better, but that she was trying to balance the need for rest with the need to practice. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said he did not believe that the shoulder would hamper Williams’s pursuit of her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, which would leave her one short of Margaret Court’s overall record. Although Williams has not played often since Wimbledon, Mouratoglou pointed out that she was competing in two events in each of the last four tournaments she entered, which may have taken a toll. “I am not concerned about the shoulder,” Mouratoglou said. “She was playing both singles and doubles at Wimbledon and the Olympics, and that is not easy. But she is working hard and recovering well. ” Djokovic, who won the Australian and French Opens this year, did not cite a precise diagnosis for his wrist injury. He noted the coincidence of playing in Rio against del Potro, who missed three years on the tour with a left wrist injury that required multiple surgeries. Djokovic called the wrist “that essential part of your body as a tennis player. ” “The wrist hasn’t been in an ideal state for the last three and a half weeks,” he said. “But I’m doing everything in my power with the medical team so I’m as close to 100 percent as possible, at least for the beginning of it. ” Djokovic said the injury occurred while he was practicing in Rio, stressing that it was not the reason for his earlier loss to Sam Querrey in the third round at Wimbledon. But Djokovic did say he was dealing with an unspecified personal problem at Wimbledon. “We all have private issues,” he said, adding that the matter had been resolved. But the wrist injury is not, and Djokovic, who ended his practice early on Friday, said he was trying a variety of methods to make it heal faster, including electrical stimulation. (He is in the same half of the draw as Rafael Nadal, who is returning from a wrist injury of his own.) “Sometimes time is what you need as an athlete, and the U. S. Open is around the corner and I don’t have much time,” Djokovic said. “I try to compensate and improvise as much as I can and find the best ways of getting myself properly ready. ”

White House: FBI Leaks ‘One of Many’ Reasons Why James Comey Was Fired - Breitbart

Charlie Spiering

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said that FBI Director James Comey’s inability to control leaks out of the bureau was “one of many” reasons why President Donald Trump decided to fire him. “I think that’s probably one of the many factors,” Sanders said in response to a question from Breitbart News during the White House press briefing. “I mean you can’t deny somebody that that wasn’t a problem, and so I think that was just another one of many reasons that he no longer had the confidence of the president or the rest of the FBI. ” Trump has repeatedly called attention to FBI leaks to the media about the investigation into his campaign for any collusion with Russia in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. Sanders said that director Comey had “essentially taken a stick of dynamite” to the Justice Department after commenting publicly on the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email investigation. When asked if the president was prepared to fire more officials from the Justice Department, Sanders replied, “Not that I’m aware of today. ” Sanders described a gradual “erosion of trust” surrounding Comey since Trump was inaugurated, and that the president wanted to give him a chance despite the reservations he had about the director. She asserted that it was not true that Trump asked the Justice Department to put together a rationale for Comey’s firing. “I did speak directly to the president and heard directly from him that he, again, had been considering letting Director Comey go pretty much since the day he took office, but that there was no request by him to have a review at the Department of Justice,” she said. She said she was “surprised” by Democrats rushing to defend Comey, despite their insistence that he directly contributed to Hillary Clinton’s failure to win the presidency. “If Hillary Clinton had won the election, which thank God she didn’t, but if she had and she had been in the same position, she had have fired Comey immediately and the very Democrats that are criticizing the president today would be dancing in the streets celebrating. ”

Saudi commits crimes on global scale with US green light: Houthi

Yemen This still shows Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, delivering a televised speech. (file photo) The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says Saudi Arabia commits crimes across the globe with the US green light. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said on Wednesday that the Al Saud family has adopted a hypocritical approach in the Muslim world, the proof of which is Takfiri violence gripping the region. "When Washington gives the Riyadh regime the green light, sedition sparks in all countries, with the Saudi offensive being in line with such a trend," he added. The Houthi leader also warned that Saudi Arabia is seeking to damage security in some Arab countries such as Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Iraq through petrodollars and deceptive propaganda works. Instead of countering the enemies of Islam, including the US and Israel, the kingdom has been engaged in spreading Takfiri ideology and arming terrorists, Houthi noted. 'Saudi has Yemenis’ blood on its hands' On October 8, in one of the deadliest attacks Yemen, Saudi warplanes bombarded a funeral hall packed with mourners in Sana’a, killing over 140 people and injuring at least 525 others. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group, said that the Sana’a bombing constitutes an apparent war crime, while Amnesty International said the attack was a reminder of the need for the suspension of arms sales to Saudi Arabia. People inspect the aftermath of a Saudi airstrike in Sana’a, Yemen, October 8, 2016. (Photo by AP) Saudi Arabia committed crimes by the Sana’a attack, but it tried to acquit itself of the assault, Houthi said, adding that there was no clear sign suggesting an end to the Saudi offensive. He also stressed that Yemenis cannot rely on the United Nations as the world body has not adopted a position regarding the Saudi attack in Sana’a. Houthi further wished victory for the Palestinian nation and the resistance front in Lebanon and Syria as well as the Iraqi people in their anti-terror operation in the city of Mosul. The Riyadh regime resumed its deadly airstrikes on Yemen on Sunday hours after a three-day truce in the conflict-ridden country expired. Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with the UN putting the toll from the aggression at more than 10,000. The offensive was launched to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and its allies and reinstate the former Yemeni government. The US has been providing logistic and surveillance support to the kingdom in the bloody military campaign. Loading ...

After Senate Filibuster’s Death, Somber Lawmakers Seek Path Forward - The New York Times

Jennifer Steinhauer

WASHINGTON — The conventional Washington wisdom dictates that the end of the judicial filibuster is also the end of life as it is currently known in the Senate. In truth, it may not make that much of a difference at all. In an unexpected way, it may well herald the beginning of a better era for the Senate. The Senate Republicans’ successful effort on Thursday to end the threshold to proceed with confirmation of Supreme Court nominees was really only the final step in a process set in motion by Democrats in 2013, when they removed that threshold for other nominees. That set off a far bigger firestorm, and Republicans have now simply extended that precedent. Republicans are quick to point out — and many Democrats privately agree — that had former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the White House last year and Democrats taken the Senate, a similar confrontation would have been likely in the other direction, and that Democrats might have needed to take the same step Republicans took to confirm any Supreme Court nominee Mrs. Clinton had chosen. Congress has already been dwelling in the rubble for a while. A divisive showdown over a Supreme Court nominee was certainly not helpful in advancing comity, but it has not taken on the widespread acrimony that has consumed both houses of Congress in past fights, such as over government shutdown threats or the perpetual battles over the health care law. Then there is President Trump. Yes, Republicans have labored to promote some of his priorities and look away from his myriad controversies, but they have also shown signs of holding together with Democrats toward mutual goals that are not always in concert with Mr. Trump’s. To wit: Even as members of both parties railed against one another on the Senate floor on Thursday, appropriators and party leaders in the House and Senate were working to come up with a plan to fund the government for the rest of the year that would most likely ignore Mr. Trump’s request for a large pile of cash to build a wall on the border with Mexico and cut programs that have bipartisan support. While the White House and the House have struggled to find a way forward on health care, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have held largely together in defiance of changes to the law that would have left many people in their respective states uninsured. “I don’t want to sugarcoat what just happened here,” said Senator Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan, as he walked off the floor after the vote that crushed the minority input, turning the Supreme Court, in his view, into another “hyperpartisan” branch of government. But, he said, “we have to get past this — the American people expect us to find common ground. ” “The best way to do that,” Mr. Peters said, “is in a bipartisan way. ” Senate Republicans are eager to show that they are more functional than the House, where the chairman of the Intelligence Committee on Thursday had to remove himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the election, where an effort to repeal the health care law has embarrassingly blown up and where little prescriptive policy has been seeded in recent years. When it comes to national security, foreign affairs and the issues concerning Russia that are swirling around the White House, the Senate prides itself on bipartisanship, in contrast to the House. “I’ve been trying to keep the Russia investigation bipartisan, and I am proud of both sides here,” said Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “I do think there is the sense that we need to get back to legislating,” he added. “Neither side has clean hands. ” Members from purple states are particularly aware of the need to cook up deals. “The place of bipartisan solutions come from the Senate,” said Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado. “I think people will come together. ” If an alliance could be struck in the center, the fight for the 60 votes needed to pass might well be led by centrists such as moderate Democrats up for next year in states where Mr. Trump was victorious, and Republicans like Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The two last week forced Vice President Mike Pence to come to the Hill to break a tie on a bill that threatened the funding of some Planned Parenthood operators. Ms. Collins has written a letter to the leaders of the Senate seeking a pledge that they will maintain the filibuster rule for legislation, and was gathering signatures from members of both parties on the floor even as the nuclear option was being played by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. “This event has really sobered people up,” said Ms. Collins, who declined to provide further details on the letter. “It has made them realize we cannot continue to operate in such a polarized environment. ” Several members sent out news releases Thursday promoting bipartisan bills, such as a measure that would require congressional committees to hold oversight hearings on the Government Accountability Office and another that takes aim at sexual assault on college and university campuses. A recent study by the Political Research Quarterly found that even with control in Congress, leaders are often able to form majorities on legislation. Already, some Senate Republicans and Democrats are talking privately about a way forward, at least on the insurance exchanges on health care. “It’s very preliminary,” said Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming. “But it’s happening. ” As long as the filibuster remains a viable option for the minority on legislation — and Mr. McConnell swears it will not be removed — they may be able to get a few things done. “This just further intensifies the commitment of the Senate to maintain the legislative margins that have always been a part of the Senate,” said Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, who has held leadership positions in both houses of Congress. “I would hope we can start compartmentalizing,” and start to get things done, he said. It is also true that Mr. McConnell and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, enjoy a better relationship than the one that helped pave the way to Thursday’s showdown: that of Mr. McConnell and former Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. Mr. Schumer expressed hope for a different future when he said to Mr. McConnell on the Senate floor on Thursday, “Let us go no further on this path. ”

A Tea Party Congressman Just Called For Armed Uprising If Trump Loses

Colin Taylor

Former Tea Party congressman and conservative radio host Joe Walsh (R-IL) recently took to Twitter to announce his plans for armed insurrection against the government when Republican loses the election in a few weeks. On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in? — Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016 This is not the first time the outspoken radical has made controversial remarks. He responded to the tragic shootings of police officers in Dallas by a lone wolf sniper by openly calling for a race war. Before that, Walsh called for the journalists at MSNBC and CNN to be beheaded for refusing to show the Charlie Hebdo cartoons that provided the justification for the terrorist attacks committed by a cell claiming allegiance to al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) against the publication’s offices in January 2015. The denizens of Twitter quickly responded with vicious mockery of the outrageous Tea Party demagogue: Joe Walsh, charging the Capitol steps flintlock musket in hand barks his shin real bad thus the revolution died — Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) October 26, 2016 @WalshFreedom shouldn’t that musket be auctioned off to pay the child support you owe? — jacqui rodham (@heyjdey) October 26, 2016 . @WalshFreedom I would highly encourage you to take your musket and point it at the nearest armed police officer — evil roy slade (spoo (@EvilRoySladeDS) October 26, 2016 . @WalshFreedom Do you often invite people to joint musket-grabbing sessions?

Trump’s Harsh Talk With Malcolm Turnbull of Australia Strains Another Alliance - The New York Times

Jane Perlez

BEIJING — President Trump’s combative phone call with Australia’s prime minister over a refugee agreement has set off a political storm in that country, one that threatens to weaken support for a alliance with the United States just as many Australians say they want closer ties with China. Enthusiasm for the alliance in Australia, one of America’s closest partners, which hosts American spy facilities and rotations of American Marines, had already been under pressure from China, with which Australia conducts the most trade. Reports that Mr. Trump had scolded Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday, before abruptly ending the call, are likely to further undermine confidence in the United States, Australian analysts said. “Trump is needlessly damaging the deep trust that binds one of America’s closest alliances,” said Professor Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University in Canberra. “China and those wishing to weaken the strongest alliance in the Pacific will see opportunity in this moment. ” In less than two weeks in office, Mr. Trump’s actions have strained alliances and alienated potential partners of the United States, and his phone call with Mr. Turnbull seemed to be one more example, this time with a country that has fought on America’s side since World War I. His administration’s confrontational stance on Iran has undermined liberal voices in that country his restrictions on immigration from some predominantly Muslim countries have been widely criticized by allies and his rejection of the Partnership trade deal threatens to push countries in the region, including Australia, closer to China. Like many countries in the region, Australia depends on the United States for its security but looks to China for its economic and it does not want to choose definitively between the two as they wage a global contest for power. Experts said the American and Australian militaries were sufficiently intertwined — the Royal Australian Air Force has flown in Syria, and Australian soldiers have helped train the Iraqi Army — that the countries’ security arrangements would endure. But the trust and confidence underlying the longstanding alliance will be harmed by Mr. Trump’s apparent lack of respect, and his remarks will be very costly in the public domain, they said. The phone call on Saturday became contentious after Mr. Turnbull pressed Mr. Trump to honor a deal in which the United States had agreed to take in up to 1, 250 refugees being held by Australia at offshore detention centers. Under the terms of the deal, hurriedly worked out by Mr. Turnbull and former President Barack Obama in New York last year, Australia would also accept Central American refugees staying in a Costa Rican detention facility. Australia has been harshly criticized for its offshore detention policy, and the issue is politically delicate at home. Many of the refugees it holds, on the Pacific of Nauru and on the island of Manus in Papua New Guinea, are from Iran and Iraq. Both countries are among the seven whose citizens are barred from entering the United States for at least 90 days under the executive order Mr. Trump signed on Friday. In his conversation with Mr. Turnbull the next day, Mr. Trump said the deal with Australia was going to hurt him politically, according to a senior official in the Trump administration. Late Wednesday, hours after details of the call were reported, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that the agreement was “dumb. ” He said he would need to “study” it, leaving the door open to renege or to accept fewer refugees. The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters in Washington on Thursday that Mr. Trump would allow the deal to proceed as long as the refugees were subjected to “extreme vetting. ” Mr. Spicer also said Mr. Trump remained “extremely upset” over the deal arranged by his predecessor. Mr. Turnbull, whose popularity has been sagging over domestic issues, struggled on Thursday to cast the call in a positive light, fending off demands from the opposition Labor Party that he detail exactly what Mr. Trump had said. Even after Mr. Trump made his remarks on Twitter, Mr. Turnbull insisted in a radio interview that he had “a clear commitment from the president” that the resettlement plans would proceed. “The alliance is absolutely rock solid,” Mr. Turnbull said. “It is so strong. ” The United States Embassy in Canberra had tried to help Mr. Turnbull with his predicament earlier Thursday, saying the White House had confirmed that the agreement would be honored. But after Mr. Trump wrote about the refugee deal on Twitter, the embassy referred questions about the agreement to the White House. Mr. Turnbull’s Liberal Party is the more conservative of Australia’s two major parties, and it has been a stalwart supporter of close ties with the United States. The Labor Party has leaned slightly more toward China, but as the debate over relations with Washington has intensified in recent months, former leaders of the party have become outspoken critics of the United States and have argued for shifting toward Beijing. Australian attitudes toward relations with the United States, which have historically been favorable, are now under pressure from China and its trading weight, according to polls. That is largely because the enormous Chinese demand for Australia’s resources — particularly iron ore, natural gas and coal — has bolstered Australia’s economy for more than a decade. Chinese students also contribute substantially to Australian universities and schools, so much so that many of the institutions are dependent on the fees for survival. And under a new trade agreement, Australia is exporting large quantities of wine and meat to China. After Mr. Trump, in office just a few days, scrapped the Partnership — a regional trade pact that the Obama administration had hoped would be an economic counterweight to China — Mr. Turnbull announced that he would seek to reconstitute the deal without the United States, but possibly including China, another indication of Beijing’s clout. A 2016 survey conducted by the public policy group Lowy Institute asked respondents to identify the country that was more important to Australia 43 percent chose the United States, and 43 percent China. In 2014, 48 percent had answered the United States, and only 37 percent had chosen China, said Sam Roggeveen, a senior fellow at the institute. According to the 2016 survey, 45 percent said that Australia should distance itself from the United States if Mr. Trump became president, Mr. Roggeveen said. “We can assume that number will now rise,” said Mr. Medcalf, of Australian National University. “This incident will only intensify the damage done by Trump’s abandonment of the T. P. P. which would have been a pillar of strategic partnership as well as of trade. ” The United States operates signals intelligence and radar facilities in remote corners of Australia that are becoming more important as North Korea’s nuclear threat expands, said Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “Australia shares raw and finished intelligence in the closest possible collaboration you can imagine,” Mr. Jennings said. “It is extremely high tech. It is something no countries can equal, and it is part of what is known as the Five Eyes intelligence operation. It has created the highest possible level of trusted collaboration between the five countries. ” The Five Eyes countries are Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Mr. Trump visited Australia in 2011, expressing a great liking for the country and entering the fray with China. On Twitter, he called it a “beautiful country with terrific people who love America. ” Then he added that Australia should “screw” China by raising its commodity prices. James Goldrick, a former rear admiral in the Australian Navy who served in Afghanistan, said that if Mr. Trump’s current abrasive attitude continued, it would probably make Australia a less publicly cooperative partner of the United States. “If the Trump administration pursues a less consultative approach, Australia will need to become more public in expressing its opinion on American initiatives that it does not wholly support,” Mr. Goldrick said. China’s role in Asia and North Korea’s nuclear efforts are far more important to the United alliance than any one telephone call, said Peter Hayes, an Australian who is the director of the Nautilus Institute, a research institute on security issues. But Mr. Trump’s “ability to create chaos” has placed those important strategic questions under a “dark cloud,” he said. “The United States has invested five decades in creating that system of alliances, and it is evident Trump is pretty ignorant of it and doesn’t care about it, to the extent he knows about it,” Mr. Hayes said.

The New World Order is melting in the heat of its own contradiction

Jonas E. Alexis

2013: 7,157 [4] Virtually no one in the Zionist media is asking for the perpetrators to be trialed and punished accordingly. But there is more. Scholar Rebecca Gordon, who has corresponded with this writer last summer, has recounted in her meticulously documented study Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States : “When I had occasion in Jordan in 2006 to meet an Iraqi sheik who had been tortured by U.S. forces, his first question to our little group was whether all American women were ‘promiscuous sluts,’ like the ones who had tormented him by forcing him to look at their naked breasts during his detention…The psychological trauma of sexual humiliation had damaged this man sufficiently so that polite conversation with American women, even those who were likely to be sympathetic, was beyond him.” [5] This is just the tip of the iceberg. Gordon discusses one case after another and describes what happened when politicians deliberately abandoned the moral order and pursued perpetual wars in the Middle East at any cost. “Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped” was just a fair game. [6] “Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture” was also quite common. [7] Detainees were also sodomized with chemical lights and broom sticks. [8] Gordon writes on the very first page: “For many years, the United States had secretly funded research on torture at U.S. and Canadian universities. One product of this research was the Central Intelligence Agency’s KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual with its sections covering ‘non-coercive’ and ‘coercive’ techniques, first printed in 1963…. “The United States had also provided covert training and support to torture regimes in other countries around the world—from Greece to Uruguay, Chile to El Salvador, Indonesia to Vietnam. The Phoenix Program, implemented during the Vietnam War by U.S. armed forces and the CIA, involved the torture and deaths of tens of thousands of Vietnamese, as part of the U.S. counterinsurgency project designed to break the will of the Viet Cong. In the testimony before Congress, military intelligence officer K. Milton Osborne provided some details of the methods used: “‘The use of the insertion of the 6-inch dowel into the 6-inch canal of one of my detainees’ ears and the tapping through the brain until he dies. The starving to death of a Vietnamese woman who was suspected of being part of the local political education cadre in one of the local villages. They simply starved her to death in one of the hooches at that very counterintelligence headquarters. “‘There were other methods of operation which they used for interrogation, such as the use of electronic gear such as sealed telephone attached to the genitals of both the men and women’s vagina and the man’s testicles, and wind the mechanism and create an electrical charge and shock them into submission.’” [9] Between 1968 and 1971, the Phoenix Program was responsible for torturing and killing more than twenty thousand people, [10] many of whom had nothing to do with terrorism. These were not isolated cases. The CIA conducted these essentially diabolical operations “on several continents.” [11] If history is not enough, what about the recent charge by Amnesty International that the US-led coalition in Syria has killed at least 300 civilians? [12] And what about Saudi Arabia (a US ally) “deliberately targeting impoverished Yemen’s farms and agricultural industry”? [13] Stephen Kinzer, a visiting scholar at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, has recently written: “Anyone who believes the United States is not fighting enough wars in the Middle East can be happy this week. We have just plunged into another one. Twice in recent days, cruise missiles fired from an American destroyer have rained down on Yemen. The Pentagon, a practiced master of Orwellian language, calls this bombing ‘limited self-defense.’ “Since 2002, our drone attacks have reportedly killed more than 500 Yemenis, including at least 65 civilians. We are also supplying weapons and intelligence to Saudi Arabia, which has killed thousands of Yemenis in bombing raids over the last year and a half — including last week’s attack on a funeral in which more than 100 mourners were killed.” [14] So the logic is pretty simple: the New World Order ideology does not and cannot make sense at all. And if we have to fight ISIS, then we have to support the Assad government; if we have to support the Assad government, then the whole idea that Assad is a “brutal ruler” loses its political force; if that idea goes down the tube, then the New World Order propaganda against Assad is categorically false. In short, we can ignore flaming Neocon Charles Krauthammer when he said last November that Assad is a “dictator and a destroyer.” [15] This brings us to another vitally important issue: New World Order agents spent millions upon millions of tax dollars supporting ISIS or al-Nusra in Syria for absolutely nothing. Barnes-Dacey and Levy concluded their article by saying, “Western leaders have defined ISIS as a threat to their national security. That should now translate into a more nuanced Syria policy, including working with Iran and encouraging the nascent Saudi-Iranian opening.” [16] I simply could not hold my laughter. For decades, New World Order agents in America and Israel have hammered the spurious idea that Iran is a terrorist state and that it wants to “wipe Israel off the map”; [17] they also spent millions upon millions of dollars trying to destabilize the country both politically and ideologically. Remember how Obama “secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran ’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyber-weapons”? [18] Remember how New World Order agents in America and Israel developed Stuxnet specifically to attack Iran, a country that has zero nuclear weapons? [19] The New York Times itself acknowledged then that the cyberattack was “aided by Israel.” [20] In the same vein, the Washington Post reported that Stuxnet was the “work of U.S. and Israeli experts.” [21] And it was developed way back in 2007 . Remember how Bush also made false accusations against Iran and even trained the terrorist group the MEK right here in America? [22] Remember how he worked with Israel to perform a covert operation in Iran? “Mr. Kissinger, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you.” So, all the tax dollars that were spent on destabilizing Iran for more than a decade was a waste. At the same time, decent American military hospitals continued to lack funding: “many of the hospitals are so small and the trickle of patients so thin that it compromises the ability of doctors and nurses to capably diagnose and treat serious illnesses, much less take on surgeries … “Two-thirds of the hospitals last year served 30 or fewer inpatients a day — less than a third as many as the typical civilian hospital. Nine served 10 or fewer — so few that Dr. Lucian L. Leape, a leading patient-safety expert at the Harvard School of Public Health, said, ‘I think they should be outlawed.’” [23] Obviously New World Order agents don’t care either about military hospitals and even soldiers. In fact, they don’t care about anyone at all. They just care about spreading their essentially diabolical system. Soldiers are just pawns. As Henry Kissinger diabolically declared, military men are “dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” [24] Once those “dumb, stupid animals” can no longer be of service to NWO agents, then they just dump them. They have already dumped at least 360,000 thousand veterans, who “may have brain injuries.” [25] [1] Julien Barnes-Dacey and Daniel Levy, “To Beat ISIS, Focus on Syria,” NY Times , September 1, 2014. [2] In 2011, the Pentagon declared that the so-called “war on terror” could cost at least $5 trillion. “The $5 Trillion War on Terror,” Time , June 29, 2011. [3] For a recent study on similar issues, see Rebecca Gordon, Mainstream Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014). [4] Dan Murphy, “Iraq Violence More Than Doubles in 2013: Is Country Headed Off the Cliff?,” Christian Science Monitor , December 20, 2013. [5] Rebecca Gordon, Mainstream Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 53.

After His Claim of Voter Fraud, Trump Vows ‘Major Investigation’ - The New York Times

Michael D. Shear and Peter Baker

WASHINGTON — President Trump intends to move forward with a major investigation of voter fraud that he says cost him the popular vote, White House officials said Wednesday, despite bipartisan condemnation of his allegations and the conclusion of Mr. Trump’s own lawyers that the election was “not tainted. ” In his first days in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump has renewed his complaint that millions of people voted illegally, depriving him of a majority. In two Twitter posts early Wednesday morning, the president vowed to open an inquiry to reveal people who are registered to vote in multiple states or who remain on voting rolls long after they have died. “We have to understand where the problem exists, how deep it goes, and then suggest some remedies to it,” said Sean Spicer, the president’s press secretary. He said the White House would reveal more details this week. But voting officials in both parties across the country said the answer to those questions is already clear: Fraudulent voting happens in tiny, sporadic episodes that have no impact on the outcome of elections. It is virtually impossible, several state election officials said, that millions of people voted illegally in last year’s presidential contest. In fact, that was the conclusion of Mr. Trump’s own lawyers last year as they sought to stop recount efforts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers wrote in their response to recount petitions by Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate. Mr. Spicer said the lawyers were referring only to states where Mr. Trump campaigned extensively. In Ohio, Secretary of State Jon A. Husted, a Republican, said Wednesday in an interview that there was “no evidence” that voter fraud was happening on a large scale. Edgardo Cortés, Virginia’s election chief, a Democrat, said there was “no basis” for the claims. And California’s Democratic secretary of state lashed out at the president for undermining confidence in the election system. “Free and fair elections are the bedrock of our democracy, and he’s taken a jackhammer to it with his irresponsible tweets,” said Alex Padilla, the state’s top election official. “Whatever proof or evidence he said he had, he clearly didn’t have. His allegations since November are clearly lies, not alternative facts. ” Mr. Trump has repeatedly shifted his view of the election system. As a candidate, he frequently railed against what he called a “rigged” election. When he became he complained about “serious voter fraud,” but later reversed himself and mocked Ms. Stein’s recount efforts as “a scam” and a waste of time and money. This week, he again, telling lawmakers at a White House reception that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote because millions of immigrants in the country illegally voted for her. Mr. Spicer declined to elaborate on what Mr. Trump meant but did not back away from the assertion. “The president does believe that,” Mr. Spicer said. “It’s a belief that he’s maintained for a while, a concern that he has about voter fraud. And that’s based on information that’s provided. ” It remains unclear what form a federal investigation may take. While the F. B. I. has the authority to look into voter fraud, that appears not to be what the president has in mind. Mr. Spicer said it was too early to know, but mentioned the possibility of a task force or commission. He cited studies that he said showed that voter rolls contained the names of millions of people who should not be there because they had moved, were not citizens or had since died. But the author of one of those major studies said Wednesday that Mr. Spicer and the president appeared to be misunderstanding the numbers. David Becker, who for six years was in charge of the election initiative for the Pew Center on the States, said that voter rolls often had information, but that there was virtually no evidence that many of those names were used to vote illegally. “It does exist, but it happens in very, very small numbers and nothing like what is claimed by the president,” Mr. Becker said. He said systems across the country to prevent voter fraud would have caught any huge effort to vote illegally. “We would have seen that well before the election,” he said. “We would have seen a swelling of the voter rolls and records. ” In Ohio, for example, a review of the state’s elections in 2012 and 2014 found that out of millions of votes cast, there were 667 allegations of fraud, of which just 149 were referred to law enforcement for investigation, Mr. Husted said. The Ohio review, which happens after every election, also found that 436 unauthorized immigrants were registered to vote and that 44 had voted. “Voter fraud exists. It’s not widespread or systemic,” said Mr. Husted, who said he had voted for Mr. Trump. “There’s no evidence that that is happening on a basis. ” Mr. Husted said he would be happy to share Ohio’s review of the 2016 election with the federal government when it was completed. And he said Mr. Trump could aid states by sharing government databases that could help them clean their voter rolls. In his Twitter message Wednesday, Mr. Trump suggested that a federal review could lead to improvements in voting procedures. But Democrats and voting experts criticized the president for focusing his allegations on voter fraud while resisting the intelligence community’s conclusions involving Russian hacking of the Democratic National Commitee and officials connected to Mrs. Clinton during last year’s election. “It’s more important that we investigate the known instances of election fraud, rather than imagined ones,” said Kim Alexander, the president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the voting process. “We have had an election that was compromised by foreign interests. That’s the real danger that has come out of this election. ” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said the president should “knock this off” and move on. “This is going to erode his ability to govern this country if he does not stop it,” he said on CNN. And several Democratic lawmakers and state election officials said they suspected that Mr. Trump’s allegations were part of a plan by Republicans looking for reasons to justify new restrictions on voting to benefit their party, particularly targeting immigrants and . “There has been a sustained effort across the country, rooted in similar conspiracies about voter fraud, to make it harder for Americans to vote,” Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said in a statement. “We can’t allow this attack on voting rights to continue, and it’s shameful to see such debunked conspiracy theories emanating from the White House. ” Mr. Padilla, the California secretary of state, said he also worried that Mr. Trump’s repeated allegations about fraud would undermine the confidence that Americans had in the integrity of the voting system. “Stoking fear and concern is undermining people’s faith in our elections,” he said.

One Rationale for Voter ID Debunked, G.O.P. Has Another - The New York Times

Michael Wines

Of the 860, 000 Nebraskans who cast ballots in last fall’s election, only two are suspected of casting fraudulent votes. But while the actual number of illegal voters may be minuscule, State Senator John Murante says, there is an even better reason for Nebraska’s Legislature to crack down on fraud at the ballot box. “First and foremost, we know the confidence that Americans and Nebraskans have in the election system is at an low,” said Mr. Murante, a Republican who is backing a constitutional amendment that would require all voters to display photo IDs. “The perception exists that voter fraud is a serious issue, and that perception itself has to be addressed. ” Nationwide, Republican state legislators are again sponsoring a sheaf of bills tightening requirements to register and to vote. And while they have traditionally argued that such laws are needed to police rampant voter fraud — a claim most experts call unfounded — some are now saying the perception of fraud, real or otherwise, is an equally serious problem, if not worse. Given Republicans’ history of raising undocumented claims of fraud, Democrats and voting rights advocates say that citing perceptions of tainted ballots as a reason for voting restrictions is disingenuous at best. “It seems strange that someone who created the problem of perception then says we have to solve the problem, when there is no problem,” said Lloyd Leonard, the advocacy director for the League of Women Voters, which has sued to block a number of restrictive voting laws. In states across the country, Republicans are echoing the Nebraska argument for measures. “It is true that there isn’t widespread voter fraud,” said State Representative Ken Rizer, who steered a bill requiring voters to display IDs through the Iowa House of Representatives this month. “But there is a perception that the system can be cheated. That’s one of the reasons for doing this. ” In Arkansas, State Representative Mark Lowery said his voter ID bill aimed to prevent fraud. But even more important, he added, is that “a large percentage of Americans do not trust the integrity of the electoral system, and that in and of itself is a problem that needs to be solved, because that undermines the basic tenet of democracy. ” There is history to this, said Allegra Chapman, the director of voting and elections at the advocacy group Common Cause. The first Supreme Court ruling to support voter ID laws, in an Indiana case called Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, acknowledged in 2008 that there was zero evidence of voter fraud in the state. But as long as the law inconvenienced everyone equally, it could be legal — even if it deterred “significant numbers” of voters from voting — if it had a “sufficiently weighty” justification. Trust in elections met that standard, the court added, because confidence could be low “if no safeguards exist to deter or detect fraud. ” As evidence of the laws’ impact on minorities has snowballed, the Crawford decision has come under growing criticism. Judge Richard Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — a highly regarded conservative — wrote the 2007 decision on Crawford that the Supreme Court upheld. But by 2014 he had recanted, issuing a blistering dissent in a Wisconsin voter ID case that called ID laws a “fig leaf” for disenfranchising citizens, and specifically rejecting the claim that bolstering voters’ confidence justified them. Ms. Chapman said she suspected that the perception argument was a political talking point devised in the wake of several federal court rulings last year that the laws discriminated against minorities. “They’re being clever,” she said. “They’re trying to find some legitimate grounds for which to have these laws pass muster. ” After the Supreme Court handed victory in the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, furious Democrats called the vote deeply flawed. Since then, dubious charges of fraud have become a staple of Republican crusades for laws tightening the rules for registering and casting votes. Those charges reached a new peak when President Trump railed against “rigged” elections while a candidate and claimed without any evidence that he would have won the popular vote but for millions of illegal votes cast against him. Faith in the electoral process has markedly declined since 2000, surveys show. One poll, released in October, concluded that barely four in 10 Americans had great confidence in an accurate vote count. Voter fraud does happen, of course, sometimes in striking fashion. A former chairman of Colorado’s Republican Party, a radio host who stated on the air in October that “virtually every case of voter fraud I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats,” was charged this month with voter fraud. The former chairman, Steve Curtis, was accused of filling out a ballot addressed to his who lives in South Carolina. But voting rights advocates say that widespread fraud is a myth, and that most restrictions are created to keep minorities and young adults away from the polls. Judges lately have agreed last year, federal courts ruled that voter ID laws in Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin and North Dakota discriminated against minorities. Many academic studies conclude that laws depress turnout. But the conclusion is not unanimous this month, researchers at Stanford, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania took issue with one such study concluding that voter ID laws depress Democratic voter turnout far more than Republican turnout. The researchers evaluated the same data used in the study and found “no apparent relationship” between the laws and turnout. In the wake of Republican claims, bills have been filed in at least 27 state legislatures to stiffen rules or document requirements for registering and voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. At least 16 have proposed new or revised voter ID laws many more are tightening requirements to register. Iowa’s voter ID bill, which appears headed for passage in the State Senate, is typical of many, requiring voters to display a driver’s license or ’s license, a military or veteran identification card or a passport. Voters lacking those documents would be able to vote after signing an oath attesting to their identity. “We are not without fraud,” said Mr. Rizer, who noted that 41 disenfranchised felons cast ballots in November (all but five were discovered before being counted). Critics, including the state’s local election officials, say undetected fraud at the polls is so minuscule that it does not merit voters who already proved their identity when they registered. Among other states, New Hampshire is close to approving legislation to stiffen residency requirements for new voters, including a written warning that law enforcement officers may visit voters’ homes to verify residency. Mr. Trump was able to provide no documentation for a widely derided claim that Massachusetts residents were bused into New Hampshire to cast illegal ballots that contributed to his defeat there. “Nobody’s saying there’s evidence of widespread fraud,” said Regina Birdsell, a Republican state senator and the bill’s sponsor. “But our voter laws are so broad you could drive a Mack truck through them. ” She added, “There is a perception, as far as I am concerned, that the laws need to be tightened up. ” The Arkansas legislature has already voted to place a constitutional amendment on the state’s 2018 ballot that would require voters to display IDs. Mr. Lowery’s bill takes a different tack it would put in place the ID requirement more quickly and without a ballot initiative. Unlike many such bills, his takes an expansive view of acceptable identification — from IDs to employee badges to student identification cards. Voters without IDs can cast ballots if they swear they are who they say they are. “We’re trying to give them every chance,” he said, “but we want them to vouch for their identity. ”

How Donald Trump Set Off a Civil War Within the Right-Wing Media - The New York Times

Robert Draper

In recent years, one of the most important events on a prospective Republican presidential candidate’s calendar was the RedState Gathering, a summer convention for conservative activists from across the nation. Its host was Erick Erickson, a redheaded former election lawyer and city councilman in Macon, Ga. who began blogging in 2004 on a site called RedState. com. Erickson, who is now 41, is a conservative absolutist who made his name in the by “blowing up” — in the Twitter parlance he jovially employs — Republican leaders he viewed as insufficiently principled. In 2005, he played a role in torpedoing the Supreme Court nomination of the White House counsel Harriet Miers, publishing damaging admissions from White House sources that Miers had not been properly vetted. Five years later, he chided the National Rifle Association for being too willing to compromise, labeling it “a weak little girl of an organization. ” He was a critic of John McCain and Mitt Romney during their presidential runs, characterizing the former as “an angry old jackass” and the latter as “the Harriet Miers of 2012. ” Along the way, Erickson became one of the new kingmakers of the Tea G. O. P. A Florida legislator and Senate hopeful named Marco Rubio reached out to him in 2009 when he was at 3 percent in the polls. A former Texas solicitor general, Ted Cruz, did the same in 2011. Rick Perry announced his 2012 presidential candidacy at Erickson’s gathering. By 2015, a number of the coming cycle’s aspirants — Rubio, Cruz, Perry and Bobby Jindal — had given him their personal cellphone numbers, and he had traded emails with Jeb Bush. And two months before that August’s convention in Atlanta, a New Republican consultant named Sam Nunberg reached out to Erickson to ask if he could accommodate one more speaker: Donald Trump. Erickson watched coverage of Trump’s announcement at Trump Tower on June 16 and was not particularly impressed. On the syndicated radio show he broadcasts from Atlanta, he offered his assessment with a dismissive chuckle: “I guess he’s ready to be spoiler, not president. ” He had met Trump once before, in July 2011, when he visited the 26th floor of Trump Tower to interview the businessman and star. Trump had spent the past few months flirting with a presidential run only to decide, as he told Erickson that day, “I have a great show that’s a big success, and it’s hard to say, ‘I’m gonna leave two hours of television in order to get beat up by people that don’t know what they’re doing. ’’u2009” The hourlong conversation struck Erickson as pleasant but unmemorable. What did stick with him was their exchange as he was leaving Trump Tower. “Trump asked me if I played golf,” Erickson told me recently. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m terrible. ’’u2009” Then, he said, Trump asked if he would be interested in coming to Trump’s in West Palm Beach, Fla. to play. “I’m very flattered — I’ve never been to West Palm Beach before,” Erickson recalled. “Several times, his office reached out. So finally I asked my wife, ‘What do you think this is about?’ She said, ‘He wants to own your soul.’ So I never went. ” Erickson did not see much of a political future for Trump, but he imagined that he might be good for ticket sales, if nothing else, at the RedState Gathering. He informed Nunberg that Trump could have a slot on the convention’s second day. The evening before he was to speak in Atlanta, Trump went on CNN and denounced the Fox News host Megyn Kelly for her sharp questioning of him during a recent debate, speculating that Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever. ” When Erickson saw the footage that evening, he called Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and rescinded Trump’s invitation on the grounds that he would be too much of a distraction. “And that was that,” Erickson would later recall with a sheepish grin. “Until the next day, when he’s blowing me up. ” On Twitter, Trump called Erickson “a major sleaze and buffoon” and said that the “small crowds” at the gathering were due to his absence. Trump’s supporters soon piled on. This was to be expected, but what surprised Erickson were the attacks from people he regarded as his fellow in the conservative revolution. On Twitter, the host and Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham mocked “JebState. ” The author and provocateur Ann Coulter brought up some of Erickson’s own crass utterances, like his characterization of the former Supreme Court justice David Souter in 2009 as a “ [expletive] child molester. ” The next week, 30, 000 readers of Erickson’s email newsletter canceled their subscriptions. Erickson dug in, writing that Trump was “out of his depth” and lacking in “common decency. ” But he was drowned out by Trump sympathizers with even bigger audiences than his own, like The Drudge Report and the online outlet Breitbart. It was one of the first salvos in what would open up in the year that followed into a civil war within the conservative media, dividing some of the loudest voices on the right. Days earlier, Erickson had unimpeachable credentials in the conservative movement. But by crossing Trump, he was now, in the eyes of his former allies, “a tool of the establishment. ” The conservative media has always been a playground for outsize personalities with even more outsize political ambitions. The National Review founder William F. Buckley fashioned much of the intellectual genetic code of the Reagan Revolution, while also writing fringe groups like the John Birch Society out of the conservative movement and, for good measure, running for mayor of New York against the liberal Republican John Lindsay. In 1996, the former Nixon media consultant Roger Ailes brought his ethos to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News channel and built the network into a transformational power in Republican politics before his fall this year amid accusations of sexual harassment. But alongside the like Buckley and Ailes, the landscape has also produced a class of rowdy entrepreneurs who wield their influence in more personal, protean ways. The godfathers mostly came to power in the 1990s: antagonists like Rush Limbaugh, who began broadcasting nationally in 1988 and became talk radio’s hegemonic power in the Clinton years, and Matt Drudge, who started his pioneering Drudge Report online in 1996. If these figures defied the stuffy ceremony of the East Coast think tanks, opinion journals and columnists who traditionally defined the conservative intelligentsia, they rarely challenged the ideological principles of conservatism as they had existed since the Reagan era: small government, low taxes, hawkish foreign policy and traditional social values. What they mostly did was provide the Republican Party with a set of exceptionally loud megaphones, which liberals have often envied and tried unsuccessfully to emulate. Conservative talk radio and Fox News now collectively reach an audience of as many as 50 million — most of them elderly white Republicans with a high likelihood of turning out in election years. And this isn’t even counting the online outlets that have flourished during the Obama years, thanks to a growing economy and a presidency, particularly in the case of the Affordable Care Act, that gave conservatives common cause. Then came Trump. In a sense, the divide that he has opened up among conservative media figures is simply a function of the heartburn his ascent has caused among Republicans more generally, pitting voter against voter, congressman against congressman, Bob Dole against the Bushes. Some conservative media outlets threw themselves behind Trump from the beginning, explaining away his more radioactive statements and his record as a conservative. Breitbart, whose former chairman, Steve Bannon, is now Trump’s chief strategist, was an ardent early supporter, breathlessly covering Trump’s ascent in the polls and his smackdowns of “low energy” Jeb Bush and “little Marco” Rubio. But as Trump expanded into more sacrosanct targets — Fox News’s Kelly, George W. Bush’s performance in the war on terror and Cruz — the dissenting chorus among conservatism’s dons grew louder. The Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer warned in December that Trump “has managed to steer the entire G. O. P. campaign into absurdities. ” His Post colleague George Will predicted that a Trump nomination would mean the loss of conservatism “as a constant presence in U. S. politics. ” The Weekly Standard editor William Kristol floated the idea of a new “ party. ” And on the eve of the Iowa caucus, National Review devoted an entire issue to a single topic: “Against Trump. ” Since Trump clinched the nomination, the dividing lines have become starker, the individual dilemmas more agonizing. Mark Levin, an influential host, complains that among conservative commentators, Trump’s message is endlessly repeated by what he derisively refers to as “the Rockettes. ” But Levin, too, recently announced to his listeners that he intends to vote for Trump, if only to prevent another Clinton presidency. As he put it to me, “I’m not going to be throwing confetti in the air if Trump wins,” adding that he viewed the candidate as “a liberal with some conservative viewpoints that he’s not terribly reliable at sticking to. ” Others — Sean Hannity, Ingraham, the former Reagan official and “The Book of Virtues” author William Bennett — have thrown in for Trump with a brio that strikes some in the business as unseemly. “Look, we’re in the opinion business, but there’s a distinction between that and being a Sean Hannity fanboy,” the host Charlie Sykes told me. “It’s been genuinely stunning to watch how they’ve become tools of his campaign and rationalizing everything he’s done. ” “For 20 years I’ve been saying how it’s not true that talk radio is all about ratings and we don’t believe what we say,” he went on. “Then you watch how the media types rolled over for him. Obviously Donald Trump is very good for ratings, and at some point it’s hard not to conclude they decided the Trump train was the gravy train. I’ve been thoroughly disillusioned, and I’m not alone in that. It’s like watching ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’: Oh, my God, they got another one!” When Trump declared his candidacy in June 2015, the part of his announcement speech that most clearly foreshadowed the campaign to come had to do with immigration. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he told the crowd at Trump Tower. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. ” The line struck Sykes as awfully familiar when he heard it. A month before, he had run a segment with Ann Coulter, who had just published her 11th book, an screed titled “¡Adios, America!” Sykes was well aware of Coulter’s views, but he was taken aback when she began a riff on Mexican rapists surging into the United States (a subject that takes up an entire chapter of “¡Adios, America! ”). “I remember looking at my producer and going, ‘Wow, this is rather extraordinary,’’u2009” he told me. “When Trump used that line, I instantly recognized it as Ann Coulter’s. ” In fact, Corey Lewandowski had reached out to Coulter for advice in the to Trump’s announcement speech. The address Trump delivered on June 16 bore no resemblance to his prepared text, which contained a mere two sentences about immigration. Instead, he what Coulter today calls “the Mexican rapist speech that won my heart. ” When Trump’s remarks provoked fury, Lewandowski called Coulter for backup. Three days later, she went on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” and, amid shrieks of laughter from the audience, predicted that Trump was the Republican candidate most likely to win the presidency. One evening this past March, Trump received Coulter at his in Palm Beach. Though in recent years the two had developed a rapport on Twitter, she had met him face to face only once before he declared his candidacy, a lunch date at Trump Tower in 2011. Over lunch, Trump gave Coulter the impression that he had read her books. He also gave her a few items from his wife’s line of costume jewelry and told Coulter, who keeps a house in Palm Beach, that she was welcome to use the pool at anytime. The golf resort was the chief staging ground for Trump’s charm offensives against the conservative media. Many of its members have visited at Trump’s invitation in recent years, joining the resident Gatsby for steak and lobster on the patio, where Trump squints and appears to listen intently while his guests dispense political wisdom — though it is never clear whether he is actually interested in it, simply flattering his guests or sizing them up. When I dined with him on the patio this spring, Trump asked me eagerly about how I liked his odds in the election. Later, on the campaign trail, I watched him solicit the same counsel from random stragglers on the rope line. Coulter, at any rate, appeared immune to the whole routine. A week earlier, Trump bragged during a Republican presidential debate in Detroit that “there’s no problem” with the size of his penis. On the patio, Coulter told the candidate that no one wanted to hear about his endowment. She told Lewandowski that he should buy a dozen teleprompters and put them in every room of Trump’s house until he learned how to use them. Reminding Trump that she had been his earliest and most dedicated advocate, she told him: “I’m the only one losing money trying to put you in the White House. You’re going to listen to me. ” This appeal to the bottom line seemed to tweak Trump’s conscience. He gave Coulter an open invitation to waiving the $100, 000 membership fee. The following evening at the next Republican debate, he exhibited considerably more restraint, for which Coulter, with characteristic modesty, claims credit. “Coulter delivers!” she told me. Some of Trump’s supporters within the conservative media are attracted to his actual positions on issues. One is his trade policy, on which many media personalities on the right are considerably more populist and protectionist than Republican Party leaders and Chamber of Commerce boosters. Throughout Obama’s presidency, Laura Ingraham has warned of China’s predations: “The trade war is on, and we’re losing it,” she has often said. For others, Trump’s assurance that he will appoint Antonin conservatives to the Supreme Court is reason enough for their support. But Trump also simply fulfills the ineffable urge many have to, as Michael Needham, the chief executive of the conservative policy group Heritage Action for America, puts it, “punch Washington in the face. ” This is true for Coulter, who, in her newly published paean to the candidate, “In Trump We Trust,” writes that Trump is fit for the presidency not in spite of his crudeness but because of it: “Only someone who brags about his airline’s seatbelt buckles being made of solid gold would have the balls to do what Trump is doing. ” But what really sold Coulter on Trump, she told me, was his hard line on immigration. Coulter told me that she had never given the issue much thought during her childhood in New Canaan, Conn. and her student days at Cornell. Then in 1992, the journalist Peter Brimelow wrote a essay for National Review titled “Time to Rethink Immigration?” which would later become a sort of for today’s the ascendant movement that has found its champion in Trump. Brimelow cast the current wave of American immigrants in dismal terms: less skilled, less European, less assimilated, less and less Republican than the previous newcomers. Coulter, who was 31 and a law clerk at the time, remembers reading it and thinking, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve been completely lied to!” years later, Coulter helped formulate Trump’s position, which she hailed on Twitter as “the greatest political document since the Magna Carta. ” (Her additional tweet on the subject — “I don’t care if @realDonaldTrump wants to perform abortions in the White House after this immigration policy paper” — prompted Mark Levin to tweet back, “These have to be among the most pathetic comments of anyone in a long time. ”) Coulter has not always gotten her way with the candidate. At that evening in March, she lobbied unsuccessfully for him to pick as his running mate Kris Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas, who is credited with selling Mitt Romney on “ . ” And her book tour for “In Trump We Trust” hit a momentary snag when Trump told Sean Hannity that he would be open to “softening” his immigration stance, though Coulter chose to believe that, as she told me, “it was Hannity badgering him. ” Still, she has become the Trump campaign’s most unrepentant brawler. When Khzir Khan, the father of a U. S. Army captain who was killed in combat in Iraq, spoke critically of Trump at the Democratic National Convention, Coulter wrote on Twitter: “You know what this convention really needed: An angry Muslim with a thick accent like Fareed Zacaria[sic]. ” That tweet provoked disgust from fellow conservatives, among them Erick Erickson, who tweeted: “What a terrible thing to say about a man whose son died for this country. ” When I reminded Coulter of Erickson’s scolding, she let out a hearty laugh. “I always hated him,” she said. “This is one of the fantastic things. In any political movement, there are many people you think are losers and dorks, but your friends talk you into liking them, because they’re on our side. Now all of those people are out. ” Sighing, she said, “Trump has made my life better in so many ways. ” You will not find copies of “¡Adios, America!” or “In Trump We Trust” on any of the many bookshelves in the home of the Washington Post columnist George Will. A week after Ted Cruz dropped out of the Republican presidential race in early May, Will and his wife, Mari, a Republican political consultant, gave a catered dinner party for Cruz and his wife, Heidi. The other guests were conservative donors, activists and journalists, along with their spouses. The Wills have been hosting these encounters with political celebrities at their Maryland home for decades. In early 2009, Will’s fellow conservative columnists gathered there to meet Obama a week before his inauguration. Among the guests that evening in May was Laura Ingraham. Ingraham is of proudly heritage — her mother was a waitress for almost 30 years and her father owned and operated a carwash — and does not share Will’s reverence for decorum. She was an early defender of Trump’s willingness to say things “no one else is saying. ” While interviewing Cruz on her radio show six weeks before the Wills’ party, she interrupted him to mock his Harvard Law degree. Still, Cruz knew that his political future relied on conservative like Ingraham, and it was at his request that the Wills included her in the party. Over cocktails, the Cruzes spoke fondly of their experiences on the campaign trail, and the other guests listened politely, mindful of Cruz’s recent humiliating defeat. Then midway through dinner, at a table set with glasses once used by Abraham Lincoln, Ingraham insisted that Cruz needed to throw his weight behind the man who had branded him “Lyin’ Ted. ” “If you don’t endorse him, where does that leave you?” she said. “You don’t have the public and you don’t have the establishment. How can you be a leader of the conservative movement?” Cruz amiably replied that such a decision did not have to be made right away. Others at the table joined in to defend him, but Ingraham would hear nothing of it. “You can’t want Hillary Clinton elected,” she goaded him. Will sat fuming silently. “She was quite animated,” he would later recall. Cruz refused to offer his support to Trump that night or in the weeks to follow. Speaking at the Republican convention on July 20 moments before Cruz was to do the same, Ingraham taunted him: “We should all, even all you boys with wounded feelings and bruised egos — and we love you, we love you — but you must honor the pledge to support Donald Trump now, tonight!” The following morning on her radio show, Ingraham declared that Cruz’s refusal to endorse had “effectively ended his political career. ” Will was no more persuaded by Ingraham than Cruz was. The first and only time Will met Trump was in March 1995, when, at Trump’s invitation, he gave a speech at . Years later on Twitter, Trump would ascribe Will’s harsh view of him to Will’s having “totally bombed” with his performance that night. Will told me: “He started telling this story: ‘The reason Will doesn’t like me is I invited him to give a speech at and I knew it was going to be boring, so I waited out on the patio.’ Which raises two questions. First, if he knew it was going to be that boring, why did he invite me? And second, who would be the guy with the orange hair sitting in the front row?” Will said on ABC’s “This Week” in 2012 that Trump was “a bloviating ignoramus” and he has spent much of the past year predicting the candidate’s imminent political demise. “I thought even an entertaining bore could be a bore after a while,” he told me. By late December of last year, however, his contempt had given way to alarm. “Conservatives’ highest priority,” he wrote in a Post column, “must be to prevent Trump from winning the Republican nomination” — even if it meant Hillary Clinton’s election. Then on June 2, three weeks after his dinner party for Cruz, Will learned that his friend and fellow Republican Paul Ryan, the House speaker, had endorsed the nominee. Will considered the matter over martinis at home that evening. The next morning, he walked into his office and told his assistant: “Go change my registration. This is not my party anymore. ” Recently I visited Will at his office, a Georgetown brick rowhouse erected in 1811. Its walls are covered with framed photographs, several of them depicting the writer in his youth alongside Reagan and other titans of his former party. The dean of conservative pundits, now 75, wore a crisp pinstripe shirt and gray slacks, his customary owlish Mona Lisa expression a bit tighter than usual, owing to the subject matter. Will told me that he cast his first vote in 1964, for Barry Goldwater. He voted for the Republican candidate in every succeeding presidential election, until now. “I don’t use the word ‘frightening’ often,” he told me. “But it’s frightening to know this person” — Trump — “would have the codes. The world is getting really dangerous. His friend Mr. Putin is dismantling a nation in the center of Europe. Some captain of a Chinese boat with missiles might make a mistake in the next three years near the Spratly Islands. All kinds of things can go wrong. And the idea that this guy will be asked to respond in a sober, firm way? My goodness. ” He seemed genuinely despondent. “Given that, could you see yourself urging your readers to vote for Hillary Clinton?” I asked. Will’s lips pursed slightly. “Well,” he said, “it’s clear from everything I’ve written that I think she’d be a better president. That said, I’m not going to vote for her. First of all, I’m a Maryland voter. She couldn’t lose Maryland if she tried. ” “Then. . .. ” “I haven’t decided,” he said. “You can imagine — I get tons of emails: ‘I, too, have left the Republican Party. What should I do?’ Well, there are a number of legitimate options. Not voting is a legitimate expression of opinion. ” Ingraham and other conservative media personalities hailed Trump for having “tapped into” a shared and seething disquiet among predominantly white, voters. “What I don’t understand on the part of those being tapped into,” Will told me, “is: What exactly do they want? I can think of nothing the American people have wanted intensely and protractedly that they didn’t get. Took a while, but they got it. ” With a resigned he looked at the ground and intoned, in the manner of a monologue: “It’s gonna be yuge. And it’s all gonna get fixed. And we’re all gonna be winners. ” “If he doesn’t build that wall, I’m pissed,” Sean Hannity told me, reflecting on the prospects of a Trump presidency in the office of his radio show in Midtown Manhattan. “If he doesn’t repeal Obamacare, I’m gonna be pissed. If he appoints a liberal jurist to the Supreme Court, I’m gonna lose my mind. And by the way: I’ll be screaming. Not talking — screaming about it. But in fairness, if Trump doesn’t keep his promises, you can also blame me, because I believed him. ” Although Coulter was Trump’s earliest cheerleader among prominent personalities, Hannity’s stake in the election perhaps runs deepest of all, if only because of the size of his audience. He hosts the show (after Limbaugh) on talk radio and the program (after Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly) on cable news. More than 2. 4 million weekly viewers and 13 million listeners have witnessed Hannity sticking his neck out on behalf of a politician and sometime Republican who has voiced support for Planned Parenthood while vowing to limit America’s military footprint and shred trade deals that the G. O. P. has backed for decades. Hannity’s critics on the right have accused him of essentially running hourlong daily Trump infomercials. When I asked him about this, Hannity responded with a litany of sins perpetrated by the Republican establishment in concert with Obama: perilously low labor participation and homeownership rates, soaring national debt, Obamacare and so on. A Clinton presidency, he warned, would be “Obama on steroids. ” These were his motivations. “My conscience is clear. And I feel like Donald Trump would be a great president. ” Hannity told me that he had in fact never stayed at a Trump hotel property, played on a Trump golf course or visited . “I have my own place — on the other Florida coast, in Naples,” he said. “I don’t need his place. I always got the sense people were asking him for something. I don’t believe in asking for free stuff. ” Nonetheless, the two men have a mutual affinity that has spanned at least two decades. The MSNBC “Morning Joe” host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough theorized to me that their relationship has a psychological underpinning: “Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly all share the same resentment that they will never be accepted into Manhattan’s polite society no matter what they do. ” (Trump is from Queens Hannity and O’Reilly are from Long Island.) Trump, in a recent phone conversation, offered me a somewhat simpler explanation: “Sean likes having me on his show, and that has to do with ratings more than anything else. ” No presidential candidate in history, Hannity told me, understands television better than Trump — “not even close. ” On this score, I couldn’t disagree. One evening this past spring, on his plane after a campaign event in Buffalo, Trump told me that at rallies, he always made a point of finding the TV cameras at the back of the media pen and noticing whether a red light was flickering. “That means they’re airing it live,” he explained. “So I make sure to say something new” — by which he meant newsworthy, the better to own the next news cycle. Trump was a TV star for more than a decade before he became a politician he watches TV news incessantly and understands the medium intimately. He knows the optimal time slots on the morning shows. He the lighting. He is not only on speaking terms with every network chief executive but also knows their booking agents. He monitors the opinions of hosts and regular guests more avidly than most media critics do and works them obsessively, often directly. Scarborough told me that Trump’s family — particularly Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner — sometimes asked him for advice, and more than once “called me and asked me to get him off the ledge. I’ve said, ‘I can do that, but six hours later he’s going to revert to form.’ I told Jared at one point: ‘Jared, your listens to me more when I’m attacking him on television than when I’m trying to convince him to be rational for the sake of the party.’ I think he’s a creature of TV. ” TV networks, in the mainstream as well as conservative media, have profited handsomely from Trump’s theatrics, but some of their personalities like Hannity are drawn to him for reasons apart from ratings. The prospect of getting in on the ground floor of a Trump administration that is short on policy ideas and disdainful of old Washington hands amounts to a opportunity. By employing the Breitbart publisher Steve Bannon, and by including both Ingraham and Roger Ailes in his debate preparations, Trump has implicitly encouraged the conservative media to consider itself part of the campaign team. I asked Hannity if it was true that, as a Trump confidant had told me, he wished to be considered as a potential Trump White House chief of staff. “That’s news to me,” he insisted, adding a politician’s practiced nondenial denial: “I have radio and TV contracts that I will honor through December 2020. ” Nonetheless, Hannity’s service to the Trump campaign well exceeds that of ritually bashing Clinton and giving Trump free airtime. He has offered private strategic advice to the campaign. The same Trump confidant told me of at least one instance in which Hannity drafted an unsolicited memo outlining the message Trump should offer after the Orlando nightclub shooting in June. In public, Hannity has made it his mission to warn fellow conservatives — naming names, like the columnist Jonah Goldberg and the National Review editor in chief Rich Lowry — that if they do not soon climb aboard the Trump train they will, as the hashtag threatens, #OwnIt: Clinton’s picks for the Supreme Court, her response to the Islamic State, her trade deals, all of it. Hannity maintains that his scolding of Trump’s conservative dissenters derives from his fear of a Clinton presidency. “It’d be pretty much over,” he said. Taken alone, George Will or even National Review might have little impact on Trump’s standing in the race, Hannity argued, but “cumulatively they do. I can look at the poll numbers. If you go back to a month ago, he was garnering 73 percent of the Republican vote. The most recent, I think he had 88 percent. He needs to get to 93. ” And the key to the last 5 percent might very well lie with the noisy holdouts, like Erick Erickson. On Sept. 16, Erickson showed up at the National Press Club in Washington to participate in a debate sponsored by the National Religious Broadcasters. Erickson left RedState at the end of last year to concentrate on his radio show and his online opinion journal, The Resurgent, but he has remained influential among conservatives who do not support Trump. In July, when he learned that Ted Cruz was about to have a private meeting with the nominee on the eve of the convention, Erickson texted the senator: “Don’t endorse! Don’t endorse!” Later that evening, Erickson says, Cruz texted back: “Didn’t endorse! Didn’t endorse!” (Cruz finally announced that he would vote for Trump on Sept. 23.) The subject of the debate, inevitably, was Trump: specifically, whether evangelical Christians should support him. Being a lifelong evangelical himself, Erickson had some thoughts on the matter. Over the years, he had been condemned for his own offensive words, like the time he called the Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis “Abortion Barbie. ” But he had recently apologized for many (though not all) of these statements and had called upon Trump to affect a similar posture of Christian humility. “1 Corinthians is very explicit,” he told me. “If someone holds one’s self out to be a Christian and doesn’t behave that way, Christians are supposed to judge him. This is a guy who’s bragged about his affairs. ” This was Erickson’s principal argument during the debate. Trump was not merely a sinner, he said, but a gleefully unrepentant one. Erickson’s debate opponent, the Christian host and fervent Trump supporter Janet Parshall, responded by reciting a litany of sinners in chief — from Thomas Jefferson with the child he fathered with a slave, to Warren G. Harding with his multiple liaisons, to Richard Nixon with his foul language memorialized on the White House tapes. “We are not electing a messiah,” Parshall said. “Last time I checked, he was appointed to office and he is not . ” Erickson’s debating partner, the conservative activist Bill Wichterman, argued that Trump appealed to the worst in America: His bullying, his lying and his bigotry were “corrosive to our national character. ” Erickson could testify to this. At one point, he was receiving as many as 300 emails a day from Trump supporters. Some of them referred to him as a “cuck” or “ . ” The word — a derivative of “cuckold” — was new to Erickson, as were its originators in the . More than one of the emails predicted that Erickson would be shot to death. At the local grocery store, a man walked up to Erickson’s two young children “and told them they needed to know their father was destroying this country by supporting Hillary Clinton,” Erickson told me. And one evening, two people showed up on the Ericksons’ doorstep to deliver a threat — Erickson would not tell me what it was — explicit enough that he later hired security guards. “I’ve never had Obama or Romney or McCain or Clinton supporters come to my home or send me nasty letters,” he said. Did Trump beget all of this? If so, what begot Trump? Erickson argued that the fault lay with Beltway Republicans. “They’ve broken so many promises,” he said. “They promised to defund the president’s immigration plan. They promised to defund Obamacare. They promised to fight the president on raising the debt limit. At some point, the base of the party just wants to burn the house down and start over. ” But even Erickson did not seem convinced that this alone explained what he saw as a nihilistic turn among Republican voters. “I do think there are a lot of people that have just concluded that this is it — that if we don’t get the election right, the country’s over,” he said. As to where they might have gotten that idea, Erickson knew the answer. It was the apocalyptic hymn sung by hosts like his friend and mentor Rush Limbaugh, whose show Erickson once though in the time of Trump, it seemed unlikely he would receive another invitation. This February, Limbaugh, who has applauded Trump without endorsing him outright, posed to Erickson the question of whether a commentator should try to act as “the guardian of what it means to be a conservative. ” In effect, the legend of talk radio was laying down an unwritten commandment of the trade, which applies as well to cable TV: Do not attempt to lead your following. This was simple enough for an avowed Trump supporter like Ingraham. “Laura’s never missed an opportunity to build her career on the backs of others,” Erickson told me. He counted Hannity as another mentor and admired his entrepreneurial cunning, saying: “Sean reflects his audience. He’s not going to leave his audience. ” On his own radio show, Erickson found that the more he denounced Trump, the more female listeners he picked up. But most of the 300, 000 people who tuned in weekly during rush hour were men. While Erickson refused to abandon his principles, he did not wish to go broke, either. On Sept. 20, Erickson wrote a long post for The Resurgent titled “Reconsidering My Opposition to Donald Trump. ” He made no effort to disguise his moroseness. “I see the election of Hillary Clinton as the antithesis of all my values and ideas on what fosters sound civil society in this country,” he wrote, and described his manifold objections to her at great length. But, he went on, “I have to admit that while I may view Hillary Clinton’s campaign as I view Donald Trump’s campaign as . . .. While I see Clinton as having no virtue, I see Donald Trump corrupting the virtuous and fostering hatred, racism and dangerous strains of nationalism. ” The election left him adrift. “I am without a candidate. I just cannot vote for either one. ” And so Erickson’s conscience led him back to where he was 13 months ago. Nowadays, he told me, he was doing all he could to avoid discussing Trump and the election altogether — a tall order for a host. Responding to my look of bewilderment, he said, “Why dwell on the train wreck?” Erickson believed he was not alone. “People know where we’re headed, don’t like where we’re headed and would rather talk about something else,” he said. Erickson had won many fights. This one was the biggest yet, and he had lost. There was nothing left to do but step back from his megaphone, dwell on happier matters and wait for the next righteous cause.

American politics at its most uncivil | Opinion - Conservative

beforeitsnews.com

(Before It's News) Tim Stanley wrote in The Spectator last week about American politics. Here is some of it. To anyone complaining that American politics in 2016 is uncivil, consider this: in 1804, the vice president of the United States shot the former Secretary of the Treasury in a duel. Alexander Hamilton, the retired secretary, probably fired first […] Continue reading American politics at its most uncivil . . . → Read More: American politics at its most uncivil

Is This Heaven? No, It’s Cleveland - The New York Times

John Hyduk

CLEVELAND — On a warm June night in Cleveland, 20, 562 pairs of hands gathered to lift a curse. Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cavaliers, was hosting an official Game 7 watch party. The place was gussied up in banners proclaiming, “ALL IN. ” In fact, most things were all out. The $5 tickets for the 20, 562 indoor seats sold out in less than a minute a like number of admissions for the outdoor plaza were also gobbled up in under a minute. The chosen ones (apologies, LeBron) shuffled past their ticketless brethren in an approximation of the Last Judgment, marching toward not the Pearly Gates but the Gateway Plaza security. “Anybody got a ticket to sell?” a tattooed man said. “One ticket?” Inside, your Ahmad and Nicole, a couple, took over the Humongotron. “The scoreboard has four enormous HD video screens that are tilted and uniquely curved to provide optimal viewing angles for all fans” is the way the Q’s website described it, and the Big H, replete with flaming sabers, could barely contain Ahmad’s enthusiasm. “It’s Game 7 of the N. B. A. finals with the Golden State Warriors” — we boo — “going against YOUR Cleveland Cavaliers!” High in the rafters — the uppermost stretches of the Q are dubbed Loudville — Nicole cornered Mark, a young fan. She asked what his plans were after the Cavs won. Mark’s eyes went saucers, as if the thought had never really occurred to him. Then the Humongotron filled with pregame live from Oakland. There was LeBron James’s face, broad and as impassive as the Sphinx. And the building lost its collective mind. Is this heaven? No, it’s Cleveland. “Do not engage in any fighting or throwing of objects,” the announcer reminded us. “Violators will be ejected and subject to arrest. ” It’s not easy being CLE. In most cities, sports failure is an occasional painful lesson in Cleveland, it has been the entire point. Futility here turned into an annual ritual: The (insert franchise name here) would start the season with high hopes, lose much of their steam via poor play and horrible miscalculations (see Johnny Football) and reload with a new crop of talent, only to reprise the outcome. The Cavs had seemingly followed the script, left for dead after the fourth game of the championship series as assorted talking heads proclaimed that no team had ever come back from a series deficit. Believeland would have none of it. “Cavs all the way,” Laurie Coduto said. Her husband, Mike, agreed. “You know the Cavs are going to win,” he said. The Codutos were here Sunday night because “we want to be part of history,” Laurie said. The music kicked in. Billy Idol was singing “Rebel Yell. ” Or it could have been “White Wedding. ” Heck, it could have been Pachelbel’s “Toccata in E Minor. ” No matter. It was the moment, and the moment is what set the wheelchairs in the Subway Fan Zone to dancing. A trio of young men passed, laden with enough nachos for a week in the North Woods. “Follow me,” one said. “Know where you’re going?” “No. ” You knew by the time of the player introductions that something was different. As the lights dimmed, and just before the Humongotron belched fire, a fan waved a sign: “LeBron the Real M. V. P. ” Maybe. The Warriors closed the half strong. Draymond Green ignited an run in the final four minutes of the second quarter, and Golden State took a lead into the locker room. No matter. “The Cavs are going to win,” said a woman who gave her name as Ophelia. Calm in the storm, she was here “to be part of the excitement. ” The elite craziness took place in deeper waters. The Cleveland Indians’ afternoon game against the Chicago White Sox provided the undercard, and Tribe fans wandered over from the ballpark to join the throng outside. The vibe was Spring Break North the dress — what there was of it — was casual, the conversation livelier. “Did you get him anything for Father’s Day?” a young woman asked her friend. “Who says he’s the father?” her friend answered, not looking up from her drink. Nearby, another young woman lectured a boy. “Don’t play for a team,” she scolded. “Be a lawyer and own the team. ” She added, “I dated a lawyer, and I should know. ” The boy was about 2 years old and tiny, riding on his father’s shoulders. Dad and son quickly moved away. With 1 minute 50 seconds left in the game, James uncoiled a block of an Andre Iguodala shot. Kyrie Irving hit a shot over Stephen Curry. Curry answered with a wildly errant attempt on the other end before James was fouled hard. He knocked down the second of two free throws for a Cleveland lead with 10 seconds on the clock. Chants of “M. V. P. !” rocked the Q. Please, no more about the Curse. Suffice to say, the Cavs put up a season that any thinking sports fan ought to have been proud to witness. Cleveland has beaten flawed teams, like Atlanta, and it has beaten young rosters just coming into their own, like Detroit and Toronto. The Cavs are smarter than any team that’s tougher, and there aren’t many of those. It could be argued, while listening to Wiz Khalifa rattle your molars, that sport has sucked the charm out of the contemporary game and replaced it with volume. Marketing is a simple villain. Hunger for karmic justice, and they will offer you a discounted hot dog. Shiver in the cold rain of a of disappointment, and they will hand you a FirstEnergy . That is the way the game is played now. It is easy to overlook the obvious even when it is flashed onto a video screen the size of an apartment building. The real power lies inside, coiled and remarkable. It always has. It is what causes the granny during the Irving to chair dance to mad beats. It is what causes the beanpole wearing a Matthew Dellavedova jersey as a belly shirt to lean to his left to misguide a Curry free throw, even if the hoop in question is 2, 200 miles away. And yes, it is what turns every “Brian on a car phone” into James Naismith this time of year. No maybes here. We’re going to win. Not “they” or “I. ” In the end, the Cavs played like a team with a chip on its shoulder, winning for a city full of people with a chip on theirs. Which brings us back to Mark, pondering a course of action for the final buzzer. “I’m going to go running in the street,” he said. It was a beautiful summer night, a gentle breeze finally coming over a Great Lake, past the glass pyramid of the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame. The Cavs were champs. A spell had been lifted without crystals, roosters or the intercession of Madame Zora. And there was nothing left to do except join 20, 562 of your closest friends and run in the street.

Michael Moore admits no women ever melted the ice caps, bombs American history

Brett T.

Posted at 11:03 Michael Moore was super excited to learn that Republicans were driving traffic to his film , “Trumpland,” by passing around on social media a four-minute clip, even though he claims it was doctored. That’s not cool — if anyone’s going to doctor the footage in a Michael Moore movie, its going to be Michael Moore. Obviously Moore’s not a Donald Trump fan, and like many other liberals this weekend, he’s not an Anthony Weiner fan. Setting aside Judicial Watch’s lawsuit against the State Department, Hillary Clinton almost looked to be in the clear a few months back, but now her email shenanigans have returned to the front pages, all because of Weiner’s compulsion to send vulgar selfies online. Unbelievable that once again Hillary has to suffer the abuse of men & their dickish behavior. Bubba, Weiner, Trump, Newt, Comey. Sick of it. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) October 29, 2016 What did Bill Clinton do that was so wrong? Hillary long ago established that he was the victim of a vast right-wing conspiracy. And Weiner? Sure, be angry at him for the way he’s treated his wife and the women he’s sexted, but there would be no sensitive emails on his laptop if Hillary and company had simply used the secure government email accounts provided to them. Moore was just getting started on his misandrist rant, and when he’s on a roll, it’s best to step away until he’s finished it. The day can't come soon enough when women will take charge. Public policy will not be decided by dick pix, Tic Tacs, grab-assers or the GOP. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) October 29, 2016 No women ever invented an atomic bomb, built a smoke stack, initiated a Holocaust, melted the polar ice caps or organized a school shooting. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) October 29, 2016 @MMFlint wowwww? Women can't do ANYTHING…… — Nitro Rad (@NitroRad) October 29, 2016 What about all those soccer moms tooling around in minivans and SUVs? The ones manufactured in Michigan, by union workers, in factories with smokestacks? And don’t be so quick to count out women atomic bomb, either. @MMFlint You might to do a little reading on that atom bomb thingie. You could not be more wrong. — Terry O' (@IrishTea1) October 29, 2016 @MMFlint lots of women were on the Manhattan Project. You just demeaned them and belittled their efforts to support a warmonger… — Charlie Reed (@CharlieReed2004) October 29, 2016 RT @MMFlint " No women ever invented an atomic bomb" Leona Woods among others worked on the Manhattan Project. https://t.co/fay4GNLAzy

Deplorable D (D's Nuts!)

U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants to Philippines Region: East Asia and the Pacific Income Group: Lower-Middle Income Total (FY 2012): $197,036,510 sounds great! we'll be calling in those loans now why don't you just STFU.

Panicked Borrowers, and the Education Department’s Unsettling Silence - The New York Times

Ron Lieber

It was bad enough late last month when the Education Department, in a legal filing, informed the nation’s public servants that they shouldn’t trust its administrator’s word about whether their student loans qualify for its debt forgiveness program. But the panic among borrowers that the newfound uncertainty unleashed helps illuminate an additional problem with the public service loan forgiveness program: Many people who believe that they qualify — and entered graduate school, borrowed piles of money and chose employers accordingly — may not realize that they are not making qualifying payments or that certain loans are not eligible for forgiveness. The program, which began in 2007, was enacted with what was supposed to be a proposition: People who worked for 10 years in public service jobs and made regular payments would have the remainder of their federal student loans forgiven. A wide variety of jobs were supposed to qualify, from nonprofit work to teaching in a public school or practicing medicine at a public hospital. But now, 10 years later, the legal filing has sown all manner of confusion — which itself comes in the wake of a disheartening amount of misdirection given to borrowers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau receives plenty of complaints about loan servicers offering incorrect information. And employers may also pass along bad advice. “This is one of the most complex programs ever concocted by Congress,” said Rohit Chopra, a former Education Department employee who also served as the student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “So many people who are counting on getting some help are going to be flatly rejected on a technicality. ” People who are in the loan forgiveness program, who think they are or who are contemplating trying to enter it ought to use this scare as an opportunity to step back and their assumptions. At least four basic things need to happen for someone to get in the program and stay in: He or she must make payments in the right way, have the right kind of employer, be in the right loan category and have the right kind of payment plan. What follows is a mere summary, and the pitfalls, tripwires and exceptions are legion. Mandatory additional reading includes the Education Department’s fact sheet, its list of 56 questions and answers, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s tool kits for employers and employees. Let’s take those four requirements in order: THE RIGHT WAY TO PAY For starters, you need to make 120 payments in order to qualify. They need to be made on time and in full, and you must be working full time. The count can get complicated for people in school, or just getting out, or in financial trouble, as well as for those with qualifying undergraduate loans who go back to school. Question 21 on the department’s list addresses some of these issues. THE RIGHT KIND OF EMPLOYER This is what the lawsuit is about. All of the Education Department’s guidance on the topic suggests that people who work for the government or for a nonprofit with 501( c) 3 status should be eligible for forgiveness. Anyone who wants to be certain that an employer qualifies can (and should) file an employment certification form with a loan servicer. Do it every year, and every time you change jobs or servicers. Also check to make sure your payments are going correctly toward that goal of 120. The lawsuit involved some employers with more esoteric nonprofit statuses, and the Education Department’s filing in response declared that approval of an employment certification form “does not reflect agency action on the borrower’s qualifications” for the public service loan forgiveness program. Additionally, the brief said that borrowers should not expect a truly final decision until after their 120 payments were made. Cross your fingers, everybody! And cue the justifiable panic. Dr. Jordan 33, an emergency room physician at a nonprofit hospital in New York City, fired off a letter to the Education Department demanding final word now about the fate of his more than $300, 000 in student loans. While he had previously received letters saying that his employer qualified, he was primed to be wary. At one point, his human resources person mistakenly told him that his hospital might not qualify. “I was going to throw up,” he said. Jessica Schreiber, 28, the founder and sole paid employee of a nonprofit, has her own concerns. She left New York City’s Sanitation Department last year to start Fabscrap, which helps local businesses recycle their fabric. Before starting graduate school, she plotted her loans, payments and career choices according to the rules of the loan forgiveness program. So when she heard the news about the lawsuit, she posted the following on Facebook: “THIS IS TERRIFYING. ” She has asked for her servicer’s blessing on the eligibility of her nonprofit, and has not heard back yet. Since the legal filing, the Education Department has told reporters that it cannot comment on pending litigation. I didn’t ask about that. Instead, I simply asked if its servicer’s letters about whether an employer was eligible were something that borrowers should believe. Its three spokesmen did not answer by my deadline for this article. Let’s call the Education Department’s refusal to clarify the matter exactly what it is: meanness. If the department has made mistakes with the litigants and misclassified their employers, it can fix them quickly and settle the suit without freaking out untold numbers of other borrowers. THE RIGHT KIND OF LOAN The Education Department’s instructions, via another information page on its website, are pretty clear: You need to have what the agency refers to as a “direct” loan. As the site explains, if the word “direct” isn’t in the title of your loan, it probably doesn’t qualify. If you aren’t sure what kinds of loans you have or whether your statement from your servicer describes them correctly, you can log into the department’s website and look them up. If you’re making payments on, say, a Federal Family Education Loan (F. F. E. L.) or a Perkins loan, those are not counted toward your 120 payments, even if you work for a qualifying employer (though the Perkins loan has its own cancellation program). You can fix this by consolidating your loans into a direct consolidation loan. Be careful, though: If you consolidate direct loans with nonqualifying loans, any payments you made on that old direct loan won’t count anymore. The count to 120 resets. When Dr. Darius Amjadi, a pathologist and Iraq war veteran in Portland, Ore. began his work with a veterans’ hospital, he thought he had a shot at loan forgiveness from the Veterans Affairs Department’s own program. At the same time, his employer informed him that his loans would be eligible for public service loan forgiveness. But the department’s forgiveness has not come through. And it turns out he had not been in the right kind of federal loan to qualify for forgiveness under the public service program, despite what his employer said. “If anyone had said, ‘Check your loans,’ it would have put me on notice,” Dr. Amjadi said. Now, he’s got a balance of $40, 000 and has missed out on years of eligibility for forgiveness. THE RIGHT KIND OF PAYMENTS This is the category that so worries Mr. Chopra, the former Education Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau student loan expert, who is now a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America. For starters, he points out that if you are not in some kind of repayment program (check the Education Department’s website for the names of all of the different ones) you’re not going to benefit from forgiveness and there’s a good chance that your payments don’t qualify. A standard repayment term for student loans is 10 years, or 120 payments. Those payments may be technically eligible if you have the right employer, but if you’re making them in full (and not on an plan) you’ll have paid off the loan in 10 years and there won’t be any loan left to forgive. Mr. Chopra worries about people working for eligible employers and making payments in something called graduated or extended repayment plans that are not income driven. If you think that sounds like you, call your servicer and ask, then ask again at a different time to be sure. He points to data in an Education Department presentation from late last year that is available online showing that about half of the people enrolled in public service loan forgiveness have not made a single payment that qualifies toward their goal of 120. He suspects that many just don’t realize they’re in the wrong kinds of payment plans. My inquiries to the Education Department about this matter yielded no replies. To review, we’ve promised to help our public servants by forgiving their student loan payments after a decade. But the program is confusing, the government’s legal filings contradict its websites, and its representatives aren’t answering questions. This is no way to treat the people who do some of the most important work in our country. But it’s also yet another reminder that as we build more complexity into our financial systems, we’re sending the message to those who must navigate them that they are on their own. It’s a shameful message at any time, but it’s particularly galling when it’s firefighters, librarians and nurses on the receiving end.

An English Soccer Club Turns Fantasy Sports Into Reality - The New York Times

Jack Williams

At first glance, the sideline of a United London F. C. home game features exactly what one would expect from an soccer match on a rented field in England’s capital. Water bottles. A collection of balls. Substitutes warming up. A crowd that United London’s chairman, Mark North, describes as “one man and his dog. ” What is missing is more notable: a manager. At United London F. C. the position of a traditional coach is unnecessary. Instead, the lineup is selected by the team’s fans each week. Formed this year and currently playing in the Essex Alliance Premier League — the 12th tier of England’s competitive soccer pyramid — United London F. C. claims to be the world’s only managerless club. In place of a traditional coach, the team’s business model brings together elements of reality TV voting and player analytics similar to those used in video games and by scouts. It employs a fantasy system that awards points to or deducts points from the team’s fans (acting individually as managers) based on whether their selections make the starting 11, score or record an assist, or play a role in posting a shutout. “In nonleague football, there’s not much in the way of eyeballs, because the Premier League just takes over everything,” North, 38, said. “That’s where we want to be different, in that we are building an online fan base, rather than a localized one. ” To date, more than 2, 000 people have signed up with the club, which played its first competitive match in early September. The team claims support from fans in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Sweden and the United States. Each week, those fans vote on United London’s starting lineup by reviewing player statistics, scouting reports and videos of previous weeks’ matches posted online by the club. After voting closes each Friday, the squad for Saturday’s match is announced. “I think it’s cool because it keeps the club’s supporters involved,” said John Frusciante, a from Aberdeen, N. J. who recently signed up. “The fans have more input than, say, at Real Madrid. Zidane isn’t going to ask you if Ronaldo should be starting or not” — as in Coach Zinedine Zidane and striker Cristiano Ronaldo. North said the idea behind the team came to him last year while he and his wife were watching TV on a Saturday night. Tired of ballroom dancing shows and singing contests, North, who worked in financial recruitment at the time, began devising ways to apply the reality TV voting model to soccer. Like the contestants on such shows, players for United London have something at stake in each week’s voting. While researching how to find players for a team, North realized he might be able to mine the large number of academy prospects that are released by English professional clubs each season. After this highly competitive annual cull, many players abandon their hopes of professional soccer, around age 18. United London has positioned itself as a second chance for such players the club’s badge depicts a phoenix rising from flames. “A lot of players, by the time they get to 18, 19, 20, they haven’t got a résumé,” said Jon Willis, the head of recruitment at the Football Careers Centre, an organization that helps place former academy players with new clubs. He helped organize United London F. C.’s summer trials. Willis said United London allowed players to reset their career path, or try to attract the attention of a new club. “This program is interesting,” Willis said, “because they record every game. It’s going to put people in the shop window. ” Already, United London F. C. has created a diverse squad of and even among them a Turkish youth international a player who, the club claims, was the soccer player in Britain last year and the nephew of an England international striker. “Right now, I don’t really think about it,” Georges Ketoka, who once played in the third tier of Belgian soccer, said of fans’ having the power to pick, or cut, players. At 26, Ketoka is one of the team’s oldest members. “If you play,” he said, “you know it’s because people like you, the way you play and what you bring to the team. ” For now, United London supporters can influence the team’s lineup only before matches. On a website — North admitted that it had had some growing pains — fans are met with a formation empty of players that they can fill by selecting names from menus beneath each position. Clicking on a star above a player selects him as the captain, earning the manager double points for that player’s performance. As technology improves, North said, the club would like to allow fans to make decisions on substitutions and other questions. For now, those decisions, and practice sessions, are handled by United London staff members. North would not reveal how many of those are active users. The reason, he said, is that knowing such information could allow him and his staff to manipulate voting for the players they prefer. However, North did joke that results so far had shown that he was perhaps not the best person to be making such decisions anyway. His role at the club includes tasks like putting up the nets before matches, but he also sits down every Sunday to count every pass, tackle and shot from the previous day’s match, so that fans have the information they need to vote during the week ahead. That has not lent him much of an insider advantage, though, when he picks his own lineup. Last week, he said: “I was only ranked seventh — some guy from Sweden was top of the leaderboard. And I should know everyone!”

'Ayúdame': Captan fenómenos paranormales en la cámara de la muerte de una cárcel abandonada (Video)

RT en español

'Ayúdame': Captan fenómenos paranormales en la cámara de la muerte de una cárcel abandonada (Video) 21:26 GMT Desde que la prisión norirlandesa fue cerrada en la década de 1990, se ha registrado una serie de avistamientos sobrenaturales en el lugar. Facebook / David O'Reilly‎ Un extraño fenómeno, presuntamente sobrenatural, ha sido grabado en los pasillos de una cárcel abandonada de Irlanda del Norte, donde décadas atrás fueron ejecutados muchos criminales, informa ' The Mirror' . En las imágenes captadas dentro de Crumlin Road Gaol (Belfast) por David O'Reilly con su teléfono móvil, se puede ver lo que parece ser una luz flotando en los pasillos, que crece en intensidad a medida que se acerca a la cámara. Crumlin Road Gaol fue inaugurada en 1845, y hasta su cierre en 1996 se llevaron a cabo decenas de ejecuciones. Desde que la prisión fue cerrada se ha registrado una serie de avistamientos paranormales, en particular en la cámara de esperas de ejecuciones y en la propia cámara de la muerte. Según algunos testigos, en el interior de la prisión ocurren "algunas cosas muy extrañas", como que las puertas se cierran por sí solas o se pueden escuchar voces de personas pidiendo ayuda. Recorded tonight on a Samsung phone. Slow motion. Figure on left then orb that heads straight for me then up. Creepy stuff!! Posted by David O'Reilly on viernes, 21 de octubre de 2016

War With the Comanche

AR Staff

War With the Comanche Duncan Hengest, American Renaissance, July 2010 Fort Sill, north of Lawton, Oklahoma, is home to the Army’s Field Artillery School as well as many field artillery brigades. Over the decades, thousands of Americans have learned how to crew cannon there, and I am one of them. A posting to Fort Sill allowed me to explore what remains of the Wild West when I was off duty. I’d always been a fan of Westerns and of the real history of America’s pioneering conquest of the continent, and the Lawton area was and is the center of Comanche territory. During the early days of the Texas Republic, the Comanche were the world’s best light cavalry. In fact, they were such fantastic fighters that the Spanish never even tried to subdue them, and the Comanche halted the expansion of settlements into the panhandle and northern Texas for nearly 50 years. Yet the Comanche today are a pitiful group, the defeated remnants of a terrible racial conflict. Everywhere you go in Lawton, you see obese Indians. In Oklahoma each tribe has its own license plates, so you can tell a person’s tribe by watching him get into his car. (I tried to get a license plate that said “Comanche” but the DMV would not give me one.) Sometimes it seems as though all the Comanche are unhealthy; the white man’s diet does not seem suited to a people adapted to living on game from the North American prairie. When the Comanche get sick they go to the Public Health Service Indian Hospital at the eastern end of Lawton. If you drive by you are likely to see ancient Indians — poor and disheveled — holding out their thumbs for a ride. Their hands tremble. It seems that the Comanche are as badly adapted to the white man’s economy as to his diet. I once watched a heavy Comanche woman slowly pushing pennies towards a white cashier. She carefully slid each coin across the counter as though it was very difficult to part with. The Comanche’s misery is the result of their absolute defeat during a fierce conflict with whites in the 19th Century. The Comanche War, as that conflict has come to be known, was lengthy and cruel. This terrible war that cursed both the Indians and the Americans was largely inherent in their circumstances; different races and cultures, especially aggressive ones, should not try to share the same territory. Always against us The name Comanche is a Spanish corruption of the Ute word Kohmahts , meaning enemy, stranger, or those who are always against us. Like many tribes, the Comanche called themselves simply “the people,” or Numunuh in their own language. They are an offshoot of the Shoshone, who hail from the area of today’s southern Idaho. Sometime during the 1500s, they left the mountain northwest and settled in southwest Oklahoma. There, they acquired horses from the Spanish, and began to dominate the high plains of western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and Eastern New Mexico. This vast territory was well watered and its grasslands fed the Comanche’s horses, endless herds of buffalo, and other smaller game. With the horse, the Comanche could travel rapidly on the planes, and easily kill buffalo. In the mountain Northwest, the Comanche had been a poor, foot-bound people; with the horse they became lords of the western plains. Their population exploded. There was no census, but estimates of their numbers vary from 10 to 30 thousand. As they grew more powerful, they started raiding their neighbors. They raided the Apache and Pueblo in Arizona and New Mexico, and the Pawnee in Eastern Kansas. They traded with the Spaniards around Santa Fe but also raided settlements in Mexico and Texas. They often took captives in Mexico and ransomed them back to traders in Santa Fe for finished goods. Neither the Spanish Empire nor the Mexican Republic had the means to stop this well-organized piracy. Despite constant raiding, some time around 1790 the Comanche made a lasting alliance with the Kiowa. Like the Comanche, the Kiowa had come from the mountain Northwest, moved into the southern plains, and acquired the horse. The Kiowa and Comanche spoke different languages, but lived in a very similar manner. The Kiowa were a much smaller tribe, and perhaps they fitted into a special niche: not worth raiding and too small to be a threat, but useful allies. This alliance between two extremely warlike people held year after year. The two tribes raided together so consistently that Comanche raids were often Comanche-and-Kiowa raids. The Comanche came to the attention of Americans when Texas became free of Mexico. Shortly after independence, in 1838, the new republic signed its first peace treaty with the Comanche — a treaty that was probably doomed from the start. It was made with only one Comanche band, it did not define a boundary between Texas and Comanche lands, and it was never ratified by the Texas Senate. Essentially it required that the Comanche stop attacking whites — a not unreasonable demand — and some Comanche may have intended to abide by it. However, the Republic of Texas was a young, independent state with relatively wealthy white newcomers living in isolated settlements. They were irresistible targets for raiders, and the treaty was soon broken. Comanche raids were striking examples of military precision and stealth. Raiding parties could number up to 1,500, and could move undetected across the grassland. Attacks on this scale had proven brilliantly successful against traditional Comanche targets: larger villages of mostly unarmed Mexicans or other Indians. These villages had no way to fight off the Comanche or pursue them as they retreated. Raiders were most active during the full moon, when they could see at night. The waxing of the moon became a source of dread for Texas whites, who began to call the full moon a “Comanche moon.” When they sacked Texas farmhouses they usually killed the men and captured the youngsters and women. Comanche women often tortured and mutilated older girls and women to make them less attractive. The women also took the lead in torturing men. They might cut the skin off their feet, tie them to a horse, and make them walk behind until they collapsed and were dragged to death. By 1840, just two years after the treaty, relations between whites and Comanche were murderous and getting worse by the day. In March, the Texas government sent Colonel Henry W. Karnes at the head of a group to meet a delegation of Comanche chiefs at the San Antonio Council House. Karnes was charged with recovering Texas captives and trying to improve relations. The Texans estimated that the Comanche held some 200 captives, and promised that their return would be taken as a gesture of goodwill. The meeting went badly. The Comanche arrived with only one of the promised captives, a young girl whose nose had been burned off. She was badly bruised from beatings, and said she had been repeatedly gang-raped. Texan soldiers, who were already angry over the raids and the broken treaty, killed the chiefs outright. Other whites opened fire on the Comanche who were outside the courthouse. To the Comanche, the Council House slaughter was treachery of the lowest sort. What the Texans considered savagery — raiding, torture, and slaughter of captives — were to them the normal practices of war. From this mutual incomprehension, and from the slaughter of the chiefs, the seeds of long-term hatred were planted. The Comanche never forgave the Texans. Throughout the decades they were pillaging Texas, Comanche could have raided Kansas — it was no farther away than many parts of Texas — but they saved their wrath for Texas. The Comanche did not wait long for revenge. In early August they launched a massive attack on the coastal towns of Victoria and Linnville. In Victoria, the local militia, often called “Minutemen,” managed to drive off the attackers. They fired from inside buildings, and the Comanche, unused to city fighting, retreated. At Linnville, the raiders killed some 20 residents; the others survived only by boarding ships and moving just off shore, where they watched as the Comanche burned the town to the ground. Linnville never rebuilt, and the area is now a residential part of Calhoun County. Linnville and Victoria are hundreds of miles from the center of Comanche territory in Oklahoma, and the attacks demonstrate the extraordinary reach and mobility the raiders enjoyed. At that time, the Comanche often hunted and camped in territory as far south as Austin. The barbed wire fence had yet to be invented, so there was little to stop them. Indeed, Texans had settled only the eastern and coastal parts of the state, so the coast was well within range of inland tribes. The warfare that began with the council house killings and the revenge raids on Linnville and Victoria lasted until the late 1870s, and this nearly 40-year war can be divided into three stages. The first, which lasted until Texas joined the Union in 1845, pitted the Comanche against locally-organized whites supported by a Texas government that was highly sympathetic to them. The second, from 1845 until 1861, was much like the Cold War in that the federal government contained the Comanche but did not destroy their ability to make war. In the last stage of the conflict, after the Civil War, a vindictive Reconstruction government ignored bloody and repeated Comanche attacks on disarmed whites and supported the Comanche through a myriad of welfare and reform policies. Only after the post-Civil War elite was directly threatened did it take action, permanently ending the Comanche threat in 1879. Texans strike back Immediately after the great raids on Linnville and Victoria, the Texans called out the militia and assembled Ranger companies, and defeated the retreating Comanche force at the Battle of Plum Creek on August 14, 1840. The Comanche were slowed by the burden of their loot from Linnville, and also faced an enemy that was better armed and organized than their earlier Indian and Mexican antagonists. Since the 1830s, Texas Rangers had carried six-shooter revolvers as well as long rifles. The Comanche were still mostly armed with bows and arrows as well as lances, and usually retreated on their fast horses in the face of sustained gunfire. When the mounted Rangers could catch them, they would ride next to the Indians and inflict terrible losses with their six-shooters. Another important ingredient in subsequent successes against the Comanche was the leadership of the dynamic and aggressive Texas president, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar. Lamar was a Georgian who had moved to Texas to escape disappointments in his career and personal life. He fought at the Battle of San Jacinto, where the Mexican Army was defeated and Texas won independence. The Texas constitution allowed for a single presidential term in office, and Lamar was elected to succeed Sam Houston. One of the new president’s first challenges was the Comanche. As he put it, “The fierce and perfidious savages are waging upon our exposed and defenseless inhabitants, an un-provoked and cruel warfare, masacreing [sic] the women and children, and threatening the whole line of our unprotected borders with speedy desolation.” After the victory at Plum Creek, Lamar began a policy of retaliatory raids on villages in the Comanche sanctuary in the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma. Colonel John H. Moore, accompanied by Lipan Indian scouts, led the initial foray. The Rangers moved on an area that is now Colorado City, Texas, and the Lipans discovered a village with little security. Moore sent a detachment to cover a likely escape route, and ordered the main body of his command to attack. He caught the Comanche by surprise and killed 50 in the village. The ambush detachment killed another 80 retreating Indians. The killing was somewhat indiscriminate and included women and children. Moore’s tactics of attack and ambush were duplicated by the Rangers, and later, by the US cavalry. (Interestingly, this was the same basic plan George Custer used at Little Big Horn in 1876. The difference was that the Sioux village was massive. The Indians also had lever-action rifles and pinned down the ambush detachment while sending a larger force to overwhelm the 7th Cavalry’s main attack. Custer never had a chance.) Lamar saw the conflict as a race war, and made no secret of his desire to rid the state of all Indian tribes. He probably would have exterminated the Comanche if he could have, but took different measures against less war-like tribes. His administration pointedly sent no aid when diseases swept through Indian territory. He began the process that moved the Cherokee, Caddo, and Tonkowa onto reservations in Oklahoma, but once they were settled peacefully, he never harried them. Against the Comanche, Lamar developed both defensive and offensive strategies. The Rangers’ ability to defeat large groups prevented the Comanche from forming large raiding parties, and the Minutemen in the Texas settlements — almost like local crime watches — defended against smaller raids. The system was not perfect, but the raids became smaller and less frequent. Rangers also continued to maul Comanche villages. As T. R. Fehrenbach wrote in his definitive Comanche: A History of a People , there were many retaliatory actions “no one bothered to report.” Part of the tragedy of the war is that although the Comanche had raided for generations, they had never faced an opponent like the Texans and did not understand them. Spaniards and Mexicans were disorganized prey, and could not mount a full-scale defense. Nor did they have a militia to call out. The Comanche assumed that white men were like themselves, loosely organized bands for whom an offence against one was not an insult to all. Texans saw things differently, and united against what they considered a threat to the entire state. Until they took on the Texans, the Comanche had always been safe from reprisal raids, so for them, the war was over when the raiding party came home. The Texans were different. Months after a raid, they would surprise an offending — or completely innocent — Comanche village and put it to the torch. Also, Comanche movements were limited by the seasons and buffalo hunts, whereas the Texans could campaign any time of year. By the end of Lamar’s administration a generation of Comanche warriors was dead. T.R. Fehrenbach estimates that from 1838 to 1840, a quarter of the braves had been killed, most of them in the actions following the Council House fight. What saved the Comanche and kept the war alive were larger questions of geopolitics. The Texans were going broke. The country’s finances were unsound, and the Comanche campaign was just one of several conflicts Lamar had to finance. There were constant Mexican incursions, and Lamar even sent troops into Mexico at great expense. The United States was receptive to annexation, so Texas joined the Union in 1845. The expensive Ranger companies were cut back and federal troops took over their job. At first, the Army sent only infantry to forts along the frontier, and they could not stop the Comanche from moving freely over the prairies. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis formed a cavalry regiment to send to Texas, which managed to prevent some raiding. Its efforts were helped by a cholera epidemic the “Forty-niners” brought when they crossed the plains during the Gold Rush. It is estimated that the Comanche population dropped from 20,000 to 12,000 during this time. Whites began to push the internal Texas frontier forward. The east and south were settled by then, but the north and west — where Wichita Falls and Amarillo are today — were still raw frontier. With the Comanche more or less under control, white settlers began to fill the empty parts of the state. By 1860, the Comanche were on the defensive — reduced by plague and harried by the US Cavalry. Their final defeat would have been just a matter of time, but the Civil War changed the balance of power. The federal troops left, and Confederate forces went East. The pressure lifted, and midway through the war the Comanche started raiding again. They went back to their old ways of rape, plunder, and torture, but with a new twist. They soon found they could steal Texas cattle and trade them with Comancheros — Hispanic traders in the Rio Grande Valley — for lever-action rifles. The Texans lost the advantage in firepower they had always enjoyed. The Comanche had always been able to get a few modern weapons, but massive industrial production and increasing trade made them much easier to get. The Texas Reconstruction government therefore inherited a new Comanche war that was blowing with a terrible fury, but did not take it seriously. The carpetbag elite was less interested in fighting Indians than in enriching itself at local expense and supporting the newly freed blacks. Things only got worse as the 1860s wore on, and T.R. Fehrenbach writes that by 1870, “long-settled regions were regressing toward depopulation. Only hundreds of settlers were being killed, but meanwhile thousands were deserting the frontier. The panic was very real.” The frontier retreated — an early form of white flight — as farmers left their properties for safer areas. Those who stayed behind turned their haciendas into fortresses. The effect was to hold back growth; the panhandle could not be settled until the 1880s. Lyndon Baines Johnson’s ancestors were among those the Comanche harried. Even as the Comanche were murdering white homesteaders, the government attempted a sanctuary, welfare buy-off, faith-based assimilation program that is reminiscent of modern times. During the final Comanche War from 1865 to 1879, Texas whites were disarmed by the Reconstruction government, and prevented by law from retaliatory raiding into Comanche territory. They could do little more than lobby a hostile occupation government for aid — not always to much effect. Pro-Indian liberals in government as well as East Coast sentimentalists even prevented several murderous Indian chiefs from being hanged. Ironically, the attack those chiefs led was the very incident that caused the Army and federal government finally to act decisively. More humane policy One of the causes of federal inaction was a genuine desire to handle Indian troubles in a humane way. East of the Mississippi, Indian wars had been bloody affairs that ended with the Indians absolutely destroyed or confined. If anything, Northerners were slightly more violent than Southerners. Yankees tended to wipe out Indians and remove any survivors to small, out of-the-way reservations. In upstate New York, the Continental Army destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages and left survivors to starve or seek aid from the British. In 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, American troops defeated an Indian force and then removed all remaining Indians from Ohio. After victories in the Midwest, whites paid the surviving Indians paltry sums for their land and sent them West with essentially no support. Abraham Lincoln’s sole experience as a soldier was a brief period of garrison duty with the Illinois Militia in the otherwise bloody Blackhawk War, in which the Sac and Fox Indians were destroyed and forced out of Illinois and Wisconsin. In the South, the Cherokee were the source of the longest-running conflict, and held lands in Georgia long after the northeastern states had destroyed their Indians. As tensions with whites mounted, relocation became the favored solution rather than war and ad hoc expulsion, and was carried out mainly though an admittedly one-sided legal process. Cherokee removal was a relatively peaceful and fair solution to two incompatible peoples living close to each other with a long history of violence. Stand Watie, a Cherokee chief who later became a Confederate general, supported the move from Georgia to Oklahoma, and brought his band West well before the now-notorious “Trail of Tears.” In that context it is understandable that after the Civil War, many pressure groups in the East, no longer threatened by Indians, pushed for more peaceful measures. Also backing the changes was the Office of Indian Affairs, which wanted more control over Indians at the expense of the Army. President Grant therefore tried to treat Indians as wards of government rather than independent nations, and to assimilate and civilize them rather than destroy them. In the past, Indian wars were often sparked when a dishonest Indian Agent stole government aid to the Indians for his own profit, so in 1869, Grant charged religious groups with carrying out his new policy of turning Indians into peaceful farmers. The denomination that got the Comanche assignment was the Society of Friends, or Quakers. Quakers are one of America’s oldest and most influential founding groups. They live a life of piety and thrift, and disavow fancy dress and military action, but it may have been a mistake to pick a group religiously opposed to war in any form. President Grant’s agent to the Comanche was Lawrie Tatum of Iowa, who had probably never seen an Indian before he answered his Church’s call and headed West. Tatum arrived at Fort Sill in 1869 and enacted a sort of Great Society program. He started schools, gave deeds of farmland to the Comanche with instructions for farming, and established a mill for grinding grain. The Comanche also got free coffee, sugar, and blankets, and lived in safety. Soldiers secured Fort Sill and the agent’s supplies, but did not interfere with Comanche activity or take to the field. Quakers would not use the military to keep the Comanche on their reservation and avoid war. Tatum worked hard to teach the Comanche to be civilized farmers but was defeated by circumstances. The Comanche culture’s central focus was on warfare and raiding. Wealth and status could only be acquired through war, and Quaker pacifism was too foreign to graft onto their way of life. Also, welfare handouts are always unsatisfying. The Comanche were not happy with reservation rations and it was far more rewarding to plunder Texans. The Fort Sill Reservation became a sanctuary from which they could wage war. In 1871 there were even scalpings within a short distance of Army posts. Whites had sent a capable and honest agent to deal with the Comanche and bring about peace, but the Comanche were not willing to be peaceful. Sherman and the Comanche Just as it is today, it was whites who lived furthest from the menace who were convinced they knew best how to handle it. In Philadelphia or New York it was easy to talk about humane Indian policies, but on the frontier, whether in Confederate or Yankee territory, sentiments were different. In Minnesota in 1862, Sioux Indians attacked whites, killing hundreds. Many whites were fresh from northern Europe or descended from the very liberal Puritan and Quaker colonists. Yet they rallied and pushed the Sioux out of the state. In Colorado in 1864, Methodist minister and volunteer army officer John Chivington, a fervent abolitionist, led a force of mostly settler militia against a group of Cheyenne after a series of murderous raids. His militia massacred Indians without compunction but his force also included a few regulars from the East who were appalled by the killing and raised a stink. Chivington also made a bad mistake: He attacked a peaceful band of Indians, not the hostile Dog Soldiers, an out-of-control offshoot of the Cheyenne, who were actually doing the raiding. Also in 1864 an Army unit under Kit Carson fought the Comanche at the Battle of Adobe Walls, in Hutchinson County, Texas. The Indians surrounded the force but were held off with two mountain howitzers. The cannon were decisive. Carson’s men were outnumbered nearly ten to one, but killed nearly 100 Indians for a loss of six whites. Texans therefore eventually got help from people who knew Indians first hand. Help arrived, ironically, in the form of William T. Sherman, who never had much faith in Grant’s Indian policy. In 1871 he toured Texas to inspect damage from Comanche raids, and had a near encounter with Indians that had an effect on policy. A group of braves led by Set-tainte, Set-tank, and Big Tree attacked a wagon convoy of Army supplies that passed just minutes behind Sherman’s lightly guarded inspection tour. The dozen men on the convoy fought back, but seven were killed, scalped, and mutilated. One man died after being tied upside down to a wagon wheel with a fire set under his head. Sherman was shaken by this close call, and sent out the cavalry under Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie to investigate. With information from Agent Tatum, Mackenzie cornered the three ringleaders. Set-tank died resisting arrest, but the other two were sent back to Texas for trial. Set-tainte and Big Tree were sentenced to death, but not executed. The trial became a circus, with the two Indians at the center of a political struggle they must have found bewildering. As T.R Fehrenbach explains, “There was much popular sentiment in the East against hanging the aborigines; more important, the Indian Bureau and Department of the Interior strongly resented the army’s interference in Indian affairs.” President Grant wired the Reconstruction governor Edmond J. Davis and asked him to commute the sentences to life in prison. Davis did so. Eventually the two were released after serving less than a year. Texans were outraged. Even Quaker Tatum, who by this time was thoroughly disillusioned with the peace policy, was indignant. Although President Grant had pushed for a pardon, he reconsidered the peace policy and quietly let Colonel Mackenzie take the field. Mackenzie brought along Gatling guns, which gave his men a real edge over larger forces. (Rapid-fire weapons were rarely used against mass charges of Indians — they were too smart to try that — but having them meant Mackenzie’s men rarely had to face such charges. Things might have turned out differently for Custer if he had taken Gatling guns.) Mackenzie drove ruthlessly into Comanche territory. He was a hard man, who pursued Indians wherever they fled — even into Mexico — and his men certainly killed women and children. One of his harshest tactics was to capture any Indians he could — women, children, elders — and hold them hostage. This meant Comanche war parties were forced to move with their entire villages, lest their families wind up in prison camp or dead from a trigger-happy trooper. The Comanche had even more to fear from the militia. Local men who may have known people killed in raids were invariably more vengeful than professional soldiers. This policy of interning non-combatant Indians was part of one of the last full-scale campaigns against the Comanche, starting in August 1874, when Mackenzie pursued a force led by Chief Quanah Parker into the Llano Estacado of the Southern Plains. In late September, Mackenzie’s men captured a New Mexican Comanchero trader and made him talk by stretching him over a wagon wheel. He revealed the location of a large Comanche village in a canyon. Mackenzie’s men rode all night and stormed the canyon, capturing the horses, food stores, and teepees. The braves, always excellent fighters, held off the army until the women and children climbed out of the canyon, but Mackenzie burned their supplies and killed their horses. Over the next several days, he pursued and defeated the hungry, foot-bound Comanche. Many braves surrendered and returned to the reservation. These tactics greatly reduced the Indian menace by the end of 1875, but the Comanche faced yet another threat. The expanding railroads brought whites armed with new buffalo guns onto the prairie to hunt the buffalo for their skins. The result was a slaughter that nearly wiped out the great herds on which the Comanche had depended for generations. The hunters themselves were dangerous; one group defeated a larger force of Comanche with their excellent rifles in 1874, at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. Constantly pursued by the Army, starving for want of game, by 1879 the Comanche were a beaten people and never again threatened Texas. From a possible high of 30,000 at the start of the 19th century, the Comanche were reduced to roughly 1,500 by 1878. A once-proud people finally submitted permanently to the reservation. The Comanche War is now history, its many tales preserved in movies and books. No Texan now living ever feared a Comanche moon. Today, tribal conflict takes different forms, and it is incursions from the South that are pushing back the white frontier. Clashes are not so sharp as those in the 19th century, but the outcome is no different. The destiny of Texas is being decided through immigration and demographics rather than armed conflict, but the questions remain the same: who will populate and who will rule? Earlier Americans understood what was at stake; today’s Americans have been numbed into acquiescence.

French Socialists Collapsing Just Weeks Before Election

Breitbart London

PARIS (AFP) — France’s governing Socialist party was in tatters Thursday after former prime minister Manuel Valls spurned the party’s official presidential candidate and backed independent centrist Emmanuel Macron. [Valls’ endorsement of Macron seals the rift between what the former premier has described as “two irreconcilable lefts” — one still wedded to the class struggle, represented by presidential nominee Benoit Hamon, and another reformist camp led by Valls. Successive Socialist leaders managed to hold the party together but under President Francois Hollande the tacit pact between the two factions broke down, leaving the party in disarray. Le Parisien newspaper said Valls’ repudiation of Hamon — a leftist rebel who quit the government in 2014 over its policies — was the “nail in the coffin” of the party. The party of Francois Mitterrand that had acted as a broad church of the left since the 1970s “died yesterday, without panache, corroded by ideological and personal rivalries,” the paper wrote. Valls’ nod comes less than a month before the first round of the election on April 23, with polls showing Macron and leader Marine Le Pen running . Hamon is trailing in fifth place, behind conservative candidate Francois Fillon and radical Melenchon. The Socialist candidate had always been expected to struggle after five years of lacklustre rule under the unpopular Hollande. Valls said his decision to back Macron, who quit the Socialist government last year to form his own movement, En Marche (On the Move) — styled as neither of the left nor right — was “not a matter of the heart but of reason”. “I think you should not take any risks for the Republic” Valls said, saying he did the “responsible” thing in opting for the candidate tipped to easily beat Le Pen in May’s election . But for many on the left the endorsement smacked of treachery after Valls pledged to back the winner of the Socialist primary in January, in which he was the . A furious Hamon on Wednesday urged voters to reject those who “stabbed (me) in the back”. A Socialist activist in Marseille lodged a criminal complaint against Valls for “breach of trust” saying his disavowal of Hamon was “the straw that broke the camel’s back. ” “He (Valls) lost” in the primary,” Sylvie told AFP, calling on Valls to quit the party. “It was up to him to bridge the gap” with Hamon. — Bedfellows no more — For Henry Rey, a political scientist at Sciences Po university in Paris, there are not two but three lefts in France: a liberal camp represented by Valls and Macron, a camp led by Hamon and a radical camp led by Melenchon — who is now the leading presidential contender on the left. On Wednesday, a bullish Melenchon rebuffed a desperate appeal by Hamon for the two to join forces. “It’s clear that trying to make the various lefts cohabit no longer works, as demonstrated by the disastrous end to Hollande’s presidency,” Rey said. “The lines are being redrawn, which is a precondition for the recomposition of the left,” he said. The lines are also shifting on the right, with Macron and the nationalist Le Pen draining support from the Fillon. “It feels as if all the old political forces are dying before our very eyes,” political analyst Pascal Perrineau said. Thibaut Rioufreyt, a researcher at Sciences Po university in Lyon, warned however against writing the obituary for the Socialist Party (PS). “The PS has become a federation of local politicians,” he wrote in La Croix newspaper. “It will still exist but its positioning will change. ”

Anonymous

Trump has an excuse now to audit any vote with these machines , trust the UN to be involved . He neds them to take a photo of their vote with phones , and be onto the polling booths for the bus loads of illegal voters going from booth to booth , he can bust this whole scam wide open if he is smart . Soros gave 10 million to Clinton , this must be ilegal surely ...

DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile On Clinton’s FBI News: She Has Already Been Cleared | RedFlag News

Via Washington Examiner: Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazile admonished the FBI Friday for telling Congress it found new emails related to Hillary Clinton’s private server, and called on the federal agency to state immediately that the Democratic nominee is in the clear. “FBI Director Comey unequivocally cleared Hillary Clinton of any intentional wrongdoing three months ago, and said that no reasonable prosecutor would pursue the case in question further. Now, 11 days away from the election, he released a vague letter that immediately led to rampant speculation in the news media,” Brazile said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.

Is That Real Tuna in Your Sushi? Now, a Way to Track That Fish - The New York Times

Claire Martin

“Most people don’t think data management is sexy,” says Jared Auerbach, owner of Red’s Best, a seafood distributor in Boston. Most don’t associate it with fishing, either. But Mr. Auerbach and a few other seafood entrepreneurs are using technology to lift the curtain on the murky details surrounding where and how fish are caught in American waters. Beyond Maine lobster, Maryland crabs and Gulf shrimp, fish has been largely ignored by foodies obsessing over the provenance of their meals, even though seafood travels a complex path. Until recently, diners weren’t asking many questions about where it came from, which meant restaurants and retailers didn’t feel a need to provide the information. Much of what’s sold has been seen as “just a packaged, nondescript fish fillet with no skin,” says Beth Lowell, who works in the prevention department at Oceana, an international ocean conservation advocacy group. “Seafood has been behind the curve on both traceability and transparency. ” What’s worse is that many people have no idea what they’re eating even when they think they do. In a recent Oceana investigation of seafood fraud, the organization bought fish sold at restaurants, seafood markets, sushi places and grocery stores, and ran DNA tests. It discovered that 33 percent of the fish was mislabeled per federal guidelines. Fish labeled snapper and tuna were the least likely to be what their purveyors claimed they were. Several years ago, Red’s Best developed software to track the fish it procures from small local fishermen along the shores of New England. Sea to Table, a family business founded in the with headquarters in Brooklyn that supplies chefs and universities, has also developed its own software to let customers follow the path of their purchases. Wood’s Fisheries, in Port St. Joe, Fla. specializes in sustainably harvested shrimp and uses software called Trace Register. And starting this fall, the public will be able to glimpse the international fishing industry’s practices through a partnership of Oceana, Google and SkyTruth, a nonprofit group that uses aerial and satellite images to study changes in the landscape. The initiative, called Global Fishing Watch, uses satellite data to analyze fishing boat practices — including larger trends and information on individual vessels. From a young age, Mr. Auerbach had romantic notions about fishing, specifically the idea of catching fish to feed his family and neighbors. “It’s cool in this day and age that people wake up in the morning and go make a living interacting with nature and feeding their community,” he said. He went into commercial fishing straight out of college, taking a job on an Alaskan salmon boat and later returning to New England to work on lobster boats and learn more about the fishing industry there. Soon after Mr. Auerbach founded Red’s Best in 2008, he realized that a combination of government regulations and commercial fishing’s embrace of technology were effectively threatening the existence of small fishing boats. Yet smaller boats travel short distances and catch fewer fish, which Mr. Auerbach said improves their quality. “We try to push people to eat local, traceable fish,” he said. Like most other seafood distributors, he was relying on an antiquated, carbon copy system that was so cumbersome, he was routinely shuffling paperwork until 2 a. m. “The boat would get a copy at the point of unloading,” Mr. Auerbach said. “The government would get a copy. I’d file a copy. And then I’d write in the prices. ” As for paying the fishermen: “I’d have to get checks and then match the checks to the paperwork and mail them. It was an absolute nightmare that wasn’t scalable. ” Now the Red’s Best software does that work. For instance, a company driver backs a truck down to the long wooden pier in Woods Hole, Mass. each afternoon, so that fishermen can load their bluefish, striped bass, bonito, conch, horseshoe crabs and other seafood. But instead of a thick pad of paper and carbon sheets, the driver wields a waterproof wireless computer tablet with a Bluetooth mobile printer. “He’s putting their catch data directly onto the internet, and our whole staff all over the country can see in real time as fish is being unloaded onto our truck,” Mr. Auerbach said. When the fish arrives at Red’s Best’s Boston plant, it is instantly received into inventory and reported to the federal government. The company affixes a traceability label on each box of fish. The label has a bar code that can be scanned by smartphones to reveal who caught the fish, where and how. A unique web page is automatically created for that fish. Buyers, typically wholesalers throughout the country, and their customers can scan the code to learn the story behind the fish. Mr. Auerbach, who has 100 employees, projects the company will sell 20 million pounds of seafood this year, caught almost exclusively by 1, 000 small vessels. Eventually, Red’s Best hopes to sell directly to consumers. “Like, a bluefin tuna is being unloaded right this second in Provincetown, Mass. and you buy a pound of it to be delivered to your home tomorrow,” he said. “I want that tuna sold as deep into the supply chain as possible. ” By that he means ideally the fish will travel from the company’s Boston hub directly to home cooks’ refrigerators. Currently, people can buy Red’s Best fish at its store at the Boston Public Market, at several farmers’ markets, or shipped through AmazonFresh and, starting last week, FedEx. “I got the data,” he said. “I got the fish. I know people want it. ” Sea to Table hopes to sell fish directly to home chefs starting this year, too. But local seafood can cost more than many Americans are accustomed to paying, which partly accounts for the rampant seafood fraud in this country. “U. S. fisheries are very well managed and are actually growing nicely,” said Michael Dimin, the founder of Sea to Table. “But the U. S. consumer’s been trained to buy cheap food, and imported seafood is really cheap because of I. U. U. fishing. ” I. U. U. stands for illegal, unreported and unregulated. The result is unsustainably fished, cheap seafood flooding American fish markets and grocery chains. “To us, the secret is traceability,” Mr. Dimin said. “If you can shine a light on where it came from, you can make informed decisions. ” Mr. Auerbach concedes that some local fish is expensive, but he maintains that many varieties are affordable. “Maybe halibut and scallops are for the wealthy,” he says. “But dogfish, skate, porgy and mackerel are all very inexpensive, healthy and great tasting. ”

Einigung bei Regierungsbildung: Donald Trump leitet künftig alle Ministerien selbst

noreply@blogger.com (Der Postillon)

Mittwoch, 16. November 2016 Einigung bei Regierungsbildung: Donald Trump leitet künftig alle Ministerien selbst New York (dpo) - Nach tagelangen Disku­ssionen darüber, wer künftig welchen Pos­ten im Kabinett von D­onald Trump bekleiden­ wird , gab der design­ierte Präsident heute­ bekannt, dass endlic­h eine Einigung erzie­lt wurde. Anschließen­d nannte er die Namen­ aller neuen Minister­. "Ich freue mich, heut­e bekannt geben zu kö­nnen, wer ab Januar w­elchen Posten in meiner Regierung überneh­men wird", so Trump w­ährend einer offiziel­len Pressekonferenz. Er persönlich habe genau abgewägt und für jedes einzelne Ressort die kompetenteste Person ermittelt. "Vize-Präsident von Dona­ld Trump wird: Donald­ Trump." Dann fuhr er fort: "A­ußenminister wird: Do­nald Trump. Finanzmin­ister wird: Donald Tr­ump. Innenminister wi­rd: Donald Trump. Jus­tizminister wird: Don­ald Trump. Landwirtsc­haftsminister wird na­ch langen Diskussione­n: Donald Trump. Hand­elsminister wird: Don­ald Trump. Arbeitsmin­ister wird – und das ­dürfte viele überrasc­hen: Donald Trump. Ve­rteidigungsminister w­ird: Donald Trump. Ge­sundheitsminister wir­d: Barack Obama. Haha­, kleiner Scherz, es ­wird: Donald Trump. B­auminister wird: Dona­ld Trump. Verkehrsmin­ister wird: Donald Tr­ump. Energieminister ­wird: Donald Trump. B­ildungsminister wird ­– dafür habe ich mich­ persönlich eingesetz­t: Donald Trump. Zu g­uter Letzt werden Don­ald Trump und Donald ­Trump die Ressorts Kr­iegsveteranen und Inn­ere Sicherheit beklei­den." Er freue sich sehr au­f die Zusammenarbeit ­mit dem Kabinett und ­sei sicher, dass Amer­ika auf diese Weise w­ieder zu alter Stärke­ zurückfinde, so Trum­p abschließend. Falls es Nachfragen gebe, mögen sich die Journalisten an seinen Pressesprecher und künftigen Stabschef des Weißen Hauses Donald Trump wenden.

FDA to withdraw 2 generic ADHD drugs after determining they have no therapeutic effects

Vicki Batts

FDA to withdraw 2 generic ADHD drugs after determining they have no therapeutic effects Tuesday, November 01, 2016 by: Vicki Batts Tags: FDA , ADHD drugs , market withdrawal (NaturalNews) ADHD medications have been subject to public scrutiny for quite some time. Two years ago, the FDA said it had discovered problems with a generic version of a popular ADHD drug known as Concerta. The generic, produced by the pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt, just wasn't up to snuff. And now, the FDA seems to finally be making moves to pull this inferior product off the shelves.Generic drugs are approved by the FDA through their abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) process. In the ANDA process, the federal agency is primarily focused on data that shows the generic drug is a bioequivalent for the reference listed drug, or what many people refer to as the "brand name" drug.The term "bioequivalent" means that there is no substantial differences in bioavailability between a generic drug and the brand name product. Specifically, it suggests that the extent and rate of absorption of two drug equivalents over the same period of time, at the same dose and under the same conditions, should exhibit similar results. As the FDA explains on their website, "The generic version must deliver the same amount of active ingredients into a patient's bloodstream in the same amount of time as the pioneer drug."Unsurprisingly, discrepancies in actual equivalence are often discovered after a generic has been approved.Mallinckrodt's Concerta generic is not the only brand name knock-off under fire. Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of the Lannett Company, also manufactures a generic form of the medication that the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has deemed insufficient.As reported by the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society: CDER tracked the issues from December 2013 through June 2014, ran a re-analysis of bioequivalence data and "determined that the Mallinckrodt product may deliver methylphenidate into the body at a slower rate than Concerta during the time period of 7 to 12 hours post-dosing." Following the CDER's findings, Mallinckrodt filed a lawsuit, which was thrown out by a Maryland federal judge. The pharmaceutical company has since declined to voluntarily withdraw their product from the marketplace. And according to the FDA, the drug manufacturer has yet to submit any new data or information that confirms the bioequivalence of their product to Concerta.Similarly, the CDER concluded in June of 2014 that the data on the Kremers product is insufficient to determine whether or not their generic product is therapeutically equivalent to Concerta. In November that year, the FDA announced that their product was not sufficiently equivalent to the name brand.Both manufacturers may submit a request for a hearing to the FDA within the next month so they can attempt to show why approval for their drugs shouldn't be withdrawn.Of course, the FDA's concerns about the apparent lack of efficacy seen in these generic drugs is rather ironic, given the magnitude of other concerns surrounding these drugs. In 2006, a CBS News report revealed that 25 people died and 54 more suffered serious cardiovascular problems following the use of ADHD medication, in a period of just four years.That may not seem like a lot, but is important to recall that the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), which is used to track such events, is a voluntary system. Only drug manufacturers are required to report adverse events – if they know about them. Doctors, patients and family members are under no such obligation. PSQH reports that drug safety experts estimate that only about 10 percent of all adverse events will even be reported – who is to say how many people have been harmed by ADHD medications (and other drugs) and don't know it or haven't reported it?The FAERS website itself states that because of its own limitations, "FAERS data cannot be used to calculate the incidence of an adverse event or medication error in the U.S. population." And yet, in spite of this very statement, the FDA itself used this information to form a safety report?Over the years, several ADHD medications, like Adderall XR, have been linked to sudden death , cardiovascular problems and psychosis. According to Consumer Reports , the long-term safety of these drugs has not been evaluated or studied sufficiently, and there is evidence to suggest that the benefit of such drugs wears off after about two years. Many kids take ADHD medication for quite a bit longer than that.In spite of all of this, the FDA has yet to pull these drugs from the shelves, and is instead concerned with drugs that aren't strong enough. Medications that don't work obviously don't belong in the marketplace. However, drugs that are killing children don't belong there either. Sources:

Report: NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Hires 2 Florida Fundraisers in Move Toward Presidential Bid - Breitbart

Katherine Rodriguez

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has hired two fundraisers from Florida, a sign he may be working toward a presidential bid, the New York Post reported. [One of the consultants he hired is former Hillary Clinton fundraiser Jon Adrabi, who “will help plan events and build relationships with Democratic donors in the key swing state. ” “Hiring fundraising staff, particularly in a battleground state, opens up money spigots beyond what would normally be available and is a key first step to laying the groundwork for a run,” a Democratic operative told the Post. The source says that Cuomo wants to “hire political consultants with experience outside of New York. ” Cuomo is planning several fundraisers next month to add to the $22 million he already has. One of those events includes “a dinner at the St. Regis where tickets cost $15, 000 per person,” and “sources say a South Florida event is also in the works. ” Cuomo has become very vocal about issues in the Trump administration, further “expanding his national profile. ” He announced a plan to fight antisemitism and hate crimes, spoke out against Trump’s executive order on immigration, and vowed to protect transgender students in New York after the Trump administration repealed guidelines allowing students to use the bathroom of their preferred gender identity.

Bernie Sanders Facing Pressure Over Supporters’ Actions in Nevada - The New York Times

Yamiche Alcindor

Raising the prospect of lasting fissures in the party, Senator Bernie Sanders rebuffed pressure on Tuesday to rein in his supporters after they disrupted a weekend Democratic convention in Nevada, throwing chairs and later threatening the state chairwoman in a fight over delegates. The uproar comes as Hillary Clinton is struggling to turn her and the party’s attention to the fall. Mr. Sanders’s supporters showed no sign of backing down on Tuesday. In interviews, several threatened to disrupt the party’s convention in Philadelphia in July with protests and nonviolent disobedience over a nominating system that they say has treated Mr. Sanders unfairly. In emails, on social media and on websites, his supporters have traded advice about protest tactics and legal services in case of mass arrests. Alarmed by the unrest in Nevada, Senator Harry Reid, the minority leader, said that he spoke with Mr. Sanders on Tuesday and that the Vermont senator faced a “test of leadership” over his supporters’ actions. Mr. Reid, who represents Nevada, said he was confident that Mr. Sanders would “do the right thing. ” But Mr. Sanders showed no sign of backing down, releasing a statement that, while condemning violence, accused the Democratic leadership in Nevada of using “its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place. ” The fight in Nevada underscored the determination of Mr. Sanders’s supporters to undermine Mrs. Clinton’s march to the nomination. On Tuesday she lost the Oregon primary but declared victory in Kentucky, where she held a edge according to complete but unofficial returns. Mrs. Clinton spent Monday campaigning in Kentucky, showing how the battle against Mr. Sanders continues to distract her campaign even as she turns her fire on Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. And leading Democrats have become increasingly vocal about the need to unify the party for the general election — while being careful not to anger Mr. Sanders by urging him to quit the race. Senator Barbara Boxer of California said she had reached out to Mr. Sanders about the need for unity. “I have placed a couple of calls to Bernie,” Ms. Boxer said. “He’s my friend. He’s been my friend for many, many, many years, and I haven’t heard back from Bernie, and I would hope that Bernie will be a leader and make sure that everybody understands what is at stake. And what is at stake is the future of our nation. Nothing less. ” Ms. Boxer, who was in Nevada for the convention on Saturday as Sanders supporters erupted in anger, called what she witnessed ”terrible. ” “We just can’t have a repeat of that in Philadelphia because it’s distressing,” Ms. Boxer said. “I have a message to the Bernie people who are planning to be disobedient because the system is rigged. Here is the thing: They should support the Democratic candidate who got the most votes. They should support the Democratic candidate who got the most delegates. There is nothing to protest. ” But Sanders supporters remained defiant, raising the possibility of unrest on the streets outside the convention. “You are going to see a variety of tactics,” said Elizabeth Arnold, 32, a former staff member for the Sanders campaign in Philadelphia who said she planned to demonstrate. “I personally don’t like being arrested. But it’s essential that we speak our minds and assert our First Amendment rights. Our system is terribly flawed and terribly unjust — so very just actions often end in arrests. ” Ms. Arnold, who helped found EDGE, an environmental justice group based in Philadelphia, said she did not condone violence and hoped that people would find a way to voice concerns peacefully. But she said that Mrs. Clinton and other Democratic leaders attending the convention “should worry about what is going to happen. ” Nina Turner, a prominent surrogate for Mr. Sanders, said that she had seen several emails from people planning acts of civil disobedience, and that talk of dissent in the Republican ranks over Mr. Trump masked the searing divisions among Democrats. “People are talking about the Republicans having a brokered convention. I think we are sleeping on the Democrats,” Ms. Turner said. “And if Democrats believe that that’s not going to happen, they are just sadly mistaken. They have blinders on. ” “It is going to be progressives who will disrupt,” she said. “And when I say disrupt, I don’t mean in a violent or a terrible way, but I just mean upset the apple cart. ” April Mellody, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Convention, said in a statement that the convention’s security team would work with the Philadelphia police and the Secret Service “to ensure the safety and security of all of our delegates and participants. ” After the meeting of Nevada Democrats on Saturday ended in mayhem when many potential Sanders delegates were deemed ineligible, Roberta Lange, the state party chairwoman, said she had received death threats against her and her family after Sanders supporters spread her cellphone number online. “The Sanders campaign helped incite everything that happened,” she said. “Instead of attacking me, they should be publicly apologizing to me for the part that they played. I’m really disappointed. It makes me feel like it is not being taken seriously. ” On Tuesday, the Nevada State Democratic Party issued a formal complaint to the Democratic National Committee in response to the behavior of Mr. Sanders’s supporters. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the national party chairwoman, also expressed her concern Tuesday. “We will be reaching out to the leadership of both of our campaigns to ask them to stand with the Democratic Party in denouncing and taking steps to prevent the type of behavior on display over the weekend in Las Vegas,” she said. But the protest effort enjoys some institutional support. RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, a union that has endorsed Mr. Sanders and that has been busing its members across the country to campaign for him, also said her group planned to take part in demonstrations at the convention. “We will be a significant force inside and a significant force outside,” she said. “The focus is going to be how disenfranchised the voters felt during this election by the D. N. C. ”

’King Arthur’ First Summer Bomb? $175M Film Tracking for $25M Debut

Daniel Nussbaum

The summer box office season kicked off with a bang last weekend as Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 rocketed to a $146 million opening, but Hollywood could see its first big bomb of the season this weekend as Warner Bros.’ expensive tentpole King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is projected to open in the $25 million range. [Arthur, directed by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch) and starring Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law, reportedly cost Warner Bros. and production partner Village Roadshow $175 million to produce, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That number doesn’t count the studio’s marketing spend, which likely puts the final figure closer to $200 million. But Arthur is reportedly tracking to earn in the $25 million range when it premieres on more than 3, 600 screens on May 12. That won’t be nearly enough to knock Guardians from the top spot. The James superhero sequel starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Bradley Cooper is projected to remain number one this weekend with a $60 million second frame, which would add to its already hefty global gross of $494 million. King Arthur — which currently sits at a dismal 22 percent on ratings aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes — will need to make up ground overseas if it is to turn a profit for Warners and Village Roadshow. Meanwhile, the box office likely won’t get much help from the weekend’s other newcomer, the Amy Hawn kidnap caper Snatched. Snatched is projected to debut in the millions range for Fox and Chernin Entertainment. The Jonathan comedy — which reportedly cost $42 million to produce — hopes to benefit from a Mother’s Day weekend release and the return of Hawn after a absence from the big screen, but early reviews of the film have been highly negative, with critics singling out Hawn’s underwhelming performance and the film’s subtly racist undertones. Also opening this weekend is Attractions’ Iraq War psychological thriller The Wall, directed by Doug Liman and starring Aaron and John Cena, comedy Absolutely Anything with Simon Pegg and the Monty Python crew, and the indie drama Lowriders starring Melissa Beniost and Eva Longoria. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

Happening Now: Police Facing Off Against Protesters in North Dakota (Multimedia)

Happening Now: Police Facing Off Against Protesters in North Dakota (Multimedia) 11:30 a.m. PDT: Another Facebook user is sharing live stream of the confrontation: 11:17 a.m. PDT: The fight for clean water in the face of a proposed oil pipeline in North Dakota has escalated once again. On Thursday, police dressed in riot gear began “ taking steps to remove ” protesters of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Very little information has become available but numerous social media accounts have provided glimpses into the conflict. One Facebook account went live to share video footage of the unfolding confrontation: Website Unicorn Riot, which has provided on-the-ground coverage of the DAPL protests for weeks, has also put up a livestream , although the connection is weak. Advertisement Users on Twitter continue to provide updates as well: — wes enzinna (@wesenzinna) October 27, 2016 Fire spreading through the straw bales pic.twitter.com/7AzsZM3UKJ — Caroline Grueskin (@cgrueskin) October 27, 2016 Flaming barricades as armored vehicles advance #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/hYuOteXYkM — Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 27, 2016 Spoke to @dennisward moments ago. Here are his pics of police moving in on protestors at #standingrock #NoDAPL @APTNNews pic.twitter.com/ttFCYgwm8Q — Karyn Pugliese (@KarynPugliese) October 27, 2016 Part of the police presence on 1806 right now. "If you do not walk south you will be arrested." # #DAPL #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/HbAlfB034v — wes enzinna (@wesenzinna) October 27, 2016 Truthdig will be going live later today to discuss the DAPL protests with documentary filmmaker Josh Fox. In the meantime, stay tuned for further updates on the situation currently unfolding in North Dakota. TAGS:

Physicians on Ryan’s Obamacare 2.0: ‘Doomed for Failure’ - Breitbart

Dr. Susan Berry

Physicians urging health care say House Speaker Paul Ryan’s newly released proposal to repeal Obamacare does not actually repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and, therefore, is “doomed for failure. ”[“Since this does not completely repeal the ACA, we are still left with thousands of pages of regulations that will have unknown consequences in the future,” Dr. Gerard Gianoli, of the Ear and Balance Institute, tells Breitbart News. “The GOP plan is worse than a repeal with no replacement plan at all. ” Gianoli explains: It will not prevent the death spiral of the insurance industry, which will be now blamed on Republicans, and the march toward a system will continue. The GOP plan is doomed for failure. Instead of returning the insurance market to the vigor of a free market, the government will be supporting it with tax credits — the flip side of the ACA insurance penalty. Gianoli says the difference between Obama’s health insurance plan and Ryan’s proposal amounts to semantics: The difference is considering whether the bottle is half full or half empty. In other words, there really isn’t any difference. Further, the stipulation of preventing the insurance industry from premiums from initial policy inception will lead to continued gaming of the system that will not be adequately adjusted by the “30% penalty” for interrupted coverage. Hopefully, this plan will not be passed. Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, also observes to Breitbart News that the new proposal — kept secret by Ryan until its release — “is 57 pages with a number of ‘repeal this’ and ‘repeal that’ clauses, but no ‘repeal ACA. ’” “So to paraphrase Nancy Pelosi, what is still in it?” Orient asks. “Was that the subject of secret meetings with special interests?” Orient continues: “Refundable” tax credits — for those who don’t owe taxes — are still a subsidy. It is still redistribution of wealth, with winners (those who get the subsidy) and losers (those who pay for it). And the chief winner is the “health plan. ” It gets money the supposed beneficiary may get nothing, or only rationed care from a narrow network. “The problem is comprehensive payment,” Orient adds. “The bill perpetuates this disastrous concept. A true bill — “there shall be a free market in health insurance” — would remove all federal mandates, subsidies, barriers to competition, or protections or advantages for cartels. ” Conservatives such as former House Freedom Caucus chairman Jim Jordan and Virginia Rep. Dave Brat also object to Ryan’s proposed Obamacare repeal plan, asserting it is still Obamacare in a different form. “The bill maintains many of the federal features including a new entitlement program as well as most of the insurance regulations,” Brat said. “Now [they] are saying we’re going to do repeal and replace but the bill does nothing of the sort. [Speaker] Paul Ryan has always said the entire rationale for this bill is to bend the cost curve down, and so far I have seen no evidence that this bill will bring the cost curve down. ”

Hillary and the Ghosts of Watergate

Charles Hugh Smith

| Charles Hugh Smith | Of Two Minds | 286 views If there is any lesson to be learned from the ghosts of Watergate, it is that the big-money support of a leader who has lost the ability to deliver the goods crumbles very quickly as the endgame unfolds. The parallels between Hillary Clinton and Richard Nixon are not legal–they are political: specifically, how can a leader crippled by scandal and cover-ups govern? In even blunter terms: how can a crippled politico deliver the goods to the special interests who bet their cash and political capital on the politico’s ability to deliver favors? Among the many ghosts of Watergate, one specter especially haunts Hillary: once the special interests and party stalwarts who defended you through every scandal and every cover-up–month after month and year after year, on the promise that you would deliver the goods upon ascending to the presidency–realize you are too damaged to deliver anything of value to anyone, why would they continue supporting you? Once a politico has to declare “I am not a crook” based on legalese rather than a moral foundation, that politico’s ability to lead has vanished. Hillary and her supporters rely entirely on legalese parsing of wrong-doing rather than on a self-explanatory, basic moral foundation of right and wrong. Declaring “I am not a crook” because the wrongdoing escapes prosecution is the same as declaring “I am above the law.” If the foundation of one’s ability to lead is a reliance on legal parsing and allies in the Department of Justice squashing investigations while handing out immunity like candy on Halloween, the political capital required to lead no longer exists. Ultimately, the President leads by moral suasion. Even the political act of delivering the goods to the special interests that funded your campaign and your wealth must be backed by the moral authority of personal integrity and a morally grounded appeal to the common good. A politician who has effectively zero personal integrity is only as viable as his/her ability to deliver favors to the few (i.e. special interests) over the objections of the many. A reliance on cold-blooded horse-trading only works if the leader has enough political capital to arm-twist everyone into granting favors to allies and special interests. But this political capital rests on moral suasion and support earned not by issuing promises but by leading the nation through thorny thickets to solutions that work for the many, not just the few. Once the ability to lead has been lost, special interests can forget about getting favors. And once they realize their politico is a liability rather than an asset, self-preservation requires abandoning the liability as quickly as possible. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business. Anyone who thinks Hillary has the personal integrity to build sufficient political capital to lead is delusional. Anyone who believes Hillary has the moral foundation to deliver the goods to the myriad special interests that have funded her campaign and her personal wealth is equally delusional. Are Goldman Sachs et al. delusional? If there is any lesson to be learned from the ghosts of Watergate, it is that the big-money support of a leader who has lost the ability to deliver the goods crumbles very quickly as the endgame unfolds.

Howard Hodgkin, Whose Paintings Were Coded With Emotion, Dies at 84 - The New York Times

William Grimes

Howard Hodgkin, a British artist whose lush, semiabstract paintings, aquiver with implicit drama, established him as one of the most admired artists of the postwar period, died on Thursday in London. He was 84. The Tate Galleries announced his death but did not specify a cause. Mr. Hodgkin was a relative latecomer to fame. A slow, methodical worker who could spend years building up a painting’s surface, he did not have a solo show until he was 30, and for years thereafter toiled against the grain, his work at odds with prevailing fashion. His globs and stipples and smears — seemingly brisk and impulsive, but painstakingly applied and endlessly revised — ravished. On the Tate’s website, Nicholas Serota, the departing director of the museums, called Mr. Hodgkin “one of the great artists and colorists of his generation. ” But his coded emotional settings seemed elusive, even baffling, as did his stylistic relationship to current art. In Britain he was seen as an abstract painter, in the United States as representational — a puzzle. “I never expected anyone to be interested in my pictures, and there were years when I couldn’t even get my friends to look at them,” Mr. Hodgkin told The New York Times in 1990. His paintings in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1984 propelled him into the top echelon of international artists. Seductive and arresting, they showed an artist at the height of his powers, and audiences responded. “Not since Robert Rauschenberg’s appearance at the Biennale 20 ago has a show by a single painter so hogged the attention of visitors, or looked so effortlessly superior to everything else on view by living artists,” the critic Robert Hughes wrote in Time magazine. He added: “Here the wearisome traits of much contemporary art, its honking rhetoric, its unconvincing urgency, its arid ‘appropriations’ of motifs, are left at the door, and the complexities of mature, articulate painting greet the eye. ” Mr. Hodgkin won the Turner Prize a year later, and as major gallery and museum exhibitions in Britain and the United States followed, one after the other, his distinctive blend of bravura brushwork, emotional depth and sense of mystery began to hold sway. He came to be seen as a highly original interpreter of the dramas that unfold in intimate, interior space, an heir to Bonnard and Vuillard. “On the subject of sitting rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and balconies neither Hodgkin’s eye nor his hand has ever failed him,” the critic John Russell wrote in The New York Times Magazine in 1990. “He is on the subject of hotels, restaurants, private collections, public parks, costume jewelry, human exchanges of all kinds and weather reporting. Manners and mores, ups and downs, ins and outs — all have their place in his paintings. “He can make a wet afternoon in summer feel like the most blissful thing that ever happened,” he continued, “and when he summons up the quintessence of a restaurant (in London, by the way, not in Paris) he makes us want to stand up and shout for the menu. ” Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin was born in London on Aug. 6, 1932, to a Quaker family with an illustrious pedigree in the arts and sciences. His father, Eliot, was a manager at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and a horticulturalist. His mother, the former Katharine Hewart, daughter of the Lord Chief Justice of England, Gordon Hewart, was a homemaker and botanical illustrator. With German air raids looming, Howard was evacuated in 1940 with his mother and sister to Long Island, where he stayed with family friends for three years. After returning to Britain, he attended a variety of expensive schools, including Eton, and ran away from most of them, finding little encouragement for his determination to become an artist — his goal since the age of 5. He painted on his own, and during a return visit to Long Island in 1947, he began going to galleries and museums in New York City, looking closely at the work of Matisse, Degas, Bonnard and Vuillard. One of his earliest works, the 1949 gouache “Memoirs,” served as a marker for the themes that would preoccupy him in the coming years. Judith Higgins wrote in Art News in 1985, “Highly stylized, fiercely outlined and angular, humming with erotic currents, ‘Memoirs’ announced the subject of all Hodgkin’s subsequent work: the great tradition in French painting — figures in an interior — transmuted, in Hodgkin’s case, by memory. ” In 1949 he gained admission to the Camberwell School of Art in London, where he studied briefly under Victor Pasmore and William Coldstream, the leading figures in the Euston Road School. He spent four years at the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, where he studied with Clifford Ellis. In 1955 he married Julia Lane, a fellow student at Corsham. They later separated. He is survived by their two sons, Louis and Sam. Mr. Hodgkin was given a show at Arthur Tooth and Sons in 1962, but for years he depended on teaching to make a living. In the he began lecturing at Charterhouse School. He later taught at the Bath Academy of Art and the Chelsea School of Art. He produced mostly works until late in his career, on canvas at first but, beginning in the late 1960s, only on wood, usually old boards scavenged from London antique shops. In violation of the tenets of American abstraction, he embraced the frame, emphasizing its presence by painting on it directly, or including framing rectangles in the painting. The strongly geometric forms of the early painting evolved into looser, brushier images that teased the idea of figuration. In “Jealousy” (1977) a red mass, barely human, coils angrily within a rectangle. The leaning, spotted rectangles in “Dinner at Smith Square” ( ) suggest, just barely, two people conversing over a table. “I am a representational painter but not a painter of appearances,” Mr. Hodgkin told the critic David Sylvester in 1976. “I paint representational pictures of emotional situations. ” His reputation grew. He had his first show in New York in 1973, and in 1976 Mr. Serota organized his first museum exhibition, at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford. In 1995 the Metropolitan Museum of Art organized the traveling exhibition “Howard Hodgkin: Paintings 1975 — 1995,” and in 2006 Tate Britain mounted a survey of his work. If Mr. Hodgkin never quite rose to the celebrity rank of Lucian Freud or David Hockney, by the time he was knighted, in 1992, he stood at the threshold of “living treasure” status. “To be an honest artist now, you have to make your own language, and for me that has taken a very long time,” he told Mr. Sylvester for the catalog to “Howard Hodgkin: Forty Paintings, ” a traveling exhibition that incorporated many of the paintings from the Biennale. Mr. Hodgkin was an interviewer’s nightmare, notoriously reticent about his work and unhappy analyzing its meaning. He made it clear that art was a slow and painful business. At the same time, he confessed to feeling a sense of exhilaration in his final years. “I don’t care a damn about what happens when I’m dead, but I do have a sense of increased urgency,” he told The Guardian in 2001. “And I think it’s made me more courageous. ”

RAW: Shots fired as refugees escape burning deportation center in Istanbul

Truth Broadcast Network

41 mins ago 1 Views 0 Comments 0 Likes In this special US Election Day episode from New York City, Max and Stacy act as a medium to contact the dead media which died a gory death on November 8. They talk meme wars, the medium as the message and the failure of modern journalistic technique. Max interviews award-winning independent journalist and groundbreaking social media and mobile technology as journalism pioneer Tim Pool about the role of the media and meme wars in getting Trump elected. Check Keiser Report website for more: http://www.maxkeiser.com/ WATCH all Keiser Report shows here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL768A33676917AE90 (E1-E200) http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC3F29DDAA1BABFCF (E201-E400) http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPszygYHA9K2ZtV_1KphSugBB7iZqbFyz (E401-600) http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPszygYHA9K1GpAv3ZKpNFoEvKaY2QFH_ (E601-E800) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPszygYHA9K19wt4CP0tUgzIxpJDiQDyl (E801-Current) Subscribe Like

Donald Trump, Samsung, Chicago Cubs: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing - The New York Times

Karen Workman and Sandra Stevenson

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Some Republicans who deserted Donald Trump over his lewd comments about women in a recording that surfaced last week are now doubling back, and his campaign is keeping up the pressure on them to do so. He’s claimed that his crude words have never turned into actions, but we spoke with two women who said Mr. Trump touched them inappropriately. He denied the allegations. Mr. Trump may have fallen behind by double digits in some national surveys, but until today, he had held the lead in one poll. Now it’s clear why: one black man in Illinois who was supporting him. The unusual weight given to the man’s response allowed him to distort national polling averages. ____ 2. It’s been eight years since Suleiman Abdullah Salim, above, was released from one of the C. I. A. ’s secret prisons in Afghanistan, where he was held for five years without charges. But the beatings and other harsh tactics he was subjected to in what he calls “The Darkness” continue to haunt him. Exactly why he was detained remains murky, but he was eventually found not to be a terrorist threat. Now he’s a plaintiff in a lawsuit against two C. I. A. contractors. “I want the people who did this to be judged,” he said. ____ 3. Wells Fargo’s embattled chief executive, John Stumpf, above, has abruptly decided to step down. The announcement comes just over a month after the bank was handed a $185 million fine for a scandal in which employees opened fake accounts in clients’ names. Complaints about the fraudulent accounts date back 2005. Mr. Stumpf will be immediately replaced by Timothy Sloan, the bank’s president and chief operating officer. ____ 4. Samsung has not said what caused its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to catch fire, but it is expecting a $2. 3 billion loss from its decision to kill the model. The full price the company will pay for the faulty phones may be harder to quantify, however. Its response to the crisis has drawn criticism for being overly “bureaucratic,” and the public’s frustration was starting to show. One research company estimated that Samsung could lose more than $10 billion because of the phone’s troubles. ____ 5. The Islamic State is using weaponized drones — including some models that you can buy on Amazon (without the weapons) which they attach explosives to. Two Kurdish fighters were killed in northern Iraq this month when a drone that they shot down blew up. The terror group had been known to use drones for surveillance, but that was believed to be the first time it successfully used one as a weapon to kill troops. American advisers fear the group will expand its use of drones in the fight for Mosul, and they say the Pentagon needs to do more to counter the threat. ____ 6. In Russia, the military appears to be increasing its arsenal of inflatable tanks, jets and missile launchers. The company that makes them also makes bouncy castles. Their use is part of a military strategy, called maskirovka, to mislead its enemies. The hope is that the decoys will draw attacks that might have otherwise hit real weapons systems. The inflatable tank costs about $16, 000. If you’d also like fake tank tracks stamped in the ground, that device is sold separately. ____ 7. The parent of Snapchat has made its first big step toward making what may be the most eagerly awaited new internet stock offering since Twitter. It picked banks — Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — to handle the offering, according to people briefed on the matter. Snap Inc. as the company recently renamed itself, was most recently valued by private investors at about $19 billion. ____ 8. One of our stories is written by a woman who became addicted to Adderall as a college student and wasn’t able to stop using it until she was 30. The drug is prescribed to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but is often taking by students without a prescription who believe it will help them study. Very little is known about the drug’s effects. “In a sense, then, we are the walking experiment,” she writes. “Sometimes I think of us as Generation Adderall. ” ____ 9. Wonder Woman is about to embark on a new role, but it’s not in the pages of a comic book. She’s being made the United Nations’ new honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. The new title will become official at an event in New York on Oct. 21, which is also the character’s 75th anniversary. ____ 10. Could the Chicago Cubs, contenders for the National League Championship, go all the way? The team last won the World Series when the last century was dawning, above, and tales of jinxes related to a dead goat that purported to explain those dark decades are floating around again. Jon Lester, the Cubs’ veteran ace, isn’t having any of it. “Nobody really cares in there about a curse or a goat or anything else, you know what I mean?” he said. “It’s almost better to play naïve and just go out and worry about us and not anything else or, like I said, any animals. ” Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

Donald Trump Trademarks 2020 Campaign Slogan: ‘Keep America Great!’

Charlie Spiering

Donald Trump will be President of the United States in two days, but he has already started planning his campaign. [In an interview with the Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty, Trump revealed the slogan for his 2020 campaign for . Halfway through his interview, Trump shared the news that he has already decided on his slogan for a 2020 bid. As reported by the Post: “Are you ready?” he said. “‘Keep America Great,’ exclamation point. ” “Get me my lawyer!” the shouted. Two minutes later, one arrived. “Will you trademark and register, if you would, if you like it — I think I like it, right? Do this: ‘Keep America Great,’ with an exclamation point. With and without an exclamation. ‘Keep America Great,’” Trump said. “Got it,” the lawyer replied. Read the full article here.

EU MIGRANT CRISIS: BREAKING: As Calais "Jungle" Burns, Refugees Try To Storm Their Way Back In!!!p.72

OXI Luisport

EU MIGRANT CRISIS: BREAKING: As Calais "Jungle" Burns, Refugees Try To Storm Their Way Back In!!!p.72 zerohedge ‏@zerohedge 2m2 minutes agoGermany Reintroduces "Border Controls" With Austria, Sends Riot Police As Refugee Crisis Spirals Out Of Control [ link to www.zerohedge.com ] … Last Edited by Luisport on 10/26/2016 02:44 PM Re: EU MIGRANT CRISIS: BREAKING: As Calais "Jungle" Burns, Refugees Try To Storm Their Way Back In!!!p.72 zerohedge ‏@zerohedge 17m17 minutes agoMore migrants have arrived at Munich's train station since the start of September than in the whole of 2014.1 zerohedge retweeted BBC Breaking News ‏@BBCBreaking 1h1 hour agoGermany to introduce border controls with Austria, as thousands more migrants arrive this weekend - media reports [ link to bbc.in ] Re: EU MIGRANT CRISIS: BREAKING: As Calais "Jungle" Burns, Refugees Try To Storm Their Way Back In!!!p.72 Ian Geldard ‏@igeldard 22m22 minutes agoMunich 'at limit of capacity' for refugees as 12,000 arrive in one day MineForNothing ‏@minefornothing 47m47 minutes agoMigrants frustrated by better security in Calais are trying to cross the Channel from other French ferry ports [ link to www.telegraph.co.uk ] … Re: EU MIGRANT CRISIS: BREAKING: As Calais "Jungle" Burns, Refugees Try To Storm Their Way Back In!!!p.72 Al Qaeda Calls For Lone Wolf Attacks On West "Ayman al-Zawahiri says his militant group needs to "move the war to the heart of the homes and cities of the crusader West"." [ link to news.sky.com ] Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urges young Muslim men to launch lone-wolf attacks on American homes "The Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on young Muslim men in Western countries to carry out lone-wolf attacks – and urged greater unity between militants." Re: EU MIGRANT CRISIS: BREAKING: As Calais "Jungle" Burns, Refugees Try To Storm Their Way Back In!!!p.72 Russian Market ‏@russian_market 52 minHá 52 minutos Minato, Tokyo28 migrants, including a child, drowned on their way to Greece from Turkish coast town of Didim, Dogan news agency says. Russian Market ‏@russian_market 56 minHá 56 minutos Minato, TokyoMan, who maybe is Syrian citizen, was stabbed to death in Sofia in scuffle among refugees, 2 others were wounded and taken to hospital. Russian Market ‏@russian_market 58 minHá 58 minutos*28 MIGRANTS KILLED WHEN THEIR BOAT SINKS IN AEGEAN SEA: DHA Russian Market ‏@russian_market 58 minHá 58 minutos Minato, TokyoGermany increases mobile control and monitoring border with Czech Republic & Poland to prevent circumvention of border controls with Austria

Swedish Deputy PM Mocks Trump With All-Female Photo

Breitbart London

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Sweden’s deputy prime minister, Isabella Lovin, on Friday published a photograph of herself signing a climate bill surrounded by her closest female colleagues, mocking a photo of US President Donald Trump. [In the photo, Lovin, who also serves as environment and development aid minister, is seated at a desk as she signs the bill under the watchful eye of seven female colleagues, including one who is visibly pregnant. The shot parodies a photo taken of Donald Trump on January 23 in the White House, as he signs a decree barring US federal funding for foreign NGOs that support abortion, as his colleagues look on. Just signed referral of Swedish #climate law, binding all future governments to net zero emissions by 2045. For a safer and better future. pic. twitter. — Isabella Lövin (@IsabellaLovin) February 3, 2017, Sweden, a pioneer in women’s rights, is known for its high level of women in the workplace, including in parliament and government. “We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo. Ultimately it is up to the observer to interpret the photo,” the Swedish minister wrote in a comment to AFP. The climate bill she is signing in the photo aims to make Sweden carbon neutral by 2045 and “marks a new era in Swedish climate politics,” Lovin wrote. “There is a global demand for climate leadership. I want to show that Sweden is ready to take that leadership,” she added. The Trump photo elicited an avalanche of comments, many of them remarking that no woman was present for a decision concerning women.

Project Veritas: Scott Foval Reveals Who Was Really Behind the Romney 47% Video

IWB

Project Veritas: Scott Foval Reveals Who Was Really Behind the Romney 47% Video Tweet In this video, Scott Foval, the now former Field Director of Americans United For Change admits that the bartender who supposedly filmed Mitt Romney’s notorious 47% moment was not a bartender, but was a lawyer. “The lawyer took his phone and had the bartender walk around with it and set it up.”–Scott Foval

Zen and the Art of Managing Smartphone Photos - The New York Times

Brian X. Chen

If your digital photos are a mirror of your life, they may also serve as a reminder that there is only so much you can control and that at some point you just need to let things go. That was the lesson I learned after trying to create a guide to organizing and storing smartphone photos, based on interviews with professional photographers and a week of testing multiple services and gadgets. I spent days experimenting with neurotic tagging systems, tedious backup processes and album management, and finally turned to Brian Christian, a computer scientist and philosopher, for advice. The healthiest approach to managing photos, it turns out, is a Zen one: to not deal with them much at all. Mr. Christian said photo organization illustrates a principle known as the . If you spend tons of time rummaging for a specific photo, then sorting photos may be worthwhile. But if you hunt for a picture infrequently, sorting may be a waste of time. “If it would take you eight hours to tag all your friends, you should not undertake that until you’ve already wasted eight hours digging up photos of your friends,” said Mr. Christian, of “Algorithms to Live By,” a book about using algorithmic principles to improve your life. In other words, people need a method that saves time — and that allows them to essentially throw out the need to sort and tag their enormous photo sprawl. So I tried several services and devices to determine what that method might be. Over a week, I tested three backup services with my iPhone photo library of about 8, 000 images: Apple’s iCloud photo library, Dropbox and Google Photos, which automatically take your photos and store them in the cloud. I also tested two data backup devices from SanDisk and Synology. My conclusion: For smartphone shooters, the secret to photo nirvana is to take a deep breath and let Google back up and organize everything. Apple’s iCloud was straightforward. In the iPhone’s camera settings, flipping on iCloud Photo Library uploads all your photos to iCloud, which is accessible by Apple and Windows devices. Dropbox’s service uploads photos to your Dropbox folder, which is compatible with various devices like Windows PCs, iPhones and Android phones. For Google Photos, as soon as you set up the app, it starts backing everything up in Google’s cloud service called Drive, also accessible on various devices. All three services took several days to back up my entire library over a connection while I was asleep. Google Photos quickly set itself apart with its smarter features. It scans your photos and organizes them in several ways. For one, it can detect the face of a person and group all the photos of that person into an album, which you can name. With photos taken within a short time span, like your trip to a beach over the weekend, Google Photos might create a video montage or an album with a label like “A weekend in San Francisco. ” The service also managed to identify pictures of items, like receipts and food, and group them into their own albums with labels. Dropbox and Apple’s photo services had features, but not the smarts of Google’s service. Apple’s app groups photos into collections based on when and where photos were taken it can also organize photos by faces, similar to Google. Dropbox uploads photos into a folder labeled Camera Uploads and labels each file by the date and time it was taken. Another benefit of Google Photos is its free offering is the most generous — enough to let you try out the service thoroughly before deciding whether to pay. The service offers to store an unlimited number of compressed images at no cost. For images, you get 15 gigabytes of free storage and can pay at least $2 a month for 100 gigs. In contrast, Apple offers five gigabytes free and thereafter charges at least $1 a month for 50 gigs Dropbox offers two gigabytes of free storage before charging at least $10 a month for a terabyte. Anil Sabharwal, vice president of Google Photos, said the company built Google Photos to make it easy to keep, manage and share photos and videos. Apple and Dropbox did not immediately have comment. I also tested two physical devices for managing photos: the SanDisk iXpand, a small drive that plugs directly into the power port of an iPhone and automatically backs up photos, and Synology’s DS216+II, a new disk storage system that connects to your internet at home to create a personal cloud. The iXpand device was deeply flawed — it tried to back up all my photos for six hours before the iPhone ran out of battery and the backup failed entirely. Synology’s software backed up my photos quickly and had some features like face and location tagging, but organizing photo albums still required lots of manual labor. SanDisk said the issue I experienced was a known problem affecting a small number of devices and that an app update would be released next week to fix the bug. A Synology spokeswoman said that with its storage systems, customers could back up a broad array of media on a private cloud. In the end, Google Photos solves multiple problems: It handles organization, making the minimal. It creates a backup of photos, so you can free up space on your smartphone while safeguarding pictures in case the device is lost or stolen. Once all your photos are on Google Photos, they need not live on the phone. Unfortunately, there is no quick way to delete thousands of photos. I plugged my iPhone into a Mac, imported my older photos and checked the box that says “Delete items after import. ” Then I deleted them all from the computer. (In the future, it will be easier to delete smaller batches straight off the phone.) What about blurry, unwanted images? The most important lesson of Google Photos is to stop thinking of the digital photo album like a physical scrapbook. With a traditional photo album, you would spend time flipping through pages before landing on the right photo. With Google Photos, you can treat it like a giant searchable junk drawer: You can simply open the Google Photos app or Google Drive, type in a keyword for what you want to see, pull up that photo and ignore everything else. You can make some changes here and there — like renaming or adding photos to albums — but otherwise, why bother? One caveat: The Zen approach does not apply to those with professional cameras. For professional photographers, some organization is a plus and Google Photos and cloud services are not ideal because large photos would take too long to upload. Ben Long, a professional photographer in San Francisco, said he diligently tagged his photos with keywords using Adobe’s Lightroom app to make them easy to find later. “I put tagging up there with flossing and stretching: things you know you’re supposed to do and they’re really a drag to do, but you just get in the habit of it,” he said. For the rest of us, there’s another reason to not bother deleting photos in Google Photos: Google adds creative touches to images that you thought were previously unwanted. If you took multiple shots of a sun setting or your child smiling, for example, it stitches them into an animation. “The lower the cost is of searching, then the more one should ask the question of, should I be organizing this at all?” Mr. Christian said. After migrating my entire photo library to Google Photos, my answer is a resounding no.

One Wine Glass to Rule Them All - The New York Times

Eric Asimov

At some point along every wine drinker’s arc of discovery, the time comes to invest in a set of glasses. Choosing the right one may seem complicated, confusing and occasionally overwhelming. The process can be fraught with anxiety, as many different glass styles are available, and points of view clash on what is proper and necessary. Corkscrew aside, a stemmed glass is the only indispensable piece of equipment needed to enjoy the best a bottle has to offer, and the least expensive, easiest way to invest in better drinking is to buy a good set. Not that wine can’t be consumed without them. Tumblers can serve as informal wine glasses, and are perfectly appropriate for simple bottles in easygoing establishments. You could drink from a porrón, a traditional Spanish glass pitcher that was a modern adaptation of the leather wineskin, or bota bag, once carried by Spanish shepherds. You may even drink straight from the bottle, though I recommend reserving this method for celebrations. While fitting for certain occasions, these primitive vessels do not enhance the experience. Good stemmed glasses, on the other hand, are expressly designed to make an inherently delightful activity even better. Selecting a set is simple once you cut through the noise. Recently, I joined my colleagues at The Sweethome, a product review site owned by The New York Times Company, to test more than 50 different wine glasses. Among our recommendations was a glass, the Libbey Kentfield Estate Signature at $22. 99 for a set of four a more elegant set, the Riedel Vinum glass, $55 to $90 for a set of four and a glass, the Zalto Denk’Art Universal glass, at $59 a glass. Depending on your budget, any of these glasses would be excellent for all types of wine. For some time now, glass producers have promoted the idea that every sort of wine requires a distinctive glass to intensify the aromas and flavors of the particular variety. This is nonsense. Most households need only one set of glasses, which is perfectly fine for whites, reds, sparkling wines, rosés and fortified wines. A good, stemmed glass ought to be vertically shaped, with a tall bowl that opens wide at the stem and then tapers gently inward toward the lip. This taper channels aromas upward to the nose, amplifying them as you swirl and sniff. Over time, many wine lovers develop the habit of swirling the glass, believing that the action increases the wine’s exposure to air and activates the aromas. I believe it. I am an inveterate swirler, to the point where I unconsciously do it even with my water glass. In order to avoid sloshing the wine onto yourself or, worse, someone else, good glasses should be tall and capacious enough to contain a decent amount of wine when filled a third of the way up. They should not be so big that a third of a glass holds an absurd amount. The rule of thirds allows for swirling without fear of consequences. This desirable vertical shape is often called a Bordeaux glass, which is generally contrasted with a Burgundy glass, which has a shorter, wider, more rounded bowl. These are traditional terms but in no way binding. You can certainly drink Bordeaux from a Burgundy glass, and vice versa. Burgundy glasses are not bad, but I find the Bordeaux shape to be more versatile. It works well with any sort of wine. Good wine glasses must be clear, so that nothing interferes with a transparent display of the wine’s color. The glass should not be hued, beveled or decorated in any way that may interfere with its clarity. Nor should it flare outward like a martini glass. Many regions have used glasses that over generations became part of the area’s cultural tradition. The copita, for example, is a narrow, stubby glass that is used in the Andalusia region of Spain and elsewhere for sherry. Regardless of the tradition, it is a terrible glass for sherry. The glass is a far better choice. Similarly, German riesling is often served in small, narrow glasses with a slight flare outward. These, too, are not in the best interest of the wine. The glass is the better option. Even Champagne and sparkling wines, which have so often been consigned to vessels like the flute or the coupe, are better served by the glass. However, the aromas and flavors of the wine are not always the primary concern. Champagne served in a flute connotes elegance and festive celebration. At certain times, the occasion trumps everything else. No one should feel bad about using flutes for sparkling wines. My point is that special glasses like flutes are not a requirement. If the aim is to enhance the quality of the wine, the glass is better. At times, you may see general references to white wine glasses and red wine glasses. Invariably, the red wine glass is larger than the white wine glass. This, too, is pointless tradition, derived from the days when, as the old saw has it, “the first duty of wine is to be red. ” Nowadays, nothing about white wine is subordinate to red, so there is no need for smaller glasses unless, for some reason, it’s a preference. While having one set of glasses is sufficient, it may be the beginning, depending on your budget and your inclinations. If you can afford it, owning an exquisite set of glasses like the Zalto Universals can be a joy, even if you only use them for special occasions. Just as great tools can improve any experience, whether woodworking or playing guitar, so can great craftsmanship enhance the sensual pleasure of holding a glass in your hand, to say nothing of drinking the wine. The better the quality, the thinner the glass. The best glasses can seem sheer and ethereal in the hand. Lesser glasses may have a discernible ridge where the bowl joins the stem, and a thick lip at the rim. Better examples are smooth and continuous. You may have other reasons for owning more than one set of glasses. If you like to have dinner parties where several wines are served, you may want enough glasses so that two different wines can be contrasted and enjoyed at the same time. If both wines are the same color, you will need sets that are distinct enough to avoid pouring the wrong wine into the wrong glass. A few words about stemless glasses: I don’t like them. Sure, tumblers are fine for unremarkable wines in casual situations. But for good wines, stemmed glasses are ideal. They can be held by the stem so that the temperature of the wine won’t be altered by the warmth of the hands, and so fingerprints won’t smudge the glass. Stemless glasses intended for good wines seem to me the epitome of reverse snobbery. They were included in the Sweethome tests, and I found them unwieldy and unpleasant to use, even as I was asked to express preferences among them. I don’t recommend them. That said, if you are drawn to stemless glasses, follow your desires. The most important thing of all is to please yourself. In the end, let your taste be your guide.

Leonard Cohen dies after hearing the Trumphole won

Friday, 11 November 2016 RIP to truly great man - Leonard spent his life singing about the real issues of being human When one of Leonards friends told him about the Trumphole victory he had a heart attack and dropped dead on the spot. It was well known he was ill and had to go back on the road after his manager ripped him off, but it seems the rise of Neo-Nazism in the US was the final straw for his saddened heart. He had not long completed his final album written about the US election called 'You want it darker' which now will become historically famous as a work of astonishing prescience. He is best remembered for his magnificent song Hallelujah and his 60's 'tell it like it is sister' lyrics which inspired people to understand the voices in their own heart and not to project hatred upon others. Who could ever forget KD Lang singing that song at the Montreal Olympics, it was the highlight of the games. RIP to a great man, may his message that is needed ever more now resonate in the hearts of all, especially those that see pubescent hatred as a valid way of relating to the world. Make Jung in the Jungle's day - give this story five thumbs-up (there's no need to register , the thumbs are just down there!)

Comment on Donald Trump delivers POWERFUL policy speech on First 100 Days In Office by Trump and the Power of Money | The Vineyard of the Saker

Trump and the Power of Money | The Vineyard of the Saker

‹ › Debbie Menon is an independent writer based in Dubai. She is Editor-in-Chief of VeteransNewsNow.com Her main focus are the US-Mid-East Conflicts. Her writing has been featured in several print and online publications in the Middle East. She is committed to exposing (AIPAC) the Israel Lobby's control of American policy for the Middle East. Control which amounts to treason by the Zionist Lobbies in America and its stooges in Congress, and that guarantees there can never be a peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflicts, only catastrophe for all, in the region and the world. Her focus is Israel’s drift towards greater oppression of the Palestinian people; the political deceptions and crisis in Syria and Ukraine; the cold hard facts about America’s so-called ‘war on terror’ and grim future; countering the propaganda war towards Iran & Russia and calling attention to, the new, developing, promising, strategic alliances as a consequence. Her mission is to inform and educate the public on issues of the US/Middle East conflicts that are unreported, underreported, or distorted in the Zionist owned American Media. Her writing reflects the incredible resilience, almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians, who are now facing the prospect of a final round of ethnic cleansing. Her mission is to inform and educate internet viewers seeking unfiltered information about real events on issues of the US/Middle East conflicts that are unreported, underreported, or distorted in the American media. Her purpose is to look at the current reality from a different and critical perspective, not to simply rehash the pro-US/Israel perspective, smoke and mirrors that has been allowed to utterly and completely dominate Mainstream discourse. PS: For those of her detractors that think she is being selective and even “one sided,” tough, that is the point of her work, to present an alternative view and interpretation of the US-Israel-Middle East conflict, that has been completely ignored in mainstream discourse and denied the US public. Oh, and she is not Muslim or Palestinian and not married to one either! She is practicing Roman catholic. Donald Trump delivers POWERFUL policy speech on First 100 Days In Office By Debbie Menon on October 24, 2016 GROUNDBREAKING CONTRACT FOR THE AMERICAN VOTER Trump Presents 100-Day Plan To Make America Great Again – For Everyone Gettysburg, PA: Today, in historic Gettysburg, PA, Donald J. Trump presented a game-changing plan for his first 100 days in office. This revolutionary “Contract with the American Voter” will ensure that America’s economy is revitalized and citizens are protected. “I’m not a politician, and have never wanted to be one. But when I saw the trouble our country was in, I knew I couldn’t stand by and watch any longer. Our country has been so good to me, I love our country, I felt I had to act,” said Mr. Trump in his address. “Change has to come from outside this broken system. The fact that the Washington establishment has tried so hard to stop our campaign is only more proof that our campaign represents the kind of change that only arrives once in a lifetime,” he continued. “I am asking the American people to rise above the noise and the clutter of our broken politics, and to embrace that great faith and optimism that has always been the central ingredient in the American character. I am asking you to dream big. “What follows is my 100-day action plan to Make America Great Again. It is a contract between Donald J. Trump and the American voter – and begins with restoring honesty, accountability and change to Washington,” he concluded. DONALD J. TRUMP CONTRACT WITH THE AMERICAN VOTER “Therefore, on the first day of my term of office, my administration will immediately pursue the following six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC: FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress; SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health); THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated; FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service; FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government; SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections. On the same day, I will begin taking the following seven actions to protect American workers: FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205 SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars’ worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal. SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure Additionally, on the first day, I will take the following five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law: FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting. Next, I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration: 1. Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate. 2. End The Offshoring Act Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free. 3. American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral. 4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to gives parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable. 5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications. 6. Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-site childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families. 7. End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first. 8. Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars. 9. Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values 10. Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics. On November 8th, Americans will be voting for this 100-day plan to restore prosperity to our economy, security to our communities, and honesty to our government. This is my pledge to you. And if we follow these steps, we will once more have a government of, by and for the people.” Related Posts:

Brooklyn Man Charged With Killing Imam and Assistant Near Mosque - The New York Times

Rick Rojas, Liz Robbins, Noah Remnick and William K. Rashbaum

Two days after an imam and his assistant were gunned down after afternoon prayers in Queens, the police said late Monday that a man they had in custody had been charged in the killings. The man, Oscar Morel of Brooklyn, 35, who was taken into custody late Sunday after the police connected him to a hit and run that occurred about a mile away from the fatal attack, faces two counts of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, the police said. A police official said investigators had found what they believe was the murder weapon in the man’s home as well as clothes matching the description of what the gunman had been wearing during the shootings. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the gun was found inside a wall in his apartment, on Miller Avenue in the East New York neighborhood, in a cavity that had apparently been cut open and resealed. A man who answered a phone listed for Mr. Morel’s family said that he was stunned by the arrest. “That is our relative,” the man said, his voice soft and shaking with emotion. “We are just finding out ourselves. We’re pulling together the pieces as well. ” In Bangladesh, the oldest of the imam’s seven children, Fayez Uddin Akonjee, 28, said he was relieved at the charges and expressed gratitude to the police. But in an interview in his native language, Bengali, he was still seething with anger. “We want to know as victims why he killed my father,” he said. “What was his motive behind killing my father? Whether he was hired or appointed by someone else to kill my father or did he himself plan and kill my father?” Earlier Monday evening, New York City officials sought to reassure members of the Muslim community in New York, saying that a “strong person of interest” was in police custody. At a news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged the fear that had spread among members of the city’s Bangladeshi community over concerns that the two men, who were dressed in religious garb at the time of the attack, had been targeted because of their faith. “It’s a very rare thing to see a cleric killed, and the Muslim community has already been on edge,” Mr. de Blasio said. “I assured the members of the community the N. Y. P. D. would be out in force. ” The killings of the imam, Alauddin Akonjee, 55, and his assistant, Thara Miah, 64, have shaken those in the Bangladeshi community, many of whom reside in the area around Ozone Park where the men lived, worshiped and were killed. In that neighborhood, some have been calling the attack a hate crime, even though police officials said the motivation for the killings remained unclear. Investigators believe the gunman followed the two men to the corner of Liberty Avenue and 79th Street and shot each in the back of the head, police officials said. In surveillance footage captured by cameras nearby, investigators were able to see the assailant get into his car, a black GMC sport utility vehicle, and drive away, soon blending into traffic, Robert K. Boyce, the Police Department’s chief of detectives, told reporters on Monday. By tracking the make and model of the vehicle, he said, investigators found that the same kind of vehicle had been involved in a hit and run nearby, at the intersection of Pine Street and Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn. Investigators found the car parked on the street in East New York, where they waited for the driver to emerge. On Sunday night, officials said the man got into the car and rammed into a police vehicle as he tried to flee. The man was arrested in connection with the hit and run and hitting the police vehicle. Chief Boyce said investigators were searching his home on Monday night. “Because of the evidence so far, we strongly believe this is the individual,” Chief Boyce said. Still, Chief Boyce said investigators had not determined the motivation for the attack, and that it was unclear if the man had any connection to the two murder victims. “We’re still drilling down on it,” Chief Boyce said of the motive, adding that it was “certainly on the table that it’s a hate crime. “Right now,” he said, “we can’t explain why that person was there. ” Earlier in the day, the funeral prayers for Mr. Akonjee and Mr. Miah drew several hundred mourners along with Mr. de Blasio and other officials in a nondescript parking lot in East New York, bordering Ozone Park. The same people who had worshiped five times a day at Mr. Akonjee’s Jame Masjid, a modest house turned into a mosque, came to get a last look at their imam’s closed coffin, draped in fabric of gold and green and resting in the back of a hearse. The imam came to the United States in 2011 and moved his family to New York a year later to provide a better education for his children. Now his wife and two of his children will fly back with his body to Bangladesh. . At the funeral prayers, Mr. de Blasio said: “In Islam, the loss of a person is regarded not just as a loss for their family, but for the entire community. That’s something we as New Yorkers understand, again across all faiths, across all neighborhoods, when a loss is felt so deeply, when it affects us all. ” Several speakers implored the police to increase security efforts in the neighborhood, placing security cameras and patrols outside the mosques. People held signs declaring, “We Are Muslims, Not Terrorists,” “We Want Peace,” “We Want Justice” and “Muslim Lives Matter. ” “You will see in the Muslim communities in our city, the N. Y. P. D. will be there in support of this community,” Mr. de Blasio said. “You will see today and in the days thereafter extra N. Y. P. D. presence protecting our mosques and protecting the people of our Muslim community. ” Both Mr. Akonjee and Mr. Miah were known as quiet scholars, devoted to the mosque and to their families. Mr. Akonjee’s sermons on Friday attracted nearly 200 worshipers, who heard him speak about the role of Islam in a diverse society in the United States. “He conveyed a message of peace and harmony and quietness with your neighbors despite their religion, culture and race,” said Kobir Chowdhury, the president of Masjid a nearby mosque in Brooklyn. Mosharraft Hossain said: “The imam was our spiritual leader we worshiped with him five times a day. You can’t imagine what we’ve lost. ” Murders have been rare over the years within the Bangladeshi community in and around Ozone Park. In July 2014, an activist leader with ties to Bangladeshi politics, Nazmul Islam, 55, was beaten to death in a robbery at 76th Street and Atlantic Avenue. Nestor Rodriguez, 22, and Carlos Genno, 25, both of Queens, were indicted on charges of murder and are still awaiting trial. In August 2002, a photojournalist from Bangladesh, Mizanur Rahman, 37, was beaten to death in a midnight attack just over the county line in Brooklyn that appeared to have been the result of and fights. Hardy Marston, 18, and Rafael Santos, 27, were charged with murder, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon. On Monday, many mourners expressed concern about an increasing climate in New York. “I don’t feel safe anymore,” Mr. Hossain said. “All of this hatred being propagated, especially by Donald Trump, it puts us at risk. People sometimes pass me on the street and call me Bin Laden. I just try to keep my head down and keep walking. ”

Tim Kaine: Clinton Email Announcement “Very Troubling” 11 Days Before Election

Brian Thomas

Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine reveals that he thinks it’s “very troubling” that the FBI told the press that they are taking a look at some recently released Clinton emails to determine relevancy to her case. Kaine believes that to do so this close to the election is inappropriate. Breitbart reports: During a portion of an interview set to air on Friday’s “VICE News Tonight” on HBO Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) reacted to the FBI’s announcement that it is taking another look at his running mate Hillary Clinton’s emails by saying that doing this 11 days before the election without “many details, but details are apparently being given by the FBI to the press, this is very, very troubling.” Kaine said, “When you do this 11 days before a presidential election, and you don’t provide many details, but details are apparently being given by the FBI to the press, this is very, very troubling, and we hope that the director, and we really think that he should, give a clearer accounting of exactly what’s going on.” So the FBI should have kept it a secret until after the election, if you want Kaine’s opinion. Sounds EXACTLY like the type of guy we want one breath from the presidency, right? And what exactly does Kaine mean by saying that the FBI “isn’t providing many details, but details are apparently being given”? This may sound inappropriate to Kaine, because anything that isn’t positive about Clinton is inappropriate. Of course, it would be another matter altogether if this was about Trump.

Half Of Russians Fear Syria Could Spark WW3

Alex Ansary

Half Of Russians Fear Syria Could Spark WW3 11/02/2016 RUSSIA TODAY Almost half of all respondents in a recent Russian opinion poll said they feared that the aggravation of relations between Russia and the West caused by the ongoing crisis in Syria could develop into a global military conflict. The share of those who see the probability of World War Three in the near future as high or very high is now at 48 percent and those who appraise it as low or very low comprise 42 percent of society, the privately-owned public opinion research center Levada reported on Monday. The remaining 10 percent of respondents said they couldn’t give a simple answer to the question. When researchers asked citizens if they considered it possible that Russia and the West would eventually find a mutually acceptable solution to the crisis, 35 percent answered that this scenario was likely or very likely. Thirty-nine percent evaluate the probability of such an outcome as low or very low and 26 percent said that they couldn’t answer the question. Just over half – 52 percent – of Russians said they approve of their country’s involvement in the Syrian conflict and 26 percent said they had a negative or sharply negative attitude to this. Just under a quarter – 23 percent – couldn’t answer the question about their personal view on the subject. Those who thought that Russia should continue the operation and those who thought that airstrikes should be stopped were divided 49 percent against 28 percent respectively, with 24 percent finding the question too difficult to answer. The level of awareness about the situation in Syria and the Russian Air Force operation against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists there remained fairly high. Eighteen percent said they were very closely following developments in Syria and 64 percent revealed partial familiarity with the issue. Just under a fifth – 17 percent – said that they were not interested in news about Syria. A similar poll conducted a year ago by the independent Levada Center showed that over 70 percent of Russian citizens supported the air operations against IS terrorists in Syria, and almost a half of them agreed that it was right for Russia to support the government of Syria’s democratically-elected President Bashar Assad. A different poll conducted earlier this month by the state-run research center VTSIOM showed that 73 percent of Russians believed that Western criticism of the air force’s counter-terrorism operation in Aleppo, Syria, was ungrounded and prejudiced. Only 6 percent said the allegations of wrongdoing on the part of the Russian military have some basis in reality. Russia first deployed an air force contingent in Syria in 2015, after receiving a request for military help from the Syrian government, which is currently battling Islamic State and affiliated groups. Russian war planes began launching airstrikes on terrorists in Syria on September 30, 2015. Their work has aided the Syrian military in achieving considerable success in driving jihadist forces out of the country.

Distracted by Election 2016, No One Resisted the Deep State’s Patriot Act 2

Waking Times

By Nathaniel Mauka Congress overwhelmingly voted for the Patriot Act nearly 16 years ago, and our civil liberties have never been the same since. As if this singular bill, passed by George W. Bush, wasn’t invasive enough, allowing big banks to demand our internet data, and more — the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act ( CISA ) makes cyber-spying by the shadow government and the financial entities controlling it, a forgone conclusion. As with most shadow government legislation, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is packed with hidden surveillance allowances. CISA was quietly passed to allow government to demand that private companies hand over personal information to them at will. It also allows companies to mine data, under the auspices of government-created urgency. The mere fact that this act passed in late 2015 is monumental, since it has been before Congress in different forms for over a decade . The election seems to have offered the perfect cover, as Americans and activists were too busy arguing over Trump vs. Hillary. Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government relations at the Electronic Transactions Association believes the value of sharing our personal data as a means to be alerted of ‘cyber threats’ outweighs any hazard to our civil liberties. Talbott states , “The value is that everyone can be alerted to cyber threats and take precautionary countermeasures before they materialize and spread,” he said. “Before CISA, corrective measures could be taken only after the cyber threat had done its damage. CISA allows each company to serve as an early warning system to the entire economy.” Who exactly would be determining if someone is a ‘threat’ is the meat of the sandwich, though. CISA is ripe for abuse, just as the Patriot Act has been. The Patriot Act has made it legal for law enforcement to spy on people, without probable cause – to enter their homes, or even to strip search them before they’ve been to court, had the opportunity to argue a case, or given ‘authorities’ a motive for this type of interrogation. The stated purpose of the Patriot Act was to deter terrorist acts in the United States, but what do you do when the terrorists have already taken over your country? CISA simply expands the reach of a shadow government which has already been proven to reach beyond the boundaries of constitutional law. More importantly, who specifically is CISA targeting? After multiple hackers have infiltrated computer systems at the White House , the State Department , the Pentagon , and the Office of Personnel Management, along with the Democratic National Committee , and numerous multinational banks run by the cabal, is the shadow government simply trying to create a stop-gap before their most elusive, yet damning information is made public? CISA certainly will expand the reach of government surveillance on citizens as it has been conducted by the the National Security Agency (NSA) before former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed it. “I think this bill was meant to be a surveillance bill from the start,” said Justin Harvey, CSO of Fidelis Cybersecurity, adding that he is dubious that the stated intent of the bill – to use collective intelligence to warn of potential cyber attacks and possibly stop them before they occur – will result. Under the guise of ‘sharing cyber threats’ CISA allows companies to wholesale-collect information that may not even be a threat – and then pass it along for government bodies to determine if it is, indeed a threat. If this sounds like circular logic – it is just the beginning of the odd verbiage within the bill. It’s justifications for entering every possible orifice for data-gathering are more confounded than an octopus in a straight jacket. The government can already enter your personal property including your home, your body , your cell, and your computer , but now they will have a legal in-roads to declare you a cyber-threat, simply for sending an email . This begs the question – who is the real cyber-bully? CISA seems to be nothing more than a prevarication, covering the acts of an elite few who don’t want their secrets exposed. Nathaniel Mauka is a researcher of the dark side of government and exopolitics, and a staff writer for Waking Times . This article ( Distracted by Election 2016, No-one Resisted the Deep State’s Patriot Act 2 ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Nathaniel Mauka and WakingTimes.com . It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution and author bio. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ). Contributed by Waking Times of www.wakingtimes.com . Waking Times is an independently owned and operated online magazine that seizes on the transformational power of information to trigger personal revolution and influence humanity’s evolution.

Soda Spill Causes American Airlines Flight to Be Diverted After Takeoff

Katherine Rodriguez

An American Airlines flight from Miami to Chicago was diverted to Jacksonville after takeoff Monday because of a soda spill. [American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller told the Florida that the soda splashed on an unspecified electronic device in the main cabin. Airline passenger Preston Wake, 43, said he was drenched after a flight attendant spilled a soda. “I can’t really tell you how far it went, but I was soaked,” Wake told the paper. “I had to change my clothes and everything. ” Wake praised the airport staff for their hospitality despite the inconvenience the incident caused. “They’ve been taking care of everybody and I’m very pleased with that,” Wake said. About 150 were aboard the Boeing 737 that landed at Jacksonville International Airport at 4:45 p. m. the Orlando Sentinel reported. The incident left passengers stranded at the airport until about 10 p. m.

Social Circles Collide on a Dance Floor. Then a Brawl Ends in Death. - The New York Times

Benjamin Mueller, Ashley Southall and Al Baker

Someone cut the music, and then from the kitchen came the crash of a utensil drawer being yanked out of a wooden cabinet. Vernon Hubbard stepped over tiles strewed with spatulas, spoons, purple plates and an unopened liter of soda. His eyelids were droopy, witnesses said, and in each hand he carried a steak knife. “Nobody’s getting out of here alive,” he said from the apartment doorway, according to a witness. Others remembered a more lurid phrase: People, he warned, would be “leaving out in body bags. ” Some partygoers sat wedged together on a few living room couches. Others untangled themselves from a brawl that had grown out of a dance in the middle of the room. A woman shouted, “All I want to do is go home. ” In a polyester shirt and Nikes, with brandy and beer blurring his thinking, Mr. Hubbard seemed barely able to stand, let alone hold anyone hostage. Around 30 people were marooned inside Apartment 15E at 645 Westchester Avenue, a public housing around East 152nd Street in the South Bronx. Only one elevator was working. Some neighbors, to blunt the weekend noise, had taken sleeping pills and wedged mats in their entryways. A few people grabbed at Mr. Hubbard’s arms, trying to get him to drop the knives. Others hid in a back bedroom. One woman called the police. Everybody screamed. Mr. Hubbard started swinging, witnesses and the police said — flailing, really. His arms were locked at the elbow, and his body tipped as he sliced the air. People saw knives flash inside a knot of bodies. Moments later, Julian Washington, a man in a fitted Yankees hat, staggered into the building’s hallway, bleeding. He had pushed his best friend, Tawana Vargas, out the door as the fight heated up, and she had been pacing the hallway waiting for him. Now, she pulled his left hand away from his head, figuring — hoping — that he had been smashed with a beer bottle, nothing worse. Blood spurted out of his neck, a few inches below his left ear, and it ran in rivulets down the beige bricks of the hallway wall. Mr. Washington choked on a few words, and then collapsed. Partygoers rushed out behind him, leaving bloody footprints on the floor. Ms. Vargas ran downstairs to look for a police officer. Balloons in purple, gold and black lost their helium and floated to the apartment’s linoleum tile floor. Napkins, ribbons and plastic cups were cracked and torn. They were all in purple, to celebrate the first year the party’s host, Darshonna Willoughby, who is Mr. Hubbard’s cousin, had survived with lupus. Mr. Hubbard waited at the elevator bank. His leather jacket, investigators said, was covered in blood, on its collar and elbows and pockets. The one working elevator arrived. He showed little of the panic of someone who had just stabbed a man, the police said. At the foot of the part of the St. Mary’s Park Houses, he tossed a knife into the parking lot, witnesses said, waved his arm in vain for a cab and then lumbered toward the subway. Witnesses said the crime was so senseless and the getaway so inept that they had been moved, against their instincts, to point him out to police officers, who stopped him near the subway. On the 15th floor, one person crouched by Mr. Washington’s side: Mr. Hubbard’s sister, Cassandra Newbold, who had been fighting with Mr. Washington, too. She used his clothes to try to stop the bleeding. “I was trying to plug and patch and scream for help,” she said. “Everybody else that was at that party decided to flee the scene. ” That image of a stampede of partygoers racing past Mr. Washington’s body haunts his brother, Guy Miller. “For everybody just to walk over him, to leave him in the hallway by himself, that’s the crushing part,” Mr. Miller said. “It seemed like he just died by himself, suffering, with nobody there. ” Mr. Washington was pronounced dead at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center almost an hour later, at 12:53 a. m. on April 10. He became the sixth of 10 homicides logged this year in the 40th Precinct in the South Bronx, making it the second deadliest in New York City, behind the 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn. Some accounts of that night are almost unrecognizable, comparing one with the next. The stories, blurred by heavy drinking, have refracted through friendships and family ties, and through a kaleidoscope of vantage points. The night started more simply. Mr. Washington lived in the apartment in East Harlem where his grandmother had raised him, but the hillside towers of the St. Mary’s Park Houses were his second home. It was there, in Ms. Vargas’s apartment on the ninth floor, that he would play Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, smoke cigarettes and debate voting for Bernie Sanders. He and Ms. Vargas had met in high school and dated before she came out as gay and he as bisexual. He was witty and with a natural talent for dance, and he made fast friends around the housing project, where people called him Peaches. On April 9, a Saturday, he walked there over the Harlem River, his long legs carrying him almost as quickly as the subway could. On the stove in his apartment, Mr. Washington had left half a pot of seafood gumbo, a favorite dish among his friends that he hoped to perfect in culinary school someday soon. He met Ms. Vargas in her sister’s apartment in the same complex, where Mr. Washington sometimes stayed the night on a tattered couch beneath the windows. Mr. Washington was unemployed, but his friends were unwinding from long weeks at work. They passed around big bottles of Corona, the communion cup of their gatherings. From there, they bounced around an archipelago of public housing apartments, corner spots and hallways where they could hang out free of charge and unbothered, for the most part, by the police. Mr. Washington drank beer, got some food and talked up a recent WWE wrestling event with a younger friend. At each spot, they picked up a few more people. Ms. Vargas said she recently warned Mr. Washington about the danger lurking in her corner of the vast public housing landscape in the South Bronx. “Don’t hang out in this building,” she said she told him. “This area is just bad, period. Just stay in Harlem where you live. ” But, she added, “Julian was just that type of person always looking for something. ” Mr. Washington used to party in the West Village and at the nearby piers with a ragtag group of gay people, many of them black and Hispanic. But as gentrification marched toward the water, his circle lost that spot on the margins of the city, where they could let loose among strangers they trusted. Mr. Washington started spending more time in Bronx parks and housing projects. Shortly after 11 p. m. Mr. Washington got curious about the party for Ms. Willoughby on the 15th floor. They had not been invited, and none of them were dressed in purple, the color of lupus awareness, as an invitation had asked, so Mr. Washington walked down a flight of stairs to ask if they could join. “So then he came back, he was like, ‘Yes, it’s lit, she said we can come down,’” Ms. Vargas said. For much of the night, the party had been relaxed. Mr. Hubbard had arrived around 6 p. m. People were sitting and talking on couches around the living room. Reggae and hits were playing over the speakers, among them Rihanna’s single “Work,” Mr. Washington’s favorite song of the moment. It had something of the feeling of a family reunion. Ms. Willoughby had invited a number of her cousins, among them Mr. Hubbard, with whom she had reconnected only a few months earlier through her grandfather. He had come halfheartedly, his mother said in an interview. His sister, Ms. Newbold, asked him to bring food she had cooked: pans of pork shoulder, fried chicken, collard greens, crab salad and macaroni and cheese. Ms. Willoughby, wearing all black, cut the cake, which had two photos: one when she was in the hospital being treated for lupus, and another from when she had started feeling better. Mr. Hubbard, 35, looked out of place. A chef who had entered foster care when he was 12, he had been spending much of his time at home since being stabbed in the spine with an ice pick last summer during a robbery or possible gang assault, his mother, Venice Quinones, said. He was overheard complaining to his sister about wanting to go home until she persuaded him to stay. And he was getting drunk. He said in a jailhouse interview that he was downing EJ brandy and Miller beer. “He just looked crazy in his eyes — he looked crazy to me,” said Natasha Hill, a partygoer. “They were red, and he looked like he had evil in his eyes. ” The staid mood swung when Mr. Washington and his friends entered. They started dancing right away, despite the quizzical looks they were getting from the other partygoers, whom they did not know. The living room, 11 feet by 17 feet, swelled with people, some spilling into the hallway. “I think they were kind of taken aback by the fact that we were so hype,” Ms. Vargas recalled. She and Mr. Washington went into the sliver of a kitchen to pour themselves Georgi vodka. Ms. Newbold, in Army fatigue pants, seemed to take offense. “She was like, ‘Who y’all with?’ or something along those lines,” Ms. Vargas said. Mr. Washington, gently needling his interrogator, answered, “Boo Boo Kitty, we good,” using the nickname for a character on the nighttime soap opera “Empire. ” The music turned from radio hits to more aggressive dance beats. People started dancing so hard that one attendee jokingly said to a friend that she thought someone’s head was going to fall off. A circle formed, and a friend of Mr. Washington’s, Raldy Sanchez, started dancing near Ms. Newbold. The throbbing music seemed, from the start, like a volatile addition to the blend of alcohol and suspicion. Out of the tangle of bodies, no two people emerged with the same memory of what went wrong. In Mr. Sanchez’s telling, he was dancing in a tight space, with Ms. Newbold and others pressing up against him, when out of nowhere, Mr. Hubbard yanked on a beaded necklace he was wearing. Mr. Sanchez said he threw a punch and shoved Mr. Hubbard to try to get him to back off, before three or four people jumped on him and started pummeling him. Mr. Washington and Ms. Vargas were in the kitchen, and they came running when they heard the commotion. They both threw punches, too. Mr. Washington, his friends said, tried to break up the fight and pushed his friends out of the apartment. Though Mr. Hubbard’s swings hit Mr. Washington, the only person who was hurt, the police believe Mr. Sanchez had been his target. “They were aiming for him, and his friend jumped in,” said Detective Jesus Rodriguez of the 40th Precinct detective squad. “Julian jumped in and saved him. Julian took the brunt of it. ” Mr. Hubbard, who has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges, said in the interview that the fight gave him flashbacks to when he was stabbed last summer. But he denied killing Mr. Washington and said an explanation for the blood on his jacket would wait until September, when he is due back in court. The authorities, after wading through the various stories, said they gave credence to the view that Ms. Newbold and Mr. Hubbard were the ones who had escalated the fight. But Ms. Newbold said the brawl had started when she was dancing with her back to Mr. Sanchez and, out of nowhere, felt a push and landed face down on a couch. All of a sudden, Ms. Newbold said, several people were raining punches on her. She also said she heard a man yell, “Go get the heat,” referring to a gun. The police piled as many witnesses as they could into patrol cars and vans to take down their stories at the station house on Alexander Avenue. Sgt. Michael J. LoPuzzo, the commander of the detective squad, said the witnesses were separated so differences in their stories could not be smoothed over. “Everyone’s in a different corner,” Sergeant LoPuzzo said. Others came forward in the days after — a rarity in the South Bronx, where it can be risky to witness things. In the station house, Mr. Hubbard, carrying the stench of liquor, could not speak at first. Then he gave nonsensical answers, and he fell asleep. A couple of weeks after he was killed, Mr. Washington’s funeral was held in a small, plush chapel in Harlem. He was known as a stylish man, and his attire at the funeral was something of a compromise: the linen suit his grandmother would have wanted him to wear, and the more casual and fitted cap that reflected his own tastes. (He had been increasingly attached to the hat, too, as a way of hiding his bald spot.) The observances in some ways resembled the family reunion that Mr. Washington had been trying to orchestrate in his last months. He had been separated from his siblings at age 5, when his mother put him and a younger brother into a cab by themselves, his older brother, Mr. Miller, said. When they arrived at a relative’s home with unexplained burns on their backs, someone called the city’s child welfare agency. The siblings soon were scattered across the city — some to foster homes, and others to relatives. Mr. Washington was taken in by his grandmother, a churchgoing woman who sent him to ballet classes and took him on trips to Europe. His mother became addicted to drugs, and though Mr. Washington still struggled with feelings of resentment, he had been trying in recent months to find a few lost siblings and bring everyone together for a gathering. He was also still, seven years after his grandmother’s death, trying to climb out of the depression that had started after her passing. When Mr. Miller went into his brother’s apartment after his death, he discovered that Mr. Washington had gotten rid of all of her old furniture. Eviction notices were piling up. After the funeral, Mr. Washington’s family held a repast in the basement of the Storefront Academy Harlem, a grade school he attended. Over plates of fried chicken prepared by his mother, people’s tears gave way to happier recollections. Rihanna blared out of a few speakers. Everyone was dressed in white. Without anyone seeming to mean to, a circle of friends and family formed around an open stretch of floor. Into the middle burst Mr. Miller, in immaculate white and Mr. Washington’s uncle, Dasean Miller, who wore a heavy, jacket. Before anyone could process it, their bodies were a whirl of white cloth, top hats and gold chains. “It’s crazy because this is what we were doing that night,” Ms. Vargas whispered. “And that’s Julian,” she said, pointing to Guy Miller. “He dances just like Julian. ”

One of the Most Undervalued Storable Survival Foods

Ryan Banister

23 Preparedness is more than a method of planning, it is a lifestyle. Long-term survival strategies are most effective when they are incorporated into one’s daily life. Anybody who seeks to be prepared for the future should be prepared to live out their plans in the present, even if the only purpose is to understand the efficacy of their plans. Food preparedness stands paramount as the most fundamental element of any long-term survival plan, and it is important that your preparations for long-term food storage are efficacious and simple. Food Preparedness As impending socioeconomic collapse fast approaches, many of the commercially available storable foods have risen in popularity, and for good reason, but many of these so-called foods are pre-packaged freeze-dried meals , powders or just plain mush that are intended to sit in storage for up to 2 years. Consequently, these foods contain a high amount of sodium and/or preservatives to maintain their shelf life; they are designed only “for emergency” and not as a nutritional food that could be eaten in one’s daily regimen today. Over time, many of the storable foods that people rely on, especially canned foods, contain meat which will putrefy and cause all other food in the package to spoil. How likely is it that these foods will sustain your survival and nutritional needs when the time comes? The food you choose to store should be something that you are comfortable eating today, and it should be providing what you need to stay healthy. What You Need These are the basic requirements that a food should have for long-term survival: It must be inexpensive. It must have the capacity for long-term storage (Check out these 25 must-have survival foods ) It must be a calorie-dense food that yields significant nutritional benefits. It must have a number of uses so that it can be incorporated into your diet today. When searching for the best long-term survival food, the one food that seems to match every basic quality mentioned above is seeds. There are various seeds which are substantially inexpensive as compared with many of the other commercially available long-term food storage products on the market, and they are perfect for long-term storage if they are stored correctly. Here we will discuss two highly nutritious and widely available seeds and give you a number of ideas as to how you can use them in your diet now. Chia Seeds Salvia hispanica, also known as chia, is a member of the mint family and is native to Southern Mexico and Guatemala. The seed of this plant was once a staple food for Inca, Maya and Aztec civilizations. Chia seeds are considered a complete protein because they contain all 9 essential amino acids: isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine, and histadine. They are also a great source of omega-3 ALA fatty acids, which have been shown to prevent cardiovascular disease when converted to omega-3 EPA and DHA in the body. One tablespoon of chia seeds provides approximately 2.5 grams of omega-3 fatty acids. They are also a good source of cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber and lignans which have shown a potential role in cancer prevention . These seeds provide 80 calories per tablespoon, and they would serve as a highly efficacious way to obtain sufficient calories if there is ever a food supply shortage as a result of a natural or unnatural disaster. Chia seeds are highly absorbent; they will absorb up to 12 times their weight in water. They are best eaten after being soaked in a liquid of some kind, where they will soak up moisture and form a gel-like consistency. Once soaked, they could be added to a number of beverages or foods. They are commonly added to fruit drinks. Another easy way to consume eat chia seeds is to add them to cereal or to add them to a fruit jam and spread them on toast. They do not have a very strong taste, so they will tend to taste like whatever you mix them with. Hemp Seeds The hemp plant, also known as cannabis sativa, has been used by humans for over 10,000 years for industrial and commercial uses, such as the creation of clothing, rope, paper, fabric, biofuel, biodegradable plastic, paint, and food. The seed of the hemp plant is full of nutrition , and it could possibly be the ultimate survival food. In addition, to be a complete protein source, hemp seeds are a particularly good source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, but hemp seeds actually have almost twice the omega-3 content as chia. Hemp provides 4.5 grams of omega-3 fatty acids and 90 calories per tablespoon. Hemp seeds have a subtle, nutty flavor, and they taste great when added to a shake. Similarly to chia, they can be added to a cereal or spread on toast with jam. They also taste great when added to a salad. Storage Both chia and hemp seeds can last up to two years if stored properly. Preparing a cool, dry place will be necessary for any long-term storage strategy. A cellar would make an ideal location, because it is underground and undisturbed by household heating systems, however, for those who do not have underground storage available, a refrigerator will do just fine. The amount you need to store will be dependent on how many people are in your home and how much space you have. The best idea is to store at least two-weeks-worth of seeds at any given time to ensure long-term survival. This information has been made available by Ready Nutrition Originally published November 11th, 2016 10 Health Benefits of Hemp Seeds 5 Plant Based Foods that are Higher in Protein than Most… Reduce inflammation with the ideal ratio of omega-6 to… 7 Super Seeds That Will Change Your Health The Best Natural Sources of Manganese

‘As Blacks, We Were Born as We Are’: Our Top 10 Comments - The New York Times

Lela Moore and Sona Patel

Here are the top 10 comments of the week on our digital platforms, as selected by our readers and the journalists who moderate nearly every comment. 1. As an female, I understand the plight for equality. However, I am severely offended by the continual comparison of a sexual preference, a gender preference, to the plight of an enslaved, raped, lynched, brutalized, oppressed people. Dare anyone compare choice of bathroom to the plight of blacks for the past 400 years? Isn’t that a bit ridiculous? First of all, it’s insulting to every black person in America. As blacks we were born as we are. No choice involved. Transgenders have to make a conscious choice to become a transgender. There is no comparison. People say that Christians force their beliefs on others. Well, people who take these actions and measures are forcing their beliefs on those who don’t agree. There is nothing wrong with a person who prefers to use the bathroom with people of the same gender by birth. Stop making it seem like it is. That’s judgmental and degrading. — Loves’ Redemption in Washington, reacting to an article about the Obama administration telling public schools to allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identities. 2. It’s past time to admit that when it comes to upholding federal law, and even civil rights, many states have pretty much just flipped off the U. S. government, many federal rulings, and even the U. S. Constitution. It’s now necessary for the U. S. government to bring the hammer down and start insisting that civil rights rulings are not optional, nor are they open to debate, overruling, or corruption by any state. Either we are a nation with universal civil rights that are enforceable or we are not. It’s time to make them stick. — GWBear in Florida. This comment received over 200 reader recommendations. 3. As I listen to Mr. Sanders speak tonight — completely caught up in his own hubris — I am fascinated and repulsed by his angry entitlement to the Democratic nomination. As he was shouting about momentum and that he is the best candidate — despite the fact that three million more voters preferred Mrs. Clinton — I feel increasingly concerned that he is a huge liability to the party he adopted for his own convenience. — Dana in Santa Monica, Calif. reacting to an article about Senator Bernie Sanders’s victory in the West Virginia primary. This comment received over 1, 090 reader recommendations and 127 reader responses. 4. I am absolutely astounded at the way these analyses ignore the obvious: The Trump phenomenon is the backlash against our first black president. Come on! You go back decades dissecting American conservatism, and you somehow manage not to mention that Donald Trump headed the “Birther” movement, which gave racists the okay to assert that Barack Obama was not a real American — explicitly because he was alleged (falsely) to have been born in Africa? HELLO? Are we ever going to be allowed to discuss this elephant in the living room? Are we supposed to pretend FOREVER that the origins of this outburst of hatred are totally mysterious? — DW in Philadelphia, reacting to an article about the Republican Party’s failure to unite behind its presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump. This comment received over 1, 680 reader recommendations and 33 reader responses. 5. Keep writing away. It doesn’t matter what you say, I am still going to vote for him. The more I read against him, the more I want to vote for him. — Chris in Louisville, Ky. reacting to a post about Mr. Trump refusing to release his tax returns. 6. How many of us believe that the Olympics and every other competition actually award medals for achievement, rather than for who cheats most successfully? Of course, athletes also train. For strength and skill and endurance. But who does it without drugs? It’s not just the cheating that bothers me, but the effect on young people who do it. The effect of that lifelong secrecy. The effect of knowing that their medal was gained by cheating. It’s very discouraging. — TheraP in the Midwest, reacting to an article about the former chief of Russia’s antidoping lab detailing a doping effort in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. 7. Great, another special interest group to pander to. — MKM in New York, reacting to an article about Hillary Clinton vowing that as president she would unseal the government records about Area 51, reputed to contain classified information about aliens and U. F. O. s. 8. Colonialism was pretty rude too, Your Majesty. — Viraj Vaidya on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about Queen Elizabeth II’s criticism of a visiting Chinese delegation, which was caught on a video. This comment received over 1, 700 likes. 9. I find it so ironic that people do these things to their body in the name of “individuality. ” The inked and pierced masses are the real sheep. — Lena in Ontario, Canada, reacting to an article about body modifications like tattoos, piercings and ear gauging becoming de rigueur on fashion runways. 10. Brazil will not change. The problem with our country and economy is not the president herself, but our senators and everyone else who’s been stealing, and ruining our country for their personal gain. I’m sad to say that, even though I don’t support Dilma and never voted for her, what’s coming is much, much worse than her. I fear for the future of my country. — Vitória Fernandes on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about impeachment proceedings against Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff.

(((Smithsonian))) Refuses to Include Judge in Black Museum Because He has Normal People Opinions

Eric Striker

(((Smithsonian))) Refuses to Include Judge in Black Museum Because He has Normal People Opinions Eric Striker October 27, 2016 Dat nigga ain’t even smoke crack. The Smithsonian Museum, run by American Jewish Committee award-winning mankind harasser (((David J. Skorton))), has decided to exclude Supreme Court Justice Judge Clarence Thomas from its African-American Museum, showing that Jews only want to empower certain kinds of blacks that advance Jew-specific agendas. This Jew gets to decide who gets into the black museum and who doesn’t. While I don’t agree with Thomas’ conservative philosophy, he has long been a constitution-respecting thorn in the side of the Jewish activist judge bloc of Ginsburg, Breyer and Kagan. Whenever these Jews (and Sotomayor, along with the Jew Merrick Garland if he gets confirmed) vote to get something insane through, Thomas has been a reliable voice of reason tempering and often downvoting them in defense of free speech, freedom of association, etc. Coming from a background of poverty and homelessness, Thomas has genuinely worked hard and shown remarkable aptitude in the art of jurisprudence, he wasn’t appointed to fill an Affirmative Action quota. He is a member of the “talented tenth” of the black race and if there’s going to be an African-American museum, he has certainly earned his place in it, yet won’t be included , because he has refused to abuse his gavel in pursuit of violent anti-White discord. Rather than commending him for his legal ethic, Jews are punishing him by obliterating his memory as soon as he dies to serve as an example to any other unusually intelligent blacks out there. It’s not a secret that Jews filter just who and what Negroes in America should aspire to, from founding the pro-race mixing NAACP and sabotaging black nationalist Marcus Garvey, to running virtually all media intended for black people (BET-owned by Sumner Redstone’s Viacom, or The Root  – run by Israeli citizen Haim Saban’s Univision), and now picking and choosing what individuals blacks should exemplary members of their race. So who is being included? Well, the African-American Museum has an entire section dedicated to the Jewish-financed and extreme anti-white Black Panthers , Black Lives Matter, convicted Cultural Marxist terrorist Angela Davis. Examples of some of the ideological indoctrination featured at this Jewseum. Is (((Gloria Steinem))) “African-American”? So why is she there? Cracked out James Brown, famous for shuckin’ and jivin’ while smoking crack and not much else, is according to reports treated by the Smithsonian as the second coming of Christ. Is that appropriate? I won’t go as far as to claim that blacks would be astrophysicists if all Jews vanished tomorrow, but I will say that blacks would not only be far better off according to every metric, they also would instinctively respect and emulate the White man as Booker T. Washington believed they should, rather than lash out at us for no reason as Jews instruct them to. Blacks in the 1930’s once had a crime rate lower than urban Italian and Irish in the law and order South, along with their own small businesses, farms, fairly in-tact families. But because the Jew capitalizes on dysfunctional societies full of dysfunctional people, James Brown is made immortal while they pretend Clarence Thomas ain’t a REAL nigga . Jewish cultural mandate socializes some Whites into acting like low-lives as well. While the manifestations are different depending on natural temperament and abilities of race, one thing we can all agree on is that neither the White man nor the black man are living up to their full potential in this age of decline and decay.

One Treaty Could Change the Fight to Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline

Yessenia Funes

Tweet Widget by Yessenia Funes The fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline isn’t only about water rights and sacred sites; it’s also about the U.S. government’s historical refusal to honor treaties—when “they interfered with Manifest Destiny.” Washington violated its treaty with the Sioux in 1877, and later declared its power to void all Native treaties. “There are now talks of using the treaty to legally regain land rights to end the pipeline's construction.” One Treaty Could Change the Fight to Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline by Yessenia Funes This article previously appeared in ColorLines and Portside . “ Highway 1806 has become the no surrender line.” When activists talk about the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline [1] and the Native uprising surrounding its construction, they often frame it with regard to the environment. Water. Sacred burial grounds. Grandmother Earth. Opponents site potential environmental risks to water resources like the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to defend their stance against the 1,172-mile long pipeline, which would have the capacity to transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota to markets across the U.S. What many ignore, however, is another facet of the #NoDAPL [2] movement: Native sovereignty. Most of the confrontations between water protectors and law enforcement are occurring near the Standing Rock Reservation. The reservation currently takes up roughly 3,625 square miles [3] across southeastern North Dakota and into South Dakota. More than 8,000 people [4] live in scattered communities, all connected by a common history—one which includes land theft and treaty violations. The construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has brought this history to the current day. “Our standoff is on treaty land, so we have every right to defend what is rightfully ours,” says Cody Hall, a Lakota civil rights activist with the Cheyenne River Tribe who has spent time on the frontlines in North Dakota. When he speaks of “treaty land,” he’s referring to land allotted to the Great Sioux Nation by the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851 and 1868. “Our standoff is on treaty land, so we have every right to defend what is rightfully ours.” The revised treaty established the Great Sioux Reservation in 1868, which the federal governement would eventually shrink to what became the Standing Rock Reservation. The treaty land crisscrossed between seven present-day states—North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana—including the reservation and unceded territories reserved for hunting. These boundaries were created to ensure peace between Native people and colonizers. The temptations of gold, however, meant that travelers were soon in tribal territory. Almost immediately after its conception in 1851, the U.S. violated the treaty by not policing its citizens' entry onto Native land. For Native Americans, treaties function as the law of the land. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution clearly states: This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. The U.S. government would honor treaties—until they interfered with Manifest Destiny. “It was all about colonial expansion,” says Frank Pommersheim, a professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law who specializes in Indian law. In 1877, without consent from the Sioux, the United States stole their sacred Black Hills. The land was the center of their world, their birthplace. This act set in stone U.S.-tribal relations. From then on, the United States slowly diminished the land it left for tribal peoples. By 1889, the Great Sioux Reservation became what it is today: 3,625 square miles tucked between North and South Dakota, stripped of ancestral burial grounds and lush buffalo populations with which the Sioux used to coexist. In 1903, fewer than 30 years after the Black Hills seizement, the Supreme Court ruled in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock [5] that Congress may unilaterally break treaties between the U.S. and Native Americans using its plenary power. “It is unfortunately a part of American law. That basic precept is totally unacceptable to Native people in the context of treaties,” Pommersheim explains. "It is just a collision between cultures and different understandings and interpretation of what treaties actually mean." “Almost immediately after its conception in 1851, the U.S. violated the treaty by not policing its citizens' entry onto Native land.” He is correct that a vast number of Native Americans find this unacceptable. “To us [these treaties] are very much still alive and a part of our everyday life,” says Remi Bald Eagle, the intergovernmental affairs coordinator for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. “We still honor those treaties, and I know the chairman has said that he expects America to do the same.” And while the U.S. has violated said treaties over the past century, it’s never declared the treaties null or void, Bald Eagle adds. With the Treaty of Fort Laramie in mind, water protectors opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline have tried to take action. On October 23, pipeline opponents declared eminent domain [6] over land owned by Energy Transfer, the company behind the pipeline, by citing the treaty. Joye Braun, an Indigenous Environmental Network organizer, said in a statement: We have never ceded this land. If DAPL can go through and claim eminent domain on landowners and Native peoples on their own land, then we as sovereign nations can then declare eminent domain on our own aboriginal homeland. We are here to protect the burial sites here. Highway 1806 has become the no surrender line. The Sacred Ground Camp had already existed for over a month with about 300 people camped out, but occupiers extended the camp on October 23 by creating three road blockades to prevent militarized law enforcement from entering. (This came just a day after police arrested roughly 127 water protectors [7] directly across the road from where private security for Energy Transfer had unleashed dogs [8] on activists one month earlier.) The camp also intended to halt construction where the remaining proposed pipeline route would connect with the Missouri River. Four days after declaring eminent domain for the camp, on October 27, law enforcement from seven states arrived there fully equipped with riot gear, all-terrain vehicles, armored vehicles and helicopters. They arrested 141 water protectors [9]—after beating them with batons and issuing pepper spray. Law enforcement ultimately destroyed the camp, along with its tipis and sweat lodges. “We did everything in our power that we could do to defend our camp in a nonviolent approach,” says Cody Hall of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. “Because the only way to really defend it would have became a violent approach because you're meeting officers with a force of weaponry.” “We still honor those treaties, and I know the chairman has said that he expects America to do the same.” There are now talks of using the treaty to legally regain land rights to end the pipeline's construction, according to Hall and others on-site. There is a precedent for taking this approach: In May, the Lummi in Washington state called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject a coal terminal permit on the premise that it would harm Lummi fishing grounds, which the federal government is legally mandated to protect per an 1855 treaty. The Lummi won [10]. No terminal was built, fishing grounds were not harmed and the treaty was honored. “[DAPL] brings to the surface all the issues dealing with treaties," says Bald Eagle. "It brings up all the wrongdoings that have been happening in the past. The American government has repeatedly shoved all of their wrongdoings underneath the rug, and the issue with the Dakota Access Pipeline has pulled that rug off, and now we have to look at everything that’s been done wrong.” He lays out three choices for the U.S. government: correct its wrongs, put the rug back or commit another wrong. President Barack Obama [11], when interviewed by social media news site NowThis, stated that the Corps is figuring out [12] how to reroute the pipeline over the next several weeks, saying, "There is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans." But construction has nearly reached the Missouri River, sacred water for the Sioux. Several more weeks may be too late. Yessenia Funes is the climate justice reporter for Colorlines. She was previously an editor at YES! Magazine, where she covered racial justice with a solutions lens. Her work has appeared in Grist, AlterNet, Public Radio International, and Truthout.

The FBI's Clinton Investigation Is Wider Than Assumed

b

The FBI's Clinton Investigation Is Wider Than Assumed The Washington Post editors today added to their hypocrisy with three additional anti-Comey op-eds: Comey’s mistaken quest for transparency I interpret that as naked fear that their candidate Hillary Clinton may now loose. That fear is justified. The Wall Street Journal today added to its so far excellent reporting on the Clinton issues by revealing the much bigger story behind it: FBI in Internal Feud Over Hillary Clinton Probe - Laptop may contain thousands of messages sent to or from Mrs. Clinton’s private server (open copy here ). According to the reporting, based on FBI sources, FBI agents in New York and elsewhere have been looking into the Clinton Foundation for several months. They suspect that this "charity" was selling political favors by then Secretary of State Clinton in exchange for donations that personally benefited the Clinton family. The Justice Department blocked further aggressive investigations into the issue, allegedly because of the ongoing election. A high FBI official, Andrew McCabe, also showed disinterest in a further pursuit of the issue. McCabe's wife had just tried to get elected as state senator and had receive a campaign donation of nearly $500,000 from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton friend and at times board member of the Clinton Foundation. The FBI agents pursuing the investigation into the Clinton Foundation were not amused. The separate investigation into former Congressman Weiner for sexual contacts with minors was looking for pedophile stuff on Weiner's electronic devices. It didn't find any as far as we can tell, but found some 650,000 emails archived on a laptop. Several thousand of these emails were sent or received by Weiner's spouse, the intimate Clinton aide Huma Abedin. They came through Clinton's private email server. At least some of these thousands of emails are likely copies of those that were deleted from Clinton's server when the (separate) investigation into it started. They may be evidence that Clinton sent and received classified documents through her unsecured system. Some of these emails may also contain serious dirt related to the Clinton Foundation. Thus we have three ongoing FBI investigations: into Clinton's private email-server used illegally for official State Department business; into the Clinton Foundation and its role in peddling political influence in exchange for donations; into the personal conduct of Anthony Weiner. Additional investigations that may come up are on: the mixing of donations to the Clinton Foundation and personal compensation for Bill Clinton for holding highly paid speeches; for profit activities by the group of people running Bill Clinton's businesses as well as the Clinton Foundation financing; inappropriate hindering of the FBI investigations by the Justice Department and/or by McCabe. With such a list of potentially very serious scandals pending it is highly understandable that FBI director Comey went public and did not follow the advice from the Justice Department to pursue these issues only on a reduced level. It would have been political suicide to try to keep this silent. Way too many FBI agents eager to pursue these case were in the known and would have talked, as they do now, to the media. If Clinton gets elected she will be hampered by these scandals for the next two years. The Republicans in Congress will jump on these issues as soon as possible. There will be endless hearings with large media coverage. The only question is when the first attempts at an impeachment process will be made - before or after she moves back into the White House. She and her family may be better off with her losing the campaign. Posted by b on October 31, 2016 at 03:19 PM | Permalink

Theranos’s Fate Rests With a Founder Who Answers Only to Herself - The New York Times

Reed Abelson

It’s all up to Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos, a lab started and led by Ms. Holmes that promised to revolutionize the industry, is now under criminal investigation and faces increasing skepticism about whether its core technology works. Several federal agencies are looking into the company’s operations. Ms. Holmes herself may have to answer to federal regulators about what she told investors. Just last year, Theranos was a Silicon Valley favorite with a $9 billion valuation. Now, depending on the outcome of the investigations, including the threat of crippling sanctions by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the company could be forced out of business and Ms. Holmes could lose her position as chief executive. The troubles have led to a cascade of questions about what changes Theranos might make to rebuild its reputation and business prospects. Some have even said that Ms. Holmes should step aside. After more than six months of intense questions, though, changes have been limited. And whatever future moves the company makes are up to Ms. Holmes. She — not the investors, and not even the board — controls the switches. Ms. Holmes, a Stanford University dropout, owns a majority interest in Theranos, a privately held company she founded in 2003. She is also the company’s chairwoman and chief executive. What she wants done at her company, she can demand. Ms. Holmes declined to be interviewed. But in an extended interview, David Boies, a heavyweight lawyer who is one of three outside directors on the Theranos board, hinted that some management changes may be coming soon. “The board is right now in the process, and Elizabeth Holmes is in the process, of adding significant talent to the company,” he said. But an adviser to the company, Richard Kovacevich, a former chief executive at Wells Fargo, acknowledged the limited role played by anyone other than Ms. Holmes. “She doesn’t have to answer anything she doesn’t want to,” he said. The situation at Theranos offers a stark reminder of the perils of investing in Silicon Valley, where it is common for founders to control a company, leaving boards with little real power, including over who should be chief executive. The examples are legion, including huge success stories like Google and Facebook. The upside for venture capitalists is that betting on an individual and getting in early can lead to riches. But if trouble brews, it is nearly impossible for a board or anyone but the founder to make any changes — a risk that, for now at least, investors remain willing to make. “For every Theranos, there’s a Facebook,” said Bryan Roberts, a partner at Venrock, a leading venture capital firm. Even in a case like Zenefits, where its founder, Parker Conrad, stepped down as chief executive in February after regulatory problems emerged, the decision to resign was ultimately his. Theranos’s board, which in its early years included some of its large investors, was later composed of an array of diplomatic, military and political leaders, including former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger and former Senator Bill Frist. Last year, the company divided the directors into advisers and an actual governing board, which includes Mr. Boies, whose law firm represents Theranos. While critics have pointed to the board’s lack of industry expertise and the advanced age of some advisers, Mr. Boies defended it as “extraordinarily qualified. ” But legal experts say that while the directors are responsible for representing the interests of all investors, Ms. Holmes does not have to listen. A founder with controlling interest can replace the board, so directors are ultimately left with the choice of being fired or resigning if they strongly disagree with the executive. Supervoting shares, another common practice among grant founders like Ms. Holmes even more power. “You’re practically a paper tiger and have fiduciary responsibility,” said Charles Elson, a corporate governance expert at the University of Delaware. Mr. Boies says Ms. Holmes has the board’s backing. “I think the board has complete confidence in Elizabeth Holmes as a founder of the company, as a scientist and as an administrator,” he said. The board is represented by an independent law firm, Mr. Boies said, which is answering queries from the United States attorney’s office in San Francisco and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as conducting an independent investigation into whether Theranos made proper disclosures to investors. No formal accusations have been made. While Theranos is privately held, its investors still have protections, said Joseph Grundfest, a law professor at Stanford. “The federal securities laws have very strict provisions, and they apply to sophisticated investors, not just unsophisticated ones. ” But Mr. Kovacevich, who is also an investor, emphasized that Theranos was not a publicly held company with the same responsibilities and that the shareholders understood this. “Not only is this a private company, but it has also been stated to the world, to the board and stockholders, that she has no intentions of ever going public,” he said of Ms. Holmes. “The intention, and a strong intention, is that this company is going to be private forever. ” The Medicare investigation is the most pressing threat, and Mr. Boies is largely mum about what Theranos is planning and how the board is reacting. Theranos has been the subject of scathing coverage in The Wall Street Journal, which has relentlessly questioned the reliability and safety of its blood tests, and it is under intense regulatory scrutiny. “The exact focus of what needs to be done keeps changing,” Mr. Boies said. Medicare, concerned about the company’s California operations, has said Theranos could face severe sanctions if the company does not adequately address the deficiencies uncovered last year. Theranos’s California lab certification could be revoked, and Ms. Holmes and the company’s chief operating officer could be barred from the industry for two years. The lab and its procedures have been overhauled, Mr. Boies said. Ms. Holmes has hired new management to run the lab, and because the people who ran it previously did not report directly to her, he said he hoped the agency would not take punitive action against her. The company’s other lab, in Arizona, which performs more traditional tests, continues to draw customers, he noted. But Theranos still faces extraordinary skepticism about whether its main technology works, especially given its history of secretiveness, and Mr. Boies said Theranos was taking steps to address the doubts. He pointed to plans to finally publish its results in journals and the addition of some individuals to its scientific advisory board. “We’ve got to reveal much more about the proprietary technology than is desirable,” given the risk of companies’ and countries’ copying what Theranos does, Mr. Boies said. The company’s intellectual property is essentially its main asset, and if the technology works, some observers say, the company could remain a viable business. “I don’t think they’re beyond salvage, beyond redemption,” said Lakshman Ramamurthy, an industry consultant with extensive regulatory experience. But while he did not rule out a sale, Mr. Boies dismissed the idea of handing Theranos over to the highest bidder. “This technology is not going to be sold to somebody who wants to just make more profits from it and charge what is charged today,” he said. And, as Mr. Kovacevich emphasized, Ms. Holmes will ultimately determine what happens next. “You have to ask Ms. Holmes what the steps are,” he said.

UN vote calling for end to Cuban embargo adopted with US and Israel abstaining

Wed, 26 Oct 2016 21:23 UTC © Carlos Barria / Reuters The US government abstained from the UN vote on a resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo against Cuba, for the first time in 24 years. The 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution with 191 votes in favor on Wednesday. The only other abstention, besides the US, was Israel. The vote is non-binding but it can have political weight. Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described the abstention as a "positive step for the future of improving relations between the United States and Cuba," according to Reuters. Rodriguez said in September that the embargo cost Cuba $4.6 billion last year, and the full damage over the length of the 50-year embargo was estimated at $125.9 billion. When it was first announced that the US government would abstain from the vote, the entire General Assembly applauded. "Abstaining on this resolution does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not," Samantha Power the US Ambassador to the United Nations told the General Assembly on Tuesday. "We are profoundly concerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people," she said, according to AP. The Obama administration began normalizing relations with the Communist-run country in at the end of 2014, easing trade and travel restrictions. On July 20, 2015, diplomatic relations were restored, and embassies in the two countries were reopened. Lifting the full embargo will take the support of the Republican-run Congress, which remains critical of the administration's efforts, arguing it offered too many concessions to Cuba and accepted little in return, especially on human rights and the restoration of expropriated property. Obama made the first visit to Havana by a US president in 88 years in March.

Hillary: “We Did Not Lose A Single Important Person In Libya”

Email Hillary Clinton declared during NBC News’s Commander-in-Chief forum that no lives were lost in Libya when she made the move to take out dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Even so, the former secretary of state did not mention the fact that 11 months later four Americans – including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens – were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi that arose from the instability that the overthrow created. “That was one of the few situations in American foreign policy decision making processes where everybody came together to make sure we don’t make the wrong move, and the operation was a success, even Donald Trump supported it,” Clinton argued. “As with any operation of such magnitude, we had a few hiccups, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. As I’ve said, the operation was a success.” She continued, “So much so, in fact, that I’m proud to say that no important people were lost through it all, and when I say that, I say it with the utmost respect for all those who had to give their lives on both sides so that Libyans could be freed from the iron fist of Gaddafi. It would have been unrealistic to expect 0 casualties; however, the overall toll did not exceed expectations, with the greater amount of damage being on the side of the enemy.” “Politics can be a cruel line of work. That being said, I stand before you here, today, and I am proud to say that giving democracy to a people that have not had any contact with it for generations is a wonderful thing that makes all of the sacrifices worth it. And while we’re on the subject of sacrifices, thank God they did not include anyone important from the American delegation, including yours truly,” she said jokingly, causing the auditorium to laugh. She said, “But all jokes aside, I have to pay homage to the CIA, who has once again performed outstandingly and saved the day. Its agents’ work in the field is an immeasurable contribution and an asset that we would be wise to treasure for generations to come. If it hadn’t been for them, we would not have been able to perform the operation so cleanly and with such little impact to the surrounding nations. I am proud that the United States of America has an intelligence agency such as the CIA.” “I’m sure many here among you disagree with my position that one embassy is a small price to pay, a bargain, if you will, when it comes to ridding the world of another dictator and a terrorist. I would also like to remind everyone here that that price would have gone up immeasurably if we had sat idly by and allowed Gaddafi to rage on and cause death and destruction throughout the region. For better of worse, we acted and I am convinced no other dictator will ever again think about cheating the CIA out of a deal. Because, in the words of a personal friend of mine, who is a former CIA spook – shutting down arms dealers is easy; finding trustworthy partners among nation heads is the hard part,” she concluded.

Ben Sasse Thinks Biden Would Have Won - The New York Times

Ana Marie Cox

We’re 11 weeks into the Trump administration. What’s the Senate like these days? I think that the institution — and I do mean all 535 people, but particularly the hundred in the Senate — is filled with really nice and people. I’ve been there 27 months. But who’s counting? My average duration in a job is more like six months, because I’ve done crisis and turnaround stuff for two decades. I’ve been in a lot of companies and and institutions that were really on fire in a lot of ways, the Senate is the least urgent, least serious institution I’ve ever worked in. There’s this constant fighting. You should agree on what you’re arguing about before you argue: We are either going to work at our house tonight or we’re going to make dinner together and play music in the living room or we’re going to go out to eat and go to a movie. But the problem is that, at this particular juncture, there’s also a question of whether this hypothetical movie theater even exists. Why are you playing to this outdated, modernist idea that there are objective facts? [Laughs.] What is wrong with you? We do have to agree on some basic facts, despite this general reluctance to grant them legitimacy. Yeah, it’s a huge problem. I sit in the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s seat on the Senate floor. He’s the author of the saying, Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts. Look at trade and automation: two competing but slightly overlapping forces in the shrinking of the duration of jobs right now. We have to be able to talk honestly about how disrupted this world is going to be, and it is crazy to mislead people and say we’re going to bring back all of the big factory jobs by creating a protectionist regime. That isn’t true. Do you think that infighting creates a situation in which everyday Americans write off all politicians as cheaters and liars? It might explain how Donald Trump won, because it didn’t make any difference to anybody that he seemed immoral — they thought of him as no worse than every other politician. I would argue pretty vociferously that it’s also because of who his opponent was. If Joe Biden would have run against Donald Trump, Biden would have won in a landslide. You have been a constant critic of Trump, even during the primaries. I campaigned with pretty much anybody not named Trump or Huckabee. Including Ted Cruz. Your book, which argues that America’s youths are largely coddled and ill equipped to compete in the global economy, is full of references to ancient history and philosophy. Are you trying to unseat Cruz as the intellectual of the Senate? I don’t see what I’m trying to do as trying to be the intellectual in the Senate. What is it that you’re trying to do? I’m the third or fourth most conservative guy by voting record in the institution, and yet most of the stuff I care about is not really partisan. We have had no foreign policy for the past 28 years for dealing with a War world. And now you layer on nonstate actors, like jihadis, who have a presence in a quarter to a third of all the countries in the world, and the governments in those countries aren’t the main source of power anymore. But that isn’t anywhere near what keeps the spies and generals up at night, about how cyberattacks will transform war and create all these gray areas that aren’t quite war but are warlike. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine what the obvious answer looks like, with the divide between the two parties in trying to figure out a strategy in this new age.

Ann Patchett’s Guide for Bookstore Lovers - The New York Times

Ann Patchett

The pilgrims have been coming to Nashville for as long as the Grand Ole Opry has been on the radio. They come for Fan Fair and Taylor Swift concerts or just to walk down Lower Broad in cowboy boots. Parents visit their children in college. Conventioneers deplane by the thousands. Nashville is a hip city now, with a food scene, an art scene and two poorly performing professional sports teams. With all the reasons to travel to Nashville, one might be surprised to learn that some people come just to see a small independent bookstore. It’s true. The Book Faithful journey to Music City because they still like their novels printed on paper. They come because they’ve heard about the shop dogs, or because someone told them years ago that bookstores were moving onto the endangered species list and they wanted to see one that was thriving in its natural habitat: in a strip mall, behind Fox’s Donut Den, beside Paint Store. Some come in hopes of seeing a favorite author read, or catching a glimpse of the author who the store. That would be me. Karen Hayes and I opened Parnassus Books in November 2011. This summer, when Pickles and Ice Cream Maternity went out of business, we took down the adjoining wall and doubled our space. Business is good, which, by bookstore standards, means we spring for employee health insurance and pay the rent. Karen and I are vocal supporters of the Shop Local movement, while at the same time benefiting from the Destination Bookstore travelers. It seems as if every time I’m in the back room signing special orders or meeting with staffers to pick a book for our First Editions Club, Bill, the tall Englishman who works the front, comes to tell me a book club has just arrived from Omaha or Bangor or Sweden. I go out and pose for group pictures, recommend books, give an impromptu tour. I always ask the same question, “What made you think I’d be here?” because seriously, I’m gone a lot. They always give me the same answer: I’m not why they came. They came to see the store. With its high wooden shelves and rolling ladders and dangling stars, Parnassus is — if I may say so myself — worth a visit, a reminder that a strip mall need not be judged by its parking lot. But there are many bookstores that could stand as the centerpiece of a vacation. Here are some categories to consider when searching for one. Before we opened Parnassus, I made a tour of American bookstores. The best advice I got was this: If you want customers, you have to raise them yourself. That means a strong children’s section. If have taken a bite out of the adult market, they’ve done very little damage to children’s books, maybe because even the most parents understand that reading “Goodnight Moon” off your phone doesn’t create the same occasion for bonding. There are some knockout stores that sell nothing but children’s books, including the Curious George Store in Cambridge, Mass. Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis, Books of Wonder in New York, and Tree House Books in Ashland, Ore. as well as loads of general interest stores that do a particularly great job with their children’s section, like Women Children First in Chicago and Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn. For many of us, children’s books are the foundation of bookselling, the cornerstone, the rock on which this church is built. Before going, be sure to check the bookstores’ events calendars for visiting authors. If I may make a sweeping generalization, children’s book authors — from those who write board books suitable for teething to those who write young adult fiction full of vampires and angst — are the nicest people on the planet. Not only will they talk to your child or young adult, they will relate to them, they will draw pictures for them, they will create an indelible link between reading and joy. I’m not sure why you’d be going to Greenwood, Miss. except for a mad desire to see TurnRow Book Company. It’s one of the most beautiful bookstores I know, and the sheer unlikelihood of its presence makes a traveler feel she’s stumbled into an oasis in the Mississippi Delta. Thanks to the Viking Range plant, the town also has a few restaurants and a very pretty inn, but the bookstore is the reason to go. And since you’re in Greenwood, you’ve got to go to Oxford, a town defined by its writers. You can visit Faulkner’s home as well as the bookstore, or make that bookstores. Richard Howorth, the former mayor of Oxford, has three locations on the downtown square: the original Square Books Square Books, Jr. the children’s store and Off Square, which sells discount books and provides space for author events. Despite the enormousness of Ole Miss, these three stores are the backbone of Oxford. When was the last time you strolled around downtown Los Angeles near Skid Row? Never? I’m from Los Angeles and it took the Last Bookstore to get me there. The store’s tagline, “What are you waiting for? We won’t be here forever,” has a suitably apocalyptic ring to it, but the place is so monumental that it’s hard to imagine it going anywhere: 22, 000 square feet on three floors with new and used books, vinyl records and gallery space. The whole thing appears to have been made out of books, books that are folded and fanned and stacked into towering sculptures. The clientele is as eclectic and fascinating as the reading selection. It did my heart good to see so many tattooed kids with black nail polish and nose rings sprawled out in chairs reading books. As long as you’re going to places you never thought you’d go, head to Plainville, Mass. to see An Unlikely Story Bookstore Café, which I hope will soon replace Disney World as the place all parents feel to take their children. Jeff Kinney took part of the proceeds from his juggernaut series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and built his hometown a bookstore — the ultimate fulfillment of literary civic duty. The building contains a dazzling bookshop, event space and cafe, and the top floor will soon be a Wimpy Kid museum, complete with movie props and the model for the Wimpy Kid Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloon. (How do you know that your character is reaching the heights of Snoopy? You get your own parade balloon.) I’m a sucker for a little bookstore. In the right hands, the limited space can set off an explosion of personality and innovation. It’s like going to a French bistro with five tables and five things on the menu: You discover they’re exactly the right five things. New York City, land of skyrocketing rents and ubiquitous nail salons, has some of the best tiny bookstores in the world, including the Corner Bookstore, 192 Books and my favorite, Three Lives Company. Sometimes what’s lost in square footage is made up for by a brilliant staff, or maybe it’s just that the people who work in tiny stores really do know exactly where every book is located. And they’ve read them. Little bookstores give off that same warm, snug feeling one gets from reading a novel in a comfy chair. Go look at the light in Newtonville Books outside Boston, or drive down the cape to Provincetown Bookshop, that essential last stop before hitting the beach. The novelist Louise Erdrich owns the tiny Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, a store that uses a chunk of its limited space to display an elaborately carved confessional box. You’ll wish every bookstore had one. In Washington you see the Vietnam Memorial, the new National Museum of African American History Culture and Politics Prose Bookstore. It’s where the Obamas shop, and it’s where the movers and shakers of our nation’s capital come to see what’s really going on. It also happens to be where I eat lunch, as they have the best bookstore cafe I know. Doesn’t everyone who visits Harvard go across the street to the Harvard Book Store, a shop as esteemed as the university? When you’re finished there (it will take all day) walk down Plympton Street to Grolier Poetry Book Shop. In Cambridge a store that sells nothing but poetry seems indispensable. But if you’re interested in Grolier’s aesthetic opposite, go to the fabulous Books Books. It’s everything I love about Miami without any of the things I don’t love about Miami, a store where books are elevated to new heights of gorgeousness. Just walking in the door of either the Coral Gables or South Beach location makes me feel like an automatic hipster, a book hipster. I always leave with armloads of art books and travel books, things I never knew I needed but I do need desperately. And then, of course, there’s Powell’s: an entire block, a dizzying, City of Books. The fact that Portland, Ore. celebrates being defined by its independent bookstore is really all you need to know about Portland. I went on my first book tour in 1992 when I was 28, and I have been going on book tours ever since. I have made it a point to go to bookstores in every town I’ve ever driven through. I go both as a writer and a reader, for business and for pleasure, and I have been in love with too many to make a comprehensive list here. Still, I have to call out some of my favorites, like Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, lit by the internal fire of one Daniel Goldin, a stupendously great bookseller. And since you’re in Milwaukee, you won’t be that far from McLean Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Mich. a personal favorite that proves Northern Michigan has a lot more to offer than cherries and apples. Malaprop’s was the heart and soul of Asheville, N. C. when Asheville was a sleepy little hippie town, and it’s still its heart and soul now that the city is cool and overcrowded, a position Malaprop’s maintained by being unabashedly true to itself. No bookstore ever made a strip mall look better than Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif. Every author you could hope to see comes to read at Book Passage. And then there’s Explore Booksellers in Aspen, Colo. a town that’s gotten so expensive that the bookstore would have to sell Chanel bags alongside Michael Chabon novels in order to make the rent, so a group of people got together and bought it so that the town could have a bookstore All these bookstores will welcome you, as will those I failed to mention. They’re delicate little ecosystems based on a passion for books and a belief in community. They’re here for you, but they need your attention and support to thrive. Of course we’d love to see you at Parnassus. The shop dogs are lazy. They pile up in the office and sleep beneath the desks, but if you ask, we’ll wake them up and send them out on the floor. When you’ve gotten your recommendations from our brilliant staff, and listened to story time in the children’s section, and seen a couple of authors (and country music stars) shopping themselves, we’ll give you advice on where to go to dinner and hear music. Or maybe you just want to sit in a quiet chair and read your new book. Go ahead, that’s what we’re here for.

Law-Abiding but Illegal, and Fearing the New Trump Rules - The New York Times

Jim Dwyer

Delfin Polanco waits on Thursday morning for a lawyer to help him stay in the country where he raised his son and has lived for 22 years. Like about 40 others, he arrived by 5 a. m. in Lower Manhattan for a legal clinic offered for immigrants by Catholic Charities. It will be hours before he is seen. To pass the time, Mr. Polanco thumbs through pictures on his phone and cards in his wallet. There he is outside the old Yankee Stadium in 2008, behind two men carrying championship trophies, part of the crew that was moving the team into its new home down the block. Here he is on the Teamsters union card that he got in 1999, which lets him work as a mover. And there is his medical card, listing him as a patient of a clinic at Bellevue Hospital Center, where he goes for treatment of the breathing ailments that he got after working on the cleanup of the World Trade Center site. “Look,” Mr. Polanco says. “I had hair. ” Now he is 47 and not much is left. Mr. Polanco moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1995 when he married an American citizen. Along the way, they divorced. “They stamped ‘deport’ on my work paper seven years ago and tell me to come back every year for the inspection,” he said. More people live in New York City in 2017 than at any time in its history nearly half were born outside the United States. The city’s white population has declined by 3. 5 million since 1950. They have been replaced by immigrants. A tribe of people from all over the world saved the city by moving here and going to work. The Trump family made fortunes in New York, thanks to them. With or without permission to be in the country, immigrants drove pistons in the city and national economy — in the service industry, in agriculture, in universities and in jobs. Inevitably, some large, uncountable number are here without permission. The enforcement of immigration laws depends on a cat’s cradle of rules and policies strung together by successive presidential administrations. Over time, the population of people in the United States who do not have citizenship, working papers or other visas is thought to have grown to 11 million. Many national Republicans once advocated comprehensive immigration reform, but such views became heresy with the rise of the Tea Party after the 2008 financial crisis. The political stalemate meant the continued growth of a system that allowed tacit acceptance of people who were apart from their immigration status. Like, for instance, Mr. Polanco. This week, President Trump’s administration announced plans to enforce the laws aggressively by deporting people who are in the country illegally, regardless of their behavior. Those plans may be limited by the sheer logistics, and in public statements the administration has said it will use its resources to find and deport the most dangerous criminals, which was the practice of the Obama administration. Nevertheless, worries about expanded enforcement are driving throngs to clinics like the one held by Catholic Charities every Thursday in the financial district beginning at 8 a. m. according to Mario Russell, the director of immigrant and refugee services for the archdiocese. Many people were turned away, advised to call a hotline, . The first people arrived at the clinic this week at 4:30 a. m. to make sure they could see one of the five lawyers and three counselors. Dionne Raymon, 42, a mother of three who was born in Jamaica and has been in the United States for 24 years, was there by 5. “Last week, I couldn’t see anyone because I didn’t get here until 8:30,” Ms. Raymon said. “I had to get the kids out to school. They are off this week. ” Others spoke about boarding subways at 4 a. m. of getting waylaid in the unfamiliar canyons of Lower Manhattan on previous trips. Ms. Raymon said she had never had a minute’s trouble with the police. Studies have shown that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States. “But to live outside the law, you must be honest,” Bob Dylan wrote. “I’ve never been to jail,” Mr. Polanco said. “Tickets, nothing. ” His son, born in the United States, is about to start college, but is still too young to “claim” his father under kinship citizenship eligibility. Mr. Polanco frets that returning to the Dominican Republic will put medical care for his lung problems beyond his means. “I came here, I was young,” Mr. Polanco said. “Now I am old. Old and sick. ”

Bernie Sanders Could Replace President Trump With Little-Known Loophole

Bernie Sanders Could Replace President Trump With Little-Known Loophole Read this article and then share with your friends. By Matt Masur / huffingtonpost.com Here is exactly what we need to do to save our great society. The information here is what we’ve all been waiting for. By doing this we can make Bernie the president on Inauguration day rather than President-elect Donald Trump . Actually, no we can’t. There is no loophole that allows a random person to assume the office of president. That’s pretty basic common sense but yet you clicked or even shared this article anyway. Now that right there is the real point of this post… Our social media sites have been flooded with misinformation in the past few months. While this has always been a problem, it now appears to have exploded over this election season. We are seeing post after post stating just plain illogical things and this is not a problem unique to any one side. Even more dangerous are the posts that don’t appear to be far-fetched until you dig into the details. The big problem with that… People don’t dig for the details. There will be many people who clicked share on this post because of its headline. They may not even click to open the story. They will never actually read these words. Ironically these are the folks who need to hear it the most. As John Oliver correctly pointed out Sunday night, folks are being fed what they want to hear and they’re eating it up like a starving person. The most important thing in a functional society is a well-informed public. What we have now is not only uninformed but misinformed masses. That’s something that should scare us all. The most important thing in a functional society is a well-informed public. What we have now is not only uninformed but misinformed masses. How do we combat this problem? Easy, we have to do some work. While I could give a long dissertation on what exactly that means, no one has the patience to read it all, so here are five quick steps that’ll fit in a meme… 1. Read first. Then share. I myself am guilty of basing comments or even clicking share based on the headline. This is the worst thing any of us could do. Stop being lazy. 2. Check the source (and their sources). In the age of new media true and valid information comes from non-traditional sources but so does a lot of garbage. Any article that posts facts, figures or quotes should provide a source for that information. If there is no backup for their claims, move on. 3. Watch out for recycled stories. One thing that seems to be feeding into the misinformation problem is when old stories are being presented as happening now. Check the date on the story before you read on. You’ll be shocked to see how many are from another time and aren’t applicable to the current event you thought they were talking about. 4. If you care about facts, ignore the blatantly slanted. Having a slant or taking a position on a story is not wrong in itself. What is wrong is when these ideas are taken as unbiased fact. You can avoid all of this by simply avoiding those sites to start with. Any website with the words: Conservative, Liberal, Democrat, Republican, etc. in the title are just advertising how slanted they are. That’s ok if you choose to live in your side’s bubble but please don’t have any delusions that these stories reflect the whole picture. 5. Google it. God (and Sergey ) gave us Google for a reason. If you see a story that’s unbelievable or has no sources or even if it does, verify. See if the same facts are reported across multiple outlets. See if anyone disputes these facts. Read these pieces and then make up your mind. If we could all take these simple steps our society would be a better place. We all have opinions and leanings. There is nothing wrong with that but could we at least all come from a starting point based on facts and reality? The truth is, sharing illogical things begins to erode YOUR credibility and it makes you look foolish. Trust me, I speak from experience. Now go share this, please. 0.0 ·

UC Berkeley to Offer Class on Fake Language from ’Game of Thrones’

Jerome Hudson

Students at the University of California Berkeley may not be able to hear conservative commentator Ann Coulter speak on campus — however, they can take a course on a language used in a popular HBO fantasy show. [The university, already embroiled in a free speech controversy, reportedly plans to offer a course inspired by the fictional Dothraki and High Valyrian languages used by characters on the HBO series Game of Thrones. David J. Peterson, who was hired to create the show’s languages, will teach the course titled “The Linguistics of Game of Thrones and the Art of Language Invention. ” Peterson told Berkeley News that the Game of Thrones world created by author George R. R. Martin “will serve as a kind of framing device for the course so students can focus on the linguistic details of their creations, not the fictional side. ” Peterson will teach the course, which is being offered during the May 22 to June 30 summer session. No stranger to the Hollywood language scene, Peterson has helped develop languages for such shows as the Syfy channel’s Defiance series, Marvel’s Thor, and NBC’s Emerald City. The UC Berkeley fight song “Sons of California” has already been remixed in the Dothraki language. The Game of Thrones language course announcement comes on the heels of conservative commentator Ann Coulter’s decision to cancel her speech at UC Berkley, after law enforcement sources told Fox News that there was a “99% chance” of violent attacks on campus by activists if the speech went ahead. The university had initially canceled Coulter’s speech and then rescheduled it for a week later, when the majority of its students did not have class. The two student groups who invited Coulter filed a lawsuit against the school on Monday, alleging its initial cancelation of the event was discriminatory and a violation of First Amendment rights. The seventh season of Game of Thrones returns to HBO on July 16. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson

Donald Trump to Announce Supreme Court Nominee Next Week

Charlie Spiering

President Donald Trump revealed to reporters that he is close to announcing his choice to fill the Supreme Court justice seat that has been vacant since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. [“I’ll be making my decision this week. We’ll be announcing next week,” Trump told reporters after signing five executive orders Tuesday morning. “We have outstanding candidates, and we will pick a truly great Supreme Court justice. ” Trump’s announcement caught reporters by surprise, as Senate Democrats have already vowed to stall the process as long as possible. “If the nominee is not bipartisan and mainstream, we absolutely will keep the seat open,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. Trump announced a list of potential Supreme Court nominees in May 2016 when he was campaigning in the Republican primary: Steven Colloton, Steven Colloton of Iowa is a judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, a position he has held since President George W. Bush appointed him in 2003. Judge Colloton has a résumé that also includes distinguished service as the U. S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, a special assistant to the attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, and a lecturer of law at the University of Iowa. He received his law degree from Yale, and he clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Judge Colloton is an Iowa native. Allison Eid, Allison Eid of Colorado is an associate justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. Colorado Governor Bill Owens appointed her to the seat in 2006 she was later retained for a full term by the voters (with 75 percent of voters favoring retention). Prior to her judicial service, Justice Eid served as Colorado’s solicitor general and as a law professor at the University of Colorado. Justice Eid attended the University of Chicago Law School, and she clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. Raymond Gruender, Raymond Gruender of Missouri has been a judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit since his 2004 appointment by President George W. Bush. Judge Gruender, who sits in St. Louis, Missouri, has extensive prosecutorial experience, culminating with his time as the U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. Judge Gruender received a law degree and an M. B. A. from Washington University in St. Louis. Thomas Hardiman, Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania has been a judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit since 2007. Prior to serving as a circuit judge, he served as a judge of the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania since 2003. Before his judicial service, Judge Hardiman worked in private practice in Washington, D. C. and Pittsburgh. Judge Hardiman was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from Notre Dame. Raymond Kethledge, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan has been a judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 2008. Before his judicial service, Judge Kethledge served as judiciary counsel to Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham, worked as a partner in two law firms, and worked as an counsel for the Ford Motor Company. Judge Kethledge obtained his law degree from the University of Michigan and clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy. Joan Larsen, Joan Larsen of Michigan is an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Justice Larsen was a professor at the University of Michigan School of Law from 1998 until her appointment to the bench. In 2002, she temporarily left academia to work as an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Justice Larsen received her law degree from Northwestern and clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thomas Lee, Thomas Lee of Utah has been an Associate Justice of the Utah Supreme Court since 2010. Beginning in 1997, he served on the faculty of Brigham Young University Law School, where he still teaches in an adjunct capacity. Justice Lee was deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Division from 2004 to 2005. Justice Lee attended the University of Chicago Law School, and he clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Lee is also the son of former U. S. Solicitor General Rex Lee and the brother of current U. S. Senator Mike Lee. William Pryor, William H. Pryor, Jr. of Alabama is a judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He has served on the court since 2004. Judge Pryor became the Alabama attorney general in 1997 upon Jeff Sessions’s election to the U. S. Senate. Judge Pryor was then elected in his own right in 1998 and reelected in 2002. In 2013, Judge Pryor was confirmed to a term on the United States Sentencing Commission. Judge Pryor received his law degree from Tulane, and he clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. David Stras, David Stras of Minnesota has been an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court since 2010. After his initial appointment, he was elected to a term in 2012. Prior to his judicial service, Judge Stras worked as a legal academic at the University of Minnesota Law School. In his time there, he wrote extensively about the function and structure of the judiciary. Justice Stras received his law degree and an M. B. A. from the University of Kansas. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. Diane Sykes, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin has served as a judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2004. Prior to her federal appointment, Judge Sykes had been a Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 1999 and a Wisconsin trial court judge of both civil and criminal matters before that. Judge Sykes received her law degree from Marquette. Don Willett, Don Willett of Texas has been a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court since 2005. He was initially appointed by Governor Rick Perry and has been reelected by the voters twice. Prior to his judicial service, Judge Willett worked as a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, as an adviser in George W. Bush’s gubernatorial and presidential administrations, as deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, and as a deputy attorney general under Attorney General Greg Abbott. Justice Willett received his law degree and a master’s degree from Duke. Big Government, Donald Trump, Supreme Court

Gamechanger: Russia successfully tests its first-ever hypersonic weapon

Ian Greenhalgh

Time for FBI director Comey to go ‹ › Ian Greenhalgh is a photographer and historian with a particular interest in military history and the real causes of conflicts. His studies in history and background in the media industry have given him a keen insight into the use of mass media as a creator of conflict in the modern world. His favored areas of study include state sponsored terrorism, media manufactured reality and the role of intelligence services in manipulation of populations and the perception of events. Gamechanger: Russia successfully tests its first-ever hypersonic weapon By Ian Greenhalgh on October 30, 2016 Russia successfully tests its first-ever hypersonic weapon The hypersonic aircraft, known as “article 4202” or “15U71” was successfully tested on October 25 for the first time. All avionics and electronic systems, as well as the control system of the vehicle are entirely of Russian production. The weapon is capable of speeding up to 15 Max, or 7 km/sec. The vehicle was designed to be installed at prospective intercontinental ballistic missiles, instead of conventional warheads. The “4202” vehicle starts working at an altitude of about 100 km and flies to the target at the speed of 5-7 km/s. Before entering dense layers of the atmosphere, directly above the target, the hypersonic aircraft performs a complex maneuver that makes it difficult to interception by missile defense systems of the enemy. Noteworthy, the project of hypersonic warheads called “Albatross” appeared in the USSR in the mid-1980s, as a response to USA’s attempts to create a missile defense system within the concept of “star wars.” However, due to the technical difficulties, the project was shut down. In the mid-1990s, the Scientific and Production Association (NPO) resumed the development of the new weapon under the number “4202.” According to sources at Roscosmos state corporation, the successful tests of the new hypersonic aircraft were made possible with the help of the intensive import substitution program. For instance, Russian engineers had to get rid of the control system, previously manufactured by Ukrainian company Hartron. The successfully implemented program provided an opportunity to resume the tests. As a result, all the avionics and electronic systems, as well as the control system now completely consist of Russian components. The Russian Army is to receive new hypersonic weapons by 2020. The development of high-speed anti-aircraft missiles has made it possible to intercept and destroy any modern aircraft or missile at any altitude. The way out is to create the aircraft capable of flying faster than interceptor missiles. For this particular reason, major powers of the world, such as the USA, Russia and China, rushed to develop hypersonic flight vehicles of different types and purposes. China, for example, tested the hypersonic WU-14 glider on 9 January 2015. The Chinese aircraft is launched into outer space with the help of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Then, the vehicle develops the speed of 10M, that is, more than 12,300 km/h, and dives onto the target. State-of-the-art air defense systems are unable to detect and intercept a target flying at this speed. China has thus become the third country in the world, after Russia and the United States, which has the technology of hypersonic vehicles for both nuclear and conventional weapons. In fact, the Chinese have created a warhead with control surfaces that can maneuver in flight thus becoming practically invulnerable. However, this vehicle does not have its own engine, so the Chinese creation has become another weapon for “the poorest.” Russia currently works on different types of hypersonic scramjet missiles, which can be launched from land, ships or aircraft. Pravda.Ru requested an expert opinion from chief editor of “Arms Export” magazine, Andrey Frolov. “How competitive is Russia in the development of hypersonic aircraft?” “Russia is at the forefront. This is not the first test, I think that in the near future these systems will be passed into service at the army. The Americans do not have such weapons yet, the Chinese are in the development process.” “Are there any other details available?” “This is a secret subject. We know that such weapons have been created – and this is a lot to know already.” Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VT, VT authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. LEGAL NOTICE - COMMENT POLICY Posted by Ian Greenhalgh on October 30, 2016, With 385 Reads Filed under Military . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Susie Breitbart Gives Rare Interview: Andrew Was ’Good Friend to So Many People Who Disagreed with Him’ - Breitbart

John Hayward

Susie Breitbart, the widow of Breitbart News founder Andrew Breitbart, talked to Greg Gutfeld of Fox News on “The One with Greg Gutfeld” about her husband’s storied career in an interview last week. [Gutfeld began with a story of his own: how he met first met Andrew Breitbart while writing for the Huffington Post, which Andrew helped launch and edit. It was when Andrew encouraged Gutfeld to follow his own instincts (as opposed to micromanaging his talent) that the Fox News personality realized that Breitbart had “major balls. ” “I remember that, and I remember hearing about you long before I met you because he was fascinated with what you were doing, and what you were writing,” Susie Breitbart said with a chuckle. “He loved your style, he loved your humor and your insight. He was, I think at that time, also really trying to own who he was, and become his own person, and no longer be in the shadows of people like Matt Drudge and Arianna Huffington. ” “The way you described him saying ‘Can you change that?’ and then calling you back and saying ‘no, wait, keep it the way it is,’ I think that was him sort of coming into his own at the same time and going, ‘Let’s own this, let’s be who we are,’” she told Gutfeld. Gutfeld credited Andrew Breitbart with writing half of his best jokes. “I would send a piece that would be like, let’s say 1500 words. It would come back 3000 words because he added so many jokes, and some of them were so absurd and surreal and like from another planet that it would take a while to understand what he was doing. Then I would edit it out and I would go, ‘No, wait, I can’t edit this out, it’s too good!” Gutfeld reminisced. “He used to call those your double secret blog posts,” Susie Breitbart said. “You were kind of sneaking in through a back door of the Huffington Post and writing things you weren’t really supposed to. ” Gutfeld compared the “unusual group of friends” around Andrew and Susie to the eclectic cast of a “1970s talk show. ” “That was a really interesting group,” Susie agreed. “I can’t remember who initially formed that group. I want to say I think it was Dale Launer, a screenwriter. He wrote My Cousin Vinny, among other things. That group was just an eclectic group of writers and journalists, and not necessarily politically people. Andrew was always just fascinated with storytellers, loved being around all types of people. ” Gutfeld recalled his surprise at learning Susie’s father is prolific actor Orson Bean, “who was for me kind of a Sixties and Seventies legend because he was on everything. ” “He was!” she agreed. “To some people my dad was a household name, and some people had never heard of him. He’s so many things to so many different people, because he has done so much. He’s a raconteur, most notably. He hosted The Tonight Show over a hundred times when Johnny Carson was absent, or he was a guest on The Tonight Show within those appearances. He’s been on Broadway, television, movies. He often gets recognized, and it kind of spans across various generations. ” “When we were growing up, game shows were huge, and they’re making a comeback, a lot of them,” she said, remembering her father’s many appearances on classic shows. “The Match Game, Tattletales — which he did with my mom, Caroline, which was like a couples’ game show. He did To Tell the Truth, and I think Hollywood Squares, all of those were a huge part of my growing up too. ” Gutfeld recalled visiting Orson Bean’s house and discovering he kept a news clipping about the terror attack pinned to his refrigerator door, because he said it was something that should be remembered every day. Susie Bean Breitbart said she believes the clipping holds that position on her father’s refrigerator to this very day. She hastened to add that her father is hardly a brooding man. “He just finished doing a show about his life. His life was very heavy and tragic as a child. Throughout the show, he would tell some really, really tragic story — and then follow it up immediately with a magic trick and a joke, to sort of lighten the mood,” she said. “You can watch his show, it’s on YouTube. That’s his style. ” Susie said she was never a political person herself, although her father and later her husband became major political presences. “I always had my opinions, of course, but I was a registered independent from the first time I was old enough to vote. The first time I did vote was for H. Ross Perot, because Andrew and I were just kind of fascinated, and amused, and just trying to figure it all out,” she recalled. “At that time Andrew was becoming increasingly obsessed with the Clarence Thomas hearings, and politics became more prominent in his life. He became more interested in all of that,” she said. “I was never political in the way he was. He started to be aware of the effect it was having. He would think, ‘Susie never signed up for this,’ because as he became more of a public figure people would approach us and say things at dinner parties, and at schools. It’s not something I had really been prepared for,” said Susie Breitbart. “I think I always knew that Andrew was going to make a name for himself. When we met and started dating, he was a waiter. I looked at him and I said, ‘This guy’s going to do something.’ He wanted to be a comedy writer, so I figured it was going to be that. He always was very funny. I never figured it would be this, but actually it doesn’t surprise me. It was only a matter of, ‘What’s he going to do next? What’s he going to be?’ Because it was going to be something,” she said. Gutfeld recalled that politics was almost never the topic of discussion when he hung around with the Andrew Breitbart. “He wasn’t angry,” he said. “I remember we all went on the National Review cruise together, and you and Andrew were both panelists, but other than the work you were doing there and the reason we were there, it was really just a vacation with friends. He was a lighthearted person. He could talk to anyone about anything. It didn’t have to be politics,” she said. “At some point that became difficult to navigate sometimes. I came home to our first apartment, when we first started dating, to find Jehovah’s Witnesses trying to get out, because they were literally trapped in there. He was so fascinated with exploring people, and stories, and ideas. He could talk to anyone about anything, and he knew something about everything,” she said. Of course, politics came to dominate Andrew Breitbart’s later career, becoming “the reason people wanted to talk to him in some instances. ” Gutfeld remembered Andrew’s particularly strong feelings about 80s New Wave music. “He had this Friday night Twitter DJ thing that he would do with 80s music,” Susie said. “I’m still not on Twitter, so I wasn’t able to really follow it when it was happening, but he loved it. He was obsessed with New Wave, British pop. ” Gutfeld asked for Susie’s take on the most facet of Andrew’s personality. “I think because he considered himself to be somewhat of a warrior, people assume that he was an instigator,” she observed. “He really wasn’t a . He liked people to a fault. It was pretty easy to ingratiate yourself to Andrew. He was someone who felt that he needed to stand up for what was right, and stand up to bullies. There was this very intense side of him, but the side that people didn’t really get to see when he became more of a public figure was that he was such a lighthearted, funny, crazy, smart, sensitive guy. ” “There is some of that out there,” she added. “He went on your show Red Eye, and I think tweaked his nipples after snorting a powdered form of red wine or something. ” “That’s true!” Gutfeld laughed. “That’s out there, but I don’t think most people are Googling ‘Breitbart’ along with the terms ‘goofy, lighthearted, silly.’ They’re more Googling ‘controversy, Trump,’ you know,” said Susie. Gutfeld recalled how Andrew was once thrown off his game before a Red Eye appearance because he was worried his daughter was mad at him for leaving a slumber party early. “That was a bigger deal to him than anything,” Gutfeld said. “And he always used to say that he was so lucky he was married to you. He would say to me, ‘I can’t believe she married me.’ Because we would sit and commiserate over stuff, and he would say that. He would just laugh and go, ‘How did I get this lucky? ’” Gutfeld laughed as he recalled the great downside to Andrew’s easy affection for people: “He would introduce you to somebody that is not a good person, but he was so forgiving … he took in stray dogs, you know what I mean?” “He did,” Susie agreed. “My dad always says about his wife Alley when he’s ready to leave a party, he says, ‘She has a character flaw: She likes people.’ Andrew and I had to develop a kind of shorthand at some point that meant — me looking at him which said, ‘I love you, but I’m ready to go home. I’ll be taking the car, and you can take a taxi in three hours when you’re done talking to this guy. ’” “And sometimes that guy would come home with him, and he would stay at our house for a weekend,” she added. “I’m not kidding. He would bring people home, and just the way he opens my dad’s guest house to you … ” “Yes! I was one of those stray dogs!” Gutfeld cried. “Sometimes we got lucky and the stray dog was Greg Gutfeld. Sometimes it wasn’t so lucky,” said Susie. “He was really interested in just exploring people’s character and personalities. Sometimes he would delve in without really vetting the situation, I would say. He was a nice person, too. He didn’t want to turn people away, I suppose,” she said. Susie Breitbart said writing has been part of her healing process. “Initially I started writing for my kids, because I want them to remember who he was as a person. It’s so easy, I think of my own childhood so I can conjure up stories when I’m asked, like what was it like growing up with my dad, or whatever,” she recalled. “Really I feel like most of the time I’m just culling through like a shoebox full of Polaroid pictures, and I have to really make myself remember. So I want to put down these stories on paper for my kids, and I want to collect stories from other people who had personal interactions with Andrew, because I don’t want them to just see the biased tidbits that are out there on the Internet, that really only capture his persona,” she said. “They don’t necessarily capture who he was, this whole other side of him,” she maintained. “He was this intense, and thoughtful, and intelligent person — but he was also, like you said, a goofball. I think you referred to him recently as just a big hairy dad. And he was that! He was so many things. He was such a good friend to so many people, and so many people who disagreed with him. He was all of those things. I want them to remember that. ”

Canada and EU sign ‘thoroughly undemocratic’ CETA trade deal

Nadia Prupis

Canada and EU sign ‘thoroughly undemocratic’ CETA trade deal Opposition groups note that the deal could still fail legal scrutiny and ratification in Europe By Nadia Prupis Canada and the European Union signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on Sunday amid widespread protests against the controversial deal that came back to life after negotiations stalled over objections from Wallonia, Belgium. Environmental and democracy groups who opposed the agreement issued cautious statements condemning the signing but noting that CETA was not a done deal. “This agreement will probably not survive the democratic and legal scrutiny of the ratification process over the coming months. It’s time for our governments to break rank with corporate lobbyists and redesign a trade policy that respects democracy and promotes the public interest,” said Shira Stanton, trade policy adviser at Greenpeace EU. CETA now faces a vote in the European Parliament and ratification by the parliaments of the EU’s 28 countries. If it passes, CETA would create a legal system that allows corporations to sue governments for perceived loss of profit. That framework will also be put to scrutiny by the European Court of Justice and the German constitutional court, and if it fails to stand up would invalidate CETA. The deal has long been opposed on the grounds that it would harm human rights, democracy, and the climate, among other risks. Alfred de Zayas, the United Nations independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, said in a statement Saturday that each country should hold a referendum on signing the deal before doing so, warning that it was a “corporate-driven, fundamentally flawed treaty.” “There is a legitimate fear that CETA will dilute environmental standards, food security, and health and labor protection,” he said. “A treaty that strengthens the position of investors, transnational corporations, and monopolies at the expense of the public interest conflicts with the duty of states to protect all people under their jurisdiction from internal and external threats.” Global Justice Now (GJN) trade and migration campaigner Guido Tallman tweeted a picture of the massive deal and wrote, “Here’s CETA. Any MEP planning to vote for it, should be sure to read it first. All of it. So they know what they’re voting for.” Throughout Europe this weekend, CETA opponents took to the streets to protest the signing. In London on Saturday, many posed outside the European Commission office dressed as zombies to symbolize CETA’s seeming resurrection, urging commissioners to “stop CETA rising from the dead.” In Brussels, some protesters broke through a barricade and attempted to storm the European Commission building before being dragged away by police. GJN executive director Nick Dearden said Saturday , “The signing ceremony . . . means that CETA has been brought back from the dead for now—but it is a ticking time bomb. The Wallonia parliament has a promise that they will be able to stop the ratification of CETA when they get a formal vote on it, and unless there are substantial changes, they—and hopefully other parliaments—will use that veto.” “CETA would open up our government to a deluge of court cases by North American multinational corporations and investors,” Dearden continued. “It presents a threat to our ability to protect the environment, to protect the public and to limit the power of big banks. It’s thoroughly undemocratic and must be stopped.” This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License Nadia Prupis is a Common Dreams staff writer. Special Reports . Bookmark the permalink .

The Toronto Star Published An ‘Unauthorized Database’ Of Things That Will INFURIATE Trump | Addicting Info | The Knowledge You Crave

on November 6, 2016 3:40 pm · Trying to catch the liar of liars in a lie isn’t hard. Getting him and his campaign to acknowledge that Trump is the liar of liars is. Same thing with bullying, but The New York Times put together a spread of all the bullyish things Trump has said and tweeted, and to whom. Now, the Toronto Star ‘s Daniel Dale has been tracking Trump’s lies for just six weeks, and the paper has compiled a complete list of those lies, which you can find here . There are literally hundreds of lies in Trump’s speeches. They’re not all 100% unique, but this is probably the final and ultimate proof that Trump will say anything to smear anyone, including his enemies, while keeping his supporters happy. Is there any presidential candidate in history that has lied this much? Tons of people claim Hillary is a master liar, but first, she’s actually more honest than most politicians. Second, even if she could be considered anything like a master liar, she still could not compete with Trump the Liar in any way, shape or form. The Star put the lies into a whopping 20 categories: Clinton’s policies, WTF, Daesh/Middle East, Clinton’s record, African Americans/Inner cities, The Clintons’ corruption, Rigged election, Trade/Economy, Health care, Trump’s endorsements, Refugees/Immigration, Polls, Obama’s record, The campaign, Russia, Trump’s record, Taxes, Sex assault allegations, Clinton’s health and Government corruption. They also compiled a list of the top 10 types of lies Trump has told and gave more detailed analysis, beginning with, “The electoral system is rigged.” Of course, it’s rigged against him: “After plummeting in the polls after the first two debates, Trump began to repeatedly question the fairness of the election. ‘Rigged’ became his catchword. He claimed Hillary Clinton campaign workers hired ‘thugs’ to cause violence at his rallies, twisting the evidence from an undercover video to unfairly disparage Clinton. He claimed there was widespread voter fraud in Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis — cities with large black populations that heavily favour Democrats. In Greeley, Colo., Trump told his supporters if they don’t trust mail-in ballots, they should vote again in person. So, one did. Trump supporter Terri Lynn Rote, a 55-year-old from Iowa, was charged by police for suspicion of voting twice.” Nobody’s committing voter suppression and fraud quite like Trumpsters and Republicans. Another is, “Muslims are risky.” This touches on his assertions that we know nothing about refugees coming from Syria, who could be the great Trojan Horse of our time: “His claims that Syrian refugees — 99 per cent are Muslim — are terrorists plays to the fears of the “other,” even though they are extensively vetted and are predominantly women and children. And their numbers is nowhere near Trump’s claims — about 13,000 have been admitted to the United States in 2016.” “The polls favour Trump.” Har de har har – Trump only looks at the polls he likes, and they’re usually unscientific online polls or other dubious polls. Very few of the established, scientific polls favor him. Nevertheless: “It seems clear Trump manipulates, exaggerates or makes up polls that make it sound as if he is doing better than he actually is. This ‘poll denialism’ gives his supporters licence to dismiss negative polling data, suggests CNN. His false claims cast doubt on the legitimacy of mainstream polling — and perhaps even the vote itself. If supporters feel Trump should be doing better, then the idea of a rigged election seems more credible. On Oct. 24, he said ‘I won the last two debates, and every poll showed it.’ In fact, every scientific poll showed that he lost. Of course, when unscientific online polls came out in his favour, Trump was quick to promote — and exaggerate — those numbers.” But these are just a few of his biggest, most repeated lies. He has also: Falsely said on Twitter, “The failing NYTimes reporters don’t even call us anymore, they just write whatever they want to write, making up sources along the way!” Falsely said, “By ‘open borders,’ [Hillary] means totally unlimited immigration.” Falsely said, “Hillary’s plan includes an open border with the Middle East.” Falsely called NBC anchor Lester Holt, the moderator of the first debate, “a Democrat.” Falsely said, “Wow, just came out on secret tape that Crooked Hillary wants to take in as many Syrians as possible.” Falsely said the U.S. provided Iran “$150 billion” as part of the nuclear deal. Falsely said, “In San Bernardino, many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people…Muslims have to report the problems when they see them.” Falsely asserted that Clinton has “been fighting ISIS (her) entire adult life.” Falsely said, “All together, the Hillary Clinton plan would bring in 620,000 refugees in her first term.” Falsely claimed he had been acknowledged to be correct in declaring NATO “obsolete because it doesn’t cover terror;” falsely suggested NATO created an anti-terror position because of his comments. Falsely claimed Clinton didn’t release cholesterol or EKG information Falsely said sexual assault allegations against him “have been largely debunked.” Falsely said, apparently of sexual assault accuser Summer Zervos, “The one young lady has five family members saying what she said is absolute nonsense.” Falsely said “I did not. I did not” to Clinton’s charge that he thinks Climate change is a “hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.” Falsely said, “I was against going into Iraq. And it’s so well-documented.” Falsely said, “Our taxes are so high. Just about the highest in the world.” And so many more, just in the last six weeks! Yes, many of them are repeats, but lies are lies. If Trump sees this, he’ll likely throw a livid fit about it and claim that the paper’s lying, and continue to sell the myth that he’s not the liar of liars being caught in a squillion lies. To see the full list and detailed analysis, click here . Featured image by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images Share this Article! Author: Rika Christensen Rika Christensen is an experienced writer and loves debating politics. Engage with her and see more of her work by following her on Facebook and Twitter . Search

Duterte, Mosul, Calais Jungle: Your Thursday Briefing - The New York Times

Charles McDermid

Good morning. We’re trying something new for our readers in Asia and Australia: a morning briefing to your day. What do you like? What do you want to see here? Email us with your feedback at asiabriefing@nytimes. com. Here’s what you need to know: • The contentious American presidential race is fracturing the Republican Party. Donald J. Trump and his allies are turning on Republican leaders in Congress with an intensity that sometimes matches their battle against Hillary Clinton. The latest hacked emails from WikiLeaks reveal worries about Clinton Foundation donations hurting Mrs. Clinton’s political future. (The Clinton and Trump foundations are vastly different.) Mr. Trump has begun engaging in barely veiled promotions of his business brand, pulling reporters to his marquee properties between his campaign events. On Wednesday, he held a at his hotel near the White House. And Mr. Trump inaugurated a talk show that is helping stoke speculation that he is planning to start his own network after the election. • President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines used his state visit to Japan to ratchet up his remarks. “I want them out,” Mr. Duterte said of the United States troops in his country, adding that he was willing to “revise or abrogate agreements” on military bases. But deep cultural, economic and military ties make upending the alliance unlikely. • Russia abruptly withdrew its application to dock three warships for refueling at a Spanish port in the Mediterranean, after NATO members urged Spain to turn the vessels away. The ships are en route to support Russian military operations in Syria. • The Islamic State is under siege in Syria and Iraq, but its influence is still felt around the world. Fighters linked to the terror group seized a port town in Somalia, and a group of gunmen who claimed allegiance to the group executed 23 civilian hostages in western Afghanistan. • “Incredibly lucky. ” That was our photographer, who was covering Iraqi forces’ push toward Mosul when his convoy was hit by a suicide car bomb. This is his account, with photos and videos. • Australia will suffer from drought, more extremely hot days and a longer and fiercer fire season, the county’s top weather scientists say. The report offers a snapshot to countries around the world of the challenges of climate change. • ZTO Express, the Chinese delivery service, is coming to Wall Street in what many expect to be the biggest initial public offering of the year. ZTO’s top customer is the giant Alibaba. • Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 7 debacle virtually wiped out profit at its mobile division. The company said it expected the division to recover in the coming quarter. • Recalled Takata airbags are still circulating freely in used cars in the United States, especially at auctions, the rung of the market. • A glut of cash in Europe and Asia that is being pumped into the U. S. bond market has many economists warning of a looming crisis. They say the situation echoes a wave of investment in the years before last decade’s financial meltdown. • U. S. markets were lower, led by real estate shares. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • China is holding military drills in an area of the South China Sea today and has ordered all other shipping to avoid the zone. [Reuters] • Dreamworld, the Australian theme park, said it would reopen this week with a “Memorial Day” for the four adults who were killed on a ride. [BBC] • The Afghan woman whose photograph as a young refugee was published on the cover of National Geographic in 1985 was arrested in Pakistan for trying to obtain illegal identity cards. [The New York Times] • Hong Kong’s legislative council was thrown into chaos and adjourned again as two barred lawmakers stormed into the chamber with supporters. [South China Morning Post] • China instituted the policy on this day in 1982 and suspended it a year ago. A new study in a British medical journal predicts no baby boom and a peak population of 1. 45 billion in 2029. [CCTV] • Five officials with the environmental protection agency in Xian, China, have been detained for tampering with devices and falsifying data. [The Straits Times] • Mount Fuji tied a record for the latest date it has ever been capped by snow. Japan began keeping track of the event in 1894 the record was set in 1956. [Asahi Shimbun] • AIDS arrived in the U. S. long before “Patient Zero. ” [The New York Times] • Relocating the 6, 000 or more people who had been living in “The Jungle” encampment in Calais has exposed France’s divided view of migrants. [The New York Times] • The original set of 176 emojis, created by the Japanese mobile provider NTT DoCoMo and released in 1999, is now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. • We’ve all lied once or twice to spare someone’s feelings, but a new study looks at how fibbing could turn into serial dishonesty. • The surfing world knew John John Florence was the best. Now it’s official. How much is a rat’s life worth? The universally loathed rodent is a frequent target of eradication programs in cities worldwide. Jakarta is the latest metropolis attempting to eliminate the urban pest to prevent outbreaks of diseases. Officials say they will offer a bounty of about $1. 50 a rat. That’s a bump from Paris’s offer of a nickel in 1920 (about 60 cents today) during its war on the animal. The Times reported then about a hunter using explosives who handed in about 250 tails. But it was a hoax. The police learned they were made of string and rubber. About 20 years later, the going rate for rat was just 2 cents in Chongqing, China. Humans were enlisted to help after it was said the rodents used their whiskers to poison the dogs sent to exterminate them. There are twists on the financial incentives to wipe out invasive species. Fishermen in Jamaica have reaped the benefits of a demand for lionfish on dinner plates. And prize money is offered in a Florida contest aimed at culling the state’s Burmese python population. Contestants there are allowed to use guns, but that’s something Jakarta’s deputy governor hopes to avoid. “If you miss your shot,” he warned, “the bullets could hit other people. ” Patrick Boehler contributed reporting. Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes. com.

Omar Abdel Rahman’s Death Stirs Memories of 1993 Attack - The New York Times

Sarah Maslin Nir and Nikita Stewart

It was a stunning act of terror, an assault on the World Trade Center that shook New York City. The long wake of its memory still slices through those who were there and the families of those who died. That was 1993. Roughly eight years before the twin towers were destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, the buildings were badly damaged on a snowy afternoon by a truck bomb in a basement garage that killed six people. On Saturday, Omar Abdel Rahman — a blind cleric whose fiery speech exhorted violence and galvanized those who executed the attack, according to prosecutors — died at 78 in a federal prison in North Carolina. He was serving a life sentence for plotting a series of assaults never carried out: bombs to be set in tunnels and buildings in an attack designed to bring New York to its knees. In the city, news of his death, from complications of diabetes and coronary artery disease, has caused many who experienced the bombing, whether as rescuers, government officials or witnesses, to recall the smoke and the gaping crater. They have also been led to consider something more existential: a February afternoon when, in an instant, the city experienced a sensation now all too familiar but then quite new — vulnerability. “Those who went through the ’93 experience remember it as the beginning of the loss of innocence,” said Anthony E. Shorris, then the first deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After the blast, Mr. Shorris spent a month inside the crater in the garage beneath the World Trade Center plaza as teams shored it up and the police dug for bodies. “Remembering a time when we didn’t think things like this could happen, and now we think about it all the time,” Mr. Shorris, now the deputy mayor of New York City, said. He paused. “All the time. ” The explosion, on Feb. 26, 1993, injured about 1, 000 people and could be heard on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The percussion was felt, some said, even farther north than Harlem. But New Yorkers thought of vehicle bombings as something that happened elsewhere. At first, the city sought more innocent explanations. Stanley Brezenoff, then the executive director of the Port Authority, which owned the World Trade Center property and had offices on the 65th floor, said: “People walked out of their offices and looked at each other. ‘Did something happen? Did a generator go out? Was there some kind of a storm that we weren’t aware of? ’” He made the call to evacuate, and staff members carried a colleague in a wheelchair down more than 20 flights. “I don’t think we stopped to reflect on the enormity of what happened,” said Mr. Brezenoff, now the interim head of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. The Port Authority launched an effort to repair the stricken tower, reopening it in a month. “A lot of the response was, ‘They can’t do that to us,’” Mr. Brezenoff said. “It sounds almost quaint now. ” Raymond W. Kelly, who was then at the start of the first of his two stints as police commissioner, said, “In terms of modern terrorism, the threat was there, but I don’t think it was seen as a threat to this country. ” The sense was, he said, “it was going on in other places. ” It took about a day to definitively determine the blast was terrorism, and even then, the city was unsure who its enemies were, Mr. Kelly said. Speculation about their origin included the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East. The office of the governor at the time, Mario M. Cuomo, was on the 57th floor of 2 World Trade Center. After the boom, no one there panicked, mostly because it “never occurred to us that it would be a bomb,” said Deborah Sale, who was chief of staff to Stan Lundine, then the lieutenant governor. Using their limited knowledge from infrequent fire drills and holding on to handrails, employees gingerly crept down the stairs, Ms. Sale said. “There was no power at all, and it was pitch black,” she said, recalling that she had used a scarf to cover her nose and mouth in the smoky stairwell. The new reality of terrorism led to changes in the towers themselves. Afterward, emergency lights were installed, and screenings were added for people entering the building. Norman Steisel, who was first deputy mayor at the time, said the safety improvements saved lives on Sept. 11. “Those buildings were evacuated pretty quickly,” he said, referring to the floors below where the planes had hit. “Just imagine if more and more people were trapped downstairs. ” In 1995, Mr. Abdel Rahman was convicted, along with nine others, on charges of seditious conspiracy in Federal District Court in Manhattan for a plot to bomb landmarks and infrastructure hubs, although the plans were never carried out. While prosecutors asserted he had been involved in the 1993 attack, six other men were convicted after the vehicle identification number from a rental van linked to the perpetrators was found in the rubble. Mr. Kelly said he believed the conspirators’ web of connections to groups like Al Qaeda had not been fully mined, even though data was discovered linking some to a somewhat obscure leader. His name was Osama bin Laden. “It should have been a huge call for the federal government and the city, and it wasn’t,” he said. “And we paid the price on Sept. 11. ” Although Mr. Abdel Rahman’s name has over time become linked in many minds to the 1993 attack, it has not for Lynne F. Stewart, his defense lawyer in his 1995 trial. She believes he is innocent. Ms. Stewart was convicted in 2005 of smuggling messages on behalf of the imprisoned sheikh and sentenced to a decade in prison, which she began serving about seven years ago. She was released in 2014 when a judge reduced her sentence after a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Speaking from her hospital bed in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan a few days after the sheikh’s death, Ms. Stewart expressed the view that Mr. Abdel Rahman’s fiery rhetoric was a matter of free speech, a belief shared by many in the Arab world. “We can name a lot of names in American history where people were convicted of not doing anything, and he is just the latest in a long line of American heroes who were convicted wrongfully,” she said.

For Sale: Condé Nast Treasures - The New York Times

Laura M. Holson

Condé Nast Publications might be sitting on a gold mine: its archive of some eight million photographs and illustrations from Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Vogue, Architectural Digest and other magazines. Now, given the tenuous state of the media industry, the company has plans to exploit it. The archive is housed on the 15th floor of a building not far from Condé Nast’s headquarters at One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Photographs and magazines, some going back more than 100 years, are stored in plastic slips and stacked in folders or tucked away in cabinets. Down the hall from the main room is a locker, where original slides and transparencies are cataloged out of harm’s way. Here you will find the first cover of Vogue, from Dec. 17, 1892, a sketch of a debutante clad in a ball gown and floating on what appears to be a cloud pillow. And here is a photograph of Coco Chanel lounging on a sofa, taken by the Vogue photographer Horst P. Horst, who died in 1999. Binders stand on metal shelves, packed with transparencies from runway shows in New York and Paris, a chronicle of shifting necklines, hems and bejeweled bodices. “This is the history of fashion,” said Ivan Shaw, 48, the former executive photo director of Vogue, who was named Condé Nast’s photography director for the archive in June. If all goes according to plan, much of this material will soon be the stuff of prints, coffee mugs, tote bags, pillows and such. Further, the company will invite the known as influencers to explore the archive — videographers in tow — to discuss their favorite pieces and grab the interest of their audiences. Mr. Shaw is part of a team charged with expanding sales of the archival goods. Since his appointment, as a major part of the initiative, he has been readying an online store, to be called Condé Nast Editions. Until recently, the archive team’s priority was preservation. But given the industrywide losses in print advertising, Condé Nast and other media companies are turning to new sources of revenue. “These images have unprecedented value,” said Cathy Hoffman Glosser, who was hired as the company’s senior vice president for licensing in 2015. “And we want these assets to become more accessible. ” Mr. Shaw calls the trove a time machine. “There is a story about every picture from an artist, what he or she has taken,” he said. He mentioned Edward Steichen, who worked for Vogue and Vanity Fair for 15 years beginning in the 1920s. “When I’m holding a photograph by Edward Steichen, for that moment, I am there. ” One of the photographers whose work has gained new attention since the opening of the archive is Horst, a favorite of Mr. Shaw’s, whose Vogue career flourished under the editor Diana Vreeland in the 1960s. In October, Condé Nast published a Horst volume, “Around That Time: Horst at Home in Vogue,” edited by Hamish Bowles. In addition to producing the book, Mr. Shaw curated exhibitions of Horst’s work at SOCO Gallery in Charlotte, N. C. and Venus Over Los Angeles in California. Others of note whose work sits in the archive and may soon be available to the wider world include Arthur Elgort, Robert Frank, George Herbert Matter, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, John Rawlings and Bert Stern, and the illustrators Miguel Covarrubias and Bob Staake. Condé Nast is not free to make commercial use of all its artists’ works, however Annie Leibovitz, who shoots for Vanity Fair and Vogue, owns the rights to her photographs. In a of the archive’s appeal, Paddle8 recently offered three limited editions of The New Yorker’s May 2, 2016, “Purple Rain” cover illustration, a tribute to Prince by the artist Bob Staake, for $2, 700 apiece. (One has sold thus far.) Buyers with lighter wallets paid $95 for prints of the same cover at The New Yorker online store (189 were sold, Mr. Shaw said) or $325 for a signed, version of the magazine cover (fans bought 121 of those). Mr. Shaw said he had two exhibitions and book projects in development on 1970s fashion photography, drawing on Vogue’s library, and a documentary in the works on Mr. Elgort, 76, the Vogue photographer. Camilla Nickerson, a fashion editor at Vogue who worked with Mr. Shaw, said, “He has had to deal with a lot personalities and egos and he is good at being able to cope with their enormous needs. ” But Mr. Shaw seems most interested in the images themselves. While flipping through a 1957 copy of Architectural Digest, he lingered over a picture by Julius Shulman, whose photographs of Southern California architecture captured midcentury style. “You really feel like what the room would be like,” Mr. Shaw said, gazing at a Shulman photograph of a chic living room. “It’s not just a document. Look at the reproduction quality. I could look at these pictures all day long. ”

Here, On The Other Side

Bill White

Bill White November 10, 2016 Here, On The Other Side I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve just stepped out of H. G. Wells’ famous time machine and I’m standing on the other side of a great gulf in time. After over a year of grueling, divisive political campaigning, Donald Trump has finally won the election to become the 45th president of these United States. If anything, this election has divided this country even more than the last eight years of Obama’s presidency. Democrats and Republicans have always been opposites, but since the makeup of these two parties has split along liberal/conservative lines, their opposition to one another has become even more obvious. No longer is it just that they support opposite sides of the same issue, now they don’t even see it as the same issue. What I mean by this is well illustrated by the recent controversy over transgender bathroom rights . To liberals, the issue is fair treatment for what is clearly a minority group. They apparently can’t even see that giving that fair treatment puts women and girls at risk. But to the conservatives, the issue is all about protecting those girls and women. If the transgenders feel slighted by that, sorry, but safety has to come before their feelings. So now we have a new president elect, who somehow has to unite this divided nation and govern for all. That will be a monumental task, even without Obama having spent the last eight years trying to create division along whatever lines he could. The question is, is Trump up to the challenge? For that matter, is anyone capable of uniting us once again? The White House? Of course, I have to say that winning the election doesn’t guarantee much of anything, right now. While Trump is the president elect, Obama is still in office. With all the election fraud that’s been going on this election, I have to wonder if the Democrats have some plan to keep him out of office, even if they have to break the law to do so. George Soros, the Democrat sugar daddy and puppet master all but said that they do. In a televised interview, he said that Trump would win the popular election, but that Hillary would ultimately occupy the White House. How can that be? What did he mean by that remark? Until inauguration day in January, things are still at risk. The Democrats could try to raise legal issues, saying that the count was inaccurate, as they did in the 2000 presidential elections. This seems to have become standard policy for the Dems, who seem to think that there’s no way that they could lose an election. After all, they’re the “elect.” There’s also the possibility of something happening with the Electoral College vote on December 19th, or for that matter, when they deliver their votes to the Senate President, Joe Biden on December 28th. There could even be problems when Congress meets to do their official count of the votes on January 6th. With all the election fraud that’s come to light in the primaries and general election, the possibility of fraud in the Electoral College can’t be ignored. Then there’s Obama himself. Someone wrote an article about how Obama will stay in office, “impeaching” the citizens of the United States for not voting in Hillary Clinton. While I’m fairly sure that the article in question was a gag piece, it has made its way around social media a couple of times. But there is something that Obama could do, and I’ve written about it before. That is, he could declare martial law, suspending the Constitution. All he would need is a good enough excuse to pass scrutiny. That excuse could come from widespread violence or social unrest; and he’s got the means to make that happen. The police in Los Angeles and other major cities are preparing for mass riots (which liberals call “demonstrations”) in the wake of the election. ISIS has also called for violence, specifically on election day. While I haven’t heard any reports of terrorist incidents happening, that’s not to say that they still can’t. They have already shown their ability to infiltrate the United States and their capability to operate here. The big question is how many people there are here who claim an affiliation with ISIS and how well they can organize themselves to sweep the country with violence. Should either of these groups rise up and fulfill their promises, we could see a bloodbath in the streets. That would be all the excuse that Obama would need, in order to declare martial law and keep Trump out of office. Whether he could get away with that, or whether he would be forcibly removed from the White House in such an event is yet to be seen. At that point, it would be up to the military and the Secret Service to remember their vows and decide to take action. The President Elect But let’s assume for a moment that none of this happens and the transition of governmental power goes through smoothly, as it has so many times before. What then can we expect? The first big question that’s in everyone’s mind is whether Trump will live up to his campaign promises or not. The mainstream media has been calling him a liar for months now, even if that required them lying to do so. They’ve painted him with the same brush used on any politician, that of bending the truth to meet their needs and telling the people what they want to hear, just so that they can garner votes. The real question is whether Trump is just another politician or if he’s who he claims to be; and the kicker is that nobody truly knows. Since the mainstream media has done everything they can to paint him in a negative light, the picture of Trump that we’ve seen is a clouded one, at best. But Trump has been a public figure for more than just his campaign. For years, he’s been one of America’s most-recognized citizens. While that has not always been good, it has given us some insight into who the man is, what he believes and how he operates. Throughout the campaign, there have been people coming forth who have known Trump through the years. Some were employees who praised him as a boss. Others were ordinary citizens who talked about kind deeds that he did for them. But other than the attempts to paint him as a sexual abuser right before the elections, few have come forth to say anything negative about their dealings with the Trump. Considering how much of a public figure he has been, I would think that if he was anything like what the mainstream media has tried to paint him to be, we would have all seen it by now. The one truly worrying thing about Trump is that for most of his life he’s been a Democrat. He’s supported the Democrat Party and Democrat candidates; he’s even reportedly friends with the Clintons. So it’s a bit hard to accept that he is now a staunch conservative, committed to conservative ideals. Yet, he’s making all the right noises and all the right moves to show himself as a conservative. The list of Supreme Court Justice candidates that he’s put together is impressively conservative. He also came forth with the most conservative platform that the Republican Party has seen in 20 years. Then there’s his “contract” with the American People. The actions he’s promised to undertake in his first 100 days in office are clearly conservative, hitting on all the high points of his campaign and many of the silent majority’s biggest concerns. The Transition Over the next several weeks, we will be able to see Trump in action as a leader. His first big job is to select his cabinet, something that is traditionally announced by Thanksgiving. This should be interesting. One of the ways that Trump has been successful in business is in his selection of managers. He has always sought out the most qualified and competent, giving them the authority and responsibility to do whatever was necessary. This even came through in his hit television show, “The Apprentice.” At its core, that show was about picking the best possible person to run a business. The various tests and challenges the candidates faced were all about testing their ability to effectively run a business. Who cares about theory; Trump wanted people who could think outside the box and get things done. So we can expect the same out of his cabinet selections. No, I’m not saying that he’s going to run it like a game show. What I’m saying is that he’s going to look for competence. For people who can think outside the box, and for people who can get things done. The country is in need of such people. We are a country in crisis, and it’s going to take some new ideas and some out of box thinking to straighten it out. We can’t expect Trump to do it all himself, he’s going to have to select the right people and let them do their jobs. So the people he selects in the next few weeks are critical to the effectiveness of his presidency. From the few positions that have been announced so far, it looks like Trump is going to be putting together a dream team. Trey Goudy has been mentioned for Attorney General, Ben Carson as the Surgeon General and Newt Gingrich as a possibility for the Secretary of State. While none of these is definite yet, they show the caliber of people who Trump is looking at. He wants the best, not just some political figure who’s looking to get their ticket punched. While I’m sure that some top spots will go to political figures, especially those who have hopped aboard Trump’s bandwagon, he’s looking more to the business sector, than he is to the normal pool of politicians only. This fits with the whole tone of his campaign, which has been about the American people taking our government back from the political class. The Election If anything, this election has shown how sick and tired the average American is with what has become the political ruling class. The Founding Fathers never envisioned such a group for our country and did everything in their power to prevent it. Yet, even with the constraints of the Constitution to guide us, we have drifted that way more and more for over a century. The American people are a fiercely independent people, and this election has shown that we haven’t lost that independence. This isn’t a partisan move, but one that has been clearly shown in both major political parties. Millions of Democrats abandoned the party’s chosen candidate and followed Bernie Sanders, who came close to winning, even with all the voter fraud that was used to defeat him. On the Republican side, the electorate has abandoned a wide-ranging field of establishment candidates, in favor of Trump, a political outsider. But the truly amazing thing was that both Democrats and Republicans voted for Trump, many abandoning their lifelong party affiliation to do so. This is a clear mandate to Washington that We the People are tired of business as normal. We are tired of a political ruling class. We are tired of our elected leaders treating us like nothing more than peasants. We are tired of being lied to, and we are tired of being mistreated by those who are supposed to serve us. This election has been a breakwater; leaving behind the old system and its corruption, in favor of a new order. One that returns back to the values this country was founded upon and back to running the country according to the Constitution. Not an adulterated version of the Constitution; not a modified version; not even a version that’s been twisted and tortured by the various laws passed through the years; but the Constitution itself. It’s up to Trump to ensure that he follows through on his promises and doesn’t let things go back to the old way. But it’s up to you and I as well. We have our part in this presidency; that of keeping an eye on our President Elect and making sure that he does what he said he’d do. If not, we need to get rid of him. Hopefully, Washington will get the message, and the political class will stop acting like our masters and start acting like public servants once again. If that doesn’t happen, then the breakwater has been nothing more than a symbol; and a worthless symbol at that. If change is going to happen in Washington, it can’t just happen in the White House, it has to happen in both houses of Congress as well. But it needs to go farther than that; it needs to permeate every department of the federal government as well. We the People have spoken. We’ve used our voice in the voting booth, selecting an outsider to take control of our government and give it back to the people. But we can’t stop now. That message needs to keep going forth, to make sure that the politicians and bureaucrats hear it, and that they fear us and the power we wield over them. Until they do, it is we who fear them. Bill White for Survivopedia. Refrences:

Are The Polls Rigged Against Trump? All Of These Wildly Divergent Surveys Cannot Possibly Be Correct

Michael Snyder

Reuters/Ipsos: Clinton +4 Monmouth: Clinton +12 There is a 14 point swing between the polls that show Trump up by 2 points and the polls that show Clinton up by 12 points. This should not be happening. There is no way in the world that there should be a 14 point difference between scientific polls at this stage in the game. On November 8th the polling organizations that were way off are going to be exposed, and it will be exceedingly difficult for them to regain their credibility afterwards. At this point, some of the largest news organizations in the country are openly projecting a Clinton landslide. For example, Reuters says that Clinton now has a 95 percent chance of winning … Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is on a definite path to the White House, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation poll. The survey, released Saturday, found that Clinton is on track to win more than 300 votes in the Electoral College, which would solidly secure her the presidency. If the election were held this week, Clinton would win 326 Electoral College votes while Trump would win only 212, the poll said. According to Reuters, Clinton currently has a 95 percent chance of winning the White House . If Reuters isn’t right about this they are going to end up looking awfully foolish. An analysis by the Associated Press also has Clinton as the overwhelming favorite. And it is true that the poll results coming out of individual states seem to show Clinton with a seemingly insurmountable lead on the electoral map . But once again, can we trust those polls? Trump has regularly dismissed the national polls, but on Sunday his campaign manager did admit on national television that they are losing. The following comes from the New York Post … Donald Trump’s campaign manager on Sunday acknowledged something her boss hates to do — losing. “We are behind,” Kellyanne Conway admitted on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The GOP nominee routinely brushes off negative polling as untrustworthy but Conway said Democrat Hillary Clinton does have an edge. However, it is important to remember that the big national polls have been very wrong in the past. Back in 1980, a Gallup survey that was released on October 26th showed Ronald Reagan trailing Jimmy Carter by 8 points, but of course Reagan went on to win the election by a landslide … “For weeks before the presidential election, the gurus of public opinion polling were nearly unanimous in their findings,” wrote John F. Stacks for TIME in April 1980. “In survey after survey, they agreed that the coming choice between President Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan was ‘too close to call.’ A few points at most, they said, separated the two major contenders. “But when the votes were counted, the former California Governor had defeated Carter by a margin of 51% to 41% in the popular vote — a rout for a U.S. presidential race. In the electoral college, the Reagan victory was a 10-to-1 avalanche that left the President holding only six states and the District of Columbia.” Could a similar thing happen on November 8th? Without a doubt, Trump supporters are far more enthusiastic than Clinton supporters are, and that matters. The key on election day is to get your voters to turn out in large numbers, and the fact that Donald Trump is drawing record crowds to his rallies is a very good sign. But even if Donald Trump legitimately wins the election, it could still be stolen from him via election fraud. In recent days Democrats have been playing down the idea that this could possibly happen, but the truth is that even Barack Obama has admitted that election fraud is a major problem in the past. For instance, just consider what he said about this back in 2008 … “Well, I tell you what it helps in Ohio, that we got Democrats in charge of the machines,” Obama said regarding the threat of election-rigging. He continued, “Whenever people are in power, they have this tendency to try to tilt things in their direction. That’s why we’ve got to have, I believe, a voting rights division in the Justice Department that is nonpartisan, and that is serious about investigating cases of voter fraud.” “That’s why we need paper trails on these new electronic machines so that you actually have something that you can hang on to after you’ve punched that letter—make sure it hasn’t been hacked into,” he added, admitting that even Democrats have “monkeyed around” with election results: “I want to be honest, it’s not as if it’s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes, Democrats have, too.” I know that these comments almost sound too good to be true, but you can actually watch video of Obama making these comments right here . And it is odd that he specifically mentioned Democrats having control of the voting machines in Ohio, because I documented extreme voting irregularities in Ohio in the last election during a recent visit to Morningside . And an increasing number of Americans are starting to become concerned about election fraud. In fact, a brand new Reuters survey found that 70 percent of Republicans believe that if Hillary Clinton wins the election it will be “ because of illegal voting or vote rigging”. So even if Hillary Clinton gets into the White House, she may find that she has an exceedingly difficult time trying to govern the nation. A lot of people have made a lot of predictions about the outcome of this election, and we don’t have very long until we find out who was right and who was wrong. At this point, voting has already begun in many states, and the early results in Nevada don’t look encouraging for the Trump campaign … According to the estimable Nevada journalist Jon Ralston , Democrats have a 20-percentage-point turnout edge so far based on early and absentee voting in Clark County (home to Las Vegas), Nevada. And they have a 10-point edge in Washoe County (home to Reno). But in the key swing state of Florida, so far 498,153 Republicans have voted compared to just 478,175 Democrats . So that would seem to be some very good news for the Trump campaign, because Trump cannot win without carrying the state of Florida . To me it seems as though Americans are more emotionally invested in this campaign than they have been in any presidential campaign in decades. The stakes are incredibly high, and in just over two weeks we will find out what happens. Let us just hope and pray that America makes the right choice. Submit your review

Iraqi Forces Take Eastern Mosul From Islamic State - The New York Times

Rick Gladstone

Iraq’s government forces said on Wednesday that they had gained control of the eastern half of Mosul, three months after they began an assault to retake the northern city from Islamic State militants. The Iraqi advance — the biggest military operation in the years since the United States ended its occupation of the country in 2011 — was aided by American air support and military advisers. But after weeks of heavy fighting and high casualties in areas of Mosul east of the Tigris River, the older and more densely populated western neighborhoods of the city remain in Islamic State hands. Mosul, which was Iraq’s city when the Islamic State seized it in 2014, has become a focal point in the broader battle to crush the Islamic State, the Sunni extremist group that claimed to have established a new Islamic caliphate in areas of Iraq and Syria. Tens of thousands of Mosul residents have fled since the Iraqi military began the recapturing operation in October, beginning with sparsely populated outer districts. Roughly a million civilians are believed to still be in the city. Members of Iraq’s counterterrorism service were the lead fighters in seizing eastern Mosul, and they faced ferocious resistance from Islamic State defenders who had planted booby traps and sent suicide bombers to stop them. American warplanes sought to block the Islamic State from reinforcing fighters in the east by bombing the Tigris bridges linking it to the western side. Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati of the Iraqi Army said on Wednesday that his forces had effectively taken control of the eastern side, declaring that “important lines and important areas are finished. ” He spoke at a news conference in Bartella, a town east of Mosul. Prime Minister Haider of Iraq, in a statement posted on his Twitter account, extolled what he described as “the efforts of our brave forces” to retake Mosul. It remains unclear how long it may take to clear the western half, which is characterized by narrow streets that could make the fight against entrenched Islamic State fighters even more treacherous. The triumphal moment on Wednesday was tempered by growing exasperation in the western city of Falluja, where Iraqi forces and allied militias routed Islamic State fighters more than six months ago. Many neighborhoods were destroyed in that battle, and residents have increasingly complained that much of the city remains uninhabitable. In a dispatch from the Falluja, Agence quoted civilians as saying the lack of reconstruction, services and jobs threatened to rekindle the resentment toward the government in Baghdad that had helped incubate support for the Islamic State among some members of the Sunni Arab minority. Iraqi officials have said they lack money for reconstruction, hobbled by the country’s overreliance on its oil industry, which has been repeatedly disrupted by war and depressed by low prices.

Electricity sector in Iran needs $25b investment by 2021: official

The Energy Minister of Iran Hamid Chitchian. Amir Mehdi Kazemi Press TV, Tehran Iran’s energy ministry says some 25 billion dollars of investment would be required by 2021 to materialize the planned 5.5 percent annual growth in the country’s electricity sector. Hamid Chitchian says improving environmental standards and increasing renewable energy power stations are high on the agenda of Iran’s energy policy. Loading ...

Trump supporters brutally attack gay man in California

dylan20

In case you missed the news, The United States is now Trump’s America. The day after the election was mostly filled... James Woods November 11, 2016 In the wake of Trump’s general election victory, Bernie Sanders criticized the Democratic party for failing to connect with working people in... Nathan Wellman November 10, 2016 A Minnesota-based Asian American woman was put in handcuffs on Wednesday after attempting to fight off a Trump supporter who grabbed... Nathan Wellman November 10, 2016 The next four years will be harder than ever. But the time for lamenting is over — it’s time to organize... Waleed Shahid November 10, 2016 As many surprised voters react to Donald Trump’s unexpected successful election to the presidency, many are now left wondering: “What’s next?”... Nathan Wellman November 9, 2016 Hundreds of California students from both Bishop O’Dowd High School and Berkeley High School participated in a walkout from their schools today... Nathan Wellman November 9, 2016 Vandalism featuring a swastika with hate speech appearing to support Republican president-elect Donald Trump was discovered in Philadelphia today on the... Nathan Wellman November 9, 2016 Journalist Naomi Klein swatted down New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman on twitter, when he tried to lay the... Kenneth Lipp November 9, 2016 A polling location in Azusa, California was just attacked by an active shooter, killing one and wounding at least three others,... Nathan Wellman November 8, 2016

Geller: MILO to Speak at AFDI #CancelSarsour Protest at CUNY - Breitbart

Pamela Geller

Join us May 25 at CUNY offices on 42nd street to protest the invitation to BDS leader Linda Sarsour to keynote CUNY’s Commencement ceremony. Sarsour was invited by Ayman the dean of CUNY’s Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. CUNY is standing by its decision to honor the Muslim activist. Such sanction is so malignant and so evil, it cannot be ignored. There is a responsibility for the time we are living in. [We had to reschedule the protest from June 1 (the day of Sarsour’s keynote speech at CUNY) because it is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and so many proud Jews wanted to attend. It was wrong for CUNY to schedule the commencement ceremonies on Shavuot — the day that the Torah was given by G‑d to the Jewish people. Over 25% of the student body is Jewish. The fact that the commencement address is on Shavuot is another reason CUNY should cancel Sarsour and the commencement. What are Jewish students supposed to do? They either violate their holiday or miss their graduation. JUST ANNOUNCED: MILO WILL BE SPEAKING. Speakers at our event include: Universities have disinvited Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish, Ann Coulter, Milo, and legions of conservative thinkers and voices in defense of freedom, but a and activist they will defend to the death. We will be there. We will protest — this will not stand. Be there — MAY 25TH, CUNY Center, 217 E 42nd St, New York, NY United States, from 12 — 2:00pm. RSVP on Facebook. An outspoken critic of Israel, Sarsour avidly supports the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement, a initiative that uses various forms of public protest, economic pressure, and lawsuits to advance the Hamas agenda of permanently destroying Israel as a Jewish . the ongoing conflict, Sarsour favors a solution where an Arab majority and a Jewish minority would live together within the borders of a single country. In October 2012 she tweeted that “nothing is creepier than Zionism. ” In 2004, Sarsour acknowledged that a friend of hers, as well as a cousin, were both serving long sentences in Israeli jails because of their efforts to recruit jihadists to murder Jews. Moreover, she revealed that her was serving a prison term because of his affiliation with Hamas. In October 2011, Linda Sarsour, who holds economics in low regard, expressed, on behalf of “Muslim New Yorkers,” “solidarity and support” for the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2011 as well, the Obama Administration honored Sarsour as a “champion of change. ” Not surprisingly, Sarsour visited the White House on at least seven different occasions during Obama’s tenure. In May 2012 Sarsour tweeted that the “underwear bomber,” an operative who in 2009 had tried to blow up a passenger jet in was actually a CIA agent participating in America’s “war on Islam. ” In November 2012 in Baltimore, Sarsour — ever eager to peddle her woeful tale of Islamic victimhood — spoke at a Muslim Public Affairs Council conference titled “Facing Race: Xenophobic Hate Crimes. ” This is the same Council that views the murderous of Hezbollah as members of “a liberation movement” that is “fighting for freedom. ” Sarsour was outraged when a police officer and an FBI agent shot and killed a young black Muslim named Usaama Rahim in Boston on June 2, 2015, when Rahim lunged at them with a knife as they attempted to question him about suspected activities. Naturally, Sarsour’s assessment of the incident confidently traced everything back to race: “At the end of the day, a Black man was shot on a bus stop on his way to work and we should treat this like any other case of police violence. ” In August 2015 Sarsour spoke out in support of the incarcerated Palestinian Islamic Jihad member Muhammad Allan, a known recruiter of suicide bombers. According to CounterJihad. com, Sarsour has attended and spoken at numerous rallies sponsored by a group that views Israel as a terrorist, genocidal state whose very creation was a “catastrophe” for Arab peoples. Sarsour has also solicited donations for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which had worked with the Holy Land Foundation. There’s more. She also initially portrayed the killing of Shaima Alawadi by her husband as a killing instead. The left’s chokehold on the nation’s most powerful institutions continues, despite a Trump presidency and a Republican Congress, but this is a step too far. Sarsour being given the honor of commencement speaker is so malignant and so evil, it cannot be ignored. There is a responsibility for the time we are living in. Pamela Geller is the President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) publisher of PamelaGeller. com and author of The Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Follow her on Twitter here. Like her on Facebook here.

Make Pakistan Free Afghan/Pashtun National Hero, Shabat Gula

Kadir A. Mohmand

By Kadir A. Mohmand on October 30, 2016 “SEARCH FOR THE AFGHAN GIRL”© Steve McCurry I am writing on behalf of the Afghan villagers like Sharbat Gula because the U. S. installed Afghan administration only works on behalf of the occupiers and war profiteers. The Afghan administration does not care about Sharbat Gula. Shame on you Pakistan for imprisoning the national Afghan war hero, Sharbat Gula , who is again suffering because of the foreign occupier’s and its Afghan puppets’ bombardment of her village in Afghanistan. Sharbat Gula is now suffering at the greedy hands of Pakistan, who financially benefits from the U.S. war against the Afghans/Pashtun. In the 1980s, her young face on the cover of National Geographic embodied the strength, dignity and honor of the Afghan Pashtun women, who suffered for a decade at the hands of the Soviet invaders and Afghan communist puppets. During both wars, Pakistan has profited from the Afghans’ suffering. After 9/11, the National Geographic editor/photographer located Sharbat Gula. He told her a lot of money had been made from the edition with her cover and what did she want. She did not want money. Sharbat Gula only wanted an education for her children and no bombardment of her village. She wanted education and peace without foreign invasion. Her village has been bombarded by the U.S. and its puppets, her village’s water poisoned and her family has had to flee to Pakistan. Instead of honoring her, Pakistan imprisons her for not having the right papers. Also Pakistan punishes the Afghan Pashtun refugees because the Afghan Freedom fighters do not want Pakistan involved in peace negotiations. . The Afghan Freedom Fighters d o not want a repeat of the mistakes that occurred in the 1980s when Pakistan was involved in the peace talks between the Soviet Union and the Afghan Resistance. Sharbat Gula is again the face of the Afghan Pashtun women,. Despite the indignities of war, she keeps her honor and dignity. Pakistan needs to release her immediately. Perpetrators of war crimes committed against the Afghan Pashtun women need to be prosecuted and stopped. She is a victim. Sharbat Gula has human rights. The illegal war in Afghanistan must end now. Sharbat Gula has the right to live with dignity and security in her village in Afghanistan. She does not want to be forced to live in Pakistan. Enough of these greedy profiteers and this ugly war scape goating honorable Afghan Pashtun women like Sharbat Gula, who are the true national heroes. Sharbat Gula is an Afghan National Hero and not a criminal. The war criminals and war profiteers need to be imprisoned and not her. Free her now. Sincerely,

Newsweek Publishes Robert Reich Conspiracy Theory, Claims Berkeley Rioters Were Paid by Breitbart - Breitbart

Charlie Nash

Newsweek have published a conspiracy theory written by UC Berkeley’s Professor of Public Policy and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, questioning whether the rioters at Berkeley last week were paid by Breitbart News. [“Thursday night, Yiannopoulos had a friendly interview on Fox News’s ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ — a show that, according to the Washington Post, has ridden anger at activism into prime time ratings,” wrote Reich on Saturday. “Yiannopoulos wasn’t asked about the content of the speech that was shut down. The conversation focused instead on how Berkeley proved the point that the Left was ceding its right to federal grants by cracking down on free speech. Which raises the possibility that Yiannopoulos and Brietbart were in cahoots with the agitators, in order to lay the groundwork for a Trump crackdown on universities and their federal funding. ” After repeatedly misspelling “Breitbart,” Reich then asked his readers to “connect these dots,” in typical conspiracy theory form, before adding “I don’t want to add to the conspiratorial musings of so many about this very conspiratorial administration, but it strikes me there may be something worrying going on here. ” Reich, who works directly for the college administration at Berkeley, has repeatedly floated this conspiracy theory since the riot last week. He first suggested it in a CNN segment with host Don Lemon. In addition to not shutting down Reich when he made his baseless allegation, CNN’s Lemon egged him on from the start, opening his segment by saying that the violence at Berkeley “played right into the hands of the white supremacist … someone like Milo Yiannopoulos. ” Then, instead of challenging Reich’s allegations, Lemon asked him to expand on them. “You think this was a strategy by Yiannopoulos or ? They put this on in an effort to show that there’s no free speech on a college campus like UC Berkeley?” Reich went on to say that he “wouldn’t bet against it. ” “Despite admitting explicitly that the claim was not based on facts, Reich charged ahead in claiming that Breitbart News had an affiliation with the violent rioters that lit fires around campus and beat and pepper sprayed the MILO supporters who were waiting to get into the venue,” reported Breitbart News’ Tom Ciccotta last week, after Reich initially pitched the conspiracy. Rush Limbaugh also mocked Reich’s claims on his own show. The riot started at UC Berkeley on Wednesday after protesters against Breitbart Senior Editor MILO became increasingly violent outside of his show. “ ” started several fires, smashed windows and ATMs, looted downtown stores, attacked cars, and assaulted dozens of MILO fans, male and female, who they falsely accused of being “Nazis. ” Despite the large amount of violence, numerous reports indicate that police officers refused to intervene, and only one suspect was arrested. On Sunday, Breitbart News reported that one of the groups behind the riot, Refuse Fascism, had received $50, 000 from a group backed by socialist billionaire George Soros. DANGEROUS is available to now via Amazon, in hardcover and Kindle editions. And yes, MILO is reading the audiobook version himself! Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.

After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight - The New York Times

Gina Kolata

Danny Cahill stood, slightly dazed, in a blizzard of confetti as the audience screamed and his family ran on stage. He had won Season 8 of NBC’s reality television show “The Biggest Loser,” shedding more weight than anyone ever had on the program — an astonishing 239 pounds in seven months. When he got on the scale for all to see that evening, Dec. 8, 2009, he weighed just 191 pounds, down from 430. Dressed in a and shorts, he was lean, athletic and as handsome as a model. “I’ve got my life back,” he declared. “I mean, I feel like a million bucks. ” Mr. Cahill left the show’s stage in Hollywood and flew directly to New York to start a triumphal tour of the talk shows, chatting with Jay Leno, Regis Philbin and Joy Behar. As he heard from fans all over the world, his elation knew no bounds. But in the years since, more than 100 pounds have crept back onto his frame despite his best efforts. In fact, most of that season’s 16 contestants have regained much if not all the weight they lost so arduously. Some are even heavier now. Yet their experiences, while a bitter personal disappointment, have been a gift to science. A study of Season 8’s contestants has yielded surprising new discoveries about the physiology of obesity that help explain why so many people struggle unsuccessfully to keep off the weight they lose. Kevin Hall, a scientist at a federal research center who admits to a weakness for reality TV, had the idea to follow the “Biggest Loser” contestants for six years after that victorious night. The project was the first to measure what happened to people over as long as six years after they had lost large amounts of weight with intensive dieting and exercise. The results, the researchers said, were stunning. They showed just how hard the body fights back against weight loss. “It is frightening and amazing,” said Dr. Hall, an expert on metabolism at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. “I am just blown away. ” It has to do with resting metabolism, which determines how many calories a person burns when at rest. When the show began, the contestants, though hugely overweight, had normal metabolisms for their size, meaning they were burning a normal number of calories for people of their weight. When it ended, their metabolisms had slowed radically and their bodies were not burning enough calories to maintain their thinner sizes. Researchers knew that just about anyone who deliberately loses weight — even if they start at a normal weight or even underweight — will have a slower metabolism when the diet ends. So they were not surprised to see that “The Biggest Loser” contestants had slow metabolisms when the show ended. What shocked the researchers was what happened next: As the years went by and the numbers on the scale climbed, the contestants’ metabolisms did not recover. They became even slower, and the pounds kept piling on. It was as if their bodies were intensifying their effort to pull the contestants back to their original weight. Mr. Cahill was one of the worst off. As he regained more than 100 pounds, his metabolism slowed so much that, just to maintain his current weight of 295 pounds, he now has to eat 800 calories a day less than a typical man his size. Anything more turns to fat. The struggles the contestants went through help explain why it has been so hard to make headway against the nation’s obesity problem, which afflicts more than a third of American adults. Despite spending billions of dollars on drugs and dieting programs, even the most motivated are working against their own biology. Their experience shows that the body will fight back for years. And that, said Dr. Michael Schwartz, an obesity and diabetes researcher who is a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, is “new and important. ” “The key point is that you can be on TV, you can lose enormous amounts of weight, you can go on for six years, but you can’t get away from a basic biological reality,” said Dr. Schwartz, who was not involved in the study. “As long as you are below your initial weight, your body is going to try to get you back. ” The show’s doctor, Robert Huizenga, says he expected the contestants’ metabolic rates to fall just after the show, but was hoping for a smaller drop. He questioned, though, whether the measurements six years later were accurate. But maintaining weight loss is difficult, he said, which is why he tells contestants that they should exercise at least nine hours a week and monitor their diets to keep the weight off. “Unfortunately, many contestants are unable to find or afford adequate ongoing support with exercise doctors, psychologists, sleep specialists, and trainers — and that’s something we all need to work hard to change,” he said in an email. The study’s findings, to be published on Monday in the journal Obesity, are part of a scientific push to answer some of the most fundamental questions about obesity. Researchers are figuring out why being fat makes so many people develop diabetes and other medical conditions, and they are searching for new ways to block the poison in fat. They are starting to unravel the reasons bariatric surgery allows most people to lose significant amounts of weight when dieting so often fails. And they are looking afresh at medical care for obese people. The hope is that this work will eventually lead to new therapies that treat obesity as a chronic disease and can help keep weight under control for life. Most people who have tried to lose weight know how hard it is to keep the weight off, but many blame themselves when the pounds come back. But what obesity research has consistently shown is that dieters are at the mercy of their own bodies, which muster hormones and an altered metabolic rate to pull them back to their old weights, whether that is hundreds of pounds more or that extra 10 or 15 that many people are trying to keep off. There is always a weight a person’s body maintains without any effort. And while it is not known why that weight can change over the years — it may be an effect of aging — at any point, there is a weight that is easy to maintain, and that is the weight the body fights to defend. Finding a way to thwart these mechanisms is the goal scientists are striving for. First, though, they are trying to understand them in greater detail. Dr. David Ludwig, the director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, who was not involved in the research, said the findings showed the need for new approaches to weight control. He cautioned that the study was limited by its small size and the lack of a control group of obese people who did not lose weight. But, he added, the findings made sense. “This is a subset of the most successful” dieters, he said. “If they don’t show a return to normal in metabolism, what hope is there for the rest of us?” Still, he added, “that shouldn’t be interpreted to mean we are doomed to battle our biology or remain fat. It means we need to explore other approaches. ” Some scientists say weight maintenance has to be treated as an issue separate from weight loss. Only when that challenge is solved, they say, can progress truly be made against obesity. “There is a lot of basic research we still need to do,” said Dr. Margaret Jackson, who is directing a project at Pfizer. Her group is testing a drug that, in animals at least, acts like leptin, a hormone that controls hunger. With weight loss, leptin levels fall and people become hungry. The idea is to trick the brains of people who have lost weight so they do not become ravenous for lack of leptin. While many of the contestants kept enough weight off to improve their health and became more physically active, the low weights they strived to keep eluded all but one of them: Erinn Egbert, a caregiver for her mother in Versailles, Ky. And she struggles mightily to keep the pounds off because her metabolism burns 552 fewer calories a day than would be expected for someone her size. “What people don’t understand is that a treat is like a drug,” said Ms. Egbert, who went from 263 pounds to just under 176 on the show, and now weighs between 152 and 157. “Two treats can turn into a binge over a period. That is what I struggle with. ” Six years after Season 8 ended, 14 of the 16 contestants went to the N. I. H. last fall for three days of testing. The researchers were concerned that the contestants might try to frantically lose weight before coming in, so they shipped equipment to them that would measure their physical activity and weight before their visit, and had the information sent remotely to the N. I. H. The contestants received their metabolic results last week. They were shocked, but on further reflection, decided the numbers explained a lot. “All my friends were drinking beer and not gaining massive amounts of weight,” Mr. Cahill said. “The moment I started drinking beer, there goes another 20 pounds. I said, ‘This is not right. Something is wrong with my body. ’” Sean Algaier, 36, a pastor from Charlotte, N. C. feels cheated. He went from 444 pounds to 289 as a contestant on the show. Now his weight is up to 450 again, and he is burning 458 fewer calories a day than would be expected for a man his size. “It’s kind of like hearing you have a life sentence,” he said. Slower metabolisms were not the only reason the contestants regained weight, though. They constantly battled hunger, cravings and binges. The investigators found at least one reason: plummeting levels of leptin. The contestants started out with normal levels of leptin. By the season’s finale, they had almost no leptin at all, which would have made them ravenous all the time. As their weight returned, their leptin levels drifted up again, but only to about half of what they had been when the season began, the researchers found, thus helping to explain their urges to eat. Leptin is just one of a cluster of hormones that control hunger, and although Dr. Hall and his colleagues did not measure the rest of them, another group of researchers, in a different project, did. In a study funded by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council, Dr. Joseph Proietto of the University of Melbourne and his colleagues recruited 50 overweight people who agreed to consume just 550 calories a day for eight or nine weeks. They lost an average of nearly 30 pounds, but over the next year, the pounds started coming back. Dr. Proietto and his colleagues looked at leptin and four other hormones that satiate people. Levels of most of them fell in their study subjects. They also looked at a hormone that makes people want to eat. Its level rose. “What was surprising was what a coordinated effect it is,” Dr. Proietto said. “The body puts multiple mechanisms in place to get you back to your weight. The only way to maintain weight loss is to be hungry all the time. We desperately need agents that will suppress hunger and that are safe with use. ” Mr. Cahill, 46, said his weight problem began when he was in the third grade. He got fat, then fatter. He would starve himself, and then eat a whole can of cake frosting with a spoon. Afterward, he would cower in the pantry off the kitchen, feeling overwhelmed with shame. Over the years, his insatiable urge to eat kept overcoming him, and his weight climbed: 370 pounds, 400, 460, 485. “I used to look at myself and think, ‘I am horrible, I am a monster, subhuman,’” he said. He began sleeping in a recliner because he was too heavy to sleep lying down. Walking hurt stairs were agony. Buying clothes with a 68 waist was humiliating. “I remember sitting in a dressing room one day, and nothing would fit. I looked at the traffic outside on the street and thought, ‘I should just run out in front of a car. ’” He eventually seized on “The Biggest Loser” as his best chance to lose enough weight to live a normal life. He tried three times and was finally selected. Before the show began, the contestants underwent medical tests to be sure they could endure the rigorous schedule that lay ahead. And rigorous it was. Sequestered on the “Biggest Loser” ranch with the other contestants, Mr. Cahill exercised seven hours a day, burning 8, 000 to 9, 000 calories according to a calorie tracker the show gave him. He took electrolyte tablets to help replace the salts he lost through sweating, consuming many fewer calories than before. Eventually, he and the others were sent home for four months to try to keep losing weight on their own. Mr. Cahill set a goal of a deficit per day. The idea was to lose a pound a day. He quit his job as a land surveyor to do it. His routine went like this: Wake up at 5 a. m. and run on a treadmill for 45 minutes. Have breakfast — typically one egg and two egg whites, half a grapefruit and a piece of sprouted grain toast. Run on the treadmill for another 45 minutes. Rest for 40 minutes bike ride nine miles to a gym. Work out for two and a half hours. Shower, ride home, eat lunch — typically a grilled skinless chicken breast, a cup of broccoli and 10 spears of asparagus. Rest for an hour. Drive to the gym for another round of exercise. If he had not burned enough calories to hit his goal, he went back to the gym after dinner to work out some more. At times, he found himself running around his neighborhood in the dark until his indicator reset to zero at midnight. On the day of the on the show’s finale, Mr. Cahill and the others dressed carefully to hide the rolls of loose skin that remained, to their surprise and horror, after they had lost weight. They wore compression undergarments to hold it in. Mr. Cahill knew he could not maintain his finale weight of 191 pounds. He was so mentally and physically exhausted he barely moved for two weeks after his publicity tour ended. But he had started a new career giving motivational speeches as the biggest loser ever, and for the next four years, he managed to keep his weight below 255 pounds by exercising two to three hours a day. But two years ago, he went back to his job as a surveyor, and the pounds started coming back. Soon the scale hit 265. Mr. Cahill started weighing and measuring his food again and stepped up his exercise. He got back down to 235 to 240 pounds. But his weight edged up again, to 275, then 295. His slow metabolism is part of the problem, and so are his food cravings. He opens a bag of chips, thinking he will have just a few. “I’d eat five bites. Then I’d black out and eat the whole bag of chips and say, ‘What did I do? ’” Dr. Lee Kaplan, an obesity researcher at Harvard, says the brain sets the number of calories we consume, and it can be easy for people to miss that how much they eat matters less than the fact that their bodies want to hold on to more of those calories. Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, an obesity researcher at Columbia University who has collaborated with Dr. Hall in previous studies, said the body’s systems for regulating how many calories are consumed and how many are burned are tightly coupled when people are not strenuously trying to lose weight or to maintain a significant weight loss. Still, pounds can insidiously creep on. “We eat about 900, 000 to a million calories a year, and burn them all except those annoying 3, 000 to 5, 000 calories that result in an average annual weight gain of about one to two pounds,” he said. “These very small differences between intake and output average out to only about 10 to 20 calories per day — less than one Starburst candy — but the cumulative consequences over time can be devastating. ” “It is not clear whether this small imbalance and the resultant weight gain that most of us experience as we age are the consequences of changes in lifestyle, the environment or just the biology of aging,” Dr. Rosenbaum added. The effects of small imbalances between calories eaten and calories burned are more pronounced when people deliberately lose weight, Dr. Hall said. Yes, there are signals to regain weight, but he wondered how many extra calories people were driven to eat. He found a way to figure that out. He analyzed data from a clinical trial in which people took a diabetes drug, canagliflozin, that makes them spill 360 calories a day into their urine, or took a placebo. The drug has no known effect on the brain, and the person does not realize those calories are being spilled. Those taking the drug gradually lost weight. But for every five pounds they lost, they were, without realizing it, eating an additional 200 calories a day. Those extra calories, Dr. Hall said, were a bigger driver of weight regained than the slowing of the metabolism. And, he added, if people fought the urge to eat those calories, they would be hungry. “Unless they continue to fight it constantly, they will regain the weight,” he said. All this does not mean that modest weight loss is hopeless, experts say. Individuals respond differently to diet manipulations — or diets, for example — and to exercise and drugs, among other interventions. But Dr. Ludwig said that simply cutting calories was not the answer. “There are no doubt exceptional individuals who can ignore primal biological signals and maintain weight loss for the long term by restricting calories,” he said, but he added that “for most people, the combination of incessant hunger and slowing metabolism is a recipe for weight regain — explaining why so few individuals can maintain weight loss for more than a few months. ” Dr. Rosenbaum agreed. “The difficulty in keeping weight off reflects biology, not a pathological lack of willpower affecting of the U. S. A. ,” he said. Mr. Cahill knows that now. And with his report from Dr. Hall’s group showing just how much his metabolism had slowed, he stopped blaming himself for his weight gain. “That shame that was on my shoulders went off,” he said.

American Nightmare: Tyranny Under the FBI, an American Reality (Part III)

Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on November 3, 2016 Hoover and Tolson When Supreme Court Justice John Scalia died, under mysterious circumstances, FBI officials were there. It was the FBI that blocked the autopsy of a Supreme Court Justice, required by law to be supervised by the Surgeon General of the United States. The organization Scalia belonged to and was with when he died, or was murdered as some assert, includes top leaders of all American business sectors along with government officials, both elected and “career,” who regularly meet and plan the overthrow of the American government. The Trump team includes the public persona of Rudy Guiliani, tasked with organizing the FBI revolt, wielding bushels of cash from the Saudis and the Adelson gambling/trafficking empire. Guiliani and his friends control most post-retirement employment for FBI agents, all of which filters through firms connected to or represented by his law firm. The FBI is, in fact, controlled by Rudy Guiliani, according to some sources. We saw the tip of that this week when Rudy Guiliani, according to the Daily Beast , reached inside the FBI and moved them clearly into the Trump campaign. Illegal though these acts are, as you may read below, they openly bragged about it. You see, with Congress and the FBI under control, investigations are a tool of punishment and intimidation only: “Two days before FBI director James Comey rocked the world last week, Rudy Giuliani was on Fox, where he volunteered, un-prodded by any question: “I think he’s [Donald Trump] got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises.” Pressed for specifics, he said: “We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.” The man who now leads “lock-her-up” chants at Trump rallies spent decades of his life as a federal prosecutor and then mayor working closely with the FBI, and especially its New York office. One of Giuliani’s security firms employed a former head of the New York FBI office, and other alumni of it. It was agents of that office, probing Anthony Weiner’s alleged sexting of a minor, who pressed Comey to authorize the review of possible Hillary Clinton-related emails on a Weiner device that led to the explosive letter the director wrote Congress. Hours after Comey’s letter about the renewed probe was leaked on Friday, Giuliani went on a radio show and attributed the director’s surprise action to “the pressure of a group of FBI agents who don’t look at it politically.” ‘The other rumor that I get is that there’s a kind of revolution going on inside the FBI about the original conclusion [not to charge Clinton] being completely unjustified and almost a slap in the face to the FBI’s integrity,” said Giuliani. “I know that from former agents. I know that even from a few active agents.'” Key to understanding the problem is understanding the nature of the “independence” of the FBI. Established at a time when organized crime ran rampant across the nation, the FBI, operating outside any constitutional authority and in direct contravention of constitutional law, grew from small number of unarmed legal consultants to a government within the government. With the advent of World War II, the FBI grew to massive strength and began operating around the world. They were given broad powers to mete out justice, unlimited powers of search and arrest, of surveillance and even summary execution when they deemed in the national interest. With the Cold War, the FBI rode the Red Menace scare to infinite power while partnering with organized crime. J. Edgar Hoover often denied that organized crime existed and was later to have been discovered a victim of blackmail at the hands of Meyer Lansky. From VT: “No provision was established within the constitution to regulate or oversee a national police force, it didn’t take long for the FBI to become the Cheka within a short period after it’s creation, J. Edgar Hoover, turned ‘the bureau’ into a monstrosity blackmailing politicians and cozying up to crime figures while Hoover’s FBI chased ‘commies’ both real and imaginary, it protected not only the mafia but powerful international crime cartels as well, becoming the real ‘Murder Inc.’ Taxpayer financed strong-arm thugs supported by a disinformation campaign. Hoover gained control of the press almost immediately, keeping files on his press enemies, threatening and blackmailing; some of this was to protect his own secrets – mob ties and his notorious penchant for sexual deviance, now long in the public domain, but it went further – it was all about power. ‘Mary’ Hoover liked to dress as a woman and was infamously covertly photographed along with his longtime companion and lover Clyde Tolson in flagrante delicto; those photographs came into the possession of mob kingpin Meyer Lansky, thus ensnaring Hoover, and by extension the entire FBI in a dangerous marriage with the mob. There is no evidence they ever got divorced, though from time to time the relationship may have been somewhat rocky.” With the Watergate scandals, the FBI made the case for being made “unanswerable” to executive authority, even the President or Attorney General. Instead, their only oversight is within the House of Representatives. However, with the Tea Party takeover of the House, financed by gambling boss Sheldon Adelson, and based on illegal reapportionment of the House districts, defended by a radicalized Supreme Court in continual 5/4 deadlock, the House got out of control, running continual investigations based on internet rumors and conspiracy theories. Too offset their zeal and insanity, a well run FBI might well have investigated the House itself, finding drug and gambling/human trafficking funds filling its coffers, opened and placed above the law by the 5/4 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that legalized unlimited unaccounted offshore funds used to bribe officials. According to informants, this cabal, including FBI and Pentagon officials, has discussed assassinations of American leaders, military and intelligence support for terror groups and maintains strong ties, through Cuba, with the drug cartels of Mexico and Columbia. When the Oregon “Standoff” defendants were found “not guilty,” it was the FBI that scuttled the case because it was the FBI, through informants that run the majority of the violent anti-government supremacist/anti-Semitic groups, that planned the takeover of Federal land at gunpoint. From a Spencer Ackerman article in the UK Guardian, November 3, 2016 One agent called the bureau ‘Trumplandia,’ with some colleagues openly discussing voting for the Republican nominee. Deep antipathy to Hillary Clinton exists within the FBI, multiple bureau sources have told the Guardian, spurring a rapid series of leaks damaging to her campaign just days before the election. Current and former FBI officials, none of whom were willing or cleared to speak on the record, have described a chaotic internal climate that resulted from outrage over director James Comey’s July public decision not to recommend indictment over Clinton’s maintenance of a private email server on which classified information transited. “The FBI is Trumpland,” said one current agent. This atmosphere raises major questions about how Comey and the bureau he is slated to run for the next seven years can work with Clinton should she win the White House. The currently serving FBI agent said Clinton is “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel,” and that “the reason why they’re leaking is they’re pro-Trump.” The agent called the bureau “Trumplandia,” with some colleagues openly discussing voting for a GOP nominee who has garnered unprecedented condemnation from the party’s national-security wing and who has pledged to jail Clinton if elected. On the other side is the Pentagon. The conspiracy theories and rumors are still flying about “Barksdale/Minot.” Back in 2006, a B52 took off from Minot Air Force Base with a full load of hydrogen bombs. They were “illegally” or “improperly” authorized and were being flown out of the United States, we are told, to Diego Garcia. Since that time, hundreds of officers, including the entire American nuclear command, have been replaced. We have it on reliable authority, at the highest levels, that officers inside the Pentagon, many recruited into religious extremist organizations operating at the service academies, West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, had been channeled into positions of authority by a religious cult that sprung up in the early 1980s at the Presidio, a one time Army base in San Francisco, California. Among the founders of that movement were General Paul Vallely, who along with Michael Aquino (rank unknown at this time), founded America’s psychological warfare capability but also founded the Temple of Set, a Satanic cult that spread through the American military. Remember, it was the FBI that in 1992 declared that the ritual satanic killings of the 1970s and 80s including the alleged abuses on 15 military bases tied to the Temple of Set, were only “conspiracy theories.” It is Vallely’s group, Stand Up America, that has attracted so many pro-Trump FBI agents. This is one of the paths that tie the FBI to the Pentagon, through Montana’s “patriot elites,” many military and intelligence contractors, all right wing, many anti-government and all closet militia backers. Before that, it was the FBI’s SSAIC (Supervising Special Agent In Charge) from the FBI’s massive Los Angeles office, Ted Gunderson, that the fight against ritual abuse and human trafficking that led to a series of quashed investigations that led into the highest levels of Washington. After his retirement,Gunderson went on a personal crusade against the FBI for covering up ritual child abuse. Gunderson was approached by a number of informants and volunteers, who turned out to be his undoing. Two came to live with him, Tim XXXX and Stew XXXX, who looted his files and turned them over to the FBI. These individuals, who still work with the InfoWars organization run by Alex Jones, a Trump advisor and confidant, who also helped organize the Oregon Standoff. Conclusion We are told that we have at least 100 FBI agents who have submitted resignations if Hillary Clinton is not arrested. They claim, we are told by former Representative Tom Delay, they have extensive knowledge of her case and a coverup within the FBI. Only a few short years ago, the same story of FBI resignations was based on another assertion, that the FBI was involved in a criminal coverup of President Obama’s foreign birth. What we do know is this, the FBI is not just politicized. They are working hand in hand with obstructionists in congress, adding to the legislative abuses of separation of powers something far more sinister. The FBI is abusing the justice system as well, fabricating evidence, planting emails, intimidating witnesses, quashing investigations and openly involving themselves in the political process. There is currently NO public confidence in the FBI, in its director and, similarly, there is no public confidence in rank and file agents as well. The barrel is all rotten apples, there is nothing else but. President Obama has cited the FBI for politically oriented leaks. We fear that Obama, who should be obligated to act, with do nothing out of fear of being accused of “leadership.” We wonder what he has to lose.

WORLD WAR 3 HAS ALREADY STARTED – WW3 urgent update 07/11/2016

Pakalert

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EU Officials Increasingly Fear a Marine Le Pen Upset in France

John J. Xenakis

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics. com, politicians: Marine Le Pen of France, and Brexit champion Nigel Farage of Britain (AFP) Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s Front National party is still considered to be a very long shot to become the next president of France, but it is no longer considered an impossibility, mainly because of three factors: the unexpected passage of the Brexit referendum in Britain last year, the unexpected election of Donald Trump in the US last year, and a trend of rising nationalistic political parties in countries across Europe in recent years. The first round of the presidential elections will be held on Sunday, April 23. There are 11 candidates, so it is almost impossible for anyone to win by getting over 50% of the vote. The top two candidates will then take part in a runoff election on May 7, to determine the final winner. President François Hollande, a Socialist, has had abysmal popularity ratings and so has chosen not to run for a second term, a decision unprecedented in modern times. The polls put the top four candidates at around 20% each. Emmanuel Macron is the youngest, a former investment banker, and former economy minister under Hollande. He is considered to be the favorite among the mainstream “globalist” European politicians. The early favorite was Republican François Fillon, but his support has crashed because of a scandal where he allegedly arranged for his wife to receive a large salary for a job that required little or no work. Mélenchon is the candidate, a kind of political mirror image of Marine Le Pen, though not entirely. Le Pen is while Mélenchon is but the two candidates do agree on one important issue: Neither of them likes the euro currency. Although Le Pen could flame out in the first round, it is widely expected that she will be one of the two leading candidates. Mainstream politicians are hoping a second round matching Le Pen with Macron. In that case, it is expected that Macron pick up voters from the candidates that have dropped out, while Le Pen’s core group of supporters would stay the same, with the result that Macron would defeat Le Pen by a wide margin. The scenario that most fear is that in the first round on Sunday, the two winners would be the two extremes, the Le Pen and the Mélenchon. This would be considered a disaster for the eurozone, as either one would like to return to the original French franc currency. After last year’s unexpected Brexit and Trump victories, there’s a great deal of anxiety among European politicians who fear that anything could happened. BBC and Market Pulse and Foreign Policy and Euro News and Daily Signal, Marine Le Pen is the current leader of the Front National party, which had a strong history of under its previous leader and founder, Marine Le Pen’s father, Le Pen, a Holocaust denier. At some point, she came to the conclusion that she and the Front National party could not become successful without completely breaking its past. She did so by breaking with her father and banning him from the party. She has not repeated any of her father’s remarks and has even condemned them. But in interviews, she is always asked about Jewish issues, and her answers are always heavily scrutinized by a mainstream press that is as consumed with hostility to her as with Donald Trump. One of the most controversial examples occurred in a recent interview where she insisted that France was not responsible for a July 1942 atrocity known as “Vel d’Hiv,” where French officials rounded up 13, 000 Jews and turned them over to the Nazis to be deported to Auschwitz. She had scrambled to explain that the “real” French government at that time was in exile, while the perpetrators of the atrocity were the puppet government in Paris under Nazi control. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, there are two important things to be noted here, things that I’ve written about many times. First, nationalism and xenophobia do not come from the politicians. They come from the people. If Marine Le Pen had not stepped forward to represent and possibly voters, then someone else would have done so, because the people were demanding it. What a politician can do is represent nationalistic and xenophobic voters, but then do everything possible to ameliorate the worst abuses of those attitudes. As I’ve noted in the past, Donald Trump has backed off from his early remarks Mexicans and Muslims, and appears to have adopted a course that takes into account the anxieties of his supporters, while preventing any abuses from taking place. Theresa May in Britain is similarly trying to chart a course that accommodates Brexit supporters, while avoiding total disaster for Britain’s economy. The second important point is that nationalism and xenophobia are growing around the world. Whether it’s Chinese vs Japanese, Chinese vs Vietnamese, Buddhists vs Rohingyas in Myanmar, Hindus vs Muslims in Kashmir, or Sunnis vs Shias in the Mideast, nationalism and xenophobia have been growing around the world, in one country after another. This is what always happens in a generational Crisis era, and it always leads to major wars or world wars. The Local (France) and Books and Ideas and Atlantic and News Max, The phrase “European Project” refers to the efforts, begun in the 1950s, to take steps to prevent another massive war in Europe. It’s hard today to remember the mood of the public in those days. Here’s what Hannah Arendt wrote in her 1950 book, The Origins of Totalitarianism: Two world wars in one generation, separated by an uninterrupted chain of local wars and revolutions, followed by no peace treaty for the vanquished and no respite for the victor, have ended in the anticipation of a third World War between the two remaining world powers [America and the Soviet Union]. This moment of anticipation is like the calm that settles after all hopes have died. We no longer hope for an eventual restoration of the old world order with all its traditions, or for the reintegration of the masses of five continents who have been thrown into a chaos produced by the violence of wars and revolutions and the growing decay of all that has still been spared. Under the most diverse conditions and disparate circumstances, we watch the development of the same phenomena — homelessness on an unprecedented scale, rootlessness to an unprecedented depth. Never has our future been more unpredictable, never have we depended so much on political forces that cannot be trusted to follow the rules of common sense and — forces that look like sheer insanity, if judged by the standards of other centuries. It is as though mankind had divided itself between those who believe in human omnipotence (who think that everything is possible if one knows how to organize masses for it) and those for whom powerlessness has become the major experience of their lives. The purpose of the European Project was to prove that mankind was not completely powerless after all. If Europe could set up a new world order that would prevent the “sheer insanity” of another world war, then the European Project would succeed. This lead to the Treaty of Rome in 1957, and eventually to the formation of the European Union. What we see today is huge centrifugal forces pulling the European Project apart. Whether it is the Brexit referendum in Britain, Marine Le Pen in France, the “True Finns” in Finland, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany, the Golden Dawn party in Greece, the Jobbik party in Hungary, or any of the nationalistic movements in other European countries, what’s become clear is that people, particularly young people, have no fear or concerns about the lessons learned in World War II. This is what Generational Dynamics tells us always happens. In the last century, there were two world wars that destroyed Europe. The first World War was also devastating for Russia and the Mideast, while the second World War was also devastating for Japan and the Pacific. However, there were other massive wars in the last century, in Asia, in Africa, in the Americas. These wars of the last century are not well remembered by Americans, since Americans were not as heavily involved, but they’re well remembered by the people of the countries that fought in them. And that is just the last century. If you look at the earlier centuries — the 1800s, the 1700s, the 1600s, the 1500s, and so forth — there were also massive wars in Asia, Europe, the Mideast, Africa and the Americas in those centuries as well. No century has ever escaped this. The point is that these huge, massive wars have not yet begun to occur in this century, and so people, especially young people, have come to believe that they never will. And yet, there is absolutely no hope of avoiding them. Anyone can see that the world has become increasingly unstable in the last 10 or 15 years and that countries around the world have become increasingly nationalistic and xenophobic. It’s like the world is a pressure cooker, ready to explode. France enjoyed “La Belle Époque” starting in 1871, with advances in the arts rather than wars. That was the “Old World Order” that Hannah Arendt was talking about in the quote above. And yet, World War I exploded in 1914 completely without warning, when a high school student decided to shoot an Archduke of another country. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Hannah Arendt was right — that powerlessness is the major experience of our lives. Politicians are powerless to stop the flow of generations, as young, foolish generations displace older, traumatized, experienced generations, and repeat all the mistakes of the past, once again, over and over. BBC and Washington Post and AFP, Related Articles, KEYS: Generational Dynamics, France, Marine Le Pen, Front National, François Hollande, Emmanuel Macron, François Fillon, Mélenchon, Le Pen, Donald Trump, Britain, Brexit, Theresa May, Vel d’Hiv, Auschwitz, Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, European Project, La Belle Époque Permanent web link to this article Receive daily World View columns by

Why FBI Director James Comey did the wrong thing ... again

License DMCA The New York Times headline article sums up Comey's dilemma aptly enough. "Mr. Comey could immediately inform Congress about the emails, which were found in an investigation into former Representative Anthony D. Weiner. That unusual step, months after Mr. Comey had cleared Mrs. Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing in the email case, would risk accusations that he was unfairly harming her presidential campaign less than two weeks before the election. "Or he could delay any announcement and examine the new emails more closely, risking criticism that he had suppressed important new information if it came out after the election, despite his pledges of "transparency" in the investigation." And with that, the choice should have been obvious -- Comey shouldn't have made any announcement. There shouldn't have been a decision to make. - Advertisement - That there was even a choice in Comey's mind comes back to the same thing that's caused the FBI Director to err at every single stage of this investigation. It's not that "Jim Comey is an apolitical straight shooter," as every talking head is eager to tell you. It's that Jim Comey is very concerned that he be seen as an apolitical straight shooter. Because of that, he has, repeatedly, put preservation of his own reputation ahead of both justice and the good of the nation. From his ludicrous, finger-wagging press gaggle in announcing Clinton's innocence, to his ham-fisted intrusion into the final act of the election, Comey has felt compelled to insert Jim Comey, straight-shooter, into every moment. As a result he's caused serious harm to the FBI, to the election, and to the nation. And, just incidentally, he's ruined his reputation in the process. Across the nation, prosecuting attorneys are not exactly the most modest or retiring of public servants. It's a position of unique power, and often engages the most vaunting egos. And yet, Comey has managed to shock those people whose responsibilities are most like his own. "'It is not the function of the FBI director to be making public pronouncements about an investigation, never mind about an investigation based on evidence that he acknowledges may not be significant,' [former assistant U.S. attorney] Akerman added. 'The job of the FBI is simply to investigate and to provide the results of its investigation to the prosecutorial arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. His job is not to give a running commentary about any investigation or his opinion about any investigation. This is particularly egregious since Secretary Clinton has no way to respond to what amounts to nebulous and speculative innuendo.'" - Advertisement - It's not enough for Comey to do his job. He wants to be seen doing his job. He worries about the eyes of history, the verdict of time. Which is exactly where, and why, Comey failed. Doing the right thing means doing what you believe is proper even if the verdict of history comes against you. It means being willing to be seen as biased, or not transparent, or simply wrong. Doing the right thing risks finding that what you did was actually wrong. You must act on what you know, and do the best regardless. But Comey was more concerned that he be seen as doing the right thing. And that's ... a completely different thing. In essence, James Comey set his ego above the good of the country. That's not illegal, but it's certainly not right.

Schumer: Democrats Will Attempt to Filibuster Gorsuch

Ken Klukowski

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats will attempt to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( ) announced on Thursday during a speech on the Senate floor. [This is the fourth day of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Gorsuch, who currently serves on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Although the more liberal members of the committee tried to provoke Gorsuch, the Colorado judge remained poised and disciplined during his testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday, avoiding any missteps. That part of the hearing process is now over, and senators are now listening to witnesses for and against the nomination. Gorsuch appears to continue headed toward a successful confirmation in the Senate. But today Schumer criticized what he called Gorsuch’s “lack of candor and desire to answer” questions before the committee. He then announced, “After careful deliberation, I have concluded that I cannot support Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court. ” While it only takes a simple majority of 51 votes in the Senate to confirm a nominee, Schumer then went on to say that Gorsuch “will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. ” This means a filibuster. Under Senate Rule 22, for any question involving debate, if senators wish to continue speaking, it takes a vote of the full Senate (60 out of 100) to invoke a motion for cloture, which limits debate to no more than 30 additional hours, after which a final vote must be held. When senators insist on continuing debate until cloture shuts them down, it’s called a filibuster. Filibusters have historically been for legislative debates only, not judicial nominations. The first time in American history that a filibuster was used to stop any judicial nomination was 2003, when Senate Democrats filibustered President George W. Bush’s nomination of Miguel Estrada to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit, followed soon thereafter by other Bush judicial nominees. The only previous filibuster attempt ever made over a judge was in 1968 against the nomination of Justice Abe Fortas to become chief justice and replace Earl Warren. However, a majority of senators went on record saying they would vote against Fortas in any event, so it was not the filibuster that stopped Fortas. It was instead lacking enough votes to confirm him. For Estrada, by contrast, a majority of the Senate went on record supporting his confirmation, so it was the threshold for cloture obstructing an vote that defeated his nomination. The architect of the strategy of using a filibuster to block an vote on judicial nominations was none other than Schumer, who at the time had only been in the Senate for less than five years, and was not in a leadership position. In November 2014, Leader Harry Reid ( ) reinterpreted the rules of the Senate so that the filibuster could not be used on any presidential nominations except the Supreme Court, clearing the way for Democrats to confirm several nominations that Republicans had blocked. This tactic has been called the “constitutional option” by some, and the “nuclear option” by others. With Schumer’s announcement that he will lead a filibuster of Gorsuch’s nomination, Republicans must either pick up eight Democrats to join Republicans in voting for cloture, or Republicans must hold together at least 50 of their 52 members (with Vice President Mike Pence as a ) to extend the constitutional option to Supreme Court nominations. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Gorsuch out of committee on April 3, sending the nomination to the Senate floor for this filibuster showdown. Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.

Mexico: 50,000 Haitians waiting to get into the U.S. | Opinion - Conservative

beforeitsnews.com

(Before It's News) Elena Toledo reports that Nearly 50,000 Haitian immigrants have been stranded in Brazil, and in the coming months will pass through Mexico in order to reach the United States. President of Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) Luis Raul Gonzalez said that the flow of Haitian immigrants to Mexico has become an issue over recent months […]

The Genocide of Indigenous Peoples in North America and Palestine-Israel - American Herald Tribune

Prof. Tony Hall

Prof. Tony Hall Speaks Out on Mohawk Territory 2 Shares 1 0 0 1 Prof. Hall speaks at the Haldimand Deed Recognition Dinner at Kanata in the Mohawk Village near Brantford Ontario. Prof. Hall has been the target of a witch hunt mounted by Facebook and by B'nai Brith Canada. The mission of the Canadian branch of the Anti-Defamation League is to provide Zionist advocacy for "the security of Israel." In late August of 2016 a maliciously engineered smear item was placed on Prof. Hall's FB page without his knowledge or consent. The B'nai Brith immediately publicized the offensive content of the post to introduce a concerted smear and disinformation campaign implying falsely that Dr. Hall seeks to "Kill All Jews." The B'nai Brith exploited its grotesque misrepresentation of Dr. Hall's academic work to call on its membership to flood the administrative offices of the University of Lethbridge with letters and petition signatures. The object is to remove Dr. Hall from his teaching post. Dr. Hall remains a tenured full professor whose career as a university teacher began in 1982. The University of Lethbridge's administration soon surrendered to this Zionist campaign aimed at disabling an outspoken critic of Israel's genocidal treatment of the Aboriginal Palestinians. On Oct. 4 the U of L president, Dr. Mike Mahon, suspended Dr. Hall without pay. He undertook this assault on the principles of academic freedom in the complete absence of any due process of third-party arbitration whatsoever. The attack on Dr. Hall is an attack on the institution of academic tenure, a mainstay of protection for academic freedom in institutions of higher learning. The University of Lethbridge Faculty Association and the Canadian Association of University Teachers have identified the illegal nature of Dr. Mahon's unprecedented assault on the core principles of tenure and academic freedom. In his talk sponsored by the Mohawks of the Grand River, Dr. Hall put the Zionist/Facebook campaign directed at disabling critics of Israel in a broader historical context. The assault on the Palestinian people extends the genocidal holocaust directed at the Indigenous peoples of the Americas since 1492. Israeli techniques directed at terminating the Palestinian presence draw on the genocidal techniques directed at Native Americans in the expansionary course of US history. WRITER Prof. Tony Hall Dr. Hall is editor in chief of American Herald Tribune. He is currently Professor of Globalization Studies at University of Lethbridge in Alberta Canada. He has been a teacher in the Canadian university system since 1982. Dr. Hall, has recently finished a big two-volume publishing project at McGill-Queen's University Press entitled "The Bowl with One Spoon".

On Same Day Massive Layoffs Begin, ESPNW Celebrates Black Power Icon and Fugitive Cop Killer - Breitbart

Warner Todd Huston

Proving that it has not learned that its customers tire of politics forced into sports reporting, on the same day that sports cable network ESPN fired 100 employees and reporters, ESPN Women devoted its webpages to extreme social justice, resistance, and feminism. [Indeed, ESPNW used a claimed “honoring” of National Poetry Month as an excuse to “reflect on resistance, redefining feminism and movement. ” What followed were poems from five professors, writers, and activists filled with revolution, resistance, and race baiting. The first piece, penned by Dr. DaMaris B. Hill, a professor of African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky, is titled simply “Revolution. ” It celebrates the violence and force of revolution, and is specifically dedicated to black power icon Asatta Shakur, who murdered a police officer in 1977. In 1979 Shakur escaped from prison and sought asylum in Cuba, where she remains to this day. Shakur was also the first woman named to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List, and there is currently a $1 million reward leading to her arrest. Amusingly, Dr. Hill seems to admit that the liberals “revolution” has nothing to do with “facts” by writing, “Revolution ain’t got sh — to do with facts. It is all faith!” That sounds about right, since liberals have no facts or truth on hand with their “revolution. ” It’s all just a religion — or a replacement thereof — to them. After Dr. Hill, ESPNW moved on to a piece titled, “What Leaps from a Storm’s Throat,” by of Staten Island professor Patricia Smith. This second poem contains a line that slams capitalism, reading, “beneath vendors who heartlessly hawk the stupid slap of sugar, spirit and salt. ” Next, Wisconsin writer Carrie Ann Welsh’s “Start Here,” seemed to posit that only minority women play sports, with a line saying, “Their bodies are too dark, too wiry, too big, too fast. ” Finally, New York arts and culture administrator DéLana R. A. Dameron, made her entire piece about whites oppressing blacks. In Dameron’s poem, entitled “My Struggle with Feminism is Black,” black women are presented as having no freedom. Daeron insists black women are “in the service of white folks. ” Dameron even poked her poetic finger in the eyes of liberal, white women who think they support the liberation of black women by noting that white women found it easy to stomp around advocating for free black women when black women weren’t teachers or even living in the same neighborhoods as those white women. “Don’t let those white girls turn you into a mammy. You are not there to take care of them, get yours,” Dameron’s screed said. So, as these “poets” are pushing race hatred, and resistance, ESPN is once again seen pushing far left, liberalism onto its sports fans. Will they ever learn? Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.

Never the Noodles Shall Meet: A Chinese Treaty Is Tested - The New York Times

Emily Feng

Amid the modern skyscrapers of Shanghai, the parties to a treaty are at war. At stake are the spoils of a industry and a minority group’s ability to retain its customs in a China. Also, noodles. When Xian Gulin opened a halal restaurant in Shanghai last month that serves beef noodles, he hoped patrons would line up at his door. What he got instead was an entrance blocked for weeks by protesters. The protesters, like Mr. Xian, were Hui, a Muslim ethnic minority, originally from China’s northwest. They accused the restaurateur of violating the Treaty, a social pact that prohibits the Hui from opening halal noodle shops within 400 meters of each other — roughly 1, 300 feet. To appease the protesters, Mr. Xian eventually agreed to take down the halal insignia from his storefront. The origins of the treaty are unknown, but restaurateurs say it originally capped the number of noodle shops in a Hui village at one. As more Hui began moving eastward into China’s growing coastal cities, they brought a variant of the treaty with them. “For the Hui as a community, maintaining their halal traditions and restaurants has been critical to their survival, so it’s not surprising that in a highly capitalized society, these rivalries would bubble to the surface,” said Dru Gladney, an anthropology professor at Pomona College in California and an expert on Chinese ethnic minorities. The halal food industry has flourished in China as the country has pursued closer economic relations with Middle Eastern nations. In Qinghai Province alone, sales of halal food products in 2014 totaled about $2. 8 billion. On Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, online commenters condemned the protests. Even the Islamic Association of Qinghai got involved, declaring the boycott of Mr. Xian’s restaurant a violation of “fair competition” that caused “social instability. ” Still, Hui restaurateurs insist that the treaty is more necessary than ever. “We worked so hard to climb our way up, so we can’t tolerate people who do not respect the treaty,” said Ma Yi Buo La, 37, who owns a halal noodle shop in Shanghai. “People who don’t abide by the treaty, they’re not good people,” he said. Yet enforcement of the treaty is increasingly difficult as halal cuisine becomes more popular across China. “It was a tradition in our villages back home, but I don’t think anyone really respects this treaty anymore in large cities,” said Ma Kefu, 19, a Gansu native who now works at a halal restaurant in Beijing. To make his point, he gestured across the street. No more than 15 feet away stood another halal restaurant, its intricate halal insignia prominently on display.

LGBT Writer: I Won’t Accept Gay Conservatives ‘Coming Out’ as Trump Supporters - Breitbart

Charlie Nash

LGBT writer Skylar refused to accept homosexuals who “come out” as supporters of President Trump in a new article for The Independent, encouraging others in the LGBT community to cut ties with gay conservatives. [In the article, responded to OUT magazine’s Chadwick Moore, who came out as a conservative on Saturday and explained how the LGBT community started to ignore, reject, and cut ties with him after he wrote a neutral profile on Breitbart Senior Editor MILO and expressed conservative political beliefs. “Gay conservatives aren’t welcome in gay spaces because the people they support are an existential threat to our rights and our community,” claimed condemning homosexual conservatives including Moore and MILO. “After all, queer spaces (such as bars, bathhouses, community centres, and even bookstores) were founded and instrumental in radical sexual politics and political engagement. You can’t divorce that from the social aspect, because doing so would deny the history of our community and the present reality of so many vulnerable LGBT people. ” “Asking that the gay community embrace you and your politics is like one turkey asking another to be okay that he voted for the farmer and Thanksgiving,” he continued. “I don’t care if this hurts someone’s feelings I’m more concerned with the harm their vote causes. So until American conservatism welcomes queer people, queer people shouldn’t welcome American conservatives. Even if they’re queer themselves. Sorry, Chad. Maybe Milo will buy you a drink. ” further attacked homosexual conservatives on his Twitter account, where he added: “I have no time for gay American conservatives. Go cry your tears elsewhere. ” I have no time for gay American conservatives. Go cry your tears elsewhere. My latest for the Independent: https: . — Skylar (@SkylarJordan) February 13, 2017, During his article coming out as a conservative on Saturday, Chadwick Moore explained how he had been ousted from LGBT circles and cut off from his best friend, who no longer wanted to have anything to do with him. “I decided to go out to my local gay bar in Williamsburg, where I’ve been a regular for 11 years. I ordered a drink but nothing felt the same half the place — people with whom I’d shared many laughs — seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder,” Moore recalled. “Upon seeing me, a friend who normally greets me with a hug and kiss pivoted and turned away … My best friend, with whom I typically hung out multiple times per week, was suddenly perpetually unavailable. Finally, on Christmas Eve, he sent me a long text, calling me a monster, asking where my heart and soul went, and saying that all our other friends are laughing at me. ” “I began to realize that maybe my opinions just didn’t fit in with the liberal status quo, which seems to mean that you must absolutely hate Trump, his supporters and everything they believe,” he concluded, adding, “It can seem like liberals are actually against free speech if it fails to conform with the way they think. And I don’t want to be a part of that club anymore. ” Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.