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Cranberry Juice and Urinary Tract Infections – a Myth? · Guardian Liberty Voice

Dyanne Weiss

Many women swear by cranberries as a home remedy for bladder and urinary tract issues. But, researchers also swear (and claim to have shown) that it is a myth that cranberry juice or other foods containing the berries can prevent or treat urinary tract infections (UTIs). What is the answer? Products with cranberries in them, from the perpetual Ocean Spray sauce cans to Thomas’ English Muffins, are prominent in stores this time of year. Many people only eat or drink things with cranberries in them around Thanksgiving. Conversely, many women for years have regularly sought out and relied on cranberries in juice, foods, or capsules to thwart bladder problems. The berries can be more than a holiday dietary element. But, a new study in the “Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)” suggests that they are ineffective on UTIs. However, the sample population may not be representative. For the study just published in “JAMA,” the researchers from Yale University randomly assigned 185 women to two groups. One set consumed daily two capsules which contained cranberry extracts that were the equivalent of 20 ounces of cranberry juice. The other group downed placebo capsules. The women took the capsules for one year. During the time, there was no significant difference in the UTI rates for those receiving the capsules with cranberry extracts versus those taking the placebos, according to the researchers. A huge problem with the study is that all of the participants are seniors living in nursing homes near Yale. The average age was reportedly 86. While UTIs are the most commonly diagnosed infection for women in nursing homes, does the study conclusively show the cranberry juice treatment is a myth? Furthermore, would the results be the same if the study was conducted in student housing at Yale? Actually, there have been other studies, including one among 319 college women published by the University of Michigan School of Public Health. That study, published in “Clinical Infectious Diseases” over five years ago, found a similar result. Conversely, there have been some studies that showed some evidence that cranberry juice or capsules may help some. Generally, the research has produced mixed results. Drink the Juice or Not The belief that eating or drinking cranberry products can prevent or treat urinary was based on the fact they increase the acidity of urine. The speculation was that chemicals in cranberries (proanthocyanidins) prevent bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall. The advent of antibiotics eliminated the need for old wives’ tales and herbal treatments. But, the overuse of antibiotics has made people reluctant to go the prescription route. So, should people try the cranberry products and juice route, or not? Many experts believe that cranberry products should not be recommended for prevention of UTIs. That said, someone could try cranberry juice or capsules as a personal choice or first recourse. The top recommendation on medical Websites is to keep hydrated to flush out the system and prevent UTIs. While water is great, there is no serious downside in drinking cranberry juice to prevent UTIs, whether a myth or not, given the inconclusive research. Written and Edited by Dyanne Weiss Sources: JAMA : Effect of Cranberry Capsules on Bacteriuria Plus Pyuria Among Older Women in Nursing Homes HealthDay: Cranberry Products May Not Prevent UTIs: Study JAMA : Cranberry for Prevention of Urinary Tract Infection? Time to Move On Cleveland Clinic: Can Cranberry Juice Stop Your UTI? PubMed.gov : Cranberry juice fails to prevent recurrent urinary tract infection: results from a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Daily Mail: It’s NOT an old wives’ tale: Cranberry juice really does prevent bladder infections Photo by Lisa Pinehill from Osaka, Japan – Creative Commons license cranberries , cranberry juice , infections , urinary , UTI

Comment on Shocking Insinuation About Carl Sagan & Extraterrestrials Made By X-NASA Astronaut by Is This What You Think They Would Look Like? Supposed Pictures of Real Extraterrestrials - New Earth Media

Is This What You Think They Would Look Like? Supposed Pictures of Real Extraterrestrials - New Earth Media

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter A few years ago, Neil deGrasse said that yes, extraterrestrials may be visiting our planet, and people do see Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), but he also stated that it is a big leap for one to assume a UFO is of extraterrestrial in origin. ( source ) As you will see from the information below, it’s not a big leap, which is why so many other scientists around the world support the extraterrestrial hypotheses. It’s also important to note that this article is not implying that Carl Saga is a ‘bad’ person. If this information is indeed true, we still do not know the circumstances and details of it. It is a common occurrence for ‘UFO’s to be tracked on military radar , and more and more people are starting to believe that these objects are of extraterrestrial origin. and there is a good amount of evidence to believe that. One reason for this is the disclosure of evidence supporting such a hypothesis in recent years. If you want to see a fraction of that evidence, you can check out this article or the one pertaining to military radar linked above, or you can visit the exopolitics section of our website, here . If you really want to go in depth and read some proper studies on this topic, you can check out Richard Dolan’s books . They are a great place to start, he is a brilliant academic and one of the world’s leading researchers on the topic of UFOs. Sagan’s Close Colleague Apart from the congressional hearings on this subject, and the fairly recent citizens hearing that took place, along with the release of official documentation, there has been a surge in people believing that ETs are real because of the work of scholars like Dr. Brian O’Leary. Brian was a close colleague of Carl Sagan, who recruited him to teach at Cornell University in the late 1960’s, where he researched and lectured in the department of astronomy and physics. After Cornell, he taught physics, astronomy, and science policy assessment at various academic institutions, including the University of California Berkeley, Hampshire College, and finally at Princeton University from 1976 to 1981. After this he went on to Washington, where he would become an advisor to various political leaders, presidential candidates, and the United States Congress. Before all of this, Dr. O’Leary was a NASA astronaut and a member of the sixth group of astronauts selected by NASA in August of 1967. One year after that, as mentioned above, Sagan recruited him to teach at Cornell. O’Leary was also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as secretary of the American Geophysical Union’s Planetology Section. Furthermore, he was the team leader of the Asteroidal Resources Group for NASA’s Ames Summer Study on Space Settlements. He was a founding board member of the International Association for New Science as well as founding president of the New Energy Movement. “Carl Sagan called me from Cornell and asked me to join the faculty. I accepted the offer and spent many years at Cornell in the astronomy department, planetary science department. And I became very creative in research then, but still within the bounds of western science, but in the planetary exploration program. That was for a period of about a decade.” ( source )( source ) As you can see, his resume is more than extensive, and O’Leary is just one out of hundreds of people with this type of distinguished background to blow the lid on the extraterrestrial phenomenon. I use his video below in a lot of my extraterrestrial/UFO related articles, and I apologize to our regular readers, but I feel it’s always useful to share with readers who have yet to come across it. The clip is taken from the Thrive documentary which, if you haven’t seen yet, I highly recommend. You can read his entire biography — though I’ll warn you it is quite large — HERE . Above I’ve provided only the highlights of his impressive career. Brian passed away shortly after this video was taken. Apparently it happened shortly after having a heart attack and a diagnosis of intestinal cancer. What He Said Carl Sagan Did He had some interesting things to say during a live interview with Kerry Cassidy of Project Camelot (view full live interview here , read transcript of video here ). O’Leary and Sagan were close for a number of years, but had a little bit of a falling out when O’Leary decided to leave Cornell. In the interview, he remarked: It was… One very cold snowy day in May, I landed in Syracuse, and there was a horizontal blizzard — in May — and I said: That’s it for upstate New York . And Carl thought that was very frivolous. Because, of course, he was kind of an empire-builder kind of guy; and he also had a huge ego. After he left, O’Leary started to examine some of Carl’s work. He said that the famous “Face” in Cydonia on Mars — photographed by Viking in 1975, this enormous formation (about a mile across) resembled a human face and created a major buzz at the time — was tampered with by Sagan before being released to the public: It was very, very disappointing to me, because not only was Carl wrong, he also fudged data. He published a picture of the “Face” in Parade Magazine , a popular article, saying that the “Face” was just a natural formation, but he doctored the picture to make it not look like a face. At this time, Sagan and O’Leary were arguably the world’s two leading experts on Mars, and they entered into many disagreements over that face. This rift was made clear in O’Leary’s publication in 1998, “Carl Sagan & I: On Opposite Sides of Mars.” It can be found in The Case for the Face: Scientists Examine the Evidence for Alien Artifacts on Mars , eds. Stanley V. McDaniel and Monica Rix Paxson. Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press. In May of 1990, O’Leary released a paper titled “ Analysis of Images of the Face on Mars and Possible Intelligent Origin ” which only further demonstrated his skepticism. It was published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol.43 No.5. O’Leary also went on the record and stated: I began to realize, just directly from the scientific point of view, not only hearsay, that this man was colluding with NASA, that there might be more to this than before. . . . Carl was on a committee with a number of notable people. There was a report issued by the Brookings Institution in 1961 — and that’s about when I knew Carl, during those years; the ’60s mostly was when I worked closely with him — that he and this other group said: Well, if any ETs ever showed up on the Earth, it has to be covered up. That’s the only way we’re going to be able to manage this, because if we can’t, then it would be too much of a culture shock. Quite a shocking statement from someone of Brian’s stature, isn’t it? In the interview, he goes on to say that Carl and his colleagues recommended that the governments cover up the UFO phenomenon, and that he believes this provided justification for the ongoing cover-up It’s important to note that this does not make Sagan a ‘bad guy.’ He was clearly the opposite of that, and his love for science and educating humanity was quite clear. If he was in favour of covering this up, if he did know about it, there is a very good chance it was done for what they perceived to be, good reasons. Sure, there might be some corporate reasons, and some other not so pleasant reasons the cover-up remains today, but it’s plausible to assume that in the beginning, perhaps there was no I’ll intent. “Behind the scenes, high ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.” Former head of CIA, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, 1960 (source) Why It’s Time To Listen To Contactees, Abductees & Experiences/ A Psychological Standpoint Just to clarify, ‘contactees’ are usually those who have reported ‘friendly’ contact experiences with extraterrestrials, ‘abductees’ are those who have had what they perceive to be fearful experiences, and experiencers are those who neither view the experience as ‘good’ or ‘bad,” but simply just an experience. It’s important to note this, because various people have reported different types of experiences with different types of beings. “Yes there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered… We are not alone in the universe, they have been coming here for a long time.” – Dr. Edgar Mitchell, ScD, 6th man to walk on the Moon ( source ) ( source ) The reality is that some people who claim to have had contact with intelligent extraterrestrial beings actually have. John Mack, A Harvard professor, psychiatrist and Pulitzer Price recipient stresses that: “Yes, it’s both. It’s both literally, physically happening to a degree; and it’s also some kind of psychological, spiritual experience occurring and originating perhaps in another dimension. And so the phenomenon stretches us, or it asks us to stretch to open to realities that are not simply the literal physical world, but to extend to the possibility that there are other unseen realities from which our consciousness, our, if you will, learning processes over the past several hundred years have closed us off.” ( source ) We published an article earlier this year regarding John Mack, and more than 60 school children witnessing non-human beings and a large craft landing. The children were interviewed by him, and it was quite a remarkable story with all of the children providing very similiar stories. Until this day these children have been speaking of it, an event occurred more than 20 years ago…. “They describe these events like a person talks about something that has happened to them. I can tell that these are people of sound mind telling me something…” (quote continued and taken from the video linked below) -Dr. John Mack, professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School You can watch THIS video of Mack Interview the children, and you can read THIS article that goes more into detail on that case. According to retired McGill University professor in the Department of Psychology (research areas beings cognition and cognitive Neuroscience), Dr. Don Donderi: “Some of what people report as UFOs are extraterrestrial (ET) vehicles. Some of those extraterrestrial vehicles actually have ET crews, and some of those ET crews catch and release humans.” ( source ) Academicians like these, and others like Richard Dolan , David M. Jacobs and more have been studying this phenomena for decades, and the reports of beings and examining why they are here, what they are doing, what they look like and more has been documented by their (and others) research. What I find most fascinating about these stories is how many of them seem to compliment each other instead of contradicting each other, which just adds to the mystery. As far as physical research goes: “There are a great many photographs of such body marks, many of which are in an equilateral triangle pattern of red dots on the wrist or near the ankle. Also common are scoop marks,” in which it appears as if a small amount of tissue was removed from beneath the skin, leaving an indentation.” -Richard Dolan (taken from his book, UFOs for the 21st century mind ) Below is a clip of Dr. Roger Leir. a doctor of podiatric medicine, and arguably the best known individual with regards to extracting alleged alien implants. He has performed more than fifteen surgeries that removed sixteen separate distinct objects. These objects have been investigated by several prestigious laboratories, including Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico Tech, and many others. Unfortunately, he passed away in March 2014, but his legacy lives on. Truth is, as former NASA astronaut and Princeton Physics Professor puts it, “there is abundant evidence that we are being contacted, that civilizations have been visiting us for a vary long time.” ( source ) Interesting Quotes About The UFO Phenomenon (A Few Out Of Many) ***Please keep in mind, the documentation regarding this phenomenon can be found from links that were mentioned in the very first paragraph of this article ” Everything is in a process of investigation both in the United States and in Spain, as well as the rest of the world. The nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data.” – General Carlos Castro Cavero (1979). From “UFOs and the National Security State, Volume 2,″ written by Richard Dolan. “There is a serious possibility that we are being visited and have been visited for many years by people from outer space, by other civilizations. Who they are, where they are from, and what they want should be the subject of rigorous scientific investigation and not be the subject of ‘rubishing’ by tabloid newspapers.” ( source ) – Lord Admiral Hill-Norton, Former Chief of Defence Staff, 5 Star Admiral of the Royal Navy, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee “There is another way whether it’s wormholes or warping space, there’s got to be a way to generate energy so that you can pull it out of the vacuum, and the fact that they’re here shows us that they found a way.” ( source ) – Jack Kasher, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus of physics, University of Nebraska. “This thing has gotten so highly-classified… it is just impossible to get anything on it. I have no idea who controls the flow of need-to-know because, frankly, I was told in such an emphatic way that it was none of my business that I’ve never tried to make it to be my business since. I have been interested in this subject for a long time and I do know that whatever the Air Force has on the subject is going to remain highly classified.” – Senator Barry Goldwater, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (source) “Yes, it’s both. It’s both literally, physically happening to a degree; and it’s also some kind of psychological, spiritual experience occurring and originating perhaps in another dimension. And so the phenomenon stretches us, or it asks us to stretch to open to realities that are not simply the literal physical world, but to extend to the possibility that there are other unseen realities from which our consciousness, our, if you will, learning processes over the past several hundred years have closed us off.” – John Mack,Dr. John E. Mack, a Harvard University psychologist and Pulitzer prize winner” ( source ) “An extraterrestrial influence is investigating our planet. Something is monitoring the planet and they are monitoring it very cautiously.” — 2008 Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel ( source )( source ) “Some of what people report as UFOs are extraterrestrial (ET) vehicles. Some of those extraterrestrial vehicles actually have ET crews, and some of those ET crews catch and release humans.” — Dr. Don Donderi, a retired McGill University Professor of 40 years in the Department of Psychology ( source ) “Intelligent beings from other star systems have been and are visiting our planet Earth. They are variously referred to as Visitors, Others, Star People, Et’s, etc…They are visiting Earth now; this is not a matter of conjecture or wistful thinking. – Theodor C. Loder III, Phd, Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire ( source ) “Decades ago, visitors from other plants warned us about where we were headed and offered to help. But instead, we, or at least some of us, interpreted their visits as a threat, and decided to shoot first and ask questions after.” – Paul Hellyer, Former Canadian Defense Minister ( source ) My people tell of Star People who came to us many generations ago. The Star people brought spiritual teachings and stories and maps of the cosmos and they offered these freely. They were kind, loving, and set a great example. When they left us, my people say there was a loneliness like no other.” – Richard Wagamese , Ojibway Author ( source ) I’m skeptical about many things, including the notion that government always knows best, and that the people can’t be trusted with the truth. The time to pull the curtain back on this subject is long overdue. We have statements from the most credible sources – those in a position to know – about a fascinating phenomenon, the nature of which is yet to be determined. John Podesta, for example — former White House Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama’s right hand man (councillor), and the current head of Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign,Taken from Leslie Kean’s 2010 New York Times bestseller, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, And Government Officials Go On The Record, in which Podesta wrote the forward “Yes there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered… We are not alone in the universe, they have been coming here for a long time…I happen to be privileged enough to be in on the fact that we have been visited on this planet, and the UFO phenomenon is real.” – Doctor Edgar Mitchell, 6th man to walk on the moon( source ) ( source )( source) The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle. You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here. "If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune

BBC’s Children Show ‘Just a Girl’ is About a Transgender Child Taking Hormone Blocking Drugs

Pakalert

Support Us BBC’s Children Show ‘Just a Girl’ is About a Transgender Child Taking Hormone Blocking Drugs 0 The BBC series aimed at children as young a six describe how Ben became Amy by taking hormones to halt puberty. It is yet another example of the agenda promoting the blurring of the genders. And they are now aiming children. Last year, I published an article entitled The Agenda Behind Bruce Jenner’s Transformation where I explained how Jenner’s sex change was intentionally publicized and celebrated because it was part of a larger agenda promoting the blurring of the genders. This agenda is even more obvious and insidious this year because there’s a conscious effort to reach children. A child with the word ‘Transgender’ stamped across the screen. This sums up what mass media has been about these past years. Although ‘Amy’ is played by an actress, the story claims that she used to be boy named Ben. – Advertisement – CBBC’s series Just a Girl is the latest baffling attempt at normalizing, trivializing and even celebrating the completely unnecessary process that is childhood sex change. Freely available online on CBBC’s website, the series even teaches children about taking hormones and puberty-halting drugs. Do we truly know the effects of such drugs on one’s developing body and brain chemistry. Of course not. Why is this radical and aberrant process promoted to children? Do children need to know about hormone blockers? AND WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?! In my humble opinion, parents who subject their children to radical treatments such as hormone blockers and sex change surgery should be trialed for child abuse. Instead, these things are actually encouraged in shows aimed at children and society is following suit. Some NHS clinics (such as the Tavistock Centre in North London) have been prescribing hypothalamic blockers to children as young as nine. In another case, a seven-year-old boy was ordered to be removed from his mother’s care because ‘she was raising him as female’. This is what the elite wants to see: Confused children wondering about their gender. HOW ABOUT YOU GO OUTSIDE AND RIDE A BIKE OR SOMETHING? Here are quotes taken from Just a Girl . In Just A Girl, Amy says: ‘When I was born, Mum said Dad was so pleased that he had a boy to take to the football. But Mum knew I was different. She realised early on that I was born in the wrong body.’ She adds: ‘My Mum supported me when I did a PowerPoint presentation to my class about transitioning and that I wasn’t going to come to school in boys’ clothes any more, but girls’ clothes. I wasn’t Ben, I was Amy.’ Later Amy is shown telling a friend, Josh – a boy who wants to be recognised as a girl – that she is on hormone blockers, saying it took ‘ages’ to get them after ‘loads of tests and talks at the clinic’. ‘Once they realised I was trans for real, [I] got them,’ she says. In another entry, Amy tells viewers she has developed a crush on a boy called Liam, but confides: ‘Liam thinks I’m just a girl, but I’m not. I’m trans. And what’s he going to say if he finds out? Stop being my friend? Why? I’m still me, aren’t I?’– Daily Mail, Does your child really need to know how ‘Ben’ became ‘Amy’? Furious parents slam ‘damaging’ BBC sex change show aimed at six-year-olds This last bit appears to be taken straight from a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) handbook. The goal: To confuse young minds about sex and gender. Backlash The show was accused by several groups of ‘sowing the seeds of confusion’. Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: ‘The more we promote the idea that a boy can be born into a girl’s body and a girl can be born into a boy’s body, and that drugs and surgery can put things right, the more children will become utterly confused. Respecting and preserving a child’s birth sex should be seen as a child protection issue. It is irresponsible of the BBC to introduce impressionable children as young as six to the idea that they can choose to be something other than their biological sex.’’– Ibid. The BBC defended its series, releasing a statement which claimed the program dealt with “universal themes that many children relate to”. “Just a Girl is about a fictional transgender character trying to, make sense of the world, deal with bullying and work out how to keep her friends, which are universal themes that many children relate to, and which has had a positive response from our audience. “CBBC aims to reflect true life to our audience, providing content that mirrors the lives of as many UK children as possible – you only have to look at programmes such as The Dumping Ground or our BAFTA winning and ground-breaking transgender story ‘I am Leo’ to see that is the case.” The BBC mentions I Am Leo which is another CBBC production. It is a documentary following a 13-year old teen’s process to become a boy. Leo (born Lily) is one of the youngest children in the UK to be given hormone therapy. In short, the BBC and the rest of mass media are fully committed in pushing the gender blurring agenda to children before they even reach puberty.

#PODESTA27: CLINTON TEAM ‘DEFINITELY’ WITHHELD MORE EMAILS FROM CONGRESS

newsguy76

Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 Home › POLITICS | US NEWS › #PODESTA27: CLINTON TEAM ‘DEFINITELY’ WITHHELD MORE EMAILS FROM CONGRESS #PODESTA27: CLINTON TEAM ‘DEFINITELY’ WITHHELD MORE EMAILS FROM CONGRESS 0 SHARES [11/3/16] In the latest batch of emails leaked by WikiLeaks, involving the account of US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign director John Podesta, it has emerged that – far from appearing open in releasing 55,000 emails on personal accounts – her team knew more were still uncovered. In the run-up to the revelation that Clinton had made use of personal emails in her role as Secretary of State, instead of verified and secure government accounts, her team scrambled to limit the damage to her reputation by releasing emails in an effort to appear open and responsible. Her communications adviser Jennifer Palmieri wrote in an email: “Team — wanted to let you know that Cheryl is working with State to get agreement on release of the 55k pages of emails she have to State. The hope would be that we are able to say tonight to the press that we are working with State to get emails released soon.” “Not sure where those discussions will land, but hope is either State agrees to release on >> timely basis or we pledge to release them ourselves in ten days/week. Assume you all would agree this is right move?” In reply, her media adviser, former senior adviser to Barack Obama in both his 2008 and 2012 campaigns for the White House, Jim Margolis, wrote to John Podesta asking: “If there is a release of the 55K, are there others that are not being released?” To which Podesta replied: “Definitely.” The revelation shows how worried the Clinton team were of the inflammable nature of the email affair which has dogged her campaign for nearly a year. Post navigation Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 RESOURCES

Snowden: “Journalists Are a Threatened Class” in Era of Mass Surveillance

Activist Post

By Nika Knight Whistleblower Edward Snowden warned a group of European reporters Wednesday that in the era of mass surveillance, journalists are increasingly a threatened...

What do Russian experts expect from Donald Trump?

Jafe Arnoldski (noreply@blogger.com)

November 9, 2016 - Fort Russ - RT - translated by J. Arnoldski - On November 8th, Republican candidate Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States. The results of the elections are still being summed up, but Trump has the undisputed advantage in electoral votes - 279 against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s 218 - and has therefore practically won. Russian political circles are displaying a cautious attitude towards Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections. Politicians interviewed by RT expect that Russia and America will build more constructive relations, but no warming should be counted on. Russian deputies and senators have noted that they are awaiting a “competent” reaction by Trump to Syria, Crimea, and Ukraine. The deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on International Affairs, Arsen Kanokov, expects Trump to find a common language with Vladimir Putin and Russia overall. The senator said: “There is great hope for a thaw. We all want to have friendly relations with America. The question is how these processes are happening. I think that we will sit at the negotiating table and Russia’s reasonable voice will be heard by America. We hope that they will understand the actions and aid that we are affording to Syria. The political vector will change in this regard.” The first deputy chairwoman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Svetlana Zhurova, recalled that Donald Trump repeatedly spoke of the need for cooperation with Russia even during his election campaign. Zhurova believes: “This does not mean that tomorrow Trump will rush to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin or that our representatives will rush to America to negotiate with him. They will work out orderly, constructive relations. Trump will pay more attention to internal problems rather than the showdown between the two countries. He believes that America should pay attention to economic cooperation with Russia, political dialogue, and the joint struggle against global terrorism. In these spheres, our countries can truly be useful for each other. Trump spoke about all of this in his campaign speeches. He is not the kind of person who breaks his word. Yes, Trump will look to the opinion of the US population, which has some doubts concerning Russia, but there won’t be such aggression in policies towards Russia like the Obama administration did.” Dmitry Novikov, also a member of the State Duma’s international committee, suggests that no radical changes in the US' foreign policy course should be expected. “Trump has been elected president of his country, so he will undoubtedly defend the interests of the US and its ruling circles. If Trump will fulfill his promises on how the administration in Washington should focus on solving domestic problems, then maybe his foreign policy won’t be so aggressive. As for what concerns Russia, more common sense approaches to such issues as Syria, Crimea, and Ukraine might prevail in the White House’s policies. In these cases, the preconditions for the normalization of relations between Russia and the United States could be expressed,” Novikov posited. Novikov also added that no warming of relations like in the days of Kennedy and Khrushchev should be expected, since Russia’s geopolitical position has dramatically changed. “The Soviet Union had much more formidable starting capabilities to be on an equal footing in the world arena. The country had economic weight and a system of alliances. In this sense, modern Russia has a somewhat weaker position. Nevertheless, the US has enough domestic problems, and if Trump really zeros in on solving them, then we could see more reasonable foreign policy,” he added. In turn, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on International Affairs, Vladimir Dzhabarov, believes that Trump’s victory will positively impact Russian-American relations. According to him: “One shouldn't wait for any dramatic warming [in relations], or worsening, for that matter, which was expected if Hillary won.” Dzhabarov remarked that Trump, during his election campaign, behaved with dignity and did not spew out any negative statements towards Russia and the Russian president. The politician also expressed hope that the billionaire’s victory would affect Europe’s position on relations with Russia: “No wonder they have taken a cautious position on sanctions. I hope that they will become more independent,” Dzhabarov said. Follow us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! Donate!

There’s wildly conflicting information about what FBI actually found in renewed Clinton email probe

Howard Portnoy

There’s no clear consensus as of yet whether the emails were sent by Clinton herself, to Clinton, whether they were from her private server, or even whether any of the emails were new. Here’s a breakdown of what has been reported thus far: Los Angeles Times : “The emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them.” The Washington Post : “The correspondence included emails between Abedin and Clinton, according to a law enforcement official.” CNN : “The emails in question were sent or received by Abedin, according to a law enforcement official.” The New York Times : “Senior law enforcement officials said that it was unclear if any of the emails were from Mrs. Clinton’s private server.” ABC News : “These emails were not sent by Hillary Clinton, and the FBI has no evidence of wrongdoing by her, according to a source familiar with the investigation.”

Sessions DOJ Ends ’Holder Memo’ Era, Resumes Strict Drug Sentencing - Breitbart

Ian Mason

The Department of Justice announced Friday the end of former Attorney General Eric Holder’s controversial policy preventing certain offenders being charged with crimes that trigger mandatory minimums. [The office of Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a memorandum titled “Department Charging and Sentencing Policy” to all 93 U. S. Attorney’s offices around the country. As the nation’s leading federal law enforcement official, the Attorney General has the authority to direct charging policy for all DOJ employees. This “Sessions Memo” expressly voids the August 2013, ‘Holder Memo‘ by General Holder that governed charging decisions until now. AG Memo on Department Charging and Sentencing Policy by Breitbart News on Scribd, Most controversially, the Holder Memo forbade federal prosecutors from pursuing charges that would trigger mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain categories of drug offenders, even when prosecutors felt those charges were justified by the facts. Specifically, those caught even with large amounts of drugs were to be charged with less serious offenses that did not trigger mandatory minimums if the defendant was “” not a member of a drug cartel, did not have a long criminal history, and met certain other requirements. It is important to note that, unlike some state systems, most defendants charged with “ ” drug crimes in the federal criminal justice system are not arrested with personal use or even sale quantities. The Holder Memo became relevant only when federal mandatory minimums for drug offenses kicked in. According to U. S. Sentencing Commission materials the smallest amounts needed to trigger these minimum sentences were one kilogram of heroin (approximately 10, 000 doses) five kilograms of Cocaine, 280 grams of crack cocaine, or a metric ton of marijuana. Proponents saw the Holder Memo as a “safety valve” for “ ” drug offenders. The memo itself cites the need to reserve mandatory minimum sentences for the highest level of drug offenders and the prosecutor’s role in doing so given federal case law that requires judges follow mandatory minimums enacted by Congress when criminals are convicted under those statutes. Opponents of the Holder Memo felt it demanded federal prosecutors ignore the will of Congress and deliberately circumvent the sentencing structure imposed by the legislature. In this view, U. S. Attorneys were prevented from charging offenses they could readily prove and instead were instructed to conceal from juries the actual amounts of drugs defendants were alleged to have possessed or sold. In any event, the Holder Memo was a radical departure from the previously governing “Ashcroft Memo,” named for its putative author George W. Attorney General John Ashcroft, which demanded federal prosecutors must, in all criminal cases, charge the most serious offense they had a strong likelihood of proving beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. For example, most people charged with murder could also be charged with manslaughter. Most charged with armed robbery could also be charged with theft. And most of those charged with selling 10 kilograms of drugs could also be charged for selling 1 kilogram of drugs. The Ashcroft Memo, from which Eric Holder departed, forbade U. S. Attorneys from ever charging the lesser included offense and always charging the most serious readily provable offense. Friday’s Sessions Memo reinstates this policy as the default instruction for all federal prosecutors effective immediately. The Sessions Memo, however, is not a mere restatement of the Ashcroft Memo. While the duty to charge the most serious offense is on line prosecutors, the memo recognizes the need for prosecutorial discretion in certain charging decisions. Only supervisors such as the 93 U. S. Attorneys and the 12 Assistant Attorneys General may approve deviation from the “most serious offense” requirement. This allows a degree of autonomy and discretion for individual offices not available in the Ashcroft years. This discretion is perhaps most important in securing the cooperation of criminals to bring down larger criminal enterprises. “” whereby prosecutors agree to charge defendants with less harsh sentencing guidelines in exchange for cooperating with the authorities in other investigation, is a powerful “carrot” available to some state prosecutors. The Sessions memo will that tool to the federal justice system, but only in the hands of DOJ officials and only when they’ve made their reasoning for doing so clear to the relevant court.

Thousands Protest Trump Immigration Order in London

Nick Hallett

LONDON, United Kingdom — Thousands of people joined a protest against U. S President Donald Trump in London on Saturday, calling an end to his immigration order and the cancellation of his planned state visit later this year. [The demonstrators, who predominantly came from a variety of left wing groups, gathered outside the U. S embassy in Grosvenor Square at 11am before marching to Downing Street. Protesters held placards reading, among other things, “Stop Trump’s Muslim Ban” “Silence Is Compliance” and “No to racism, no to Trump”. Organisers included the Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Muslim Council of Britain and Friends of . This was the third demonstration in London since President Trump’s inauguration, after a similar demonstration Monday evening, and the London version of the “Women’s March”. Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, told the crowd that every British teacher should be involved in the campaign against Trump. ” “We can fight Trump’s policies, we can fight that division,” he said. Mr Trump is due to visit Britain later this year on a state visit. A petition to cancel that visit, to spare the Queen “embarrassment” has now reached around 1. 8 million signatures. The protest came despite a federal judge in Washington State granting a nationwide emergency order blocking President Trump’s executive order restricting immigration, declaring it unconstitutional. The White House issued a statement saying it would file for an “emergency stay” for the order. The President also took to Twitter to say: “The opinion of this judge, which essentially takes away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!”

Ron Paul To America: ‘Vote All You Want… The Secret Government Won’t Change’

Starkman

Ron Paul has never been a man to keep his opinions under wraps to spare the feelings or the reputations of others. Since he has retired from Congress he has embarked on a number of strongly worded tirades against those he perceives to be manipulating American democracy. Via UsualRoutine Therefore it should not come as a surprise to anyone that Paul has a lot to say about the current presidential election. As well as calling Donald Trump and authoritarian and claiming that Hillary Clinton could have easily run on a Republican ticket, Paul has also made some sensational allegations about election rigging. Scroll Down For Video Below The allegations were made in the course of Paul’s web show, called the Liberty Report which was focusing on the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to take a more active role in the election. Secretary Jeh Johnson said he was “considering whether elections should be classified as ‘critical infrastructure, ’ affording them the same kinds of enhanced protections that the banking system and the electrical grid receive.” This move was prompted by the hacking of sensitive emails from members of the Democrat Party. While the government and the mass media have been quick to lay the blame on Russia they have yet to offer substantive evidence to support these claims. Nonetheless, the implication that a foreign government could substantially influence the American democratic process has opened up the possibility that managing the election should be a matter for the security services. Paul said that the idea that Homeland Security could be charged with protecting the electoral process was frankly risible. He cited their previous history of incompetence and failed objectives. Moreover, he said that it was entirely possible that people within the Department of Homeland Security could use their new power to manipulate the electoral process and seize power for themselves. According to Paul, “They may have false flags and they may do a lot of things, but no matter how an emergency comes up, they’re going to make use of it. And the use of it isn’t to say ‘Hey, how are we going to protect the American people?’ Are they worrying, when they talk about doing something about rigged elections, [that] the votes are counted? No, they’re making sure that the votes aren’t counted and they’re irrelevant and the government has all this power.” This should not be seen as merely idle speculation, Paul warned his viewers, as there is already systemic election rigging in the United States. “The elections don’t matter. This is a ritual that we go through, ” he said. What really matters, according to Paul was some kind of hidden powerful cabal who were much more influential than the ‘will of the people.’ Despite all of this, Paul says that there is a great deal to be optimistic about. He said that if enough people became aware of the fractured nature of American democracy then there could be important changes in economic philosophy and the protection of civil liberties both at home and abroad. This kind of attitudinal shift could rob the ‘deep state’ of its power and mean that the American people would be safer and richer.

Abby Martin Exposes Hillary Clinton Chair John Podesta

Abby Martin

Videos Abby Martin Exposes Hillary Clinton Chair John Podesta With his brother Tony at the Podesta Group, John is also one of the most powerful corporate lobbyists in the world. The Podesta family weaves their business through John’s DC think tank Center for American Progress, where policies are made for their corporate sponsors. Be Sociable, Share! Screenshot [Youtube] With the Wikileaks release of thousands of emails belonging to John Podesta, very little is known about Podesta himself. While he is treated as just a well-meaning Clinton supporter who has had his privacy unjustly exposed, he is actually one of the most powerful people in Washington, who has operating mostly behind-the-scenes. He’s the chair of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and was the man advising the last two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. With his brother Tony at the Podesta Group, John is also one of the most powerful corporate lobbyists in the world. The Podesta family weaves their business through John’s DC think tank Center for American Progress, where policies are made for their corporate sponsors. Podesta’s emails show that the so-called “progressive” wing of the establishment is really just a neoliberal insiders club of the rich and powerful. In this episode of The Empire Files, Abby Martin exposes political operative John Podesta’s political rise and network of shady corporations, brutal dictatorships and media collaborators. Watch the prelude to this exposé, where Abby exposes Hillary Clinton’s business of corporate shilling and war making.

Why Do People Who Need Help From the Government Hate It So Much? - The New York Times

Jason DeParle

STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LANDAnger and Mourning on the American RightBy Arlie Russell Hochschild351 pp. The New Press. $27. 95. Arlie Hochschild’s generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party presents a likable fellow named Lee Sherman, who once worked for a Louisiana chemical plant where his duties included illegally dumping toxic waste into the bayou. Sherman did the dirty work then the company did him dirty. After 15 years on the job, he was doused with chemicals that “burned my clothes clean off me” and left him ill. But rather than pay his disability costs, his bosses accused him of absenteeism and fired him. Sherman became a fledgling environmentalist and got his revenge after a giant fish kill threatened the livelihood of nearby fishermen. Company officials feigned innocence, but Sherman barged into a public meeting with an incriminating sign: I’M THE ONE WHO DUMPED IT IN THE BAYOU. a couple of decades and Sherman, still an environmentalist, is campaigning for a Tea Party congressman who wants to gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Sherman still distrusts chemical companies, but he distrusts the federal government more, because it spends his tax money on people who “lazed around days and partied at night. ” In “Strangers in Their Own Land,” which has been nominated for a National Book Award, Hochschild calls this the “Great Paradox” — opposition to federal help from people and places that need it — and sets off across Louisiana on an energetic, quest to understand it. A distinguished Berkeley sociologist, Hochschild is a woman of the left, but her mission is empathy, not polemics. She takes seriously the Tea Partiers’ complaints that they have become the “strangers” of the title — triply marginalized by flat or falling wages, rapid demographic change, and liberal culture that mocks their faith and patriotism. Her affection for her characters is palpable. But the resentments she finds are as toxic as the pollutants in the marsh and metastasizing throughout politics. What unites her subjects is the powerful feeling that others are “cutting in line” and that the federal government is supporting people on the dole — “taking money from the workers and giving it to the idle. ” Income is flowing up, but the anger points down. The people who feel this are white. The usurpers they picture are blacks and immigrants. Hochschild takes care not to call anyone racist but concludes that “race is an essential part of this story. ” When she asks a mayor to describe his politics, his first two issues — or is it one in his mind? — are welfare and race: “I don’t like the government paying unwed mothers to have a lot of kids, and I don’t go for affirmative action. ” In welfare politics, this is déjà vu all over again. It’s been two decades since Bill Clinton signed a tough welfare law aimed in part to end the politics of blame. “Ending welfare as we know it” would recast the needy as workers, he said, and build support for a new safety net. The rolls of the main federal cash program have fallen by 80 percent from their 1990s highs — in Louisiana, by 95 percent. But reverse class anger is more potent than ever. Liberals have long wondered why voters support policies that (the liberals think) hurt the working class. Why would victims of pollution side with the polluters? Theories abound. Thomas Frank accuses the G. O. P. of luring voters with social issues but delivering tax cuts for the rich. Others point to the political machines built by donors like Charles and David Koch. Still others emphasize the influence of conservative media like Fox News. Hochschild sees these as partial explanations but wants a fuller understanding of “emotion in politics” — she wants to know how Tea Partiers feel, on the theory that the movement serves their “emotional ” by providing “a giddy release” from years of frustration. Six characters dominate the book, including Harold Areno, who lives on a swamp so polluted even the rugged cypress trees are dead. He and his wife have had cancer. Yet Areno supports politicians hostile to environmental regulation because he cares more about banning abortion. “We vote for candidates that put the Bible where it belongs,” he said. Mike Schaff lost his neighborhood to the Bayou Corne sinkhole, which started to swallow 37 acres in 2012 after a lightly regulated drilling company punctured an underground salt dome. But he remains a “free market man,” because “Big Government” threatens “community. ” Many Tea Party adherents warn that more regulation will cost them jobs. (A mayor says the pungent chemical plant “smells like rice and gravy. ”) But Hochschild detects other passions and assembles what she calls the “deep story” — a “feels as if” story, beyond facts or judgment, that presents her subjects’ worldview. It goes like this: “You are patiently standing in a long line” for something you call the American dream. You are white, Christian, of modest means, and getting along in years. You are male. There are people of color behind you, and “in principle you wish them well. ” But you’ve waited long, worked hard, “and the line is barely moving. ” Then “Look! You see people cutting in line ahead of you!” Who are these interlopers? “Some are black,” others “immigrants, refugees. ” They get affirmative action, sympathy and welfare — “checks for the listless and idle. ” The government wants you to feel sorry for them. And who runs the government? “The biracial son of a single mother,” and he’s cheering on the line cutters. “The president and his wife are line cutters themselves. ” The liberal media mocks you as racist or homophobic. Everywhere you look, “you feel betrayed. ” Hochschild runs the myth past her Tea Party friends. “You’ve read my mind,” Lee Sherman said. “I live your analogy,” Mike Schaff said. Harold Areno’s niece agrees, and says she has seen people drive their children to Head Start in Lexuses. “If people refuse to work, we should let them starve,” she said. Actually, anger this raw may depart from the 1990s, when welfare critics often framed their attacks as efforts to help the poor by fighting dependency. The resentments Hochschild presents are unadorned, and they have mutated into a broader suspicion of almost everything the federal government does. “The government has gone rogue, corrupt, malicious and ugly,” one Tea Partier complains. “It can’t help anybody. ” Did welfare really “end”? Conservatives say no. Cash aid plummeted, but food stamp usage soared to new highs and the Medicaid rolls expanded. There’s room for debate, but the grievances Hochschild presents feel immune to policy solutions. As long as larger forces are squeezing whites of modest means, it’s going to “feel as if” people are cutting in line. In Lexuses. None of Hochschild’s characters appear to have been directly hurt by competition from people of color. Their economic problems lie elsewhere, she argues, in unchecked corporate power and technological transformation. Still there’s no denying that demographic and cultural change have robbed white men of the status they once enjoyed. Hochschild doesn’t buy the racial but she can see their pain. Whatever racial or class resentments she finds, Hochschild makes clear that she likes the people she meets. They aren’t just soldiers in a class war but victims of one, too. She mourns their economic losses, praises their warmth and hospitality, and admires their “grit and resilience. ” While her hopes of finding common political ground seem overly optimistic, this is a smart, respectful and compelling book.

Former Secret Service Officer: Madonna’s Bomb the White House Speech Could Motivate Others to Act

Dan Riehl

Gary Byrne, former Secret Service officer and author of Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate, spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow about reports that the Secret Service will investigate Madonna for her “blowing up the White House” comment. [As Breitbart News reported, “The U. S. Secret Service will reportedly open an investigation into Madonna after the singer told demonstrators at the Women’s March on Washington Saturday that she has often thought of ‘blowing up the White House. ’” Byrne told host Marlow, “When she says that the White House should be blown up, do I think that Madonna’s going to do it? Not necessarily. But it’s about this: meaning, motive, opportunity, and intent. ” Byrne’s larger point was that the issue has more to do with Madonna’s influence and the potential for her remarks to motivate others, as opposed to her taking any action herself. The Secret Service knows, added Byrne, “from years and years of experience that people with issues can be motivated by hate and anger speech. ” Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern.

News And Views From The Nefarium – November 3, 2016 [Video]

Gillian

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Maryland Academics Propose Income-Based Per-Mile Driving Tax

Joe from MassPrivateI

The Newspaper For academics at the University of Maryland (UMD), merely collecting a toll from drivers for every mile they drive is not enough. UMD College Park researchers Di Yang, Eirini Kastrouni and Lei Zhang insist in a recent academic paper that motorists should pay a proportionally higher tax that is based on their income. Published in the journal Transport Policy, the article argues that a new variable-rate vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could supplement transportation funds being rapidly depleted by increased spending on transit infrastructure. “On the revenue generation side, VMT fee policies can supplement the existing fuel tax revenues to mitigate the fiscal deficit,” the researchers wrote for the London School of Economics last week. “The three income-based VMT fees are all designed to double the revenue generated so that they are comparable with respect to their impacts on consumer surplus and travel behavior.” Currently, gasoline taxes at the state and federal level are collected primarily at the distributor level, which keeps the tax simple. The more one drives, the more one pays, with those choosing lighter and more fuel efficient vehicles spending less at the pump. Many politicians hate the gas tax because the public generally opposes hikes in fuel taxes. As a result, transportation officials have sought more indirect means of taxation that would make it easier to raise rates. The VMT has emerged as a popular solution in transportation circles, but opponents have objected that vehicle miles traveled taxes hit low-income drivers the hardest. The researchers suggest the solution is to raise more money for transit while simultaneously eliminating the fairness concern by imposing higher VMT taxes on drivers from high-income households. “Among the proposed fee structures, the policy with a fixed interval increase rate as people’s level of income improves is considered to be progressive overall,” the researchers explain. A ten cent per mile VMT tax would generate $44 billion nationwide over twenty years. The latest article is based on an analysis in Yang’s 2014 master’s thesis which calculated the impact of the fees using various economic and travel demand models. One model, for instance, would have the tax jump 50 percent at each income bracket. So a 10-cent-per mile rate for households earning less than $20,000 per year would rise to 15 cents up to the $20,000 to $40,000 per year bracket. From $40,000 to $60,000, the rate would be 23 cents, from $60,000 to $100,000 it would be 34 cents, and above $100,000 it would be 51 cents. As most drivers travel 12,000 miles per year, the low income tax would be $1200 compared to $6120 for the wealthy. At this rate, Yang calculates that the income-adjusted vehicle miles traveled tax would more than double the gas tax revenue, compared to the 57 percent increase a flat-rate VMT would generate. The paper presumes drivers facing a doubling of government fees would be more inclined to take the bus.

November 2016 Energy Report

Gillian

Leave a reply Jennifer Hoffman – As we end another rather challenging month it’s tempting to ask when it will all be over. That’s not a good question to ask right now because it implies that we’re the passenger on this ride and we have no control over the outcomes. But we are the driver and we have all of the control, as we’ll see in November. From October’s 1 energy we move into the 2 of November but this is 2 reduced from 11 (November is the 11th month) which is the integration of spirit and matter, of human and divine. Are we ready to reap the rewards of our efforts now, or are we waiting for permission to sit at life’s victory banquet? It’s up to us and we’ll find out in November that the rewards are there but we have to step up to the podium and claim them for ourselves. November can be a ‘joy ride’ if we’re willing to let go, lift off, and shine on. November begins with a new moon which happened at the end of October. Nevertheless, the energy is still resonating with us and this was a very busy new moon. It really brings forward November’s theme of spiritual integration, with the Sun, Moon, and Mercury all trine (120 degrees) Neptune in Pisces. Here we have both lights (sun and moon), as well Mercury, the planet of karma, all interfacing with Neptune in Pisces, the final house of the zodiac. The message for us is to become spiritually mature – accept ourselves as powerful spiritual masters and let go of any thoughts or beliefs about not deserving or being ‘good enough’. But it gets better because Jupiter is close by (it’s the traditional Pisces ruler) so it amps up the spiritual energy we have to use for our transformation and transition to the ascension vibe. This continues the Jupiter effect from September 2015 as we move forward into phase two of our spiritual awakening cycle that began then. The November 2016 Energy Mastery class is November 4, 2016, where you’ll learn how to best use November’s energy (and what to avoid), along with energy exercises and our energy meditation. Click here to sign up, the call is live and recorded, worksheet is included too. Then there is the tricky Venus/Saturn conjunction happening too. What happens when you put the planet of beauty, love, and partnership in the same small space with the zodiac’s disciplinarian and reality teacher, Saturn? Either a lot of heated discussion or stony silence. The energy of this union is a reality check for us in the relationship area, starting with the one we have with ourselves, as well as our relationships with others. Are we being ‘real’ with ourselves, giving ourselves the same level of caring, compassion, and consideration that we give others? Where are we focusing our energy and what do we want to create in our lives, separating our needs, wants, and desires from those of others? Venus wants it all and not always in a balanced or achievable way. Saturn strives to focus our enthusiasm on what we really want and to eliminate the limitations, distractions, worries, and fears that prevent us from realizing our dreams. Venus is like the 3 year old who wants the cookie, and Saturn is the mother who says “No, not before dinner”. The mother is doing it to benefit the child but it doesn’t feel that way. Our response here is important, to do we keep pushing against the ‘no’ or do we figure out why the ‘no’ is there and then make other plans? Are we in denial of anything in our reality or are we willing to take off the ‘rose colored glasses’ and start doing what we need and want to be happy? Have you been feeling less motivated, a little slow and unconsciously taking a very deep, detailed look at your life? You can blame Mars for that during the past several months as he has been aspecting the heavy hitters, Saturn in September and Pluto in November, as well as squaring the Uranus/Eris conjunction this past week. We’re used to Mars energy being very fast moving (except when it was moving back and forth through Scorpio from January to August this year) and jumping over hurdles. But we have had to adapt to a new, more mature Mars energy this year, that takes its time, digs deeply, considers, reconsiders, and assesses the terrain before moving forward. While this is a more deliberate Mars energy, we prefer the fast moving Mars, although we won’t have it until 2017. The Mars/Pluto action ends the first week of November but its energy has been rather depressing lately. And here’s why, we have Mars, which rules the firgrandparents-1017825_1280st house of the zodiac, Aries, walking with Pluto, which is (supposedly) the last planet in our solar system (ignore the planetary demotions and astronomy games) and rules Scorpio. Mars is also the traditional Scorpio ruler, so we have double Scorpio energy here. (yes, the Scorpio energy just continues). But, the Mars/Pluto conjunction is like what happens when a little child spends time with an elderly grandparent – the child slows down to accommodate the grandparent’s age, while the grandparent adjusts their conversation to the child’s age. It’s the best of both worlds, the slowing down to reflect, consider, assess, and connect on a shared level. But when that’s happening in your personal life and you need things to be done or to get done, and don’t have any time for esoteric ‘navel gazing’ because you need action happening now, it can be frustrating. And yet, this is part of taking action because we must get used to aligning energetically before we leap into unknown territory without ensuring that it’s right and best for us and is something we want to integrate with and put into our reality. All of this activity in October, the ‘1’ month, had a purpose, to bring us into the ‘2’ of November. This is not about relationships, romance, and revelry, although there is an opportunity for that. This is first and foremost about our central relationship, with ourselves. We are either alone in our humanity or partnered with our divinity, where the human ‘1’ becomes the ‘2’ divine human. What do we need to embrace about ourselves, including our beauty, perfection, wisdom, and potential, to allow this to happen?divinity-is-your-destiny What do we need to release, shed, and turn away from, including our need for approval and validation, beliefs in unworthiness, fears about the future, and inability to acknowledge our power, to make room for our divinity? The opposite of divinity is not evil (which is the word ‘live’ backwards), it is profanity, which is the absence of divinity. A profane reality is not one filled with four letter words; it is one which has no room for the divine; therefore, it will always feel incomplete because divinity makes us whole, complete, and congruent in our individual energy and brings us closer to being in congruence collectively. Many things in the past few months, including the ridiculous antics of the US presidential election, have shown us what a ‘profane’ world resembles and this has pushed many people in the opposite direction, seeking the wisdom and empowerment of divinity. ‘Every dark potential does have a light purpose’, when we remember that the light is always there and the darkness always gives way to it. If the events of this year have revealed the profane to you, make an intentional choice to integrate the empowerment of divinity into your life. This is the month to do that. Moving the profanity of 3D to the divine energy of 5D in November compels us to take action, which begins energetically. The process starts with the intention to allow new beliefs, new perspectives, and new alignments to become our energetic partners. Do we desire to have higher frequency energies, like joy, in our life? These are created when we agree to align with 5D energies. I do have to mention the full moon of November 14, which is involves the Sun/Moon in Taurus/Scorpio and it’s at 22 degrees, echoing the eclipse degree of November 13, 2013, just after Saturn first entered Scorpio. If it feels like that pesky Scorpio energy won’t go away, it will hang around through the end of the year. It is part of the profound transformation that is in place to push us through these final stages of resistance to our ascension. Then in 2017 we will have the occasional Scorpio reminder (it is, after all, one of the zodiac signs) but it won’t be the same intensity we have experienced since 2012. This is a very special full moon because the moon will be closer to the earth than it has been since 1948, so it will have extra impact. If you’re out and about you may want to pay extra attention to your driving and people may be very emotional and distracted. We have the usual ongoing energies happening this month too, including the ongoing Uranus/Eris square, and the wounded healer Chiron energy, but with a new focus, how do we put things together to create the new paradigms we have been wanting to align with and integrate? So much of our time has been spent in taking things apart this year, now it’s time to put them together – not in the same way, unless that’s what we want, but in new and different ways that serve our intention for joy, peace, love, abundance, fulfillment and, our theme for 2016, congruent harmony.November is a month for spiritual maturity, where we set aside the regrets of the past and begin to look forward to taking action in new directions, fully embracing our power to create a reality, and a world, in which spirit and human work together, in partnership, which is the only way we’re going to allow 5D energies in to stay. If we keep our focus on 5D integration – 3D is not disappearing or going away, ascension is an integration, not a takeover – we will start seeing progress this month. But November is not all work and no play, it’s also a month for joy and it can be a ‘joy ride’ if we are willing to stop working so hard to get the rest of humanity to align with the ascension energies and have some fun. That is going to be one of our missions in 2017, to lead from the lighter energy and frequency of joy, to be less of a light ‘worker’ and more of a light ‘beacon’, enjoying our own journey while we do the work of fulfilling our individual and collective transformation and ascension missions. And remember we are already in the energy of 2017, the switch began in September so you don’t have to wait until January for your joyful new beginnings and fresh starts, you can put that into action right now. Ready, set, and let’s soar into our new 5D paradigms, it’s all set to go. And get in the driver’s seat, you are not a passenger in these new paradigms. Plus, being the driver means you control the speed and how fast you get to your destination. Time to put the ‘pedal to the metal’ and put all of our learning into action. Have a wonderful month. The November 2016 Energy Mastery class is November 4, 2016, where you’ll learn how to best use November’s energy (and what to avoid), along with energy exercises and our energy meditation. CLICK HERE to sign up, the call is live and recorded, worksheet is included too. Copyright (c) 2016 by Jennifer Hoffman . All rights reserved. You may quote, copy, translate and link to this article, in its entirety, on free, non-donation based websites only, as long as you include the author name and a working link back to this website. All other uses are strictly prohibited. SF Source Enlightening Life Nov. 2016 Share this:

Former Labour Foreign Minister Says Religious Motives Must Be Recognised to Defeat Terror

Liam Deacon

A former Labour Party foreign minister has implied the government of Tony Blair was wrong to ignore the religious roots of Islamist terror, urging authorities to ‘take on’ the ideology to defeat terror. [Kim Howells, who oversaw the work of MI5 and MI6 during the Blair and Brown years, said Islamist violence is distinct from other forms of terror and Western values such as democracy must be defended. “I was part of a Government that said: ‘Well, we don’t do God.’ But you can’t afford not to do God on this one, I think,” he told Wales Online. “These people aren’t motivated — not on the most part, anyway — by money or some kind of nationalism. It’s different from the IRA. These people are prepared to kill themselves and they do it because they think it’s a shortcut to paradise … “Unless people have enough courage to take that on and try and convince young people that the Caliphate is not a better way of running society than a democracy they are going to be lured to these organisations. ” Whilst some say Islamic terror is largely driven by grievances such as “Islamophobia” “alienation” and Western foreign policy, Mr. Howells argues it is necessary to appreciate the importance of theological turmoil going on within Islam. “These guys are not just trying to kill unbelievers and Christians and so on. Their main enemy is another form of Islam,” he said, referring to the violent schism between Sunni and Shia Islam. Many other nations and ethnic groups have been affected by foreign interventions and discrimination, yet the vast majority of recent terror attacks have occurred in countries afflicted by Islamist insurgencies. According to the Global Terrorism Database, in 2015, “69% of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in five countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen)”. Terrorists returning from these conflict zones present a real challenge to the UK. Between 700 and 1, 500 Brits have travelled to join Islamic State terrorists, and Mr. Howell said former jihadists should be a “real worry” for the security of the nation. “There’s going to be a significant proportion of those people who are determined to carry on the fight here. They’ve been trained in how to use guns and how to construct bombs,” he said. “They are going to have to be watched very carefully. But just to watch one person takes a large number of people and a lot of money. “How on earth you keep tabs on 400 or 500 people at any given time as well as those who never went to Syria but you judge are posing a threat is not easy. ”

A&ampE Shelves a K.K.K. Documentary Series Over Cash Payments - The New York Times

Eli Rosenberg

A documentary series that was set to take viewers inside the Ku Klux Klan has been canceled by AE after the network discovered that some of the show’s producers had made cash payments to participants on the show. The series, “Escaping the KKK,” promised an look at Klan members and their families, but it had prompted wide outcry since news about the show came out last Sunday. For a network best known for shows like “Hoarders” and “Intervention,” the K. K. K. series represented a strikingly complicated and politically charged endeavor, and fell into a roiling national debate about the potential glamorization of racism and bigotry that has grown only louder since the presidential election. The show’s producers had tried to calm the backlash in recent days, changing the title of the series from “Generation KKK,” with its vaguely romantic undertones, to “Escaping the KKK: A Documentary Series Exposing Hate in America. ” They also announced a partnership with Color of Change, a civil rights group that had expressed concern about the show, to develop some of the program’s segments and to provide more context. The network defended the show, which it said would “expose and combat racism and hatred in all its forms. ” But in the end, AE had to back down without airing an episode after about a week of outcry. The series, which had been in the works for about a year and a half, was scheduled to debut in January. In a statement on Saturday, AE said the decision not to air the show was based on a revelation that producers had given money to some of the participants in order to facilitate access. The company did not say how much the payments were or how they were paid, but did describe them as “nominal. ” It said it had previously assured the public, and groups such as Color of Change and the League, that no payments were made to members. “While we stand behind the intent of the series and the seriousness of the content, these payments are a direct violation of AE’s policies and practices for a documentary,” the company wrote in a statement. A spokesman for the network said the production company This is Just a Test, or someone it had hired, had made payments to a hate group, which violated a company policy. The spokesman did not know if the company had a larger policy against paying subjects for documentary participation. The practice of paying subjects for interviews and access is frowned upon by many media outlets, including The New York Times. But it remains an ethical gray area that other organizations — particularly some American TV news programs, documentary series and reality shows — are willing to exploit. On its website, This is Just a Test, which AE said had originally pitched the series, does not bill itself as a journalism enterprise. It describes itself as a “premium content maker” for television series, films, commercials and branded content.

Matt Lauer Loses the War in a Battle Between the Candidates - The New York Times

James Poniewozik

The NBC presidential forum on Wednesday night in Manhattan brought together the candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump to try to determine who has the strength, preparation and presence of mind to lead during a time of crisis. It sure wasn’t Matt Lauer. In an event aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier Intrepid, the “Today” host was lost at sea. Seemingly unprepared on military and foreign policy specifics, he performed like a soldier sent on a mission without ammunition, beginning with a disorganized offensive, ending in a humiliating retreat. Mr. Lauer interviewed the candidates in turn for a each. He began by asking Mrs. Clinton to defend her use of a private email server as secretary of state. And asking again. And again. Roughly a third of his questioning dealt with the emails — a matter certainly connected to national security, but also a staple issue of this year’s reporting. It suggested, as the rest of the forum confirmed, that Mr. Lauer was steadiest handling issues familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of the morning politics headlines. That emphasis left relatively little time for the forum’s and military subjects. Mr. Lauer and the audience asked about complex topics — the Middle East, terrorism, veterans’ affairs — and Mr. Lauer pressed for simple answers. “As briefly as you can,” he injected when an audience member asked how Mrs. Clinton would decide whether to deploy troops against the Islamic State. There’s a difference between an interviewer who has questions and one who has knowledge, and Mr. Lauer illustrated it. He seemed to be plowing through a checklist, not listening in the moment in a way that led to productive . Short on time, he repeatedly interrupted Mrs. Clinton in a way he didn’t with Mr. Trump. (“Let me finish,” she protested at one point.) Candidates should expect to be challenged. They’re applying for a challenging job. But where Mr. Lauer treated Mrs. Clinton like someone running for president, he treated Mr. Trump like someone running to figure out how to be president, eventually. That interview was the apotheosis of this presidential campaign’s forced marriage of entertainment and news. The host of NBC’s morning show interviewed the former star of its reality show “The Apprentice,” and the whole thing played out as farce. Like Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has had a few controversies related to the military. You might recall him feuding with a Gold Star family, or mocking Senator John McCain of Arizona for being captured in Vietnam, or likening his attendance to military experience. Mr. Lauer evidently didn’t recall any of that. He kicked off by asking Mr. Trump what in his life had prepared him to be president, the kind of whiffle ball question you ask the boss’s nephew you know you have to hire anyway. Mr. Lauer did press the Republican candidate on his claims of a “secret plan” to defeat the Islamic State and his repeated praise of Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia, leading Mr. Trump to cite the Russian authoritarian’s poll numbers and compare him favorably with President Obama. In general, though, Mr. Lauer’s questioning of Mr. Trump was like watching one student quiz another to prep for a test neither had done the reading for. The host asked soft questions that invited the candidate to answer with word clouds. Mr. Lauer prefaced one question by saying that “nobody would expect you” to have read deeply into foreign policy before running for president. He asked Mr. Trump if he would be “prepared on Day 1,” a question that will elicit only one answer from any candidate not about to drop out. Most egregiously, Mr. Lauer allowed Mr. Trump to repeat, unchallenged, the false claim that he had opposed the war in Iraq when, as reported by BuzzFeed, he supported the invasion on record in 2002. Any minimally prepared interviewer would have been ready for that claim, even if Mrs. Clinton had not earlier rebutted it in front of Mr. Lauer’s face. NBC News has a vast staff of anchors and reporters. Why turn over the grilling to a guy who had a hard enough time questioning Ryan Lochte? Giving a showcase to your top morning host works only if you’re showcasing something the host does well. Maybe the thinking was that Mr. Lauer would have sufficient training wheels in a format that wasn’t a debate. In fact, he asked each candidate not to attack the other in answers, an absurd request that neither one followed anyway. (Though again, Mr. Lauer criticized only Mrs. Clinton for it.) But the forum was a sort of introductory skirmish before the debates. It gave the candidates a chance to practice, to scout each other — and above all, to test the current news media waters, to see how willing a network anchor is to challenge and correct. Mr. Lauer, fortunately, is not going to moderate a presidential debate. But Fox News’s Chris Wallace is, and he recently said that he did not consider it his job to candidates as a moderator. Let’s not mistake who this helps most: the website PolitiFact has found far more false statements from Mr. Trump than from Mrs. Clinton. Why would a journalist be allergic to verifying the truth? On an MSNBC panel, Chris Matthews guessed that Mr. Lauer didn’t correct Mr. Trump on Iraq because of perceptions. “You have to call the guy a liar when you do that,” he said. “That’s the difficult thing for a Matt Lauer to do, because it sounds like an opinion. ” But it’s not. When a candidate says he didn’t say something that he did, that’s a matter of fact. Here’s what an opinion looks like: It’s a travesty to be steamrollered by a candidate because you’re worried that doing your job will look bad. To put it in military terms, weakness is an invitation to attack. Going into the debates, what we saw at NBC’s forum should make you very, very worried about our first line of defense.

Jailed by Egypt, Honored for His Photojournalism - The New York Times

Russell Goldman and Nour Youssef

Photographs capture mere fractions of seconds, but a series of them taken by an Egyptian journalist has cost him more than three years of his life. Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, has been in Tora Prison in Cairo for more than 1, 100 days. He has been detained without trial since he was arrested while photographing the deadly antigovernment protests that roiled Egypt in the summer of 2013. “My passion is photography, but I am paying the price for my passion with my life. Without it, a part of me is missing,” Mr. Abou Zeid wrote in a letter published by the Committee to Protect Journalists in March 2015 to mark his 600th day in detention. “Tora prison is like a cemetery. It is a place where dreams come to die. ” On Tuesday, the committee honored Mr. Abou Zeid with an International Press Freedom Award, presented in New York — in absentia. The group started a campaign, asking supporters who attended its annual gala to photograph themselves holding a placard saying #FreeShawkan and post it to Twitter. Among the journalists who posted selfies at the event was Martin Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post. Since President Abdel Fattah took power more than three years ago, he has been criticized for cracking down on the press. The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded the imprisonment of 23 journalists in Egypt in 2015, second only to China. Mr. Abou Zeid’s mother, Reda Aly, who visits him in prison once a week, said of the award: “I am looking forward to talking to him about it, because I know he will be happy and he deserves it. ” Mr. Abou Zeid, 29, was arrested with two other journalists, one from France and one from the United States, on Aug. 14, 2013. He was covering clashes between the military and supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist who had been ousted as Egypt’s president a month before. Hundreds of protesters were also arrested, and more than 1, 000 people were killed, including four journalists, according to Human Rights Watch. The foreign reporters were quickly freed, but Mr. Abou Zeid — who was on assignment for Demotix, a British website and photo agency — was charged with weapons possession, illegal assembly, murder and attempted murder. Such charges have since been regularly levied against protesters and political opponents of Mr. Sisi’s government. Mike Giglio, the American journalist who was detained at the same time as Mr. Abou Zeid and who works for BuzzFeed, has written that he saw the Egyptian carrying only his camera before his arrest. A freelancer who made his living on the streets of Cairo studying the subtleties of light, Mr. Abou Zeid has been kept in a small, dark cell with more than a dozen other inmates since his arrest, his family said. He tested positive for hepatitis C before his arrest, and his lawyer says he has been denied treatment. “He is severely anemic and looks skeletal,” said his father, Abdel Shakoor Abou Zeid. Mahmoud Abou Zeid is an Egyptian citizen who grew up in Kuwait, where his parents worked as teachers. He moved back to Cairo in 2009 to study and practice journalism. The timing was fortuitous: Within less than two years, he was at the epicenter of months of upheaval that toppled leaders across the region, including President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. “Photography was always his passion and his hobby,” said Ahmed Abu Seif, a childhood friend who now runs a Facebook campaign called Freedom for Shawkan. “Since the Nokia mobile phone with the camera, he was always really into photography, Mr. Abu Seif added. “He was not a political or a religious person,” Mr. Abu Seif said. “He was there just to do his job. ” Ms. Aly, his mother, brings him food on her weekly visits, and sometimes slips into the package a piece of fresh fruit, like a mango, which she said was not allowed. “I only get to see him for one hour once a week, and there are always officers coming and going,” she said. Sometimes, she said, the prison guards allow her to slip her son bits of chocolate: “The boy just loves chocolate. ”

Mother Nature Picketing God Outside Pearly Gates Over Labor Rights

Monday, 7 November 2016 This gate is locked at all times. The consequences are quite severe. Pearly Gates, Heaven - Mother Nature tips back her raggedy leaf-crown in front of God's famous gates, refusing to go to arbitration over their on-going dispute regarding her wage package. The wand-waving Disastress has been very vocal over the last several years, saying that she is over-worked and under-paid. Today, she waves a picket sign instead of a wand, reading, 'Just Tellin' It Like It Is! ' which has become somewhat of a catch phrase for other workers who feel that they understand her plight. In the other hand she holds a bullhorn, using it frequently, to scream through the gates at her boss. Several people approaching have turned back, and gone the way they came from. But many have stayed to listen to her words (and because they have no place else to go.) Many of whom urge her on. "For too long," she yells to the news cameras, "I been stressed out by my over-bearing boss. He'll barge into my office anytime he goddamn pleases and yell, 'Hey, Hurricane! Caribbean! Now!' Well, fuck that shit! Its my lunch break, asshole! I been making disasters at his every whim like a crazy person! And this shit was never in my contract. God help me if he wakes up cranky... I mean, don't bother. Let me tell you, he don't know shit about making a good wildfire, let alone how tiring it is to just be whipping up a tornado in Oklahoma with one hand, and a typhoon in India with the other. I mean, can you imagine? And I ain't even seen a damn wage raise that keeps up with the cost of living. I haven't bought a new velvet gown in so long. And don't tell me to look in the thrift stores, they don't never have anything in my size. This shit needs to be hand-woven people. That costs money! So it appears Mother Nature is standing firm here on the picket line, saying she will not even make rain for the drought stricken African areas that so desperately need it. A political tact which is drawing some critics of its own. The U.N. is furious at her, looking up at the sky and pleading for rain on a daily basis. And there is a quiet buzz in the crowd that she is taking things too far. "I don't give a goddamn shit, all right! Mama needs her some major-medical insurance before those people can fill their leaky little buckets up at the river side, Ok!" She yells out. Hey! California! Ya might wanna stop washing your cars! Sources close to the universally-known lawyer, Glorius Allred, say that the two have met, and that this case is likely heading to the Supreme -Supreme Court, but won't be heard until well after Venus has been replaced on the bench. Some speculating that Ruth Vader Ginsberg might be up for the nomination, which most say, would likely have a better outcome for Mother Nature. "Enjoy the mild winter, everybody!" She parted with to Al Roker, into the NBC camera, heading off for her mid-morning coffee and bran muffin break... ( and dump the size of Texas!) Make Paul Blake's day - give this story five thumbs-up (there's no need to register , the thumbs are just down there!)

North Carolina Republicans Sued For Rigging the Election For Trump

Rmuse

By Rmuse 10:00 am The voter suppression tactic is right out of the GOP [election rigging] playbook to suppress the Black vote in North Carolina.” *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* Some Americans are likely aware of the psychological term “projecting” that roughly means a person attributes their own faults and actions onto someone else; as an ‘unconscious’ form of transferring guilt for one’s own actions. As soon as the Republican primaries concluded, Donald Trump projected Republicans’ guilt for election rigging, either through vote obstruction or suppression, onto Democrats and his opponent Hillary Clinton. Republicans have been actively suppressing votes since the election of Barack Obama in 2008, and they have only ramped up their ‘ election rigging’ activities over the past eight years; and yet Trump accuses Democrats of election rigging as frequently as most human beings draw breath. Yesterday, the North Carolina conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a lawsuit against North Carolina Republicans and demanded they put an immediate stop to the “ coordinated effort to suppress the Black vote in the state .” What the NAACP rightly said was that the voter suppression tactic was “ right out of the GOP [election rigging] playbook to suppress the Black vote in the state. ” The election rigging amounts to three counties in North Carolina canceling voter registration of thousands of, mostly African American, Democratic residents a week before the presidential election. The lawsuit charged election officials in Beaufort, Moore, and Cumberland counties of denying primarily African American voters’ eligibility to participate in democracy because their voter registration documents mysteriously were “ bounced back as undeliverable. ” Most of the voters whose eligibility to vote was denied and flagged for purging, such as James Edward Arthur Sr. had moved within the same county and were still legally allowed to cast ballots. Many of the purged voters lived at their “ original registration address ” and were victims of a “ simple postal service error. ” Mr. Arthur is an African American who lives in a nursing home and has voted in at least the last 14 elections in the same county he was born and raised in without issue. Arthur testified that he, like thousands of other African American Democratic voters, never received any state or county election documents informing him that his eligibility was denied, or that if he didn’t attend an appeal hearing to maintain his right to vote he would be denied the right to participate in democracy. Mr. Arthur said, “ If I knew my right to vote was in jeopardy, I would do whatever I could to protect it. I want and plan to vote in the upcoming election, but I am concerned that since my registration has been canceled I will not be able to cast a ballot or it will not be counted .” It is what any sane human being would consider “ election rigging ” simply because the tri-county ploy targeted primarily African Americans who typically vote for Democrats. It is also something North Carolina Republicans have been guilty of for the past six years. According to the NAACP lawsuit, North Carolina Republicans are in violation of the National Voter Registration Act which “ bans the systemic removal of voters from the rolls in the final 90 days before an election .” Republican election officials State officials defended their “ election rigging ” and said they were justified in “ purging tens-of-thousands ” of mainly African American Democratic voters’ eligibility, the definition of systemic, on an individual basis. However, the NAACP also accused Republicans of conducting a coordinated mailing campaign for the sole purpose of challenging the eligibility of thousands of mainly African American voters’ eligibility who did not receive the mailing. One Republican who ran for a local office last year, Shane Hubers, challenged the registration of voters, the majority who are them Democrats,  in Beaufort County. In one of the other counties charged in the lawsuit, Cumberland County, one “ individual used returned mail to challenge the registrations of 3,951 mostly Democratic voters .” In Moore County, the secretary of the local Republican Party, N. Carol Wheeldon, challenged approximately 400 mainly African American registered voters; likely because they do not vote for Republicans. The lead attorney for the NAACP’s lawsuit, Penda Hair, said that although she cannot yet prove there is a concerted Republican “ election rigging ” conspiracy; “ We know that in two of the counties, the people who brought the challenges had connections to the local Republican Party. We also know that the pattern of these challenges is very similar across the counties .” Ms. Hair also noted that, “ in Moore County the return address of a right-wing group called the Voter Integrity Project appeared on the mail that was used to challenge voters. This is a very pernicious treatment of voters ,” she said. It is also a deliberate act of “ election rigging ” by Republicans. The president of the North Carolina NAACP, Reverend Dr. William Barber said, “ We are seeing the worst attempts of voter suppression here in North Carolina that we’ve seen since the days of Jim Crow. The Tar Heel state is ground zero in the intentional, surgical efforts to suppress the voice of voters. These attempts are a direct affront to our Constitution .” The NAACP lawsuit is demanding the state reinstate all voters challenged since 2012 using this “election rigging ” process back on the rolls immediately. The organization also demands that the state notifies the voters that they have been reinstated as eligible voters, and allow them to cast regular ballots early or on Election Day. They have already put in a request for an emergency hearing this week to decide the case. It might be the case that the NAACP’s request for a hearing may be granted; especially in light of these new charges arising just days after a federal court ruled that North Carolina Republicans violated the National Voter Registration Act in yet another manner; failing to add tens of thousands of voters to the rolls who registered at a DMV office over the past few years. Last Thursday U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Biggs ordered North Carolina Republicans to permit those tens-of-thousands of voters to cast provisional ballots. It is highly doubtful that North Carolina Republicans will obey the Federal Judge’s orders because they have been the recipients of several court orders over their “election rigging” actions that have had no effect whatsoever or the Republicans would not continue disenfranchising voters. Republicans have been on a tear to rig elections since the American people first elected Barack Obama as President, and the conservatives on the Supreme Court are ultimately guilty of conspiring with Republicans to suppress, or obstruct, the voting rights of primarily people of color because they don’t support Republicans. To be perfectly clear, it is irrelevant if it is called voter suppression, obstruction, or disenfranchisement; it is a deliberate attempt to rig elections. And it is only Republicans and the Koch brothers’ outfit the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), who are behind each and every attempt in Republican-controlled states to kill democracy by doing what the Republican Party standard bearer Donald Trump is guilty of projecting; rig elections.

Celebs to Host Progressive ’Love-a-Thon’ During Inauguration

Jerome Hudson

Jane Fonda, Judd Apatow, and Patricia Arquette are among the stars taking part in a telethon airing on Facebook Live during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, which will raise money for Planned Parenthood and environmental group Earthjustice. [“ ” was the brainchild of Alex Godin, a tech entrepreneur, who says Donald Trump’s election inspired the event. “I woke up like a lot of Americans feeling pretty crappy on November 10,” Godin told CNNMoney. “I looked for an opportunity to do something. ” The event’s organizers — which include tech PR consultant Kara Silverman and Sam Koppelman, digital content strategist at Hillary for America — hope to raise a minimum of $500, 000. “It’s a really important opportunity to support causes like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, Earthjustice, as they gear up to do [critical] work,” Godin said. Other celebrities expected to participate in the event include Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Guest, Tim Robbins and Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California will also benefit from the fundraiser. The event will be hosted in New York City, with broadcast set to begin streaming on Facebook Live at 12:30 pm on inauguration day, January 20. The fundraiser will reportedly feature comedy skits and musical acts from across the country during the event. “The future of civil liberties in the United States is in our hands. Now is the time to step up and defend it,” the event’s website says,” adding the money raised will help fund “organizations that will fight for our most marginalized communities — and democratic norms — over the next four years. ” Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson

F.B.I. Says It Needs Hackers to Keep Up With Tech Companies - The New York Times

Cecilia Kang and Eric Lichtblau

WASHINGTON — The F. B. I. defended its hiring of a third party to break into an iPhone used by a gunman in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif. mass shooting, telling some skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that it needed to join with partners in the rarefied world of hackers as technology companies increasingly resist their demands for consumer information. Amy Hess, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s executive assistant director for science and technology, made the comments at a hearing by members of Congress who are debating potential legislation on encryption. The lawmakers gathered law enforcement authorities and Silicon Valley company executives to discuss the issue, which has divided technology companies and officials in recent months and spurred a debate over privacy and security. The hearing follows a recent standoff between the F. B. I. and Apple over a court order to force the company to help unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers. Apple opposed the order, citing harm to the privacy of its users. The F. B. I. later dropped its demand for Apple’s help when it found a alternative to hack the device. Yet that has done little to quell the controversy. The encryption debate has continued with new hearings, proposed legislation and other cases that involve locked iPhones and law enforcement demands that the devices be opened to aid investigations. In Tuesday’s hearing, Ms. Hess did not provide details on how the F. B. I. ultimately gained access to the San Bernardino iPhone but said the agency had come to rely on private sector partners to keep up with changes in technology. She said that there was no solution and that the agency generally should not use third parties to hack into systems but lacks the expertise to break past encryption. “These types of solutions that we may employ require a lot of highly skilled, specialized resources that we may not have immediately available to us,” Ms. Hess said. The focus on third parties at the hearing illustrates a growing discomfort by some in Congress and in the tech industry with the use of “gray hat” hackers, who are hackers who may push the boundaries of the law and anger companies but whose intentions are not malicious. “I don’t think relying on a third party is a good model,” said Representative Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado. She questioned if the use of hackers was ethical and whether it could open up greater security risks because sensitive and valuable data could be accessible to outside groups. Ms. Hess did not answer directly when asked about whether there were ethical issues in using hackers but said the bureau needed to review its operation “to make sure that we identify the risks and benefits. ” The F. B. I. has been unwilling to say whom it paid to demonstrate a way around the iPhone’s internal defenses, or how much, and it has not shown Apple the technique. Apple’s general counsel, Bruce Sewell, said at the hearing that encryption did not prevent the authorities from solving crimes. “As you heard from our colleagues in law enforcement, they have the perception that encryption walls off information to them,” Mr. Sewell said. “But technologists and national security experts don’t see the world that way. We see a world that seems to be full of information. Information that law enforcement can use to solve — and prevent — crimes. ” Mr. Sewell also defended Apple’s security practices, saying the company always aimed to keep its devices safe from prying eyes. Within the last two years, he said, the Chinese government has requested Apple’s source code but the company has refused to hand it over. In a public report on Monday, the company said American law enforcement officials made 4, 000 requests for customer data covering more than 16, 000 devices in the second half of last year. Law enforcement officials testifying before the committee on Tuesday expressed frustration over their inability to run a number of cases to ground — particularly sex abuse and child pornography cases — because of encrypted phones. They said the recent publicity over the issue could end up helping criminals. “Make no mistake — criminals are listening to this testimony and learning from it,” said Charles Cohen, commander of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The F. B. I. said there has been an increase in the number of devices it has acquired through investigations but was unable to gain access to because of encryption. Ms. Hess said that since October, 13 percent of the devices obtained by the F. B. I. were impenetrable by the agency. When asked at Tuesday’s hearing if the relationship between the tech industry and law enforcement had become adversarial, Ms. Hess responded, “I hope not. ” The encryption debate is continuing in other quarters. Apple is fighting an order in a federal court in New York to provide access to a phone involved in a criminal drug investigation. And last week, Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a Republican, and Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the committee, released a draft version of a bill that would require tech companies to decrypt data if requested by a court. Tech companies, which have largely banded together in support of Apple’s position, are lobbying against the draft bill. Timed to the Tuesday hearing, trade groups representing top technology companies including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft sent a letter to Senators Burr and Feinstein, opposing their bill. “We believe it is critical to the safety of the nation’s, and the world’s, information technology infrastructure for us all to avoid actions that will create security vulnerabilities in our encryption systems,” the groups, which include the Reform Government Surveillance and Computer and Communications Industry Association, said. “Any mandatory decryption requirement, such as that included in the discussion draft of the bill that you authored, will to lead to unintended consequences. ” Michael Petricone, senior vice president for government affairs at the Consumer Technology Association, added, “This is urgent because the one thing you don’t want is Congress coming in a fashion and doing something with all sorts of negative consequences, which is what we may be seeing happen now. ” City and state law enforcement officials support the Senate draft bill, but it faces strong opposition from many in Congress. President Obama has done little to assuage concerns by the tech industry. In a speech in March, the president warned against “fetishizing” encryption and urged more compromise between tech companies and the F. B. I.

Email causes more disruption to the NHS, than the strikes. More soon.

Guest

Posted: Nov 15th, 2016 by Guest Click for more article by Guest .. More Stories about: Ticker

Victims Seek Mercy for a Wall St. Scion Who Defrauded Them - The New York Times

Matthew Goldstein and Alexandra Stevenson

Some of the people that Andrew Caspersen bilked out of millions of dollars are asking a federal judge to show mercy on the scion of a Wall Street family. In letters to the judge, Mr. Caspersen’s mother, friends and former colleagues on Wall Street paint a picture of a modest man who had a “firm grasp of the ‘right’ thing to do. ” Even his wedding photographer and the doorman in the Upper East Side apartment building where Mr. Caspersen lives wrote in support. Their depictions are at odds with the government’s, which has detailed how Mr. Caspersen ran a scheme to steal nearly $40 million, only to lose it all in bets on the stock market. He pleaded guilty to one charge of security fraud and one charge of wire fraud in July. The most important letter of all, however, may be one from Dr. Marc N. Potenza, a professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, who called Mr. Caspersen’s “severe gambling” a mental illness. The lawyer for Mr. Caspersen contends that it was an extreme compulsion to trade stock options that drove his client with an Ivy League pedigree to lie and steal from his friends, family and a hedge fund foundation. In an unusual departure from the typical sentencing, Judge Jed S. Rakoff has agreed to hear testimony from Dr. Potenza on what constitutes a gambling addiction before imposing a sentence on the Mr. Caspersen. Judge Rakoff is set to sentence Mr. Caspersen at the Federal District Court in Manhattan on Friday. It is not known whether federal prosecutors in Manhattan will call any witnesses of their own or simply look to Dr. Potenza. The testimony could be critical to Mr. Caspersen’s attempt to persuade Judge Rakoff to impose a more lenient sentence than the more than 15 years in prison that federal prosecutors have said is appropriate. Mr. Caspersen was arrested in March at La Guardia Airport in New York as he was returning from a family vacation to Florida. He pleaded guilty in July, telling Judge Rakoff he was “ashamed for my crimes” and for causing harm to people close to him. Shortly before the arrest, Mr. Caspersen drafted a suicide note to his wife and a “letter to his ‘creditors,’” in which he said he was “deeply ashamed” and said he had “engaged in an ‘outright fraud,’” his lawyer said in a court filing. The suicide note was an eerie reminder of his father, Finn M. W. Caspersen, who killed himself in 2009 while battling cancer. The elder Mr. Caspersen made his fortune running what used to be known as Beneficial Finance and later gave a good deal of money to Harvard Law School. The elder Mr. Caspersen and all of his sons, including Andrew Caspersen, attended Harvard Law. Andrew Caspersen’s lawyer, Paul Shechtman, has likened his client’s urges to trade tens of millions of dollars worth of stock options as an addiction no less gripping than one to alcohol or drugs. Although such addictive behavior does not excuse Mr. Caspersen’s conduct, he said, it is a mitigating circumstance that Judge Rakoff should take into consideration. “He never intended for them to lose, yet he could not stop,” Mr. Shechtman said in a filing accompanying the letters from Dr. Potenza and other associates of Mr. Caspersen. Mr. Shechtman has said that his client has undergone treatment since his arrest. The lawyer’s call for leniency has not moved prosecutors working for Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for Manhattan. They are asking Judge Rakoff to impose a stiff sentence that is within the range established by federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors, in their own court filing, are taking a tougher position than the probation department for the federal courts, which has recommended a sentence of seven years. Some federal judges have expressed frustration with the guidelines because they potentially hamstring jurists and do not take into account mitigating circumstances. One such critic has been Judge Rakoff, who called the guidelines “irrational” in July, when Mr. Caspersen pleaded guilty. But not all of Mr. Caspersen’s more than a dozen victims have submitted letters of support. Notably, Mr. Shechtman’s filing did not include a letter from Louis Bacon, the billionaire hedge fund manager, whose foundation had given nearly $25 million to Mr. Caspersen. Mr. Caspersen’s tale has confounded Wall Street, where he was known and liked, blending in with many of his associates who came from backgrounds. In many ways, his privileged background (he attended Groton and Princeton before Harvard) helped him to keep up a scheme for years before anyone noticed. The stock trading addiction began at Princeton, Mr. Shechtman said, but was amplified by a $2. 7 million distribution that Mr. Caspersen received from a family trust in 1999, when he was at Harvard. Over the following years Mr. Caspersen received another distribution, which he lost as well. Soon, he turned to friends and family for investments, getting a million dollars here, several million dollars there. Money came easily from his network, and for years, he papered over the losses by bringing in new money. As recently as February, Mr. Caspersen — who was at that point a successful executive working at the Park Hill Group, a division of PJT Partners — made so much money trading stock options that he could have paid back everyone and still had as much as $60 million left for himself. Instead, he continued to trade, losing it all. Mr. Caspersen kept his compulsive stock trading from friends and families. He even persuaded his wife that they should file separate tax returns, largely to keep his frequent trading a secret, according to court filings. But Mr. Caspersen’s facade began to unravel this year. A former Wall Street options trader who reviewed Mr. Caspersen’s trading records at Mr. Shechtman’s request said the option trading “lacked rationality. ” “If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” said Bruce Rosen, a former managing director at Tiger Ventures Capital, “then Mr. Caspersen’s options trading was not that of a sane person. ” Still, Mr. Caspersen has his defenders. “Andrew has always treated me with respect,” wrote John Colby, a doorman at the Manhattan apartment building where Mr. Caspersen lives with his wife and their two children. Mr. Colby described how during a shift on Thanksgiving several years ago, Mr. Caspersen and his wife brought Mr. Colby Thanksgiving dinner “on a real plate, with a real glass and napkin and silverware,” adding that the gesture was “very touching to me. ”

WATCH: Hillary Aide RUSHES to Her Side to Help Her Climb ONE Step!

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Information Liberation October 27, 2016 Video out of Florida shows a panicked Clinton aide rush to her side in order to help her climb one step. When the aide sees Her Hagliness is going to reach a small riser before him, he’s seen making a mad dash towards her. Hillary then turns, grabs his hand for balance and while clutching him for dear life manages to tackle the one step before her. You have to wonder what made him so panicked. Did she collapse once again in secret? This article was posted: Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 5:37 am Share this article

An explanation for why the FBI re-opened Hillary's e-mails

tokyowashi (noreply@blogger.com)

Jimstone.is October 31 2016 Huma's husband, Anthony Weiner (which blows the whole Huma/Islam meme into the gutter; all we are seeing with this is the fact the "Muslims" running Saudi Arabia are crypto Jews) – ANYWAY , Hillary was so sure she'd never be called to account with her e-mails that she was careless enough to have them end up on Weiner's personal laptop in a file he titled "life insurance". Well, you know how the entire establishment is wrapped up in child sex and other similar crimes, and Weiner ended up getting his laptop seized by the NYPD in a kiddie porn/child sex investigation. When the NYPD went through the laptop, they found Hillary's e-mails in FULL UNADULTERATED PRISTINE FORM. They proved crimes of the highest order – at least 15 felonies found so far, with a majority of them related to treason and selling out the country. SO THE NYPD OPENED UP A CASE ON HILLARY. The FBI said, NO, WE'LL TAKE THAT – and that is the ONLY reason why these investigations got re-opened: because if the NYPD handled it, huge portions of the FBI would be sent to prison. Now the FBI is under pressure to actually do its job, because they know the NYPD knows. No matter what the outcome, the FBI gains zero (0) ZERO credibility points from this. So read my report DO NOT FORGIVE : it was BANG ON, they did this because they HAD TO, not because they had any intention at all of being good, and it really is time to drain the swamp. Now let's all sit and wait for the suicide of Preet Bharara , the U.S. Prosecuting Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the NYPD who pushed this into the light. He's now a target of the FBI, the DNC, the Clinton death machine and God knows what else. PREDICTION (and I do not make predictions): THE DIRECTOR OF INVESTIGATIONS FOR THE NYPD WILL "COMMIT SUICIDE" WITHIN 5 DAYS. He's a walking dead man. The circle of crime in Washington DC is so entrenched and so intertwined that if you poke one part of it, there is a good chance the whole show will fall apart. Poking that monster in a way that hurts is something I do not believe anyone will survive; Preet might as well call himself a zombie. The NYPD TRUMPED the FBI! That is why they had to investigate Hillary! Well well, the NYPD is what busted the Hillary mails open while they were looking for kiddie stuff on Weiner's laptop, and THAT is why the FBI was forced to investigate Hillary. They had no choice. NYPD TRUMPS FBI!!! Related: Insiders Threaten to Expose Hillary's Pedophile Sex Ring!!!

Zakharchenko reveals names of Motorola assassins

Jafe Arnoldski (noreply@blogger.com)

November 10, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RusVesna - translated by J. Arnoldski - During an ongoing press conference in Donetsk, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, revealed the names of two Ukrainian officials involved in the organization of the attack which killed Hero of the Republic Arsen Pavlov (Motorola). “I am ready to name those involved in the murder of Motorola. According to our intelligence, Vitaly Malikov, who advised sabotage and terrorist activity in Donbass, the head of the Donetsk region SBU, Akut, and a number of responsible employees and representatives of the SBU headquarters participated in preparing and committing this crime,” the head of the DPR stated. Zakharchenko added that the republic’s criminal investigators already have the full list of persons involved in the organization of this crime, but the DPR is not yet going to name all the names. In addition, the identity of the exact persons who committed the terrorist act are being determined. Zakharchenko emphasized: “I assure you that these names will be determined, that these people will be found and, at the request of the father of Motorola’s bodyguard, will be give these names to Abkhazia as well.” On October 16th, Motorola, the commander of the Sparta battalion and a colonel of the DPR army, was killed by an explosive device set up by Ukrainian saboteurs in the elevator in his apartment building. Motorola’s bodyguard was also killed. The authorities of the DPR have qualified the crime as a terrorist attack. Follow us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! Donate!

Video: Doctors Who Discovered Cancer Enzymes In Vaccines All Found Murdered

Dikran Arakelian (noreply@blogger.com)

Share on Facebook Nagalese prevents vitamin D from being produced in the body. Not long ago, Neon Nettle reported on the epidemic of doctors being murdered, most of which were in Florida, U.S. The scientists all shared a common trait, they had all discovered that nagalase enzyme protein was being added to vaccines which were then administrated to humans. Nagalese is what prevents vitamin D from being produced in the body, which is the body's main defence to naturally kill cancer cells. According to Thebigriddle.com: Nagalase is a protein that's also created by all cancer cells. This protein is also found in very high concentrations in autistic children. And they're PUTTING it in our vaccines!! This prevents the body from utilizing the Vitamin D necessary to fight cancer and prevent autism. Nagalese disables the immune system. It's also known to cause Type 2 Diabetes. So basically…they weren't killing these doctors because they had found the cure to cancer or were successfully treating autism… they're killing them because these doctors had been researching and had the evidence that the vaccines they're injecting our precious children with are CAUSING our current cancer and autism crisis! And that it's obviously being done knowingly and on purpose! The Doctors they killed in FL had been collaborating and were getting ready to go public with the information. Depopulation 101..add poison to vaccines…make it law that all children must be injected to attend school. Slow kill methods. They think they're being fair with their “survival of the fittest” type mentality. Only the best genes survive? These people have no souls. Dr Ted Broer broke it on The Hagmann & Hagmann Report and it took them a whole hour just to get him on air because their 3 hour show was brought down and every line they tried to use kept disconnecting… and then their servers were brought down. They asked a bunch of people to pray against the attack and then finally got him on a secured line..and so a full hour into the show they were finally back on the air and connected to Dr. Broer and the first thing he said was “I am in no way suicidal.” He was super nervous holding onto this info… afraid he'd be taken out Hastings style before he got a chance to say it publicly. So listen to this short clip of him breaking the story. It's a 19 min clip but the most important info is heard within the first 10 min. It is definitely some of the most important news I've ever heard. And it needs to go viral. Thanks for taking the time to read this article. If you found this information helpful, please share it with your friends and family. Your support in our endeavor of sharing free information would be much appreciated. Related:

As Massive Bond Bubble Implodes, Is It About To Trigger A Major Move In Gold, Silver, And The Canadian Dollar?

King World News

47 Views November 22, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News Is the 34-year bull market in U.S. bonds over? And how will this impact gold, silver, and the Canadian dollar? Is The 34 Year Bull Market In U.S. Bonds Over? U.S. 30-Year Treasury: 3% Yield A Real Possibility! Fitzpatrick also noted the November 2015 high of 2.37%, and the 2015 high of 2.5% on the U.S. 10-Year yield. Fitzpatrick stated, “A break above those levels (noted on the chart above) would open the way to the 3.00-3.05% area which was the ‘taper tantrum’ peaks.” Of course this would mean much higher mortgage rates, which would weaken prices of real estate. U.S. Dollar Has Underperformed Canadian Dollar Relative To Other Currencies Is This About To Trigger A Major Upside Move In Gold & Silver? The reason this is important is because a move on the U.S. Dollar vs Canadian Dollar from the 1.34 zone to the 1.19 area would translate into a massive 11.2 percent swing in favor of the Canadian currency. Fitzpatrick stated, “For such a move to happen it is almost certain that our bullish view of a move above $60 in WTI (Crude Oil) would have to occur.” For what it’s worth, this would also be highly inflationary and would most likely translate into significantly higher gold and silver prices as well as the high-quality mining shares. Dow & Nasdaq Hit All-Time Highs But The Stock Market Is On Borrowed Time, And Will India Ban Gold Imports?

As Aging Population Increases, Elders and Allies Fight for Social Supports

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As Aging Population Increases, Elders and Allies Fight for Social Supports As Aging Population Increases, Elders and Allies Fight for Social Supports By Support your favorite writers by making sure we can keep publishing them! Make a donation to Truthout to ensure independent journalism survives. According to a spring 2016 report released by the Older Women’s League , men in the top 1 percent live 15 years longer than those in the bottom 1 percent. The gap for women is 10 years. And it’s getting worse. As the league’s annual study, “ Aging in Community ,” notes, “The inequality of life spans between rich and poor has widened from 2001 to 2014.” The result? By the time folks reach age 75, 6.7 percent of men and 12.3 percent of women live below the poverty line: $11,880 for a single person and $16,020 for a household of two. Gender, of course, is a key variable: Women earn, on average, a lower annual income — typically caused by wage disparities as well as breaks in employment to rear children — resulting in smaller monthly Social Security checks. This is no small thing since a lower income impacts everything from access to health care to the ability to secure decent, affordable housing and nutritious food. Race also impacts income, causing many Black and Brown seniors to live in poverty. The federal Administration on Aging reports that in 2013 poverty among the elderly impacted 19.2 percent African Americans; 18.1 percent of Latino and Latinas; 14.7 percent of Asian Americans; and 7.8 percent of whites aged 65 or older. Indigenous seniors have it even worse. Although Indigenous people make up just .05 percent of those over 65 , a full 42 percent of tribal seniors are impoverished. Indeed, the collision between poverty and aging is a problem of startling magnitude. It’s also more complicated than it seems, thanks to the rapid aging of the US population. For one, since 1900, the percentage of Americans aged 65 or older has more than tripled. Two years ago, they numbered 46.2 million and made up 14.5 percent of the total population. Flash forward to 2040 and 21.7 percent will fall into that…

In College Roommate David Panton, Ted Cruz Finds Unwavering Support - The New York Times

Jason Horowitz

On a break during a business trip to Washington last year, David Panton hailed a cab to take him to the Capitol. He told the driver he was going to see the Texas senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz. “He’s racist,” the cabdriver replied, according to Mr. Panton. Mr. Panton, taken aback, informed his driver that Mr. Cruz had a bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the right side of his desk, that he was the only senator to attend the funeral of Nelson Mandela and that he had a “black guy” as a college roommate and best man at his wedding. “I don’t believe that,” the cabby said, as Mr. Panton tells it. “Well,” Mr. Panton replied, “you’re talking to him. ” Everyone seems to have an opinion of Mr. Cruz, and usually it is not a good one. He has repeatedly come under attack from Donald J. Trump and other rivals as being eminently unlikable, having antagonized even members of his own party. Hillary Clinton joined that chorus this month when she described Mr. Cruz as a “meanspirited guy. ” The New York primary last week, in which he finished a distant third, may have been the low point in his struggle with popularity. But through it all, he could depend on Mr. Panton — his former roommate, debate teammate, business partner and political booster — as a source of unconditional support, the guy who extends a hand when the whole world seems to offer a . “The media has caricatured Ted as this guy,” Mr. Panton, 44, said with some irritation in an interview during his business trip to Washington last fall. “Ted is principled, but he is actually a good guy and was a great friend to me. ” Their friendship dates back to their freshman year at Princeton. Indeed, college contemporaries considered Mr. Panton, a native of Jamaica, to be the more likely of the two to run a nation. But he become better known back home for romances with beauty queens than for his leadership qualities. At first, Mr. Cruz’s freshman roommate at Princeton was Craig Mazin, a screenwriter who has provided a stream of insults about the candidate’s personality. (“He wrote ‘The Hangover III,’” Mr. Panton said archly of Mr. Mazin.) But midway through freshman year, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Panton, who enrolled in Princeton at age 16, moved in together. “Ted and I just hit it off,” Mr. Panton said, adding that his friend schooled him on conservative politics. “Ted was very kind to me he took an interest in what I was doing in my life and in my background. ” They both picked subjects for their senior theses while still freshmen. Mr. Cruz wrote about the Constitution’s Ninth and 10th Amendments, Mr. Panton about a Jamaican politician. They were best known around campus, and beyond, as debate partners. When Mr. Cruz was elected president of the Clio, or conservative side, of the American Society, the umbrella group for all of the school’s debating activities, Mr. Panton was his whip. Mr. Panton continued on to be a Rhodes scholar at Oxford and joined Mr. Cruz at Harvard Law School, where Mr. Panton, like Barack Obama before him, became president of the Harvard Law Review. Former debate team members said Mr. Panton used to duck out of pictures if he determined them to be potentially damaging to his chances of becoming prime minister of Jamaica. Born to a prominent businessman turned Anglican priest in the Jamaican town Mandeville, Mr. Panton had connections to and a familiarity with the island’s political elite, including the former prime minister of the conservative Jamaica Labour Party. He returned to Jamaica as a businessman after his studies and in 1998 with Mr. Cruz a fund that was created to draw investments for Caribbean ventures. Mr. Cruz put $6, 000 into the firm, and ultimately left with $25, 000 in cash and a $75, 000 promissory note from Mr. Panton that Mr. Cruz had never cashed in. In 2013, Time magazine revealed the venture and noted that Mr. Cruz had failed to disclose the profit on two years of Senate ethics forms. Mr. Cruz called it an oversight. Days before the Iowa caucuses this year, The Washington Post published an unflattering report on the Caribbean investment fund Mr. Panton founded with Mr. Cruz. Mr. Panton was mortified that the article would do harm to his friend, according to a person who discussed the matter with him but declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak for the campaign. A year after Mr. Cruz and Mr. Panton went into business, Mr. Panton married Lisa Hanna, a former Miss Jamaica and Miss World who is now a member of Jamaica’s Parliament, in a New York ceremony during which Mr. Cruz gave the toast. Mr. Panton soon made the move to politics, leading a youth wing of the Jamaica Labour Party, which Mr. Cruz addressed in 2001, and taking a seat in the country’s Senate. That year, he and Ms. Hanna had a child Mr. Cruz was named godfather. But then things stopped going so well for Mr. Panton. In 2004, he and his wife moved to Atlanta, where they divorced months later, touching off an international custody battle that became tabloid fodder in Jamaica. There was more sensational coverage to come. In 2006, Wendy Fitzwilliam, a former Miss Universe from Trinidad, caused a media storm when, unmarried, she announced her pregnancy by Mr. Panton to an audience of teenage girls at Corpus Christi College, a Catholic school in Trinidad. The couple split up and, in 2009, she published a book, “Letters to Ailan” — the name of her son with Mr. Panton — that offered an at times unflattering portrait of Mr. Panton. In 2012, she and others who had formed BQ Girls, a musical group, sang and danced to their big song “Runway” for Mr. Trump, who then owned the Miss Universe franchise, in his Trump Tower office. “He was tickled pink to see Wendy,” said A. ’u2009T. Dunn, the group’s manager. “He asked her about Trinidad and asked her about her son. He knew about her son. ” By then, Mr. Panton had established himself in the private equity business in Atlanta where he is the chairman of the Jamaican Chamber of Commerce of Atlanta. Behind the scenes, Mr. Panton set up one of the first “super PACs” supporting Mr. Cruz’s campaign, donating $100, 000 to it, though it has been eclipsed by much larger ones. Since disassociating himself from the super PAC, Mr. Panton has aided his old debate partner by critiquing his performance at debate preparations, according to the person who has spoken with him. Mr. Panton also urged Mr. Cruz, with whom he remains in regular contact, to relate more emotional stories about his upbringing and his late half sister’s battle with drugs. Mr. Panton and Mr. Cruz declined to speak in further depth last week about their friendship. But back in Jamaica, that friendship has at least created a reflected glory for Mr. Panton that many once expected to shine directly onto him. “Now a major playmaker in his friend’s quest for the White House” The Jamaica Observer wrote last year, for Mr. Panton “the possibility now exists that one of Jamaica’s brightest sons could be a close friend to the most powerful human being on earth. ”

In Istanbul Nightclub, Terrorist Picked Off the Wounded

Breitbart Jerusalem

ISTANBUL (Reuters) — Shot in the arm and slumped behind a table, Francois played dead as the gunman walked through the exclusive Istanbul nightclub shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground. [Like most of the 39 people killed at a New Year’s party in Reina, a for the Turkish jet set and moneyed foreigners, the Lebanese radio and TV graduate was a visitor to Istanbul, enjoying a city reputed in the Middle East for its diversity and tolerance. “He shot one shot, so we thought — I thought — it was some angry or drunk man … But a few seconds later, we heard a machine gun,” Asmar told Reuters from his hospital bed. Read more here.

Trump’s Vow to Repeal Health Law Revives Talk of High-Risk Pools - The New York Times

Reed Abelson

Joanne Fitzgerald was getting divorced and was stressed out. When stomach pain kicked in, she saw a doctor to have it checked out. That was her mistake. The doctor diagnosed a mild form of gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach lining, and recommended some medicine. But when the divorce became final, in 2008, she lost health coverage from her husband’s employer, and insurer after insurer refused to cover her because of the condition. She was finally offered a policy that excluded coverage for anything related to her gastrointestinal tract. “I thought I was being smart in going to the doctor and getting checked out,” Ms. Fitzgerald, 55, who currently lives in Washington, D. C. said recently. “Then I tried to go get insurance and everyone denied me. ” Her fortunes changed under the Affordable Care Act, the major health law signed by President Barack Obama that required insurers to cover medical conditions. She was one of the millions of people who jumped at the opportunity and bought a policy available under the new law. Now, after President Trump and the Congress have vowed to repeal and replace the health law, one of the most vexing questions is whether people like Ms. Fitzgerald will be covered. About 27 percent of people under 65 are thought to have some sort of condition that will most likely leave them without individual insurance if the law is repealed, according to a recent study. The guarantee of coverage has already become a rallying cry for people who want to keep the law. The issue “is the third rail” for the Republicans, said Michael Turpin, a longtime health industry executive. Before the law, a fairly typical life event — like a divorce or the loss of a job — and a relatively minor medical condition could upend a person’s health coverage options. Stories of sick people unable to get coverage when they needed it most were legion. Mr. Trump insists he wants to keep the requirement for insurers, and other top Republicans say people who want coverage should not be turned away. Details about how they will cover people with existing medical conditions have not yet emerged, but many lawmakers have started pushing an idea — known as pools — that left many people uncovered or with strict limits to their coverage in the past. The challenge for lawmakers is this: How do you get insurers to cover people who will definitely need costly medical care — and do so without making insurance too expensive for everyone? The Affordable Care Act addresses that question by requiring everyone to get coverage or face a tax penalty. That mandate is meant to increase the number of healthy people who have insurance, distributing the costs of caring for those who are sick across a wider population. The thinking is that if enough healthy people sign up, the costs of sick people will be offset for insurers. Top Republicans, though, say the system is not working and point to price increases for premiums. “There is a better way to fix that problem without giving everybody else all these massive premium increases,” the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, said at a recent televised forum. Finding a fix is far from simple. Before the law was passed, insurance companies evaluated the health of each person applying for coverage before offering a policy, and priced the plan to reflect the possible cost of care. The companies wanted to minimize the risk of losing money by paying for costly medical care for too many of their customers. Often, insurers offered no options to people with conditions, because they considered the potential costs to be too high. As a result, 35 states had pools, the program again on the lips of top lawmakers, including Mr. Ryan. The programs offered a separate insurance pool for people with potentially expensive medical conditions. The idea is that by separating sick people from the majority of people who are healthy, insurers could offer cheaper rates to the healthy people. Insurers could charge higher prices to those with existing medical conditions, but they would also rely on other sources of funding, including from the government, to cover their costs. The system worked for Dan Nassimbene and his wife, who had breast cancer but is in remission. They enrolled in Colorado’s pool for three years. She paid about $375 a month for a plan that covered most of her treatments. In 2014, though, the pool was closed, and Mr. Nassimbene bought a plan that met the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The cheapest plan he could buy for himself and his wife cost around $900 a month and came with a family deductible of around $12, 000, much higher than it was before. His income was too high for him to receive any government subsidies, which help about 80 percent of people buying such plans. “I had coverage but no access,” said Mr. Nassimbene, 55. He has since switched to a Christian health care sharing ministry, in which members cover one another’s medical bills. It does not qualify as coverage under the law. In many cases, the pools were overburdened financially, leaving many people without insurance or with tight restrictions on coverage. Insurers refused to cover the individuals who were likely to have the highest expenses, like those who had H. I. V. or serious kidney disease, and the pools lost money. Many states had to turn applicants away — in some states, only a small percentage of those who applied received coverage — and the insurance was sharply limited to control spending. In Washington, over 80 percent of the people referred to the state’s pool never got health insurance, said Mike Kreidler, the state’s insurance commissioner. In California, which relied on lawmakers to allocate money as part of the state budget, there was a waiting list, recalled Richard Figueroa, who was a senior administrator for the program. The pool operated on a basis, Mr. Figueroa said, without regard to people’s income or the severity of their medical condition. “There were people literally dying on the waiting list,” he said. In addition, most of the states offering coverage had caps on payments for medical care. Washington’s annual maximum was $2 million, while California’s limit was $75, 000 a year. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans cannot have such a limit. In California, the program dwindled away until it served only 6, 300 at the end of 2011. Dennis Carr, for example, worked as an independent real estate agent when the financial markets crashed in 2008. He had savings, but he eventually had to drop his Blue Cross plan because his income had tailed off and he could not afford it. Mr. Carr, who is now 51, said his goal was to resume coverage as soon as he was financially secure. When he reapplied to the same insurer a few months later, he was rejected — and then rejected again by another insurer because of his asthma and a sinus condition. “It was just a real, real slap,” Mr. Carr said. He was directed to California’s pool but found the premiums too high. He moved to Mexico as a way to afford his medications. He now lives in Phoenix, where he has coverage through an employer. “For all the thousands of people who out because they couldn’t afford it, it broke our hearts on a daily basis,” Mr. Figueroa, the California official, said. For others, the coverage offered by the pools was too limited for them to receive the care they needed. Beth Martinez, 40, who has multiple sclerosis, was forced to join Texas’ pool when she and her husband moved to Austin. Only six visits to the doctor were covered, and she found she could not afford the annual M. R. I. recommended to monitor her disease because of her high deductible. At one point, she said, she went four years without an M. R. I. She and her husband now live in California and are covered through private plans offered through that state’s marketplace, which meet all the health law’s requirements for conditions. Because she can work only part time, she is eligible for federal subsidies, which bring the couple’s costs to $70 a month. Ms. Martinez had paid $275 a month in the Texas pool to cover herself, and her husband was uninsured. She now gets the M. R. I.s she needs under her plan, and her policy even pays for physical therapy, which allows her to put in longer hours at her job as a hairstylist and makeup artist. That sort of quality coverage, Ms. Martinez said, is a big departure from what she had through the pool, adding that “it was definitely some of the worst insurance I had in my life. ”

About Time! CNN Fires Donna Brazile for Rigging Debates, Giving Hillary Questions in Advance

William F. Jasper

Email CNN made it official Monday, firing commentator Donna Brazile (shown) for giving Hillary Clinton questions in advance of debates with Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primaries. The avidly pro-Clinton network was virtually forced to sever ties with Brazile by the new revelations from the latest WikiLeaks dump of John Podesta’s hacked e-mails. Podesta, the longtime adviser/crony/fixer for Bill and Hillary Clinton, and currently chairman of Hillary’s election campaign, has now seen over 39,000 of his e-mails released by the WikiLeaks hacktivists, and they have been very revealing indeed, exposing the corruption, dirty tricks, and criminality of the Clinton political machine . Brazile, a veteran Democratic Party hack, has been serving as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) since July, when then-DNC chair Rep. Deborah Wasserman Schultz, was forced to resign in an e-mail scandal that exposed Wasserman Schultz and other DNC officials blatantly taking sides with Clinton and sabotaging Sanders, in violation of DNC rules to maintain neutrality in primary campaigns. As the Podesta e-mails reveal, Brazile was involved in those same ethics violations, extending to violating the rules for the televised debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which sponsored the debates, states on its website : “All debates will be moderated by a single individual and will run from 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time without commercial breaks. As always, the moderators alone will select the questions to be asked, which are not known to the CPD or to the candidates.” However, that obviously was not the case, as Brazile was providing Team Clinton with a heads-up of debate questions in advance. The first Brazile e-mail to leak out concerned the televised CNN-TV One Town Hall event on March 13 of this year. The day before, Brazile sent an e-mail to Clinton’s director of communications, Jennifer Palmieri, saying she’s worried about “HRC” (Hillary Rodham Clinton) facing a question on the death penalty. The subject heading of her e-mail was: “Re: From time to time I get the questions in advance.” Here is the e-mail, as provided by WikiLeaks: On Mar 12, 2016, at 4:39 PM, Donna Brazile < >; wrote: Here's one that worries me about HRC. DEATH PENALTY 19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the U.S. That’s 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty? Sent from Donna's I Pad. Follow me on twitter @donnabrazile The following day, on the CNN-TV One Town Hall, co-moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and TV One’s Roland Martin, Hillary Rodham Clinton was indeed asked a question about the death penalty, by audience member Ricky Jackson — and HRC had a scripted answer ready and waiting. We, the public, did not find out that the game had been rigged until months later, when WikiLeaks released the incriminating e-mail on October 11. Nevertheless, even after the WikiLeaks release, most of the establishment media ignored the Brazile-Podesta-Palmieri skullduggery in favor of bashing Donald Trump over unsubstantiated, sensationalistic charges of sexual harassment. For nearly two weeks, Donna Brazile was allowed to wave off the e-mail evidence with diversionary tactics and charges that the e-mails are fabrications by WikiLeaks and Russian intelligence. However, on October 20 Brazile was skewered on Fox News by a relentless Megyn Kelly, who refused to let her weasel her way through another interview. Not that the DNC chair didn’t try; Brazile kept going to script, using every diversion she could muster to avoid answering the direct, careful questions put to her by the Fox anchor. She tried the Christian/persecution diversion: “As a Christian woman I understand persecution, but I will not sit here and be persecuted,” Brazile told Megyn Kelly. She tried the “poisoned fruit” diversion: “Podesta’s emails were stolen. You’re so interested in talking about stolen material, you’re like a thief that wanna bring into the night the things that are in the gutter.” She tried the motor-mouth/repetition diversion, the total innocence diversion, and much more. It was still more of the same patently absurd denial and rehearsed propaganda by Brazile when Kelly confronted her with the undercover video stings of top Democratic dirty tricks operatives Scott Foval and Bob Creamer, who were caught red-handed boasting of rigging elections and admitting to inciting violence at Trump rallies . Incredibly, Brazile insisted to Megyn Kelly that “I always play ‘straight up’ and I’m going to be ‘straight up’ with you.” However, it was painfully clear by the end of the Fox “interview” that “straight up” Donna Brazile is as weasely and deceitful as “Crooked Hillary.” It is noteworthy that during her Fox News interview, when Megyn Kelly repeatedly asked her where she got the advance debate questions, Brazile fatuously insisted that she had “never” received any questions from CNN. She continued repeating the same lines even when Kelly asked her directly if the questions had come not from CNN itself but from Roland Martin, the former CNN commentator who now works for TV One and co-moderated the Town Hall event. In the same e-mail thread of March 12 cited above, Brazile responded to a reply from Jennifer Palmieri. Brazile told Palmieri: “I'll send a few more [debate questions]. Though some questions Roland submitted.” That would seem to be a very solid “clue” that Roland Martin was the source and Brazile was the conduit to Podesta and the Clinton Campaign. Politico reporter Hadas Gold reported on October 12 that Politico had obtained an e-mail of March 12 from Roland Martin to CNN debate producers with the identical death penalty question that appeared in Brazile’s March 12 e-mail to Palmieri. What’s more, it was Roland Martin who introduced Ricky Jackson, the pre-selected, pre-scripted “audience” member who asked the rigged question about the death penalty. As Gold reports, Martin initially denied that he had shared his questions “with anybody.” However, after being confronted with the fact that Politico possessed e-mail evidence to the contrary, he began walking the denial back to more ambiguous ground. Media “Uncomfortable” but not Outraged — Deceit, Propaganda Continue In an October 13 interview, Jake Tapper said he has “tremendous regard” for Brazile, but said the WikiLeaks revelation was “very, very troubling.” “It’s horrifying,” the CNN anchor said. “Journalistically it’s horrifying, and I’m sure it will have an impact on [CNN] partnering with this organization [TV One] in the future.” The following day, on October 14, CNN spokeswoman Lauren Pratapas stated that CNN hadn’t given Brazile the debate questions in advance and announced Brazile had resigned from the network. “CNN never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate,” Pratapas said in a written statement. “We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor.” The October 30 WikiLeaks release contains another Brazile-DNC-Podesta debate revelation, concerning the March 6 debate in Flint, Michigan, where Democrat Party operatives and their media allies have transformed lead poisoning into a false national issue with which to clobber Republicans. The Clinton-Sanders Democratic primary debate was hosted by CNN and moderated by Anderson Cooper. (See the full debate here .) The event was held in Flint at Clinton’s request, as she herself pointed out during the course of the debate. A Brazile e-mail from March 5 of this year to Podesta and Palmieri, is entitled: “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash.” “Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint” Brazile’s e-mail goes on to alert Hillary’s debate coaches. Sure enough, the lead poisoning question came up on cue, and HRC slammed in another easy homerun answer. Yes, many in the pro-Clinton media industry are “uncomfortable” with the WikiLeaks revelations, but, judging from their continued overwhelmingly slanted coverage, the discomfort comes from being exposed, not from being disgusted with the serial cheating and lying of the Clinton camp and their media allies. There has been precious little outrage expressed by the pro-Clinton mainstream media elites of the kind and volume that would have gushed forth if the same rigging had been perpetrated by the Trump Campaign. There have been no media-orchestrated calls for TV One to fire Roland Martin, nor for the DNC to fire Donna Brazile, nor for Hillary Clinton to fire John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri. The Brazile-Podesta-Palmieri debate e-mails are damning, but, arguably, not as serious as the many other revelations concerning the Clinton family’s rampant criminality on national security matters such as Uranium One, and the “pay-to-play” wheeling-dealing at the HRC State Department and the Clinton Foundation. However, the WikiLeaks e-mails released thus far have shown an alarming willingness and ability of Hillary Rodham Clinton and her DNC-Big Media allies to rig the election debates. And the ones we’ve seen may be only the tip of the iceberg. If this is the case in the primaries, are Donald Trump’s charges about rigging the November 8 election really all that outlandish, as the pro-Clinton media choir would have us believe? Related articles :

DONNELLY: How California DMV Could Settle the Question of Voter Fraud - Breitbart

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly

California AB 60 driver’s license holders — who are admittedly in the country illegally by virtue of applying for this class of license — are concerned that the Trump administration may use their AB 60 licenses to identify them for deportation, according to an AP story picked up by Oregon Live. [According to Jessica Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the Dept. of Motor Vehicles (DMV) illegal aliens in California have nothing to fear. She told the AP that although the department makes “databases available to entities,” that information would not include the legal status of driver’s license holders. In response to questions from Breitbart News, Gonzalez may have inadvertently provided the Trump administration a way to get to the bottom of allegations of massive voter fraud. Breitbart News: When you state that “that although the department makes “databases available to law enforcement entities,” that information would not include the legal status of license holders,” is that because DMV withholds that info. or doesn’t have it? Or is it because DMV treats the AB 60 Drivers license like every other driver’s license that once in the DMV database and there is no way to distinguish them? DMV Response: AB 60 driver license information is kept in the same DMV database as every other driver license. The fact that someone is an AB 60 driver license holder, isn’t available to law enforcement when they access a driver record. So the California DMV can internally differentiate within their database who holds an “illegal alien” AB60 license — which contradicts what is being pushed by activist websites that have reassured illegal aliens that once the driver’s license is entered in the database, the entry is indistinguishable. In a state like California, where every regular driver’s license holder is automatically registered to vote, and where almost a million illegal aliens have received these “ drive only” licenses — it’s critically important that additional safeguards be in place to prevent from being “accidentally” registered to vote. When asked about how the DMV prevents this from happening, Gonzalez said “[t]he programming blocks AB 60 applicants from having the option to register to vote. ” How is the California voter assured that voter fraud is not happening, given that the only safeguards in place are a computer program and the honor system? If someone returns a voter registration card and fails to affirm they are a U. S. citizen, his or her registration is treated as normal and placed on the voter rolls without any further verification, per the California Secretary of State’s official website. Gonzalez also said that “state laws forbid police from discriminating based on a person showing an license,” but there is nothing to stop the U. S. Attorney General from subpoenaing the database to determine if votes were cast illegally in a federal election. It is a very serious crime in California to vote illegally or to vote on behalf of someone who is not qualified to vote — punishable by up to 3 years in prison, with fines from $1, 000 up to $25, 000 (if the particular offense is a felony). It is also a federal crime for a alien to vote in any federal election, according to US Code 18 U. S. C. § 611 — punishable by up to one year of imprisonment. If Attorney General Jeff Sessions wanted to investigate voter fraud in California — which California Secretary of State Alex Padilla vehemently condemned as “dangerous,” “impossible” and “a lie” — all he has to do is subpoena the databases and cross reference voter files with AB 60 driver’s license holders. And if Padilla wants to put the “lie” to President Trump’s allegations of widespread, massive voter fraud, he should put up or shut up. When a similar verification audit was done in Prince Williams County, Virginia last year — cross referencing jury duty exemptions for with voter registrations — the result was astonishing. According to a Breitbart News report in 2016, 1, 046 were found to be registered to vote in just three counties where elections are often decided by a few hundred votes. California Democrats have a great opportunity to embarrass President Trump — which seems to be their official mission — and at the same time prove the integrity of the vote in the largest, most populous state in the union. Unless they have something to hide. Tim Donnelly is a former California State Assemblyman and author who is doing a book tour for his new book: Patriot Not Politician: Win or Go Homeless. He ran for governor in 2014. FaceBook: https: . facebook. . donnelly. Twitter: @PatriotNotPol

Американский генерал признал проблемы со штурмом Мосула

1 комментариев 4 поделились Фото: AP "Пока еще полного окружения Мосула нет. Но это и не обязательно, чтобы проводить наступление на город, чтобы его освободить от ИГ. У неприятеля есть пути входа и выхода, он ведет некоторую передислокацию бойцов, хотя мы не видим, что в город приходят или уходят из него большие подразделения", - сказал Таунсенд на брифинге. При этом генерал вынужден был признать, что именно таким образом боевики, засевшие в Мосуле,получают и подкрепление, и боеприпасы. Более того, таким образом лидеры террористов имеют возможность покинуть город безнаказанными. Конечно, силы коалиции наносят по ним удары, но только тогда, когда видят самих боевиков или имеют точную о них информацию. Правда, наученные предыдущим опытом боев с коалицией, теперь боевики все это делают максимально скрытно: не передвигаются по местности под развевающимися флагами и в открытых автомобилях. Помимо этого, боевики прибегают к новой тактике маскировки: для того, чтобы смешаться с гражданским населением, некоторые из них просто сбривают бороды и переодеваются в другую одежду. Об этом рассказали жители Мосула. США и их союзники с 2014 года проводят в Ираке и Сирии операцию против ИГ. В ночь на 17 октября премьер-министр Ирака Хайдер аль-Абади заявил о начале военной операции по освобождению Мосула от боевиков ИГ. Иракские военные и силы полиции, а также курдские формирования при поддержке авиации коалиции во главе с США начали массированное наступление на город. Однако это наступление может обернуться катастрофой на Ближнем Востоке. Об этом заявил, к примеру, кандидат в президенты США Дональд Трамп. Или вот мнение отставного полковника США Дэниэла Дэвиса, которое он изложил в статье, опубликованной в The National Interest : Америке и силам коалиции стоит поторопиться с проведением операции в Мосуле, в противном случае террористы могут разорвать этот альянс в клочья. "Чем дольше продержится ИГ и чем больший урон нанесет коалиции, тем более вероятно, что религиозные и политические различия между освободительными силами будут проявляться все сильнее", - пишет Дэвис. Прокомментировать ситуацию Pravda.Ru попросила военного эксперта Бориса Подопригору. В последние несколько месяцев официального пребывания американского президента в Белом доме, им захотелось организовать такой политический спектакль на тему американской приверженности в борьбе с терроризмом. Я так это вижу. Что из этого получится, мне сказать сложно. Самое плохое, что я ожидаю, это новое столкновение по линии сунниты-шииты. Вот в чем самая большая проблема. Если начнется резня, а такое исключать нельзя, то мало никому не покажется, хотя бы потому, что и Иран, и Саудовская Аравия в стороне от этого конфликта не будут. Можно лишь пожалеть, что в американском практическом востоковедении немного людей, которые задумываются о последствиях межрелигиозного столкновения. *"Исламское государство" - организация, запрещенная в России Читайте последние новости Pravda. Ru на сегодня Катастрофа в Мосуле: Запад имитирует борьбу с терроризмом Поделиться:

New MH370 analysis suggests no one at controls during crash

wmw_admin

Associated Press — Nov 2, 2016 Boeing 777. Click to enlarge A FRESH analysis of the final moments of doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 suggests no one was controlling the plane when it plunged into the ocean, according to a report released by investigators. As experts hunting for the aircraft gathered in Australia’s capital to discuss the fading search effort , a technical report released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau , which leads the search, seems to support the theory investigators have long favoured: that no one was at the controls of the Boeing 777 when it ran out of fuel and dived at high speed into a remote patch of the Indian Ocean off Western Australia in 2014. #MH370 Report: Search and debris examination update . https://t.co/BpauQTcsRm — ATSB (@atsbinfo) November 1, 2016 It comes as the ABC reports the search for MH370 will be extended north, beyond the 120,000-square kilometre search zone in the Southern Indian Ocean. It’s believed the search will move on to new areas next year at an estimated cost of $30 million. In recent months, critics have increasingly been pushing the alternate theory that someone was still controlling the plane at the end of its flight . If that was the case, the aircraft could have glided much farther, tripling in size the possible area where it could have crashed and further complicating the already hugely complex effort to find it. But Wednesday’s report shows that the latest analysis of satellite data is consistent with the plane being in a “high and increasing rate of descent” in its final moments. The report also said an analysis of a wing flap that washed ashore in Tanzania indicates the flap was likely not deployed when it broke off the plane. A pilot would typically extend the flaps during a controlled ditching. The report also revealed the falling pattern of the aircraft, detailing how it descended in a number of different directions. “In an electrical configuration where the loss of engine power from one engine resulted in the loss of autopilot (AP), the aircraft descended in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions.” Peter Foley, the bureau’s director of Flight 370 search operations, has previously said that if the flap was not deployed, it would almost certainly rule out the theory that the plane entered the water in a controlled ditch and would effectively validate that searchers are looking in the right place for the wreckage . “(It) means the aircraft wasn’t configured for a landing or a ditching — you can draw your own conclusions as to whether that means someone was in control,” Foley told reporters in Canberra. “You can never be 100 per cent. We are very reluctant to express absolute certainty.”

Bernie Sanders: Trump Won Because Democrats Are Out of Touch - Breitbart

Adelle Nazarian

Sen. Bernie Sanders ( ) said the Democrats lost to Donald Trump because they are out of touch with America. [“I happen to believe that the Democratic Party has been not doing a good job in terms of communicating with people in cities, in towns and in rural America, all over this country,” Sanders said in an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition. The Vermont senator, who ran for president on the Democratic ticket and then switched back to Independent after losing the primary to defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, added, “Look, you can’t simply go around to wealthy people’s homes raising money and expect to win elections. You’ve got to go out and mix it up and be with ordinary people. ” Sanders and Trump both ran on a platform that pushed against the political establishment, and both were successful at tapping into the base. However, it was arguably Clinton’s decision to ignore her husband’s advice that contributed most to her loss in the general election. Former President Bill Clinton suggested that Hillary court white men, a demographic that has long been ignored by the Democratic Party. Sanders told NPR that Trump has a choice: “Either he can have the courage and get up in front of the American people, or do it through a Tweet, and say, ‘You know what? Hey, I was just kidding. I was really lying. ’” Or, he suggested, Trump can tell his fellow Republicans that “the right thing to do” is stop wasting their time on legislation that cuts programs. “And I look forward to Trump telling the American people that that is what he intends to do,” Sanders said. It is unlikely Trump will take up either of Sanders’ suggestions. Sanders and other Democratic leaders have called for a “Day of Action” on January 15 — ahead of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — “to vigorously oppose the Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it and throw our health care system into chaos,” according to a December 28 letter addressed to colleagues and signed by Sanders, Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer ( ) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ( ). The letter adds, “Millions of Americans voted for Donald Trump after he promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He must be held to his promises and should veto any legislation which cuts these vital and necessary health programs. ” Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter and Periscope @AdelleNaz

Little-Loved by Scholars, Trump Also Gets Little of Their Cash

Henry Wolff

Little-Loved by Scholars, Trump Also Gets Little of Their Cash Peter Olsen-Phillips, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 7, 2016 It’s no secret that campaign contributions from higher education have favored Democratic candidates for years. When it comes to the current presidential race, however, data show that the gap between left and right has grown from a rift into a chasm. A Chronicle analysis of Federal Election Commission data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics shows Donald Trump raising a tiny fraction of the campaign money that the previous two Republican nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, drew from higher-education professionals over comparable time periods. Across higher education, donations in congressional and Senate races showed a ratio of Democratic to Republican giving similar to that of the two previous presidential-campaign cycles. But support for Mr. Trump stood at less than 8 percent of what Senator McCain raised from higher-ed professionals, and around 4 percent of the donations that Mr. Romney pulled in over the same time period, once the figures were adjusted for inflation. As of June 30, faculty members and others who work in higher education had donated $76,668 to Mr. Trump’s campaign committee and to support “super PACs”–independent committees that can raise and spend unlimited funds. By comparison, people working in academe had given $6.4 million to Hillary Clinton. Those figures account for donations of at least $200 that the Center for Responsive Politics has determined come from people associated with higher education. They are the most-recent figures available. {snip}

Mississippi District Ordered to Desegregate Its Schools - The New York Times

Christine Hauser

A federal court has ordered a town in Mississippi to desegregate its high schools and middle schools, ending a legal battle over integrating black and white students. The ruling by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, made Friday but announced Monday, means the middle and high school programs in the Cleveland School District, in the western part of the state, will be combined for the first time in their history. In her decision, Judge Debra M. Brown said, “Although no court order can right these wrongs, it is the duty of the district to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden. ” Judge Brown rejected two alternatives proposed by the district as unconstitutional and ordered it to adopt a Justice Department desegregation plan, and to provide a timeline for doing so. The head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Vanita Gupta, said in a statement Monday, “This victory creates new opportunities for the children of Cleveland to learn, play and thrive together. ” School officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday. But a statement on the Cleveland School District’s website Tuesday said it was examining the decision and “considering its options for appeal. ” Government data released Tuesday suggested that segregation was creeping back in some school districts, with poor, black and Hispanic students increasingly isolated from white peers. The report, by the Government Accountability Office, showed that 16 percent of public schools had high proportions of poor and black or Hispanic students in the school year, up from 9 percent in . It said 75 to 100 percent of those students were eligible for free or lunches, a commonly used indicator of poverty. The schools offered fewer math, science and college preparatory courses and had higher rates of students held back in ninth grade, suspended or expelled. Representative Robert C. Scott, Democrat of Virginia, who requested the G. A. O. report in 2014 with Representative John Conyers Jr. Democrat of Michigan, said in a statement that it confirmed that the nation’s schools were still largely segregated by race and class. “What’s more troubling is that segregation in public schools isn’t getting better it’s getting worse, and getting worse quickly, with more than 20 million students of color now attending racially and socioeconomically isolated public schools,” Mr. Scott said in a statement. The Mississippi case began with an action filed on July 24, 1965, on behalf of 131 children. The suit accused the Bolivar County Board of Education and some of its members of operating public schools on a racially segregated basis. The Cleveland School District is part of Bolivar County. A Justice Department motion filed in 2011 illustrated the inequities between the poor and in Cleveland, a Mississippi Delta town with a population of about 12, 000. Before 1969, schools on the west side of the railroad tracks that run through Cleveland were white and segregated by law. Schools on the east side of the tracks were originally black. “More than 40 years later, these schools maintain their character and reputation as white schools, with a student body and faculty that are disproportionately white,” the department said. The court ruled that the district must consolidate the virtually D. M. Smith Middle School with the historically white Margaret Green Junior High School. It must also consolidate the mostly black East Side High School with the historically white Cleveland High School, and review educational programs to identify new ones for the consolidation. The decision came six decades after the United States Supreme Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education that “separate but equal has no place” in public schools. But on the 62nd anniversary of that decision, which was Tuesday, it is still struggling to take hold. Segregation is not just a characteristic of Southern states. Some of the most severely segregated conditions for Latino and students occur in New York, Maryland and Illinois, the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a report on Monday. percent of New York’s black students attend overwhelmingly nonwhite schools, compared with 45 percent in Mississippi, the report shows. Erica Frankenberg, an author of the report, said in a telephone interview that, decades after the Brown decision, some school districts had lagged in ending segregation because doing so requires separate legal challenges to policies that are enforced and enacted at the local and state levels. Factors such as school board decisions, political opposition and discriminatory housing policies can hinder progress in districts, Ms. Frankenberg said. “It is asking the perpetrators of segregation to be in charge of fixing the segregation,” she said. She added that she believed there were several hundred legal school desegregation cases nationwide. The Justice Department is still monitoring and enforcing 178 open federal desegregation court cases, many originating 30 or 40 years ago, the G. A. O. report noted.

Terror Suspect Wanted to Join Islamic State, Gun Down ’Jewish Football Fans’

Simon Kent

A man has appeared in court accused of plotting to obtain automatic weapons and kill Jews in Stamford Hill, North London. [Aweys Faqey, 37 was charged under the Terrorism Act following his arrest last week. Dutch national Mr. Faqey was detained at Stansted Airport as he was readying to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. Mr. Faqey had four mobile phones and £841 in foreign currency in his possession. A 37yo man has been charged under the Terrorism Act following his arrest at Stansted … https: . pic. twitter. — Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) May 30, 2017, The court was told that Mr. Faqey was interviewed for five days by counterterrorism police before his court date, but replied “No comment” to all questions. Thomas Halpin for the prosecution told the court: “The investigation came alive during the search of a laptop in another terrorist investigation and the communication between the defendant and Abdirahman Hassan transpired. “He is a Kenyan man who is currently in custody in Kenya awaiting trial for terrorist offences. In essence the communication between both men was that the defendant expressed a desire to go to Syria and fight jihad. ” The court heard extracts from alleged online chat logs, which claim Mr. Faqey wanted to obtain automatic weapons and commit a terrorist attack on Jewish people in north London. One message allegedly said: “It could have been better if AK47, M16 and BKM can be found. They could have been taken to Stamford Hill and people leave from the game. “On Saturday a lot of Jews gather over there. It is an area of the UK where they are a majority, it’s full of people. ” Mr. Faqey has a wife and five children in the Netherlands and another wife and child in Kenya. He has resided in the UK since 2013. Scotland Yard said his arrest had no connection to the Manchester attack. Mr. Faqey was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on June 9.

Nuclear Option: The Speech-Democrats Reveal Contempt for Military During Trump Address - Breitbart

Charles Hurt

It’s not like they leave much room for doubt about how much contempt they hold for military service and the immeasurable sacrifice that comes with it. [Two of the Democratic Party’s last three nominees for president voted to send our troops to die and be maimed in a war they later determined was not worth it. For both John Kerry in 2004 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, that change of heart came just as soon as it became politically advantageous for them to cut and run. President Obama, meanwhile, built his entire political career around promises to end the war in Iraq and withdraw all of our troops from harm’s way. Of course, he completely failed to deliver on that promise — but not before managing to give up so much territory won by the blood and guts of our brave men and women. Thanks, Obama. Now comes the fearless widow Carryn Owens, whose Navy Seal husband was the first American casualty under President Trump as . The standing ovation she braved during Mr. Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress this week surely made her husband just as proud of her as the entire nation is of him. Hers were certainly tears of pain and prayers of agony. But they were also tears of fortitude. And prayers of an enduring spirit. Carryn Owens, and her husband, Ryan, are the absolute best America has to offer. To send people like them into war for anything short of a mission absolutely worth it is a desecration of their sacrifices and a total dereliction of duty. Any politician who makes that mistake should be hounded from public office forever. They should be forced to spend the rest of their lives cleaning bed pans in VA hospitals — except that service is a calling too noble for such low, selfish and thoughtless vermin. You would think that someone as beautiful and strong and brave as Carryn Owens would be something above partisan hackery. Wrong. Leftwing television gasbags pounced on the widow. The chronically unfunny HBO yapper Bill Maher called the moment that America wept with Carryn Owens “gross” and “shameful. ” “I wish she hadn’t allowed herself to be used as his prop like that. ” Get that? Sliming Donald Trump is not enough for this singular dirt bag. He has to slime her to and treat her like some mindless dolt incapable of her own . The incurable arrogance and stupidity of these people know no bounds. Anyway, isn’t it the Democrat Party that will — literally — politicize anything? President Obama spent his entire career as president looking for ways to toss hand grenades into America soldiers’ tents. He commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning (nee Bradley) after the soldier committed espionage that imperiled the lives of countless U. S. troops. Then there was the time he surrendered five murderous terrorists from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who deserted his squad in Afghanistan. Every bit of it emanated from Mr. Obama’s deep contempt for military families and the sacrifices they make to keep America safe. Perhaps the most contemptible stunt Democrats ever pulled to denigrate the military in hopes of scoring political points was trotting out the Gold Star parents of Capt. Humayun Khan at last summer’s Democratic convention. It had nothing to do with the ultimate sacrifice Capt. Khan paid at a checkpoint in Iraq in 2004. Rather, it was all part of their grand scheme of using racial and religious profiling to goose support among a flagging Democratic electorate. One of the sweetest things about this last election was that for the first time in many years such calculating dishonesty did not pay off in America politics. But, at this rate, Democrats face many more years of losing elections before they learn this lesson. • Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes. com follow him on Twitter via @charleshurt.

Trump, Davos, Martin Luther King Jr.: Your Weekend Briefing - The New York Times

Karen Workman and Merrill D. Oliver

Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. 1. By the end of this week, the U. S. will have sworn in a new president. Ahead of Donald J. Trump’s inauguration on Friday, more of his cabinet nominees will appear before Senate committees for confirmation hearings. Last week’s hearings revealed that many of the people he’s chosen have strong disagreements with his policies. If his appointments are confirmed, he’ll put in place a team that is more white and male than any cabinet since Ronald Reagan’s. _____ 2. We spoke with some of the millions of women who voted for Mr. Trump, like Taylor Davis, above, who said she was a “ Bernie supporter. ” “When he backed Hillary Clinton, I couldn’t get behind it,” she said. The women gave a range of reasons for their support for Mr. Trump, including concerns about the economy, immigration and Mrs. Clinton. _____ 3. Mr. Trump lashed out at Mrs. Clinton after the Justice Department said it would investigate James Comey, the F. B. I. director, over his decision to tell Congress about a new review of her emails just days before the election. Mr. Trump called her “guilty as hell. ” He was also mad about a sensational but entirely unverified dossier on his ties to Russia. “Totally made up facts by sleazebag political operatives,” he tweeted. _____ 4. Congress moved quickly last week in its efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which was one of Mr. Trump’s campaign promises. He also promised it would be replaced by “something terrific,” but Republicans are far from reaching a consensus on what that would be. Here’s a look at the major changes Obamacare brought to health care, which of those changes may now disappear, and what might replace them. _____ 5. Secretary of State John Kerry will spend his last week in office in much the same way as he spent a lot of it: traveling. The trip began with a stop in Vietnam on Friday, above. On Sunday, he’ll be in Paris for peace talks. Also on Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden will be in Ukraine to meet with that country’s president. Later in the week, they’ll both be at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mr. Kerry will end his term as the secretary of state in U. S. history, having logged more than 1. 3 million miles. _____ 6. “Have you heard? This screws up all your lives. ” That’s what one youth in Cuba yelled to crowds of people shortly after Mr. Obama announced the end of a U. S. policy that allowed Cubans who reach American soil to obtain legal residency. The decision was long sought by the Cuban government. But younger Cubans, forced to envision a future with fewer options, seemed crushed. _____ 7. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday honoring the life of the civil rights leader, is observed in the U. S. on Monday — a day after what would have been his 88th birthday. We reviewed “My Life, My Love, My Legacy,” a posthumous memoir by Coretta Scott King, his wife, who died in 2006. “Living with terror is the thread that runs through ‘My Life,’” our reviewer wrote. Here’s a look at how tensions across the country prompted President Obama to abandon his early reticence on race again and again. _____ 8. victories in a row. That’s the tally for the Connecticut women’s basketball team, the Huskies, which shattered its own N. C. A. A. record winning streak with Saturday’s win against Southern Methodist in Dallas. In the N. F. L. playoff games continue: Sunday’s lineup pits the Steelers against the Chiefs in Kansas City (8:20 p. m. Eastern, NBC) and the Packers against the Cowboys in Dallas (4:40 p. m. Eastern, Fox). (Earlier we had an outdated time for the game. It was moved to 8:20 p. m. because of weather.) _____ 9. One of our reporters has a big, dumb, deep, goofy voice — at least that’s how he perceives it. “But I’m reminded of it only when I hear a recording of myself while playing back an interview,” he wrote. He asked experts why so many of us are unpleasantly surprised at the sound of our recorded voices. The answer has to do with how sounds are perceived by the inner ear. Above, the musician Mitski Miyawaki, who said she’s often surprised at the sound of her speaking voice. _____ 10. Finally, let’s talk about the Impossible Burger. It looks like beef. It has the texture of beef. It even appears bloody, but it is definitely vegan. Does it taste like beef, though? We asked a butcher, a cardiologist, a vegan and a technology reporter to weigh in. The consensus: not really. “But I think it’s really good as a option,” the butcher said. _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Evening Briefing, weeknights at 6 p. m. Eastern. Want to look back? Here’s Friday’s Evening Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

Сбыча мечт задерживается на неопределенный срок

Леонтина Литвинова

Сбыча мечт задерживается на неопределенный срок 12 ноября 2016 Политика С поражением Хиллари Клинтон какая-то часть её фанатов потеряла шанс на выполнение одного из пунктов обещаний претендентки — долгожданное разоблачение некоторых секретов США. Предвыборная гонка закончилась весьма печально для ожидавших победы госпожи Клинтон: теперь в кресло следующего президента США усядется Дональд Трамп. Неожиданный результат выборов породил серьёзные переживания у части электората, голосовавшего за неё. Нет, речь не о протестах и петициях! Тихо грустят потерявшие давно лелеемую надежду — ни за что не догадаетесь, кто, и на что! По большому счету, грядущее разоблачение государственных тайн, о котором дамочка многажды твердила в своих предвыборных обязательствах, никак не связано с животрепещущими вопросами, волновавшими американцев и достаточную часть мирового сообщества! Нашлась ниша, не охваченная её противником, чьи интересы направлены, в основном, на благополучие США. Ну а Хилари в этом отношении предполагала, что смотреть надо дальше, за пределы Земли. Немалую роль в этих обещаниях сыграл председатель её избирательной комиссии Джон Подеста, бывший консультантом при Обаме и даже главой штаба Белого дома при супруге Хиллари — Билле Клинтоне. Подеста уже давненько публично выступает за раскрытие секретов США по части НЛО. Вот и Клинтон обязалась разоблачить тайны Соединённых Штатов, якобы напрямую связанные с инопланетными цивилизациями, а точнее, с НЛО и пришельцами, посещавшими Землю. Хотела ли она сдержать свои предвыборные обещания, вопрос достаточно праздный, поскольку сослагательного наклонения история даже в Америке не имеет. Что касается Трампа, то он наверняка не считает значительную долю населения своей страны полными недоумками, непроходимыми тупицами или падкими на сенсации малообразованными любителями «непознанного». Думается, у нового президента вряд ли будет время и желание углубляться в дебри уфологии, тем более что не известно ни о каких его интересах в этом направлении, не говоря уж о личном стремлении вплотную заняться общением с инопланетянами.

Kathy Griffin Faces Calls for Boycott of Comedy Tour after Trump ’Beheading’ Photo - Breitbart

Jerome Hudson

Kathy Griffin’s Facebook page was inundated with calls for a boycott of her nationwide comedy tour after a photo of her holding a severed head of President Donald Trump went viral on Tuesday. [“Call rt 66 hotel boycott her show,” one user wrote in a Facebook message referencing Griffin’s July 22 scheduled performance at the Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, NM. “DO NOT SEE HER SHOW, BOYCOTT THIS ANIMAL! !” another user wrote. The furor aimed at the comedian was sparked after images went viral of Griffin posing holding up a fake, bloodied decapitated head meant to resemble Trump. The photos were taken by Los photographer and artist Tyler Shields, who tweeted a short video of Griffin holding Trump’s head. KATHY GRIFFIN: https: . via @YouTube, — Tyler Shields (@tylershields) May 30, 2017, Griffin is currently on a comedy tour. Her next stop, according to her website, is on June 16 at Grass Valley Veterans Memorial Center in Grass Valley, California. Social media users, outraged at Griffin’s photo, called for both the tour and My Life on the star to be boycotted. “She should be boycotted anywhere she is performing. Give her a taste of her own medicine. Disgusting, vile person,” one user wrote. “Disgusting human being. Whoever would buy a ticket to your show has to be as pathetic as you. Your show should be boycotted. I hope your tour is a total flop,” another Facebook user wrote. “Boycott this total scumbag. Youre part of the swamp!” another wrote. The comedian responded to the uproar in a statement posted to her Twitter account Tuesday afternoon. “OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief,” she wrote. This article has been updated to correct the location of the next stop on Griffin’s comedy tour. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

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Does Hillary Clinton care or does she only care about obtaining votes?

The Weekly Standard’s Arsenal to Fight Falsehoods: ‘Facts, Logic and Reason’ - The New York Times

Jim Rutenberg

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ” — Hunter S. Thompson, 1972 When Breitbart News ran a blaring headline last week suggesting that new evidence “vindicates” President Trump’s claims that former President Barack Obama put him and his team under surveillance … When a Fox News contributor reported that Fox had “learned” that the British government spied on Mr. Trump at Mr. Obama’s behest, though the network later said it had learned no such thing (because there’s no evidence it happened) … When the White House press secretary repeated that flimsy (or, as the British put it, “utterly ridiculous”) claim from his powerful lectern … It’s the end result — if not necessarily the intended result — of a dream that American conservatives began pursuing more than 60 years ago: to break the informational hegemony of the mainstream news media. For the purposes of this column, I’m starting the count in 1955 when William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review, declaring it an outsider’s antidote to the controlling influence of “the United Nations and the League of Women Voters and The New York Times. ” Mr. Buckley designed National Review to win the larger argument through “logic and superior command of the subject,” as his biographer Sam Tanenhaus (a former writer for The New York Times) told me last week — through facts. And it inspired successive generations of conservative journalists to get in the game, too. One of them was Stephen F. Hayes, who, as a conservative Gen growing up in Wauwatosa, Wis. got ideological ammunition from National Review for the Friday night political fights he and his friends waged over Pabst Blue Ribbons and hot wings. Mr. Hayes wanted to be a journalist. But he had solid conservative beliefs and viewed the mainstream news media as a liberal monolith that wasn’t for him. So in 1995, when William Kristol, Fred Barnes and John Podhoretz, with money from Rupert Murdoch, started The Weekly Standard as a new conservative competitor to National Review — and an answer to the Nation and New Republic — Mr. Hayes set about trying to get a job there. After graduating from Columbia University’s journalism school and reporting for the political tip sheet “The Hotline,” he succeeded in 2001. Sixteen years later, just a few weeks shy of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Hayes, 46, became The Weekly Standard’s editor in chief. The Weekly Standard had been associated with the #NeverTrump movement throughout the campaign, just as the Trump movement had been given the magazine’s support of free trade and support for the interventionist Republican foreign policy that helped lead to the Iraq war. With Mr. Kristol moving to an role in December, it fell to Mr. Hayes to navigate Trumpian politics as editor in chief while leading the magazine into the next era. When he looked around the conservative news media landscape and assessed The Weekly Standard’s place in it, he made a determination. The movement he joined had succeeded in breaking the mainstream news media’s informational hegemony (something the mainstream media had a hand in, too, he said). But as it evolved, grew and splintered, something else broke: any universal sense of truth. “That’s a problem for our democracy,” he told me last week. He determined to make The Weekly Standard part of the solution. The solution was more real journalism. And The Weekly Standard was going to need a bigger newsroom. When I caught up with Mr. Hayes last week he was in the process of staffing up. He had poached The Wall Street Journal’s books editor, Robert Messenger, to be an executive editor alongside Mr. Barnes. He had hired Rachael Larimore, a former managing editor of the Slate (though her politics lean to the right) and recruited a former deputy business editor of The Charlotte Observer, Tony Mecia. He said he was on the verge of hiring five additional journalists, having gotten the from The Weekly Standard’s billionaire owner, Philip Anschutz, to grow his team by a third. Mr. Hayes said he made a simple case to Mr. Anschutz, who bought The Weekly Standard from Mr. Murdoch in 2009: “Let’s add more resources and make sure that we’re basing our arguments on facts, logic and reason. ” Mr. Hayes shares the viewpoint of another prominent Wisconsin conservative, Charlie Sykes, the #NeverTrump talk radio host who declared last year that he and his fellow conservative media stalwarts had been too successful in delegitimizing the mainstream news media. “We destroyed our own immunity to fake news while empowering the worst and most reckless voices on the right,” Mr. Sykes wrote in The Times last year. Mr. Hayes said he put more of the onus for that on the mainstream news media than Mr. Sykes does (though Mr. Sykes certainly puts some there). It has undercut itself with readers, he said, through “the questions that aren’t asked and aren’t covered” in a way that seems to favor liberal viewpoints. Yet the effect remained: There are voters who “don’t believe what they’re getting from the networks and the cable outlets” and therefore may be open to false or unsubstantiated content that provides affirmation at the expense of true information, he said. In some parts of the conservative news media sphere, winning the intellectual argument has been replaced with winning the war, by any means necessary. That was the ethos the Breitbart News founder Andrew Breitbart seemed to promote for several years before his death in 2012. He had vowed to “weaponize the conservative movement’’ and to “rectify the long problem that has been absolute media bias. ” This new media, he declared in Wired in 2010, “provides the tools. ” It certainly did for Breitbart News. Despite having “some good people,” Mr. Hayes said, it was generally “pushing a political line and taking shortcuts and taking shots. ” (Some of those shots have been at Mr. Hayes.) As Mr. Breitbart predicted, new media has also provided the tools for anyone to start a website. No commitment to truth is required. So now you have increased prominence for the “Gateway Pundits” and “InfoWars” of the world — the latter a promoter of the false conspiracy known as PizzaGate, which InfoWars’ chief, Alex Jones, apologized for late last week. Mr. Hayes and I were speaking during a week in which the conservative news media was going through a between reporting and wild speculation and falsehoods. Fox News temporarily sidelined Andrew Napolitano, the contributor who spawned the unsubstantiated claim that Mr. Obama had used British intelligence to spy on Mr. Trump. The conservative Independent Journal Review told Oliver Darcy of Business Insider that it had disciplined journalists involved in a report suggesting that a Hawaii judge had blocked the revised version of Mr. Trump’s immigration order under pressure from Mr. Obama. The report, based solely on the fact that Mr. Obama had been in the state around the time of the ruling, helped hasten another IJR journalist’s decision to quit in protest, as Hadas Gold of Politico reported. With Time magazine posing what should have been a bizarre question, but wasn’t, on its cover — “Is Truth Dead?” — it felt as if a time of choosing had arrived. But the internet is faster to reward the fantastical than the factual, which is where Mr. Hayes sees potential risks in his strategy. “You can make an argument that the people who pay the price are the people who do the real reporting — not the hot takes, and not the clickbait — and who aren’t extreme and ranting,” Mr. Hayes said. The Weekly Standard, he said, will continue to have its conservative perspective. And just as it will call out Mr. Trump when he speaks falsely, it will avoid jumping to conclusions that every Trump move is false — which he said mainstream news organizations were too quick to do. That means fewer opinionated takes that get ahead of what the reporting shows. So The Weekly Standard didn’t jump to the conclusion that Mr. Trump’s surveillance claims were vindicated by comments about “incidental” surveillance from Representative Devin Nunes of California last week — which Mr. Nunes appeared to temper on Friday. Mr. Hayes is gambling that audiences will reward such prudence. There’s no guarantee. It was the only option he saw during this “weird time for journalists. ” That is, time to go pro.

Gay and Lesbian High School Students Report ‘Heartbreaking’ Levels of Violence - The New York Times

Jan Hoffman

The first nationwide study to ask high school students about their sexuality found that gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers were at far greater risk for depression, bullying and many types of violence than their straight peers. “I found the numbers heartbreaking,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, a senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes a division that administered the survey. The survey documents what smaller studies have suggested for years, but it is significant because it is the first time the federal government’s biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the gold standard of adolescent health data collection, looked at sexual identity. The survey found that about 8 percent of the high school population described themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, which would be about 1. 3 million students. These adolescents were three times more likely than straight students to have been raped. They skipped school far more often because they did not feel safe at least a third had been bullied on school property. And they were twice as likely as heterosexual students to have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. More than 40 percent of these students reported that they had seriously considered suicide, and 29 percent had made attempts to do so in the year before they took the survey. The percentage of those who used illegal drugs was many times greater than their heterosexual peers. While 1. 3 percent of straight students said they had used heroin, for example, 6 percent of the gay, lesbian and bisexual students reported having done so. “Nations are judged by the health and of their children,” said Dr. Mermin, who is the director of the National Center for Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the C. D. C. “Many would find these levels of physical and sexual violence unacceptable and something we should act on quickly. ” These comparisons have emerged because the federal survey, which looks at more than 100 health behaviors, included two new questions last year. It asked how students identified themselves sexually, and also the sex of those with whom they had “sexual contact” — leaving students to define that term. While transgender youth have increasingly appeared on the national radar, most recently in debates about school bathroom access, this survey did not include an option for teenagers to identify themselves as transgender. But that possibility may be coming. The C. D. C. and other federal health agencies are developing a question on gender identity to reliably count transgender teenagers which, a spokeswoman said, might be ready for a pilot test in 2017. Some 15, 600 students across the country, ages 14 to 17, took the survey. The population who identified as a sexual minority is in line with estimates from other state or local surveys, and with national studies of young adults. While the figures paint a portrait of loneliness and discrimination that is longstanding and sadly familiar, they are important because they now establish a national databank. Dr. Debra Houry, an emergency medicine physician who directs the C. D. C. ’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said the numbers argued for more comprehensive intervention and prevention programs. She praised programs like Green Dot, which trains students how to support a victim of bullying or a physical altercation. Other programs teach coping skills to vulnerable students. As the data suggests, she said, these students need better access to mental health care, and support from families, schools and communities. The report does not delve into why these students are at such risk for so many types of harm. Dr. Elizabeth Miller, the chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said, “The intensity of homophobic attitudes and acceptance of victimization, as well as the ongoing silence around adolescent sexuality, marginalizes a whole group of young people. ” And such marginalization, added Dr. Miller, who writes extensively about dating and sexual violence, “increases their vulnerability to exploitative and violent relationships. ” Dr. Miller also pointed out that the report implicitly underscores the fluidity of adolescent sexual identity. When asked to identify themselves sexually in the survey, 3. 2 percent of students chose “not sure. ” Among students who said they had “sexual contact” with only people of the same sex or with both sexes, 25 percent identified as heterosexual and 13. 6 percent said they were not sure of their sexual identity. Among students who had sexual contact only with someone of the opposite sex, 2. 8 percent nonetheless described themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Dr. Miller, who is also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said that can begin at home. “We have to start conversations early with young people about healthy sexuality, attraction, relationships, intimacy and how to explore those feelings in as safe and respectful a way as possible,” she said. Any survey has limitations. In this one, the respondents were students in school and so the research would not have captured dropouts or others who were not attending, a disproportionate percentage of whom are lesbian, gay and bisexual. How students interpreted “sexual contact” or why some defined themselves as “not sure” could also be open to interpretation.

Never-Trump Confidential - The New York Times

Tom Nichols

My brother heard I’d been saying bad things about Donald Trump. A retired police officer with a cop’s sense of humor, he still lives in our hometown, a small New England city hammered by deindustrialization and visibly altered over the past few decades by an influx of immigrants. Trump has a lot of supporters there, and my big brother is one of them. When a local radio host mentioned a recent column I’d written criticizing Trump, he called and asked me about it. I laughed. “Yeah, I wrote it. Does this mean I shouldn’t come home to visit?” “I wouldn’t advise it,” he deadpanned. Brothers can share that kind of joke, but for many people now in Trump’s camp, criticizing their leader is a serious offense, and I’ve been hearing from plenty of them. I am a Republican, as we’ve come to be known, part of the alliance of conservatives implacably opposed to the idea of Donald J. Trump becoming president of the United States. It’s a position that has estranged me from a plurality of my own party and put me at odd with friends, family, colleagues and a political movement that increasingly has taken on the character of an angry cult. Trump has encouraged a mentality among his voters, and it is an especially sharp division between Trump’s base and the Republican apostates who oppose him. “You are probably a Democrat and a socialist with literally half a brain,” one recent email from an angry Trump admirer began. “You are most likely wealthy, with no true commitment to God, but of the devil. ” Another correspondent, in a common refrain, told me I was unfit to call myself an American. Yet another wished me a pleasant stay in Guantánamo in the near future. On Twitter, I’ve been barraged with words like “traitor” and “treason” along with a fair number of less printable terms. During the primaries, it was easier to find common ground among Republicans and voters. At the outset of this election season, I knew very few people who were behind Trump more often, I found myself in arguments about whether Marco Rubio was too young, whether Ted Cruz was too annoying, whether Jeb Bush was too … well, too Jeb Bush. Even in those more amicable days, however, when I voiced my categorical opposition to Trump, I would see a head shake slowly or eyes look away for a moment. The same phrases would pop up: “We’re tired of political correctness. ” “He says it like it is. ” “He’ll shake things up. ” And always: “You don’t understand. ” This last charge, with its implication of detached elitism, always rankles. Although today I am a professor at a graduate institution and a practicing national security expert, I grew up in a Massachusetts factory town, in a modest home not far from the mills and the railroad tracks. Both of my parents were dropouts from impoverished backgrounds, and they worked hard to make a life after a series of tough breaks and more than a few terrible personal choices. I worked my way through my education, sometimes two and three jobs at a time. As a young man, I cut my teeth in local and state politics, and so I was fully and painfully aware of how badly our area was hurt by the collapse of industry and the exodus of manufacturing jobs from the Northeast. So I understand perfectly well how Trump is appealing to those voters. He’s promising to turn back time, to restore factories that were demolished years ago and to deport the Hispanic arrivals who turned the local barbershop into a storefront church. Trump is offering my friends and my family a buffet of economic impossibilities served up with sides of bitter racism and fantasies of revenge. And because I will not join them in their absolute belief in Trump, many of them now see me as an outsider. I’m no longer one of us. I’m now one of them. I am not a natural choice for the part of Republican rebel. I spent a lifetime in the party, despite a short separation in 2012 when I quit it after Newt Gingrich and his plan to build Moon Base Alpha won South Carolina. For some time, I’d been concerned that the party was heading into a dead end of largely symbolic extremism, and Gingrich’s surge in a pack that included unelectable eccentrics like Herman Cain and Ron Paul, for me, clinched it. But I remained a conservative, and I never felt comfortable about leaving America’s conservative party. Trump claims that he has expanded the ranks of the Republican Party. He’s right, at least in my case: I registered Republican once again this year specifically to vote against him. That might be quixotic — one of my fellow conservatives told me he admired my “John McClane in Nakatomi Plaza mentality” — but I came back because I felt that Trump’s capture of the Republican nomination was an existential threat to the future of American conservatism itself. Trump’s victory, if unchallenged from the right, would force conservatives to replace their own principles with his rancid stew of racism and sexism, along with his slew of various crackpot theories on politics and economics. If he wins, conservatism could be dead for a generation, if not longer. Still, I had no intention at first of publicly planting a flag over Trump, in part because I never expected him to get this far. I lived through the unsuccessful 1992 nativist insurrection within the Republican Party led by Pat Buchanan and the challenges mounted by Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996. I assumed that Trump was just another populist virus that would pass after the American people got some rest and drank plenty of water. And I admit that like many conservatives, I had at least a small reservoir of empathy for Trump voters at the start, especially in their nearly universal complaint about political correctness. Many of us had an admiration for a candidate who vowed to brush away what many conservatives (and even some liberals) saw as the heavy hand of the language police on open and honest debate. What soon became apparent, of course, was that Trump was not just politically incorrect: He was an uncontrollable fire hose of offensive lunacy. There was the endless sexual innuendo — during news coverage about Trump, I’ve taken to turning off the television when my young daughter is in the room — and his ghastly jibes at John McCain, a war hero tortured so badly that to this day his injuries prevent him from tying his own shoes or combing his hair. I assumed that every new straw would be the last one. I was wrong. The hits kept coming. From his flirtation with conspiracy theories to his promises to order the American military to commit war crimes, nothing seemed to matter to voters who believed in him and who would support him, as Trump himself said, even if he shot someone dead in broad daylight. Soon, Trump started rolling up enough delegates to become an actual threat to win the nomination, and I had to make a decision: What would I do if actually faced with a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton? The facile dodge would be to say “neither,” since I live in a reliably Democratic northeastern state where my vote would never be the deciding ballot. Instead, I decided to be honest about it, and to confront the full implications of opposing the Republican nominee. I formally came out as a Never Trump Republican in February, when I wrote a column for the conservative online publication The Federalist titled “I’ll Take Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump. ” I made the case that Republicans could tough out four years of Clinton, but that neither the party nor the American conservative movement could survive even a single year of Trump. There is no editorial line on Trump or anything else at The Federalist, and my article was paired with one by a talented young writer named Nicole Russell who wrote in favor of him. Nicole and I made a friendly bet on whose argument would be more persuasive, and we left it at that. I assumed I’d get some hate mail, because anyone who’s ever written an about anything gets hate mail. Sure enough, streams of rage poured into my email inbox and across my Twitter feed. I was sent everything from pornographic images featuring Hillary Clinton to propaganda. Young white supremacists (who adore Trump despite his weird orange hue) told me I was a race traitor. Others, especially older people, thundered at me that Hillary murdered Vince Foster and then left our men to die in Benghazi, and that I was an accomplice to murder myself if I did anything that helped Clinton win. Conspiracy theories were rampant in these complaints: I was secretly on the Republican payroll I was secretly on the Democratic payroll I was slated for a job in the Clinton, Cruz, Rubio or Bush administrations. The cynicism of the angry Trump supporters was so deep that my criticism of all these people in print was either dismissed or taken as evidence of an elaborate effort to conceal my true agenda, whatever it was. There is also a triumphalist streak among the Trump supporters, who never tire of crowing about how Republicans like me have “lost,” that the party has changed hands and that my kind needs to get in line or get out. Friendlier critics may not tell me I have to leave the party, but instead plead with me to understand how Trump’s primary victories were an important step toward getting even with the “elites” whom they believe control their lives. That term — the “elites” — slips from the mouths of not just casual acquaintances but also from friends and family. Even if they’re not trying to offend, the meaning is clear: They’re referring to people like me. It’s not an entirely new line, of course. One of my uncles was a retired factory worker who for most of his life resented almost anyone who didn’t work with their hands. At dinner one evening many years ago, he issued the blanket declaration that everyone who works in Washington is corrupt. When I pointed out that I — someone he’s known for my entire life — was working in Washington as a Senate aide at the time, he blurted out: “I don’t care! Then you’re corrupt too!” What he meant, of course, is that he saw me as part of system that was rigged against him. He saw the government as the servant primarily of rich corporations on one side and of unemployed minorities on the other. Like many of today’s Trump voters, he saw no middle ground, no connection between his own life and the many government programs like Social Security and Medicaid of which he was a beneficiary. For him, the government was just a group of bureaucrats stealing his money and then giving it away again — after taking their cut. Today, I don’t even have to work in Washington to be accused of being corrupt. I just have to be someone who doesn’t love Donald Trump. If Republicans are targets of rage to strangers and sources of disappointment to some of our friends and family, we are also objects of curiosity, especially among Democrats. Many people to my left see my opposition to Trump in the Oval Office as so obviously correct that it is ludicrous even to call attention to it, as though I have just bravely declared that I object to driving while blindfolded or to further wars with Britain. They treat me, somewhat condescendingly, as though I have finally come to my senses after years of misguided fraternization with the Republican enemy. For many liberals, of course, Trump is merely the natural endpoint of Republican evolution since the late 1960s. They might regret that it took the extremism of Donald Trump to make me finally see it, but better late than never. Except that I don’t see it that way at all. To me, Trump is an alien presence in the Republican Party, an opportunist who could just as easily have hijacked white voters among the Democrats or as part of a bid. Nonetheless, strangers on social media and friends in my daily life mistakenly assume that my opposition to Trump equates to some sort of new sympathy for liberalism in general or for Hillary Clinton in particular. Some of them actually send me talking points, as though I might find them useful. The reality is that in any other year, I would be arguing that Clinton not only should be disqualified from elected office but driven from our public life along with the rest of her insufferable family. But not this year. The Republicans and unaffiliated conservatives who have remained outside of the party’s civil war this year are less hostile to the Never Trump coalition than the Trump loyalists, but they are still conflicted about us. Whatever their feelings about the party’s nominee, they cannot endure the idea of Hillary Clinton in the White House (again). While many of them have vowed either to abstain or to vote for a third party, they still probe those of us who are determined to resist the Donald at all costs. This can make conversation with fellow conservatives even more frustrating than with liberals or Trump supporters. They ask why we suddenly love Clinton. They wonder how we could possibly forget or forgive her manifest political sins. They demand to know if we understand the danger of allowing her to control the next nominations to the Supreme Court, as if this had never occurred to us. Repeatedly, we’re asked if we’re serious about never voting for Trump. This is when a Republican winces, because only we can hear the silent scream inside our heads. I have lost count of the tweets and emails asking me, over and over, what I mean by “never” Trump. Do I mean “never,” as in “not during the primaries?” “Never” unless Clinton had been indicted? What if Clinton pulls off her skin and reveals herself to be an alien cyborg or one of our lizard overlords? Could I vote for Trump then? My answer is always the same. Never means never. Even now, conservatives continue to ask me if I’m serious — mostly, I suspect, because they’re wrestling with their own consciences. Soon after I made my stand as a Republican, however, I found that I was not alone. When my piece in The Federalist appeared, I had several media inquiries, including from programs. At first, I assumed the worst. Talk radio is the natural habitat of many Trump supporters, and surely the hosts would want me to show up covered in barbecue sauce just to save time. Some of them were indeed gunning for an argument, but many actually agreed with me. “Maybe my audience will listen to you,” one host told me before the show, “because they’re sure as hell not listening to me. ” Going public against Trump was also heartening because it allowed me to see how many Republicans are in fact Never Trump themselves. In this sense, at least, to be a Republican in the Age of Trump is exhilarating, if also enervating. To oppose Trump from within the party means a real fight on the terrain of principles and ideas, which is what drew us to the party in the first place. To me, it feels like the 1980s, which for many of us of a certain age was our introduction to a Republican Party that was about ideas. and evangelicals and Cold Warriors had competing priorities in those years, but there was an underlying consensus that were we all, in some larger and more important sense, on the same side. After the chaos of the 1960s and the stagnation of the 1970s, conservatives finally had a shot at governing, and nothing was for honest debate among us. That feeling is in the air once again, especially now that the Republican convention’s Rules Committee has voted to shut down any formal challenge to Trump in Cleveland. This effectively ends fruitless parliamentary maneuvers. Instead, Republicans must now stand in the open and argue, right through to November, over the virtue of the party’s nominee (such as it is) and the quality of his ideas (such as they are). In the end, to be a Republican is to feel a sense of relief, even of liberation, after the surreal craziness of the primary season. Donald Trump’s hijacking of the party is now no longer a threat but a fact, and to oppose him is to feel normal again by embracing clarity and principle against opportunism and crass huckstering. Bracing as it is, this is not always a comfortable place to be. Not long ago, an old friend came to visit. We grew up together, and he’s now a working man who made a life in our hometown, eventually owning a home and raising children there. He understood how I felt about Trump, he told me, but “things had to change. ” I asked him what, exactly, he would change. This is a question I’ve posed to many of my friends who are Trump supporters, because they’ve done well in postindustrial America and yet still see themselves as disadvantaged. He admitted that his life had worked out, despite a few bumps along the way. But things are different now, he said. Worse than ever. A crisis, even. Pressed for details, he only shook his head. You could see what he was thinking: that I would never understand, that I’d become one of them, the educated and distant elites whom the common people must teach a lesson by electing Donald Trump, a billionaire scam artist from New York City, as the President of the United States. I shook my head too. We embraced when he left. He might never know it, but I’ve always been on his side. I still am.

Is Alex Jones Covering for Trump’s Jewish Mob Ties? Israeli Press Says “YES,” Sort of…

Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on October 28, 2016 Radio Host and Trump supporter claims 'Jewish mafia' controls US [Editor’s note: The insanity has hit, Trump mouthpiece and Arch Zionist Alex Jones is on the warpath against the ‘Jewish mob’; Israel’s newspaper’s are shocked, as you can see below – or are they? Trump, grandson of a brothel owner, son of a slum lord, grew up in Meyer Lansky’s mob-run New York and by his 30s became the ingenue/money boy of Jewish mob kingpin Roy Cohn; it was Roy Cohn and the Jewish mob that built Trump’s empire and ran interference for him with the Gambinos, John Gotti & company. Now, covering this up seems to be really important, but to whom and why? The article below was published in today’s Jerusalem Post. Not a word of it is true, moreover, it is an obvious deflection piece written to save Trump’s Nazi supporters backing in face of VT’s slam dunk assertions of Trump’s Zionist fanaticism. After all, Trump has pushed for war on Iran, for clearing out the West Bank and for a one state solution in Israel with Palestinians going through the chimney’s. But why then are America’s Jew haters, the human filth that would gas America’s Jews the big Trump lovers? Some of it comes from the Nazi movement itself, largely begun as a fundraiser by the ADL/JDL/AIPAC/SPLC lobby. You see, no swastikas painted on synagogues, no big corporate donations. On Alex Jones by Brother Nathaniel , a long accused rabid anti-Zionist: THE CONTROVERSY OF ALEX ‘BULLHORN’ JONES being an alleged Zionist shill has now expanded to his apparent Zionist-Jewish connections on his 1) Personal Staff 2) Website Advertisers 3) Link To Time Warner President, Edgar Bronfman Jr. Jones’ seeming allegiance to Zionism, which explains why he virtually never targets Zionist Jews or the racist, Zionist rogue state of Israel when engaging in his notorious rants and attacks , may well stem from a Protestant-Zionist belief system, and the widely circulated reports that his wife is a Jew –– which makes his two children Jewish under Talmudic law and eligible for the Israeli Law Of Return . With additional information on Jones which this site is now providing, Alex Jones’ Zionist connections prompting his reticence to expose global Zionism, becomes ever more obvious. Trump has played the hate card from day one, building his base on hatred of blacks/African Americans, “Messicans” and, of course, he has played the terror card, the “yellow hordes” card and the “elite liberal” card as well. That one is aimed at the Jews. Trump, whose empire was built by Roy Cohn and who has been supported and financed by Jewish organized crime and now by Vegas boss Shelly Adelson, who can buy and sell Trump out of his “trump change,” has always been a front for the Jewish mob. Jewish mobsters, as oft pointed out by Ian Greenhalgh, have surrounded Trump and embarrassed him, if you can imagine that, more than once. Years ago, during nasty litigation, radio host Jeff Rense, former partner of Alex Jones, tracked Jones and his backing to the Jewish mob and the Bronfman crime family, accused of their complicity in financing 9/11. Now we see the Zionist press pulling out the “anti-Semite card” on Alex Jones, one of Israel’s strongest supporters in the US. Is this a joke? Of course, this kind of childishness would only work with the brain dead Jew hating Nazi’s that have flocked to Trump. With Trump’s effusive love of everything Israel and everything Zionist, one might ask why the Nazi’s flock to him, but Nazi’s have never been thinkers and are great followers, even when they are sent over a cliff like lemmings. Comment boards at VT have been inundated with paid trolls, some who track back to Israel, others employed by Trump surrogate operations tied to his campaign. Toads and trolls get up to $50 for a comment placed even on wrong articles. Thus, we have closed comments to cut off this income source and clean out the trash were we can even though this is the best money Trump pays out except for hookers. When are American Jews going to rise off their knees and hit back at, well, at Israel, the ADL and the rising tide of Naziism in the US paid for by their donations? If the read below doesn’t have you laughing, we are sorry. Humor is where we find it and this is humor at its best. G]

How Private Equity Found Power and Profit in State Capitols - The New York Times

Ben Protess, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Rachel Abrams

PHOENIX — Inside a cramped committee room on the campus of Arizona’s Capitol, Kelsey Lundy stepped to the podium to detail new legislation and the higher costs it would impose on struggling borrowers. But Ms. Lundy is not a lawmaker, a government employee or even a statehouse intern. She is a lobbyist for one of the nation’s largest lenders. That lender — controlled by the Fortress Investment Group, one of Wall Street’s most powerful private equity firms — wrote the bill. Months later, in 2014, the state’s legislators passed the law, making it easier to charge interest of 36 percent to borrowers living on the financial margins. The political access in Arizona was just one component of a broader effort to loosen consumer protection laws, according to emails obtained through public records requests. In nine other states, Ms. Lundy’s client helped win legislative changes, persuading lawmakers that it needed to raise costs to stay in business and serve borrowers. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Fortress and other private equity firms have rapidly expanded their influence, assuming a pervasive, if role in daily American life, an investigation by The New York Times has found. Sophisticated political maneuvering — including winning government contracts, shaping public policy and deploying former public officials to press their case — is central to this growth. Yet even as private equity wields such influence in the halls of state capitols and in Washington, it faces little public awareness of its government activities, The Times found. Private equity firms often don’t directly engage with legislators and regulators — the companies they control do. As a result, the firms themselves have emerged as relatively anonymous conglomerates that exert power behind the scenes in their dealings with governments. And because private equity’s interests are so diverse, the industry interacts with governments not only through lobbying, but also as contractors and partners on public projects. Fortress, which manages more than $70 billion of investor money, encapsulates this new power dynamic. While little known outside Wall Street, Fortress covers a cross section of American life through companies it owns or manages. It controls the nation’s largest nonbank collector of mortgage payments. It is building one of the country’s few private passenger railroads. It helps oversee a company that manages public golf courses in several states. And it controls Ms. Lundy’s client, Springleaf Financial Services, a huge provider of subprime loans to borrowers with few other options aside from payday lenders often charging 300 percent. The Times’s investigation — based on thousands of pages of government records, court papers and securities filings, as well as interviews with borrowers, regulators and executives — pieced together how these seemingly disparate companies fall under the umbrella of one powerful private equity firm. The investigation also shed new light on the tactics these companies have used to reshape laws that hindered their growth. In Texas, Springleaf helped persuade lawmakers to allow for higher administrative fees. Springleaf won permission elsewhere to charge the maximum allowable rates — 36 percent in Arizona and Indiana, higher than some credit cards — to a greater number of loans than ever before. And it pushed legislation allowing it to sell various insurance policies, including life and accidental death and dismemberment, which it lumps into the balance of its loans. In Arizona, Springleaf forged such cozy ties with lawmakers that the two sides became all but inseparable in the process. One legislative official emailed Ms. Lundy: “If there is a specific statute that you want to mirror, please tell me the statute number. Thank you so much!” Another Springleaf lobbyist, when listed the sponsor of the Springleaf bill as an employment reference. In Florida, where Fortress is building the passenger railroad, the firm took advantage of politics: political aides becoming lobbyists, and vice versa. When an adviser to the governor moved into the private sector, he advocated for the train project, then returned to the governor’s office as chief of staff. Fortress’s interaction with Los Angeles County was rockier, and it reflected the firm’s complex web of financial interests. Los Angeles County officials believed that Fortress was buying the company responsible for upkeep of public golf courses. The county, swayed by Fortress’s long track record in owning golf courses, approved the deal. There was one problem: Fortress was not the buyer. The Times investigation found that the buyer was the Newcastle Investment Corporation, a different company with no golf experience and a history of financial problems. County officials were surprised to learn the buyer’s identity from The Times. Fortress said there was no need for county officials to worry. Newcastle pays Fortress to manage its business and investments. Wesley Edens, a former Lehman Brothers partner who Fortress and is now its also emphasized the positive effects of Fortress’s companies across the American economy. Fortress has replaced poorly performing banks, he pointed out, and has funded projects that no government could afford. “We are proud of the impact that companies have provided to the individuals and communities that they serve,” Mr. Edens, who is also an owner of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, said in a statement. In an interview, Mr. Edens said that Fortress did not create Springleaf’s lobbying campaign, but supported it. Springleaf said it needed to raise costs to modify outdated laws and compete with less regulated lenders. And although Springleaf wants to raise costs on borrowers at a time of historically low interest rates, he said that the company was “so much more humane” than others offering loans. Some customers agree. Joseph King, a Springleaf customer in Glendale, Ariz. said, “They’ve done right by me,” offering him credit when few others would. Some public agencies also applaud Fortress for creating jobs — the firm estimates as many as 10, 000 with the Florida railroad alone — and for investing in fields that others abandoned after the financial crisis. Private equity firms, onetime “corporate raiders” that made their name taking over distressed companies, have pushed into activities previously dominated by banks and local governments. This shift has upended the definition of private equity as the industry expands into real estate, infrastructure and lending. Although that transformation granted private equity new influence over government, Mr. Edens disputed that political connections generated special favors for the firm. “There is nothing surprising about support these companies have received, given the benefits they deliver to a broad cross section of Americans,” he said. Surrounded by his business partners and his daughters, Wes Edens stepped onto the balcony at the New York Stock Exchange, rang the opening bell and walked away a billionaire. It was Feb. 9, 2007, the day Fortress became the first Wall Street firm with a big private equity business to go public. It was a pivotal moment for Mr. Edens, a Montana native with a mop of blond hair. For private equity, a relative newcomer to modern capitalism, it showed that the industry had arrived. Today, six other private equity firms are publicly traded, and over 7, 500 are in operation worldwide, according to the data provider Preqin — more than ever before. Private equity firms “are ubiquitous, they are everywhere,” said Eileen Appelbaum, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research who studies private equity. Everywhere includes the government. The amount the private equity industry spent on lobbying in 2015 was more than triple what it had spent a decade earlier, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. At the peak of the financial crisis, the figure was even higher. Political donations have increased nearly sixfold. Former House Speaker John Boehner’s chief of staff is now president of the industry’s lobbying group. That group, the American Investment Council, argues that the public has benefited from private equity. Pension funds have reaped 12 percent net returns from private equity over a recent period, the group said. “Private equity funds have an aligned interest with their investors to produce strong returns,” said Bronwyn Bailey of the American Investment Council. The group also noted that the Act, passed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, subjected private equity fund managers to additional oversight from regulators. Yet the group is lobbying the House to pass legislation that would unwind some of those requirements, government records reviewed by The Times show, underscoring the industry’s newfound influence. Fortress’s 2010 takeover of Springleaf, the subprime lender, further illustrates private equity’s evolution from niche industry into one of Wall Street’s most influential players. It also shows how a firm’s influence can flow from the companies it owns. Springleaf’s businesses were previously in the hands of the American International Group and Citigroup, two Wall Street powerhouses that needed billions of dollars in government bailouts to survive. Since buying Springleaf, Fortress has turned its $124 million investment into a stake valued at $1. 9 billion. The lender’s lobbying underpins some of that growth. In state house after state house, Springleaf lobbyists secured legislative victories, allowing the company to raise costs on borrowers. Springleaf argued that its successes were not particularly sweeping, noting that it lost in at least two states. “Because many state legislators don’t have sufficient legislative staffs or staff members with expertise, if you want something done, you sometimes have to write the first draft yourself,” said John Anderson, an executive vice president at Springleaf. “It is unusual for legislation we propose to be enacted verbatim. ” One of Springleaf’s arguments to lawmakers has been that, without legislative changes, it would need to close more branches — driving borrowers to payday lenders. In 2008, Springleaf said, it had 21 Arizona branches, and at the time of the 2014 legislation seven remained. In contrast with payday lenders, Springleaf offers installment loans that typically are larger and last longer. After buying its largest competitor last year and rebranding as OneMain Financial, the company is now the nation’s largest installment lender. Springleaf charges more than banks because its customers are riskier bets. According to Mr. Anderson, who says he reads every complaint that customers submit to regulators, Springleaf caps rates at 36 percent. The average Springleaf loan totals about $6, 093 and costs 26 percent, plus fees. At a Springleaf branch in a Phoenix strip mall, Gary Hundley agreed to pay nearly 36 percent on much of his roughly $4, 500 loan. He also took out unemployment and life insurance policies from Springleaf. Mr. Hundley repaid an earlier Springleaf loan, he said, and planned to chip away at the second, when medical problems forced him to miss work. About a month after taking out the second Springleaf loan, Mr. Hundley filed for bankruptcy, largely because of other debts unrelated to Springleaf. Springleaf then sued him, arguing that he had never intended to repay. As a result, Mr. Hundley is still liable for part of the debt, according to his lawyer, Anthony Clark, who said Springleaf “is no stranger to bringing these kinds of suits. ” “I was overwhelmed, but I planned to pay,” said Mr. Hundley, who had no trouble obtaining Springleaf loans despite previously declaring bankruptcy. Springleaf noted that in other bankruptcy cases it has agreed to lower payments. And it is within the company’s rights to sue. But Springleaf has occasionally straddled a legal line, records and interviews show. Consider the company’s insurance business. Although Springleaf’s life insurance and other policies are voluntary — and the company fully refunds premiums to borrowers who cancel their policies within 30 days — some policies are opened without customers’ approving them at the time. For instance, if a borrower pledges a car as collateral for a loan, but the auto insurance appears to have lapsed or is insufficient, Springleaf can impose its own insurance. Although Springleaf warns borrowers beforehand, and routinely cancels its coverage once they obtain an adequate policy, Springleaf acknowledged in a public filing that “because our customers do not affirmatively consent” to the insurance when it is purchased, “regulators may in the future prohibit” it. Some borrowers have separately complained to regulators that Springleaf embellished the collateral underpinning their loans. Lisa Williams, a administrative assistant in N. C. noticed an irregularity after receiving a roughly $3, 700 Springleaf loan: A lawn mower she posted as collateral was valued at $800. “There’s no way that that old thing was worth $800,” she said, giggling. A similar new mower retails for about $300. Loren Finnell, a mechanic in Tempe, Ariz. said he obtained a loan in 2014 after Springleaf listed a Dell computer and accessories worth $2, 000. “I didn’t even have a Dell. They were making it up. ” For Sheila Fargnoli, of Tucson, getting a loan from Springleaf was like a game of Mad Libs. A Springleaf employee, she recalled, asked questions like, “You must have a computer, right?” The employee also asked about musical instruments, but Ms. Fargnoli said she had previously sold her guitar for $1 at a yard sale. Nonetheless, Springleaf listed the guitar as collateral in the loan documents, Ms. Fargnoli noticed. She accused Springleaf in court papers of pressuring her to “misrepresent the value” of collateral, which Springleaf did not dispute. Springleaf said that the problems were isolated and that it had curtailed the use of household items as collateral. It also now prohibits using anything of immaterial value — say, a $1 guitar — to secure loans. The complaints have emerged as Springleaf presses its statehouse lobbying campaign. “Just in case you needed a little light reading, attached is the draft legislation that Springleaf would like to move forward,” Ms. Lundy, the Arizona lobbyist, emailed a Republican aide. Springleaf asked Representative T. J. Shope, a Republican, to sponsor the bill. And when a consumer advocate, Cynthia Zwick, published an article opposing the bill, Ms. Lundy contacted Mr. Shope to say, “You should do a response. ” Later she added, “Let’s work on one tomorrow. ” Ms. Lundy also testified at hearings alongside Mr. Shope. Unable to answer a question, Mr. Shope deferred to Ms. Lundy. The lobbyist, he added, was “here to answer a lot of the technical questions. ” Not all of Ms. Lundy’s statements were accurate. In a “fact sheet” to lawmakers, she claimed that “similar legislation has passed in numerous states” with “only one state having opposition from one consumer advocacy group, none from AARP. ” Yet consumer advocates opposed the legislation in Florida and Indiana, and AARP attacked it in North Carolina. Springleaf said it was unaware of the opposition at the time. Ms. Lundy and Mr. Shope declined to comment. Their bill’s passage coincided with what Representative Debbie McCune Davis, an Arizona Democrat who opposed the bill, called “wining and dining. ” Springleaf’s lobbyists treated Mr. Shope to “food or beverages” soon after the bill passed, lobbying records show. And about a week after the Arizona bill passed, an email circulated in the House, alerting staff members that “dinner is courtesy of” Ms. Lundy. After similar legislation passed in North Carolina, Springleaf held a dinner for more than a dozen state lawmakers and their staff members. Still, some Democratic officials lamented the bill’s impact on borrowers. “It’s like needing a life preserver and getting an anvil,” said Roy Cooper, the North Carolina attorney general. Around the country, local officials opened letters from the American Golf Corporation, which managed their public golf courses. Fortress was buying the company, the letters announced. That seemed to be good news. American Golf’s letters, which Fortress helped draft, promoted Fortress’s “considerable experience with companies like ours. ” Some officials also received a document, stamped with Fortress’s logo, citing the firm’s ownership of other golf courses and its “firsthand experience” owning companies that form partnerships with local governments. To seal the 2013 deal, the letters included Fortress’s annual report showing its “substantial resources. ” The pitch worked. Parks department officials in New York City, and in Ventura County and San Dimas, Calif. promptly signed off on the deal. Los Angeles County took longer to scrutinize Fortress’s background before granting approval. But none of the officials had the full story. The buyer was not Fortress, but Newcastle Investment Corporation, The Times found in filings. The distinction — Newcastle is a different company with a close business relationship to Fortress — suggests that complex corporate structures can confuse governments and benefit private equity. All four parks departments said they were not told about Newcastle until contacted by The Times. Fortress and American Golf “should have fully disclosed accurate and complete information,” Los Angeles County officials said in a statement. If they had examined Newcastle, officials might have seen red flags. Newcastle had suffered a “material weakness” in internal controls two years earlier and received a “financial health grade” of D from the independent investment research firm Morningstar. In securities filings Newcastle acknowledged, “We have never owned or operated a golf business. ” Under Newcastle, American Golf took over some courses from competitors that were failing to pay rent. And yet, during Newcastle’s tenure, American Golf may not always benefit Los Angeles County. If Newcastle again runs into financial trouble, American Golf might have to be sold once more, a process that could eat up more government resources. American Golf, which must pay the county a cut of what it makes on carts and other golfing gear, also recently created a program that effectively minimizes some of those payments. Golfers who join the program do not pay for certain items that would be lucrative for the county. The program classifies the membership fee under driving ranges, which typically require a smaller payment to the county. Fortress, which argues that the program has attracted more golfers to the county, has benefited from the arrangement. Because Newcastle, and not Fortress, was the buyer, Fortress can enjoy the upside of American Golf without much risk. It works like this: Newcastle pays Fortress a fee to manage Newcastle’s business. But Fortress does not own a majority stake in Newcastle. So, if American Golf proves unprofitable, Fortress still collects fees from Newcastle, while avoiding major losses. These deals are a source of revenue for Fortress, whose executives have created five other companies like Newcastle. Last year, Fortress received more than $200 million in revenue from these companies, about a 50 percent jump from the year before. The golf course deal could serve as a cautionary tale for both private equity firms and the growing number of governments doing business with them. Unlike a typical private equity deal, transactions with public agencies call for greater transparency. Fortress, which has not been accused of wrongdoing by the governments, argues that it was transparent in the golf deal. The firm said it was speaking on behalf of Newcastle, which relies on it for management. Although Newcastle has its own shareholders and board, Fortress is responsible for the company’s management, investments and other business decisions. In a statement, Fortress said that “there is no mystery about who owns American Golf” because it “is very clear” in Newcastle’s securities filings. But these filings were published after the local governments approved the deal. Fortress also pointed to a document labeled “draft,” which it said American Golf emailed to one Los Angeles County official, making reference to “Newcastle Investment Corp. and other funds. ” That official said he had no record of receiving the email. American Golf acknowledged that it had not sent the document to other towns. “It’s like being told you were getting a big red fire truck and then it turns out you get a little red wagon,” said Eric Preven, a TV producer who ran for public office in Los Angeles. With the help of his brother Joshua, a teacher, he first raised suspicions about the American Golf deal more than two years ago. Still, the quality of golf courses has not suffered since Newcastle bought American Golf, Los Angeles County said. Officials often vote an American Golf course best in the county. Newcastle and American Golf don’t own the courses. Instead, as part of an outsourcing plan, American Golf manages operations, making money every time a golfer tees off. Even before Newcastle bought American Golf from Goldman Sachs, it retained a local lobbyist: Matt Knabe, whose father is Don Knabe, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. American Golf hosts the Knabe Cup, an annual youth tournament named in honor of the senior Mr. Knabe. His son’s lobbying firm, when questioned by local media about the relationship, has previously said there is no conflict because “Matt does not lobby” his father. There is no indication the Knabes directed American Golf to play down Newcastle’s role. In 2013, Don Knabe and the county board approved the sale of American Golf. At the time, the board appeared impressed with Fortress’s track record in working closely with local governments — citing in particular a letter from a Florida official praising Fortress. In that letter, the official from Florida’s Department of Transportation said he “had the pleasure” of working alongside Fortress in building a passenger railway known as All Aboard Florida. Along a stretch of Florida’s eastern coast, Fortress is embarking on its boldest project yet: the nation’s only purely private intercity passenger railroad. The project, All Aboard Florida, is expected to take five years and nearly $3 billion to build. At speeds reaching 100 miles an hour, it plans to eventually carry passengers from Miami to Orlando, with stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. And if trains start rolling next year, as planned, and prove successful, the project may provide a template for private investment in public infrastructure for years to come. Yet this ambitious private project hinged on the blessing of government officials. The administration of Gov. Rick Scott of Florida conditionally agreed to lease out state property to All Aboard Florida, which plans to share the track with an existing freight train company. Federal regulators, after some initial concerns, concluded that the railroad’s safety plans met their standards. And a nonprofit approved bonds that can help finance All Aboard Florida’s business. Fortress, which owns both the passenger train and the freight rail, secured these victories through a mix of negotiations, public support, political power and a revolving door between the government and the private sector. Documents obtained through public records requests pull back a curtain on the lobbying that shaped the project. The documents, many previously unreported, spotlight the role played by Governor Scott’s aides. The governor’s former campaign manager teamed up with one of his former policy advisers to coordinate All Aboard Florida’s media strategy and meetings with the governor’s administration. They found a receptive audience, including an aide to Governor Scott who texted a Fortress employee, “Let me know if I can be helpful. ” Fortress stands to benefit from the project in several ways. The firm owns All Aboard Florida’s parent company, as well as the freight train operator sharing the track, which means it would profit from All Aboard Florida’s success. Fortress also controls land around the track, where it is developing rental housing. And even if the passenger rail flops, Fortress might benefit from All Aboard Florida’s track upgrades, which would enable its freight operator to carry more cargo at quicker speeds. (Fortress disputes this point, arguing that the upgrades are not needed to improve its freight operations.) Not everyone will benefit. Along Florida’s Treasure Coast — oceanfront counties that include some of the state’s richest and poorest areas — some residents worry that the train will disrupt their lives. In one county, the sheriff argued that the trains, 32 each day, “could have implications” if they stranded patrol cars on one side of the tracks as trains passed. A hospital executive warned about ambulances idling at crossings. Two counties sued to halt the bonds. Some residents also express a deeper concern: The train is literally passing them by. Towns without stops will get the headaches of rail traffic rumbling through, without the economic benefits. In Gifford, a community pockmarked with abandoned homes, residents say they already live on the wrong side of the tracks. Fortress’s freight trains park there to exchange crews, delaying traffic and prompting local outcry. Fortress sees it differently, arguing that the freight trains stop there because it is safe to do so. Mr. Edens, who said the passenger line was open to adding more stops, remarked that “the handful of opponents of the project are focused on their own narrow not the greater good. ” While critics say All Aboard Florida is unnecessary — a small number of Amtrak trains already travel from Miami to Orlando — Mr. Edens said it had the potential to revitalize local economies because mass transit is “one of the real cornerstones of economic growth. ” He called it a “real guidepost for how we can actually bring passenger trains back to the United States. ” Concerns that the new trains could cause traffic delays are unfounded, he said, citing data estimating that All Aboard Florida trains would take 45 seconds to clear crossings. All Aboard Florida said that it would be the only railroad in the country to operate “in full compliance with the latest and most stringent” federal safety requirements, and that it would help reduce car travel in the state. “We’re talking about seconds,” Mr. Edens said, adding that it was “not a meaningful” amount of time. William D. Snyder, the sheriff of Martin County, disagreed. “In my business, seconds absolutely matter,” he said. The train’s opponents dispute some of All Aboard Florida’s data about how long the trains will block intersections, saying the company’s assessment is based on assumptions. Bob Solari, a commissioner in Indian River County, said that All Aboard Florida did not in “any meaningful way protect the people and property of the Treasure Coast. ” The safety concerns, however, did not ruin the railroad project, thanks in part to some political . All Aboard Florida took shape after Governor Scott rejected $2. 4 billion in federal stimulus money for rail between Orlando and Tampa, saying it made Florida taxpayers liable for losses. That decision, in 2011, effectively helped clear a path for an alternative train, though All Aboard Florida was still in its infancy at the time. Adam Hollingsworth was one of the governor’s aides involved in the decision to reject the stimulus money, emails show. At the time, he was a volunteer policy adviser. Months later, he went to work for one of All Aboard Florida’s sister companies. To push for the Fortress railway, Mr. Hollingsworth initially coordinated with Susan Wiles, Governor Scott’s former campaign manager. The railway also retained a lawyer who had previously worked for a government agency from which it needed a permit. This team’s background was helpful to All Aboard Florida, records show. The day before Mr. Edens of Fortress was to meet with the governor’s office, Mr. Hollingsworth texted a staff member. “You met Wes at the gov’s Christmas party,” he reminded her, referring to Mr. Edens. After the meeting, Mr. Hollingsworth wrote the aide: “Thank you! I am glad you and the gov were favorable inclined. ” Mr. Hollingsworth followed up when All Aboard Florida was about to announce its plans publicly. The aide responded, “Great news!” About four months later, Mr. Hollingsworth resumed working for the governor’s office, as chief of staff. Ethics rules prevented him from having further involvement with the train. Mr. Hollingsworth did not respond to requests for comment. Ms. Wiles praised him, saying he had honored his recusal. All Aboard Florida said it “did not need nor use Adam” beyond the scope of his duties, noting that it hired Ballard Partners, a prominent Florida lobbying firm. A spokeswoman for Governor Scott added that the state did not finance All Aboard Florida. Still, the company has benefited from government support. In addition to various regulatory approvals, All Aboard Florida has applied for funding from the federal railroad agency. And it accepted about $9 million in federal funds. In the future, it hopes to fund itself through bonds approved by the Florida Development Finance Corporation, a nonprofit. The bonds are but All Aboard Florida, not the government, is responsible for repaying them. Last year, the nonprofit’s board approved the bonds, which All Aboard Florida has yet to issue. Here, too, lobbying was at work. Before the board held a crucial hearing on the bonds, an All Aboard Florida representative emailed one of the board’s new members a reminder to submit the paperwork by close of business the next day “in order to get confirmed by the Senate. ” The email added, “Can I help with this?”

Volée d'oiseaux

Reuters

Divnogorsk, Russie. Un garçon nourrit des oiseaux sur une rive du fleuve Ienisseï. Facebook

Breitbart News Daily: Obama’s Farewell - Breitbart

Breitbart News

On the Tuesday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart London Raheem Kassam will discuss President Obama’s farewell address to be delivered in Chicago on Tuesday evening. [Breitbart’s John Hayward and Breitbart Senior National Security Editor Dr. Sebastian Gorka will discuss Obama’s domestic and foreign policy legacy. Kassam will also continue our analysis of the election of Donald Trump, the progress of his transition team, and his policy vision. Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former DOJ attorney, will discuss the confirmation hearings for Trump’s Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions ( ). Spakovsky recently wrote an article for Conservative Review debunking the allegations of voter suppression being made against Sessions. Breitbart’s Julia Hahn will discuss her definitive article defending Sessions from the false accusations made against him at his 1986 confirmation hearing when President Reagan nominated him to the federal bench. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show “the conservative news show of record. ” Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: .

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ Reimagined by Its Fans - The New York Times

Carla Correa and Neil Genzlinger

When “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” one of television’s most influential series, first turned up 20 years ago this month, it didn’t just attract viewers, it also unleashed an army of writers creating their own adventures about Buffy Summers, her friends Willow and Xander, and the vampires Spike and Angel, to name a few. Fan fiction takes characters from an established book series, TV show, movie franchise or other cultural cornerstone and riffs on them. Some of it is highbrow stuff by highbrow authors — what is Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead” but Shakespeare fanfic? Mostly, though, the authors are amateurs with an overwhelming affection for the characters and a yearning to feel a stronger connection to them. For some, it’s a fun hobby for others, it’s therapeutic — they might write under pseudonyms and use their stories to explore issues and problems they are facing. Fan fiction existed before the internet in fanzines and other formats — the original “Star Trek” spawned lots of it — but giving practitioners the ability to communicate with one another via computer really changed the game. The “Buffy” universe was among the early adopters the show’s stars and writers (and its creator, Joss Whedon) would sometimes visit and post on the online forums that sprang up. The result was a rich, sometimes loopy body of work that included subgenres devoted to specific characters, crossover stories (there are dozens mixing “Buffy” and “Bones,” the Fox series that the “Buffy” actor David Boreanaz later starred in) and more. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary, we asked readers to share a piece of their fan fiction, and tell us why they write about “Buffy. ” Here are some of their edited responses. BY PHOENIX, 17 Read the full work here. When did you start watching “Buffy”? I started watching “Buffy” last May, which sounds ridiculous, since I’ve become such a big fan since. Why did you start writing fan fiction? My first ever was for “Harry Potter” it was sort of a Voldemort back story. Since I was 13, it was utterly terrible. Now I write fan fiction both out of a desire to expand on fictional worlds and out of a desire to correct fictional worlds, in a sense. For example, I didn’t like some parts of Seasons 6 and 7 of “Buffy,” so I wrote a few pieces where Seasons 6 and 7 went the way I wanted. What prompted you to write this piece? In Season 4 of “Buffy,” Willow, a character who has previously only demonstrated interest in boys, falls in love with a girl. I love that arc, but I wanted to explore whether Willow had been attracted to girls before then. In my mind, the way that this would be demonstrated would be through a high school crush on Buffy. I wanted to write about a young Willow discovering who she was. One of the best things about fan fiction is that, since a lot of writers are LGBT+ it can have really good representation of what it is to be LGBT+ that is hard to find in other places. This is part of my contribution to that. BY DAVID FROOM, 32 Mr. Froom writes about in Sunnydale, Calif. the fictional setting of “Buffy. ” Read the blog here. When did you start watching “Buffy”? I started watching “Buffy” during its fifth season, after years of scoffing at it (I was 15) only to instantly become obsessed. In those Stone Age days, I had to buy DVDs to catch up on the old seasons, and I gladly burned through entire paychecks from my job to see everything I’d missed. Why did you start writing fan fiction? The Sunnydale Press is the only fan fiction I’ve ever written. I’d always been intrigued by the idea that Sunnydale successfully covered up supernatural — and deadly — goings on for decades the idea for the blog was born out of this curiosity. I try to keep with the mood of the show and the late ’90s, giving great weight to the fears of “the occult” and “gangs on PCP. ” It amuses me to no end that events would get boiled down to blurbs, while common events might turn into news. BY TERRI MEEKER, 56 Read the full work here. When did you start watching “Buffy”? I didn’t watch “Buffy” until 2008. We were hit hard in the economic crash and got rid of all the nonessentials, including cable TV. We had to keep the internet on so that my husband could look for work in the software industry, so we signed up for a free Hulu account. I’d always heard about “Buffy,” but was busy raising my kids and didn’t really watch TV. When I saw a clever YouTube spoof poking at the lack of feminism in “Twilight,” called “Buffy vs Edward,” I was intrigued. At first, I wasn’t thrilled with “Buffy,” but I kept watching. By Season 3, I became obsessed. Why did you start writing fan fiction? I’d finished all the episodes of the show, but I needed more. Fan fiction was a way to do that. As an teacher, I wanted to see more of Spike’s back story, so I began to write a story in which “Buffy” to the 1880s. The Victorian era is a fascinating time period, and I knew some of their ideas about sexuality would make for some terrific situations. What prompted you to write this piece? I was very worried about the 2016 election. The “Buffy” community is all about empowering women, and I knew they were equally concerned. Since Buffy’s creator, Joss Whedon, had invested a million dollars into a effort, I wanted to write a little reminder for fans on Election Day. BY SARAH 47 Ms. writes fiction that retells episodes via haiku. She calls them Spaiku. Read the full work here. When did you start watching “Buffy”? In 2008. Having seen the regrettable theatrical version when it was first released, I steered clear of the show for as long as possible. When I read that Susanna Clarke counts the writing team of “Buffy” among her top five favorite writers (along with slackers like, y’know, Dickens) I had to watch. And watch. And rewatch. Buffy’s is a hero’s journey for the ages, and it has been a wonderful show to watch again and again with my daughter as she navigates adolescence. What prompted you to write narratives? My desire to interact with other people who love “Buffy” eventually led me to a very supportive online community at LiveJournal. I read (and commented on) tons of fan fiction, made fabulous new friends, and wished that I could contribute something as well. Alas, the plotting requirements of long fiction are completely beyond me. I thought, “Well, maybe if I made something very small . .. ”

Top Opposition Leader in Cambodia Resigns as Election Nears - The New York Times

Julia Wallace

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The embattled leader of Cambodia’s main opposition party abruptly quit on Saturday in the face of increasing government pressure, ceding a political stage he had occupied for more than two decades. The resignation of the leader, Sam Rainsy, came after the government began a series of moves that would allow it to dissolve the Cambodia National Rescue Party he led, in advance of crucial local elections set for June. The opposition has also been hit with a barrage of lawsuits and leaked telephone conversations between leading figures and women purported to be their mistresses. It was unclear whether Mr. Sam Rainsy, 67, was leaving politics for good or was planning to work quietly behind the scenes. Either way, his exit seemed to represent the end of an era. As the head of three political parties since 1995, he had been a thorn in the side of the country’s prime minister, Hun Sen, for more than 20 years. In an interview on Sunday from Paris, where he has lived in exile since November 2015, Mr. Sam Rainsy, a former banker, said he had quit as a “ defensive move” to save his political party. This month, Mr. Hun Sen proposed a measure that could dissolve any party led by someone convicted of a crime, which Mr. Sam Rainsy has been many times, because of an abundance of criminal defamation suits filed against him by government officials, government allies and the prime minister himself. “This guy is crazy,” Mr. Sam Rainsy said of Mr. Hun Sen. “He can do anything he wants without consideration for legal, judicial principles, so I have to defend my party and tell Hun Sen and tell the Cambodian people and tell the whole world that Hun Sen no longer has any grounds to dissolve the C. N. R. P. on the basis that his kangaroo court has made me a convict. ” He was vague about his future. “In politics, there are always ups and downs,” he said. “Things can change. ” Ou Virak, the chairman of the Future Forum, a public policy research group in Phnom Penh, the capital, said the departure of Mr. Sam Rainsy was a blow for Cambodia’s fledgling democracy. “Leaving in this kind of situation, when the party is under pressure, is not ideal or democratic,” he said. “It highlights the nature of Cambodian politics for the past 20 or so years. Politics is not created by competition and ideas, but personalities and maneuvering to get what people want. ” Mr. Sam Rainsy was one of those personalities. Despite his weaknesses, including a tendency to flee the country in the face of trouble, he is still, for many, the most enduring symbol of opposition to Mr. Hun Sen. The prime minister, a former Khmer Rouge fighter, has held power since 1985 and maintains close control over most of the country’s institutions. “Rainsy is a character with a lot of flaws, but it has to be recognized that he has maintained this position of opposition for nearly a ” said Sebastian Strangio, the author of “Hun Sen’s Cambodia. ” “At any time, he could have sold out to the C. P. P. and become a rich man,” he said, referring to the Cambodian People’s Party, led by Mr. Hun Sen. Mr. Sam Rainsy, while clearly irritating the prime minister, proved useful over the years by presenting an internationally visible opposition figure to run in elections, which Mr. Hun Sen always won, Mr. Strangio added. But Mr. Sam Rainsy began to pose a more existential threat to Mr. Hun Sen’s political survival when he formed a partnership with another government critic, Kem Sokha, in 2012. Their new political party nearly won the 2013 national election, emboldening them and stunning the C. P. P. Mr. Hun Sen and Mr. Sam Rainsy came to a brief rapprochement in 2014 and 2015, with the opposition leader extracting some important political concessions from Mr. Hun Sen, including equal representation on the National Election Committee and a television broadcasting license. But a few months later, the friendly feelings dissolved, and many of the concessions were rescinded. It has been hard to keep up with the number of lawsuits filed against Mr. Sam Rainsy and other opposition figures over the last 18 months, many involving allegations of criminal defamation against government officials. Salacious telephone conversations involving Mr. Kem Sokha and other opposition lawmakers have also been leaked online and discussed widely in news media. The most recent recording, released a week ago, involved a man who sounded like Mr. Sam Rainsy bantering with a waitress about her eating and bathing habits. Mr. Sam Rainsy’s moral authority was also being eroded from within his party. While he fled the country in November 2015 to avoid jail time, Mr. Kem Sokha made a point of staying after being charged with crimes related to a suspected affair. Eventually, the government pardoned him. Mr. Kem Sokha is set to become the acting opposition leader. In a statement on Sunday, he called Mr. Sam Rainsy’s decision honorable and said it had been made in discussion with the party’s leadership. Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, said the lawsuits against opposition figures were private matters, and he accused Mr. Sam Rainsy of trying to generate publicity with a dramatic exit. “He is an opportunist,” Mr. Phay Siphan said. “Tell me, so far, in the last 20 years, what has he done for Cambodia except move the people to go on strike and have demonstrations?” Mr. Phay Siphan also criticized the United States representatives Alan Lowenthal and Steve Chabot, members of a new congressional caucus on Cambodia, for writing to Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson on Thursday about the need to promote free and fair elections in Cambodia. Mr. Phay Siphan called the representatives “blind” and “ignorant,” and he suggested that Mr. Sam Rainsy was taking cues from them. Mr. Sam Rainsy countered that all he wanted was for his party to survive long enough to run in the elections, with or without him. “It is Hun Sen who sees me behind any initiative to defend democracy,” he said, “but I think Cambodia has many sons, many daughters, who are willing to defend democracy. ”

Hallan la mención en hebreo más antigua de Jerusalén en un papiro de casi 3.000 años - RT

Hallan la mención en hebreo más antigua de Jerusalén en un papiro de casi 3.000 años Publicado: 27 oct 2016 03:33 GMT Fue encontrado en una pieza que había sido robada en 2012 de una cueva del desierto de Judea. Ammar Awad Reuters Síguenos en Facebook Procedente del período del Primer Templo, hace unos 2.700 años, la Autoridad de Antigüedades de Israel (IAA, por su sigla en inglés) presentó el papiro en el que aparece la mención en hebreo de la ciudad de Jerusalén más antigua de la que se tenga noticia. El documento fue recuperado en el 2012, cuando un grupo de ladrones intentaba venderlo, detalló ' The Times of Israel '. Eitan Klein, de la IAA, explicó que el papiro, que se cree que había sido sustraído de una cueva en el desierto de Judea, es una "evidencia" de la existencia de una "administración organizada en el Reino de Judá", que "destaca la centralidad de Jerusalén como capital del reino en la segunda mitad del siglo VII a.C." Los especialistas agregaron que el texto escrito en dos líneas en el papiro de 2,5 por 11 centímetros, refiere al pago de impuestos o al traslado de mercancías. "De la criada del rey, de Naarat, jarras de vino, a Jerusalén", dice la inscripción que menciona a la ciudad con su antiguo nombre en hebreo: Yerushalima. Ammar Awad Reuters Por su parte, Amir Gador, también de la IAA, reiteró que el papiro era procedente de una cueva en Nahal Hever, en el desierto de Judea, cercano al mar Muerto, región que, por sus características, permite la preservación de este tipo de fragmentos durante miles de años. En tanto, 14 integrantes de la organización que había robado el papiro fueron detenidos y condenados a 18 años de cárcel. Reconocimiento de Jerusalén El ministro de Cultura y Deporte de Israel, Miri Regev, afirmó que el descubrimiento del papiro en el que se cita a Jerusalén "supone una clara prueba" de que la ciudad "fue y seguirá siendo la capital eterna del pueblo judío". Su afirmación responde a la postura de la UNESCO , que había rechazado los vínculos entre la ciudad y el judaísmo, a la vez que describió al Monte del Templo de Jerusalén como un lugar sagrado exclusivamente para el islam.

CALEXIT 2019: Powerful California To Become New Independent Country

VNN

CALEXIT 2019: Powerful California To Become New Independent Country 40 million Economically Powerful Californians Sickened by White Nationalism & KKK Confederate Racists Don't Want Trump's Racist Bigoted America! Time to Say Goodbye! Last nights horrific devastating Presidential election results have sparked a fire that Trump’s Racist USA will NOT be able to put out! The 2019 #Calexit Independence Referendum movement has has caught fire! In the Spring of 2019, Californians will go to the polls in a historic vote to decide by referendum if California should exit the Union, a #Calexit vote. You will have this historic opportunity because the Yes California Independence Campaign will qualify a citizen’s initiative for the 2018 ballot that if passed would call for a special election for Californians to vote for or against the independence of California from the United States. Sign Up Now To Support Calexit 2019 >>> This is a very important question. It is the responsibility of this campaign to explain what a yes vote will mean for you, your family, your community, our state, our country, and our world. We have designed this website to answer many of these questions and look to you to ask more. “As the sixth largest economy in the world, California is more economically powerful than France and has a population larger than Poland. Point by point, California compares and competes with countries, not just the 49 other states.” In our view, the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values, and our continued statehood means California will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children. Although charity is part of our culture, when you consider that California’s infrastructure is falling apart, our public schools are ranked among the worst in the entire country, we have the highest number of homeless persons living without shelter and other basic necessities, poverty rates remain high, income inequality continues to expand, and we must often borrow money from the future to provide services for today, now is not the time for charity. However, this independence referendum is about more than California subsidizing other states of this country. It is about the right to self-determination and the concept of voluntary association, both of which are supported by constitutional and international law. It is about California taking its place in the world, standing as an equal among nations. We believe in two fundamental truths: (1) California exerts a positive influence on the rest of the world, and (2) California could do more good as an independent country than it is able to do as a just a U.S. state. In 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the international community with their “Brexit” vote. Our “Calexit” referendum is about California joining the international community. You have a big decision to make. Related Posts:

Wall Street Journal: Republicans Rode Waves of Populism Until They Crashed the Party | Politics

beforeitsnews.com

(Before It's News) This is a good article : “When Donald Trump rode down an escalator at Trump Tower to launch his presidential campaign in June 2015, he began galvanizing a populist version of the Republican Party. But he didn’t create it. The GOP that carried Mr. Trump to the presidential nomination was formed by waves of new voters who washed onto Republican shores in the last four decades: George Wallace Southerners, Ronald Reagan Democrats, Pat Buchanan pitchfork populists and tea-party foot soldiers. The Republican establishment was happy to have the votes of these newcomers, many from America’s working class, and accommodated their cultural preferences on social issues from guns to abortion to gay marriage. What the establishment didn’t do was adjust the GOP’s economic approach to match the populist impulses—or even seem to consider such a shift necessary. …” Rich Lowry put it well here : “Our basic argument about Trump is simple and unassailable: He is a populist, not a conservative. Conservatism has always had a populist element, but it has been tethered to conservatism’s animating causes of liberty, limited government and the Constitution. Trump inveighs against elites and tramples on political pieties, but these causes are afterthoughts to him, at best.” Ross Douthat put it better here: “Sometimes this interdependency has worked out well. At its peaks of political success, the conservative intelligentsia has channeled and directed populism, responding to grass-roots passions without being ruled by them.” The goal of the conservative intelligentsia has always been to CUCK the populist vote so that all of its anger and energy can be “tethered” or “channeled” into advancing the conservative agenda (read: classical liberal agenda) of the “governing wing” of the Republican Party. The role of populist voters in the GOP is to show up on election day and vote for a handpicked establishment candidate like Mitt Romney or ¡Jeb! In this way, the conservatives can pass new free-trade deals for their corporate backers in the US Chamber of Commerce, start massive new destructive, unending wars in the Middle East, and keep the border wide open so that an endless influx of Third World cheap labor can further enrich the plutocracy. They figured all those yokels would just keep voting for them indefinitely because Democrats want to abort babies and seize guns. Give them lip service! Give them token gestures! Give them round after round of failure theater! You know, it kind of worked too until their whole signaling structure broke down. That’s what happens when an elite loses its legitimacy. To borrow an analogy, the falcon doesn’t respond to the Falconer anymore and the elite falls. It is only a matter of time.

Court Strikes Down Obama Health Care Rule on Insurance Standards - The New York Times

Robert Pear

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has ruled that consumers must be allowed to buy certain types of health insurance that do not meet the stringent standards of the Affordable Care Act, deciding that the administration had gone beyond the terms of federal law. The court struck down a rule issued by the Obama administration that barred the sale of such insurance as a separate product. “Disagreeing with Congress’s expressly codified policy choices isn’t a luxury administrative agencies enjoy,” the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said on Friday in a decision that criticized “administrative overreach” by the Department of Health and Human Services. At issue is a type of insurance that pays consumers a fixed dollar amount, such as $500 a day for hospital care or $50 for a doctor’s visit, regardless of how much is actually owed to the provider. Such “fixed indemnity” insurance is normally less comprehensive and less expensive than the “minimum essential coverage” required by the Affordable Care Act. Under the rule, issued by the Obama administration in 2014, fixed indemnity policies could be sold only to people who already have the more comprehensive coverage that meets detailed federal standards. State officials and insurers estimate that as many as four million people might have fixed indemnity policies without major medical coverage. The Obama administration gave several reasons for cracking down on fixed indemnity insurance. It is “an inadequate substitute for major medical coverage” because “it does not provide protection against major medical expenses,” the administration said. Moreover, it said, consumers may be confused and may buy fixed indemnity insurance in “the mistaken belief that it provides comprehensive coverage” — a concern also voiced by consumer groups. In adopting the final rule in 2014, the Obama administration said that allowing people to buy fixed indemnity insurance would undermine the goal of “maximizing the number of individuals who have comprehensive, major medical coverage. ” Since 1996, fixed indemnity insurance has generally been exempt from federal insurance standards, and the Affordable Care Act did not change that, nor did Congress “give even the slightest indication” that it meant to alter the exemption, the appeals court said. But, the court said, the administration “effectively eliminated fixed indemnity plans altogether,” by tacking “additional criteria” onto the 1996 law. The ruling in the case, Central United Life Insurance v. Burwell, was issued by a panel composed of Judges Janice Rogers Brown, Patricia A. Millett and Douglas H. Ginsburg. Fixed indemnity insurance differs from major medical coverage in many ways. It does not have to provide the “essential health benefits” required by the Affordable Care Act, nor does it have to pay any specific percentage of medical costs. Some fixed indemnity policies provide coverage only for specified diseases, like cancer. In general, consumers have fewer protections. Under the rule issued by the Obama administration, fixed indemnity insurance would be allowed only as a supplement to major medical coverage that complied with the 2010 health care law. People buying the more limited coverage would have to attest, in their applications, that they already had “minimum essential coverage. ” The plaintiffs in the case, who sell fixed indemnity insurance, said the federal rule would essentially destroy the market for such products. “Even after the Affordable Care Act, consumers may not be able to afford major medical coverage,” said Quin M. Sorenson, a lawyer at Sidley Austin who represented the plaintiffs. In states that have not expanded Medicaid eligibility, he said, three million people fall into a coverage gap: They make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to qualify for subsidies in the public insurance marketplace, and they cannot afford major medical coverage on their own. For some of them, he said, fixed indemnity insurance plans may be a valuable option. Under the Affordable Care Act, people who go without major medical coverage may be subject to tax penalties. In a brief, Wisconsin and 10 other states said that some consumers had found they could save money by buying fixed indemnity insurance and paying the tax penalty. “Fixed indemnity insurance is a rational choice for these individuals because it provides meaningful access to the health care system,” the states’ brief said. The appeals court upheld an earlier decision by Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Federal District Court, who said the Obama administration’s rule “has no basis in the statutory text it purports to interpret and plainly exceeds the scope of the statute. ”

21 Things We’ve Learned About Hillary Clinton from Wikileaks That the MSM Won’t Share…But YOU Can!

Daisy Luther

Daisy Luther Let’s talk about Wikileaks. First of all, the organization was founded by Julian Assange back in 2006. Their website explains what they are all about: “WikiLeaks specializes in the analysis and publication of large datasets of censored or otherwise restricted official materials involving war, spying, and corruption. It has so far published more than 10 million documents and associated analyses.” In the 11 years that they’ve been publishing documents, they have not been disproven a single time. Their record for authentication is perfect. (Learn more here and here .) So this means that a person would be pretty silly to disregard anything in the reams of information about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party, the Clinton Foundation, and the political shenanigans that would put the Machiavellis to shame. Here are 21 of the most important things that have come out about Hillary Clinton, that unfortunately, no one is reporting on in the mainstream. In the interest of brevity, each topic has a link to an article that goes deeper into the leak. (In no particular order.) John Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign had a nice cozy dinner with Peter Kadzik, one of the top officials in the Department of Justice…the day after the Benghazi hearing . Kadzik’s son also asked for a job on the Clinton campaign, and, the icing on the corruption cupcake? Kadzik led the effort to nominate Loretta Lynch, who famously met with Bill Clinton on her private plane right before Hillary’s interrogation about Emailgate. ( source ) We all knew that the Clinton Foundation was just a way for the Clinton family to launder money, and now there’s proof. Zero Hedge writes, “…today’s Wikileaks dump included that memo which reveals, for the first time, the precise financial flows between the Clinton Foundation, Band’s firm Teneo Consulting, and the Clinton family’s private business endeavors.” A pundit called this leak “The Rosetta Stone of the Clinton Foundation,” meaning that with this document, all of their shady financial dealings could be unraveled and translated. ( source ) Clinton is unable to speak for very long without a podium to lean on . Numerous leaked emails reference how certain interviews have to be kept short because she’d be without one. And this article references a very interesting reason why this may be the case – surprisingly it isn’t related to her health. ( source ) The leaks also show that Clinton intends to do her best to restrict the Second Amendment. Brian Fallon, the national press secretary for the Clinton campaign, wrote, “ Circling back around on guns as a follow up to the Friday morning discussion: the Today show has indicated they definitely plan to ask bout guns, and so to have the discussion be more of a news event than her previous times discussing guns, we are going to background reporters tonight on a few of the specific proposals she would support as President – universal background checks of course, but also closing the gun show loophole by executive order and imposing manufacturer liability .” According to an analysis on The Daily Sheeple, “Imposing manufacturer liability means that after Sandy Hook, Bushmaster and Remington Arms would have been prosecuted for having a hand in the murder of children and school staff members for firearms that were legally sold.” ( source ) The campaign was concerned that the sexual escapades of Bill Clinton could be likened to those of another disgraced celebrity, Bill Cosby . Political operative Ron Klain sent an urgent email saying that Hillary should anticipate the following questions, ” How is what Bill Clinton did different from what Bill Cosby did? Is his conduct relevant to your campaign? You said every woman should be believed. Why not the women who accused him? Will you apologize to the women who were wrongly smeared by your husband and his allies?” ( source ) Clinton’s campaign deliberately leaked an embarrassing photo of a swimsuit-clad Bernie Sanders to the press, ironically insinuating that it was proof he was bought off by Wall Street. Perez Hilton wrote, “ Bernie Sanders lounges at elite Martha’s Vineyard pool, summer 2015 after helping raise money from Wall Street lobbyists .” ( source ) Clinton admitted she is out of touch with the middle class in a speech to Goldman-Black Rock in 2014. “And I am not taking a position on any policy, but I do think there is a growing sense of anxiety and even anger in the country over the feeling that the game is rigged. And I never had that feeling when I was growing up. Never. I mean, were there really rich people, of course there were. My father loved to complain about big business and big government, but we had a solid middle class upbringing. We had good public schools. We had accessible health care. We had our little, you know, one-family house that, you know, he saved up his money, didn’t believe in mortgages. So I lived that. And now, obviously, I’m kind of far removed because the life I’ve lived and the economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy , but I haven’t forgotten it.” ( source ) She made this rather NWO remark at a 2013 paid speech to Brazilian bank Banco Itau: “ My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders , some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere.” ( source ) In a leak of yet another paid speech, this time to the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago in 2013, Clinton said that Jordan and Turkey “ can’t possibly vet all those refugees so they don’t know if, you know, jihadists are coming in along with legitimate refugees.” Meanwhile, if Clinton has her way , we will be warmly welcoming 65,000 refugees a year, which makes Obama’s 10,000 a year look like small potatoes. ( source ) Clinton blackmailed the Chinese by telling them that the US would base missiles in the region if they didn’t exert some control over North Korean aggression. “ So China, come on. You either control them or we’re going to have to defend against them ,” she purportedly told the audience at a Goldman Sachs conference in June 2013. ( source ) In May 2015, Clinton was no longer Secretary of State but was ready to announce she was running for President when she was invited to attend a summit in Morrocco. The implication from the leaked emails was that a $12 million “donation” from the king of Morocco was dependent on Clinton attending the summit. Human Abedin, usually loyal to her boss, had concerns . “ If HRC was not part of it, meeting was a non-starter. She created this mess and she knows it. Her presence was a condition for the Moroccans to proceed so there is no going back on this,” Abedin wrote to Robbie Mook in a November 2014 email. Incidentally, Clinton didn’t attend. Bill and Chelsea went instead and the $12 million donation was not forthcoming. (source ) Podesta attacked Clinton’s primary election rival Bernie Sanders for criticizing the Paris climate change agreement. “ Can you believe that doofus Bernie attacked it? ” said Podesta. ( source ) Clinton told a Goldman Sachs conference she would like to intervene secretly in Syria . “ My view was you intervene as covertly as is possible for Americans to intervene,” she told employees of the bank in South Carolina, which had paid her about $225,000 to give a speech. “We used to be much better at this than we are now. Now, you know, everybody can’t help themselves. They have to go out and tell their friendly reporters and somebody else: Look what we’re doing and I want credit for it. ” (source ) There is indeed a definite link between the Clinton campaign and what MSM is allowed to say. The campaign has colluded directly with media spokespersons that read like a Who’s Who in American Media : Dan Merica from CNN, Haim Saban of Univision, John Harwood of CNBC and the NY Times, Rebecca Quick of CNBC, Maggie Haberman of NY Times and Politico, John Harris of Politico, Donna Brazile formerly of CNN, Roland Martin of TV-One, Marjorie Pritchard of The Boston Globe, and Louise Mensch of Heat Street. ( source ) As everyone knows, the DNC deliberately screwed Bernie Sanders out of the nomination ( Bonus: Wikileaks also released some of the DNC’s voicemails on the topic ). There are emails that prove who is actually pulling HRC’s puppet strings and that puppeteer is George Soros . The shadow government is not just a conspiracy theory – it really exists and Hillary’s job is to keep George Soros happy. ( source ) Excerpts from her speeches to Wall Street read like a guide to two-faced treachery. In them, she clearly points out that sometimes you “need” to lie. “If everybody’s watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position.” ( source ) Wikileaks emails show that back when she still worked for CNN and before she became an employee of the Clinton campaign, Donna Brazile gave Hillary the questions in advance for her “impromptu” CNN Town Hall questions. ( source ) The campaign got to “approve” articles in influential publications like NY Times, HuffPo, CNN, NBC, CBS, NYT, MSNBC, and Politico, showing a massive collusion with the mainstream media, who has hounded Trump relentlessly in an effort to distract from HRC’s abysmal candidacy. ( source ) Through the treasure trove of Wikileaks emails, we can gain an accurate picture of how Hillary really feels about us all (spoiler: basket of deplorables, basement dwellers and right wing conspirators) ( source ) President Obama knew the whole time that her emails were not coming from the secure State Department server. Cheryl Mills wrote to John Podesta, “W e need to clean this up – he has emails from her – they do not say state.gov .” You see, Obama’s emails all have to be from”whitelisted”addresses. So someone, somewhere, added her nonsecure email to his whitelist. ( source ) And finally, here’s the real reason that treacherous shrew is involved in politics. And let me tell you, it isn’t because she yearns to make things better for anyone but herself. (emphasis mine.) At the Goldman Sachs Builders and Innovators Summit, Clinton responded to a question from chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, who quipped that you “go to Washington” to “make a small fortune.” Clinton agreed with the comment and complained about ethics rules that require officials to divest from certain assets before entering government. “ There is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives, ” Clinton said. ( source ) Together, we cannot be ignored. I am on a mission between now and the Presidential Election on November 8th and I hope that you will join me. I am going to work day and night to provide the coverage that the mainstream media is not. It isn’t until we combine all of our voices that we can make people listen to the scandals, the rigging, and the corruption, not only in this election but in the system in general. Please join your voice with mine by liking, sharing, and spreading the word. Together, we cannot be ignored. Together, we are an army. Read more about Hillary Clinton

Aleppo, Donald Trump, Pakistan: Your Thursday Briefing - The New York Times

Charles McDermid

Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • Donald J. Trump’s latest picks for top posts offer more evidence of a tough approach to national security and the of crucial ties with Beijing. Gen. John F. Kelly, a retired Marine General, will be secretary of homeland security, and Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa was named ambassador to China. Mr. Branstad has a long relationship with President Xi Jinping. Above, the two in 2012. Mr. Trump also selected Scott Pruitt, an ally of the fossil fuel industry and an architect of legal efforts to fight President Obama’s climate change policy, to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Here’s the latest on the transition. _____ • In a telephone interview with a morning television news show, Mr. Trump said Mitt Romney remained a candidate for secretary of state and denied any responsibility for dividing the nation. Mr. Trump did not dispute the interviewer’s comparison of campaign promises to crack down on undocumented immigrants who kill and rape Americans to comments made by the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, about annihilating drug dealers and users. Our photojournalist documented 57 homicides over 35 days in Mr. Duterte’s bloody crackdown. (Warning: graphic images.) _____ • In Indonesia, rescue teams are searching for survivors in the aftermath of a 6. 5 magnitude earthquake that struck the island of Sumatra. Nearly 100 people have been reported killed so far, many crushed in their homes as they slept. _____ • Rescue teams in Pakistan found no survivors among the wreckage of a turboprop that crashed in the country’s north with 48 people on board. One of the passengers was Junaid Jamshed, a former pop star who became an Islamic proselytizer. _____ • “We are trapped under bombs. ” The Twitter account shared by a girl in Aleppo, Bana and her mother has captured global attention with posts about bombs, death and despair. It has also raised questions about authenticity. Syrian government forces appear to be pushing deeper into the city. _____ • European antitrust regulators fined Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase a total of just over 485 million euros for colluding to fix benchmark interest rates tied to the euro. • China will announce its balance of trade figures for November. Both imports and exports declined in October. • Britain’s investigation into the pound’s “flash crash” in October is focusing on the rapid succession of sell orders made by Citigroup in Japan, The Financial Times reported. • Some Vietnamese who fled their country during its Communist takeover are returning for its vibrant environment. • Google says its global network of 13 data centers, each one containing hundreds of thousands of computers, will be entirely powered by wind farms and solar panels by sometime next year. • U. S. stocks jumped to their biggest gains since early November. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • Thailand is investigating the BBC’s Thai language service for defamation over a profile of the new king. [The Guardian] • Cricket plans to introduce red cards that allow umpires to eject players for aggression and bad behavior, the first time the sport has used any form of penalties. [The New York Times] • India’s Cho Ramaswamy, an actor, playwright and journalist known for his staunch defense of a free press, died at 82. [The Hindu] • Over 30 percent of children in the slums of Bangladesh’s capital work over 60 hours each week in the garment sector. [Reuters] • “I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way,” the gunman arrested at a pizzeria in Washington on Sunday told our reporter, discussing his plan to investigate false reports he read online that claimed the pizzeria was at the center of a child sex slave ring. [The New York Times] • Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, maintained his innocence against rape allegations and accused the Swedish and British governments of “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. ” [The New York Times] • Saudi Arabia issued death sentences for 15 men accused of spying for Iran in a trial denounced by rights groups. [The New York Times] • In the conflict, Facebook finds itself caught between free speech and incitement. [The New York Times] • Muay Thai, the Southeast Asian combat sport, and cheerleading were recognized by the International Olympic Committee, a move that provides $25, 000 annually to the sports’ governing bodies and opens the way for them to apply for inclusion in the Games. • Matt Damon is courting controversy, playing a British mercenary in “The Great Wall,” which aims to be China’s first blockbuster. • And the film critics of The New York Times — Manohla Dargis, A. O. Scott and Stephen Holden — share their picks for the best movies of the year. • Tasmania, London, Lagos: seven accomplished writers took us inside their favorite bookstores. Our latest 360 video features a bookshop in Portugal popular with Harry Potter fans. If you look at bank notes across the world, you most often see portraits of men. But images of women are beginning to proliferate. This year, the U. S. said it would put the abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Argentina added a female guerrilla leader who fought Spanish colonialists on its new 10 peso note. Colombia honored a female painter and an anthropologist. New Swedish bank notes show the actress Greta Garbo and the Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson. And Scotland selected the novelist Nan Shepherd and Mary Somerville, a trailblazing scientist. Poland, in a less timely choice, selected Dobrawa, a 10th century Bohemian princess credited with bringing Christianity to her people, for a commemorative note. Today, Canada will announce the first woman to be featured solo on a bank note other than royalty. A survey conducted in May suggested that Nellie McClung, a women’s rights activist, was the most popular choice, but she is not among the five finalists. The Toronto Star is rooting for Emily Pauline Johnson, who celebrated her Mohawk heritage in her poetry. Its editorial, invoking Ms. Johnson’s aboriginal name, concludes: “Ideally, all these women should be featured on bank notes. But if it must be just one, we vote for Tekahionwake. ” Patrick Boehler contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes. com.

Poll: After Brexit, Majority of Britons Would Vote To Leave the Eurovision Song Contest Too

Oliver JJ Lane

A series of opinion polls have found the majority of Brits if given the chance to vote on the matter, would choose to leave the Eurovision song contest. [A new YouGov poll showed that 56 percent would be in favour of leaving and 44 percent in favour of staying, excluding those who did not know or would not vote. At 56 per cent, even more Brits would leave Eurovision than voted to leave the European Union in 2016. The poll follows another reported by Pink News in early May, which found 53. 6 per cent of Brits wanted to leave Eurovision. Those answering that poll also gave their reasons for wanting out, with 63 per cent saying the competition was a “big waste of money” while 26 per cent said it was embarrassing. The annual talent contest fought between nations across Europe, Asia, and Oceania has been broadcast by the European Broadcast Union since 1956. While the result of the poll over the future of Britain’s involvement in Eurovision may seem surprising given it gets reasonable viewing figures, the high numbers of those wishing to leave may represent disappointment among some that a Eurovision exit didn’t automatically accompany Brexit. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron, when asked what the worst argument in favour of Brexit he’d heard was, told the House of Commons that it was voting to leave the European Union would get Britain out of the song contest too. Rubbishing the suggestion, he said: “Not only would that be incredibly sad but given that Israel and Azerbaijan and anyone anywhere near Europe seems to be able to enter — and Australia — then I think we’re pretty safe from that one”. Another explanation for Britons wanting to cut ties with the musical competition could be a lack of faith in the processes behind selecting a winner. A significant source of controversy in 2014 was the allocation of British votes. Viewers at home are able to cast votes for their favourite acts by telephone, the figures for which are balanced against a panel of “experts” appointed by the BBC who also rate their favourite acts. After the 2014 competition, it was revealed the runaway favourite among the British public was the Polish entry, which featured buxom milkmaids in traditional national costume — but this was the least favourite of the expert judges, who overruled the British public, leading the nation to officially give it zero points. In contrast to the somewhat sexually suggestive favourite act of the British people in that year, the winning act was by Austria’s Conchita Wurst, a musical drag act. Viewing figures of the competition in the United Kingdom the following year collapsed to a low, and have yet to fully recover. Watch: Poland’s 2014 Eurovision entry,

An Open Letter of Friendship and Mutual Respect for Patriots in the United States, Western Europe and Russia - Theodore McIntire

About Taming the corporate media beast An Open Letter of Friendship and Mutual Respect for Patriots in the United States, Western Europe and Russia A visit to an old Soviet cemetery outside a NATO airbase in Estonia reveals what we all have in common The author is a Major (Retired) of the US Air Force and a Human Security advocate This is not intended to be alarmist, but only to reflect the ongoing realities (which I hope will defuse at the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017). I read the information contained in today's news about US and Britain deployment of fighter planes, infantry, tanks and artillery to Romania and Poland . There are multiple other news stories available on the latest reactions of NATO to continue to ratchet up East-West tensions . Through pure coincidence (visiting the property of a new Estonian friend where I might volunteer in future months to plant a medicinal herbal garden, establish a Baltic Ecovillage retreat, or host an international Finland-Estonia-Russia children's summer camp for art and music) I was less than 5 miles from Amari Air Base where there is an ongoing rotation of NATO aircraft for Baltic Air Policing . Outside this former Soviet Air Base I was able to visit a graveyard for fallen Soviet airmen and pay my respects. an_open_letter_of_friendship_and_mutual_respect_for_patriots_of_all_countries.docx_google_dokumenty.png Many of these flyers who had died in aircraft accidents in the 1970's and 1980's were of the same age as me, or my brothers who were flying for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy during the same times. I salute these fallen warriors, and hope that in the near future all those dedicated to the Golden Rule (reciprocity) and Brotherly Love (communal concern) can overcome old and outdated Cold War stereotypes to build a fear free world dedicated to Human Security or other regenerative principles .

The Nuclear Option: Comeygate Latest Fake News Hysteria for Trump/Russia Conspiracists - Breitbart

Charles Hurt

Every time the Washington political press freaks out and goes into full panic mode against President Trump, the blockbuster, story always unfolds the same way. [First, the news starts leaking or breaking. Newsrooms from the Potomac to the Hudson become seized and fixated on every morsel of the delicious story. News flashes zing around the internet. Then it hits cable television and the press starts slinging the most salacious and scandalous accusations they can whip up, charging the president with the highest crimes imaginable. Reporters and Democrats alike — not to repeat myself — are actually now speculating about whether Mr. Trump will survive the certain impeachment hearings to come. But then, as the heavy breathing subsides and the adrenaline rush gives way to factual, concrete reporting, the most damning charges fall away. Turns out Mr. Trump is a germaphobe and wasn’t in that Russian hotel room. The bust of Martin Luther King is still in the Oval Office. He didn’t abandon conservatives by naming his sister to the Supreme Court. Mr. Trump’s Tower — and people involved in his campaign — were, in fact, surveilled. Slowly, agonizingly, Truth becomes very inconvenient for all these people predicting Mr. Trump’s certain demise. In the end, they are all left clinging to the smallest Styrofoam shard of their original story, bobbing in the harsh sea of Donald Trump Derangement Syndrome. The last remaining wastrels pontificating about the “scandal” formerly larger than Watergate are left with just one flimsy accusation. “Well, he could have handled it better,” they sniff. “He didn’t follow Washington political protocol. ” Are you freaking kidding me? It all starts with charges of high crimes and misdemeanors — impeachment imminent — and when it all turns out to be fake news these people walk away grumbling about how Mr. Trump could have handled it better? Just look at this latest “Watergate” scandal. The upshot is that Mr. Trump finally fired a man who every single person in all of Washington, except perhaps James B. Comey’s wife, has said at one time or another in the past year should have been fired. Why was he fired? For all the reasons every single person in Washington has stated at one point or another during the past year. But if you are among the legions around here suffering from Donald Trump Derangement Syndrome, it is always much more sinister. Russia! The FBI was closing in on Donald Trump’s sordid connections to the Russians! (Minus the laughably debunked Moscow hotel room scandal that was one of Mr. Trump’s previous “Watergate” scandals.) The FBI had just asked for more money to pursue the connection, we were breathlessly told. Subpoenas were just being issued to known associates of known associates of President Trump! So incensed by the lies of the scandal’s it was reported, that a top official in the Justice Department was threatening to quit in protest rather than carry on working for such a criminal in the White House. And then inconvenient reality unfolds again. One by one, each of these blockbusters came under clouds of scrutiny. Nobody quits in protest. By Thursday morning, the whole scandal had substantially come unraveled. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Chairman Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, said he and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the committee, had recently met with Mr. Comey and came away with the clear impression that, in fact, Mr. Trump is not a target of any investigation by the FBI. “Sen. Feinstein and I heard nothing that contradicted the president’s statement,” he said. And in a stunning display of nonpartisanship, Mrs. Feinstein agreed. Well, OK. But the White House should have handled it better. • Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes. com follow him on Twitter via @charleshurt.

Spifflove

Nope its oil. Thank you for my technical win btw. Oil will levitate until after the election.

White House Promises ’Extreme Vetting’ for Australian Refugee Deal - Breitbart

Charlie Spiering

President Donald Trump will allow the refugee deal with Australia go through, White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed, despite the fact that it was negotiated during former President Barack Obama’s administration. [“The president is unbelievably disappointed in the previous administration’s deal that was made and how poorly it was crafted,” Spicer explained to reporters at the White House Press Briefing. Speaking to executives and union members, Trump mentioned the discussion about the deal with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. “I just said why? … Why are we doing this. What’s the purpose?” he said. “We’ll see what happens. ” Spicer confirmed that the refugees would be allowed into the United States, but would go through a “very very extreme vetting process” to make sure they had peaceful intentions. Trump signaled his opposition to the deal, after reports surfaced that he had an angry phone call with Turnbull. “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Why? I will study this dumb deal!”

SWAT Standoff Suspect Linked to Zionsville Murder, IMPD HQ Shootings

Henry Wolff

SWAT Standoff Suspect Linked to Zionsville Murder, IMPD HQ Shootings Rich van Wyk and David Macanally, WTHR (Indianapolis), October 31, 2016 The suspect in a SWAT standoff on Indianapolis’ far northeast side Monday afternoon has been connected to recent shootings at IMPD headquarters and the September murder of an 82-year-old Zionsville man. Damoine Wilcoxson surrendered peacefully around 4:15 p.m. after a hours-long standoff with IMPD at an apartment complex near Shadeland Ave. & Mill View Dr. Damoine Wilcoxson Wilcoxson was holding his 6-month-old son inside the apartment during the standoff. The boy’s grandmother stood across the street during the ordeal, waiting alongside everyone else and hoping he would be okay. {snip} Wilcoxson was armed during the standoff and police say he fired at officers through the door. No one was injured and officers did not return fire due to concerns for the child. {snip} Prosecutors say Wilcoxson faces a murder charge for the shooting death of John Clements less than half a mile from Zionsville High School on Sept. 28 . It was the first murder Zionsville has seen in 20 years. {snip} According to court documents, investigators believe Wilcoxson is also related to the IMPD headquarters shootings that occurred on October 4 and October 13. Detectives found handwritten notes demanding $100,000 and threats including “white must die” near the shell casings that were connected with the Oct. 4 shooting at IMPD Northwest District headquarters. Similar notes were found near the shell casings discovered after the Oct. 13 shooting at IMPD North District headquarters. “At least in one of those shootings, we believe that he intentionally targeted two police officers inside,” IMPD Chief Troy Riggs said, “and we’re going to be requesting attempted murder charges.” He allegedly fired almost 50 rounds at those police stations earlier this month. No officers were hurt, but he allegedly left a note at the crime scene threatening more shootings if he didn’t get $100,000. Detectives discovered that the shell casings from both IMPD shootings were a match. A DNA sample from one of the notes and a shell casing matched Wilcoxson’s profile. Court papers say forensic evidence links his gun to all those cases, but his stepfather says, “No, no, no, he’s not.” The stepfather doesn’t believe Damoine is connected to those crimes. His aunt, Detra Boyd, said, “He had a moment. That’s all.” {snip} FBI undercover agents friended him on Facebook during the probe into the police station attacks and the Zionsville murder. According to court documents, they found anti-white remarks and posts like “Kill mankind. No one should survive. We all live in lies,” plus “eye-4-eye, tooth for tooth, head for head, life for life.” {snip} Wilcoxson has a long criminal history that includes run-ins with police since he was 14 years old. {snip}

DELINGPOLE: How Social Media’s Useful Idiots Responded to the Manchester Suicide Bomb - Breitbart

James Delingpole

This morning I woke to learn that 22 people had been killed and upwards of 50 injured by a Muslim terrorist bomber at an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester, England. So, based on past events, I thought I’d predict how it would pan out on social media. [1. Be offended by something @KTHopkins or @TRobinsonNewEra said on Twitter. 2. Candles, we’ll stay strong etc. 3. Pretend it never happened, — James Delingpole (@JamesDelingpole) May 23, 2017, I really didn’t have to wait long for the first part of my prediction to come true. Block Katie Hopkins, block Tommy Robinson, block Prison Planet. Deactivate Twitter if you have to. You don’t have to engage with this today. — Jonathan Fisher (@fishplums) May 23, 2017, Is Katie Hopkins a paid ISIS propagandist do you reckon or does she just do it as a hobby, — Abi Wilkinson (@AbiWilks) May 23, 2017, @KTHopkins Surely social services need to rescue the psychologically at risk children of vile Nazi Katie Hopkins? — Bill Dawson (@DampDogBill) May 23, 2017, Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins, Nick Griffin co all abusing the heartbreaking atrocity of last night as a PR stunt. Utter parasites. — Chris Dolan (@cdolan8) May 23, 2017, Katie Hopkins — Trending. The Sun — Trending. Tommy Robinson — Trending, The fucking ghouls are out. Profiting from misery. — R Evans (@Mativenko80) May 23, 2017, The white community really needs to do more to root out fundamentalism like that Apprentice woman, Tommy Robinson and UKIP racists, — hardeep singh kohli (@misterhsk) May 23, 2017, Let’s pause to consider what’s going on here. Right now in the morgues of Manchester’s hospitals are the dismembered remains of beautiful children like old Georgina Callandar. Pictured: First victim of Manchester terror attack named as Georgina Callander https: . pic. twitter. — Daily Mail U. K. (@DailyMailUK) May 23, 2017, ’We don’t know where she is!’ Devastated parents release photos to find missing children https: . pic. twitter. — Daily Express (@Daily_Express) May 23, 2017, They were so looking forward to seeing Ariana Grande with their friends or their mums and dads or brothers and sisters. They were so happy as they headed for their homes afterwards — but some of them never made it. A Muslim suicide bomber killed them in the belief that his religion ordained it, that it would speed his journey to paradise, and that this was the kind of thing he and his brethren should carry on doing until the whole world submits to Islam. Now you’ll note that at no stage was Katie Hopkins — or indeed any other spokesman for conservative causes — involved in the planning or execution of this atrocity. You’ll also be well aware — if you’ve read round the subject — that nothing Katie Hopkins or anyone else says or does is going to stop these things happenings. As Islamic State, the main force behind this wave of violence, make perfectly clear in their literature, they’re going to keep on hating us whatever we do. The fact is, even if you were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us, and usurping our lands, we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam. Even if you were to pay jizyah and live under the authority of Islam in humiliation, we would continue to hate you. No doubt, we would stop fighting you then as we would stop fighting any disbelievers who enter into a covenant with us, but we would not stop hating you … The gist of the matter is that there is indeed a rhyme to our terrorism, warfare, ruthlessness, and brutality. You might have hoped after London, Mumbai, Boston, Paris, Nice, Berlin, and Stockholm that the message would have begun to filter through by now: that we’ve got the watches, but they’ve got the time and that they’re planning on continuing till they’ve won. So why, every time, without fail, do we get the same achingly predictable response on social media from the useful idiots of the progressive left? Why do they insist on focusing their rage on people like Katie Hopkins when clearly this has nothing whatsoever to do with people like Katie Hopkins?

Scientists Fascinated By Lake Under The Sea: Those Who Enter Never Come Out [Watch]

Brianna Acuesta

This underwater lake is actually helping scientists deal with a much bigger mystery. Credit: EVNautilus It may seem impossible, but scientists have discovered what can only be deemed as a lake under the sea. Dubbed the “Jacuzzi of Despair,” the brine-filled pool is deadly for the majority of creatures that dare enter it but is proving to be highly informational for those that are studying it. Located in the Gulf of Mexico, the lake rises about 12 feet off of the ocean floor and is four to five times saltier than the surrounding ocean. It’s also twice as warm, rich with methane, which is what makes it bubble like a jacuzzi, and is dense with hydrogen sulfide. This makes it incompatible with the sea water and a completely separate entity. Dr. Erik Cordes, associate professor of biology at Temple University in Philadelphia who discovered the pool with several colleagues, told Seeker, “It was one of the most amazing things in the deep sea. You go down into the bottom of the ocean and you are looking at a lake or a river flowing. It feels like you are not on this world.” Since the conditions of the pool are so foreign to humans and most of the creatures living under the sea, it’s allowing scientists to get a glimpse of what life might be like in extreme circumstances. What started as an interesting lake in the middle of the ocean has now become the heart of experimentation for one of the most mysterious subjects known to man: space. Dr. Cordes said, “There’s a lot of people looking at these extreme habitats on Earth as models for what we might discover when we go to other planets.The technology development in the deep sea is definitely going to be applied to the worlds beyond our own.” What makes the pool even more unique is that it has a lively ecosystem that has evolved throughout the centuries to include more species. While larger animals, such as deep-sea crabs, die as soon as they enter the pool, other creatures have adapted to the atmosphere of the water and even thrive on it. Giant mussels formed symbiotic bacteria in their gills to feed off of the hydrogen sulfide and methane gas from the pool and specially adapted shrimp and tube worms were able to survive the harsh conditions. Any other animals that entered were immediately killed, pickled by the salt, and preserved forever. Watch the video below to see the beautiful lake for yourself and the creatures who did and did not survive the conditions. Do you like our independent & investigative news? Then please check these two settings on Facebook to guarantee you don't miss our posts:

Cancela un atentado en un avión porque le pasan a primera clase por error y cambia de idea sobre Occidente

Kike García

Cancela un atentado en un avión porque le pasan a primera clase por error y cambia de idea sobre Occidente "ESTO ES OTRA COSA", HA DICHO AL VER SU ASIENTO Yihad Tras cambiar radicalmente de opinión sobre los “cerdos occidentales”, un terrorista islámico ha decidido cancelar el atentado en un avión que tenía planeado para esta misma mañana después de que un error en la asignación de asientos le haya permitido viajar en clase “Business” y disfrutar de un asiento de lujo y aperitivos gratuitos, según han informado fuentes de la aerolínea. “Era una pena desperdiciar todas esas cosas gratis por la yihad”, ha explicado el terrorista suicida. “Han venido esas mujeres inmorales y me han dicho que pasara a primera clase y he pensado ‘bueno, ahí también puedo explotar en pleno vuelo’”, explica. Tras su experiencia en “Business”, ha decidido dejar que el avión aterrice plácidamente en su destino. “Hay cosas buenas en Occidente y algunos infieles son muy serviciales cuando vas en primera”. El terrorista se habría levantado en dirección a la cabina del avión con la idea de hacerse con el control del aparato cuando las azafatas han animado al pasaje de primera clase a sentarse para recibir la cena. “Pensé en dejar la yihad para después de la cena, ya que era gratis, pero luego sirvieron bebidas y más tarde una perra infiel me arropó para echar la siesta”, explica. “Luego me puse a ver ‘Señor y señora Smith’ y pensé que Occidente no está tan mal”, admite. El terrorista llevaba más de siete años planeando un atentado suicida que hubiera acabado con la vida de más de 300 personas y era una pieza clave para la propaganda de su causa. “He pedido cacahuetes hasta diez veces y me los han traído sin preguntar”, se defiende. Según dice, la amabilidad de las “mujeres perras infieles” que hacían de auxiliares de vuelo le ha animado incluso a probar el alcohol. “Era gratis, está bueno”, dice. El de esta mañana es el segundo atentado que el terrorista cancela en el último momento. Según explica, hace tres años llegó a la cola de embarque de un vuelo y se dio cuenta de que todos y cada uno de los pasajeros restantes eran árabes, aunque no dijo nada “para no parecer racista”. “Todos habíamos tenido la misma idea y estábamos callados haciendo cola hasta que uno se empezó a reír”, explica con nostalgia. Según ha sabido la prensa, el terrorista debe regresar ahora a su aeropuerto de origen y la compañía que ha elegido es Ryanair.

How Malay Spends His Sundays: Cooking at Home, Music in the Studio - The New York Times

Shivani Vora

The music producer Malay won a Grammy Award in 2013 for his work on Frank Ocean’s album “Channel Orange. ” Since then, he has kept busy with multiple projects, including producing albums for Sam Smith and Zayn Malik. This means he is in the studio seven days a week and rarely gets a “full day off,” he said. Still, Malay (pronounced ) 38, whose real name is James Ryan Ho, fits in some downtime on Sundays to connect with his wife, Iris Belson, 30, a singer, and to indulge in some cooking. They live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with their dogs, 5, a Shih Tzu, and Coco, 3, a Maltese Yorkie. NOCTURNAL The earliest I wake up is 10, though sometimes it’s 11. I am a nocturnal person and like to work late, but even if I’m not working, it takes me a few hours to wind down from the day, and I usually go to bed between 4 and 5. Fortunately, Iris has the same schedule. GRAB THE LEASHES and Coco are antsy to get out when we’re up, so before anything else, we throw on gym clothes and take them for a walk along the Brooklyn waterfront, which is right by our apartment. COLD BREW One the way home, we stop at a sandwich shop on Wythe Avenue called Dépanneur to get our coffee fix. They sell this great Brooklyn brand called Toby’s Estate, and even if it’s freezing outside, Iris and I both order the cold brew. SWEAT IT OUT With our coffee buzz on, we head to the gym in our apartment building for a quick workout. Our Saturday nights are typically and I like to do an intense cardio to ward off the effects. Normally, it’s a sprint on the treadmill or 30 minutes of jump rope. BRUNCH I am really into cooking. My family is from Malaysia originally, and in our culture, kids learn basic kitchen skills like chopping as well as cooking at a young age at home by helping their families. Back then, it was a chore, but now I love experimenting with new recipes, especially for Sunday brunches. I just got a Smoking Gun to smoke foods, and I’m using it on egg dishes. The last thing I made was a lobster eggs Benedict that was smoked. I made the hollandaise sauce from scratch. We both try to eat healthy and follow a paleo diet with low carbs but love good food. MAKING MUSIC Normally after brunch, I Juno it to Manhattan to Germano Studios in the Village where I tend to my various projects. Besides Sam Smith and Zayn, I’m working with this singer from Portland, Aminé, who has a popular song out right now called “Caroline. ” And, I am also working on my own album, which is a collaboration of songs with many of the artists I have worked with. COCKTAIL HOUR My usual workdays average between 10 to 16 hours, but I try to limit myself to five hours on a Sunday. Around 10, Iris and I meet up at Soho House in the meatpacking district or at the newer one on Ludlow Street. We start off by having a drink or two. Without fail, Iris gets the Eastern Standard, this cucumber vodka mint cocktail. For me, it’s either Japanese whiskey or a nice Brunello from Italy. FEAST After I’ve unwound a bit from my afternoon of work, we order dinner. If we’re at Ludlow House, we like their restaurant Ducked Up where they have the best Peking duck I have ever eaten. It comes with pancakes, and we order sides like baby kale salad, roasted carrots and kimchi fried rice. KITCHEN PREP When we’re back in Williamsburg, which is usually by midnight, I spend an hour or so in the kitchen cooking food for the week ahead. I do a big batch of roasted chicken breast, maybe some braised beef, steamed broccoli with garlic and lemon, and roasted cauliflower. CUDDLE UP Iris, the dogs and I get into bed and cuddle up to catch up on all the Netflix series we’re into like “The Get Down,” Baz Luhrmann’s show about musicians in the South Bronx in the 1970s. We also like “Stranger Things” and “House of Cards. ” We’ll watch for a few hours until we all eventually fall asleep.

School Suspends 12-Year-Old Boy Attacked on Bus for Wearing a ’Make America Great Again’ Hat - Breitbart

Katherine Rodriguez

A boy in Missouri was attacked on a school bus by his peers for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat — and was suspended from school as a result. [A cellphone video of the incident shows Gavin Cortina of St. Louis being bullied physically and verbally by his peers for expressing his political beliefs on a hat Wednesday, the Daily Mail reports. “You want to build a wall?” one student yells in the clip. “You want to build a f — king wall?” Things escalated quickly after that, according to Gavin. “At one point, he just got so frustrated he pushed me,” the told KMOV. “And then he kept hitting me and backing me up by the window of the bus, and so I just had to push him out. ” Even though Gavin was the one being attacked, the Parkway School District suspended him. His mother, Christina, is outraged at the school and is concerned about what will happen if he wears the hat again. “As a parent it’s so unsettling,” she said. “I feel like my son was made an example of, it was a tricky situation — it was politically charged. ” A spokesperson for the Parkway School District said they investigated the fight and that all students involved have faced “consequences. ” At least one student was suspended, according to KMOV. The district sent out notices to parents with suggestions on how to talk about the election results with their children after Trump’s victory in November, the New York Daily News reports. The spokesperson added that administrators will sit the students down and reach a peaceful understanding about the incident and their political differences.

Deep Fried Offshore

TJ Mott

TJ Mott I've been a developer for the past seven years. Currently I'm in the aerospace industry and work with a variety of programming languages and operating systems. Stephen worked for an Initech that sold specialized hardware: high-performance, high-throughput systems for complex data processing tasks in the enterprise world, sold at exorbitant enterprise prices. Once deployed, these systems were configured via a management app that exposed an HTTP interface, just like any consumer-grade router or Wi-Fi access point that is configurable through a website (e.g. 192.168.0.1). Stephen worked with a diverse team of American engineers who were finishing up the management application for a new model. The product was basically done but needed a little bit of testing and polish before the official release. They expected several months of post-release work and then the project would go into maintenance mode. Then disaster struck. A pointy-haired boss somewhere up in a fuzzy area of the organization chart simply labeled “Here be VPs” discovered the large salary difference between American engineers and off-shore workers, and decided American engineers were far too expensive for software “maintenance”. The company decided to lay off 300 software engineers and hire 300 fresh-out-of-college replacements in a foreign country with much lower labor rates. The announcement was overshadowed by the fanfare of the product’s release and proudly billed as a major “win” for the company. Stephen was lucky enough to stay on and shift to other projects, the first of which was to assist with the transition by documenting everything he could for the new team. Which he did, in hundreds of pages of explicit detail, explaining how to use the source control repository for the project, execute and log unit tests, and who to contact when they had questions regarding the hardware itself. After that, he devoted himself to other projects. Months turned into years and Stephen assumed by the silence that the handover was successful and he’d never see the management app again. Of course that isn’t what happened. There’s an old joke on the Internet called “How to shoot yourself in the foot” (http://www.toodarkpark.org/computers/humor/shoot-self-in-foot.html) that lampoons the complicated process of shooting yourself in the foot in various programming languages. Here is one such entry: 370 JCL: You send your foot down to MIS and include a 300-page document explaining exactly how you want it to be shot. Three years later, your foot returns deep-fried. Three years after the management app was passed off to the new offshore engineer team, a new panic was boiling through Initech. The management application was as slow as molasses, buggier than flies in soup, with a user interface that was battered and deep-fried in a nonsense language that vaguely resembled English. It also crashed a lot, each time requiring a power reset to bring the system back up. Initech had simmered along by only shipping the original version, but now they had this expensive, powerful product with three years worth of hardware and firmware updates that the management app could not configure and thus were not available to customers. Several important customers canceled their support contracts rather than pay for half-baked updates that rarely worked, and many prospective customers passed them right by when basic features printed in the product brochure were “unavailable for demo”. They were falling behind in the industry. It was bad enough that management finally decided to do something. That something was to toss the offshore team and see how many of their old laid-off engineers they could scoop up, which was, not surprisingly, few. As one of the few original engineers who still worked there, Stephen was whisked away from his current projects to assist. With a bite-sized portion of the old team re-assembled, they set to work to unscramble the situation. Stephen noticed that the last source control check-in was from three years ago. Upon further inspection, he realized that not one of the offshore engineers had ever committed. He called up the offshore office to see if they had their own repository. The last few remaining offshore workers didn’t know, and when told to search every system they had, they replied they couldn’t because their local manager had sold all of their computer equipment on an auction site upon learning of their impending layoffs. He then contacted the hardware team in hopes that maybe somebody had a clone of the offshore team’s repository, but the hardware guys claimed the software team was laid off three years ago and they were not aware of an offshore replacement team. With no current source code, and an old repository that hadn’t been committed to in three years, Stephen and the team were left with no choice but to pick up exactly where they left off three years ago… [Advertisement] Manage IT infrastructure as code across all environments with Puppet . Puppet Enterprise now offers more control and insight, with role-based access control, activity logging and all-new Puppet Apps. Start your free trial today!

The World Is About To Witness A Breathtaking Once In A Century Event

King World News

31 GOLD , KWN King World News On the heels of a historic election and chaos in global markets, the world is about to witness a breathtaking once in a century event. Expect Stunning Changes Stephen Leeb: “ Donald Trump’s victory sparked some of the most tumultuous action in the markets in decades – by some measures far more extreme than in 2008…. IMPORTANT… To find out which company is set to become one of the highest grade producing gold mines on the planet and is one of the greatest precious metals investment opportunities in the world CLICK HERE OR BELOW: Sponsored There is little doubt the market is signaling major changes ahead. These will almost certainly be more than just a change in market leadership, from big-cap high-tech stocks to metal miners, etc. They will be more than a reversal in the market’s overall direction, say from bull to bear. Rather the market is telling us to expect stunning changes in the entire nature of the world’s economy. And all investors should be listening. Trump Win Initially Shocks Global Markets Let’s review this past historic week. On Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning as a Trump victory became ever clearer, stock futures dropped further and further into the red and at their low were down 5 percent. Gold rallied and at its high it was up about 5 percent. Then it seemed to dawn on almost all investors at the same moment that whatever you thought about Trump’s temperament, his populist message had carried the day. His economic policies would be hell bent on growth. From climate change to financial regulation, all barriers to growth would be knocked down. And given his real estate background, leverage wouldn’t scare him one bit. The thought of major infrastructure projects, tax cuts, less regulation, and a constrained Fed led to a 180-degree turn. Stocks were in, bonds and deflation out. Steady growth was out, leveraged cyclical growth was in. This was a trend that had been trying to take hold since mid-year, but the Trump victory sealed the deal big time. Take a look at the chart below. Year Chart Of Caterpillar, FaceBook, Amazon, Rio Tinto Four major companies diverged dramatically post-election. Facebook and Amazon sank against the rising market, while Rio, one of the world’s largest commodity producers, and Caterpillar, which as the largest earth-moving company is highly leveraged to infrastructure and mining, soared. Most commodities followed suit. Copper’s weekly gain was one of the largest ever. And from its low in late October, when Trump started to gain in the polls, copper has climbed 15 percent. Gold was the other side of the coin. After rising 5 percent on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the Midas metal turned tail and finished the week down nearly 5 percent. Blame the decline, if you want, on the spike up in bond yields and the strong buck. But as I said above, the market’s dramatic moves signal a lot more than relatively short-term shifts in market leadership. For the record, gold almost always falls at the onset of major market turmoil as investors raise cash to get aboard the new leaders. And when the switch involves investors ditching deflation fears and replacing them with enthusiasm for growth, there’s further reason gold initially was left out in the cold. We Are About To Witness A Once In A Century Event But don’t let that obscure the bigger reality. While gold could fall a bit more in coming days and weeks, the table has been set for the next act in a massive – perhaps once-in-a-century – bull market in the metal, as commodity scarcities force the world into a new monetary system with gold at its center. America’s plans for infrastructure will likely be followed by similar efforts within the E.U., albeit no doubt reluctantly and with a lag. But the only way the E.U. can remain intact is if it starts to generate growth. Even if Merkel holds on to power, we think Europe will move in this direction, which means infrastructure spending. And if Merkel is defeated or doesn’t run, a big infrastructure push in Europe becomes an even bigger bet. But even more to the point, however, is the massive amount the East will be spending on infrastructure. Such spending already has accounted for the uptrend in commodities even prior to the Trump blast-off. Speaking of Europe, the biggest infrastructure project on that continent was the Marshall Plan, which after World War II helped build up the economies of war-torn countries, in the process granting the U.S. major trade partners. Many still speak with wonder at the scope of that plan. The Chinese analog, which I talk about a lot, goes by the name of One Belt, One Road (OBOR) or the Silk Road initiative. Whatever you call it, it is massive, by some estimates 12 times the size of the Marshall Plan. Its goal is to connect more than 60 countries, which together have 4.4 billion inhabitants and currently account for nearly 40 percent of the world’s economy . And OBOR is just the start of development in the East. OBOR and the ongoing economic activity it will foster will utterly dwarf the impact China’s development already has had on the global economy. China today is the largest consumer of just about all major commodities. Multiply Chinese consumption today by many-fold and you get the long-term message of the past week’s unprecedented stock market turbulence. With zigs and zags, for the foreseeable future the market will be trying to price in not just an ordinary bull market in commodities, one in which demand temporarily exceeds supplies, but a bull market powered by fundamental scarcities in basic commodities ranging from copper to zinc to fossil fuels. There will be a scramble for virtually all commodities, even ones that are relatively plentiful, as all will be needed to build out a world relying on new sources of energy. As I have argued before, once you have fundamental scarcities, it is probably too late to switch monetary systems from paper to gold. The time to switch is when these scarcities come into view. What we saw this week was the first sign that this new world is, indeed, within sight. The $50 Trillion Project And A New Monetary Order To give you a specific taste of what lies ahead, as the U.S. spends perhaps $1 trillion to repair its crumbling bridges, its ancient water pipes, its highways, and its electric grid, China will be adding 31 percent to its capacity to generate electricity as well as entering into agreements to build ultra-high-voltage grids (another area, along with super computers, in which China leads the world) that allow China to generate power it can transmit to countries ranging from Germany to Japan to India. This electricity will be needed to power electric cars and provide lighting in dense urban areas that have yet to be built. Wang Min, an executive vice president of the government-owned Chinese State Grid, has said ultra-high-voltage power networks can tie together the entire Silk Road by 2050. The cost estimate he gives is $50 trillion, well more than $1 trillion a year. But talking about this in dollars is misleading, indeed, meaningless. As commodities grow scarcer, they won’t be available for dollars at all. Enter a new monetary order – and gold. I don’t expect to be around in 2050. But well before then, as signaled by the market this past week, we’re all likely to see Eastern development and the new gold-based monetary system it will spawn emerge as the dominant economic and socio-political stories for years to come. ” ***KWN has now released the extraordinary KWN audio interview with whistleblower Andrew Maguire, where he discusses the gold and silver smash, at what price the large sovereign wholesale bids are located, and much more, and you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW. ***ALSO JUST RELEASED: Whistleblower Andrew Maguire – This Is What The Commercials Banksters Are Up To In The Gold Market CLICK HERE. © 2015 by King World News®. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. However, linking directly to the articles is permitted and encouraged. About author

Vast Purge in Turkey as Thousands Are Detained in Post-Coup Backlash - The New York Times

Tim Arango, Ceylan Yeginsu and Ben Hubbard

ISTANBUL — The Turkish government’s crackdown after a military coup attempt widened into a sweeping purge on Monday, cutting a swath through the security services and reaching deeply into the government bureaucracy and the political and business classes. The sheer numbers being detained or dismissed were stunning: nearly 18, 000 in all, including 6, 000 members of the military, almost 9, 000 police officers, as many as 3, 000 judges, 30 governors and of all generals and admirals, as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s own military attaché. The magnitude of the backlash by Mr. Erdogan suggested that the depth of support for the coup was far greater than it initially appeared, or that the president was using the opportunity to root out all perceived adversaries, or both. As hopes faded that Mr. Erdogan would try to use the moment to unite the country, instead taking a approach, Western allies began to express alarm at what looked like . On Monday in Brussels, Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, urged Turkey — a member of NATO and a candidate for membership in the European Union — to show restraint and preserve the rule of law. “Obviously, NATO also has a requirement with respect to democracy, and NATO will indeed measure very carefully what is happening,” Mr. Kerry said. “And my hope is that Turkey is going to move in ways that do respect what they have said to me many times is the bedrock of their country. ” But for the time, Mr. Erdogan stuck with a determination to punish anyone deemed disloyal. It was not clear how the state would keep functioning with so many crucial posts suddenly left vacant and paranoia and rampant. The government suspended vacations for the country’s three million civil servants, an effort that seemed intended to make sure the machinery of the state did not halt. As the purge accelerated on Monday, the government was in particular targeting followers of the cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally turned rival who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, and whom Mr. Erdogan has blamed for trying to topple the government. A senior Turkish official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, said that members of the Gulen movement in the military had been under investigation for some time and that the group had pushed forward the coup conspiracy out of a sense of emergency when they realized they might face prosecution. The suspended judges, the senior official said, were allied with the military faction behind the coup. And like others, the official said, they were actually on lists of suspected enemies compiled by the government even before the coup took place. Turkish officials have acknowledged that the number of people rounded up was likely much greater than the actual roll of conspirators. But they maintain that it is necessary to prevent more attacks against civilians and government buildings, especially while some perpetrators are still at large. In Ankara, hearings were held for some of the accused plotters. Mr. Erdogan’s almost singular focus on the purges was probably fueled in part by his realization that support for the coup ran deeper in the military than initially thought — and by having just barely managed to outmaneuver the plotters. Units from across Turkey’s armed forces, including the air force, the army and the gendarmerie, a police force, worked simultaneously. The coup plotters waged airstrikes on the Parliament building, shut down bridges and seized top military commanders. Fighter jets were able to refuel in midair. “These were serious people very close to the top of military power,” said Matthew Bryza, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He added, “There is a sense there that the entire Turkish system as we know it was imperiled and narrowly escaped. ” The government’s focus on accusations against Mr. Gulen, who has denied any involvement in the coup, has heightened tensions between the United States and Turkey. Turkish officials have publicly reinstated demands that Mr. Gulen be extradited to Turkey — though, according to American officials, no formal judicial request has been made. Some Turkish officials have run with the idea of a global conspiracy, accusing the United States of partnering with Mr. Gulen to orchestrate the coup. John Bass, the American ambassador to Turkey, issued a statement on Monday saying: “Some news reports — and, unfortunately, some public figures — have speculated that the United States in some way supported the coup attempt. This is categorically untrue, and such speculation is harmful to the friendship between two great nations. ” Mr. Kerry said Monday that the United States would consider extradition for Mr. Gulen if the Turks “send us evidence, not allegations. ” He continued, “We need to see genuine evidence that withstands the standard of scrutiny that exists in many countries, the system of law with respect to the issue of extradition, and if it meets that standard there’s nothing, there’s no interest we have, in standing in the way of appropriately honoring the treaty that we have with Turkey with respect to extradition. ” Turkey is facing multiple security challenges, including terrorism by the Islamic State and a war with Kurdish militants in the southeast. The upheaval in Turkey’s security services, and the deep divisions within them that the coup attempt laid bare, are likely to affect Turkey’s ability to manage the country’s threats. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters on Monday that the country was “strong enough to eliminate multiple threats at the same time. Turkey is a great country with 100 years of experience. ” Mr. Erdogan reiterated on Monday that the Turkish people had called for the restoration of the death penalty for those involved in the revolt and said that his government would consider it. Turmoil in the Middle East in recent years had made Turkey an essential ally of the West in handling the fallout from the civil war in Syria, battling extremists of the Islamic State and stemming the flow of refugees to Europe. Yet the widespread turmoil inside Turkey’s military now could hamper the country’s ability to remain engaged in those crises, analysts said. The United States had come to see Turkey as a crucial member of the international coalition bombing the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. The Turkish Army is charged with securing the Syrian border, and American military and surveillance jets launch regular missions from Turkey’s Incirlik air base. But two Turkish jets from the base participated in the attempted coup, and the base’s Turkish commander was implicated in the plot, raising questions for American forces about the base’s security. “This will have serious disruption in the way in which the coalition carries out its operations,” said Aaron Stein, a Turkey analyst at the Atlantic Council. The vast scale of the purges, especially among the security forces, has also left Turkish citizens anxious over how the country will maintain stability and order when it is reeling from a string of terrorist attacks by the Islamic State and Kurdish militants. “The president is calling people out to the streets to stand guard against threats, and people are going, but how is this possible when there are active terrorist cells all over the country?” asked Seda Kapici, a lawyer, who was discussing the weekend’s events with a friend at a coffee shop in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul. She added, “Everyone is on edge, and with these purges, I don’t know how people are going to be able to go about their normal lives. ”

Consultant tied to Trump super PAC promoted ‘voter suppression’ against black, female voters

RT

Consultant tied to Trump super PAC promoted ‘voter suppression’ against black, female voters Published time: 27 Oct, 2016 04:10 Get short URL © Great America PAC / Facebook Donald Trump may call the 2016 election “rigged,” but a consultant connected to the Great America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC, told reporters that the group has a suppression campaign in the works, believing them to be representatives of a potential donor. Trends US Elections 2016 Political consultant Jesse Benton is once again in hot water. After journalists from The Telegraph introduced themselves to the former Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) aide as lawyers representing a potential Trump donor who was also a Chinese national, Benton proceeded to not only tell them how to donate to Trump’s campaign despite it being against federal election law, but also discussed attempts to suppress votes in Cleveland, Ohio. This isn’t Benton’s first time engaging in politically and legally questionable behavior. In May, he had to take a step back from his role at the Great America PAC after pleading guilty to buying an endorsement for presidential candidate Ron Paul in 2012, during his time as campaign manager. Benton was sentenced to two years of probation. Quid pro woah: Documents link Wisconsin governor to dark money https://t.co/oqoGlhxLSc pic.twitter.com/KygHsCgYP7 — RT America (@RT_America) September 15, 2016 The undercover reporters first contacted the PAC’s co-chairman, Eric Beach, who was filmed telling them that their Chinese client would be “ remembered ” if Trump becomes president, The Telegraph reported . Beach proceeded to refer them over to Benton, claiming he was a consultant. When they met with Benton, he discussed the Trump campaign’s plans in the swing state of Ohio. Referring to Hillary Clinton’s support in Ohio, he said: “ In Cleveland, if we can...turn her to regular turnout levels, she's gonna lose about 60,000 votes in that area – that's a dead heat. ” “ So we have a voter suppression campaign quite frankly, targeting African-Americans, and sort of suburban moms, just bad stuff about Hillary, just trying to take their taste for her away, ” he explained. When it came to the issue of how the Trump campaign would be able to accept money from a Chinese national without arousing suspicion, Benton explained that he would channel the cash through a dark money tunnel. Super PACs make use of non-profit organizations to collect money from donors because 501(c)4 nonprofit groups are allowed to donate funds to political campaigns without disclosing who their donors are. Benton said he could accept the offered $2 million contribution from the non-existent Chinese donor by having the money sent to his company, which would then pass it on to one or two more non-profits. Some Republicans are asking for their donations back from #Trump campaign in the aftermath of the leaked tape https://t.co/2pNyW9Egea pic.twitter.com/9tCDNaj14W — RT America (@RT_America) October 12, 2016 The Great America PAC has tried to distance itself from Benton. Dan Backer, a lawyer for Great America, told The New York Times that “ I think it’s pretty clear that someone who used to work for the organization decided to leverage that former relationship for his own purposes. ” Backer suggested that Benton had exaggerated his role in the PAC, telling The Telegraph that Benton was engaging in “ puffery and self-promotion. ” Benton has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the reporters were brought to him as a “ business referral ” from Beach and that the clip was actually a part of a “ public affairs contract, ” The Telegraph reported. The Trump campaign claims to have severed ties with the PAC, releasing a statement saying it “ publicly disavowed this group back in April. This is public via Federal Election Commission filings. ” However, it was just a month ago that Trump’s son Eric and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke at a Great America PAC fundraiser, Raw Story reported .

Twitter Reinstates Richard Spencer, White Nationalist Leader - The New York Times

Niraj Chokshi

After less than a month in exile, the white nationalist leader Richard B. Spencer is back on Twitter. The social network reinstated Mr. Spencer’s personal account on Saturday, less than four weeks after suspending it and others he created for violating rules against making multiple accounts with overlapping uses. “Please select one account for restoration the others will remain suspended,” the company told Mr. Spencer last week, according to an email that was obtained by BuzzFeed. The account was suspended on Nov. 15, and a spokesman for Twitter said in an email that it first contacted Mr. Spencer three days later, on Nov. 18, and again last week. Mr. Spencer, a leader of the a fringe movement that embraces white nationalism, racist, and positions, celebrated his return on Saturday night by writing “I’m back,” accompanied by a clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the “Terminator” movie franchise. Twitter and other social networks have found themselves at the center of a debate over where and how to draw the line between free speech and harassment. While Mr. Spencer’s suspension was due to a violation of the multiple accounts policy, it occurred as Twitter began a broader crackdown on accounts tied to hate speech or threats of violence, according to The Associated Press. Over the summer, in a move that seemed to signal a new approach to abuse, it suspended the account of Milo Yiannopoulos, a writer who had consistently violated its terms of service and led a harassment campaign against the actress Leslie Jones. Mr. Yiannopoulos has not returned to the social network. When Mr. Spencer was suspended, he told The A. P. he had no plans to rejoin Twitter unless he got an apology. The company told BuzzFeed on Sunday night that Twitter’s rules “also prohibit hateful conduct, harassment and violent threats. We will take action on accounts that violate these policies. ” Mr. Spencer’s account, which is verified by Twitter, was suspended last month along with several others that had been associated with promoting hate speech. At the time, Mr. Spencer released a YouTube video in which he accused Twitter of “corporate Stalinism,” and said there had been “execution squads across the . ” Mr. Spencer posted on Saturday night that his other accounts would soon be reinstated as well. The spokesman for Twitter said that its email to Mr. Spencer contradicted that claim. “The Twitter rules explicitly prohibit creating multiple accounts with overlapping uses. When we temporarily suspend multiple accounts for this violation, the account owner can designate one account for reinstatement,” the spokesman said. At a conference in Washington, D. C. last month, Mr. Spencer quoted Nazi propaganda and railed against Jews. America belonged to white people, he told an audience of 200, most of them young men. And, at one point, several in attendance raised their arms in a Nazi salute. “Hail Trump! Hail our people!” he said, adding “Hail victory!” — the English translation of the Nazi “Sieg Heil!” Last week, a speech he delivered at Texas AM University was interrupted by violent skirmishes, and police officers in riot gear were called in to help control the crowd of protesters outside, according to The Texas Tribune. In his first 24 hours back on Twitter, Mr. Spencer engaged in banter with other users, praised how Donald J. Trump has handled the transition process, and shared a story about “Gab,” a social network with an mission that has become a safe haven for the far right.

YouTube Disables MILO Livestream Hours Before Immigration Speech in New Mexico - Breitbart

Charlie Nash

YouTube disabled Breitbart News Senior Editor MILO’s livestreaming ability on Friday, just hours before his speech on immigration at the University of New Mexico. [MILO’s ability to host livestreams was withdrawn from YouTube after his video “MILO At UC — Colorado Springs: Democrats Are The ‘Party Of The Cuckold,’” was flagged and subsequently removed. Though MILO has appealed the channel restrictions, YouTube has yet to remove the livestream ban. Consequently, MILO’s speech at the University of New Mexico tonight will not be livestreamed. The speech will be posted in its entirely to MILO’s YouTube channel after the event as usual, but fans will not be able to watch it live. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.

¿Quién es Mariano Rajoy, el nuevo presidente de España?

Kike García

¿Quién es Mariano Rajoy, el nuevo presidente de España? TODO LO QUE DEBES SABER SOBRE EL POLÍTICO QUE DIRIGIRÁ ESPAÑA Presidente del Gobierno El próximo presidente de España es, ante todo, el hombre de confianza de los socialistas. El PSOE ha aupado su candidatura pese a tener un perfil poco conocido por los españoles. Muchos ignoran, por ejemplo, que este individuo ha sido presidente del Ejecutivo durante los últimos cuatro años. Aquí está todo lo que necesitas saber sobre nuestro próximo presidente. Nombre : Su nombre es Mariano Rajoy, aunque en Pontevedra, donde se crió, se le conoce también como ‘El rompehuesos de Pontevedra’, ‘El Martillo’ o ‘El trumpito guasón’. Esposa : No. Partido político : Partido Popular, PSOE, Ciudadanos, Convergència i Unió, Asociación de Lucha Canaria Pontevedra. Música : ‘Mi gran noche’ de Raphael. Nacimiento : Pese a que él mismo considera que su tierra natal es Pontevedra, nació en Albania en 1467. Familia : Se cree que tiene cinco hijos que se llaman Amanda, Kevin, Señor José, Alejandro y El Bebé. Su perfil familiar ha sido del agrado de los grandes partidos españoles, motivo por el que se creyó que su candidatura podría llegar a buen puerto. Su hijo mayor, Kevin, es animador del videojuego EA Sports. Según ciertos rumores, tiene un primo que es Premio Nobel de Física. Habilidades : Sabe pilotar helicópteros. Twitter : Es un tuitero activo en @marianokrystal. Mayor miedo : Los hombres atractivos y seguros de sí mismos. Profesión : Ocupa el cargo de registrador de la propiedad en Santa Pola. Según dicen los que le conocen, este cargo para él es mucho más que una afición. Lo considera su auténtica profesión y saca adelante las tareas de presidencia durante la hora de la comida o los fines de semana. Eslogan de campaña : ‘Tsh, tsh, espera… dónde vas… a ver… espera. No… bueno, déjame a mí. No, ahora no. Tú déjalo y yo, cuando eso, pues ya… Vale, como quieras, yo qué sé’. Controversias : Esparció hilillos de plastilina por toda la costa gallega. Es persona non grata en Pontevedra porque propinó un puñetazo a un adolescente durante un examen de lengua. Aficiones : Fuma cigarros puros de fuerte olor a arenque. Política : En 2015 hizo alcalde a un vecino. Ocupación previa : Presidente de España. Firma :

Turkey Tumbling—-Crackdown Sweeps Through Business and Finance, Imperiling the Economy

Tyler Haynes

Turkey Tumbling----Crackdown Sweeps Through Business and Finance, Imperiling the Economy By Tyler Haynes. Investors who saw Turkey as a free-market beacon fear its president’s focus on rooting out internal enemies endangers financial institutions and trust in its economic stewardship

WOW! WHITE Liberals Suggest Blacks Are Too Stupid To Get ID’s…Can’t Figure Out How To Use Internet [VIDEO]

EdJenner

Go to Article Filmmaker Ami Horowitz takes to the streets in Berkeley, CA to ask white liberals how they feel about voter ID laws? Do voter ID laws suppress the black vote? Are voter ID laws racist? Watch the stunning (and very telling) responses these elitist liberals give to Horowitz. Next, watch how black citizens in Harlem, NY reply to the racist generalizations made by white liberals in Berkeley, CA. Tell us again who the real racists are? Wow!

North Carolina Hillary Supporter Brags on Facebook About Voting Multiple Times

Email Hillary supporter Robert Dougherty from Jacksonville, North Carolina bragged on Facebook today about how he committed voter fraud. Robert boasted on how he voted for some of his Facebook friends using their identities, and tells them not to worry about voting, because he’s already done it for them. And he’s bragging about it on Facebook. Robert boasts about how they give you a sticker every time you vote. He says he will continue to vote all next week! “Isn’t North Carolina nice they give you a sticker every time you vote… No ID required.” “There isn’t a need for you to wait in line anymore. Took care of it for you. Gave you a straight Democratic ticket.” “Amazing how many addresses you get from Google. Going again until Saturday and all next week.” Robert either thinks voter fraud is a big joke or he’s one stupid Hillary-supporting criminal. What do you think, will Voter Fraud play a key role in the election?

Trump’s Immigration Order Jolts Iraqis, U.S.’s Top Allies Against ISIS - The New York Times

Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s executive order on immigration is straining relations with the partner the United States needs most to reclaim the Islamic State’s stronghold in Mosul: the Iraqis. Iraqi officials were taken aback by the directive, which they learned about through the American news media because they had not been consulted first. The order blocks citizens from Iraq and six other predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days. That lumps Iraq together with Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, nations with no strategic alliance with Washington. “The effect is that many Iraqis will feel that the United States does not want a relationship with Iraq,” said Lukman Faily, who completed a stint as Iraq’s ambassador to Washington in June. “We hope it is a blip. It makes it difficult for us to decipher what President Trump is up to with regard to Iraq. ” Mr. Faily has been directly affected by the order. Though he holds dual British and Iraqi citizenship, he said information he had received from the American Embassy in Baghdad indicated that he would not be allowed to travel to the United States in the coming weeks to participate in a conference, he said in a telephone interview from Iraq. The edict followed inflammatory comments that Mr. Trump made during a visit to the C. I. A. this month, in which he said that the United States should have “kept” Iraq’s oil after the invasion and might still have a chance to do so. More broadly, it clashes with a memo that Mr. Trump issued on Saturday calling on the Pentagon to submit a new plan for stepping up operations against the Islamic State, including by empowering “coalition partners. ” With Iraq furnishing the ground forces for the coming assault on western Mosul, and with more than 5, 000 American troops in the country, the political support of Baghdad is essential. But current and former American officials are worried that the directive will have a corrosive effect on relations at a critical stage in the fighting. “My brothers in Iraq’s Army, who I proudly fought with, are fighting ISIS tonight,” Mark Hertling, a retired Army lieutenant general who led American forces in northern Iraq, wrote on Twitter. “The Iraqi govt is now winning. And we ban their citizens?” The order, which administration officials said was drafted without the input of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Middle East experts at the State Department, has offended the Iraqis in several respects. During the Bush administration, the United States and Iraq signed a Strategic Framework Agreement, which calls for close diplomatic, economic and security ties and is still in effect. “If I were an Iraqi, I would be waving this signed agreement in the face of the current administration,” said Ryan C. Crocker, who negotiated the accord and served as the United States ambassador to Iraq under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. “It is totally inconsistent. ” Iraqis who are already skeptical about Washington have also seized on the order to stir up opposition against the United States. Moktada the fiery cleric whom many Iraqi Shiites support, accused the United States of “arrogance. ” “So get out U. S. citizens from Iraq before you expel communities from U. S.,” he said on Twitter. To contain the political damage, officials said a call between Prime Minister Haider of Iraq and Mr. Trump might be arranged for this week. Mr. Trump spoke on Sunday with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and with the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, but neither Saudi Arabia nor the Emirates are covered by the new order. Iraqi officials who are close to the Americans worry that the Islamic State will exploit the policy in its propaganda to recruit new volunteers. As of early Sunday, the terrorist group had made no official pronouncement. However, individual members and supporters have been sharing the order and news articles about it. Yet another worry has been expressed by veterans, and even members of Mr. Trump’s own party: that the order will interrupt the flow of former Iraqi interpreters and cultural advisers who have worked closely with the Americans and have sought special visas to move to the United States for their own protection. “The people we need to accomplish the mission are nervous, and rightly so, that our country is going to turn our backs on them,” said Steve Miska, a retired Army colonel, who spent 40 months and three deployments in Iraq. Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Republicans who have been strongly supportive of the military, expressed concern that a strict application of the order might even block Iraqi pilots from coming to the United States for training. “This executive order bans Iraqi pilots from coming to military bases in Arizona to fight our common enemies,” they wrote in a statement issued Sunday. The more fundamental question is whether the White House can balance the fulfillment of a campaign promise to carry out “extreme vetting” of citizens from Muslim countries with the need to maintain strong ties with Muslim partners in its fight against the Islamic State. The air bases that the United States uses to bomb the group are all in Turkey or Arab countries, as are American troops. “The president’s actions on refugees and immigration are certain to backfire,” said Matthew G. Olsen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. “The policies validate the terrorists’ claim that we are at war with Islam, and will alienate our Middle East allies and isolate American Muslims here at home. ”

Как заставить себя заниматься спортом? Ответ найден

0 комментариев 0 поделились По их мнению, с одной стороны, атмосфера благожелательности в спортивных учреждениях часто работает сама против себя, так как она привлекает внимание всех людей к тем посетителям спортзалов, которые наименее всего активны. Это порождает негативную спираль, заставляющую их посещать их еще меньше. В то же время, наиболее активные люди задают в спортзале некий тон, который стимулирует других активнее заниматься спортом, так как люди начинают ожидать от себя большего, уверен Дамон Сентола из университета Пенсильвании (США). В такому выводу Сентола и его коллеги пришли во время наблюдения за группой из почти восьми сотен студентов университета, которым они предложили бесплатно посещать тренажерный зал на протяжении 11 недель в рамках одной из государственных программ, не связанных, на первый взгляд, с психологическими исследованиями. Студенты даже и не знали, что принимают участие в проекте, в ходе которого ученые хотели выяснить их мотивацию при посещении спортзалов и фитнесклубов. Для этого ученые создали несколько разных сайтов, которые фактически предлагали учащимся поучаствовать в одной и той же программе, но пытались завлечь их разными способами. Помимо рекламы, на некоторых версиях этих порталов так же выводилась негативная или позитивная статистика посещений, в том числе различные "рекорды" посетителей и советы тем, кто мало посещал спортзал. В некоторых из них эти рекорды выводились исключительно в индивидуальном порядке, отражая статистику только самого посетителя курсов, а в других - видеть данные по успехам других "команд" и отдельных студентов. Кроме различных соревновательных мер, ученые так же проверили, как работают типичные приемы, которые сегодня применяются в американских вузах и школах для стимулирования учащихся - группы доверия, участники в которых могут побуждать друг друга к занятиям спорта, и "подцепление" особо активных спортсменов к командам "прогульщиков". Таким образом ученые еще раз подтвердили известную английскую поговорку: "Хочешь сделать что-то популярным, преврати это в спорт": те пользователи, которые посещали "соревновательные"версии сайта, почти в два раза чаще в среднем ходили на занятия и гораздо активнее занимались фитнесом и зарядкой, чем те студенты, которых ученые поместили в "группы доверия". Причем этот эффект проявлялся как в групповых, так и в индивидуальных версиях сайтов, из чего ученые сделали вывод: важнее соревнование, а не его характер. На основании своих выводов ученые посоветовали всем владельцам спортзалов и спортивным преподавателям в университетах стимулировать соперничество между посетителями, разбивая их на команды и заставляя их бороться за некое звание или символический приз. Соревновательность в спорте, как добавляют ученые, имеет и другие плюсы - она заставляет людей отказываться от табака, алкоголя, вредной еды и прочих негативных вещей, мешающих им достичь максимума в борьбе с конкурентами. Поэтому подобные меры будут не только повышать популярность спортзалов, но и помогать людям улучшать свое здоровье, заключают ученые. Как известно, многие люди приходят в спортзалы с целью похудеть. Как же им помогают в этом фитнес-трекеры ? Это попытались выяснить ученые из Питтсбургского университета. Для этого они провели исследование, в котором приняли участие 470 добровольцев, имеющих избыточный вес, в возрасте от 18 до 35 лет. При этом испытуемые уже вели борьбу с лишними килограммами не менее двух лет. Испытуемых разделили на две группы, в одной добровольцы использовали фитнес-гаджеты, которые подсчитывали калории, физическую активность и число сердечных сокращений, а в другой - нет. Оказалось, что в группе, где добровольцы не применяли трекеры, эффект от занятия был почти в два раза более эффективным. Читайте последние новости Pravda. Ru на сегодня

YouTube bans ‘Clinton’s black son’

YouTube bans ‘Clinton’s black son’ Source: wnd Danney Williams and Bill Clinton NEW YORK –YouTube on Wednesday suspended the account of Danney Williams, the 30-year-old man who has claimed since the 1990s to be the black son of former President Bill Clinton. YouTube, citing “repeated or severe violations of our Terms of Use and/or Community Guidelines,” declared the account “cannot be restored.” The YouTube decision blocked the nine-minute feature “BANISHED – The Untold Story of Danney Williams,” which had received 1.2 million views since Williams posted it last week. Produced by filmmaker Joel Gilbert, it drew nearly 100,000 views per day and more than 1,000 viewer comments, with the overwhelming majority expressing support for Williams and outrage at the Clintons for not being willing to allow a DNA test to determine paternity. Sign the precedent-setting petition supporting Trump’s call for an independent prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton! “My YouTube account has been deleted, but the same video appears in 50 other places on YouTube alone,” Williams said on his Facebook page after being notified of YouTube’s decision. “[YouTube] can’t handle the truth! Please share #BillClintonSon.” Twitter also continues to allow Williams to post the “Banished” video on Danney Williams’ page , but the Twitter link to YouTube displays the message : “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated. Sorry about that.” The video is still running on Danney Williams-Clinton’s Facebook page , as well as on the YouTube channel operated by Gilbert. Attempt to silence Danney Williams? Gilbert told WND he helped Williams file an online appeal form on YouTube asking why the account was suspended and demanding it be immediately reinstated. “The behavior of YouTube/Google in suspending Danney’s account is outrageous! There have been absolutely zero violations of any kind let alone a severe one of any YouTube terms or guidelines,” Gilbert said. HILL AND BILL EXPOSED AS ‘PARTNERS IN CRIME’– $4.95 TODAY ONLY! $21 discount on No. 1 New York Times bestselling author’s brand-new election blockbuster. Gilbert was outspoken in charging YouTube with partisan political motives for the suspension. “The only possible explanation is that the Clinton campaign requested YouTube/Google to silence Danney, ‘to run him off the plantation’ as Danney said Hillary Clinton did to him and his aunt when he was a small child and they were chased off the grounds of the Arkansas governor’s mansion in 1990,” Gilbert said. “Danney cannot be silenced any longer,” he continued. “Hillary may try to sweep Danney Williams under the rug, but it’s not going to work this time. His story is out there, and every day more and more people understand Bill and Hillary Clinton banished this young man from their family because of the color of his skin.” See the Danney Williams video feature: WND reported Oct. 19 that in the hours before the third and final presidential debate, attorneys for Williams were in Las Vegas to announce their intention to file a paternity suit demanding DNA evidence from the former president. Accompanying the dramatic announcement was a rap music video celebrating Williams that went viral on the Internet. The mask is off! Get October’s stunning pre-election Whistleblower issue, “HILLARY’S ULTIMATE WEAPON: America’s biased and abusive news media finally abandon all pretense of fairness” No definitive DNA test WND reported that no DNA test was conducted in 1999, despite media reports to the contrary when Williams’ claim first surfaced. Clinton defenders since 1999 have contended the tabloid Star Magazine conducted a “DNA showdown” proving Bill Clinton was not Williams’ father, citing Star Magazine editor Phil Bunton saying at the time, “There was no match, nothing even close.” But in an interview, Bunton told WND that no blood sample was obtained from Clinton and Star Magazine never published a story documenting a laboratory test. “I don’t remember ever seeing any laboratory test that was done on Clinton’s DNA,” Bunton told WND. Bunton is now the owner of the Rivertown Magazine in Haverstraw, New York. He affirmed to WND that the tabloid relied on the DNA evidence for Clinton published by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, extracted from the infamous Monica Lewinsky blue dress. “We got a lot of phone calls from several people in the media, including the New York Times, wanting to know when we were going to get the DNA back,” Bunton recalled to WND. “We thought it was going to turn out to be his son, but when the DNA came back there was no story there even to write.” The DNA test released by Kenneth Starr was the second of two DNA laboratory tests the FBI had run on Clinton, but the public record leaves no doubt that Starr withheld the more robust test conducted by the FBI. ‘Twitter rules’ Many other figures who have challenged the Democratic Party or the left-leaning media narrative also have run into trouble with social media outlets, including James O’Keefe and his Project Veritas, which has exposed Clinton campaign voter fraud and agitation in a series of hidden-camera videos. Just as O’Keefe was preparing to release new revelations of voter fraud Oct. 13, Twitter shut down his account , claiming violations of “Twitter Rules.” The notice said he “must delete the tweets that are in violation of our rules, which prohibit: harassing other users, threatening other users, disclosing other users’ private information” or violating “other rules.” In a statement, O’Keefe said he relies on social media to “bypass the media and directly reach the public.” On Monday, O’Keefe wrote in a tweet Project Veritas was unable to upload its third video in the series to YouTube, calling the apparent block “bizarre.” Earlier this month, O’Keefe was forced to delete a tweet critical of a Hillary Clinton staffer to regain use of his account after it was suspended for a day. His account was suspended in the hours before a release of a new hidden-camera video that exposed a Clinton ally saying she could use executive action on guns, the Daily Caller reported . Project Veritas posted an undercover video Oct. 17 proving Hillary Clinton supporters were inciting violence at Donald Trump rallies to gain negative media coverage. Millions of viewers watched the video in just a few hours, but it didn’t show up on Google’s “trending” list on YouTube, which Google owns, noted SilenceisConsent.net . It did, however, trend on Twitter, which Google does not own. Breitbart blogger Milo Yiannopoulos was suspended permanently by Twitter minutes before his “Gays for Trump” party at the Republican National Convention. For some 11 months, the makers of the new movie “I’m Not Ashamed,” about the first victim of the Columbine killers in Colorado in 1999, were unable to promote their movie through YouTube. The trailer was taken down late in 2015, and the movie’s entire channel was suspended . Among the conservatives censored by Facebook : Conservative activist and Trump supporter Lauren Southern received a 30-day ban from Facebook because she complained about a friend’s account being censored. Facebook locked a 12-year-old black middle schooler’s account for posting a video supporting Rudy Giuliani’s comment that Obama “doesn’t love America.” The admin of a pro-Trump group was banned for saying Trump is not anti-Muslim, but anti-ISIS. Share This Article...

US Uranium Weapons Have Been Used in Syria

John Laforge

Email This month, the Pentagon admitted it has used uranium weapons in attacks inside Syria — violating its public promise last year that it would not use DU there, and contradicting the claim that US bombing is done in defense of the Syrian people, according to the Int’l Campaign to Ban Uranium Weapons . Like the Pentagon’s past denials of the dangers of the chemical weapon Agent Orange, US military officials still claim publicly that its uranium weapons are not known to cause health problems. Made from waste uranium-238 — left from H-bomb and reactor fuel production — it is called “depleted” uranium (DU) but is only “depleted” of U-235. Ironically, the best evidence that it is dangerously toxic and radioactive — contrary to press pronouncements — comes from the Pentagon itself. A June 1995 report to Congress by the Army’s Environmental Policy Institute (AEPI) concluded: “Depleted uranium is a radioactive waste and, as such, should be deposited in a licensed repository.” Military studies done in 1979, ‘90, ‘93, ‘95 and ‘97, make clear that uranium weapons are chemically toxic, alpha-radiation-emitting poisons that are a danger to target populations and to invading/occupying US forces alike. In spite of this cautionary written record, the military has been shooting its radioactive waste all over the world: into population centers in Iraq in 1991 (380 tons), in Afghanistan in 2001 (amounts unknown); in Bosnia in 1994-‘95 (five tons); in Kosovo in 1999 (10 tons), in Iraq again in 2003 (170 tons); and now in Syria. The AEPI report above also says that DU has the potential to generate “significant medical consequences” if it enters the body. The Army’s Office of the Surgeon General, in its Aug. 16, 1993 “Depleted Uranium Safety Training Manual,” says that the expected effects of DU exposure include a possible increase of cancer, and kidney damage. The manual also warns, “When soldiers inhale or ingest DU dust, they incur a potential increase in cancer risk … (lung or bone) and kidney damage.” The Army’s Mobility Equipment, Research & Development Command reported way back in 1979 that, “Not only the people in the immediate vicinity but also people at distances downwind from the fire are faced with potential over exposure to air-borne uranium dust.” This uranium “dust” is generated when DU shells hit and burn through hard targets like tanks or armored vehicles. The uranium is spread for miles by the wind, contaminating everything is its path including food, water, soil, schools, hospitals, etc., and DU is radioactive forever, or ten times 4.5 billion years, whichever comes first. In 1990, the Army’s Armaments, Munitions and Chemical Command radiological task group said that DU is a “low level alpha radiation emitter … linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and] chemical toxicity causing kidney damage.” It added that “there is no dose so low that the probability of effect is zero.” With evidence of its radio-toxicity so clear and redundant, any use of uranium weapons today appears to flaunt the military’s own Field Manual prohibition — absolute and universal — against the use of poison or poisoned weapons. Historical Disregard Revisited The military has a long history of deliberately exposing US citizens and others to deadly risks without their knowledge or consent, beginning with the open-air nuclear bomb tests it knew would contaminate vast areas. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chose not to evacuate or even warn downwind populations it knew would be hard-hit by radioactive fallout. (“Fallout risk near atom tests was known, documents show,” New York Times, March 15, 1995) These bomb tests exposed Nevada Test Site workers to levels of radiation that the AEC knew could cause harm, but the agency chose not to reduce workers’ exposures or to even inform them of the risks because doing so would have scandalized and halted the bombing tests. (“Records say workers faced high radiation: Suit contends US used no safeguards,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, Dec. 14, 1989) Likewise, the government refused to inform some 600,000 H-bomb factory workers that workplace radiation exposures posed serious health risks, although enough was known about radiation to warn them in 1948. (“N-plant workers not told of risks: Report says US arms program exposed many to radiation,” Associated Press, Dec. 19, 1989) Between 1944 and 1974, “medicalized” human radiation experiments were even conducted on unwitting US citizens, 16,000 of them (The Plutonium Files, by Eileen Welsome). Today, the Pentagon extends this ghastly history into Syria where it is deliberately exposing human beings to weaponized radiation that it knows can cause cancer and other diseases. As if the undeclared, unconstitutional war in Syria weren’t unlawful enough, now add the crime of using poison in violation of military law and the Hague Regulations of War on Land. It is so easy to prove that DU is poison, that a group of four non-lawyers, myself included, convinced a Minneapolis jury in 2004 that AlliantTechsystems’ manufacture of the shells is unlawful enough to excuse an otherwise illegal trespass; our minor offense was justified in order to prevent the greater harm of DU weapons production. Like torture, the use of such poison in war is always criminal, akin to gas war. This latest US government war crime must be condemned in the harshest terms. For more information on DU weapons and the global effort to have them banned, see ICBUW.org.

Paula Fox, Novelist Who Chronicled Dislocation, Dies at 93 - The New York Times

Margalit Fox

Paula Fox, a distinguished writer for children and adults whose work illuminated lives filled with loss, dislocation and abandonment, conditions she knew firsthand from a very early age, died on Wednesday in Brooklyn. She was 93. Her death, at a hospital near her home, was confirmed by her daughter, Linda . Ms. Fox wrote a novels for adults and more than 20 books for young people. What united her output was a cool, elegant style that was haunting in its economy minute observation masterly control of tone and pacing and an abiding concern with dissolution — of family, of home, of health, of trust. Her characters are complex, and often withdrawn, but their ruminative interior states lend the narratives a quiet luminosity. Ms. Fox’s novel for adults is “Desperate Characters” (1970) about the disintegration of a marriage. It was made into a film of the same title, released the next year and starring Shirley MacLaine and Kenneth Mars. She was awarded the Newbery Medal, considered the Pulitzer Prize of children’s literature, in 1974 for “The Slave Dancer,” a controversial novel centered on the Atlantic slave trade in the century. Her work also includes two memoirs: “Borrowed Finery” (2001) about her peripatetic childhood, and “The Coldest Winter: A Stringer in Liberated Europe” (2005) about her young womanhood. Ms. Fox’s bibliography took readers from cradle to grave, something few other writers have done. It includes picture books for young children, like “Traces” (2008) a poem, illustrated by Karla Kuskin, about the evanescent signs — think of footprints and vapor trails — left by unseen visitors. It also includes many titles for readers and teenagers, among them “Blowfish Live in the Sea” (1970) about a child’s journey to visit the father he has never met “ Cat” (1984) about the painful consequences of a boy’s casual shot with an air rifle and “The Eagle Kite” (1995) about a boy whose father has AIDS. Because so much of Ms. Fox’s work was for young people, her fiction for adults was sometimes overlooked. In 1984, The Nation described her as “one of our most intelligent (and least appreciated) contemporary novelists. ” In later years, however, her adult books enjoyed something of a renaissance, thanks largely to the efforts of the novelist Jonathan Franzen, who became an ardent champion after devouring an copy of “Desperate Characters” he had come across by chance. A new edition of “Desperate Characters,” with an introduction by Mr. Franzen, was published by W. W. Norton Company in 1999. Ms. Fox’s other adult novels — among them “The Widow’s Children,” “A Servant’s Tale” and “The God of Nightmares” — have also been by Norton, with introductions by writers including Frederick Busch, Andrea Barrett and Rosellen Brown. As a stylist, she was known for her impeccable, almost anatomical, depictions of the material world. In the Paula Fox universe, objects take on heightened importance, as if rearing up to fill the gaps left by characters’ failure to make real connections. This is painfully evident in the opening scene of “Desperate Characters,” which examines the brittle marriage of a professional couple — yuppies long before the term was coined — living in a fine Brooklyn home: “Mrs. and Mrs. Otto Bentwood drew out their chairs simultaneously. As he sat down, Otto regarded the straw basket which held slices of French bread, an earthenware casserole filled with sautéed chicken livers, peeled and sliced tomatoes on an oval willowware platter Sophie had found in a Brooklyn Heights antique shop, and risotto Milanese in a green ceramic bowl. A strong light, somewhat softened by the stained glass of a Tiffany shade, fell upon this repast. ” In the pages that follow, Sophie is bitten by a stray cat, an event that sets in motion the dissolution of her marriage to Otto. The great risk of being alive, nearly all of Ms. Fox’s work seemed to say, is that anything can happen to anyone at any time. Paula Fox was born in Manhattan on April 22, 1923, to parents who did not want her. Her father, Paul Hervey Fox, was an undistinguished novelist and playwright who earned his living as a script doctor. Her mother, the former Elsie de Sola, of Spanish and Cuban extraction, was young, vain, cold “and ungovernable in her haste to have done with me,” as Ms. Fox wrote in “Borrowed Finery. ” Paul and Elsie floated through the 1920s and ’30s in a sea of alcohol, Hollywood parties and European travel, none of which, they made plain, was best experienced with a child in tow. When Paula was a few days old, she was left, at her mother’s insistence, in a foundling hospital. From there, she embarked on her itinerant young life, bouncing among a series of friends, relatives and strangers across the country and in Cuba, where she lived for a time on a sugar plantation with her grandmother. Periodically, her parents would turn up, and Paula would be returned to their dubious care. By the time she was 16, she was more or less on her own. There was one happy interlude. When Paula was 5 months old, she was taken in by a stranger, the Rev. Elwood Amos Corning, in a small Hudson Valley town aptly named Balmville, N. Y. A kind, scholarly man who lived with his mother, Mr. Corning taught Paula about books and nature and history. She lived with him till she was 6, when her parents swooped down and parceled her out somewhere else. Ms. Fox studied piano briefly at the Juilliard School in Manhattan and later attended Columbia University. She held a series of odd jobs, including modeling, reporting on the postwar reconstruction of Poland for a British news service and teaching emotionally disturbed children. As a teenager, Ms. Fox had what she referred to as a “brief, disastrous marriage” her second marriage, to Richard Sigerson, ended in divorce. In 1962, she married Martin Greenberg, a brother of the art critic Clement Greenberg. They had met when Martin, then an editor at Commentary magazine, rejected a story Ms. Fox had submitted. Critical response to Ms. Fox’s work over the years was largely favorable, though there was sometimes dissent. Her Newbery Medal for “The Slave Dancer” inspired a protest at the awards ceremony that year: The novel, which tells the story of a white New Orleans youth conscripted to play the fife on a slave ship in the 1840s, had been condemned by some reviewers for portraying the captured African slaves as a passive, undifferentiated group. In 1997, while visiting Jerusalem, Ms. Fox was mugged and suffered serious brain injury. The incident, she said afterward, prompted her to begin writing her first memoir, “Borrowed Finery. ” Her recovery was so arduous that it took her a year to write the book’s first 10 pages. At the end of “Borrowed Finery,” Ms. Fox tells of being reunited with the daughter she had borne at 20, the offspring of a brief liaison after her first marriage had ended. She gave the infant up for adoption, a decision, she wrote, that pained her the rest of her life. In middle age, the daughter, Ms. found Ms. Fox. (One of Ms. ’s children, it transpired, is the rock singer Courtney Love.) Besides Ms. Ms. Fox is survived by her husband, Mr. Greenberg a son, Adam Sigerson, from her second marriage a half sister, Louise Fox three half brothers, Keith, Bruce and James eight grandchildren and 10 . Ms. Fox’s other honors include the Hans Christian Andersen Award, which she received in 1978 for her body of children’s work. Given the subject matter of Ms. Fox’s books, it is not surprising that some reviewers called them depressing. This did not sit well with her. “Children know about pain and fear and unhappiness and betrayal,” she said in an interview quoted in the reference work Contemporary Authors. “And we do them a disservice by trying to sugarcoat dark truths. There is an odd kind of debauchery I’ve noticed, particularly in societies that consider themselves ‘democratic’ or ‘liberal’: They display the gory details but hide meaning, especially if it is ambiguous or disturbing. ”

Ronald Lauder, Advocate of Art Restitution, Says His Museum Holds a Clouded Work - The New York Times

Serge F. Kovaleski

When it comes to art plundered in Europe during World War II, Ronald S. Lauder, chairman of the Commission for Art Recovery, has been very much the face, and soul, of the restitution movement. In June, he was center stage at a Senate hearing on a bill to ease the way for the return of art looted by the Nazis, testifying alongside the actress Helen Mirren, who last year starred in “Woman in Gold,” a film about a Jewish heir’s struggle to retrieve her family’s stolen possessions. Away from the spotlight, though, Mr. Lauder has been criticized for more than a decade by other restitution advocates and scholars. They say his own practices in detailing the provenance of works within a Manhattan museum he the nonprofit Neue Galerie, and his private collection have not been as transparent as they should be. Now there are signs Mr. Lauder has heard the criticism. To elevate their research, he and his staff have hired additional experts, are overhauling the museum’s website to ensure that provenances are more detailed and soon plan to announce a surprising byproduct of their labors: One of the Neue Galerie’s major works has a clouded history and may be returned to people who say they are the rightful owners. Mr. Lauder, 72, would not identify the piece or its creator during an interview, saying that negotiations on its return were being finalized. He did say he was surprised that a work with a disputed provenance had made it into the museum, which focuses on art created in Austria and Germany from 1890 to 1940. The Neue Galerie’s collection includes major works by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele and was assembled largely from art donated by Mr. Lauder, an heir to the cosmetics fortune created by his mother, Estée Lauder, and by his friend Serge Sabarsky, an art dealer and expert on German and Austrian Expressionist art who died in 1996. “If you asked me a year ago, ‘Do we have everything there?’ I would have said yes, because that is what I was told,” he said of the museum’s provenance research at the time. “I was told there were no questions about the pieces we had. ” Others would not be so surprised. Soon after opening the museum in 2001 in a Fifth Avenue mansion that was once home to the society doyenne Grace Vanderbilt, wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt III, Mr. Lauder faced criticism that the provenances listed for many works were incomplete. He asked for patience. “We are only 12 to 14 months old, and it is taking us more time to get going and do the research necessary,” he said then. A review last week showed only minor progress. The museum, for example, still posts few dates for when its holdings changed hands — crucial information, according to experts. Given the extent of Nazi looting and the art sales made by Jews under duress in the years leading up to and through World War II, any work that was transferred from one party to another in Europe during that period typically receives the highest level of scrutiny. “You would think that his gallery would be the most transparent, but it provides the minimal amount of information, which I do find surprising,” said Elizabeth Karlsgodt, an associate professor of history at the University of Denver and an expert on Nazi art looting. Ms. Karlsgodt added, “If his collection is entirely clean, the museum website should prove it with more detailed provenance information. ” Marc Masurovsky, who jointly founded the Holocaust Art Restitution Project in 1997, said his group has long wanted to assess Mr. Lauder’s private collection but was told that Mr. Lauder was unwilling to participate. “We hit a stone wall,” Mr. Masurovsky recalled. “The question for us is whether he did due diligence to make sure his collection is as clean as driven snow. ” Mr. Lauder has long said that he viewed his staff’s research as thorough and that few claims to his art have arisen despite the many times it has been displayed in public. But he asked Agnes Peresztegi, a lawyer and expert on Holocaust era property claims, in recent months to seek more information on the museum’s holdings, including more detailed provenances. “I am not happy because I think we should have had more information,” Mr. Lauder said in the interview, “and we are doing it. ” Ms. Peresztegi, who is president of the Commission for Art Recovery, said of the Neue Galerie, “I can’t deny that there are museums whose websites are more forthcoming than the museum’s. ” Ms. Peresztegi said that a decision was made at the museum six or seven years ago not to display transfer dates until a full provenance for a work became available. Under its new policies, the museum will post provenance information piecemeal as soon as it has it, officials said. It is repairing a link between the gallery’s database and its website that has been broken for about two years — a break, officials said, that had prevented a more timely updating of information. Mr. Lauder has been on a mission to restitute art since the late 1980s. He has been chairman of the Commission for Art Recovery since it was formed in 1997 to negotiate with governments, museums and other entities as part of the effort to retrieve art wrongfully taken from Jews by the Third Reich and its allies. Over the years, Mr. Lauder says, he has returned three works from his personal collection because of concerns over their rightful ownership. But now, for the first time, he is faced with the prospect of returning an artwork held by the museum. All Ms. Peresztegi would say about the work in question was: “The Neue Galerie is in the process of evaluating the provenance information of an artwork, and discussion about restitution is currently ongoing. ” In the past, Mr. Lauder faced criticism that he did not do enough as a board member of the Museum of Modern Art to chastise the institution for fighting to hold onto works by Schiele and by George Grosz that were claimed as looted art. In both cases, Mr. Lauder recused himself and said he refrained from taking a vocal position because he was chairman of MoMA when the claims arose. But he said that he worked behind the scenes to push the museum to consider the claims fairly. Regarding the Grosz art, which involved a claim to three works, he said he also asked a lawyer for the Commission for Art Recovery to review the case. The commission ended up filing a legal brief in support of the plaintiffs, who were suing to recover the art. Jennifer Kreder, a lawyer who helped write the brief, said: “Ronald Lauder has possibly accomplished more behind the scenes for the restitution of art than any other single person. ” (In the Grosz case, MoMA ultimately prevailed with a legal victory. As for the Schiele painting, “Portrait of Wally,” the Vienna museum that had lent it to MoMA retained the work as part of a settlement under which it paid $19 million to the heirs of the woman from whom it had been stolen by a Nazi.) Ray Dowd, a lawyer for heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a Viennese art collector and cabaret performer who was killed by the Nazis, said Mr. Lauder’s representatives had stonewalled when he sought the return of a Schiele drawing, “I Love Antitheses. ” “The evidence is particularly strong,” he said, “that the drawing was stolen from Mr. Grünbaum, but they jerked us around and said they would not give us any information on how it was acquired. ” Mr. Lauder confirmed through a spokesman that he owns “I Love Antitheses” and would only say, “The cornerstone of the Grünbaum matter is an internal family inheritance dispute. ” These days, Mr. Lauder said he has all but stopped buying German and Austrian Expressionist art. There are often provenance questions associated with the period, he said, and he has plenty of such works. And, he added, sellers who identify him as a prospective buyer with a passion for that period often try to charge higher prices. Years ago, when he was buying Expressionist works, Mr. Lauder said, the provenance information available was much less reliable than what exists today on the internet. Still, Mr. Lauder said he was determined to make the Neue Galerie’s provenance research a gold standard for the art world. During the interview, he said he recognized that, given his profile as a restitution advocate, he will continue to be subject to greater scrutiny. “When you walk around with a white suit on, anything shows on it,” he said. “I understand that. ”

Death Penalty for Dylann Roof in South Carolina Church Slayings

Bob Price

A jury in a South Carolina federal court handed down the death penalty to Dylann Roof. The verdict by the 12 jurors came in after a deliberation. [The jury of 10 women and two men recommended that Roof be put to death in each of the 18 counts where he was found guilty of murdering nine people in Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015, CNN reported. “From what I’ve been told, I have a right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I’m not sure what good that will do anyway,” Roof told the jurors while representing himself during the sentencing phase of the trial. “But what I will say is only one of you has to disagree with the other jurors. ” No one did, and the jury quickly responded with the verdict of death. Judge Richard Gergel is expected to formally deliver the sentence on Wednesday morning. Breitbart Texas previously reported that some of the jurors cried during testimony provided by victim’s family members in the sentencing portion of the trial. Even court staff members were brought to tears during the emotional testimony. One such witness, Denise Quarles, the daughter of Myra Thompson, told the jury how much her mother meant to her. They talked several times a day, and her mother would make financial sacrifices for her even though they did not have a lot of money, Breitbart Texas reported. She said she still starts to dial her mother’s phone number but then she remembers that she is not there. Judge Gergel told a local television station he would have been stunned had the jurors not cried. As the sentencing portion of the trial began, Breitbart Texas reported that Roof announced he rejected the inanity defense. “(T) here’s noting wrong with me psychologically,” he told the jury. The judge had previously ruled Roof was competent to stand trial. He was instructed by the judge not to approach any witnesses or jurors while representing himself in the trial. A manifesto had previously been uncovered where Roof expressed “deeply racist, and white supremacist views,” Breitbart News reported in June 2015. In the journal attributed to Roof, he wrote, ““Ni — are stupid and violent. ” He continued, “Jewish agitation of the black race” is the reason blacks behave the way they do. He apparently supported segregation as a solution to race relations. “Segregation was not a bad thing … It existed to protect us from them. ” Dylann Roof was found guilty in the murders of nine black Americans. Those included six women and three men who were gathered at the church to pray. Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with additional information. 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.

California National Guard Members won’t have to Pay Back Bonuses

USA Today

California National Guard Members won’t have to Pay Back Bonuses Pentagon had been seeking repayment of enlistment bonuses paid to California Guardsmen USA Today - October 26, 2016 Comments Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Pentagon on Wednesday to stop clawing back excessive recruiting bonuses paid to California National Guardsmen. The move came after news broke over the weekend that the Pentagon had been seeking repayment of enlistment bonuses paid to California Guardsmen. Some of the payments were made by mistake, others were taken fraudulently. “While some soldiers knew or should have known they were ineligible for benefits they were claiming, many others did not,” Carter said in a statement. “About 2,000 have been asked, in keeping with the law, to repay erroneous payments.” As first reported by the Los Angeles Times , the Pentagon sought repayment of the excess bonuses from almost 10,000 California Guard soldiers. The paper reported that many of the soldiers affected had served multiple combat deployments and had been ordered to repay bonuses plus interest. Some had had their wages garnished and tax liens slapped on them when they refused to pay. The bonus scandal was revealed after audits showed widespread overpayments.

Links 10/31/16

Lambert Strether

Exclusive: Abortion by prescription now rivals surgery for U.S. women Reuters No Kegs, No Liquor: College Crackdown Targets Drinking and Sexual Assault NYT. If the number one priority of the university nomenklatura had in fact been the prevention of sexual assault, they wouldn’t have been running courses on microaggression . They’d have been cracking down on today’s drinking culture, the venues where that culture is enacted (often fraternities), and they’d be empowering women with self-defense courses (which would give them a life-long skill). But that would have involved cracking down on powerful on-campus actors (fraternity alumni and legacies, ka-ching), powerful off-campus local actors (liquor stores and bars, ka-ching), might have led to difficulties with admissions numbers (ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching) since by now students expect to “party”— not a verb when I was a mere sprat — and, most importantly of all, would have prevented the formation of Deans of Microaggression, Departments of Microaggression, and an entire academic circuit devoted to microaggression studies, including journals, conferences, and books. I mean, (cishet) guys, if she’s not drunk and/or she’s ready, willing, and able to kick you in the nuts, then the whole “No means ‘no'” semantic foofraw gets a whole lot simpler, does it not? So if the headline indicates a trend, I’m happy, not least because this approach promises to reduce sexual assault. Standing Rock Water-Protectors Waterboarded While the Cleveland Indians Romped Counterpunch (WS). The Myth Behind the First Cleveland Indian: Louis Sockalexis Daily Beast. Sockalexis was from Indian Island, in the Penobscot Nation near Old Town, Maine. There really ought to be a way to honor Sockalexis without tarting up the Cleveland Indians logo. Maybe if it were less cartoonish? Heck, why not just ask the Penoscots? Antidote du jour ( via ): See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here . 0 0 0 0 0 0

Divided Aleppo Plunges Back Into War as Syrian Hospital Is Hit - The New York Times

Anne Barnard

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria’s divided city of Aleppo plunged back into the kind of war not seen in months on Thursday, witnesses and health workers said, as they reeled from government airstrikes that demolished a hospital in the side and from retaliatory mortar assaults by rebels on the side. At least 27 people, including three children and six staff members, were reported killed in the strike on the hospital, which turned it into a smoking pile of rubble on Wednesday night, and 20 were reported killed in airstrikes on Thursday. At least 14 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the mortar attacks on areas, said officials at a hospital where casualties were streaming in throughout the day on Thursday. The deadly destruction in Aleppo punctuated a drastic escalation in fighting over the past week that has shattered a partial truce in a war that has consumed Syria for more than five years. The escalation also threatened to derail renewed attempts at peace talks in Geneva by the United Nations, and could disrupt or stop humanitarian aid to besieged parts of the country, affecting millions of people, relief officials said. “I could not in any way express how high the stakes are for the next hours and days,” Jan Egeland, the United Nations special adviser on Syria aid, said on Thursday in Geneva as the scope of the destruction in Aleppo became clearer. Once Syria’s commercial center, Aleppo has been an intermittent combat zone for much of the war, split into insurgent and government halves. It had enjoyed somewhat of a respite because of the partial — until now. The scream of jet fighters and thud of shelling could be heard everywhere from Wednesday night into Thursday, residents and aid workers said. Panic and anguish were visible on both sides of the city. There was no indication that the Syrian government forces of President Bashar and their Russian allies were any closer to retaking the entire city. But it had become apparent in recent days that the truce was unraveling in the surrounding area, with more airstrikes by the government and increased shelling by rebels. About 200 people, most of them civilians, have been killed, according to tallies by local news media and activists on both sides. The location of Al Quds hospital, the destroyed facility on the rebel side of the city, was well known, and the hospital was assisted by the international charity Doctors Without Borders. “This devastating attack has destroyed a vital hospital in Aleppo, and the main referral center for pediatric care in the area,” the head of the charity’s Syria mission, Muskilda Zancada, said in a statement. “Where is the outrage among those with the power and obligation to stop this carnage?” Russia’s military denied it was responsible. Two hospitals in the town of Maarat to the east, including one working with Doctors Without Borders, were hit on the same day earlier this year, each by multiple strikes. Groups such as Physicians for Human Rights have tracked what they call a pattern of deliberate targeting of health services by government forces. Witnesses contended that the same appeared to be true in the strike on Al Quds hospital, in the neighborhood of Sukkari. “Those were multiple airstrikes targeting the same area with less than gaps,” Adnan Hadad, an opposition journalist, said shortly after returning from the scene. The International Committee of the Red Cross called on all parties to stop indiscriminate attacks and to avoid harming civilians, or Aleppo would face what it called a new humanitarian disaster. “Wherever you are, you hear explosions of mortars, shelling and planes flying over,” said Valter Gros, who heads the Red Cross’s Aleppo office. “Everyone here fears for their lives and nobody knows what is coming next. ” By Thursday afternoon, outlets on both sides were reporting deadly new government airstrikes on the neighborhoods of Bustan and Kalaseh. Videos showed concrete apartment blocks with their facades sheared off in Bustan where three children were reported killed one man carried away a boy with the top of his head missing as another man embraced a girl found alive. Videos from the side showed a street scene of damaged buildings and a motionless boy in an ambulance. By nightfall, there was no sign that the attacks had stopped. Mr. Hadad, on the side, reported one of the new strikes had hit a bakery, and on the side, shelling and gunfire could be heard in the distance. In government territory, casualties from rebel shelling streamed into Al Razi hospital as the wail of ambulance sirens mixed with the thud of explosions in the city streets. Most of the wounded were civilians, including at least three children who were killed, but some were members of the military. A wounded soldier writhed on the ground, kicking and yelling as a commander comforted him. A man walked down a corridor, carrying his limping son. “We will kill them today,” he shouted to a reporter. Hassan Anees, the hospital’s executive director, said violence had been rising steadily through the week. Mr. Anees said the rebels appeared to have started using more powerful munitions since the crumbled in the city over a week ago. “First it was mortars, then it was gas canister bombs, and now it is missiles,” he said. As he spoke the rattle of gunfire drifted through his office window, a reminder that the nearest front line was about half a mile from the hospital. On the side, much of the Quds hospital building had collapsed, and in videos and photographs after the attack, bodies could be seen pinned under rubble and what looked like the metal frames of beds. A man rushed from the scene carrying the limp body of a small girl in pink clothing, her skin gray with the dust of pulverized concrete. Another girl in pink, her eyes glassy with tears, clung to the shoulder of a man in a red tank top who howled in grief, “Those are my family! I lost my family!” The hospital was hit when it was already full of victims from government shelling, Hadi Abdullah, an opposition journalist, reported in a video from the scene, in which a medical worker said that three of his colleagues had been killed. One of them was Mohammad Wassim Mo’az, known by his nickname Abu Abdulrahman, the only pediatrician in the area. A dentist, Ahmad Abulyaman, was also killed. “I’m crying,” Louay Barakat, a journalist and photographer, said by phone after visiting the scene. “My baby’s doctor died. About 11 nurses and hospital staff died. Most of them are my friends. ” The hospital was the main referral center for pediatrics, with eight doctors, 28 nurses, an emergency room, intensive care unit and operating room, all now destroyed. In another area, a small boy was captured on video crying over the body of his brother, calling him “the love of my father. ” Stroking his body, he said, “I wish it was me, not you. ”

Shootings Further Divide a Nation Torn Over Race - The New York Times

Timothy Williams and Michael Wines

First came the cellphone video of an man being fatally shot by a Louisiana police officer, and the astonishing live feed of a Minnesota woman narrating the police killing of her boyfriend during a traffic stop. Then came the horrific live television coverage of police officers being gunned down by a sniper at a march protesting the police shootings. And suddenly, the panoply of fears and resentments that have made this a foreboding summer had been brought into sharp relief. Police accountability and racial bias have been at the center of the civic debate since August 2014, when a black teenager was killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo. a suburb of St. Louis. Mass murders in Newtown, Conn. Charleston, S. C. Orlando, Fla. and too many other locales have revived gun violence as a social issue and national shame. Both black anger at police killings and the boiling frustrations of some whites who feel they are ceding their place in society have been constant undercurrents in politics since January and the Iowa presidential caucuses. Now, in the space of three days, the killings of two black men by Louisiana and Minnesota police officers and the retaliatory murders of five Dallas officers, this time by a black Army veteran, have coalesced all those concerns into a single expression of national angst. In the midst of one of the most consequential presidential campaigns in memory, those convulsive events raised the prospect of still deeper divides in a country already torn by racial and ideological animus. Since the Thursday night sniper attack the national conversation has swung between bitterness and despair over seemingly unbridgeable gulfs in society. The New York Post’s front page blared “CIVIL WAR. ” The Drudge Report warned in a headline that “Black Lives Kill. ” Some Minnesota protesters on Thursday night chanted, “Kill the police. ” Police officers and sociologists alike say that racial tension is approaching a point last seen during the street riots that swept urban American in the late 1960s when disturbances erupted in places like the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts and Detroit and Newark, during summers of deep discontent. “Even in the 1960s and 1970s, when there was a lot of tension around policing and civil rights and the antiwar movement, we’d never seen anything like what happened in Dallas,” said Darrel W. Stephens, the executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and an instructor at the Public Safety Leadership Program in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Stephens and other police officials said that departments were increasingly schooling officers in ways to avoid and defuse violent encounters with minorities. But other experts said the parade of cellphone videos depicting shootings of black men have only reinforced ’ conviction that little has changed in six decades. “There is a constant bombardment of images of brutality against and not just brutality, but brutality,” said Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center. This week’s videos, he said, were particularly devastating. “It’s visceral,” he said. “It hits you in the gut. It’s emotional and graphic, so it makes you feel worse. ” There are some parallels today to the 1960s. Those riots were largely touched off by violent encounters between blacks and the police. Scholars say and statistics show that attacks on police officers became an increasingly frequent response to decades of inequality and mistreatment at that time. The Kerner Commission, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson, reported in 1968 that “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate but unequal. ” And a white backlash became a driving force in the presidential campaign that year that saw a Republican, Richard M. Nixon, end eight years of Democratic rule. Whether this week’s violence presages a repeat of that history is, of course, an unknown, as the nation’s first black president nears the end of two terms in office and the two political parties move toward their national conventions this month. But racial tensions are clearly rising. A June survey by the Pew Research Center found that only 46 percent of whites surveyed thought that race relations were generally good, a sharp drop from the 66 percent who held that opinion in June 2009, shortly after Mr. Obama took office. For blacks, the corresponding decline — to 34 percent last month from 59 percent in 2009 — was even steeper. The same Pew survey found that about of thought that blacks in their communities were treated less fairly by the police than were whites a bare 35 percent of whites felt the same. In the hours after the Dallas ambush, stunned officials and civic leaders pleaded for citizens to repair the rips in the nation’s social fabric. “Our profession is hurting,” said the Dallas police chief, David O. Brown, who is . “Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is that this must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens. ” The Rev. Bryan Carter echoed him at a Friday memorial service for the fallen officers, saying: “We refuse to hate each other. We commit to pray together. ” President Obama, speaking on Friday from Warsaw, where he was attending a NATO summit meeting, said of the police, “Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices they make for us. ” He called the attack a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement. ” In a presidential race in which racial and ethnic divisions have become an issue, both Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump canceled political events on Friday. Mr. Trump called the events in Texas “an attack on our country. ” “It is a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “We must restore law and order. ” Mrs. Clinton wrote on Twitter on Friday, “I mourn for the officers shot while doing their sacred duty to protect peaceful protesters, for their families and all who serve with them. ” But on social media, there were salutes to the sniper, blame of the news media for dividing the nation, charges that black protesters had spread hysteria, calls for love, fear of civil war and laments that the country is headed toward an unbridgeable divide. Some activists said their movement would press on, demanding that the police be accountable. Aislinn Sol, a Black Lives Matter organizer in Chicago, said, “The disproportionate violence against has not changed,” adding, “What we have seen is a change in the response. ” In interviews, a number of police officials said that they believed the only lasting solution to the violence and division was to end the glaring inequalities that fuel them, but that they saw little hope for that. “We’re the most heavily armed violent society in the history of Western civilization and we dump this duty on ” in police departments, Ed Flynn, the police chief in Milwaukee, said in an interview before Thursday’s killings. “The problem for American policing is we’re learning the hard way that our political establishment finds it far easier to develop a constituency at the expense of our police than to solve these social problems. ” Perhaps it was Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch who captured the day’s mood. “This has been a week of profound grief and heartbreaking loss,” she said on Friday. “After the events of this week, Americans across our country are feeling a sense of helplessness, of uncertainty and of fear. ” “We must reject the easy impulses of bitterness and rancor,” she added, “and embrace the difficult work — but the important work, the vital work — of finding a path forward together. ”

Postmodern Stalinism

shorty

BY EDITORS OF CHRONICLES MAGAZINE While this is an interesting post, we object to the facile use of the term “Stalin” to signify something unjustifiably tyrannical, invasive and dictatorial. The Stalin period is surely one of the most complex in modern history, as Stalin ruled the Soviet Union under conditions of extreme Western hostility and outright warfare against the young socialist federation for most of his tenure. Yet, there is little doubt that Josef Stalin was—for all his flaws, real and mostly invented and augmented—a firm and colossal enemy of capitalism, a formidable obstacle to the victory of the “Wall Street way of life” around the globe and that he did succeed in shaping the USSR into a superpower capable of surviving and rendering help to weaker nations shedding brutal Western colonialism. That, and not the “crimes of Stalin” is the real source for the undying hatred and nonstop shabby malicious slandering we observe to this day against his legacy (the demonization of Putin, a much milder irritant to the Washington elites should give us some insight into the depths of this imposture) both in the corporate media and political class, but unworthy of repetition among people who should know better or who like to think of themselves as leftist. What use is the anti-communist left in a world on the brink of extinction because of a semi-deranged, hegemonic-at-all-costs runaway imperialism?—P. Greanville Dateline: October 27, 2016 In his latest Sputnik Radio International interview Srdja Trifkovic discusses the Czech Republic government’s establishment of an information unit to counter what it says is pro-Russian, anti-Western and anti-NATO propaganda. “We want to get into every smartphone,” said Milan Chovanec, the Czech interior minister. Audio (unedited verbatim transcript) Klaus: Speaking truth to the annoyance of the NATO-bought political prostitutes running the Czech state these days. ST: It is strangely reminiscent of the old Soviet times, when any criticism of Soviet policies was termed “anti-Soviet propaganda,” and was ascribed to some mysterious imperialist forces in the West that were out to subvert the Soviet Union and its “Fraternal Community of Socialist Nations.” It is rather funny that—more than a quarter of a century after the end of the Cold War—we see the exact replica of the mindset, and a state-financed reaction, on the side of the so-called liberal-democratic, free-market-oriented, “Western” members of NATO. It is also significant that one of the foremost critics of the Western policies in general, and in Ukraine in particular, is Vaclav Klaus, one of the most respected Czech politicians. My immediate thought is whether they regard Mr. Klaus—the elder statesman of the Czech Republic—as one of the exponents of the Russian propaganda who needs to be monitored and countered. My second thought is that, ultimately, it comes to the quality of information and analysis. If the makers of this new unit, fighting what they regard as Russian disinformation, are up against certain perfectly justified, rational, and well-reasoned criticism of Western policies, and those of NATO in particular, then they have a big problem. In this time and age, of the mainstream media being confronted by the social media, the Internet, they will have a problem, because the unspoken assumption is that the quality of information and analysis they can offer is better than what they regard as the Russian propaganda. As it happens, we have this counter-propaganda all the time, in the pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post , on the BBC, the CNN, and every flickering screen and every printed page all over the Western world. And yet . . . they are not doing a very good job. Ultimately, if we are looking at an informed and rational consumer of information, he or she will be able to make an astute judgment of who is in the right and who is actually a propagandist. Q: Srdja, if they consider this to be so important at this particular moment, why is this unit made up of only twenty people? ST: It could made up of only two people if they are well informed, capable of top-class analysis, and if they have strong arguments which can be used to counter what they regard as Russian disinformation. It boils down to what I mentioned earlier: the quality of information, and the quality of analysis. Q: Is it going to have any influence on anything at all? ST: Ultimately not. Obviously, the same job is being done by much better paid columnists of the Washington Post , the Guardian , Le Monde , the Frankfurter Rundschau —they are all up to the same thing: to discredit arguments against the global empire of the United States and its fellow travelers in Western Europe. If that job is not done much better by people who are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars or euros every year to do it in a systematic and coherent way, I don’t see any way for a bunch of twenty Czech bureaucrats to do it. Q: Let’s get back to the accusations that some Czech politicians have been throwing at Moscow, that they are forming the networks of pro-Russian groups that can be used to destabilize the country. How grounded are these accusations? ST: It reminds one of McCarthyism in the United States in the early 1950’s. If you are a “deviant” in your mindset, if you dare criticize the official line, if you say things that are outside the permitted parameters of rightspeak, then you must be an agent for a foreign power. It is a paranoid mindset, it is deeply antidemocratic, and it smacks of Stalinism. This is, of course, Stalinism in a postmodern-liberal guise, but it is not qualitatively different from the original model. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS PLEASE COMMENT AND DEBATE DIRECTLY ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP CLICK HERE Note to Commenters Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: editor@greanvillepost.com We apologize for this inconvenience. What will it take to bring America to live according to its own propaganda? =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week.

Doc Chaos

We think along the same lines but express it differently. Getting any real news is a chore. It's obviously meant to be. Weeding through the propaganda is a major chore, so much so we should all be watching who funds it. Loopholes in the law have been around forever. I agree with you, keeping vigilant is the only way to protect freedom, intellectual and otherwise. I've gone a bit further listening to Alex Jones for instance and I too like RT. It's remaining objective that counts. With Jones it was the only place I could get news about what Julian Assange was dumping. I didn't find much on MSM. That led me to hearings in which Trey Gowdy was hammering away. That really brought the loopholes flying and showed what connections can do. As such we can conclude we are being led by corrupt fools of every stripe it seems. It's exactly why I'm an advocate for federally funded elections (zero private or corporate money) and slamming the Wall Street MIC revolving door on both sides. If we can do it, there's an the added benefit of opening the door to other parties. That would be great news. Thanks for your post as well.

Comey Sends Letter To Congress Citing New Evidence (and An Investigation) In The Clinton Email Scandal

Jonathan Turley

Written by Jonathan Turley There is a major news development with the release of a letter from FBI Director James B. Comey that the Bureau has decided that new evidence requires further investigation into the Clinton emails. It was a surprising change just days before the election. After all, as recently as September 27, 2016, Comey rejected the idea that the bureau would reopen its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state . Comey wrote in a letter to top members of Congress that the bureau has “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.”I have been critical recently of the handling of the FBI investigation, particularly in the granting of immunity to key potential targets. I recently wrote a column on FBI investigation into the Clinton email scandal and revised my view as to the handling of the investigation in light of the five immunity deals handed out by the Justice Department. I had previously noted that FBI Director James Comey was within accepted lines of prosecutorial discretion in declining criminal charges, even though I believed that such charges could have been brought. However, the news of the immunity deals (and particularly the deal given top ranking Clinton aide Cheryl Mills) was baffling and those deals seriously undermined the ability to bring criminal charges in my view.Wikileaks disclosures have only embarrassed the Bureau further in showing Clinton aides debating how to explain the deletions and how to delay turning over material. Comey now has told legislators that “I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”He did note that the FBI could not yet assess whether the new material is significant. Comey clearly felt obligated to let the Committees know about the development. In making such a decision, Comey is caught in the horns of a dilemma. The Justice Department strongly discourages investigatory announcements or actions shortly before an election to avoid any claims of trying to influence the outcome. On the other hand, if this is significant, the FBI does not want to be accused of hiding material developments from Congress or the public, particularly after criticism over its alleged different treatment given Clinton and her aides as opposed to other recent cases.In such a situation, caution favors disclosure. It is unlikely that we will see major developments in the remaining two weeks, but the announcement shows that this is not a closed matter. In many ways, the lingering character of this scandal was only worsened by the tactics of Clinton aides in changing explanations and refusals to cooperate absent immunity. That served to delay the investigation, which will now likely extend beyond the election. JonathanTurley.org . Related

Globalization Expressway to Universal Slavery

Gilbert Mercier

If humans were largely moral and ethical beings, then globalization could be a workable proposition. Unfortunately, the dark behavioral narcissism expressed by compulsive greed and an infinite appetite for power seems to have become the guiding precept of our collective nightmare. If only the desire to dominate others and have a lot more than them were not the prime motivations for the global elite on top of the human food chain, we could all have our respective modest slice of happiness on this planet. The Utopia of globalization through institutions such as the United Nations (UN), World Bank , and International Monetary Fund (IMF) was supposed to eradicate the universal pestilence of war, extreme poverty , hunger and slavery using the might of the above supranational institutions to prevent the rise of so-called rogue nations usually ruled by dictators. World order of chaos with misery for profit The opportunity of this push for a supranational form of government has to be understood in the psychological context of a world traumatized by World War II. Many public servants, who had fought against the Nazis and their Japanese and Italian allies, had genuinely the best intentions at heart when institutions like the UN were set up. If some of the original ideas were good and moral to some extend, a rot almost immediately contaminated and perverted most of the created institutions and quickly — using the pretext of the Cold War — allowed the birth of a monstrosity such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ). The globalists have controlled and ultimately Wall Street has financed, supranational government instances such as the UN, IMF, World Bank and a myriad of non-governmental organization (NGO) little helpers. Not only have these done nothing to curtail the man-made disasters of war, climate change , slavery and poverty, but they have exacerbated them, all for the sake of profit. In this Orwellian time of moral decay, human misery is good for business. In a globalization controlled by Wall Street’s puppeteer sociopaths, who believe they are the masters of the universe, ordinary people everywhere have become canon fodder and slave labor. They are not even collateral damage but human lubricant, as viewed by the elite. One can see that if they are not stopped immediately, trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its Trans-Atlantic counterpart could seal the deal of the establishment of an atrocious world government, controlled by a few thousands, in complete disregard of not only national interest, but also cultural diversity. Look what happened to Detroit, Michigan, and countless other manufacturing towns in the United States that are all collateral damage of Bill Clinton’s North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The massive trade agreements in the works, to be put in place by the globalists if they remain in power, are intended to annihilate any form of economic or political independence from the signatory countries and to scatter their populations to the wind, as in the case in the globalist-controlled demolition of the Middle East in Iraq, Libya and Syria. Displaced and disenfranchised populations are beaten into submission and used as docile worker bees. Drastic action or hell on earth If we let the globalists complete their worldwide coup already in progress, then all sovereignty would be lost, and most of the world’s population would become slave-wage laborers at the mercy of the global corporate empire. Countries with a diversified agriculture would be turned into one-crop wastelands to ensure that most of the food supply has to be imported. Pseudo local governments would merely officiate as the slave drivers for the global elite. This must be stopped at all cost and undone by all means necessary. If we allow this final coup by the geriatric psychopaths at the top of the current world order, thousands of years of our rich human experience would be wiped out. Like poorly made cheap electronic products, the cultural garbage of the lowest common denominator empire would flood the world. This cultural homogenization would affect primarily the information available to people. Since dissent is impossible without correct information and critical thought, the globalists want their propaganda to become the only source of information. With the UN, the World Bank and the IMF, the political and economic framework financed by a worldwide network of banksters is already in place. Influential nations, on paper, like France and the United Kingdom, which are still officially full fledged members of the UN Security Council, have de facto abdicated their sovereignty to become vassals and secondary enforcers of the globalist plan. We are at the edge of an existential threat of greater magnitude than ever before in human history. The semantics of deception Machiavelli is known for his cynical view of political power; however, the advice the author of The Prince gave to the powerful of his time seems innocent by comparison to the depravity of today’s puppet masters. Words and ideas are gutted of their meaning to signify, most of the time, the exact opposite. For example, globalist eminence grise George Soros’ Open Society Foundation is an opaque giant NGO, with more than 100 offshoots worldwide by its own admission, but its tentacles are in reality more far reaching. The recent publications of Wikileaks in the voluminous Podesta email files have been a revelation of the extent of deception victimizing United States citizens. John Podesta may be viewed as a Soros right-hand man in the US in charge of delivering the returns for the globalist’s investments in the US elections. The connection between the two men is not only obvious but also official considering that Soros financed Podesta’s so-called Center for American Progress, the fake left equivalent of the neocon think tanks. The term progress is a lure that signifies power, just like Soros’ open society is, in reality, an exclusive club as tight as oysters reserved only for Soros’ chosen associates to savor. What is apparent from the email treasure trove is that Podesta’s job is really to supervise Hillary Clinton on behalf of Soros. In this context, the expression, leader of the free world, to describe the US president becomes a lie. The current world order of the globalists is anything but free, and one applicant for the job, Hillary Clinton, is not a queen on the chessboard, but a pawn. Axis of resistance: Russia, China and Iran and lessons from Haiti’s revolution One could ask: isn’t this psychopathic globalist coup of financiers well on its way? Isn’t it a done deal, and how can we resist and salvage anything? The examples of Russia, China and Iran prove that, as national entities, we still can. Germany, Japan and South Korea could reclaim their independence and kick out their US occupation. France and the UK could stop being submissive nations and get out of NATO. That would be a start. The path of war rhetoric expressed by the globalist mouthpieces of the West against Russia, Iran and, to a lesser extent, China has to do with the national resistance of these three countries. The citizenry of Europe and North America should understand, that if such unprecedented conflicts occur, all countries will be on the front line, and there is more than enough fire power on each side to ensure massive destruction and no winning side. Russia, China and Iran are the last national obstacles to the globalist coup, and perhaps we are heading back to a bipolar two-block world order similar to the Cold War era. Other options, including the dismantlement, or at least the curtailment, of supranational organizations such as the UN, World Bank and IMF would surely be the side effects of what appears to be in many countries a revival of nationalism. The final plan of the globalists would be atrocious for all of us. Waving the white flag is not an option. At this critical time of our history, and before our collective enslavement, we should all emulate the brave Haitian slaves who beat not one, but three empires 212 years ago. Haitians were only the last ones to prove that it can be done; it must be redone. Gilbert Mercier is the editor in chief of News Junkie Post and the author of The Orwellian Empire .

Anonymous

He has quite a history , he sold the derivatives in Australia and is another homosexual as are most of the media and those in power , the woman who works with him in charge of police and law was ran the MK ULTRA ,ufrtd in Chelmsford hospitals . tHERE IS A GREAT BOOK ABOUT IT ALL FROM UNDERCOVER called sex collectors by Greg Hallet , they chased him out of NZ tried to kill him lots of times . He sats there is a huge pedo ring there in Gov . I am beginning to think Cathy Obrien would shakethe life out of Clintons she must have been telling the truth , it all fits http://www.stewwebb.com/2016/05/25/hillary-clinton-lesbian-demon-pedophile-child-rapist/ I think Stew wev might be a truth teller too he was onto this a long time ago and he has taken court action and some of the x agents that come on sound vey credible . If Trump apeared with Cathy i think Clintns would have a melt down her book is very detailed , names everyone and where in great detail including Tredeau .Duff is a UN scam , the UN is very involved in everything , The foundation that Gillard is noww running for girls /is very suspect , she transfered 300 million into it and she is also another gay commo and i haver talked to her class mates who knew her well , they sure had some stories much like Clinton . She was in charge of the Communist party claimed she was trained by the CIA. make no mistake she will be involved .