Datasets:

nixbel

/

ustest

like 0

Project Veritas: Money from Belize | Opinion - Conservative

beforeitsnews.com

(Before It's News) What the video is about (emphasis added) In the effort to prove the credibility of the undercover donor featured in the videos and to keep the investigation going, Project Veritas Action made the decision to donate twenty thousand dollars to Robert Creamer’s effort. Project Veritas Action had determined that the benefit of this investigation outweighed […]

15 Guantánamo Detainees Are Sent to Emirates in Largest Obama-Era Transfer - The New York Times

Charlie Savage

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said on Monday that it had sent 15 Guantánamo detainees to the United Arab Emirates in the largest single transfer of the Obama administration. The move eliminated a fifth of the wartime prison’s remaining population, which dropped to 61. While it appears increasingly unlikely that President Obama will succeed in closing the prison before he leaves office in January, the transfer brought him significantly closer to another goal: getting out every detainee who has been approved for transfer. Some have been stranded on that list for years because they could not be repatriated. The detainees sent to the United Arab Emirates included 12 Yemenis and three Afghans. The United States had held each of them without trial for about 14 years. Their departure reduced the list of prisoners approved for transfer to 20 men, although a review board occasionally adds new names to it. “The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its continued assistance in closing the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay,” Lee Wolosky, the State Department special envoy who negotiates such transfers, said in a statement. The Obama administration has made a sustained diplomatic push to persuade Persian Gulf states to resettle detainees from troubled countries like Yemen. American security officials see them as attractive places to send such detainees both because they share the same language and culture, and because they have security agencies with the capacity to monitor them. Oman was the first gulf country to provide such help, agreeing to resettle 10 detainees in two batches in early and . At a meeting in May 2015 at Camp David with leaders or representatives from the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Mr. Obama sought to leverage that deal by urging others to help out, too, officials said. The United Arab Emirates resettled five Yemenis last November. It put them into a modified version of a custodial rehabilitation program it had developed for its own citizens who had been drawn into Islamist extremism, according to officials familiar with the transfer. In January, Oman resettled another group of 10. And in April, Saudi Arabia resettled nine. Qatar has taken on a different headache: In 2014, it resettled five Taliban prisoners whom the administration exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Those former prisoners continue to live there under restrictive conditions. The transfers announced Monday were approved by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter. Under restrictions imposed by Congress, he must tell lawmakers at least 30 days before any transfer that he has determined that security conditions in the receiving country are adequate. One of the detainees in Monday’s transfer, an Afghan named Obaydullah, was arrested in 2002 and accused of hiding mines for an insurgent cell. Late in the Bush administration, he was charged in the military commissions system with providing material support for terrorism, although the charge was later withdrawn for technical reasons. His defense team later visited Afghanistan and reinvestigated his case, developing what it said in 2012 was evidence that the accusations against him were mistaken, although the team failed to persuade a court to order his release. Last spring, however, the review board decided that he should be sent to a country with a strong reintegration program and monitoring capacity. “In making this determination, the board noted that the detainee has not expressed any intent to in terrorist activities, has not espoused any . S. sentiment that would indicate he views the U. S. as his enemy, that neither the detainee nor his family have any ties to extremists outside of Guantánamo, and that the detainee has been mostly compliant while at Guantánamo,” the review board explained in a report. Maj. Derek A. Poteet of the Marines, a military lawyer who helped represent Mr. Obaydullah, said he visited his client at the prison about three weeks ago. Mr. Obaydullah had already heard a rumor that the United Arab Emirates had agreed to resettle him, he said. “He had hope on his face and relief when I was able to confirm that hope,” Major Poteet said. “My paralegal and I were in there, and he reassured us that ‘I want to live a life of peace with my family, and I want nothing to do with politics. ’” When Mr. Obama took office in 2009, 242 detainees remained at Guantánamo. He has proposed closing it by bringing several dozen detainees who are not approved for transfer to a replacement prison on domestic soil. But Congress has blocked that plan, and some Republican lawmakers have proposed shutting down transfers of detainees to other countries, too. “The responsibility of the federal government is to keep the American people safe, yet the Obama administration’s misguided commitment to releasing detainees in order to eventually close Guantánamo unacceptably gambles with our nation’s safety,” Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, said last week.

US citizens mesmerized by today's great election! Donald Duck v Minnie Mouse!

Celebs ticked at Porn Knock-Offs Two, to be exact: Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington. Tom Cruise, out promoting his latest "Jack Reacher" fare on the Ricki Lake show, grew furious when he found out there's a new nudie flick called "Jack Reach-around-er", which caters to Gay men. Brian May most unhappy about Emperor OctoTrumpus™ torturing Queen song - Issues Cease and Desist Outraged that one of his most famous songs is being abused by Emporer OctoTrumpus™, he has issued a Cease and Desist. Dr. Brian May known for his musical successes, social activism and astrophysics is rightly disgusted that the Queen hit has... Bob Dylan Secretly Longs For Teen Choice Award New York, NY - After being announced as the winner of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for groovy songs, sources close to legendary songwriter, Bob Dylan, say that all he really wants is a surfboard trophy from the Teen Choice Awards. "Mr. Dylan couldn'... Man gets only one missed call from Mom Local Mom reportedly called her son just once, and hasn't left any messages whatsoever asking him to call her back when he gets this. Fort Wayne, IN - Worried sick, 29-year-old Barry Oldman reported Thursday he got just one missed call from his mo... Kim Kardashian The Queen Of Selfies Retires Her Booty From Breaking The Internet The world wide web has been crashing, due to suffering from withdrawals of Kim Kardashian's daily selfies. Kim was the queen of breaking the internet with her big booty, and it wasn't always from her sitting on it! Once upon a time, Kardashian fans f... Donald Trump Is The Boy Who Cried "Wrong" After being accused of trying to make America Great Again by grabbing another pussy, the man who is trying to break the Guinness Book of world records for the most lies told during a presidential campaign, Donald Trump is crying "Wrong" again! Ju...

Trump Recording Narrows Divide on Sexual Assault - The New York Times

Amanda Taub

Of all the silver linings one might have expected from this election, a new national understanding of sexual assault would have been quite hard to imagine. Until two weeks ago. One recording of Donald J. Trump boasting about how his stardom gave him license to grope women’s private parts appears to have prompted the kind of change in public consciousness that usually takes decades. The lewd and aggressive comments by Mr. Trump, the Manhattan tycoon turned Republican presidential nominee, revealed a generational divide in the way many Americans understand sexual assault and consent. But, remarkably, the widespread outrage and outpouring it unleashed, with millions of women speaking out about their own experiences — appear to have narrowed that gap. “This is a moment of transition,” said Estelle B. Freedman, a Stanford University historian who studies the evolution of laws and norms surrounding sexual assault. “We are having a national conversation about new rules,” she added. “We are nationally trying to rethink issues of sexuality, consent, autonomy, relationships. ” While the Trump tape and its aftermath feel like a turning point in the public understanding of sexual assault, Alexandra Brodsky, a of Know Your IX, an organization dedicated to ending sexual violence on college campuses, believes that “it’s actually a reflection that we are already past the turning point. ” “It is not obvious to me that five years ago, grabbing or kissing someone without her permission would have been recognized as sexual assault,” she said. Dr. Freedman sees this moment as the culmination of decades of change. Until the century, her research shows, sexual assault and rape were viewed primarily as crimes against the honor of women’s husbands and fathers, not themselves. As women gained new rights to control their own property and legal decisions, sexual assault began to be considered a matter of consent, not honor. But there was little agreement about what consent meant, Dr. Freedman said. Many people believed consent could be implied or presumed by the way a woman dressed, for instance, or even her decision to accept a job with a male boss. By the 1990s, feminist advocacy had begun to push the idea of “no means no. ” Antioch College in 1991 adopted a code of conduct requiring students to affirmatively opt in to sexual activity starting with a kiss. While such rules were lampooned on “Saturday Night Live” as political correctness run amok, they have become increasingly mainstream. States including New York and California require colleges and universities to adopt them. The widespread backlash to Mr. Trump’s comments, experts say, was fueled in part by the growing view, among people in their 20s and 30s, of affirmative consent as a guiding principle, not a lofty ideal or extreme demand. “I think that affirmative consent is an imperfect legal concept,” Ms. Brodsky, a recent graduate of Yale Law School, allowed. “But it’s a powerful normative concept. ” But old beliefs about honor and consent persist. Mr. Trump’s bragging in the video that women “let” him kiss and grope them because he was a star, for instance, seems straight out of the era, in which anything other than a clear “no” could be seen as passive acquiescence. Dr. Freedman also detects shades of the old system in some men’s responses that, as husbands and fathers, they found the video unacceptable. Until recently, pervasive shame and stigma meant that silence was often the rational choice for survivors of sexual violence. That was particularly true for women who grew up in an era when any sexual activity outside of marriage was considered unacceptable: revealing an assault risked being labeled promiscuous or worse. But as those norms have changed, the costs of speaking out have dropped. Younger women in particular are becoming more willing to protest sexual assaults that once might have been deemed too minor to merit reporting. And that, in turn, may be affecting the way older generations of women perceive episodes from their own pasts. It certainly worked that way for Emily Hoffman, 25, who works in the television industry in New York, and her mother, Amy Plummer. “I really don’t want to post this,” Ms. Hoffman wrote on Facebook on Oct. 10, a few days after the Trump tape was aired. But she went on to reveal to her 1, 326 Facebook friends what for seven years had been one of her most private secrets: that she had been assaulted by a senior male colleague while an intern at a company. He attacked her in a deserted stairwell, Ms. Hoffman announced, kissing her, groping her breasts and genitals, and then forcibly masturbating against her. “My experience mimicked what Donald Trump described in those tapes,” she said in an interview. “It was very upsetting. ” For Ms. Plummer, who is in her 60s, seeing her daughter’s post was transformative. “When Emily felt brave enough to put her experiences down was when I specifically started to think about my own experiences,” she said. “And I realized I would not have had the courage she had to say it publicly. ” But she also realized she had things of her own to share. She still felt that some of her experiences were too “explicit” to discuss. But she shared others with her daughter. How in junior high, for instance, her male guidance counselor told her that she should “consider a career as a Playboy bunny. ” And how she left graduate school without her master’s degree after a professor told her that she would not be able to pass her oral exams “unless I was ‘nice’ to him. ” One thing is notably missing from most of the stories survivors are now sharing: perpetrators’ names. The stigma of having been assaulted may have waned, but making an accusation against a specific individual is a different matter. It can raise the risk of legal consequences such as libel or slander suits. Many survivors, however, say social consequences are a more significant deterrent. “There is a sense that a ‘good victim’ merely shares her story to raise awareness or make people feel less alone,” Ms. Brodsky said. “But the minute there is a desire for accountability or change or retribution, suddenly she’s untrustworthy. ” When women accuse celebrities or other people like Mr. Trump or Roger Ailes, the former Fox News executive, she said, “that triggers the unfounded but insidious myth that women say that they’ve been assaulted for attention or money. ” The pressure not to name names can be strong whenever the perpetrator is someone the woman knows. An accusation forces everyone who knows the two people to choose a side: accuser or accused? Choosing the accuser often means going against the broader group or community. In her work on college campuses around the country, Ms. Brodsky said, she has observed that “peers and friends are much more inclined to be sympathetic to victims if they don’t make anyone’s life more complicated. ” “Naming names creates an inconvenience,” she added. Psychological research shows that people find it extremely difficult — even painful — to challenge their peer groups. In the famous “conformity study” conducted by Solomon Asch, a professor of social psychology at the University of Pennsylvania who died in 1996, participants were asked to answer a series of simple, questions with obvious answers. There was a catch, though: Before the subject had a chance to respond, other research assistants disguised as participants all confidently selected the same wrong answer. That set up a dilemma: Choose the right answer, or conform to the group by selecting the wrong one? Even though the stakes were very low, about of participants capitulated to group pressure at least once. Ms. Hoffman believes that her decision not to name her accuser is the reason her post has received such a uniformly positive response. “I’m not naming anybody in particular,” she said. “So they don’t feel like there’s somebody who they need to defend. ” But according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, 60 percent of sexual assaults are committed by an intimate partner, relative, friend or acquaintance. So the pressure on individuals not to name names can add up to widespread impunity for perpetrators. Nancy Erika Smith, a New Jersey lawyer who has represented victims of sexual assault and discrimination for more than two decades, said she recognized that asking people to identify who had harmed them was in many ways an unfair burden. “Don’t do it for yourself,” she said. “Do it for all of us. Speak up. ”

Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter - The New York Times

Charlie Savage and Nicole Perlroth

A system intended to scan emails for child pornography and spam helped Yahoo satisfy a secret court order requiring it to search for messages containing a computer “signature” tied to the communications of a terrorist organization, several people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Two government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the Justice Department obtained an individualized order from a judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court last year. Yahoo was barred from disclosing the matter. To comply, Yahoo customized an existing scanning system for all incoming email traffic, which also looks for malware, according to one of the officials and to a third person familiar with Yahoo’s response, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. With some modifications, the system stored and made available to the Federal Bureau of Investigation a copy of any messages it found that contained the digital signature. The collection is no longer taking place, those two people said. The order was unusual because it involved the systematic scanning of all Yahoo users’ emails rather than individual accounts several other tech companies said they had not encountered such a demand. News of the order has opened a new chapter in a public debate over the between security needs and privacy rights that has cast a spotlight on the sometimes cooperative, sometimes antagonistic relationship between Silicon Valley companies and the United States government. It comes six months after a standoff between the F. B. I. and Apple, in which the government obtained a federal magistrate’’s order to force the company to help it unlock an encrypted iPhone from one of the attackers in the December mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. The F. B. I. gave up the fight with Apple after it found a way into the iPhone without the company’s help. By contrast, Yahoo cooperated with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order, although the technical burden on the company appears to have been significantly lighter than the one the F. B. I. placed on Apple. Details of Yahoo’s cooperation with the court order come two weeks after the company reported that hackers had broken into its computer network, stealing the credentials of 500 million users. Yahoo engineers discovered the breach this summer, two years after it had occurred, and just weeks after Verizon Communications announced plans to buy the troubled internet company for $4. 8 billion. The two government officials familiar with the matter said the digital signature Yahoo was ordered to look for last year was individually approved in an order issued by a judge, who was persuaded that there was probable cause to believe that it was uniquely used by a foreign power. Investigators had learned that agents of the foreign terrorist organization were communicating using Yahoo’s email service and with a method that involved a “highly unique” identifier or signature, but the investigators did not know which specific email accounts those agents were using, the officials said. The officials’ description of the unusual surveillance operation carried out at Yahoo shed new light on a report by Reuters that has attracted widespread attention and provoked outrage among privacy and technology specialists. The Reuters article reported that in response to a “broad demand” from the government, Yahoo had “secretly built a custom software program to search all of its customers’ incoming emails for specific information provided by U. S. intelligence officials. ” According to the government officials, Yahoo was served with an individualized court order to look only for code uniquely used by the foreign terrorist organization. Two sources, including one of the officials, portrayed it as adapting the scanning systems that it already had in place to comply with that order rather than building a capability. The other official did not comment on the technology. The officials did not name the terrorist organization. Asked on Wednesday about the information obtained by The New York Times, Suzanne Philion, a Yahoo spokeswoman, said the company had nothing further to say. Earlier in the day, the company said in a statement that the Reuters article was “misleading. ” “We narrowly interpret every government request for user data to minimize disclosure,” the Yahoo statement said. “The mail scanning described in the article does not exist on our systems. ” Richard Kolko, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, declined in a statement to discuss specific foreign intelligence collection techniques, but referred to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. “Under FISA, activity is narrowly focused on specific foreign intelligence targets and does not involve bulk collection or use generic key words or phrases,” he said. “The United States only uses signals intelligence for national security purposes, and not for the purpose of indiscriminately reviewing the emails or phone calls of ordinary people. ” Technology companies like Yahoo, Google and Microsoft scan for child pornography and are required to report any discoveries to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They similarly search traffic for malware and spam, which companies disclose in their terms of service. There is no engineering limitation preventing technology companies from using their spam and child pornography filtering systems to search email traffic for other sorts of digital signatures, said Hany Farid, chairman of the computer science department at Dartmouth, who helped develop the child pornography scanning system with Microsoft. But the use of that technology to carry out an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to search for a digital signature used by a foreign power is rare, and one of the officials portrayed it as innovative. “This is another example of how the government is pushing secretly novel or innovative interpretations of surveillance law” to conduct wiretapping in broader ways than the public realizes, said Jennifer Granick, the director of civil liberties at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society. The government has not released any intelligence court opinion explaining how the judge interpreted FISA to authorize such surveillance. Although Congress in June 2015 enacted a law that required the government to make public novel and significant rulings by the court, the order to Yahoo appears to have predated that legislation, the USA Freedom Act, by several months. Yahoo has an inconsistent record with meeting government data demands. In 2007, the company settled a lawsuit related to allegations that it helped the Chinese government crack down on journalists by passing along their Yahoo emails. But that year, the firm fought a legal battle, then secret, before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, challenging a mandate that it turn over, without a warrant, emails from user accounts the F. B. I. and the National Security Agency said belonged to noncitizens abroad who had been targeted for surveillance. That litigation became an important test of whether Congress could legalize the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program through the Protect America Act and, later, the FISA Amendments Act. Ultimately, the intelligence court ruled against Yahoo, and after being threatened with a huge fine, the company cooperated. Yahoo was not able to clarify details of the Reuters article on Tuesday because orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court are secret by law, and an increasing number of other government requests come with gag orders that prohibit tech companies from even acknowledging they exist. Tech companies complain that such gag orders make it impossible for them to explain to customers what sort of data they do and do not turn over. Twitter and Microsoft have separately sued the Justice Department over the gag order practice, and both cases are pending. Dozens of other companies have filed briefs in support of Microsoft. In its brief, Apple said it had received about 590 gag orders, of unlimited or indefinite durations, in the first eight months of 2016.

Northamptonshire named Britain’s first Area of Outstanding General Mediocrity

Oxbridge

October 29, 2016 It was the award a few wanted but only one could have. In the end, it was disappointment for Buckinghamshire, the borough of Chorley and everywhere within a five-mile radius of Motherwell as Northamptonshire won the nomination as the UK’s first Area of Outstanding General Mediocrity (AOGM). ‘Neither quite vile enough for it to be funny, nor possessed of anything that might induce visitors to stay longer than it takes to use a toilet, this most nondescript of counties was a natural choice,’ said Lord Melvyn Bragg, chairman of the judging panel. ‘Its highest point is a mundane 738 feet. Its county flower is the cowslip. Even when Corby ceased to be the largest town in Britain without a railway station in 2009, Irthlingborough succeeded to the title. I could go on, but, you know, life’s too short, isn’t it?’ Classification as an AOGM enables a region to apply for EU grants in order to preserve itself from the commercial pressures that might otherwise make it slightly less shit. Many local luminaries had feared that Northampton Saints’ victory in last year’s Rugby Premiership, coupled with Princess Diana being buried there, might draw in the odd few hundred visitors, some of whom might even have settled and complicated the local gene pool. Now, those fears have been allayed. ‘Northamptonshire is synonymous with shoe-making, except fortunately the last factory closed down in the 1980s, otherwise we might have had to open a museum about it,’ said John Caswell, Mayor of Northampton. ‘Now we just make Weetabix and being the largest settlement anywhere in Britain without a unitary authority is the most interesting fact I can think of about this God-forsaken hellhole. And if you think we’re crap, try hanging out in Kettering for an evening. Fucking hell.’ The county’s seven metropolitan authorities are now thinking about meeting some time before the end of the year to discuss how to spend the £20,000 grant. Corby, a former steeltown that attracted thousands of Scottish migrants but which is now ranked Britain’s ninth worst place to live, wants to use it to bribe Alex Salmond into annexing it, while Northampton itself wants to put a blue plaque on the site of the first car chase involving the police in 1899 and Wellingborough will only turn up if the meeting doesn’t clash with Corrie. Share this story... Posted: Oct 29th, 2016 by Oxbridge Click for more article by Oxbridge .. More Stories about: From The Archives 0

From a Dacha Wall, a Clue to Raoul Wallenberg’s Cold War Fate - The New York Times

Neil MacFarquhar

MOSCOW — The 1945 disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg — a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi gas chambers — ranks among the most enduring mysteries of World War II. Suspicion for the snatching of Wallenberg off the streets near Budapest fell almost immediately on the Soviet Union. To the Soviets occupying Budapest, the ties that Wallenberg had forged with senior Nazis and Americans smelled like espionage, with rescuing Jews an implausible cover story. But his disappearance went unexplained, right through the Gorbachev era of glasnost and the chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This summer, however, the newly published diaries of the original head of the K. G. B. — found secreted inside the wall of a dacha — have shed fresh light on the case by stating outright for the first time that Wallenberg was executed in a Moscow prison. “I have no doubts that Wallenberg was liquidated in 1947,” wrote Ivan A. Serov, a Soviet military man who ran the K. G. B. from 1954 to 1958. Tantalizing hints that Wallenberg, the scion of a rich, prominent family of Swedish industrialists, was imprisoned in Moscow emerged immediately, then dripped out at long intervals. Alexandra M. Kollontai, the domineering Soviet ambassador to Sweden, initially told Wallenberg’s mother that the diplomat was in custody, but backtracked after the Kremlin announced that it knew nothing of the case. In the 1950s, Moscow began releasing war prisoners, and some reported meeting a V. I. P. inmate. Some called him mysterious some knew his name. Sweden started asking pointed questions, and seeking to improve ties, the Kremlin released a report in 1957. It said a newly discovered, partial medical report indicated that Wallenberg, age 34, died of a heart attack in prison in July 1947 — a stock Soviet cover story. The next halting step toward resolution came with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The Kremlin agreed to cooperate with a comprehensive effort that included archival research and interviews with retired state security employees. But the final report in 2000 reached no definitive conclusion about Wallenberg’s fate, and found that documents had been destroyed or altered to eliminate all traces of him. In time, Wallenberg’s rescue work became an lasting symbol of the international human rights movement, but the mystery of his fate seemed likely to endure forever — until the Serov diaries came to light. Memoirs from Kremlin officials are exceedingly rare, and this one, while hardly definitive, contains several references to previously unknown documents on Wallenberg. They include a report about Wallenberg’s cremation, and another quoting Viktor Abakumov, who preceded Serov as head of state security but was tried and executed in 1954 in the last Stalin purges. Abakumov apparently revealed during his interrogation that the order to “liquidate” Wallenberg had come from Stalin and Vyacheslav M. Molotov, the foreign minister. The word “killed” has never appeared in any official documents released from the Soviet side, according to Nikita Petrov, a historian with the Memorial organization in Moscow who specializes in the Stalinist era and Serov himself. “They did not use this word,” Mr. Petrov said. “They said it appears he was killed, but we know nothing about this, we don’t have any documents. In Serov’s diary, you can find this word as a fact. ” Memoirs lack the weight of official documents, Mr. Petrov noted, but Serov also described reading a Wallenberg file. Previously, the security service denied that any such files existed, according to diplomats, historians and others who have long worked on the case. “There should have been a personal or prisoner file which was created for every prisoner,” said Hans Magnusson, a retired senior diplomat who directed the Swedish side of the Working Group. “The Russians said that they did not find one. ” The Serov book is called “Notes From a Suitcase: Secret Diaries of the First K. G. B. Chairman, Found Over 25 Years After His Death,” and appeared in Russia in June with its own extraordinary tale. Four years ago, Serov’s only grandchild, Vera Serova, 57, a retired ballet dancer, hired workers to renovate the garage at the dacha she inherited from her grandfather in northwestern Moscow. The workers demolishing the internal walls stumbled upon a few hidden suitcases. “They thought it was money or gold, but it was only papers,” she said in an interview, flashing a smile. Mr. Petrov said the suitcases probably went into the wall around 1971, when the Central Committee first got wind of the writing project and had Serov followed. Mrs. Serova turned over a copy of the diaries to a publisher, who condensed them into a single, volume. The book was released in conjunction with a small museum exhibition curated by the Russian Society. The exhibition skips the dark periods in Serov’s career. There is no mention of his role in organizing the mass deportations of minorities deemed potential wartime collaborators, nor establishing the secret police used to eliminate opposition to Soviet rule in East Germany and Poland. After leaving the K. G. B. for military intelligence, Serov was eventually disgraced after one of his underlings was exposed as a Western spy. He died of a heart attack in 1990 at 84. Mrs. Serova said she had published the diaries to restore her grandfather’s reputation. “It is important for me because we wanted to rehabilitate his name. Very few people in Russia know him, almost nobody,” she said. “He was acting on the orders of Stalin and others. ” In the pages devoted to the Wallenberg case — somewhat sketchy and written in dry, bureaucratic language — Serov said Nikita S. Khrushchev, who succeeded Stalin as Soviet leader, had asked him to investigate what happened, respond to Sweden and help purge Molotov. Serov wrote that ultimately he failed to uncover the full circumstances of Wallenberg’s death, and found no evidence that he had been a spy. Foreign governments and researchers have long suspected that Moscow was withholding documents, unwilling to confirm that Stalin would coldbloodedly order the murder of a foreign diplomat rather than admit that the Kremlin had been lying. The most important document never released is a letter from Abakumov to Molotov on July 17, 1947, which researchers believe contains the details of Wallenberg’s death. In the archival material that was released, researchers found a note scrawled in the bottom corner of another letter saying that “Ab,” or Abakumov, wrote a personal letter to Molotov and giving the document’s reference number. Letter was listed in a K. G. B. register of outgoing letters, according to the report, showing that it was despatched on July 17 and indicating that it concerned Wallenberg. A different memo said it had been received. But the actual letter has never been found. “The Russian side’s explanation for this is that the letter was personal and particularly sensitive in character,” said the joint 2000 report. Marie Dupuy, Wallenberg’s niece and heir to the sustained clan effort to unearth the truth, said she would like to see the original diaries and ask the F. S. B. the successor agency to the K. G. B. for the documents mentioned by Serov. “Numerous questions remain about the source material, which must be thoroughly evaluated before any conclusions can be drawn,” Ms. Dupuy said in a statement on her website. Last year, historians with long experience on the case organized the Raoul Wallenberg Research Initiative, a renewed, international attempt to comb the archives, and they have compiled a list of questions for the Russian government. The media office of the F. S. B. did not immediately respond to questions about whether it would release the documents Serov mentioned or cooperate with renewed research. Perhaps the underlying Russian attitude was succinctly summed up by Khrushchev, whom Serov quoted as uttering a blunt Russian expression after being briefed on the case. “These scoundrels,” he barked, naming Stalin and his coterie, “brewed this rotten porridge, while we have to gulp down the sewage. ”

Tunisian Detained as Possible Accomplice in Berlin Attack - The New York Times

Alison Smale

BERLIN — A Tunisian man has been detained as a possible accomplice of Anis Amri, the man identified as the terrorist who carried out the truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people, German officials said on Wednesday. The Tunisian was held in Berlin, news agencies reported, after a search of a home and offices associated with the man, whose name was not released. Information about him was found in the cellphone of Mr. Amri, a Tunisian, who was killed on Friday during a shootout with police officers outside Milan. The development on Wednesday was announced by the office of Peter Frank, the public prosecutor general, which is based in Karlsruhe. “The investigations indicate that he could have been involved in the attack,” Mr. Frank’s office said in a statement, adding that officials expected to know by late Thursday if there were enough grounds to press criminal charges. “To what extent suspicions about the arrested person will be firmed up remains to be seen, after further investigation. ” The truck attack, on Dec. 19, was Germany’s deadliest terrorist attack in decades. The Islamic State claimed responsibility and released a video that Mr. Amri had recorded, in which he pledged his allegiance to the group’s supreme leader. But it is not known if Mr. Amri had accomplices. Nor is it clear precisely how Mr. Amri made his way back to Italy, where he was from 2011 to 2015, when he moved to Germany. Italian and French officials have said that Mr. Amri most likely traveled by train on the evening of Dec. 22 from Lyon, France, transferring trains at the town of Chambéry, near the border with Italy, before making his way to Turin and then Milan. From Central Station in Milan, he went to the northern suburb of Sesto San Giovanni, where two police officers on a routine patrol stopped him early Friday morning and asked for identification Mr. Amri opened fire and was fatally shot. How Mr. Amri reached Lyon from Berlin remains unclear, but Agence citing unidentified Dutch officials, reported on Wednesday that he took a bus from Amsterdam or the Dutch city of Nijmegen, near the border, to Lyon on Dec. 21, two days after the attack. (There is no direct bus service to Lyon from Amsterdam or Nijmegen travelers have to change buses in Brussels Düsseldorf, Germany Frankfurt or Paris.) “The suspect in the Berlin attack was very likely at the Nijmegen station two days after the attack,” Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch national prosecutor’s office, said in a statement on Wednesday. In a phone interview, he said that officials believed that Mr. Amri obtained in Nijmegen a free cellphone SIM card that the Italian police found on his body after he was killed. Mr. de Bruin said that the police were following up on reports from people who thought they might have seen Mr. Amri. “We have to investigate the reports because we would like to reconstruct the route he took in the Netherlands to get from Germany to France,” he said in the interview. He added that investigators were working closely with their counterparts in Germany, France and Italy. Mr. Amri is said to have careened into a Christmas market at the symbolic Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin just after 8 p. m. on Dec. 19. The police initially detained a Pakistani man who was found to have no connection to the truck and thus the assault. The error ended up giving the suspect a head start of almost 20 hours to flee, before investigators scouring the cab found a migration document that led to Mr. Amri. Mr. Amri, who had a history of petty crime and used several aliases in his odyssey around Europe, applied for asylum in Germany in April. His application was rejected in June, and he was ordered deported, but he managed to slip through the cracks. He may have benefited from Germany’s decentralized political system. Power is spread over 16 states, and police, judicial and migration officials have distinct spheres of authority. For example, Mr. Amri was detained for two days in the southern German town of Friedrichshafen on July 30, after trying to take a bus to Zurich, when the police noticed he was under deportation order. But an office for registering foreigners in Kleve, in the far northwest of Germany, which was responsible for the order, said it did not have the papers from Tunisia necessary to carry out the deportation, so Mr. Amri was ordered released. Adding to the confusion, on leaving jail in the south, he gave an address in Karlsruhe, in the southwest — hundreds of miles from Kleve. This jumbled state of affairs — a reaction to the abuses of centralized power under fascist and communist governments — has frequently been criticized, and with the new focus on terrorism, both politicians and ordinary Germans are again clamoring for change. In France, which has a fairly strong central government but is also struggling with terrorism, a man was arrested Tuesday morning in a police raid at his home in Cugnaux, near Toulouse in the country’s southwest, on suspicion that he had been planning an imminent terrorist attack, officials said on Wednesday. His name was not disclosed. Falcone, the head of the national police, told the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that France remains under “high” threat of another attack, and that the Berlin attack “confirms that a heavy set of security measures, both active and passive, has to be put into place around mass gatherings. ”

Israel Refuses Participation In Paris Peace Conference

Jason Ditz | Antiwar.com

Israel Refuses Participation In Paris Peace Conference Israel said the peace conference is a distraction from the goal of direct negotiations with the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks out following a press conference at his Jerusalem office on Tuesday, July 14, 2015. A French government effort to hold a Middle East peace conference in Paris next month is off to a rocky start, with Israel summoning the French Ambassador to inform him that they oppose the effort and will not attend the Paris meeting under any conditions. France has been talking up the idea of trying to get a new peace process going for months, with Israeli officials expressing serious concern that the United States might not veto a French resolution on the peace process at the UN Security Council. Israeli officials today accused the conference of being a “distraction.” Palestinian officials had already endorsed the conference before Israel rejected it, and Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah insisted that they remain in favor of holding the conference to discuss ideas for getting the peace process going whether or not Israel attends. French officials have not commented on Israel’s refusal to participate, but probably will go ahead with the planned conference, as Israel’s rejection is not a surprise. Indeed, much of the current far-right government has reacted negatively to the idea of a peace process in general, and has been particularly hostile toward the French effort throughout.

Опрос: Клинтон опережает Трампа на 14%

RT на русском

Короткая ссылка 27 октября 2016, 01:11 Кандидат в президенты США Хиллари Клинтон опережает своего оппонента республиканца Дональда Трампа на четырнадцать процентных пунктов. Об этом свидетельствуют результаты нового общенационального опроса, опубликованные агентством Associated Press. Как сообщается, за Клинтон готовы проголосовать 51% респондентов, а за Трампа — 37%. При этом бывшего госсекретаря намерены поддержать 90% сторонников демократов и по меньшей мере 15% республиканцев. Кроме того, 74% опрошенных уверены, что Клинтон одержит победу в президентской гонке. Всеобщие президентские выборы пройдут в США 8 ноября. На данный момент досрочное голосование проходит в 37 штатах. Подписывайтесь на наш Telegram , чтобы быть в курсе самых важных новостей. Для этого достаточно иметь Telegram на любом устройстве, пройти по ссылке и нажать кнопку Join.

Bill Cosby’s Books Join ‘Most Challenged’ List - The New York Times

Graham Bowley

Bill Cosby’s “Little Bill” children’s book series was among the 10 “most challenged” books in 2016, according to a list compiled by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. A book is “challenged” when someone, like a parent or other community member, complains and tries to get the book removed from a library or a school curriculum. It’s the first time the Cosby series has attracted a complaint, the organization said. The “Little Bill” books, first published in 1997, tell the adventures of Bill Jr. a Philadelphia boy, and were the basis for an animated TV series. The series’ appearance on the list is unusual because it’s the first time since the office started to compile data in 1990 that a book made the list because of its author, rather than its contents. The complaints arose because of the recent sexual allegations made against Mr. Cosby, according to the association. Over the last few years, Mr. Cosby has faced accusations of sexual assault made by numerous women, which he denies. In June, he is to stand trial in Pennsylvania on sexual assault charges. The office reported 323 challenges to books last year, a slightly higher number than in 2015, many arising because of sexually explicit themes. The book that received the most complaints, “This One Summer,” by Mariko Tamaki, is a young adult graphic novel that was challenged because it “includes L. G. B. T. characters, drug use, and profanity, and it was considered sexually explicit with mature themes. ”

’Strategic Patience’ Is Over: Tillerson Floats Military Action in North Korea - Breitbart

Frances Martel

U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters in Seoul on Friday that the Trump administration is open to military action against North Korea as a last resort, and that the policy of “strategic patience has ended. ”[“The policy of strategic patience has ended. We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures. All options are on the table,” Tillerson told reporters at a press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun . “If North Korea takes actions that threaten South Korean forces or our own forces, that will be met with an appropriate response. ” “If they elevate the threats of their weapons program to the level that we believe requires action, that option is on the table,” Tillerson added. He emphasized that the United States would attempt to avoid to the extent possible any military actions against North Korea, particularly those that may put North Korean civilian lives in danger. “We hope that that will persuade North Korea to take a different course of action. That’s our desire,” Tillerson concluded. Tillerson also took the opportunity to once again call for China to take on a larger role in containing North Korea’s escalating belligerence and objected to China cutting economic ties with South Korea over the deployment of the America Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system. “While we acknowledge Chinese opposition, its economic retaliation against South Korea is inappropriate and troubling. We ask China to refrain from such actions. Instead, we urge China to address the threat that makes that necessary,” Tillerson said. Tillerson is currently in the middle of a trip to Asia, having left Japan on Thursday and scheduled to meet with leaders in China on Saturday. The Secretary of State’s remarks regarding potential military action against North Korea follow remarks in Japan that emphasized a “different approach” to the rogue government in Pyongyang. “Part of the purpose of my visit to the region is to exchange views on a new approach,” Tillerson noted on Friday in a press conference with his Japanese counterpart, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. The Trump administration has hinted at a change in America’s approach towards Pyongyang in other venues, as well. Earlier this month, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters in New York that the White House is “not ruling anything out” to keep North Korea from developing and using nuclear weapons. Haley described the THAAD system as a necessary response to Pyongyang’s insistence on violating UN sanctions with missile launches that could threaten Japan and South Korea. “We are not going to leave South Korea standing there with the threat of North Korea facing them and not help. The reason for THAAD is because of the actions of North Korea,” she said in response to Chinese and Russian opposition. Following Tillerson’s remarks Friday, President Trump himself issued a warning to North Korea on Twitter: North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been “playing” the United States for years. China has done little to help! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017, Tillerson’s message towards China was also similar in Japan: as its largest trading partner, take a more prominent role in containing North Korea. “We look to China to fulfill its obligations and fully implement the sanctions called for,” he said. Anticipating Tillerson’s visit, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told reporters Wednesday he was “optimistic about the future of relations” and anticipated a positive outcome from Tillerson’s visit. President Donald Trump is reportedly working with Chinese officials to plan a U. S. visit by President Xi Jinping next month. These statements represent a nearly complete shift away from what former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton described as “strategic patience“: a policy of waiting for the North Korean economy to implode and Pyongyang finding itself no longer able to afford to ignore UN sanctions and the rejection of the international community. This policy largely failed because China continued to trade with North Korea, providing the fellow communist regime a vital lifeline. The response in Seoul to the new, robust U. S. policy is largely divided along partisan lines, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. Conservative leaders have expressed gratitude for Tillerson’s strong support for their country. “We highly appreciate his comments as he expressed a strong willingness to respond to North Korea’s reckless behavior,” Liberty Korea Party spokesman Rep. Choung told Yonhap. One leader, in contrast, told Yonhap: “We are supporting the U. S.’s move to strengthen the effectiveness of sanctions against the North through cooperation with relevant countries, but we cannot help expressing concerns about the U. S. stance that there will be no dialogue until North Korea gives up (nuclear weapons). ” North Korea appears to have responded to Tillerson’s presence in the region with the publication of a “human rights white paper” condemning the United States as a serial violator of human rights, condemning the presidential election itself as a human rights violation against the American people and labeling the nation a “human rights desert. ”

Israeli Supporters Of Donald Trump Rally At ‘Jerusalem Forever’ Event In Israel’s Capital City

Geoffrey Grider

Israeli Supporters Of Donald Trump Rally At ‘Jerusalem Forever’ Event In Israel’s Capital City Donald Trump addressed the crowd of several hundred Israelis via a one minute pre-recorded video message and vowed to make Israel and America safe again. Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump take part in a Trump Pro-Jerusalem rally overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel, on October 26, 2016. “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:3 (KJV) Donald Trump addressed the crowd of several hundred Israelis via a one minute pre-recorded video message and vowed to make Israel and America safe again. The event was entitled ‘Jerusalem Forever,’ and was held by Republicans Overseas Israel to affirm the Jewish ties to Jerusalem in light of the recent UNESCO resolution . Donald Trump’s message to Jerusalem rally: This was the message played at the Jerusalem Forever rally in the capital city of Israel yesterday. Awesomeness. Israel: Trump tells Jerusalem rally he ‘will make America and Israel safe again’ Check out this awesome footage from the pro-Trump rally in Jerusalem held yesterday. Donald Trump Promises To Move Embassy From Tel Aviv To Jerusalem: Why am I voting for Donald Trump? For this reason right here, I want to see with my own eyes an American president move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus recognizing that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Bam. Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital: On a rooftop overlooking the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, around 200 American-Israeli fans of Donald Trump gathered to proclaim their support for the Republican candidate , convinced he will be Israel’s best friend if elected. “Trump will let Israel be itself and make its own decisions, that’s what I like,” David Weissman, a 35-year-old from Queens, New York, who moved to Israel three years ago, said at the event late on Wednesday. “He’s not a saint, but look at his achievements. He’s not afraid to identify the enemy as radical Islam, and he’s not going to support the two-state solution,” he said, referring to long-standing efforts to forge peace with the Palestinians. SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Can Evolution Have a ‘Higher Purpose’? - The New York Times

Robert Wright

About 25 years ago, a conversation between me and one of the greatest biologists of the 20th century took a weird turn. I was talking to William D. Hamilton, who was famous for coming up with the theory of “kin selection,” which explains patterns of altruism among close relatives in various species, including ours. This and other seminal ideas had earned Hamilton a place in the pantheon of thinkers who ushered in the modern Darwinian understanding of social behavior. Richard Dawkins, in the preface to his landmark 1976 book,“The Selfish Gene,” paid tribute to Hamilton and the three other “dominant figures” in social biology whose ideas formed the book’s foundation. I was interviewing Hamilton at the University of Michigan, where he was on sabbatical from Oxford. A video camera was rolling. I had been researching a book about evolutionary psychology, and I was hoping to create a documentary on the subject. The documentary never materialized, and Hamilton died in early 2000. My interview with him sat unwatched until earlier this year, when I tracked down the tape containing it. During the interview, I was trying to steer Hamilton toward philosophical topics, and at one point he went further than I had expected. He said, “I’m also quite open to the view that there is some kind of ultimate good which is of a religious nature — that we just have to look beyond what the evolutionary theory tells us and accept promptings of what ultimate good is, coming from some other source. ” That’s an unusual thing for a great evolutionary biologist to say, but the most unusual part was still to come. Hamilton continued, in his British accent, “I could enlarge on that in terms of the possible existence of extraterrestrial manipulators who interfere, and so on, but I think this would be getting too far from the general topic of discussion. ” Well, maybe, but this sounded at least as interesting as the general topic of discussion. I asked him if he meant that there was some kind of “transcendental purpose” that we humans are generally oblivious to. He answered: “Yes, yes. There’s one theory of the universe that I rather like — I accept it in an almost joking spirit — and that is that Planet Earth in our solar system is a kind of zoo for extraterrestrial beings who dwell out there somewhere. And this is the best, the most interesting experiment they could set up: to set up the evolution on Planet Earth going in such a way that it would produce these really interesting characters — humans who go around doing things — and they watch their experiment, interfering hardly at all so that almost everything we do comes out according to the laws of nature. But every now and then they see something which doesn’t look quite right — this zoo is going to kill itself off if they let you do this or that. ” So, he continued, these extraterrestrials “insert a finger and just change some little thing. And maybe those are the miracles which the religious people like to so emphasize. ” He reiterated: “I put it forward in an almost joking spirit. But I think it’s a kind of hypothesis that’s very, very hard to dismiss. ” The headline almost writes itself: “ Scientist Says Miracles Can Happen!” The subhead would add: “Extraterrestrials may play a role. ” But that’s the headline you’d write if you were just trying to maximize clicks. If you wanted to capture the philosophical significance of what Hamilton was saying, you’d take another tack. Rather than focus on miracles, you’d focus on the idea of “higher purpose” — the idea that there’s some point to life on earth that emanates from something that is in some sense beyond it. And — in hopes of generating as many clicks as possible, notwithstanding the philosophical significance — you’d put this in listicle form, laying out several misconceptions that Hamilton had implicitly dispelled. You could call these the “Three Great Myths About Evolution and Purpose. ” Myth number one: To say that there’s in some sense a “higher purpose” means there are “spooky forces” at work. When I ask scientifically minded people if they think life on earth may have some larger purpose, they typically say no. If I ask them to explain their view, it often turns out that they think that answering yes would mean departing from a scientific worldview — embracing the possibility of supernatural beings or, at the very least, of immaterial factors that lie beyond scientific measurement. But Hamilton’s thought experiment shows that this isn’t necessarily so. You may consider aliens spooky, but they’re not a spooky force. And they’re not supernatural beings. They’re just physical beings, like us. Their technology is so advanced that their interventions might seem miraculous to us — as various smartphone apps would seem to my — but these interventions would in fact comply with the laws of science. More to the point: If you ask how Hamilton’s aliens had initially imparted “purpose” to life, the answer is that they did so in concrete fashion: by planting simple material on earth a few billion years ago, confident that it would lead to something that would keep them entertained (keeping them entertained being, in this scenario, life’s purpose). Which leads to: Myth number two: To say that evolution has a purpose is to say that it is driven by something other than natural selection. The correction of this misconception is in some ways just a corollary of the correction of the first misconception, but it’s worth spelling out: Evolution can have a purpose even if it is a wholly mechanical, material process — that is, even if its sole engine is natural selection. After all, clocks have purposes — to keep time, a purpose imparted by clockmakers — and they’re wholly mechanical. Of course, to suggest that evolution involves the unfolding of some purpose is to suggest that evolution has in some sense been heading somewhere — namely, toward the realization of its purpose. Which leads to: Myth number three: Evolution couldn’t have a purpose, because it doesn’t have a direction. The idea that evolution is fundamentally directionless is widespread, in part because one great popularizer of evolution, Stephen Jay Gould, worked hard to leave that impression. As I and others have argued, Gould was at best misleading on this point. And, anyway, even Gould admitted that, yes, on balance evolution tends to create beings of greater and greater complexity. A number of evolutionary biologists would go further and say that evolution was likely, given long enough, to create animals as intelligent as us. In fact, that idea is implicit in Hamilton’s saying the aliens could have “set up” evolution in such a way that “it would produce these really interesting characters — humans. ” This part of Hamilton’s scenario requires no intervention on the part of the aliens, because he believed that evolution by natural selection has a kind of direction in the sense that it is likely, given long enough, to produce very intelligent forms of life. (When speaking more precisely, as he did in other parts of the interview, Hamilton would say that the human species per se wasn’t in the cards — that it wasn’t inevitable that the first intelligent species would look like us.) With these three myths dispelled, you’re left with this philosophically liberating upshot: You can entertain the possibility that evolution has a purpose, a kind of goal (a “telos,” as philosophers say) without departing from a strictly Darwinian view of evolution — without abandoning belief in natural selection as evolution’s only engine, and without surrendering your credentials as a modern, scientifically minded kind of person. In case you’re still feeling a little uneasy about becoming a purpose ponderer, I should emphasize that not all teleological scenarios that pass scientific muster involve space aliens. Indeed, some scientists have suggested that natural selection has a purpose that wasn’t instilled by any kind of intelligent being. This scenario emerges from one version of physicist Lee Smolin’s theory of “cosmological natural selection. ” Smolin thinks our universe may itself be a product of a kind of evolution: maybe universes can replicate themselves via black holes, so over time — over a lot of time — you get universes whose physical laws are more and more conducive to replication. (So that’s why our universe is so good at making!) In some variants of Smolin’s theory — such as those developed by the late cosmologist Edward Harrison and the mathematician Louis Crane — intelligent beings can play a role in this replication once their technology reaches a point where they can produce black holes. So through cosmological natural selection you’d get universes whose physical properties were more and more conducive to the evolution of intelligent life. This might explain the observation that the physical constants of this universe seem “ ” to permit the emergence of life. Crane, in a recent dialogue on my website meaningoflife. tv, told me that in this scenario “human life — and I don’t mean on an individual scale, but as a whole — has a purpose in the same sense that a chicken’s egg has a purpose. The purpose of a chicken’s egg is to create a chicken. ” Crane isn’t using language carelessly here. Some philosophers are comfortable talking about animals having a “purpose” imbued by natural selection (to spread their genes). So if biological evolution is a product of cosmological natural selection, it has a purpose in a defensible sense of that term — and we’re part of that purpose. So add another item to our listicle: Myth number four: If evolution has a purpose, the purpose must have been imbued by an intelligent being. That said, one interesting feature of current discourse is a growing openness among some scientifically minded people to the possibility that our world has a purpose that was imparted by an intelligent being. I’m referring to “simulation” scenarios, which hold that our seemingly tangible world is actually a kind of projection emanating from some sort of powerful computer and the history of our universe, including evolution on this planet, is the unfolding of a computer algorithm whose author must be pretty bright. You may scoff, but in 2003 the philosopher Nick Bostrom of Oxford University published a paper laying out reasons to think that we are pretty likely to be living in a simulation. And the simulation hypothesis has gained influential supporters. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium and America’s de facto astronomer laureate, finds it plausible. The visionary tech entrepreneur Elon Musk says there’s almost no chance that we’re living in “base reality. ” The New Yorker reported earlier this year that “two tech billionaires” — it didn’t say whether Musk is one of them — “have gone so far as to secretly engage scientists to work on breaking us out of the simulation. ” I’m guessing that will take awhile, and meanwhile I’d like to note an irony. When an argument for higher purpose is put this way — that is, when it doesn’t involve the phrase “higher purpose” and, further, is cast more as a technological scenario than a metaphysical one — it is considered intellectually respectable. I don’t mean there aren’t plenty of people who dismiss it. I’m talking about how people dismiss it. The Bostrom paper drew flack, but a lot of it was from people who thought the chances that we’re living in a simulation are way less than 50 percent, not from people who thought the idea was wholly crazy. If you walked up to the same people who gave Bostrom a respectful hearing and told them there is a transcendent God, many would dismiss the idea out of hand. Yet the simulation hypothesis is a God hypothesis: An intelligence of power created our universe for reasons we can speculate about but can’t entirely fathom. And, assuming this intelligence still exists, it is in some sense outside of our reality — beyond the reach of our senses — and yet, presumably, it has the power to intervene in our world. Theology has entered “secular” discourse under another name. Personally, I’m fine with that. I think discussion of higher purpose should be respectable even in a scientific age. I don’t mean I buy the simulation scenario in particular, or the space alien scenario, or the cosmological natural selection scenario. But I do think there’s reason to suspect that there’s some point to this exercise we Earthlings are engaged in, some purpose imbued by something — and that, even if identifying that something is for now hopeless, there are grounds for speculating about what the point of the exercise is. I won’t elaborate much on this, since I’ve done that elsewhere, arguing that higher purpose can be framed as a hypothesis, and that evidence for or against the hypothesis can be marshaled. But I will say that the evidence I see for purpose includes not just the direction of biological evolution, but the direction of technological evolution and of the broader social and cultural evolution it drives — the evolution that has carried us from bands to the brink of a cohesive global community. And if the purpose involves sustaining this direction — becoming a true global community — then it would seem to include moral progress. In particular, our purpose would involve transcending the psychology of tribalism that can otherwise divide people along ethnic, national, religious and ideological lines. Which would mean — in light of recent political and social developments in the United States and abroad — that our work is cut out for us.

’Three Explosions’ Near Borussia Dortmund Team Bus One Injured

Chris Tomlinson

A series of three explosions have occurred in the vicinity of the hotel near the touring bus of German football team Borussia Dortmund ahead of their match with Monaco injuring one. [UPDATE 18:53 EST: Police say that the explosives found were pipe bombs and were detonated using a mobile phone. Authorities have also said that they found a letter at the scene which may have taken responsibility for the attack. So far they have not given any details about the letter, its contents or any possible motive for the bombing. UPDATE 16:11 EST: Police have released a statement saying the incident was an “attack” with what they are referring to as “serious explosives. ” They say the explosives were planted in a hedge near the bus. UPDATE 14:55 EST: A picture has emerged of the bus showing clear damage to one of the windows. Borussia Dortmund’s team bus with a broken window, (pic via @JuergenKoers) pic. twitter. — DW Sports (@dw_sports) April 11, 2017, UPDATE 14:48 EST: Borussia Dortmund confirms through Twitter that defender Marc Bartra was injured due to the explosions and is in a nearby hospital. Bei der Explosion wurde @MarcBartra verletzt und befindet sich derzeit im Krankenhaus. Gute und schnelle Genesung, Marc! #bvbasm, — Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) April 11, 2017, UPDATE 14:40 EST: Local police have released a statement on the explosions. “In the to the Champions League match of BVB against AS Monaco, there was an explosion near the BVB team bus shortly after 7 pm. The location of the event is in . “According to current knowledge the windows of the bus (whole or partial) were shattered and one person was injured. It is not yet possible to say exactly what the explosion was or exactly where something exploded. ” The explosion, which occurred near the team tour bus close to the hotel where several players were staying ahead of their Champions League match with AS Monaco this evening, is said to have injured player Marc Bartra who has been taken to a hospital the BBC reports. Police have not commented on the explosion so far though France24 journalist Yannis Koutsomitis has claimed that police have said that there were three explosive devices detonated on the bus. #UPDATE — #Germany authorities say there were three explosive devices that detonated near Borussia Dortmund bus. — Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) April 11, 2017, BREAKING: Borussia Dortmund player rushed to hospital after explosion on the team bus! https: . pic. twitter. — Premier League (@EPLArena) April 11, 2017, Borussia Dortmund has released a statement on their Twitter account informing fans that the match against Monaco has been cancelled. The match will be rescheduled for Wednesday at 6:45 pm. Das Spiel #bvbasm wurde soeben abgesagt. Neuansetzung: Mittwoch, 12. 04. 18. 45 Uhr. Tickets behalten Gültigkeit. #bvbasm, — Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) April 11, 2017, MORE FOLLOWS.

Hillary is So Unpopular, She Has to Pay Off Youth Voters and Fabricate Her Rallies

Tim Brown

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Tim Brown Among the many Wikileaks emails that were dumped this summer, it was clear that Hillary Clinton is not as popular as the media would have you believe. In fact, it became clear that she has no real support in a hacked email to the point where she was forced to pay young voters to stump online for her. The Gateway Pundit reported : She’s the astroturfed candidate. Hillary is SOOO unpopular that she has to pay off young voters to support her and show up at her rallies. 5 Biggest Scoops from the #DNCLeaks WikiLeak Wikileaks released nearly 20,000 hacked emails it says are from the accounts of Democratic National Committee officials on Friday. The emails are devastating for Hillary Clinton. According to at least one hacked email Hillary Clinton has no real support and must pay youth voters to defend her online. She also pays millennials to show up at her rallies. Hillary’s support is all a lie. It’s all astroturfed. Everything this woman does is all a lie – even her rallies are fabricated. If Attkisson’s explanation were not enough, how about this tweet regarding the mainstream media putting their collective useful idiot heads together to pitch the same propaganda about Donald Trump. 5 Biggest Scoops from the #DNCLeaks https://t.co/vmTiepsPkj — Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) July 23, 2016 This should have come as no surprise. If you remember when her campaign kicked off in 2015, I reported on the fact that more than 50% of her Twitter followers were either completely fake or inactive . Additionally, when she had her Iowa kickoff event, a whopping 22 people showed up . The majority of those were reporters! Hillary Clinton only has the backing of the media and rabid anti-American liberals, and even then, it looks like she’s having to pay them to actually do anything to support her. In other words, her candidacy is completely contrived. Courtesy of Freedom Outpost Tim Brown is an author and Editor at FreedomOutpost.com , SonsOfLibertyMedia.com , GunsInTheNews.com and TheWashingtonStandard.com . He is husband to his “more precious than rubies” wife, father of 10 “mighty arrows”, jack of all trades, Christian and lover of liberty. He resides in the U.S. occupied Great State of South Carolina. Tim is also an affiliate for the Joshua Mark 5 AR/AK hybrid semi-automatic rifle . Follow Tim on Twitter . Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter. PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks. Share this:

Koch Brothers Helped Incite the Impending Bloodbath Among Republicans

Rmuse

By Rmuse 7:57 pm "If the party doesn’t learn lessons and change based on what’s gone on for the last year and a half, I think it’s going to be just catastroph[ic]." *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* It may be the understatement of the year to say the Republican Party is on the verge of a full-on civil war, and it may be obvious to many Americans that the blame for the inter-party discord is its standard bearer Donald J. Trump. However much Trump’s candidacy has contributed to the tensions between establishment types terrified of Trump’s reckless disregard for the longevity of the party and rebellion-minded Trump supporters, the real instigators are the Koch brothers. Although the oil magnates were never on the Trump bandwagon, they are responsible for the Trump loyalists within the GOP who were part of the teabagger movement intent on disrupting the nation’s political system and indeed, the workings of government itself. The tea party caucus, an extremist sect that succeeded in chasing former House Speaker John A. Boehner out of Congress, morphed into the inaptly- named Freedom caucus that has embraced Trump are set to set fire to the party establishment and it isn’t solely to put current Speaker Paul Ryan out of a job, although that is high on the Trump supporters’ to-do list. As noted in Wednesday’s New York Times, “ Mr. Trump’s supporters said they were determined to harness the anti-establishment energy that Mr. Trump had catalyzed and to refocus it on the Republican leadership in Congress — a target many of them seem…eager to take down .” The right-wing extremist that actually “ took down ” former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, conservative extremist and House Freedom Caucus member David Brat, issued a warning to establishment Republicans: “ There’s a huge chunk of people who want to see a fight taken to D.C. Leadership comes and smacks our guy? That’s where you’re going to put down a marker? Really? And the American people are just scratching their head saying, ‘Really? That’s rich .’” Brat has been a thorn in the establishment’s side since Paul Ryan became Speaker and he joins a dangerous number of “ real conservatives ” who cannot understand or comport with Ryan and establishment leaders who dared criticize Trump instead of using their majority advantage to go after Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump and a few of his “ senior aides ” are prodding extremist conservatives to revolt against the establishment leadership after the election for not defending Trump. In fact, besides assailing Ryan for not sticking by Trump, it is reported that Trump said privately that Ryan should be made to pay a heavy price for disloyalty to the Trump candidacy. And, during an interview with Reuters he complained that “ The people are very angry with the leadership of this party, because this is an election that we will win, 100 percent, if we had support from the top .” Win or lose, there is going to be a major blood-letting after the election and the establishment, although powerful, may face a Herculean task to save the party. This impending conflict within the GOP has been brewing longer than Donald Trump has been a candidate and it may be why he brought on an experienced anti-establishment devotee to run his campaign. The chairman of Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon, had made it one of his primary goals to get Paul Ryan out as House Speaker because he is not a “true conservative” intent on tearing government down to restructure it into an uber-conservative paradise. And “uber-conservative” is just a different way of saying a “ non-government ” according to the Koch brothers’ vision of American libertarianism. Don’t believe it? Two groups closely aligned with the Koch brothers, Heritage Action for America and FreedomWorks , have been pushing Republicans as a Party to adopt more extremist positions and see the civil war as a stellar opportunity to have greater influence over the party’s decisions; something establishment types are resisting. Over the past few days, leaders of both Koch groups joined extremist conservatives in calling to delay a vote on selecting a candidate to be the next, or new, speaker of the House; something typically occurring directly after the general election in November regardless the outcome. According to the chief executive of Heritage Action, Michael Needham, there is going to be Hell to pay for establishment Republicans if they don’t bend to the will of the extremist wing created by the Kochs and heavily courted by Donald Trump. Mr. Needham said, “ If the party doesn’t learn lessons and change based on what’s gone on for the last year and a half, I think it’s going to be just catastrophe .” Another conservative extremist, House Freedom Caucus member and ardent Donald Trump supporter echoed Needham’s sentiment and said, “ You can’t ignore what millions and millions of people have expressed in this election cycle. ” The dilemma for Republicans after the election, no matter the outcome, is maintaining a semblance of stability as a political party. That doesn’t seem likely because if Trump loses, big or small, the extremists will unleash whatever level of Hell they can muster on the establishment for daring to criticize any of Trump’s more outrageous and dangerous comments on the stump. If Trump wins, the extremists will be emboldened to purge the party of any disloyal establishment types and it appears that no matter what happens on November 8, it will not be the end of hostilities among Republicans. The Republican Party establishment is in for a reckoning with an extremist wing that was once content threatening the full faith and credit of the United States or shutting down the government as a show of anger. After four years of internal bickering over what it means to be a true conservative, and the past year-and-a-half of incitement by Donald Trump, the Republican Party faces a serious threat to its long-term survival. It is a threat that began about six years ago when the Koch brothers ushered in an age of extremist conservatives that Donald Trump took advantage of to seize control of the Republican Party.

Life: 6 Pieces Of Meat I Have Seen, Held, And In One Case, Gone On Vacation With

I know all of these meats. 1.This slab of bacon has felt the warmth of my hands and the beauty of my gaze. 2. I can remember the moment as if it happened only an hour ago. I was young, having just been asked to leave the seminary after I repeatedly refused to chip in for Wi-Fi, and walking through downtown Kansas City when I came across this sirloin steak. Never before had I seen something so special. I took the meat up into my hands and eyed it for a solid three minutes before I set it back down on a manhole cover and continued on my way. A chance meeting, sure. But an unforgettable one. 3. I’ve seen and held raw meat, as well! This pork chop, while raw, is still deserving of human touch, and I provided that comfort for it. Anyone would have done the same. 4. When you win a one-day, two-nights cruise to Stamford, CT on a radio call in sweepstakes, you think you have it made. But I was a bit nervous when I took this succulent rack of St. Louis ribs onboard with me. It was my very first cruise, and I didn’t know what to expect. But let’s just say I was extremely happy that I won two tickets for this maiden voyage. 5. I’m currently holding this tenderloin in my hands, but sadly, I have not opened my eyes to gaze upon it yet. The time will come, though, when I see it. And it will be incredible. 6. Here’s another cut of meat that has sensed my touch and stare. This one I was holding and touching in a helicopter a few years back. It was the helicopter of my rival, and he was trying to show me how much better his life was than mine. All I had was the meat, a far cry from a fully functional helicopter. So even though he asked me not to bring meat onto his helicopter, I insisted. It made me feel less small. Secure, somehow.

This Times newspaper correction is amusing

Sausage Machine

This Times newspaper correction is amusing Amusing correction in The Times today where they’re apologising for reporting that Judge said something was “dodgy”. Sounds well dogi to us.

Berkley Professor Claims Hillary Clinton Email Investigation Nothing More Than a Sexist ‘Bitch Hunt’

Michael Krieger

at 3:47 pm Leave a comment Today’s college-related article is not about safe spaces, macro aggressions and trigger warnings. Rather, it’s about a remarkably stupid claim made by Robin Lakoff (a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley), that the entire email scandal plaguing Hillary Clinton is a nothing more than a vast patriarchal driven conspiracy manufactured by men for the sole purpose of taking down a strong and powerful woman. No, I’m not kidding. delusional Time published article, Hillary Clinton’s Emailgate Is an Attack on Women : ‘It’s not about emails; it’s about public communication by a woman’ I am mad. I am mad because I am scared. And if you are a woman, you should be, too. Emailgate is a bitch hunt, but the target is not Hillary Clinton. It’s us. The only reason the whole email flap has legs is because the candidate is female. Can you imagine this happening to a man? Clinton is guilty of SWF (Speaking While Female), and emailgate is just a reminder to us all that she has no business doing what she’s doing and must be punished, for the sake of all decent women everywhere. There is so much of that going around. If the candidate were male, there would be no scolding and no “scandal.” Those very ideas would be absurd. Men have a nearly absolute right to freedom of speech. In theory, so do women, but that, as the creationists like to say, is only a theory. Clinton’s use of a personal server has not been found to be a crime. Then how is it that so many have found the charge so easy to make, and make stick? How has her use of the server made plausible all the claims that she is “deceptive” and “untrustworthy”? It’s not about emails; it’s about public communication by a woman in general. Of course, in the year 2016, no one (probably not even The Donald) could make this argument explicitly. After all, he and his fellow Republicans are not waging a war on women. How do we know that? They have said so. And they’re men, so they must be telling the truth. But here’s Hillary Rodham Clinton, the very public stand-in for all bossy, uppity and ambitious women. Here are her emails. And since it’s a woman, doing what decent women should never do—engaging in high-level public communication—well, there must be something wrong with that, even if we can’t quite find that something. We will invoke the terminology of criminal law to account for our feelings. She’s getting away with treason! Put her in jail! We can’t quite put our fingers on it, but the words sure do make a lot of people feel better, so they must be right. So that’s the take of Berkley linguistics professor Robin Lakoff. Now here’s the take from Charles S. Faddis, a former CIA operations officer with 20 years of experience in intelligence operations. As Mr. Faddis writes I have worked in national security my entire life. Most of that has been in the intelligence community surrounded by For twenty years, I worked undercover in the Central Intelligence Agency, recruiting sources, producing intelligence and running operations. I have a pretty concrete understanding of how classified information is handled and how government communications systems work. Nobody uses a private email server for official business. Period. Full stop. The entire notion is, to borrow a phrase from a Clinton campaign official, “insane.” That anyone would presume to be allowed to do so is mind-boggling. That government officials allowed Hillary Clinton to do so is nauseating. Classified and unclassified information do not mix. They don’t travel in the same streams through the same pipes. They move in clearly well defined channels so that never the twain shall meet. Mixing them together is unheard of and a major criminal offense. If you end up with classified information in an unclassified channel, you have done something very wrong and very serious. Accidentally removing a single classified message from controlled spaces, without any evidence of intent or exposure to hostile forces, can get you fired and cost you your clearance. Repeated instances will land you in prison. Every hostile intelligence agency on the planet targets senior American officials for collection. The Secretary of State tops the list. Almost anything the Secretary of State had to say about her official duties, her schedule, her mood, her plans for the weekend, would be prized information to adversaries. It is very difficult, in fact, to think of much of anything that the Secretary of State could be saying in email that we would want hostile forces to know. As we wait for more information on the latest revelations, let’s quickly note what we already know Hillary Clinton did. While Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton exclusively used a private email address for official business. Instead of using a State Department account, she used a personal email account, housed on a private server located in her home in Chappaqua, New York. The Department of State exercised zero control or oversight in this process. No government security personnel were involved in protecting them. When the House Select Committee on Benghazi asked to see these emails, the Department of State said they did not have them. Clinton’s lawyers then went through all the emails on her server. They turned over 30,000 emails they decided were work related and deleted all of the rest. How they made the decision as to which emails to share and which to destroy remains unknown. Active government officials were not involved in this process. Hillary says she did not use the account to transmit This has been proven false. The FBI found over 100 messages that contained information that was classified when sent, including numerous email chains at the level of Top Secret/Special Access Programs. They don’t get any more highly classified, it’s the virtual summit of Mt. Everest. One theme pertained to the movement of North Korean nuclear assets obtained via satellite imagery . It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this is extremely sensitive information. The FBI found another 2,000 messages containing information that should have been classified at the time it was sent. How much more classified information may have been in the tens of thousands of emails, which Clinton’s lawyers erased, is completely unknown. Hillary Clinton supporters like to ask rhetorically, “Well, what about Colin Powell?” Nice try , but using your own private email address which received 2 emails determined to be classified later, is nothing like deliberately operating a home brewed server, and then see it handle thousands of classified e-mails. What happens next we do not know. What we do know already is this. While serving in one of the most senior positions in the United States Government, Hillary Clinton was at a minimum, grossly negligent in the handling of classified information and when confronted with this practice, acted immediately to destroy information and prevent a full, fair and complete investigation of any damage to national security. Anyone else who did such things in the government would long ago have been tried, convicted and sent to jail. You decide if you want to send her to the White House instead. I’ll let readers decide who has a better read on the situation. In the meantime, back to your safe spaces my little snowflakes. In Liberty,

While Disgraced VA Employees Keep Massive Bonuses, Good Soldiers Forced To Repay Theirs

Davis

Trump Presents Plan To Expand U.S. Navy To 350 Ships They aren’t being asked to return the money. Various construction officials who built hospitals way over budget received thousands of dollars in bonuses. Other high-level VA officials directly responsible for the suffering of America’s veterans received tens of thousands of dollars worth of bonuses — and Uncle Sam isn’t asking for any of it back. If that doesn’t make your blood boil, you aren’t paying attention. This is government corruption at its absolute finest. While ordinary citizens who did their duty to this country are forced to drain their bank accounts because the government screwed up (again), executives and corrupt officials get to live large. Corruption like this is why Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is so popular. Washington is indeed a swamp , and he is the only one who can drain it. Someone like Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton, a 30-year insider, isn’t going to fix what is broken. On Wednesday morning, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the Pentagon would be “suspending” its program to collect the bonuses from the soldiers who had improperly received them, Fox News reported, although it was presumed that the program would be resumed once some kinks had been worked out. If we had a federal government that actually spent money correctly and held people accountable for mistakes, these former soldiers wouldn’t be in precarious financial situations today.

Selective Outrage Over SPLC’s 'Anti-Muslim Extremist List'

Robert Spencer

Search Selective Outrage Over SPLC’s 'Anti-Muslim Extremist List' Leftists and atheists appalled that SPLC’s hit list of Islam critics includes…Leftists and atheists. October 31, 2016 Robert Spencer Sam Harris thinks it’s “unbelievable” that Maajid Nawaz and Ayaan Hirsi Ali made it to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hit list of “Anti-Muslim Extremists.” He said nothing about me or the other people whom the SPLC included, which is not surprising, since he has quite recently expressed willingness to acquiesce in other contexts to the demonization that the SPLC list exemplifies. Hemant Mehta of The Friendly Atheist blog ably sums up the outrage over Nawaz and Hirsi Ali being included: “If criticizing religious beliefs makes them extremists, then it won’t be long before other vocal atheists end up on that list too. And make no mistake, that’s what Nawaz and Hirsi Ali are doing. That’s all they’re doing. They’re not anti-Muslim; they work with moderate Muslims. They’re critical of the worst aspects of Islam.” The problem with being angry about Nawaz and Hirsi Ali being on the SPLC list, but silent about everyone else who is on it, is that what Mehta says about Nawaz and Hirsi Ali can quite accurately said about everyone else on the list. If criticizing religious beliefs makes them “extremists,” then it won’t be long before everyone who dares to utter a critical word about Islam will be on the list — and that is indeed the objective of the list: to stigmatize and marginalize any and all such critics. Mehta protests that Nawaz and Hirsi Ali are “not anti-Muslim; they work with moderate Muslims. They’re critical of the worst aspects of Islam.” But no one would think that the other 13 were “anti-Muslim” if it hadn’t been for the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and their allied groups insisting that we were all these years, in their avidity to conflate opposition to jihad terror and Sharia oppression with hating a group of people — a tactic designed to discredit opposition to jihad terror and Sharia oppression. Mehta and co. are falling for and validating the same smear tactics hey are decrying when used against their friends. And as for working with moderate Muslims, for 13 years Jihad Watch has contained this invitation : “Any Muslim who renounces violent jihad and dhimmitude is welcome to join in our anti-jihadist efforts.” It is Nawaz (as well as other moderates) who has attacked me, in what appears to have been a cynical attempt to gain support for himself among Muslims; I never attacked him, and would have have been happy to work with him otherwise. In complaining that Nawaz and Hirsi Ali are merely “criticizing religious beliefs” and are “not anti-Muslim,” Mehta is strongly implying that the others on the SPLC list are doing something beyond “criticizing religious beliefs” and are indeed “anti-Muslim.” On Twitter the last couple of days I’ve seen many people express outrage that Nawaz has been lumped in with the likes of Spencer; but when I ask them what the big difference is between us, or for quotes from me that are actually “bigoted,” they go silent. Mehta, Harris, Haider and the others who are only angry with the SPLC’s hit list because it included Nawaz and Hirsi Ali are, by their selective outrage, acquiescing to and legitimizing the SPLC’s demonization of the other people on the list. (In his own defense, Hemant Mehta wrote me to explain, somewhat unsatisfactorily: “I focused on those two because they’re well known in atheist circles.”) This is a self-defeating choice for them to have made, for the SPLC has never identified anyone whom it considers to be a legitimate critic of Islam, and never will: the point of lists such as the one they released yesterday is to demonize and silence everyone who dares say something about Islam that is not warmly positive. The turn of Mehta, Harris, and Haider will come for the same treatment. One wonders if, when this happens, there will be anyone left to speak for them who has not already been smeared as “anti-Muslim,” with their tacit approval.

Açık ittifak, uzun itaat, yazan Manlio Dinucci

Manlio Dinucci

Açık ittifak, uzun itaat yazan Manlio Dinucci Barack Obama, ülkesini İtalya ile bir araya getiren « açık ittifak [ve] uzun dostluk » ile haklı olarak övündü. Gerçekten de bu Avrupa ülkesi, ABD’li efendisine çeşitli anlaşmalarla ve uzun bir uygulama ile boyundurukla bağlı durumda. Voltaire İletişim Ağı | Roma (İtalya) | 2 Kasım 2016 français italiano English Español Parlamento muhalefetinin sessiz suç ortaklığında ulusal politikamıza müdahale ederek, İtalyanları referandumda « Evet » oyu kullanmaya çağıran Başkan Barack Obama, « yakın dostu Matteo (Renzi) »’ya, İtalya ve ABD arasında « açık ittifaklar, uzun bir dostluk » olduğunu söyledi. İttifakların ve her şeyden önce İtalya’yı ABD’ye boyun eğdiren Atlantik İttifakının açık olduğu konusunda hiçbir şüphe yok. Avrupa Müttefik Yüksek Komutanı hala ABD Başkanı tarafından atanmakta ve diğer tüm kilit komutanlıklar ABD’nin elinde. Soğuk Savaşın sona ermesinden sonra, SSCB’nin bölünmesi ertesinde Washington, « ittifakın komuta yapısını –yani ABD komutasını- mayınlayacak sadece Avrupalı aygıtların kurulmasını engelleyerek, NATO’yu bir nüfuz ve ABD’nin Avrupa işlerine müdahale kanalı olarak korumanın temel önemini » belirtiyordu. Jens Stoltenberg, « Avrupa büyük fikri » üzerine yapılan yuvarlak masa toplantısında şöyle diyordu: « Avrupa savunmasının güçlendirilmesinin bir tür NATO’nun tekrarı olmamasını, NATO’ya seçenek haline gelmemesini sağlamalıyız ». Bunun teminatı, 28 AB ülkesinden 22’sinin (Birleşik Krallığın birlikten çıkışından sonra 27’sinden 21’inin), Avrupa Birliği tarafından « ortak savunmanın temeli » olarak tanınan, ABD komutası altındaki NATO üyesi olmasıdır. AB’nin dış ve askeri politikası böylece, temel çıkarları tehlikeye düştüğünde çıkar çatışmaları yeniden yoğunlaşan Avrupalı büyük güçlerin üzerinde amaç birliği yaptığı, asli olarak ABD stratejisine tabi durumdadır: yeni devletsel ve toplumsal öznelerin ortaya çıkması karşısında gittikçe daha da kararsızlaşan Batı’nın üstünlüğünü muhafaza etmek. Bunun için Çin-Rus stratejik mutabakatının meyvesi olan Şanghay İşbirliği Örgütü’nün, kendi alanını dünyanın en büyük bütünleşik ekonomik sahası haline getirebilecek kaynaklara sahip olduğunu düşünmek yeterlidir. ABD ve NATO stratejisi kapsamında –Beyaz Saray’ın belgelediğine göre- İtalya, « ABD’nin sağlam ve etkin müttefiki » olarak öne çıkıyor. « İtalya’nın, tüm ülkeye dağılmış bulunan tesislerde, ABD Savunma Bakanlığına bağlı 30 000 asker ve memura ev sahipliği yapması » gerçeği bunu ortaya koyuyor. İtalya aynı zamanda, geniş bir « meydan okuma » yelpazesi için askeri güç ve finansman sağlayan « ABD’nin küresel güvenlik ortağıdır » : Kosova’da, Afganistan’da, Irak’ta, Libya’da, Suriye’de, Baltık Denizi’nde ve diğer yerlerde, ABD/NATO savaş aygıtının müdahil olduğu ve bulunduğu her yerde. ABD-İtalya ilişkisinin ne düzeyde olduğunu son bir olgu teyit etmektedir: İtalya’nın satın alma taahhüdünde bulunduğu, ABD’nin Lockheed Martin firmasının üretimi 90 adet F-35 avcı uçağından ilk iki tanesi, muhtemelen 8 Kasım’da, Puglia bölgesindeki Amendola üssüne varmak üzereler. İtalya’nın, ikinci dereceden ortak olarak F-35 programına katılımının bedeli, resmi olarak 2016 Bütçe Yasasında belirtildiği gibi, 12 milyar 356 milyon Euro kamu parası artı, henüz tamamen operasyonel olmayan ve sürekli olarak güncellemelere ihtiyacı olacak avcı uçağının devam eden modifikasyonları için olası diğer harcamalar. Buna rağmen –Analisi Difesa’nın teyit ettiği gibi-, İtalya’nın kendi F-35’leri üzerinde « sınırlı bir hakimiyeti » olacak. Bir ABD yasası « görev verilerinin » (avcı uçaklarının muharebe sistemlerini yöneten software’ler) başkalarına aktarılmasını yasaklıyor. Dolayısıyla, Pentagon’un Rusya’ya karşı, « ulusal » topraklarımız üzerinde bugünkü B-61’lerin yerine konuşlandıracağı yeni B-61-12 nükleer silahlarının kullanımı için öngörülen İtalyan F-35 uçaklarını kontrol edecek olan ABD’dir. Manlio Dinucci Çeviri Osman Soysal Kaynak Il Manifesto (İtalya)

Re: Andrew Breitbart – twitchy.com

Gloves B. Donahue

— Alyssa Canobbio (@AlyssaEinDC) October 28, 2016 Not a day goes by that we don’t miss Andrew Breitbart. But it’s days like today when we really feel his absence and wonder what could have been. Andrew Breitbart was right about a lot of things. But m n was he right about Anthony Weiner — Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) October 28, 2016 Was he ever. As Twitchy told you , the FBI reportedly decided to reopen their probe into Hillary Clinton in light of emails discovered on one of Anthony Weiner’s devices. Tweeters are having a field day, of course. But it will still never come close to perhaps one of the greatest moments in modern media history: Big ups, AB. pic.twitter.com/qMxopaGBo6 Here’s the whole thing, because it’s just so fantastic: Those were the days, weren’t they? The only sad thing about this Anthony Weiner / HRC insanity… It makes me sad Andrew Breitbart is not here to enjoy it. #HillarysEmails — Andrews Dad (@Andrew_Dad) October 28, 2016 It’s indeed sad that Breitbart is no longer with us. Still, hopefully we can all draw some comfort in remembering his brilliance — and smiling at the thought of him right now. Andrew Breitbart, still doing his thing from beyond. 🙂

Senate and House Leaders Call for Inquiry of Russian Hacking in Election - The New York Times

Jennifer Steinhauer

WASHINGTON — The top two Republicans in Congress said on Monday that they supported investigations into possible Russian cyberattacks to influence the American election, setting up a potential confrontation with Donald J. Trump in his first days in office. “Any foreign breach of our cybersecurity measures is disturbing, and I strongly condemn any such efforts,” said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, adding, “The Russians are not our friends. ” Mr. McConnell’s support for investigating American intelligence findings that Moscow intervened in the election on Mr. Trump’s behalf could presage friction between the Republicans who control Congress, and who have long taken a hard line against Russia, and the who has mocked the findings. Mr. McConnell also went out of his way to address Mr. Trump’s claim that the C. I. A. could not be trusted because of flawed intelligence before the Iraq war. “Let me say that I have the highest confidence in the intelligence community,” Mr. McConnell said, “and especially the Central Intelligence Agency. The C. I. A. is filled with selfless patriots, many of whom anonymously risk their lives for the American people. ” The top Republican in the House, Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, said he supported a continuing investigation by Representative Devin Nunes of California, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. In a statement, Mr. Ryan said: “As I’ve said before, any foreign intervention in our elections is entirely unacceptable. And any intervention by Russia is especially problematic because, under President Putin, Russia has been an aggressor that consistently undermines American interests. ” Congressional Republicans announced their support for inquiries after Mr. Trump railed for much of the weekend against the intelligence findings. But their remarks, especially Mr. Ryan’s, were far from fiery, reflecting both a fear of offending Mr. Trump, who has taken many positions against traditional Republican orthodoxy, and the Republicans’ belief that Democrats have selectively leaked intelligence information for political gain. Critics from both parties are questioning Mr. Trump’s apparent choice of Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, as secretary of state, particularly because of his longstanding business connections with Russia and his close relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin, whom he has known for two decades. Mr. Trump said in a Twitter post on Monday night that he would make a formal announcement on the job on Tuesday morning. Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, both Republicans, have expressed concern about the reports of cyberattacks, as have numerous Democrats. But Mr. Rubio, in an apparent reference to Mr. Tillerson, went a step further on Monday, writing on Twitter, “Being a ‘friend of Vladimir’ is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState. ” Mr. McConnell said the Senate investigation would be led by Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, will add a subcommittee to look into cyberattacks, led by Mr. Graham. “The first thing we want to establish is, ‘Did the Russians hack into our political system? ’” Mr. Graham said in an interview on Monday. “Then you work outward from there. I have a high degree of confidence Russia did this. ” Mr. Nunes, a member of Mr. Trump’s transition team, said in a statement that the Intelligence Committee had been “conducting vigorous oversight of the investigations into cyberattacks. ” Mr. Nunes also noted that his committee would be scrutinizing the review of the Russian effort to influence the election ordered last week by President Obama. Democrats have used the latest intelligence findings to renew their calls for an urgent inquiry. John D. Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, demanded on Monday that all information about Russia’s meddling be declassified, and that the Obama administration explain what it knows about the hacking and when it knew it. “We now know that the C. I. A. has determined Russia’s interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump,” Mr. Podesta wrote in a statement. “This should distress every American. Never before in the history of our republic have we seen such an effort to undermine the bedrock of our democracy. ” Three Senate Democrats — Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont — called on Monday for the creation of an independent, nonpartisan commission to comprehensively investigate allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. But Mr. McConnell stopped short of calling for a special select committee, saying that the Senate Intelligence Committee was “more than capable of conducting a complete review” of the matter. While he stopped short of saying whether he agreed that Russia had interfered in the election in support of Mr. Trump, Mr. McConnell said, “We need to approach all these on the assumption the Russians do not wish us well. ” Mr. McCain was less equivocal, saying Monday that there was “no doubt about the hacking” by Russian intelligence services. He called the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and related accounts “another form of warfare” in an appearance on “CBS This Morning” with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming Democratic leader. And one week before the Electoral College meets to ratify Mr. Trump’s election victory, 10 electors have demanded their own intelligence briefing on Russian efforts to elect Mr. Trump. For his part, Mr. Trump was dismissive of the intelligence findings and suggested that Democrats were simply stirring controversy. “Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the card. It would be called conspiracy theory!” Mr. Trump said in a Twitter post on Monday. The White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, said that the administration would support a congressional review. He also rejected the notion that the administration had failed to adequately highlight the Russian efforts before the election, saying it had extensively briefed Congress all year about Russian electoral meddling. “There has been intensive cooperation between the intelligence community and other national security agencies, and members of Congress in both parties, both before and after the election,” Mr. Earnest said. “The briefings have been provided in a variety of settings, both classified and unclassified. ” Even beyond the conclusions of the intelligence community, Mr. Trump’s campaign had widely known and extensive ties to the Russian government. A campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had worked for the government in Ukraine, and Mr. Trump’s choice for national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, had consulted for a media group, Mr. Earnest noted. Mr. Earnest said that Congress had a “special responsibility” to investigate the ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, because those connections were widely known before the election. He added that, for Capitol Hill Republicans, how to “reconcile their political strategy and their patriotism is something they’re going to have to explain. ”

Tancredo: America Needs New Sheriffs - Breitbart

Tom Tancredo

Local sheriffs traditionally have been among the strongest advocates for robust enforcement of federal immigration law, but the Obama years have left a legacy of nonenforcement masquerading as a “Priority Enforcement Program. ” [Sheriffs in Denver, Houston, Austin and elsewhere have announced their vigorous opposition to cooperation with federal law enforcement. The problem is that Obama’s “enforcement priorities” for ICE allowed tens of thousands of criminal aliens who were eligible for deportation under laws passed by Congress to escape deportation. The attitude of local sheriffs is important because the debate raging over “sanctuary” policies will not be decided in Washington, DC alone. Restoring effective enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws will require rebuilding a strong partnership, and that cannot happen if local sheriffs continue dragging their feet on lawful ICE detainers while singing from the ACLU songbook. Some sheriffs are insisting a local sheriff or local jail should not be accused of following “sanctuary” policies merely because they will not honor ICE detainers. A county sheriff explains that “less is more” rationale in a recent newspaper interview, here. However, I suspect most Americans see that attitude as a lot like a motorist insisting he is a very safe driver despite flunking the sobriety test with a 0. 20 alcohol level. The ICE detainer is a lawful, essential instrument of federal law enforcement and should be honored by all local sheriffs. Local jails that refuse to do so are releasing hundreds of criminal aliens back into the community — criminal aliens who are eligible for deportation under federal law. In Colorado, the chief culprit and cheerleader for sanctuary policies is the Denver County jail. In 2014, Denver was listed in an ICE document as ranked number ten nationally in the number of ICE detainers rejected over an period. Now, if ICE shows up at the sheriff’s jail at the precise time of a prisoner’s release and takes custody, the sheriff is supportive of that. Hooray. But if ICE requests the jail hold the criminal an extra 12 hours so ICE can pick him up, that request will not be honored. Why? Because the ACLU has won a couple of federal lawsuits at the district court level — for example, in a 9th Circuit case in Oregon — to establish the highly dubious principle that honoring the ICE detainer would be violating the alien’s 4th Amendment rights. The fact that no federal court in Colorado or the entire 10th Circuit has ever made such a ruling is evidently not as important to some county sheriffs as what the ACLU thinks. Unfortunately, in the last years of the Obama regime, there developed a silent partnership between Obama’s minimal enforcement policies and some sheriffs content to see less reliance on detainers. Eventually, this policy of nonenforcement became the hallmark of what are known as “sanctuary cities. ” Under Obama’s policies, ICE went so far as to develop a new detainer form — DHS Form — that did not have the word “detainer” anywhere on the form! Accepting and complying with that detainer was even labeled “voluntary”! Is it surprising that many police chiefs and sheriffs did not complain and went along with this on detainers? In effect, police chiefs in a dozen or more major cities became enablers and partners in Obama’s war on immigration enforcement. On the good news side, it is widely rumored that the U. S. Department of Justice will soon announce that the federal government will indemnify local law enforcement agencies against civil liability if they are sued by the ACLU (or anyone else) for honoring an ICE detainer. That new policy should quiet the criticisms of all but the most sanctuary advocates. We must hope that the nation’s local sheriffs — who perhaps got too comfortable with the Obama era’s policies — will now welcome a return to a more positive partnership in immigration law enforcement based on constitutional norms, not the values and priorities of the ACLU.

Bill Maher Defends MILO Invitation: Boycotters ’Reason Liberals Lose Elections’ - Breitbart

Ben Kew

Bill Maher has defended his decision to invite MILO onto his show, adding that the journalists who boycott the show, such as Jeremy Scahill, are the reason “liberals will continue to lose elections. ”[In a statement, Maher said that “liberals will continue to lose elections as long as they follow the example of people like Mr. Scahill whose views veer into fantasy and away from bedrock liberal principles like equality of women, respect for minorities, separation of religion and state, and free speech. ” “If Mr. Yiannopoulos is indeed the monster Scahill claims — and he might be — nothing could serve the liberal cause better than having him exposed on Friday night,” he continued. Scahill, who is an investigative journalist and founder of The Intercept, pulled out the show Wednesday night, saying that MILO is “many bridges too far,” and there is “no value in debating him. ” He also accused MILO of “inciting violence against immigrants, transgender people, and others. ” Why I will not appear this week on Real Time with Bill Maher. pic. twitter. — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) February 15, 2017, Scahill also attacked Bill Maher’s views on the regressiveness of Islam, claiming that his views on Muslims “veer into vitriol,” something which Maher denied. Responding to Scahill’s decision, MILO said that “if you can’t turn up and defend your ideas, you lose. It’s that simple. ” MILO will appear as the top of the show guest on this Friday’s show. In the wake of the UC Berkeley riots, he will be discussing the topic of free speech on college campuses, with Maher. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com

KREMLIN: Putin Congratulates Trump, Hopes to Work Together Major Issues

21st Century Wire says… Over the past months, Hillary Clinton, the Obama White House and the mainstream media have been promoting the conspiracy theory that “ Russia is Hacking the US Election ”– blaming Moscow for the WikiLeaks emails, the DNC Leaks and for allegedly ‘hacking’ US voting systems. Despite the grand accusations, no evidence or proof has been offered by the US government. It goes without saying how damaging the Democratic Party’s crazed witch hunt has been to US-Russian relations, where Clinton has led the anti-Russian crusade, and demonizing president Vladimir Putin at every opportunity. Today’s stunning presidential victory by Donald Trump means that all eyes are now on Putin to see how Moscow and Washington will be interfacing going forward. With such sensitive geopolitical issues like Syria and the Ukraine currently in play, what happens between the two leaders over the coming months could set the tone going forward… In a message to Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed confidence that the dialogue between Moscow and Washington, in keeping with each other’s views, meets the interests of both Russia and the US. Putin also expressed hope over the joint efforts on bringing Russian-American relations out of their current crisis. The Russian leader noted in the message that he hopes to address some “burning issues that are currently on the international agenda, and search for effective responses to the challenges of the global security,” RIA Novosti reported. On top of it, Putin has expressed confidence that “building a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington, based on principles of equality, mutual respect and each other’s positions, meets the interests of the peoples of our countries and of the entire international community.” According to many observers, US-Russia relations are now at their lowest point since the Cold War. Putin has repeatedly noted that the worsening of Russia’s relations with the US “was not our choice,” however. For things to improve between Moscow and Washington, the US should first and foremost start acting like an equal partner and respect Russia’s interests rather than try to dictate terms, Putin said last month. “We are concerned with the deterioration of Russian-American relations, but that was not our choice, we never wanted that. On the contrary, we want to have friendly relations with the US, a great country and a leading economy,” Putin said at an economic forum in Moscow… READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files SUPPORT 21WIRE – SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

Manning: Sabotage of Trump Agenda by Bureaucrats Should Spark ’10 to 20 Percent Reduction of Federal Workforce’ - Breitbart

Michael Patrick Leahy

Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning wants Congress to help President Trump get rid of “rogue bureaucrats [who] are not serving the American people” by “cutting the personnel budgets of civilian departments and agencies, reducing the enacted equivalent number for each department, agency and office by 10 to 20 percent reduction in the workforce on a basis,” according to a statement released on Friday. [“By now it should be abundantly clear to the Trump administration that there are Obama administration holdovers in the 1. 3 million civilian federal workforce who have no other intention than to politically damage the White House,” Manning said. Breitbart News has reported extensively on many ways federal bureaucrats who oppose President Trump’s policies are sabotaging his agenda. “That sabotage comes in several forms, from secretly circulating emails among fellow ideologically committed members of the federal bureaucracy plotting strategy, to working behind the scenes with Democratic legislators to create bureaucratic actions, to leaking confidential documents to the press,” as Breitbart News reported earlier this month. A number of federal bureaucrats are expanding the means by which they are resisting the policies of President Trump. On Tuesday, FederalNewsRadio. com in Washington, D. C. part of the Hubbard Radio empire owned by Minnesota billionaire Stanley Hubbard, reported that “Twitter [has become] an outlet of resistance [to the Trump agenda and] information for federal employees. ” When a former employee of Badlands National Park took over the park’s official Twitter account to tweet climate change facts in direct defiance of the Trump administration, they couldn’t have known that they were starting a movement. Almost one month later, more than 80 accounts claiming to represent various federal organizations and employees, many of them national parks, exist in opposition to the Trump administration and its policies. “The goals and methods of these accounts vary widely. Some stick to spreading scientific facts and research performed by their agencies, especially regarding climate change,” David Thornton, FederalNewsRadio. com’s digital editor reported. “Others, lacking specific actions or nominees to oppose, share memes and ridicule the President, his staff and lawmakers to maintain engagement,” Thornton notes: And some, like Alt Immigration, [using this Twitter address: ””>reported earlier this week, the Acting Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] at the Department of Homeland Security, Lori Scialabba, made waves earlier this month when she released an internal memo countermanding President Trump’s executive order temporarily blocking the issuance of visas to citizens of seven Middle Eastern countries and temporarily banning the arrival of refugees. Scialabba released her internal memo one day before Federal District Judge James Robert issued a temporary restraining order halting President Trump’s executive order. “Sources tell Breitbart News that the Department of Homeland Security, and in particular U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] is a hotbed of career open borders ideologues, many of whom intend to directly and indirectly subvert President Trump’s agenda,” as Breitbart News reported: “If you go down the list of current management at USCIS, probably 80 percent are ideologues,” a source, who has worked at the Department of Homeland Security for more than a decade and supports President Trump’s agenda, tells Breitbart News. “USCIS probably has the most violent people in the United States. These are in the management. These do not believe in borders. I know them personally,” the source says. “The whole reason the District of Columbia was created without voting rights or representation was so that those who work for the federal government would not wield political power. They are supposed to be neutral. Working for the government is a privilege, not a right, and it’s time that President Trump remind them by removing Obama administration hires, particularly if there is no other way to root out subversive employees,” Manning said in his statement: Part of the problem is former President Obama changed civil service rules to make it easier to hire federal employees. Trump has solved that by initiating his hiring freeze. But federal rules also make it extremely difficult to fire civil servants. It is a process that can take up to two years, even when there is cause. That said, problem employees who, say, don’t show up for work should be dealt with through this process immediately. In addition to “reducing the enacted equivalent number for each department, agency and office by 10 to 20 percent reduction in the workforce,” Manning wants Congress to take two additional steps: “Taken together, a comprehensive civil service reform can only possibly be accomplished in the context of the upcoming continuing resolution and budget process, by simply not appropriating monies for the same number of equivalent employees as last year, and defunding preferences for rehiring previously laid off personnel. Not only can’t Trump do it alone, Congress should step up to the plate exercising their Article I powers and rein in this rogue administrative state,” Manning concluded in his statement.

Imam Mahdi And World War 3

Pakalert

source Add To The Conversation Using Facebook Comments

Joe Paterno Knew of Sandusky Abuse in 1976, According to Court Testimony - The New York Times

Marc Tracy

A graphic description of sexual abuse from 1976 detailed in court documents released Tuesday cast new doubt on assertions by Joe Paterno, the former Penn State football coach, that he did not know until 2001 that his former assistant Jerry Sandusky had abused minors. The testimony, which was revealed in the course of a lawsuit between Penn State and one of its insurers over nearly $100 million in settlements the university reached with 32 of Mr. Sandusky’s victims, implied that Mr. Paterno knew about child sexual abuse by Mr. Sandusky years earlier but did nothing about it, allowing Mr. Sandusky to continue to abuse dozens of boys for decades. Mr. Sandusky’s serial sexual abuse became public in 2011. Mr. Paterno said in sworn testimony that year that he first heard of accusations about Mr. Sandusky in 2001. A university report later concluded that Mr. Paterno, who died of cancer in 2012, had been made aware of complaints against Mr. Sandusky, a longtime Penn State assistant coach, as early as 1998. The distinction is potentially worth millions of dollars to Penn State. The insurer, Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association Insurance, is hoping the documents released Tuesday will show that Penn State should have informed it of Mr. Sandusky’s abuse as early as 1976, and thus allow the company to avoid reimbursing the university for tens of millions of dollars in settlements. The company contends that had it known about the episode, as well as others in the late 1980s, it would have declined to insure the university against sexual abuse lawsuits. Mr. Sandusky, 72, is serving 30 to 60 years in prison. In the deposition from 2014 released Tuesday morning, a man called John Doe 150 in the documents testified that Mr. Sandusky touched him inappropriately in a shower room in 1976, when he was 14 and attending a football camp. The accuser said that he cried out when Mr. Sandusky penetrated him with a finger, a cry loud enough for other campers to hear, and that he later reported Mr. Sandusky’s inappropriate behavior to adults at the camp. The next day, the accuser said, he sought out Mr. Paterno and described the encounter in the hallway of a football office building as Mr. Paterno was on his way to a meeting. “Is it accurate that Coach Paterno quickly said to you, I don’t want to hear about any of that kind of stuff, I have a football season to worry about?” a lawyer for the insurer asked the accuser, according to the deposition. “Specifically, yes,” the man replied. Mr. Paterno then walked away, the man said. The documents released Tuesday showed that Gary C. Schultz, a former university vice president, and Timothy Curley, a former athletic director, both of whom the report said knew about a 1998 allegation, cited the Fifth Amendment’s protection against when asked questions about the scandal in 2015. The documents also said that Mike McQueary, an assistant coach who said he witnessed Mr. Sandusky molesting a boy in 2001 and subsequently told Mr. Paterno about it, had testified that he had also informed another Penn State assistant at the time, Tom Bradley, who in turn told Mr. McQueary that a previous assistant, Greg Schiano, had been aware of similar allegations in the 1990s. Mr. Bradley is currently U. C. L. A.’s defensive coordinator Mr. Schiano, later a head coach at Rutgers and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is now the defensive coordinator at Ohio State. A lawyer for Mr. Bradley denied Mr. McQueary’s assertions, saying he had become aware of the allegations only in 2001. Mr. Schiano responded on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, writing, “I never saw any abuse, nor had reason to suspect any abuse, during my time at Penn State. ” In a statement Tuesday morning, a Paterno family spokesman continued the family’s defense of the coach. “The materials released today relating to Joe Paterno allege a conversation that occurred decades ago where all parties except the accuser are now dead,” the family said. “In addition, there are numerous specific elements of the accusations that defy all logic and have never been subjected to even the most basic objective examination. Most significantly, there is extensive evidence that stands in stark contrast to this claim. ” The university’s settlement with this accuser, the Paterno family spokesman added, “does not remotely validate the assertions about an uncorroborated conversation with Joe Paterno. ” Penn State’s president, Eric Barron, also released a statement Tuesday. “Although settlements have been reached,” he said, “it also is important to reiterate that the alleged knowledge of former Penn State employees is not proved, and should not be treated as such. Some individuals deny the claims, and others are unable to defend themselves. ” Tom Kline, a lawyer who represented a victim of Mr. Sandusky’s who has arrived at a settlement with the university, said in an interview that the depositions appeared convincing. “We now no longer have conjecture on some of the issues that relate to Joe Paterno,” he said, noting that the accusers were testifying as third parties. Most settlements took place before these depositions those who had already settled, Mr. Kline said, would have had no interest in lying. In May, Judge Gary Glazer of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas ruled that while the insurer was responsible for settlements regarding events that occurred before 1992, it might not be for episodes of abuse that occurred after that date. While the documents released Tuesday could have significant repercussions in the lawsuit, it is unlikely they will affect Penn State’s football program. Mr. Paterno is dead. Mr. Sandusky is in prison. The penalties Penn State agreed to as part of a settlement with the N. C. A. A. — including bowl bans, scholarship restrictions and a $60 million fine — have been carried out, and the N. C. A. A. was seen to lose credibility when it was revealed that it might have essentially bluffed its way into those penalties. After being rebuilt under Coach Bill O’Brien, the Nittany Lions are entering their third season under the highly regarded coach James Franklin. The team’s most immediate obstacles are not court documents but Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan. Mr. Paterno ended his career after 46 seasons as Penn State’s head coach as the football coach with the most wins, a distinction regained last year when the N. C. A. A. restored 111 wins it had vacated as part of the settlement. Mr. Kline noted that the information that became public in May and was sketched in fuller color Tuesday might never have seen the light of day had Penn State not elected to sue its insurer in 2013 over reimbursement. Calling the information dump “foreseeable,” Mr. Kline said of Penn State, “They would have weighed this consequence versus getting’’ paid tens of millions of dollars. He added, “Penn State doesn’t have the same interest as the Paterno family. ”

FX’s ’American Crime Story’ to Explore Monica Lewinsky Scandal

Jerome Hudson

Producer Ryan Murphy says season four of his FX crime drama American Crime Story will tackle the Monica Clinton sex scandal. [Actress Sarah Paulson — who starred in the first season of the anthology series, The People vs. O. J. Simpson — has been confirmed for a role, Murphy told E! News, but said she would not be playing Lady Hillary Clinton. “That’s earmarked for talks with somebody else,” he explained. “We’re casting that now. I can’t say what Sarah is playing, but it starts shooting at the end of this year. ” Murphy says the show will focus on “the other women” who were ensnared in the 1996 sex scandal, involving House intern Monica Lewinsky, and the events that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. “It’s a very interesting book,” Murphy says about CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin’s book, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down A President, which 20th Century Fox optioned the rights for last month. “It’s not really about Hillary Clinton. That book is about the rise of a certain segment of a group of people who despised the Clintons and used three women, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp to try and tear him down. The Toobin book is amazing. And there are a lot of bizarre crimes within that book that you can highlight. ” “But the show isn’t really about Hillary Clinton, it really is about the other women. In fact, we might be doing the Clintons with hand puppets [laughs] I don’t know,” Murphy explains. “We’re more focused on the mechanizations behind the scenes to try and get [Bill Clinton] impeached. ” The first season of American Crime Story explored the O. J Simpson murder trial. The swept the Emmys and Golden Globes. Murphy said season two will tackle Hurricane Katrina and season three will focus on the 1997 assassination of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace. “We’re striking while the iron’s hot,” Murphy says of the filming schedule. “But that was largely due to actors’ availability. If you get Annette Bening, which I did and she says, ‘You’ve got me these months,’ then that’s when you do it. ” Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson

Pope Francis Apologizes for Catholic Church’s Role in 1994 Rwanda Genocide

John J. Xenakis

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics. com, Pope Francis meets Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame on Monday (CNA) In 1994, there were two major ethnic groups in Rwanda: the Hutus and the Tutsis. They had lived together for decades, had intermarried, had their kids play games with each other and so forth. The iconic genocidal war between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi in 1994 was the culmination of centuries of generational crisis wars between the two tribes, where the Tutsis were the herders who controlled the land, and the Hutus were the farmers who worked for the Tutsis. On April 6, a plane crash killed Juvenal Habyarimana, the president of Rwanda, a Hutu, when the plane was shot down by an unknown assailant. Next, a Hutu leader announced over the radio, “Cut down the tall trees,” referring to the Tutsis, who were generally taller than Hutus. The radio announcement, which was heard all over the country, was some sort of prearranged signal. On cue, each Hutu did something like the following: Picked up a machete, went to the Tutsi home next door, or down the street, murdered and dismembered the man and children, raped the wife and then murdered and dismembered her. Close to a million Tutsis were tortured, raped and murdered in a three month period. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, this is the purest modern example of an “organic” or “indigenous” genocide, as opposed to a genocide such as is occurring today in Syria. And in Rwanda, it made no difference that almost everyone is Christian, mostly Catholic. All humans, of whatever religion, have the same DNA. Since 1994, relations between Rwanda and the Vatican have been stormy, with the Tutsis accusing the Church of being close to the Hutus, and for having participated in the massacres. Although some Hutu clergy members helped the Tutsis, in other cases, Hutu clergy were perpetrators. In some cases, the Hutu clergy ushered Tutsis into church buildings, promising them security, and then allowed them to be slaughtered. On Monday, Pope Francis met at the Vatican with Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame, and issued a statement apologizing on behalf of the Catholic Church for the Church’s involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide: In this context, the Pope conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the Church, for the genocide against the Tutsi. He expressed his solidarity with the victims and with those who continue to suffer the consequences of those tragic events and … he implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom priests, and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission. In light of the recent Holy Year of Mercy and of the Statement published by the Rwandan Bishops at its conclusion, the Pope also expressed the desire that this humble recognition of the failings of that period, which, unfortunately, disfigured the face of the Church, may contribute to a “purification of memory” and may promote, in hope and renewed trust, a future of peace, witnessing to the concrete possibility of living and working together, once the dignity of the human person and the common good are put at the centre. Pope Francis referred to a statement published by the Rwandan Bishops on November 20, 2016: We apologize for all the wrongs the Church committed. We apologize on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated (their) oath of allegiance to God’s commandments … Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn’t show that we are one family but instead killed each other. While the Bishops’ statement was welcomed last November, the government of Rwanda issued a stinging rebuke: This step is welcome, as individual expressions of remorse. However, its profound inadequacy only serves to highlight how far the Catholic Church still remains from a full and honest reckoning with its moral and legal responsibilities. First, as they apologize on behalf of a few unnamed individuals, the bishops appear to take the extraordinary step of exonerating the Catholic Church as a whole for any culpability in connection with the Genocide. Everything in the historical record contradicts this divisive claim … Finally, given the scale of the crimes, there is ample justification for an apology from the Vatican, as has occurred repeatedly with other cases of lesser magnitude. This rebuke led to the Pope’s apology on Monday. Vatican Press Release and Catholic News Agency ( ) and Govt of Rwanda ( ) Related Articles, It is to the credit of the Catholic Church that the Pope is willing to apologize for its part in the Rwanda genocide, even if it take over 20 years for the apology to occur. However, the Rwanda genocide should remind us that what Generational Dynamics tells us is true: That when it comes to genocide, every ethnic group, every religious group, every geographic group, is the same as every other. Indeed, if some religious or ethnic group refused to commit genocide, then in a matter of one or two centuries they would be exterminated by another group that was not so fastidious. Whether a particular demographic group is involved in or inclined to genocide or ethnic cleansing or atrocities depends on which generational era it is in. A group in a generational Awakening era, like America in the 1960s, would be very reluctant to commit atrocities because the atrocities from the previous generational crisis war would still be well remembered by its survivors. But as a group goes deeper into a generational Crisis era, as the survivors of the previous crisis war die off, as do the memories of the atrocities that occurred during that war, then the population is more willing to commit atrocities, ethnic cleansing and genocide. People of the Muslim faith are most closely identified with atrocities in the current era, which is not surprising since almost every atrocity in the news these days is almost always perpetrated by some Sunni Muslim jihadist group. However, it is worth pointing out that of the 1. 6 billion Muslims in the world, there is only a very small number, probably in the thousands or tens of thousands, that support the and ISIS atrocities. From the point of view of generational theory, this situation is attributable to the fact most Sunni Muslim countries are deep into a generation Crisis era, much more so than the Christian nations. The reason is that their last crisis war for many Sunni Muslim nations was not World War II, but was World War I, including the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. This means that there are absolutely no Sunni Muslim survivors remaining who remember the horrors and atrocities of WWI, and the younger generations have no fear of repeating them. People who say that there is a war by Muslims against Christians are completely missing the point. It is true that jihadist groups sometimes target Christians, but these are almost always little more than gruesome publicity stunts. The number of Christians being killed by Muslims is minuscule compared to the number of Muslims being killed by Muslims. Jihadist groups linked to or to the Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) are overwhelmingly targeting other Muslims, and rarely Christians. The genocide being perpetrated by Syria’s president Bashar serves as an example to distinguish between atrocities, for which is responsible, and “organic” atrocities, such as those committed by ISIS fighters or the Hutus in Rwanda. As I’ve been reporting many times over the last couple of years, ’s army is supporting him only with massive numbers of desertions. himself said in 2015 that his army was near defeat, but was saved by the Russians. Syria is not in a generational Crisis era. It is in a generational Awakening era, and the public supports the war just as the American public supported the Vietnam war in the 1960s. From the point of view of generational theory, it is rare for a genocide or ethnic cleansing to be purely organic or but in an Awakening era, it is going to be almost completely while in a Crisis era, it will be “organic,” whether or not it is government led. In an Awakening era, the atrocities are often perpetrated by a leader who refused to lead office, such as we are seeing in Syria, Burundi, and Zimbabwe. Two modern special cases are worth mentioning. In the Central African Republic (CAR) there are atrocities being committed on both sides, by both Muslims and Christians. CAR’s last crisis war climaxed in 1932, so the country is well into a generational Crisis era, and that affects both the Christian and Muslim population. The other special case is occurring in Myanmar (Burma) in the early stages of a generational Crisis era, where Buddhists, led by Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu and his “969 movement,” are conducting atrocities targeting the Rohingya Muslims, including rapes, torture and other atrocities committed by Buddhists, targeting the Rohingyas. The Rohingyas have a darker skin than Burmese, and they speak a Bengali dialect. The actions by the Buddhists were similar to the actions by the Nazis against the Jews. So it’s good that the Catholic Church has apologized for its participation in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, although it took over 20 years for the apology to be forthcoming. Perhaps in another 20 years, some Muslim clerics will apologize for the atrocities being committed today in the name of Islam. Related Articles, KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Pope Francis, Vatican, Rwanda, Paul Kagame, Hutus, Tutsis, Juvenal Habyarimana, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh, Syria, Bashar Central African Republic, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Burma, Ashin Wirathu, 969 movement, Rohingyas Permanent web link to this article Receive daily World View columns by

Trump: Elizabeth Warren Running for President in 2020 ’a Dream Come True’ - Breitbart

Katherine Rodriguez

President Donald Trump said in an interview Saturday night that he would happily challenge Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( ) in 2020, calling that scenario “a dream come true. ”[“I think she would lose so badly,” Trump told Fox News’ Jesse Watters. “She hurt Hillary Clinton very badly” in the 2016 presidential election, the president stated. Warren, who has captured the hearts of progressives, was a campaign surrogate for Clinton during the 2016 election and appeared with Clinton in battleground states such as Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. “I watched that last couple weeks, where she was getting up with that craziness and anger,” Trump said of Warren’s final few appearances on the campaign trail. “They are hard. I said, ‘She is bad for Hillary. ’” “Pocahontas would not be proud of her as her representative, believe me,” Trump continued, bringing up a nickname for Warren that he used from on the campaign trail. Watters suggested that Warren would “probably run against” Trump in 2020. “I hope so,” Trump responded. “That would be a dream come true. ” Warren has attacked Trump on the campaign trail, calling Trump a “nasty, fraud” during the American Constitution Society convention in Washington in June. She has continued to attack Trump after he assumed the presidency, most recently for Trump’s decision to fire federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, when she said the president wants a bunch of “tame prosecutors who won’t investigate him. ”

SWEDEN: Filthy Muslim savage tries to cut ahead of a Swedish woman in line

BareNakedIslam

Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. PLEASE DONATE TO KEEP BARE NAKED ISLAM UP AND RUNNING. Choose DONATE for one-time donation or SUBSCRIBE for monthly donations Payment Options GET ALL NEW BNI POSTS/LINKS ON TWITTER Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address CONTACT: barenakedislam@gmail.com Top Posts

Hillary Wins Popular Vote; Trump Will Be the Next President

Bob Adelmann

Email Following one of the most contentious presidential elections in recent memory, Hillary Clinton won more popular votes than Donald Trump in the nationwide election — while losing to Trump in the Electoral College vote. As of Wednesday morning (when this is being written), incomplete returns showed Clinton leading Trump by 165,292 popular votes — 59,344,158 to 59,178,867. But since the Constitution still reigns, members of the Electoral College are expected to meet next month and elect Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution states: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress…. That means that 100 electors (representing two senators from each of the 50 states) plus 435 electors (representing the 435 members of the House of Representatives) plus three electors granted to the District of Columbia (a total of 538 electors) will actually elect the next president of the United States, not the voters themselves. Those electors are going to give Trump at least 289 votes, more than the 270 needed to elect him as president. If Hillary had her way she would be president instead. As far back as the year 2000, in her first public appearance as New York’s junior senator-elect, she said: “I believe strongly that in a democracy [sic], we should respect the will of the people, and to me that means it’s time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president.” Which is precisely why the Founders of the Republic did everything they could think of to keep the newborn republic from being transformed by power seekers such as Clinton into a democracy by putting in place such apparent anomalies as the Electoral College. Writing in The New American , constitutional lawyer Joe Wolverton explained one of the reasons why. In an article just before the national elections in 2012, he noted: As the situation stands today, a successful candidate is required to build a coalition of electoral support from across the country. The frequent trips to Iowa, New Hampshire, and other less populous states witness this campaign reality. To be elected, a candidate cannot simply woo voters in urban areas while ignoring those citizens living between the two coastal megalopolises. Should [a] National Popular Vote measure become the de facto law of the land, a candidate could simply spend time, money, and attention on the large cities in order to ensure garnering a plurality of votes on Election Day. John Ryder, then a member of the Republican National Committee, expanded: “Under such an arrangement, presidential candidates would have no incentive to campaign anywhere except the major media markets in a few states. The country would, in essence, cede our presidential elections to the largest metropolitan areas, whose concerns are different from those of other areas of the country.” The Founders knew from history the dangers of letting a majority override the interests and rights of a minority — that that majority would eventually become tyrannical, inimical to the minority’s rights. Constitutional scholar Dan Smoot explained: From their vast knowledge of history, the American Founding Fathers knew that unlimited political power cannot safely be trusted to anyone — not to appointed officials of government, not to elected representatives of the people, not to the people themselves. Hence, they devised a system to control political power by dispersing it and balancing it so that too much power could not be concentrated in any one place. By requiring the states to nominate its own electors, those smaller states would have a larger voice in the national election, as James Madison noted in The Federalist Papers : “It may well be that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people , will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves.” (Emphasis added.) Madison continued: The immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station [of president] and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choices. A small number of persons, selected by their fellow citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to so complicated an investigation. Pulitzer-Prize winner and conservative commentator George Will saw clearly what the Founders were trying to accomplish through the Electoral College’s interposition between the people and those running for the presidency, noting: The core principle of our republicanism is representation: The people do not decide things[;] they decide who will decide. Representatives are supposed to deliberate about the national interest, not just broker demands registered from various factions. There were other reasons as well. Gouvenour Morris, a Founding Father who represented Pennsylvania during the Constitutional Convention in 1787, explained that there were fears of “intrigue” if the president were chosen by a small group of men who met clandestinely, as well as concerns over his independence from the Legislative branch if he was elected by the Congress. Fisher Ames, a member of the first three Congresses, was blunt: The Electoral College was designed to protect the citizenry against the dangers and ravages of a runaway democracy: “Popular reason does not always know how to act right, nor does it always act right when it knows.” He added that “every move … towards a more complete, unmixed democracy is an advance towards destruction; it is treading where the ground is treacherous and excavated for an explosion. Liberty has never yet lasted long in a democracy; nor has it ever ended in anything better than despotism.” A scant 165,292 votes cast on Tuesday, without the Electoral College in place, would have elected one skilled in the ways of treachery, despotism, and destruction. An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Related articles:

Florida’s “deceptive” solar initiative, backed by utilities companies, loses support

Nika Knight

Florida’s “deceptive” solar initiative, backed by utilities companies, loses support ‘It's a monopoly wolf in solar sheep's clothing’ By Nika Knight Posted on November 4, 2016 by Nika Knight As utilities companies funnel millions of dollars into a last-ditch effort to convince Florida voters to pass an anti-solar initiative, the latest polling data shows support for the measure falling . Florida’s Amendment 1 is “ deceptive ,” environmentalists argue, as it is written in pro-solar language but would in actuality block widespread adoption of solar power in the Sunshine State. The measure is backed by a political committee formed by utilities companies, which has so far raised more than $26 million to fund the campaign. “As we like to say, ‘it’s a monopoly wolf in solar sheep’s clothing,’” Dr. Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and a founding member of Floridians for Solar Choice, told the Sierra Club’s Sierra magazine. “We are in a pitted battle to stop the utilities from choking off citizen-owned solar.” The initiative would “write people’s right to own or lease solar panels and other equipment into the state constitution,” InsideClimate News explains . “But it would also make it unconstitutional to require a utility’s non-solar customers to subsidize those who do go solar. Those subsidies have helped make home solar affordable and are the best incentive to push the fast-growing energy source to widespread use.” Support for the measure fell markedly after an audio recording leaked to the public last month in which a lobbyist working for electric companies bragged about the measure to industry insiders. The Miami Herald/Times , which released the recording, reported : Sal Nuzzo, a vice president at the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee, [ . . . ] called the amendment, which has received more than $21 million in utility industry financing, “an incredibly savvy maneuver” that “would completely negate anything they [pro-solar interests] would try to do either legislatively or constitutionally down the road,” according to an audio recording of the event supplied to the Herald/Times . He offered others a recommendation: “As you guys look at policy in your state, or constitutional ballot initiatives in your state, remember this: Solar polls very well,” he said. “To the degree that we can use a little bit of political jiu-jitsu and take what they’re kind of pinning us on and use it to our benefit either in policy, in legislation or in constitutional referendums—if that’s the direction you want to take—use the language of promoting solar, and kind of, kind of put in these protections for consumers that choose not to install rooftop. “I’m discouraged as a citizen how far we have slipped and see Amendment 1 as a means of accelerating that decline in solar in Florida,” Graham said, according to the Miami Herald And Graham’s far from the only prominent voice to condemn the measure: “Former Vice President Al Gore, speaking at a rally for Hillary Clinton, described the amendment as ‘ phony baloney. ‘ Carl Hiassen, Florida’s best-known opinion journalist, has called the proposal a ‘ slick, oily fraud, ‘ and even the usually apolitical Jimmy Buffett has urged a no vote, noted Such statements from opponents of the initiative have gone far to quell support, according to a new poll One of those voters was “Barbara Waks, a retiree who had already mailed in her early-voting ballot when the Herald story appeared. She said that she thought she was supporting renewable energy,” the New York Times reported “I felt so stupid,” she told the Times. “I’m familiar with the political arena and the garbage that exists, but this is beyond the pale. Nika Knight is a Common Dreams

Charts Indicate Now May Be an Excellent Entry Point For Silver

The Doc

Charts Indicate Now May Be an Excellent Entry Point For Silver Posted on Tweet Home » Silver » Silver News » Charts Indicate Now May Be an Excellent Entry Point For Silver Calling an end to the correction in silver is tricky, but technical analyst Clive Maund sees an intermediate base forming for silver stocks, a “classic buy spot.” Submitted by Streetwise : Although at first glance it’s a tricky call, because superficially a bear flag appears to be completing in silver, on closer inspection it now looks like silver’s correction is done and an intermediate base pattern is completing . If so, we are at an excellent entry point for many silver stocks, which have been savagely beaten down over the past several months—a necessary correction following their outsized run-up earlier in the year. On its one-year chart we can see that silver’s corrective action from early July has brought it all the way back to its steadily rising 200-day moving average, a classic buy spot, where a potential intermediate base has formed. This corrective action has more than completely unwound the earlier overbought condition. However, there are grounds for concern on two counts. One is that the steep drop early in October broke the price below the uptrend line shown, and the other is that the pattern that has since formed looks very much like a bear flag at first glance. If it is, another sharp drop will follow soon. Thus, it is interesting to observe that the volume pattern is not consistent with this being a bear flag. Instead, it is consistent with this being an intermediate base pattern. To properly examine the volume pattern in this sideways formation, we need to refer to a three-month chart, which opens it out sufficiently to see what is going on in detail. Buy 2017 30 gram Gold Pandas and Buy 2017 Silver Panda Coins On Pre-Sale Now! Secure Your 2017 Panda Coins Today at SD Bullion! On the three-month chart, we can see in detail the tight pattern that has developed following the sharp drop early in October. It looks like a bear flag until you look at the volume. Instead of a volume pattern consistent with a bear flag, which would feature greater downside volume days than upside volume, and a steady trend to lighter volume, we have the exact opposite over the past couple of weeks—greater upside volume days and a trend of increasing volume. To steal a term from Infowars or Zero Hedge, this suggests a “false flag” that will lead to an upside breakout. On silver’s seven-year chart we can see the 2011–2015 bear market in its entirety, and how breakout from the major downtrend channel led to a not-particularly impressive rally up to important resistance, where the advance stalled out and reaction set in. The relative feebleness of the rally following the breakout from the downtrend is not a cause for concern, as in the early stages of a bull market gold tends to outperform silver—and it certainly didn’t bother silver stocks any. Silver’s next major upleg should take it above this resistance, albeit perhaps after something of a battle, and then on toward the next important resistance level in the $26–27 zone. Although silver’s long-term, 20-year chart presents a more messy picture than gold’s 20-year chart, it does also show that the 2011 bear market may be viewed as a big correction to the major bull market advance from late 2001, as is the case with gold. Unlike gold’s corrective bear market, which stopped at a major support level related to an extensive period of trading in 2008–2009, silver dropped down through its corresponding support level on its corrective bear market, and found support at a lower level related to an extensive period of trading in 2006–2007. All of this does mean that, so far, silver has been underperforming gold. Clive Maund has been president of www.clivemaund.com, a successful resource sector website, since its inception in 2003. He has 30 years’ experience in technical analysis and has worked for banks, commodity brokers and stockbrokers in the City of London. He holds a Diploma in Technical Analysis from the UK Society of Technical Analysts. Want to read more Gold Report articles like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you’ll learn when new articles have been published. To see recent articles and interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page. This entry was posted in Gold News , Silver News and tagged Clive Maund , gold update , silver update . Bookmark the permalink . Post navigation

How to Become a C.E.O.? The Quickest Path Is a Winding One - The New York Times

Neil Irwin

How does a person get to be the boss? What does it take for an ambitious young person starting a career to reach upper rungs of the corporate world — the C. E. O. ’s office, or other jobs that come with words like “chief” or “vice president” on the office door? The answer has always included hard work, brains, leadership ability and luck. But in the 21st century, another, less understood attribute seems to be particularly important. To get a job as a top executive, new evidence shows, it helps greatly to have experience in as many of a business’s functional areas as possible. A person who burrows down for years in, say, the finance department stands less of a chance of reaching a top executive job than a corporate finance specialist who has also spent time in, say, marketing. Or engineering. Or both of those, plus others. However, there is still such a thing as too much variety: Switching industries has a negative correlation with corporate success, which may speak to the importance of building relationships and experience within an industry. Switching between companies within an industry neither helps nor hurts in making it to a top job. These are some of the big findings in a new study of 459, 000 onetime management consultants by the social network LinkedIn. Experience in one additional functional area improved a person’s odds of becoming a senior executive as much as three years of extra experience. And working in four different functions had nearly the same impact as getting an M. B. A. from a program. This interactive graphic shows how different traits affected a former consultant’s likelihood of ending up as a top executive of a midsize or large company. Similarly, Burning Glass, a firm that scours millions of job listings to detect labor market trends, has found a surge in demand for what it calls hybrid jobs, incorporating expertise in, for example, both technology and finance. And researchers have found that M. B. A. holders with a variety of experiences get more offers and higher bonuses from investment banks than those with narrower experience. While some of this might sound intuitive, and top executives have always needed to have grounding in a range of specialties, huge collections of data about individuals have only recently made it possible to analyze in such detail what traits and experiences seem to predict success in the job market. In effect, the increased ability to collect and analyze such troves of data raises the possibility that in the future we’ll be able to better understand what types of education the workers of the future most need, how companies can best recruit future star performers and how individuals can position themselves to benefit from shifts in what skills the modern economy most rewards. There is a lot of work to be done to get to that point. But this early evidence suggests that success in the business world isn’t just about brainpower or climbing a linear path to the top, but about accumulating diverse skills and showing an ability to learn about fields outside one’s comfort zone. “Work used to be much more hierarchical, and in many instances rote,” said Gary Pinkus, McKinsey Company’s managing partner for North America. “You could build a nice career within any particular function by taking on more responsibility within that specialty. But if you look at most companies now, work has become incredibly . ” Once upon a time, Mr. Pinkus said, an operations manager might be on making a factory work efficiently. Now to be great at that job — and earn a promotion to vice president or beyond — that manager had better also understand how the factory’s inventory procedures tie in with the company’s sales and marketing strategy, and any tax laws affecting inventory management, while assuring the reliability of the supply chain. The manager had better also be adept at using the technology that links all that information together. Marc Andreessen, the prominent venture capitalist, has gone so far as to call this the “secret formula to becoming a C. E. O. ” The most successful corporate leaders, he wrote, “are almost never the best product visionaries, or the best salespeople, or the best marketing people, or the best finance people, or even the best managers, but they are top 25 percent in some set of those skills, and then all of a sudden they’re qualified to actually run something important. ” George Kurian was a young engineer at Oracle in the early 1990s, helping build database software. Then a manager pushed him to break out of his software engineering silo and see what it was like to deal with potential customers. That’s when things got interesting. “I had built a set of technologies I thought were groundbreaking,” he recalled recently. “I went into this meeting expecting I was going to bring my engineering skills and wow this customer with our amazing technology. She asked, ‘Who built this piece of software?’ and I said, ‘Yes, that was me.’ ” Her next comment, though, wasn’t what Mr. Kurian expected at all. “She said, ‘You have no idea what my day looks like,’ ” Mr. Kurian recalled. The software didn’t solve the problems the customer actually had. The valuable lesson for the young engineer? Work that seems impressive on an engineering level isn’t always what will most satisfy paying clients. As a product manager, Mr. Kurian added sales and marketing and team management to his engineering background. He later did a stint as a strategy consultant, which he recalls as a crash course in quickly synthesizing information about unfamiliar situations. He considers the combination of all of these areas a key to his path to becoming chief executive of NetApp, a data storage company with a $10 billion market value. He represents one common way to collect experience across functions: Within a larger company, pursue opportunities that are adjacent to, yet different from, existing expertise. “People tend to think of their career as a linear progression,” he said. “I think having a nonlinear career progression helped me. ” The LinkedIn data doesn’t address causality. Did Mr. Kurian advance to a C. E. O. job because he gained experience across different functions, or did the traits that led him to take on a variety of assignments in his career also lead to his being an attractive candidate for top jobs? And the former consultants who created detailed LinkedIn profiles may be different in some systematic way from those who did not, which would distort the results. Beyond the results on job functions, the data from LinkedIn shows some trends for which the explanations aren’t completely obvious. For example, former consultants who lived in New York or Los Angeles had higher odds of ending up with a top job than people in other large cities like Washington or Houston. A former management consultant with 15 years of work experience in six different functions and an M. B. A. from a top school had a 66 percent chance of becoming a top executive if he lived in New York compared with a 38 percent chance in Washington. But regardless of how exactly the cause and effect works and how the consultants analyzed might be different from others who weren’t included in the sample, there is evidence that more top jobs in business require an ability to meld knowledge from different fields. In a 2014 survey of 2, 100 chief financial officers by Robert Half Management Resources, 85 percent said their role had expanded beyond traditional accounting and work over the preceding three years, most commonly into human resources and information technology. And two business school professors, Jennifer Merluzzi of Tulane and Damon J. Phillips of Columbia, studied hundreds of graduates of an elite M. B. A. program who went into investment banking. The people who were specialists — who had focused only on banking in the past — received fewer offers and lower starting bonuses than those who had worked across various specialties. Burning Glass found a 53 percent rise in the number of openings for hybrid jobs requiring both technological and business acumen from 2011 to 2015, for jobs like product management and marketing analytics. “The common theme that we see in the jobs that are the and have the highest value for employers and job seekers is this set of jobs that require a mix of skills that don’t tend to ride together in nature,” said Matthew Sigelman, the chief executive of Burning Glass. There are ways a young person can gain experience across functions that aren’t a matter of taking on different assignments within a big company. Marla Malcolm Beck embodies this other, more entrepreneurial path. Ms. Beck worked in consulting right out of college in the then studied at Harvard Business School and worked briefly in private equity. But she found the work unfulfilling, and in 1999 started Blue Mercury as an online seller of beauty products. Soon after, as the boom turned bust, the company pivoted toward physical stores. Ms. Beck built Blue Mercury into a chain. Macy’s acquired the company for $210 million last year, and she remains its chief executive. In her days as a consultant she had worked on projects like figuring out the pricing of mutual funds and the claims process for an insurance company. As a retail C. E. O. she essentially trained herself across the various functions it takes to make a retail business work: inventory and supply chain management, information technology systems and everything else. She acted as the company’s chief financial officer even as it grew, entrusting routine accounting to a controller but doing the strategic work of forecasting and financial modeling herself. Some fields have come easier to her than others. “I think I’m almost too logical for some of the emotion around marketing,” she said. Her approach has been to break down each of these new areas in which she had to immerse herself as a founder the way she once did in unfamiliar fields as a consultant. “What I really learned from those experiences was how to break down even the most complicated processes into their most minuscule components,” she said. “It’s an approach that you can use to tackle any process in any organization. ” In hiring at Blue Mercury’s corporate headquarters in Washington, she has focused less on traditional retail industry experience and more on people who have a comfort with engineering processes, skills they can apply to whatever urgent task arises. In other words, she didn’t become chief executive by getting loads of experience across functions. Rather, she took some core analytical skills and used them to learn to develop experience in those functions as she went. There are some parallels with programs that the biggest companies have long operated to deliberately rotate promising young executives across different divisions, to ensure that as they hit midcareer they have broad experience. The challenge can be to replicate that kind of experience even in a world where few people sign on with a single large employer for decades. To be a C. E. O. or other top executive, said Guy Berger, an economist at LinkedIn, “you need to understand how the different parts of a company work and how they interact with each other and understand how other people do their job, even if it’s something you don’t know well enough to do yourself. ” Kai Monahan embodies a third pathway through different specialties into top executive jobs. He didn’t start his own company, like Ms. Beck, or gradually add different layers of experience that were adjacent to his previous job, like Mr. Kurian. Rather, at some key junctures he jumped headlong into an entirely new function. In 1999, he left the (now defunct) accounting and consulting firm Arthur Andersen, where he had worked on projects to transform businesses, for Ernst Young, where he focused on risk management, a less sexy field that became more in demand after the accounting scandals at Enron and others starting in 2001. In 2008, he joined Nationwide Insurance as its chief audit executive, before quickly moving out of the back office and into selling financial products to consumers in an operational role. He became president of Nationwide’s mortgage business in 2014. It helped that he had an early mentor who encouraged him to take risks in his career by taking on jobs he was unfamiliar with — and bosses willing to take a chance on assigning him jobs he wasn’t qualified for on paper. After all, if you assign, say, an accounting specialist to run a logistics operation, there’s a chance that person will fail. What’s best for the employee who wants to get broad experience to help climb the ranks may not be what is best for the employer who wants deeply experienced people in every job. “There’s comfort in familiarity,” Mr. Monahan said. “Leaders can be reluctant to hire someone who doesn’t have directly applicable experience. That’s still a that is fairly prevalent. ” But how does one navigate into sharply different functional specialties while also dealing with new colleagues and a new organizational culture? “If you’re in your comfort zone, it’s very easy to stay in your comfort zone,” said Paul McDonald, a senior executive director at the recruitment firm Robert Half International. “What was critical for me in going into new functional areas was breaking that habit of feeling like you have to know it all,” Mr. Monahan said. “When you’re honest with yourself and with others in terms of your need for their support and involvement, generally people are willing to share with you what they know and help you be successful. ” In other words, the path to the executive suite may be long and winding, and include stops in many different types of specialties. But the key to navigating it is being able to learn from others all along the way.

FAKE NEWS: British GQ Names MILO ’Worst Dressed 2017’ - Breitbart

Mike Ma

GQ UK announced their Top 10 Worst Dressed of 2017 and Breitbart News senior editor MILO has come in at Number 7. [The caption below his photo places more emphasis on politics than on dress sense: “Banned from Twitter for trolling, the rabidly journalist is in a minority all of his own as one of the world’s worst dressed gay men. ” This isn’t GQ UK’s first attack on Breitbart’s resident gay thot, as we’ve seen with articles like “MILO Is Teaching The Internet How To Hate” or even the recent “MILO ‘Bans’ British GQ. ” GQ’s list also features Paul Nuttal, leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) the British political party widely acknowledged as one of the leading forces behind Brexit. However not all of his GQ coverage has been negative. Their Australian branch published this story, “Donald Trump’s Biggest Supporter Is The ‘ Faggot’ Milo Yiannopoulos,” a fair and honest view of a day in MILO’s world. MILO had this to say about the drama: “Remember British GQ getting all upset because I wouldn’t give them an interview? They’re still desperate for my attention, this time putting me on their “worst dressed” list, which is about the weakest troll imaginable. ” View post on imgur. com, DANGEROUS is available to now via Amazon, in hardcover and Kindle editions. And yes, MILO is reading the audiobook version himself!

Two Izadi women who escaped Daesh win EU’s top rights award

EU In this December 30, 2015 photo, Iraqi Izadi Nadia Murad Basee (C) is welcomed by Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos (R) before their meeting in Athens. (Photo by AP) The European Parliament has awarded two Iraqi women from the Izadi minority group its prestigious human rights prize. On Thursday, Nadia Murad and Lamia Haji Bashar won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for their plight when they, along with other women and girls were abducted, tortured and sexually abused by Daesh terrorists after the militants overran northern Iraq two years ago. The two were awarded the prize as part of efforts to protect the Izadis, who are followers of an ancient religion mostly practiced by more than half a million people in northern Iraq. The community members, especially women, have been subject to torture, sexual abuse and slavery by Daesh. European Parliament chief, Martin Schulz, hailed the two Izadi women for their bravery, saying they had“a painful and tragic story” but “felt compelled to survive to bear witness.” "The courage of these two women, [and] the dignity they represent defies all description,” Schulz told the assembly in Strasbourg. This photo taken on May 5, 2016 shows Lamia Haji Bashar, an 18-year-old Izadi girl who escaped Daesh, in northern Iraq. (Photo by AP) Daesh abducted Murad from her home village of Kocho near Iraq's northern town of Sinjar in August 2014. The slight, softly-spoken young woman, who is now 23, was then brought to the city of Mosul, where she was tortured and raped. Bashar, from the same village, was enslaved and sold two years ago after watching the slaughter of her family and friends by Daesh. The 18-year-old then fell prey to an Iraqi hospital director after 20 months of captivity. She later lost her right eye in a mine explosion which hit one of her friends. The annual Sakharov human rights prize honors individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression. It is named after dissident Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov, who died in 1989. Loading ...

Despite opposition by majority of voters, Maryland fracking ban may be lifted

Thu, 27 Oct 2016 14:20 UTC © Andrew Cullen / Reuters Fracking has been banned in Maryland since last year, but next year's proposed regulations jeopardize the moratorium. While the planned regulations are strict, they would allow fracking - a practice which is opposed by the majority of voters. Maryland has a year until its moratorium on fracking expires, but voters are already being asked to consider new rules on the controversial practice. Those rules would introduce heavy regulations but leave room for the possibility to allow fracking. A statewide poll taken by OpinionWorks found that 56 percent of Maryland voters would support a complete, statewide ban on fracking. Fracking is the method of pumping water and various chemicals deep underground in order to extract natural gas. Only six percent of the voters in the Maryland poll believe fracking comes without any risks. The risks of fracking are still being studied and were part of the two-year moratorium issued in 2015. A study by the state's Department of Environment is expected to show the potential impact of fracking, then use those factors to develop industry guidelines. The department has until the end of the month to finalize its proposed regulations. With only 28 percent of polled voters opposing a complete ban on the practice, some Maryland politicians are looking to pass laws that would make the ban on fracking permanent. In September, State Senator Robert Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) told The Washington Post that he would push for a complete ban, saying "there is only one answer, and that is to ban fracking in the state." "If at some point in the future it is absolutely foolproof safe, then we can have another discussion," Zirkin added. "But as of 2016, multiple states have done this, and all of them have seen bad results." Other state lawmakers have kept their efforts local by trying to create small government regulations that would keep fracking out of their counties. Prince George's County banned the practice explicitly last spring, while Montgomery County effectively banned it through a change in its zoning laws. Comment: The oil and gas industry is battling tooth and nail to continue fracking as more communities are taking steps to institute bans - and with good reasons:

Big Government Republicans Rebuke Trump Budget - Breitbart

Neil W. McCabe

Kentucky Republican congressman Hal Rogers, who has spent more than three decades on the House Appropriations Committee, including six years as the chairman, rejected President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget as Congress begins consideration of the president’s rearrangement of priorities. [“While we have a responsibility to reduce our federal deficit, I am disappointed that many of the reductions and eliminations proposed in the President’s skinny budget are draconian, careless and counterproductive,” said Rogers, one of the “cardinals,” the nickname for the lawmakers controlling how federal money is spent. Rogers said he was concerned about cuts to programs in Kentucky. “In particular, the Appalachian Regional Commission has a history of bipartisan support in Congress because of its proven ability to help reduce poverty rates and extend basic necessities to communities across the Appalachian region,” he said. “Today, nearly everyone in the region has access to clean water and sewer, the workforce is diversifying, educational opportunities are improving, and rural technology is finally advancing to 21st Century standards. “We will certainly review this budget proposal, but Congress ultimately has the power of the purse. As the full budget picture emerges in the coming weeks, I am optimistic that we can work with the Administration to responsibly fund the federal government, including those agencies which serve as vital economic lifelines in rural parts of the country that are still working to overcome substantial challenges. “As the full budget picture emerges in the coming weeks, I am optimistic that we can work with the Administration to responsibly fund the federal government, including those agencies which serve as vital economic lifelines in rural parts of the country that are still working to overcome substantial challenges. ” Another top House Republican and the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Mike Conaway, took shots at the president’s cuts to the agriculture programs. “At first blush, I am pleased that the administration is working to restore the strength of our nation’s armed forces to make sure that our men and women in uniform have the equipment that they need to defend our country and our interests around the world,” said Conaway, a Texas Republican who also sits on both the Intelligence and Armed Services Committee. “On the USDA budget, I am concerned that the cuts, while relatively small in the context of the total federal budget, could hamper some vital work of the department,” he said. “I think it is very important to remember that net farm income is down 50 percent from where it stood just four years ago. America’s farmers and ranchers are struggling, and we need to be extremely careful not to exacerbate these conditions. In fact, we need to do all we can to be there to help our farmers and ranchers. The work they do is critical. “I think it is very important to remember that net farm income is down 50 percent from where it stood just four years ago. America’s farmers and ranchers are struggling, and we need to be extremely careful not to exacerbate these conditions. In fact, we need to do all we can to be there to help our farmers and ranchers. ” Another Republican taking on the president’s budget cuts is Sen. Rob Portman ( ). “The Great Lakes are an invaluable resource to Ohio, and The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been a successful partnership that helps protect both our environment and our economy,” Portman said. “The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been a critical tool in our efforts to help protect and restore Lake Erie, and when the Obama administration proposed cuts to the program, I helped lead the effort to restore full funding,” he said. “I have long championed this program, and I’m committed to continuing to do everything I can to protect and preserve Lake Erie, including preserving this critical program and its funding. ” When he announced the president’s budget, Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, explained that his budget request was based on Trump’s own speeches and campaign promises. “Knowing what you know about the President, you could imagine what that budget would look like before you even see it, which is that there will be more money on defense — $54 billion,” Mulvaney said. “There’s more money for enforcing security at the border. There’s more money for enforcing laws on the books just generally. Then, there’s more money for things like private and public school choice,” he said. “Conversely, since the President wanted to do that without adding to the $488 billion deficit in fiscal year 2018, there were reductions elsewhere to offset dollar for dollar, all of those increases,” he said. Taking the opposite tact was Sen. Bob Corker ( .) the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he was willing to accept cuts to the State Department and other projects under his jurisdiction as long as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is comfortable with the loss of budget funds. “Secretary Tillerson has said he willingly accepts this challenge, and I look forward to sitting down with him soon to discuss this proposal and how he believes he can accomplish his work at these budget levels,” he said. “At the end of the day, while the administration proposes a budget, ultimately it is the role of Congress to dispose it and fund government,” he said. I believe we can strike an appropriate balance that recognizes the critical role of diplomacy in keeping our military out of harm’s way and appropriately advancing our nation’s interests while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used in the most efficient and effective manner. “I believe we can strike an appropriate balance that recognizes the critical role of diplomacy in keeping our military out of harm’s way and appropriately advancing our nation’s interests while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used in the most efficient and effective manner. ”

Powerful earthquake hits ROME just two months after tremor killed 300 people.

IWB

Powerful earthquake hits ROME just two months after tremor killed 300 people. by IWB · October 26, 2016 A strong earthquake has hit Rome, shaking centuries-old buildings in the Italian capital. It is not known if it has caused significant casualties. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 5.6 on the Richter scale but that was later revised to 5.4. The epicentre was 50 miles south east of Perugia in the central spine of Italy, which has traditionally been prone to quakes. Arcangelo Vicedomini, a software developer in Nettuno, near Rome, tweeted: ‘Earthquake in Italy, 5.6 Richter, epicenter 66 km south of Perugia. In it was feeled well. In Nettuno chandeliers are dancing.’ Today’s tremor came two months after a quake in central Italy killed nearly 300 people. The August 24 quake – which measured 6.2 – destroyed the hilltop village of Amatrice and several other small towns. The US Geological Survey said today’s quake had a depth of only seven miles, which is relatively shallow.

Here’s a Summary Of the Engineered US Election Chaos With a Positive Perspective

Activist Post

By Bernie Suarez It’s always important to keep a strong perspective on reality and the objective truth about what is happening even though we ourselves...

Bishop Williamson – The Only Sin Left

wmw_admin

By wmw_admin on April 24, 2006 In the light of more recent developments this older posting is more relevent than ever now Scallywag Magazine article on Lord McAlpine and Derek Laud By wmw_admin on November 15, 2012 We repost this original 1990s article as it marks the beginning of an ongoing saga of depravity in British politics 9/11 and Zion: What Was Israel’s Role? By Nick Kollerstrom on August 31, 2012 When Netanyahu said the very next day, ‘This is very good for Israel”, he wasn’t just blurting out something indiscreet, he was publicly congratulating the various agents who had worked so hard They Live By wmw_admin on August 19, 2012 Considered by some as prophetic, many will find eerie echoes of present day concerns in John Carpenters 24-year-old ‘They Live’. View the cult classic here The Total Solar Eclipse in Scorpio, November 13th, 2012 By wmw_admin on November 16, 2012 Normally we wouldn’t post anything so arcane. But for those who don’t believe in astrology we suggest your read this with a mind open to events currently unfolding in the world

Hillary’s CRAZY EYE Loses Its Mind In Lake Worth FLA!

Barry Soetoro, Esq

Published on Oct 26, 2016 by Barry Soetoro WATCH HILLARY’S EYEBALL LOSE ITS MIND AND GO COMPLETELY INSANE IN LAKE WORTH, FL (10-26-2016) HILLARY CLINTON HAS PARKINSON’S DISEASE SINCE AT LEAST 2005, WHEN HER PUBLIC RECORD OF FALLING DOWN BEGAN. HILLARY HAS DEMENTIA AND BRAIN DAMAGE. HILLARY’S MENTAL ILLNESS IS OBVIOUS FROM THE LUNATIC BEHAVIOR OF HER EYEBALLS. THIS FOOTAGE IS VERY REAL AND VERY FRIGHTENING. NOT SUITABLE FOR SMALL CHILDREN. ALSO WATCH THESE…..

THE END GAME closes in on the Clintons as the deep state turns‌ massive collection of criminally damning evidence about to be revealed that will bring down the Clinton crime family forever

Dave Hodges

by Mike Adams , the Health Ranger (NaturalNews) My fellow Americans, we are watching history unfold before us with such sound and fury that we are likely to never witness comparable events again in our lifetime. As of today, I am now convinced that the deep state has turned on Hillary Clinton and will unveil damning evidence in the next few days that will end the Clintons’ reign of terror over America and collapse her bid for the presidency. The mainstream media, of course, will never report this news for the simple reason that they are the propaganda arm of the criminal Clinton cartel. As such, they will lie to the public to the bitter end, even as the Clinton Titanic sinks with all of them on board (in deep, frigid waters, no less, with no more lifeboats to be found). The so-called “deep state” — the powerful insiders who really run the intelligence services and inner layers of untouchable bureaucracy — has decided Hillary Clinton is too damaged to defend any longer . Even if she were to win by stealing the election, she would be so mired in criminal investigations and political illegitimacy that she would rip the nation to shreds while fighting for her own political survival. It has now been decided, I believe, that Hillary Clinton will be taken out of power by releasing criminally damaging emails which have long been held by the NSA and FBI. This will likely happen before the coming weekend. Once that is accomplished, the next goal will be to wait for President Trump to take office, then destroy the U.S. economy through a controlled, global debt collapse so that Trump can be blamed for the near collapse of western economies. (Remember: The deep state isn’t pro-Trump. They’re still all about defending the establishment. But Hillary is one bridge too far for even the statists to stomach…) Instead of allowing Hillary Clinton to take power and destroy America from the top, in other words, deep state power brokers have reverted to “Plan B” which is to let Trump take the White House, then destroy America through the controlled demolition of its currency and economy. This is simpler than it sounds. Bringing down the debt pyramid of a nation carrying nearly $20 trillion in national debt isn’t exactly rocket science. All they have to do is stand back and stop manipulating the markets and stop printing new money for a few months while raising interest rates. Monetary gravity will do the rest… In the mean time, Hillary Clinton and a long list of her co-conspirators are going to find themselves charged with obstruction of justice , lying under oath, destruction of evidence, conspiracy, corruption and other serious charges that will lead to serious prison time for many. The criminal racket of the Clintons is about to implode. The participants will be charged under the RICO Act for “racketeering” activities, for which ample evidence already exists. A new video from Steve Pieczenik describes some of this In this video, intelligence insider Steve Pieczenik lays out how high-level intelligence insiders are now working in concert to “reverse the Clinton coup” that’s attempting to take over America and destroy it from within. Even if you don’t believe Pieczenik — and I fully realize he’s controversial in his own way — this short video is a very important “must watch” explanation to know what people in the intelligence community are doing… “we’ve initiated a counter-coup…” The Clintons are going to go “full murder” in a last ditch, desperate effort to save themselves Beware of what may yet unfold in the coming days. Like a cornered wild animal, the Clintons are extremely dangerous when they realize they have nothing to lose by going “full murder” in an attempt to save themselves. I will not be surprised the least bit if bodies of people in high places start piling up over the next week. Watch for news reports of mysterious car crashes, swimming pool accidents or “natural” deaths involving people like James Comey, who’d better have armed security personnel around him at all times. Look for desperate measures such as the Clintons attempting to blackmail Obama, Comey or anyone who they think might serve as leverage to save their own skins. We might also see desperate false flag attacks unfold in the next few days, although that’s increasingly unlikely since it seems the Clintons are now on their own (they would need the assistance of Obama to pull off another Sandy Hook, you see). A deal has already been struck with Obama Most likely, deep state operatives have already struck a deal with Obama to avoid prosecuting him for his own serious crimes as long as he stays out of the way as Hillary Clinton’s head is served up on a platter. This likely explains why Obama is now publicly saying he trusts Comey (and refuses to go to bat for Hillary). There’s no love lost between Obama and the Clintons (remember 2008?). As all this is going down, the propaganda ministry of the Clinton regime — CNN, NYT, Washington Post, etc. — is going to explode into an all-out “bat-s##t crazy” conspiracy theory phase where they blame the Russians, extraterrestrials, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster for everything that’s imploding around the Clintons. Mainstream media news reports are going to increasingly sound like sociopathic babble from crazy people grasping at whatever outlandish theories they can invoke. Maybe crop circles were created by the Russians as a secret code to Wikileaks and Donald Trump, eh? Meanwhile, conspiratorial operatives like George Stephanopoulos fully realize they are probably going to jail for collusion and sedition , so they have nothing left to lose by desperately trying to put Hillary in the White House via any means at their disposal, including totally faking negative news against Donald Trump (which is, of course, the entire news mission of CNN at this point, a disgraced propaganda network run by anti-American traitors). If the vote is stolen for Hillary Clinton, all hell breaks loose Should the globalist Soros operators manage to steal the vote, bribe the electoral voters or rig the black box voting machines sufficiently to place Hillary Clinton in the White House, all Hell breaks loose across America : • The FBI goes into full indictment mode to push criminal charges for the Clinton criminal regime. • Donald Trump launches a massive legal challenge to the election outcome, dispatching an army of lawyers to level a vast assortment of charges involving coordinated voter fraud, the rigging of voting machines, the attempted bribery of Electoral voters and so on. • The U.S. military revs up its plans for an armed military coup to depose Clinton and restore democracy. This one should be especially entertaining to watch unfold if it gets activated… (and yes, YOU will beg for a short-term military dictatorship as long as they promise to depose Clinton and restore open, fair and free elections). • Armed U.S. citizens prepare for a massive march on Washington to take back their democracy and restore a lawful society where the political elite don’t get away with corruption, fraud and murder. Expect this march to be joined by police officers and federal law enforcement officials of all kinds. • The NSA likely goes into “full dump” mode to unleash every scrap of damning criminal evidence against Hillary Clinton. This will likely be joined by CIA assets who already have the goods on the Clintons and their “Lolita Express” pedo joy rides. • Wikileaks, Anonymous and every former NSA analyst goes into “destroy the Clintons” mode and begins to hack and expose every last shred of email evidence ever possessed by the Clintons and anyone close to them. Anonymous alone has enough technical clout to accomplish this with little or no outside help. (I expect Kim Dotcom to be aiding this entire effort as well, as he rightly holds extreme hatred toward Hillary Clinton… as do we all, come to think of it.) • The establishment Republicans in the U.S. Congress will, as usual, meekly surrender to the democrats, pulls down their britches and bend over to prepare to take it in the rear because that’s what they do best when the going gets tough. Totally useless politicrats like John McCain can’t get their pants around their ankles quickly enough when democrats start accusing them of something. These useless heaps of human baggage will be tossed out of Washington as the revolution unfolds, replaced with individuals who actually honor the U.S. Constitution (like Rep. Louie Gohmert). I root for all groups working to save America and expose the criminal politicians Bring out the marshmallows and weiners, folks: This is going to be the most bizarre campfire front row seat to U.S. history that anyone has witnessed in over 200 years. Try not to trip and “face plant” into the flames as all this unfolds. It might be a smart idea to have some preparedness supplies at the ready, since no one really knows just how nasty this is all going to get. (And thank God Hillary doesn’t have her fingers on the nuclear launch codes, or she’d probably launch them just to change the narrative…) As for me, I’m with anybody who’s trying to save America , restore democracy and throw the establishment criminals in prison. Like almost everybody else, I’ve had enough of the lies, the corruption, the media deceptions and the incessant blood sucking parasites in Washington D.C. who are too arrogant and stupid to realize just how much they’re universally despised. The revolution is ON. Anonymous, Wikileaks, Project Veritas, the FBI and the NSA have all been activated. There’s no stopping them now, and all the details of all the crimes of the Clintons are about to spill onto the stage of history, dirty deeds and all. Be warned, you are probably not psychologically prepared for the truth about what the Clintons really are. You will probably vomit. To learn more, please click here. P lease Donate to The Common Sense Show PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DON’T FORGET TO “LIKE” US This is the absolute best in food storage. Dave Hodges is a satisfied customer.  FOR A SHORT TIME ONLY, TAKE 5% OFF OF YOUR PURCHASE – USE THE COUPON CODE “hodgesnov5”  Don’t wait until it is too late. Click Here   for more information. Click here for more information The sane alternative to Facebook Seen.Life-The Facebook alternative- no censorship, no spying– Sign up here

NYT: The Media Manipulated Steve Bannon’s Image to Drive a Wedge Between Him and Trump

Breitbart News

In his latest New York Times columnist Frank Bruni explains how the media manipulated White House strategist Steve Bannon’s image to drive a wedge between him and President Trump. [From Bruni’s New York Times column titled “Steve Bannon Was Doomed”: If you’re any student of politics, you saw Steve Bannon on the cover of Time magazine in early February — “The Great Manipulator,” it called him — and knew to start the countdown then. Dead strategist walking. He’d crossed the line that a politician’s advisers mustn’t, to a place and prominence where only the most foolish of them tread. Or at best he’d failed to prevent the media from tugging him there. He was fine so long as he was a whisperer. On the campaign trail and on the Potomac, you can whisper all you want. He was damned the moment he was cast as a puppeteer. That means there’s a puppet in the equation, and no politician is going to accept that designation, least of all one who stamps his name in gold on anything that stands still long enough to be stamped. Or whose debate performance included the repartee: “No puppet, no puppet. You’re the puppet. ” … Politics is a tricky business, Washington is a treacherous place and Trumplandia is downright brutal. In all three realms, you have to strike the right balance of and . The media’s no help: We love few archetypes better than that of the brilliant mastermind who’s the real power behind the throne. But the savviest operators find ways to resist that assignment, deflecting as much credit as they claim. Read the rest here.

Avalanche in Italy Buries Hotel, Leaving up to 30 Missing - The New York Times

Elisabetta Povoledo and Gerry Mullany

ROME — As night fell in Italy’s Apennine Mountains on Thursday, prospects dimmed of finding survivors of an avalanche that had swept over a small resort hotel the previous night. At least 30 people were missing, according to the authorities. The avalanche occurred after four earthquakes struck central Italy, which has been hit hard in recent months. Giampiero Parete, a cook at the Rigopiano hotel and one of the two known survivors, had gone out to get something from his car when the avalanche struck. His wife and two young children remained inside and are among the missing. Quintino Marcella, a restaurateur, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he had received a frantic call for help from Mr. Parete on Wednesday night. Mr. Parete told him that the hotel had been wiped out: “The hotel isn’t here anymore, it’s not here,” Mr. Marcella told the newspaper. He said that the guests had been waiting for a snow plow to clear the roads. “All the guests had their bags packed and were waiting to leave,” he said. Mr. Marcella said that he called the prefecture in Pescara, and an official told him that they had spoken to the hotel a few hours earlier and that everything was under control. “I insisted,” Mr. Marcella told Corriere della Sera. He said that he called police, the carabinieri, until someone finally said “maybe there’s something there. ” The authorities told the Italian media that they responded as soon as they learned of the disaster. The latest seismic activity, which prompted officials to close schools and the subway system in Rome as a precaution, shifted the nation’s attention back to areas in central Italy that were devastated by last year’s earthquakes, leading to criticism that victims had been left to fend for themselves. Fabrizio Curcio, the chief of the civil protection department, told RAI News that teams had reached the hotel but that they faced an enormous challenge. Rescue workers, including dog units, were moving with caution he said, and some teams reported no signs of survivors. News channels in Italy showed images of the roof collapsed on the Rigopiano, and photographs suggesting that much of the structure had been buried by the avalanche. The last time Fulvio Vagnarelli heard from his brother Marco, who was staying at the hotel with his girlfriend Paola Tomassini, it was via a social media message late on Wednesday afternoon. “He told me that they were about to leave but that they were delayed because of the snow,” Mr. Vagnarelli told the Ansa news agency. Cars were blocking the road, “and they were waiting for it to be cleared. ” The father of a woman who worked at the hotel told Radio24 that the staff had asked to leave after the quake “because it was felt very strongly up there, and so they asked to come down. But there were three meters of snow, how were they supposed to leave?” Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the rescue effort presented officials with “unprecedented” difficulties, describing the area as caught in a vise after intense snowfall “that hadn’t been recorded for decades,” and the strong earthquakes on Wednesday. The epicenters of the four earthquakes were in central Italy, which has been hit by deadly quakes with increasing frequency in recent years. Officials registered more than 100 aftershocks on Thursday. Emergency vehicles tried to assist mountain rescue teams in the region, part of the Gran Sasso National Park, but their efforts were hampered by heavy snow. Francesco Provolo, the prefect of Pescara, the province that includes Farindola, told RAI that rescuers had to travel more than five miles on skis and snowshoes to reach the hotel, as billowing snow continued to fall throughout the night. A spokesman for the civil protection department in Pescara estimated that up to 30 people were in the hotel at the time of the avalanche. The hotel has 43 rooms, but it was not clear how many guests were staying there at the time of the avalanche. Rescue efforts continued at the hotel, which officials said had been swept from its foundations by the avalanche. Walter Milan, a spokesman for a specialized mountain rescue team, told RAI that rescuers were examining the scene of the avalanche section by section “to exclude that people remained trapped underneath. ” In the nearby hamlet of Ortolano, which has been cut off by the snow, 21 people were airlifted by helicopter to the airport in L’Aquila, said a spokesman for the Italian Financial Police, which was involved in the rescue operations. Three quakes in central Italy last year killed nearly 300 people in and around the medieval town of Amatrice on Wednesday, the tower of one of that town’s churches was destroyed by temblors. In 2009, the town of L’Aquila was devastated by an earthquake that killed more than 300 people. The latest earthquakes were a new setback for thousands of commercial, industrial and agricultural enterprises in four central Italian regions that have been struggling to recover from the natural disasters of the summer and fall. Mr. Gentiloni praised the courage of rescue workers trying to reach the hotel, and he said the country’s “heart and mind” were closely following their efforts. “Everyone is doing as much as they can” to reach people, clear roads and bring electricity to areas that have been cut off for days, the prime minister said. “But I ask all operators to increase their commitment. They have shown that they exist, are present, and are working — but I ask them, if possible, to do even more. ” The avalanche had buried cars and nearly everything else in its path. The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said that more than 47, 000 temblors and aftershocks had rattled the region since August, and that there was no sign the situation would change anytime soon. After the earthquake in L’Aquila in 2009, the earth shook for four years, even though it wasn’t always perceptible to people, said Carlo Meletti, the director of the seismic hazard center at the institute. “We expect the sequence will last for many weeks,” he said. “After yesterday’s quakes, it is as though it has picked up in vigor. ” “We have always said that there were strong possibilities of new, stronger earthquakes, and now a new fault has opened,” he continued. “The one thing we don’t know is when they will occur or where, because the area that has been affected by the quakes is so vast. ” Mr. Meletti said in a telephone interview that it was unclear if the avalanche was a direct result of the earthquakes on Wednesday, but that a link was possible “considering that a lot of snow had fallen in a very short time and it was very unstable. ” Echoing a refrain heard after the earthquakes last year, many residents complained on social media that they had been abandoned, even as officials pledged that they were doing everything they could to reach stranded towns and hamlets. “Only the earthquake remembers the earthquake victims,” a banner headline on the front page of the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano read on Thursday.

City Council Votes to Put “In God We Trust” Plaque in City Hall

Bob Adelmann

Email When then-President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law the country’s motto “In God We Trust” on July 30, 1956, he stated, “In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.” Last week, the City Council of Chesapeake, Virginia, agreed with Eisenhower , unanimously voting to celebrate the motto’s 60th anniversary by putting up a plaque in the town’s city hall emblazoned with it. Suzy Kelly, the council member who sponsored and promoted the proposal, explained: “As our founders wrote in the Declaration of Independence, our inalienable rights come from our God, not our government. Displaying ‘In God We Trust’ in City Hall, or any government hall where elected officials enact legislation, makes perfect sense.” The phrase appears to have origins in the fourth stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner”: O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation, Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. "In God we trust" also echoes the Bible: Psalm 118:8: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” Psalm 40:3: “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in Him.” Proverbs 29.25: “Fear of many will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” On the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the motto, the U.S. Senate reaffirmed it, while five years later the House passed a resolution reaffirming it as well, with just nine members opposed. But some disagree. In March, the board of commissioners in Saluda, North Carolina, voted unanimously not to display “In God We Trust” in its city hall, claiming that it would offend and “ostracize” some with non-Christian or secular beliefs. Attorney and atheist Michael Newdow appears to have made a living bringing lawsuits challenging the motto, along with the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Back in January, for instance, he filed one, claiming that the motto violates the “separation” of church and state and that his belief in nothing is “substantially burdened because he is forced to bear on his person [presumably, the paper currency he carries in his wallet with the offending phrase printed on it] a religious sentiment that causes him to sense his government legitimizing, promoting and reinforcing negative and injurious attitudes not only against Atheists in general, but against him personally.” The outcome of that lawsuit apparently is still pending, but if precedents hold, he will once again be out of luck. In 1970 Stefan Ray Aronow filed the first lawsuit against the motto, Aronow v. United States . The court ruled that Aronow didn’t have standing to sue but decided to address his complaint anyway. Wrote the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency “In God We Trust” have nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise. The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment — “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion” — was successfully defended years earlier by the Supreme Court in 1952 in Zorach v. Clauson . Writing for the majority, Justice William Douglas stated: We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being…. Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the proclamation making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; "So help me God" in our courtroom oaths — these and ... other references to the Almighty ... run through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies ... [including] the supplication with which the Court opens each session: "God save the United States and this Honorable Court." Suzy Kelly and other members of the City Council of Chesapeake have been inundated with expressions of support for their decision. "When I speak with people," said Kelly, "they often indicate how they feel our country has turned away from its founding principles. This vote has given hope to many." An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment Thank you for joining the discussion at The New American. We value our readers and encourage their participation, but in order to ensure a positive experience for our readership, we have a few guidelines for commenting on articles. If your post does not follow our policy, it will be deleted. No profanity, racial slurs, direct threats, or threatening language. No product advertisements. Please post comments in English. Please keep your comments on topic with the article. If you wish to comment on another subject, you may search for a relevant article and join or start a discussion there.

США обвинили Китай в краже военных секретов

0 комментариев 0 поделились источник Pravda.Ru Как сообщает freebeacon.com, ссылаясь на доклад, "Соединенные Штаты в последнее время сталкиваются с большой и растущей угрозой своей национальной безопасности со стороны китайских спецслужб по сбору разведывательной информации". Эксперты выделяют как наиболее серьезную угрозу усилия Китая по проникновению в закрытое киберпространство и американские национальные структуры безопасности. Прогнозируется, что китайские спецслужбы могли получить доступ к 5,6 миллионам отпечатков, некоторые из которых "могут быть использованы для идентификации правительственных агентов США, работающих под прикрытием, или для копирования биоматериала для доступа к секретной информации". По оценке авторов доклада, деятельность китайской разведки "значительно усилилась" за последние 15 лет и реализуется через различные структуры, в том числе министерство государственной безопасности, Народно-освободительную армию Китая и другие военные организации. Копия проекта годового отчета за 2016 год была получена Washington Free Beacon. Окончательный отчет будет обнародован 16 ноября. Система европейской ПРО представляет угрозу безопасности России, заявил ранее заместитель начальника оперативного управления Объединенного штаба Центрального военного совета КНР генерал-майор Цай Цзюнь Такое заявление китайский генерал сделал во время совместной с минобороны России пресс-конференции, посвященной вопросам противоракетной обороны. "США, реализуя план поэтапного развития системы европейской ПРО, не предоставили юридические гарантии ненаправленности ее против Российской Федерации. При этом в действительности она представляет прямую угрозу безопасности России", - заявил Цай Цзюнь. Кроме того, он добавил, что Россия и Китай в 2017 году проведут второе учение по ПРО. Напомним, как сообщала Правда.Ру, о том, что свободному использованию космического пространства может помешать система противоракетной обороны (ПРО) США, заявил сегодня в ходе брифинга "Глобальная эшелонированная система ПРО США как угроза военной безопасности России и Китая и стратегической стабильности в мире" представитель главного оперативного управления Генштаба ВС РФ генерал-лейтенант Виктор Познихир. Читайте последние новости Pravda.Ru на сегодня Поделиться:

Flotilla of Russian warships sails into the Med and anchors off the Syrian coast to back up bombing campaign in support of Assad - Russia News Now

09:01 EST, 12 November 2016 | Updated: 18:54 EST, 12 November 2016 A flotilla of Russian warships is now in the eastern Mediterranean off the Syrian coast after being sent to back up a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad. The commander of Russia’s flagship Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, Sergei Artamonov, said via videolink that the ships are now in the ‘designated zone… in the eastern Mediterranean’ and ‘are now jointly carrying out tasks, manoeuvering to the west of the Syrian coast’. The battle group has travelled to Syria from the North Sea through the English Channel in the biggest such naval deployment in recent years as part of Russia’s military intervention in Syria. Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov pictured in international waters off the coast of northern Norway last month Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, pictured in the Englist Channel, is part of the Russian Task Group, which includes the sole the nuclear powered Kirov Class Battlecruiser, Pyotr Velikiy and two Udaloy Class Destroyers, Vice Admiral Kulakov and Severomorsk Russia has been flying a bombing campaign in Syria for the past year in support of President Bashar al-Assad and has deployed a naval contingent to back up its operation. The naval task force has been monitored closely by NATO, whose chief Jens Stoltenberg voiced concern the ships would be used to support the Russian military operation in Syria and ‘increase human and civilian suffering.’ The ship’s commander was speaking to a presenter on Russia-1 television from inside the defence ministry for a news show that will air this evening in Moscow. The Russian warship ‘Mirage’ passes the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul on its way to Syria He confirmed that aircraft are already taking off from the ship’s deck to view the conflict zone. ‘Flights are being carried out from the deck… they are working on coordination with the shore port,’ he said. ‘The flights have been going on practically every day for the last four days,’ he added. HMS Richmond observing aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which is part of a Russian task group, during transit through the North Sea Russia’s Interfax news agency on Friday had cited a Russian military and diplomatic source as saying that Russian MiG and Sukhoi jets have been regularly flying into Syrian airspace from the Kuznetsov to ‘determine combat missions.’ The Russian television channel also spoke to the commander of the Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered battle cruiser, which is part of the same flotilla. Asked whether foreign aircraft were flying over the ships, the commander, Vladislav Malakhovsky, said ‘they are afraid to come closer than 50 kilometres away, realising very well how powerful the nuclear cruiser is.’ – Seeks UN assurances on truces – Russia says it has ceased strikes on rebel-held east Aleppo since October 18 and has also held brief unilateral ceasefires on the ground it calls ‘humanitarian pauses.’ It has accused the United States-led coalition of failing to persuade rebels to cooperate to allow civilians to leave, as only a few have done so. The Russian defence ministry on Saturday said that it will introduce further ‘humanitarian pauses’ only on condition that the United Nations humanitarian mission guarantees it is ready and able to organise aid supplies and evacuations. The UN has warned that east Aleppo is now down to its final food supplies and has urged Russia to extend future truces to allow supplies through. Russia said Saturday it is ready to act ‘at any time’ as long as the UN ‘officially confirms its readiness and ability to supply humanitarian aid to Aleppo and evacuate wounded and sick peaceful residents.’ It complained that previous assurances from the UN had turned out to be ‘just words.’ Vehicles carrying humanitarian aid that try to enter the designated humanitarian passages into the city have ‘every time’ faced ‘shooting from the rebel fighters’ and have been unable to drive through because of mined roads, the ministry said. Related

New York Times Corrects Fake News Editorial Blaming Sarah Palin for Shooting - Breitbart

Joel B. Pollak

The New York Times issued an online correction Thursday to its lead editorial, which claimed that Sarah Palin had incited Jared Loughner to commit the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011 that killed six and wounded Rep. Gabby Giffords ( ). [The editorial was a response to the shooting Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia, in which gunman James T. Hodgkinson targeted Republican members of Congress at a baseball practice. Four players were wounded, including Majority Whip Steve Scalise ( ) who remains in the hospital in critical condition. Originally, the Times article, “America’s Lethal Politics,” had stated: Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a girl, the link to political incitement was clear. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs. It also added that “there’s no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack” in Wednesday’s shooting. As Breitbart News explained Wednesday evening, after the editorial was published online, all of the Times‘ factual claims above were false. Now, the article reads: Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a girl. At the time, we and others were sharply critical of the heated political rhetoric on the right. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs. But in that case no connection to the shooting was ever established. A correction now appears at the bottom of the article: Correction: June 15, 2017 An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords. In fact, no such link was established. The Times came under intense criticism in conservative media for its “fake news” editorial. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

When He Tells His Dog That He Got A New Pet, The Dog Throws A Hysterical Fit

Dikran Arakelian (noreply@blogger.com)

Share on Facebook Some dogs prefer to be the sole animal in a household. They don't want to be around cats or other dogs and they even may find small children to be annoying. When that's the case, the same usually also goes for rabbits, chickens, birds, and any other animal creature that could possibly live alongside people! However, there are lots of dogs who absolutely love and adore having other pet companions around. They thrive off the constant company and enjoy always having someone else to play around or cuddle up with. That's exactly how the dog in this funny video clip feels, but out of all the possible pets his owner could get him, he only has eyes for one. He has his heart set on an adorable fuzzy kitten and a sweet little tabby cat sister would be the absolute perfect addition to his life! The hilarious clip of the black and white dog talking excitedly about finally getting a new cat has already captured the hearts of over six million people and it's easy to see why. The dog was given a voice courtesy of his owner and it's spot on in terms of his actions, words, and mouth movement! The pair hold a quite an interesting conversation and if you've ever talked to your pet, all this may look and sound familiar to you. The silly voice works great and you just have to see and hear it for yourself so check it out and enjoy! Related:

Israeli President Hosts Quiet Meeting of Muslim and Jewish Leaders - The New York Times

Isabel Kershner

JERUSALEM — The guests who arrived at the Israeli president’s home on Thursday evening were an eclectic mix. They included the chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel, the president of the Sharia Court of the Palestinian Authority and two rabbis from a West Bank yeshiva. The highly unusual meeting was intended, according to organizers, to forge a joint effort against religious violence, and to promote peace and coexistence. But, underscoring the fissures that have made the conflict so durable, the Palestinian religious leaders refused to be photographed, so there was no visual documentation of the meeting, and all but one refused to have their names appear in the official statements. They seemed to be hoping the whole event would remain below the radar, and hours afterward it appeared to have gone unreported in the Palestinian news media. Still, the host, President Reuven Rivlin, described the meeting in a statement as “important and significant — perhaps the most important meeting that could be held during these days. ” Another statement put out on behalf of the participants said: “We believe the deliberate killing of or attempt to kill innocents is terrorism, whether it is committed by Muslims, Jews or others. In this spirit, we encourage all our people to work for a just peace, mutual respect for human life and for the status quo on the holy sites, and the eradication of religious hatred. ” The gathering was originally supposed to have taken place on Monday but was postponed after a Palestinian gunman from East Jerusalem went on a shooting rampage the day before, killing an Israeli grandmother and a special forces police officer. Mr. Rivlin spent that day visiting the bereaved families instead. Sunday’s attack, though largely nationalistic at core, also had a religious motif, like much of the violence over the last couple of years. The killer, a supporter of Hamas, was well known for his activism around the contested East Jerusalem holy site known to Muslims as the Aqsa Mosque, or the Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount. Palestinians had nicknamed him the “Lion of Al Aqsa. ” In a reflection of the fierce competition over ownership of the site, the Jerusalem meeting coincided with the passing of a resolution by Unesco, the United Nations cultural organization, condemning Israeli actions in and around the holy compound. The resolution, promoted by Arab parties and similar to one adopted a year ago, stirred outrage in Israel because its wording appeared to negate any historical Jewish connection to the sacred mount, revered in Judaism as the location of the two ancient temples. It also seemed to question the Jewish connection to the Western Wall, a retaining wall of the mount and the holiest place where Jews can pray. “To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a broadcast statement. “By this absurd decision, Unesco has lost what little legitimacy it had left. ” Mr. Rivlin also denounced the resolution earlier in the day. The Palestinian leadership welcomed it. The meeting of religious leaders at Mr. Rivlin’s official residence in western Jerusalem resulted from months of negotiations and dialogue begun by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy based in the United States. “When we see a complete impasse at the political level we’re looking for ways to have an impact on public opinion on both sides,” said David Makovsky, a scholar at the institute who helped lead the initiative. “Religious figures might not have the power but they have enormous influence,” especially in the Middle East, he said, where “religion and nationalism are intertwined. ” Mr. Makovsky emphasized that Thursday’s encounter was just a beginning. “No one meeting is transformative. ” The hope, he said, was to have a meeting in the Palestinian Authority’s administrative capital of Ramallah in the West Bank. Sheikh Mahmoud Habbash, the head of the Sharia court who also serves as the Islamic affairs adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas, was the lone Palestinian leader to allow his name to be mentioned in the statement. But he refused to comment on it when reached by telephone after the meeting, saying that he would not go beyond the statement, in which he was not directly quoted. Sheikh Habbash, a native of the Gaza Strip who used to belong to Hamas but left the movement in the 1990s, has sounded less than conciliatory in some sermons broadcast on Palestinian television in recent months. In one in June that was recorded by Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli monitoring group, he dismissed the claim that there had been a Jewish temple on the site of Al Aqsa as a myth. “The problem between us and them is not is not a problem of religious or historical narrative,” he added. “The problem is that they are thieves. The problem is that they are thieves who stole the land, and who want to steal the history. ” Aware of those remarks, Mr. Makovsky said, “If there wasn’t a problem here we wouldn’t need to bring people together. You make peace between people who come from different perspectives. ” Sheikh Habbash, in the telephone interview, said he was not referring to Jews in that sermon. “We have no problem with Jews as Jews,” he said. “The problem is with the Israeli occupation. ” “Under the circumstances of the occupation we will continue our struggle until we achieve our independence,” he added. “Of course, the Palestinian leadership declared many times that our resistance will be by peaceful means, without any kind of violence. ” Among Mr. Rivlin’s other guests on Thursday were Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, who is the chief Sephardic rabbi, and the two rabbis, who belong to the Har Etzion yeshiva in Gush Etzion, a group of settlements in the occupied West Bank. Har Etzion, known as a prestigious and intellectually moderate yeshiva, offers a hesder program where students combine Torah study with army service.

FULL TEXT – MILO at Cal Poly State University: ’No More Dead Babies’ - Breitbart

Milo

Welcome to the Dangerous Faggot Tour! I’m MILO, the supervillain of the Internet, but you already knew that.[ Congratulations to the people in the front row who got signed and numbered memorabilia tonight. I look forward to them showing up on eBay. By the way the numbers are edition numbers not ratings. Unlike progressives I don’t go around giving grades to abortions or celebrating the murder of innocent life. I’m happy that the final week of my college tour takes place in California. I feel like California is home. Of course I’m British, but I feel Californian inside. Well, I feel Californians inside. Is a thing? The beauty of liberal identity politics is if you can imagine it, it’s real, no matter how ridiculous it is! Internet pornography, transgender pronouns, Amy Schumer’s sexuality. You name it. I don’t blame anyone for being . You have beautiful weather, incredible forests and natural beauty, and plenty of completely insane liberals to laugh at. They say California girls are the best too, but I wouldn’t know anything about that. Because I’m gay, did you know that? If I look a bit jumpy tonight, it’s not the protesters that have me on edge. I’m fresh from an electroshock therapy session. Vice President Mike “if you like the cock, you get a shock” Pence sent me a gift voucher for these new Zap The Fag Away treatments they’re doing at Trump Tower. It’s like tanning — cheaper if you buy a course. I’m still hoping the therapy sessions work. I think they might be, it’s early days. I’m not quite into snatch yet, but I do feel guilty every time I see Idris Elba. Did you know Idris Elba is an anagram. If you rearrange the letters it spells YOU WILL NEVER BE JAMES BOND. Before we get to the fun stuff, I have an important announcement to make. My initiative to help white men further their education is now accepting applications! We’ve given it the brilliant name of the Yiannopoulos Privilege Grant. I put my name in it because progressives are too stupid to remember how to spell it and too lazy to Google, so it reduces the abuse we get in our inboxes by about 90%. As of this second the website is live for you to apply at privilegegrant. com. My goal is to help more men, no matter what their major or political opinions, to reach their educational goals. You can even major in Gender Studies. I don’t care. Our pilot grant program will give 10 students $2, 500 towards their tuition, which will be paid directly to their college or university. The grant is open for U. S. Citizens attending a 2 year community college or 4 year college or university. Now the most important details are the dates. Submissions are open today, January 31st, and close February 14th, Valentine’s Day, which is the day fat people stock up on razor blades. So after you’ve finished crying and wanking and thinking about how alone you are, log on to privilegegrant. com and get yourself some free money. The recipients will be announced on March 31st, and the grants will be paid to the schools immediately upon IRS approval. Please do not treat this like a college class and open the submission on the last day! You’ll be writing a and providing a video clip of up to 90 seconds via one of several private upload options, so you’re better off starting early. Although it took longer than I anticipated to get the Privilege Grant set up properly — your government bureaucracy is even worse than the UK’s — I am happy that we are now well on our way to assisting white men achieve their dreams. I hope everyone eligible in this room and watching our livestream applies! Males make up only 43% of America’s 20. 5 million college students. Since the 1980’s, women have performed better in high schools and earned the majority of BA degrees. There are thousands of scholarships for women and minorities, but very few for white men. Education is essential for young men to be successful in the American economy. Young adults with a bachelor’s degree earn 62% more than one with only a high school diploma. The percentage of jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree has doubled in the past forty years. These facts made it obvious to me that men need education to be successful, and education takes money. We look forward to helping 10 men in the Spring, and many more in the years to come. Cal Poly is my kind of school. So many universities I visit boast about boring alumni like pioneering surgeons and olympic athletes. But Cal Poly has none other than Weird Al Yankovic! And it just gets better. The student population is 53% male! Let’s hear it for the sausage party. In fact, women were banned from Cal Poly from 1930 until 1956. For that brief, blissful Cal Poly was a safe space, like a country club or a Saudi Arabian highway. Now I want you to all be honest with me for a second … whenever there is a feminist protest or genderqueer slut walk or another outbreak of fake rape claims on campus, doesn’t a little piece of you think that letting women back on campus might have been a mistake. For those of you thinking yes … . Don’t worry! You’re not alone! And for women in attendance, I’m kidding, slightly. I know you feel the same horror as we do at these ludicrous feminist antics, with additional embarrassment on behalf of your gender. I do recognize it isn’t your fault that you happen to share a gender, one of the actual two genders, with batshit crazy, and deeply unhappy feminist harpies. There is even more to love about Cal Poly! You have a freedom of speech loving President named Jeffrey Armstrong, who has made the brave decision to take a stand against crybabies, and follow the path of the University of Chicago instead of the University of Missouri. President Armstrong put out a definitive statement about tonight’s event, and hasn’t budged an inch. Let me quote him here: “It is, in fact, the university’s responsibility to support the rights of all people to express their opinions and ideas — regardless of how unpopular they may be — while also encouraging students to think critically and independently. “Protecting freedom of speech is not an option, it is a critical responsibility that the university, and all of us as members of a democratic society, must defend. ” President Armstrong is right, and the left is absolutely furious. They know they will never win in a world with so they fight to censor everything to the right of them. It’s the same thing as when these idiots call everyone on the right a Nazi. They even do it to me, but the Nazis hate my guts! That word used to hold weight, you know. I am here tonight to talk to you about abortion, and why America must stop murdering babies. Abortion isn’t the same sort of demonic practise you’d find at one of Hillary’s spirit cooking sessions, but is no less evil. Before we talk about some of the serious issues about abortion, we must first touch on my own Catholic faith. You should always take what I say about religion with a grain of salt, because the 7 deadly sins are more like my seven daily activities. I try to check them all off at least once a day. All of them except gluttony my trainer keeps that under control. But I am a Catholic and I do believe in God, even as I recognise that the church is for sinners and I’m one of the most enthusiastic sinners. As someone once said, I might be bad, but imagine how much worse I’d be WITHOUT God. It is in the Bible that we should be fruitful and multiply, I don’t think it mentions shouting our abortions anywhere. This is especially critical at a time western civilisation is in crisis in the face of radical Islam. In short, we need to breed. That’s why I’ll finally be caving to public pressure and millions of fan letters and at last auctioning off my sperm for charity. I once wrote a column wishing we had a religious right movement in the United Kingdom, because religious people there don’t speak up the way religious people do here. I’m not going to go on too long about religion because not all of you have the good fortune to be Catholic, or even Christian, but there are a few important points to consider. Abortion is murder. Abortion is wrong. I think everyone knows that, which is why abortion activists are so angry all the time. It’s a bit like when you catch someone out in a lie and they get really mad at you really quickly and you can’t work out why until later. It’s guilt. When I say abortion is wrong, its defenders leap to their feet, demanding to know why I want to jail a girl who has an abortion after a horrific subhuman rapes her. Well, guess what? I don’t want to jail that girl, and I defy you to find any opponent of abortion who does. I will make the distinction for you, because unlike feminists, my audiences are smart enough to enjoy the adventure known as Reasoning With Logic. I make this distinction, by the way, using the tools of the Catholic Church, which has been reasoning gracefully since long before the first feminist had a . Don’t forget that the original feminists, like Mary Wollstonecraft and Susan B. Anthony, denounced abortion. In principle, the Church teaches, the direct, intentional taking of innocent human life is wrong. Because that’s a principle, it’s easy to say that, even in the most heartbreaking case, like that of the we’re considering, it cannot be right to take the innocent life who is growing inside her and has done nothing worthy of the death penalty. But as Western civilization has always understood, hard cases make bad law. And the Church has long been the enemy of utopianism, the most prominent vice of leftists, who demand that each of us be perfect immediately, according to the warped view of perfection you find in gender studies classes and Marxist gripe fests. Here is the relevant distinction, and I’m quoting from the Church’s “Angelic Doctor,” St. Thomas Aquinas: “Human laws do not forbid all vices, from which the virtuous abstain, but only the more grievous vices, from which it is possible for the majority to abstain. ” In other words, it’s not wise to punish with human law everything that may be opposed to the natural law. That means I can say it’s wrong to take innocent life, without having to say that we should outlaw abortions in every single case. In a sane country, we would argue about what cases should be illegal. Should you, for instance, as often happens in lands, allow abortion when parents don’t want a girl baby? Here’s one more fact that will help you understand that Thomas Aquinas and the Church aren’t the puritans that your lying professors claim: St. Thomas and before him St. Augustine both followed this view I’ve described when it came to prostitution. They thought it was wrong to do, but foolish to make illegal. I don’t think they’d approve of so my 20s still require some apologizing for, but it is still an amazingly progressive position, Sorry feminists. Once again dead white man are clearer thinkers than your leading lights! Since I brought up catholicism, I have to mention Islam too. I do this because Islam is always wrong, but I could pacify the liberals in attendance by saying it was mandated by the diversity and inclusion office. We know abortion for sex selection has been common outside of western civilization. For example under China’s one child policy, many girls were aborted so the family could have a son. By 2001 there were 117 boys born for every 100 girls, leading the government to outlaw sex selective abortions in 2010, and even outlaw doctors telling parents what sex their child would be. Of course it still happens, the Chinese have become skillful at ignoring their authoritarian . But another culture also values sons far more than daughters, and that is Islam. I’ve said on numerous occasions that if you are curious what effect mass Islamic immigration to the United States would have, all you need to do is look at Europe. And in this case my home country off England is telling. Statistical analysis of births in England, undertaken in 2014, prove that thousands of girls are being aborted for sex selection purposes. Of course the government and others will waive their hand and try to explain these things away, but a brave Greek stood up to them. You probably think I mean me, but there are OTHER brave Greeks, and this one’s name is Christoforos Anagnostopoulos, a lecturer in statistics at Imperial College London. Damn, I finally have some competition for most ludicrous Greek name. Christoforos dug into the numbers and found certain incontrovertible proof. Gender imbalances may be contributed to by multiple factors, but no set of factors can explain away the imbalances in immigrant communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. To quote him on this subject, “The only readily available explanation that is consistent with a statistically significant gender shift of the sort observed in the census data is abortion. ” I’m curious how the feminists off England will spin this data. Under Islam, many girl babies literally never see the light of day. Feminists hate the truth, science, and logical thinking. feminism is entirely rooted in lies, distortion, and hysteria. Feminist arguments are absolutely no different. The underpinning of legal abortion in the United States is the Supreme Court case Roe V. Wade. Many argue that the entire case is shoddy law, but I am not a lawyer and unlike pundits on both sides of the debate, I won’t argue a supreme court case for your entertainment. I will share some extremely unpleasant facts that professors and liberals just HATE being shared. The Roe in the name of the case was actually a woman named Norma McCorvey. Surprise surprise, she is now an activist. She never had an abortion the child in the Roe V. Wade case was given up for adoption. McCorvey has three daughters of her own now. She has admitted, as part of turning against abortion, that the entire case was a sham. In the case she claimed to have been by thugs, which was a lie to make the case more sympathetic, like my earlier example. In fact McCorvey claims that she had minimal involvement in the case besides signing some papers. She was persuaded to play this part by her feminist lawyers. McCorvey became an advocate after realizing the error of her ways. She bears a heavy heart, as some 50 million babies were legally killed following the passage of Roe V. Wade. How can feminism be without being ? There is nothing more unique about being a woman. But feminism loves abortion, and loves to put down motherhood. Just consider the Women’s March on Washington. Besides a bunch of women leaving garbage and signs littered all over the city, the prevailing moods were promoting Islam for women, and abortion for all. Sue Ellen Browder is yet another abortion activist who later became an activist, witnessed firsthand how the sexual liberation of the late 60’s and early 70’s inserted abortion into the women’s rights movement. She eloquently points out that what the media can’t see is that the national debate over abortion is not a war against women, but rather a war between women. Motherhood and became anathema to liberated women, and abortion became a prime component of women’s rights. One of the main reasons abortion became synonymous with women’s rights is the adoption of abortion — pun intended — into the political platform of the National Organization for Women. But I’d like to share a quote from Betty Friedan, who was the President of NOW at the time. In 2001 she said: “Ideologically, I was never for abortion. Motherhood is a value to me, and even today abortion is not … I believed passionately in 1967, as I do today, that women should have the right of chosen motherhood. For me, the matter of choice has never been primarily the choice of abortion, but that you can choose to be a mother. That is as important as any right written into the Constitution. ” If she said that in a room of feminists, she’d be censored, kicked out, and possibly beaten up. Because feminists aren’t they are . Initiatives like #ShoutYourAbortion are not about choice, they are about glorifying the death of children. I will leave it up to you to browse that topic for disgusting positive reactions to abortions. They may a good weight loss aide if you eat too much and need to throw up. But I can’t get away without sharing one vile one at least. One #ShoutYourAbortion participant gushed that her Vacuum Aspiration made her “happy. ” That name just “tickles” her. You’re “vacuuming” out the “unwanted detritus” threatening your “aspirations. ” It’s like getting blood drawn — she’s had “more painful experiences flossing. ” That is what killing a baby is to these people, just a different version of flossing. This quote is in fact a wonderful example of how these despicable people manipulate language to make abortion seem normal. A vacuum aspiration involves inserting a suction device into the mother’s body to suck out the poor little child. Aspiration refers not to the dreams of the mother, but the removal itself. They do vacuum aspirations when the child is too little to be valuable on the baby bodyparts sales channel. They only want the bigger babies for that — so they kill and remove them in completely different ways hoping to preserve the merchandise. #ShoutYourAbortion and movements like it seek to normalize abortion, but in fact it is very bad for women’s health. You know, the women feminism claims to care about. In 2010 the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry published a study based on a sample of 3, 000 women in the United States. The findings of the effects of abortion are startling. If the cause of this mental anguish were anything besides abortion, women would be marching against it, and Madonna would be threatening to blow the White House up over it. Abortion is clearly so bad for women’s mental health that it falls second only to Islam, and maybe the fact that I’m gay. Imagine if the parents of your favorite people in this world deciding against having them. Abortion is simply wrong. Imagine no Shakespeare, no Wagner, no Lil Wayne, no Mariah, no Daddy … Imagine no Perez Hilton … actually maybe abortion isn’t so bad after all. Joking! Abortion advocates ignore science, Feminists don’t really handle science well. They prefer feelings. So it is no surprise their abortion arguments are proven wrong time after time. Let’s start with the idea that a baby is like a parasite inside the mother, attack her body’s integrity. This is what many abortion advocates believe, that the woman’s body is occupied by this hostile force. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, babies pass beneficial cells to their mothers that can aide in healing throughout the mother’s life. A fantastic book has been written on this subject by Jena Pincott called “Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?: The Surprising Science of Pregnancy”. I am a chocolate lover but despite my best efforts and the best efforts of my boyfriend I remain tragically unblessed. Another argument that we hear all the time is that it is a woman’s body and a woman’s choice. Women, let us dispel this notion quickly. A baby is not your body. A baby even at a quite early fetal stage has her own heartbeat, her own brainwaves, and her own separate DNA. How can you possibly argue a baby is part of you? Babies inside their mother have everything but fingerprints and a social security number. Babies in the womb are the real undocumented Americans we should care about … . Not Mexican gang members and Syrian Jihadists! Progressives like to insinuate that there is something sinister about Big Oil and Big Tobacco. They might even be right! But Planned Parenthood, Big Abortion, is worse. We were all shocked when undercover tapes came out showing they are in the business of selling baby parts to the medical industry. Can you imagine, and I don’t think this is a stretch, the senior leaders of Planned Parenthood sitting in a conference room discussing the best timing for an abortion, to maximize their profits from the dead baby’s body? It’s horrifying, and it’s what feminists want more of. Planned Parenthood can attribute a good portion of their boffo business to their president since 2006, Cecile Richards. Richards is well on her way to personally matching Hitler’s body count. We’ve done the grim maths so you don’t have to. Using a conservative estimate of 300, 000 abortions a year — or 300 kiloscrapes, using the technical metric measure — Cecile Richards has presided over three million abortions, or three megascrapes in her ten years as president of the organisation. This has earned her “half Holocaust” status. Full Holocaust seems eminently reachable given Planned Parenthood’s growing hegemony in the abortion industry. To be clear, this is just since Richards took charge. Planned Parenthood has since 1970 performed 7 million abortions, comfortably surpassing Hitler according to its own annual reports. You have to admire the chutzpah, if you’ll forgive my terminology: Planned Parenthood has amassed a Third death count completely legally and while pocketing half a billion dollars a year to do so. But under Richards the numbers have skyrocketed such that in just the last ten years, at least 3 million young lives were ended. If Cecile stays in her post another decade, she will reach “full Hitler,” by matching the six million deaths of the Holocaust. In fact it’ll probably be sooner than that, given the acceleration in procedures during her reign. The road ahead may be rocky. Besides the undercover videos still being released, some media sources are starting to cover the revolting practices of these sociopathic monsters. Nice normal people, whatever their views on abortion, have no stomach for these unashamed activities. And perhaps President Trump will defund them. If you need to hear more about Margaret Sanger, here’s something she once said. She was inarguably racist. She spoke glowingly about a presentation to a group of KKK women in New Jersey, and they loved her messaging about the black race. Messaging like this, in a letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble: “We do not want word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members. ” Notice like most liberals, she considers minorities that disagree with her to be rebellious, or uppity. Black Trump supporters heard these words and much worse during the campaign! Margaret Sanger’s goal was to diminish the black race, and one can argue she was at least partially successful. Stats about abortion by race are not always easy to find, but nonetheless paint a compelling picture about the race reality of abortion. New York City presents itself as a strong case study. In 2012, there were more black children aborted in New York City than born alive. More than 31, 000 compared to just under 25, 000 live births. Blacks accounted for 42% of the abortions in the city, with Hispanic women accounting for another 31%. That’s 73% of all abortions in the city killing black and Hispanic youth. Other national data from the Center for Reform asserts that black women are 3 times more likely to have an abortion than white women. So isn’t it fascinating that intersectional feminists fighting for abortion and so often with Black Lives Matter? To any BLM members tucked away in the audience, I can conclusively say that feminists are one group that do not believe black lives matter at all. Whether you believe in an immortal soul or not, babies are precious. You may not like some of the grim imagery associated with the movement, and you may find the pictures of dead babies carried by protesters to be tremendously distasteful, BUT THAT IS THE POINT. Abortion SHOULD be considered terrible. The left knows it, and that is why they do their best to make people think babies are just lumps of cells that magically become humans upon birth. They prey on vulnerable women who are pregnant, while at the same time brainwashing the youth to praise abortion. I’d like to remind you that many of the great people in history were born as orphans or adopted. People like Julius Caesar, Bach, Steve Jobs, Aristotle, Louis Armstrong, Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon and Bill Clinton. What if some of these people hadn’t existed? Don’t say anything about Bill Clinton … without him we wouldn’t have had Sick Hillary’s hilarious campaign! I call on everyone in this room and the many thousands of people watching at home to reject the cultural conditioning favoring abortion that we are all exposed to. You have already rejected so much, like the lie of campus rate epidemics and the gender pay gap. I’m asking you to go a little farther … because Western Civilization needs more babies, not fewer. Written from prepared remarks.

Bad Hombre Crackdown: Sessions Ramps War on Drug Traffickers

Ryan Saavedra

United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors to pursue the most severe penalties for defendants with the most serious and provable crimes. [Sessions instructed federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” in an memorandum sent to more than 5, 000 assistant U. S. attorneys across the country on Thursday. In a speech on Friday, Sessions highlighted the rapidly increasing crime rates in U. S. cities and pointed to drugs as the main cause. “The murder rate has surged 10 percent nationwide. The largest increase in murder since 1968 and we know that drugs and crime go they just do, the facts prove that so,” Sessions said. “Drug trafficking is an inherently dangerous and violent business. If you want to collect a drug debt, you can’t file a lawsuit in court. You collect it with the barrel of a gun. ” The memo sent by Sessions also rescinded the policies of former attorney general Eric Holder Jr. effectively immediately. “We are returning to the enforcement of the laws as passed by Congress, plain and simple,” Sessions said. “If you are a drug trafficker, we will not look the other way, we will not be willfully blind to your misconduct. ” Sessions made clear that the criminals he is referring to are not offenders but rather major players in America’s war on drugs. “These are not drug offenders we, in the federal courts, are focusing on,” Sessions said. “These are drug dealers, and you drug dealers are going to prison. ” Sessions said that under the Trump Administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) would stand behind law enforcement agencies across the U. S. “We will do all that we can to keep you safe and promote public support for honorable officers in your dangerous work,” Sessions said. Sessions encouraged all Americans to find a way to show their gratitude for law enforcement as he pointed out that those working in the field do so to help keep America safe. “Bring a home cooked meal to your local precinct. Go to a national memorial service or simply shake the hand of a police officer and say thank you for your service,” Sessions said. The move by Sessions against drug traffickers comes after he announced on April 28 that the DOJ was going to start targeting the notoriously violent street gang, Breitbart Texas reported. Results can already be seen across the country as federal agencies look to rid America’s streets of crime. Breitbart Texas reported on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security had concluded a nationwide crackdown on gangs which led to the arrests of over 1, 000 confirmed gang members. Ryan Saavedra is a contributor for Breitbart Texas and can be found on Twitter at @RealSaavedra.

‘We the people’ against tyranny: Seven principles for free government

John W. Whitehead

‘We the people’ against tyranny: Seven principles for free government By John W. Whitehead John W. Whitehead “As I look at America today, I am not afraid to say that I am afraid.”—Former presidential advisor Bertram Gross As history teaches us, if the people have little or no knowledge of the basics of government and their rights, those who wield governmental power inevitably wield it excessively. After all, a citizenry can only hold its government accountable if it knows when the government oversteps its bounds. Precisely because Americans are easily distracted—because, as study after study shows, they are clueless about their rights—because their elected officials no longer represent them—because Americans have been brainwashed into believing that their only duty as citizens is to vote—because the citizenry has failed to hold government officials accountable to abiding by the Constitution—because young people are no longer being taught the fundamentals of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, resulting in citizens who don’t even know they have rights—and because Americans continue to place their trust in politics to fix what’s wrong with this country—the American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer towards a pervasive authoritarianism. This steady slide towards tyranny, meted out by militarized local and federal police and legalistic bureaucrats, has been carried forward by each successive president over the past fifty years regardless of their political affiliation. Big government has grown bigger and the rights of the citizenry have grown smaller. However, there are certain principles—principles that every American should know—which undergird the American system of government and form the basis for the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for. The following seven principles are a good starting point for understanding what free government is really all about. First, the maxim that power corrupts is an absolute truth. Realizing this, those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights held one principle sacrosanct: a distrust of all who hold governmental power. As James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, proclaimed, “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” Moreover, in questions of power, Thomas Jefferson warned, “Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” As such, those who drafted our founding documents would see today’s government as an out-of-control, unmanageable beast. The second principle is that governments primarily exist to secure rights, an idea that is central to constitutionalism. In appointing the government as the guardian of the people’s rights, the people give it only certain, enumerated powers, which are laid out in a written constitution. The idea of a written constitution actualizes the two great themes of the Declaration of Independence: consent and protection of equal rights. Thus, the purpose of constitutionalism is to limit governmental power and ensure that the government performs its basic function: to preserve and protect our rights, especially our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the government today has discarded this principle and now sees itself as our master, not our servant. The obvious next step, unless we act soon, is tyranny. The third principle revolves around the belief that no one is above the law, not even those who make the law. This is termed rule of law. Richard Nixon’s statement, “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal,” would have been an anathema to the Framers of the Constitution. If all people possess equal rights, the people who live under the laws must be allowed to participate in making those laws. By that same token, those who make the laws must live under the laws they make. However, today government officials at all levels often act as if they are royalty with salaries and perks that none of the rest of us are afforded. This is an egregious affront to the citizenry. Fourth, separation of powers ensures that no single authority is entrusted with all the powers of government. People are not perfect, whether they are in government or out of it. As history makes clear, those in power tend to abuse it. The government is thus divided into three co-equal branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Placing all three powers in the same branch of government was considered the very definition of tyranny. The fact that the president today has dictatorial powers would have been considered a curse by the Framers. Fifth, a system of checks and balances, essential if a constitutional government is to succeed, strengthens the separation of powers and prevents legislative despotism. Such checks and balances include dividing Congress into two houses, with different constituencies, term lengths, sizes and functions; granting the president a limited veto power over congressional legislation; and appointing an independent judiciary capable of reviewing ordinary legislation in light of the written Constitution, which is referred to as “judicial review.” The Framers feared that Congress could abuse its powers and potentially emerge as the tyrannous branch because it had the power to tax. But they did not anticipate the emergence of presidential powers as they have come to dominate modern government or the inordinate influence of corporate powers on governmental decision-making. Indeed, as recent academic studies now indicate, we are now ruled by a monied oligarchy that serves itself and not “we the people.” Sixth, representation allows the people to have a voice in government by sending elected representatives to do their bidding while avoiding the need of each and every citizen to vote on every issue considered by government. Finally, federalism is yet another constitutional device to limit the power of government by dividing power and, thus, preventing tyranny. These seven vital principles have been largely forgotten in recent years, obscured by the haze of a centralized government, a citizenry that no longer think It will mean “ voting with our feet As journalist Chris Hedges points out, “There were once radicals in America, people who held fast to moral imperatives. , not because it was easy or practical. They were willing to accept the state persecution that comes with open defiance. They had the courage of their convictions. They were not afraid.” Ultimately, as I make clear in my book , it will mean refusing to be divided, one against each other, by politics and instead uniting behind the only distinction that has ever mattered: “we the people” against tyranny. Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His book (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at

Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams Team Up for Syrian Refugee Drama

Jerome Hudson

Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and J. J. Abrams are teaming up to turn a Syrian refugee story into a feature film. [The filmmakers have secured the rights to Melissa Fleming’s bestseller A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival, according to the Wrap. The book centers on the story of Doaa Al Zamel, a Syrian woman who fled Egypt and set sail for Sweden, only to be shipwrecked and forced to survive for days with nothing but an inflatable water ring secured around her waist. She also saved two children of other refugees who had been traveling with her, as they clung to her throughout the ordeal. The project will be produced by Paramount Pictures and Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. No writer or director has yet been announced. Spielberg and Abrams have worked together before the E. T. director helped produce Abrams’ 2011 thriller Super 8. Spielberg was also reportedly actively involved in getting Abrams to direct 2016’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Both filmmakers are currently at work on other projects Abrams is finishing God Particle — a continuation of his Cloverfield saga of thriller films — for an October release from Paramount, while Spielberg is in on his adaptation of Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel Ready Player One. Spielberg also announced earlier this week that he would direct The Post, a drama about the Washington Post‘s publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep are attached to star. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

How the Artist Adrian Ghenie Became an Auction Star - The New York Times

Robin Pogrebin

Many say it was the 2011 exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi museum in Venice that first ignited art buyers’ interest in a young Romanian artist named Adrian Ghenie, whose heavy paintings are haunted by historical figures like Stalin, Hitler and the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. Then, in 2015, Mr. Ghenie drew more attention when he commandeered the Romanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. These days, this artist’s work has sold for as much as $9 million at auction, with a waiting list of private buyers “spread out between four continents,” according to Marc Glimcher, the president of Pace gallery, which represents Mr. Ghenie in New York and is giving him a solo show opening in January. Mr. Glimcher added that “134 people think they’re first in line. ” Amid a decline in the market for young artists whose prices skyrocketed just a year ago, Mr. Ghenie is enjoying nosebleed prices at auction — but not everyone profiting from his success is entirely thrilled. “The market is overreacting,” said Thaddaeus Ropac, whose gallery represents Mr. Ghenie in Paris. “We would be happy if everything were strong but not crazy. ” Last month, Mr. Ghenie’s 2008 painting, “Nickelodeon” — depicting eight blurred figures in heavy overcoats — was the top lot at Christie’s in London after a bidding war pushed it to $9 million. That was more than four times its high estimate and a far cry from what the biggest Ghenies go for privately: about $650, 000. Just a few months before that, at Sotheby’s in London, Mr. Ghenie’s 2014 “Sunflowers in 1937,” which pictures van Gogh’s masterpiece with Nazi overtones, went for $4. 5 million — more than five times its high estimate. Why all the fuss? “He is an extremely talented painter — I don’t think anyone can deny that,” said Ali Subotnick, a curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, which in 2008 acquired two of Mr. Ghenie’s “Pie Fight” studies. “But it’s a little absurd. ” Several factors have contributed to what art experts describe as a perfect storm for the Ghenie market at auction: a demand for painting — as evidenced by the strong sales for artists like Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter and Jenny Saville Mr. Ghenie’s limited output (10 to 15 paintings a year) the scarcity of masterpieces coming up for sale an affordable price point relative to the top of the market and an eager pool of wealthy Asian buyers. “Private buyers missed out on buying these works early on, and they’re playing ” said Brett Gorvy, Christie’s worldwide chairman for postwar and contemporary art. As they have with other artists of limited output — like Peter Doig and Mark Tansey — “buyers can flip” Mr. Ghenie’s works, Mr. Gorvy added, “quickly double or triple their value as soon as they take them out of the gallery. Only a few artists have that. ” At its postwar and contemporary auction on Nov. 15, Christie’s is selling Mr. Ghenie’s 2015 painting “The Bridge” — featuring the spectral figure of a man on a bridge that recalls the Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte’s “Le Pont de l’Europe” and the Expressionist Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” — for an estimated $1. 5 million to $2. 5 million. “‘The Bridge’ has a lot of commercial aspects — a sense of Impressionism, Munch, Bacon, Darwin,” Mr. Gorvy said, adding that it is one of several Ghenies owned by the undisclosed seller. “We said, ‘Sell one, keep five. ’” Mihai Nicodim said he sold “The Bridge” out of his Los Angeles gallery two years ago for about $400, 000. “I don’t like seeing it come up for sale again so quickly,” Mr. Nicodim said. “But when it gets to this level, you can’t blame the collectors. ” In response to several interview requests, Mr. Ghenie — who divides his time between Berlin and Cluj, Romania — said on Monday in an email, “Sorry for the silence, but I’m so immersed in work that I can’t think of anything else right now. ” But he is clearly aware of art market pressures. “The market is so crazy,” he told The New York Times at the 2015 Biennale. “It’s frustrating to see people make so much money so quickly. I feel I’m being speculated. It’s not me. It’s the new art world. ” Born in Baia Mare, Romania, in 1977, Mr. Ghenie graduated from the University of Art and Design in Cluj in 2001. After trying to make it as an artist in Vienna and Sicily, he returned to Cluj and started the Plan B gallery with Mihai Pop in 2005. Having grown up in Nicolae Ceausescu’s repressive Romania, Mr. Ghenie in his work wrestles with chapters of European history. His “Pie Fight” paintings, for example, draw on Hollywood slapstick even as they depict menacing Nazi figures the smeared faces might have begun to deteriorate or simply been covered in layers of cream. “You will see Ceausescu, Stalin, Hitler, Mengele,” said Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, Europe, who said he was the first to put a Ghenie work in an evening sale, in 2013. That piece, “Dr. Mengele 2” (2011) sold in London for $190, 000 after an estimate of $47, 000 to $63, 000. “It’s not easy to sell a portrait of Mengele,” Mr. Branczik said. “In a way, we were testing the water. ” Mr. Ghenie’s galleries — which include Galerie Judin in Berlin and Plan B — contend they are trying to avoid the speculative fervor that has surrounded other young artists, like Lucien Smith and Oscar Murillo, whose rapidly rising values have declined precipitously because of oversupply and high prices. “We’re working on major museum shows,” Mr. Ropac said, “because this is what he needs now, not another auction record. ” Still, the frenzy has had an impact on private sales. Since Mr. Ghenie came to Pace five years ago, his prices have increased about 40 to 50 percent, according to Mr. Glimcher. Dealers say auction houses offer tempting guarantees: undisclosed amounts promised to sellers regardless of a sale’s outcome. At the same time, some skeptics in the art world say the Ghenie craze is largely hype. “Every gallerist will tell you there’s a waiting list,” said one art adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to alienate clients. Galleries, for their part, say they are making sure that Mr. Ghenie attains institutional bona fides. In addition to the Hammer, Mr. Ghenie’s work is so far held by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Tate. “For me, he’s still at a relatively early point in his career, but he’s made some extraordinarily strong, powerful paintings,” said Gary Garrels, the senior curator of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco museum, which acquired Mr. Ghenie’s painting “The Trial” and a “Pie Fight” study. “I don’t think every painting is successful, but he is an artist for the long haul that I intend to follow. ” Mr. Ghenie has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kuns, in Belgium and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest. “He’s almost like a parallel to Neo Rauch 10 years ago,” Ms. Subotnick, of the Hammer Museum, said, referring to a German artist. “Ghenie has had a similar influence on a school of artists from Bucharest. ” Whether Mr. Ghenie proves to have staying power remains to be seen. “Fashions change quickly — there’s always going to be a backlash,” Mr. Gorvy said. “Then the question is, how long does it take for that artist to get back on top?”

Pre-recorded: World Government Forming Now!

avandagriff

Pre-recorded: World Government Forming Now! One World Government When we read the prophecies of the Bible, it is so easy to think that they pertain to some other people during another time and another place. It is sometimes difficult to believe that these 2,000 year-old prophecies are talking about this time, our world and about us — now! But this is the case. The prophesied one-world government is being formed on earth at this very time. The word globalization means exactly what it says. It is the process of transitioning the entire world into a global government. When we hear about international law, it is referring to the laws of the international government. When we hear about the World Court, it is referring to the court system that has been created to enforce the laws of the world governmental system. The World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization— all of these powerful world institutions are exactly what they say they are. They are all components of the one-world government—the world government prophesied for the end time over 2,000 years ago. Join the Conversation

Under Armour CEO Faces Strong Backlash After Calling Trump ‘A Real Asset to the Country’ - Breitbart

Dylan Gwinn

Well, that didn’t take long. [On Wednesday, we brought you the story of Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank who, in an interview with CNBC, referred to President Trump as “bold,” “decisive,” and “a real asset to the country. ” Those comments did not sit well with the left. Several activists and enraged leftists took to twitter to voice their outrage at Plank, using the #BoycottUnderArmour hash tag: Hold on @UnderArmour, maybe I wasn’t clear. Businesses who stand up for this madness will be starved out one by one. #GrabYourWallet pic. twitter. — Patrick (@BamBamGavel) February 8, 2017, Ew, @UnderArmour, you stink https: . #KevinPlank #BoycottUnderArmour #GrabYourWallet #resist, — Tara Obama Dublin❄️ (@taradublinrocks) February 8, 2017, Setting here NOT wearing @UnderArmour on account the CEO supports Trump. #BoycottUnderArmour, — Your Gal Darlene (@bigbrotherdar) February 8, 2017, I guess Kevin Plank didn’t learn from @Uber. Bummer, @UnderArmour I used to like you. Never again. #boycottUnderArmour, — Morgan M. (@MorgaNicol) February 8, 2017, Those of you who buy @UnderArmour sports gear. STOP NOW. #BoycottUnderArmour #ResistTrump https: . — Tom [PositiveLad] (@PositiveLad) February 7, 2017, #boycottunderarmour Let’s get it trending! The CEO of under armour is a trump supporter! — jeremy️‍ (@adidasatwood) February 7, 2017, Under Armour issued a statement on Wednesday, attempting to further explain Plank’s position: At Under Armour, our culture has always been about optimism, teamwork, and unity. We have engaged with both the prior and the current administrations in advocating on business issues that we believe are in the best interests of our consumers, teammates, and shareholders. Kevin Plank was recently invited at the request of the President of the United States, to join the American Manufacturing Council as part of a distinguished group of business leaders. He joined CEOs from companies such as Dow Chemical, Dell, Ford, GE and Tesla, among others to begin an important dialogue around creating jobs in America. We believe it is important for Under Armour to be a part of that discussion. We have always been committed to developing innovative ways to support and invest in American jobs and manufacturing. We have always been committed to developing innovative ways to support and invest in American jobs and manufacturing. For years, Under Armour has had a strategy for domestic manufacturing and we recently launched our first women’s collection made in our hometown of Baltimore, MD. We are incredibly proud of this important first step in the evolution of creating more jobs at home. We engage in policy, not politics. We believe in advocating for fair trade, an inclusive immigration policy that welcomes the best and the brightest and those seeking opportunity in the great tradition of our country, and tax reform that drives hiring to help create new jobs globally, across America and in Baltimore. We have teammates from different religions, races, nationalities, genders, and sexual orientations different ages, life experiences, and opinions. This is the core of our company. At Under Armour, our diversity is our strength, and we will continue to advocate for policies that Protect Our House, our business, our team, and our community. Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn

TRUMP RECEIVED BY MASSIVE CROWD IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

Home / News / TRUMP RECEIVED BY MASSIVE CROWD IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO TRUMP RECEIVED BY MASSIVE CROWD IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO fisher 3 mins ago News , USA , World Comments Off on TRUMP RECEIVED BY MASSIVE CROWD IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO TRUMP RECEIVED BY MASSIVE CROWD IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO Political pundits want you to believe that Trump has already lost this election, but by the size of the crowd that was chanting his name in Albuquerque, it looks like that’s just not the case at all! New Mexico is a blue state, and has voted Democrat for the past five elections! Looks like Trump might be changing that! As Trump stepped on stage, he was met by a crowd of over 10,000 supporters chanting his name! — Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) October 31, 2016 Scene at the Albuquerque airport as Trump told in pic.twitter.com/wRMDh234PA — David Martosko (@dmartosko) October 31, 2016 Loyal Trump supporters even crossed an ENTIRE DESERT to see him in person! Talk about dedication! Don’t let the media and their phony polls fool you. THIS IS A MOVEMENT and it’s scaring the hell out of all the Washington elites! They want you to believe Trump doesn’t have a chance so you stay home on voting day. DON’T FALL FOR IT! Just look at these crowds!!!

Limiting Your Facebook Audience - The New York Times

J. D. Biersdorfer

Q. When I check into a restaurant or add it as a location to a photo on Facebook, can the restaurant’s page see my post? A. Facebook allows you to set an “audience” for a post, which basically means you can decide which groups of people can see what you share on your timeline page. You can choose to make the post Public, where everyone on the web can see it — or you can limit your audience to just the people on your overall friends list, to subsets of people on specific lists among your friends or to yourself. To select the audience for a post, use the menu in the status update box. The menu should be set to whatever audience you used the last time, so if you shared a post only with friends, the menu will stay on Friends until you change it to something else. If you add a location to a post that is set to Friends or a smaller group, the people who manage the restaurant’s page will not see it. If the post is set to Public, the managers of the restaurant’s page can see it. However, if you decide to use the tagged image from the restaurant as a cover photo or profile picture, the restaurant’s page managers could see it. This is because Facebook makes each user’s cover photo and profile photo visible as public information — which means everyone on the site and even people who do not use Facebook can see it. If you do not want the restaurant’s managers to see the photo if you decide to use it as a cover shot or profile image, remove the location tag before you post it.

EXCLUSIVE – Rand Paul: Saudi Arabia’s Role in Backing Terrorism Raises Concerns with $100 Billion Arms Deal - Breitbart

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)

Last year, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) to allow the family members of those killed in the attacks to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for any part it played in those acts of terrorism. [President Obama vetoed JASTA, but Congress voted to override the veto. Now, less than a year after Congress voted to let the victims and the families of victims of sue Saudi Arabia, the current administration is proposing the arms sale to Saudi Arabia. The arms sale allows the Saudis to immediately get nearly $110 billion in American weapons and an unimaginable $350 billion in arms over 10 years. After the veto override, former U. S. Senator Bob Graham stated, “[F]rom what I know today, there is ample evidence that would not have happened but for the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia. ” He went on to say, “The results of that assistance was (nearly) 3, 000 persons murdered, 90 percent of them Americans. And a new wave of terrorism with Saudi financial and operational support has beset the world. ” The sale includes bombs in the form of Paveway II and III weapons systems, as well as Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) guidance that converts unguided bombs into smart munitions. Selling military weapons to questionable allies is not in our national security interest. At some point, the United States must stop and realize that we are fueling an arms race in the Middle East. Even Hillary Clinton questioned the loyalty of Saudi Arabia in an email released by WikiLeaks, saying, “We need … to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region. ” When we choose to intervene and provide or sell weapons to one nation, we only invite other nations to match or grow their own armaments — Iran and Israel will likely devote more of their funds to keeping up. Furthermore, U. S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia, which has come in the form of intelligence, refueling missions, and the sale of major U. S. defense equipment, has not abated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. If anything, it has exacerbated it. In January, the United Nations estimated that the war in Yemen had so far cost at least 10, 000 lives, and horror stories of civilian casualties continue to emerge from the conflict, including a bombing of a funeral in October that wounded hundreds and killed over 100. A coalition airstrike on a hospital in August killed 19 and injured 24, according to Doctors Without Borders. And these are only a couple of the examples one could cite. After the April airstrikes in Syria, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared, “We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world. ” Do we have to amend this statement to say, “ … unless they have billions of dollars to invest in the United States”? So what does the U. S. gain from cutting this deal with Saudi Arabia? During my fight last year against a $1. 15 billion sale of Abrams tanks and associated major defense articles to Saudi Arabia, CNN host Wolf Blitzer attempted to answer that question by discussing maintaining full employment at U. S. defense contractors. He expressed concern that arms jobs were at risk of being lost if Congress did not allow the sale to proceed. President Eisenhower warned our nation during his farewell address to be very wary of the military industrial complex and its encroachment on civil society. The moment when the best interests of defense contractors start determining what is in the national security interest of our country, the tail has begun to wag the dog. Saudi Arabia’s relationship with radical elements is an open secret. Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U. S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations, wrote an article about Saudi Arabia’s admitted relationship with Islamic extremists. Regardless of its origins, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been using their ties with Islamic fundamentalists to further their influence throughout the Middle East and abroad through charities, schools, and social organizations. In a New York Times Ed Husain stated, “Al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram, the Shabab and others are all violent Sunni Salafi groupings. For five decades, Saudi Arabia has been the official sponsor of Sunni Salafism across the globe. ” Does this administration expect Congress to look the other way as it attempts to sell U. S. weapons to Saudi Arabia? Since Saudi Arabia’s incursion into Yemen, Iran has started shipping weapons to Houthi rebels, Al Qaeda has increased its territorial presence, and ISIS has several satellite offices in the country. The U. S. and coalition naval blockade of incoming vessels is just one of many examples of heightened tensions and military escalation on the Arabian Peninsula. Our prolonged military campaigns in the Middle East quagmire have not produced any net gains. When President Trump spoke in Saudi Arabia, he proclaimed the United States would not tell other people “how to live” or “what to do. ” That is a welcome change of tone from previous leaders from both sides of the aisle. Realism, however, doesn’t mean we should sell arms to a country that doesn’t share our values or enhance any strategic vital interest of America. In the next few weeks, I, along with a bipartisan group of senators, will force a vote disapproving of this arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Let’s hope the Senate will have the sense to stop this travesty.

Despite Not Being Asked, Sports Writers Vow Never to Play Golf With Donald Trump - Breitbart

Warner Todd Huston

The reporters at TheBigLead. com gathered together recently to discuss the question of playing golf with President Donald Trump, and most vowed not to ever play with the commander in chief — not that any of them have ever been asked to do so. [In an April 13 feature, TheBigLead asked, “Given how much golf every President plays, it got us thinking: If you won or were invited to play a round of golf with President Donald Trump, would you play?” Of the eight BigLead sports reporters asked, only three answered with a “yes. ” Those who said yes, Michael Shamburger, Jason Lisk, and, Jason McIntyre, all answered with a quick paragraph. In the case of Shamburger, he gave but a answer in the affirmative. Ah, but those who said “no” had a whole lot to say to explain their petulance. Writer Ty Duffy puffed himself up as a moral warrior for refusing to play golf with Trump. In fact, Duffy said he wouldn’t even deign to shake Trump’s hand on or off the fairways. Next, Kyle Koster was blunt with his answer. “No,” Koster huffed. “I have no interest in spending any time with Donald Trump. ” Writer Ryan Phillips, as apparently someone smarter and more interesting than Trump, said he would not want to golf with POTUS because, “he just seems like someone I’d have absolutely no desire to talk to or be around for hours. ” For his part, Stephen Douglas, who also said “no,” went on to insist, “it’s complicated. ” While admitting it would be quite a thing to tell a child that daddy played golf with a president, Douglas also noted that refusing to play with a president is also quite a story. Ultimately, Douglas deemed the opportunity a “hard pass. ” Finally, unlike the others, Ryan Glasspiegel — who also said he wouldn’t play — didn’t eschew the possibility because he hates Trump, but because he hates golf. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com

Egon von Greyerz: Broadcast Interview – Available Now

King World News

134744 Views November 05, 2016 KWN PLUS , TRENDING King World News FOR DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PLAY OR DOWNLOAD AUDIOS: CLICK HERE Egon von Greyerz (EvG): Founder and Managing Partner of Matterhorn Asset Management AG & GoldSwitzerland – EvG forecasted the current economic problems over 12 years ago. In 2002 (gold $300/ oz.) MAM recommended to its investors to put 50% of their investment assets into physical gold stored outside the banking system. EvG specialises in M&A and Asset allocation consultancy for private family funds. MAM (based in Zurich, Switzerland) specialises in wealth preservation for high net worth individuals as well as institutions. The GoldSwitzerland Division was created to facilitate the buying and storage of physical gold and silver for private investors, companies, trusts and pension funds. About Us – Matterhorn Asset Management / GoldSwitzerland – GoldSwitzerland is the precious metals investment division of Matterhorn Asset Management AG (MAM), a Swiss asset management company specialising in wealth preservation for high net worth individuals and institutions. GoldSwitzerland advises investors on precious metals investments and buys, sells, transfers and stores precious metals for investors. The metals are stored in the name of the clients in ultra-secure vaults in Switzerland. MAM also assists clients in transferring existing gold and silver holdings out of the banking system to the private vaults. Clients have full control of their gold and silver bars which are allocated and segregated. Clients have personal access to the vaults to inspect or collect their metals. MAM is associated with the Aquila Group, Switzerland’s largest independent asset management group. Why Gold & Why GoldSwitzerland – There are times in history when protecting your wealth should be the primary objective of your investment strategy. As Mark Twain said: “I am more concerned about the return of my money than the return on my money.” To preserve wealth in a fragile financial system, involves investing in assets which have no counterparty risk. Gold is not an investment, it is real money. Gold reflects governments ongoing deceitful action in destroying the value of paper money. Matterhorn Asset Management (MAM) has invested in physical gold for clients for over 10 years. Back in 2002 we advised our investors to buy physical gold for up to 50% of their financial assets. The image shows how in 1913 you could buy nearly 50 oz of gold for $1,000 and today only 0.75 oz. Thus against real money – GOLD – the dollar has declined 98% since the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the USA in 1913. But it is not only the dollar that has declined in value, all major currencies have lost 97-99% against gold since 1913. Until 1971 the US dollar was backed by gold. Since Nixon abolished the gold backing, money printing started in earnest and in the last 41 years the dollar lost 98% in real terms . Egon von Greyerz: Founder and managing Partner of Matterhorn Asset Managment AG & GoldSwitzerlan – EvG forecasted the current present problems in the world economy over 12 years ago. In 2002 when gold was $300 per ounce, MAM recommended to its investors to put 50% of their investment assets into physical gold stored outside the banking system. Egon von Greyerz started his working life in Geneva as a banker and thereafter spent 17 years as Finance Director and Executive Vice-Chairman of a FTSE 100 company in the UK. Since the 1990s EvG has been actively involved with financial investment activities including Mergers and Acquisitions and Asset allocation consultancy for private family funds. This led to the creation of Matterhorn Asset Management an asset management company based on wealth preservation principles. The GoldSwitzerland Division was created to facilitate the buying and storage of physical gold and silver for private investors, companies, trusts and pension funds. EvG makes regular media appearances such as on CNBC, BBC and King World News and speaks at investment conferences around the world. He also publishes articles on precious metals, the world economy and wealth preservation. About author

How Much Silence Is Too Much? I Found Out - The New York Times

Daniel McDermon

This is not shaping up as a good year for silence. Wherever you go, the world blares with updates, alerts and urgency. Now comes a temporary reprieve: a room at the top of the Guggenheim Museum, a work designed by the artist Doug Wheeler and known as “PSAD Synthetic Desert III,” which opened in March. Inside the room is enough material to make it probably the quietest place you’ll ever go, unless you’re an astronaut or a sound engineer. Visitors with timed tickets can enter in groups of five, for 10 or 20 minutes. (The exhibition will be closed through April 12.) But too much hush can be unsettling. As Mr. Wheeler told my colleague Randy Kennedy, “In a supersilent anechoic chamber, the most that most people can endure is about 40 minutes before they start going batty. ” Not to but I live near the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn, on a block with a firehouse and a police station, surrounded by construction projects. My children are 6, 4 and 1. Forty minutes? I asked for an hour. Here I should acknowledge that “Synthetic Desert” is not “going batty” quiet. Anechoic chambers are surreal, echoless spaces with noise levels below the threshold of human hearing. Mr. Wheeler estimated that his creation might reach as low as 10 decibels. My (relatively quiet) office cubicle measures about 50 decibels. Walking into “Synthetic Desert” is like entering a vault. There is a series of doors, and the final chamber feels pressurized, the air still and dense. I walked up a ramp into the silence and waited for nothing to happen. Every movement made noise, so I gave up trying to find a comfortable standing position and sat down. I focused on the room, which evokes the light before dawn, with a smear of sky painted across the wall and ceiling. No border is visible between the two, and there is no horizon or distance reference point. Deprived of stimuli, my ears got hungry fast, and quickly recalibrated themselves. I could hear a thin, high roar inside my head. John Cage was once told that this was the sound of the nervous system at work. Staring into the seemingly infinite space for a while had a similar effect on my vision. My eyes discovered, or invented, some entertainment for me: The colors of the room split apart, from purple into blues and pinks. I tried to quiet my breaths, and got to the point where I wasn’t sure if I heard them or felt them, or if there were any difference. The nerve signals of an ache in my foot seemed like actual noise, which gradually amplified into an inaudible scream and made me change positions. The sound of my legs shifting came from a distance. I think this was about 20 minutes in. To preserve Mr. Wheeler’s lighting design, no cellphones or cameras are allowed, and watching a timer was decidedly not the point. A low sound — maybe blood flowing through my vessels, or maybe part of the audio Mr. Wheeler has subtly incorporated into his design — became prominent. I found I could tune my hearing away from it, though, and began to hear other things — “noises” is not the right word. These were so soft I couldn’t be sure they were real: a wind blowing on the far side of a mountain a jet flying high above another continent. Around the mark, the light glowing from beneath the acoustic cones on the floor intruded on my vision, their spiky pattern seeming to climb the wall. The room was unchanged, but my senses were operating independently of my mind. I watched inky patterns scroll across the wall: a hallucination, maybe, or some neural process I usually wouldn’t notice, a corporeal software update. In such a deadened room, a body bursts with life, spilling it out through every sense. I felt enraptured and paralyzed, as if I were a disembodied mind seared in the void, listening to a recording of silence played at top volume. Then a door opened, and a man poked his head in, a worker for the museum who’d come in earlier than expected. I couldn’t focus on him, and thought he might be unreal. He looked uncertain, then closed the door and locked it. Those sounds came to me as if through a tunnel. The room’s intensity, which had built up so slowly, dissipated quickly after that, like an airlock unsealed. In another couple of minutes I stood, and left. Elapsed time: 50 minutes. Out on the street, everything seemed louder, which was no surprise. It’s all hard surfaces and reverberation, concrete and cars. But I could articulate each part of the city’s soundscape. I tracked three simultaneous conversations on the No. 5 train, along with the crinkle of a candy wrapper and the falling pitch of the wheels on the tracks. The broken loudspeaker on a subway platform barked, harsher than before. Everyone, including me, was carrying some device that oozed sound of its own. Walking on the sidewalk, I got a lot of funny looks. My mouth was open, I realized. And I was staring too much.

A Call From Outer Space, or a Cosmic Wrong Number? - The New York Times

Dennis Overbye

It’s probably just a piece of cosmic spam, the astrophysical equivalent of butt dialing. But nobody really knows for sure. The attention of the world’s astronomers has been riveted these last few days on a star in the constellation Hercules, wondering if the end of humanity’s cosmic loneliness was finally at hand. It was from that spot in Hercules that a team of Russian radio astronomers recorded a burst of radio waves last year on May 15. But the Russians did not follow the usual protocol of alerting other observatories that could confirm the signal, and as a result nobody else knew about the pulse until a few days ago. That putative signal had the potential to be the fantasied “Hi there,” from another world that practitioners of the field known as SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, have been looking for over the last century. Or it could simply be a false alarm from terrestrial interference, a stray military transmission or some rare astrophysical misunderstanding. Astronomers already knew there was at least one planet, about 17 times the mass of Earth, circling that star, which is 94 light years from here and goes by the unheroic designation of HD164595. But there were also problems, the Russians, led by Alexander Panov of Lomonosov Moscow State University, realized. The signal appeared only once in 39 observations, and to produce the observed signal at such a distance would take a transmitter with the power of at least a trillion watts, comparable to the total energy consumption of all humankind. Moreover, the design of the Russian telescope, known as a giant circle of antennas in the Caucasus near Georgia, leaves it susceptible, astronomers say, to radiation from unwanted directions, increasing the chances of interference from military or other terrestrial sources. Word finally got out a few days ago. Claudio Maccone, a member of the team and chairman of the SETI committee of the International Academy of Astronautics, circulated a description of the observations in advance of a SETI meeting to be held on Sept. 27 in Guadalajara, Mexico. While the report did not claim that this was an alien detection, it did say, “Permanent monitoring of this target is needed. ” In an email on Aug. 29, Dr. Maccone said he agreed. “I certainly share the view that it is likely not an intelligent signal,” he said. “Nevertheless it had to be PUBLISHED, rather than being kept secret for over a year, and this is what I did: convince the Russians to publish it. ” After the astronomy writer Paul Gilster reported it on his blog Centauri Dreams, the signal went supernova on the internet. But so far the results have been zilch. Starting on the evening of Aug. 28, astronomers from the SETI Institute of Mountain View, Calif. swung into action with the Allen Telescope Array, a set of antennas in Hat Creek, Calif. built specifically to look for alien broadcasts. After two nights of observing, Seth Shostak, spokesman for the institute reported, “We covered the frequencies observed by the Russians and more … No dice. ” Meanwhile astronomers from Breakthrough Listen, a new SETI project funded by the Russian philanthropist and entrepreneur Yuri Milner, used the Green Bank Telescope, in Green Bank, W. Va. the world’s largest steerable radio dish, to check out the star. They found nothing but noise. Indeed, according to Tass, the Russian news agency, the researchers had also concluded that their signal was a result of terrestrial interference. The observatory, the researcher Yulia Sotnikova said, was preparing an official disclaimer of any media claims of extraterrestrial contact. Everybody plans to keep looking, but for now the Hercules signal seems destined to join the other false alarms that have characterized the SETI endeavor, most notably the “wow” signal that appeared on the printout of an Ohio State radio telescope in 1977 but never reappeared. As Dr. Maccone said: “There were similar cases in the past, and probably there will be more in the future. The point is to PUBLISH everything and EXCHANGE DATA worldwide about the stars where they come from. ” Astronomers have been trying to tune in E. T. ever since Frank Drake, now at the University of California, Santa Cruz, aimed an antenna in 1960 at a pair of stars and thought he heard a signal — the first false alarm. But nothing has been able to discourage astronomers from a notion that is as powerful and simple as a poem: Radio signals can bridge the gulfs between stars more cheaply than spacecraft, allowing distant species to communicate by a sort of cosmic ham radio or galactic internet. There are more than 100 billion stars in the Milky Way and some nine billion radio channels on which to listen — a “cosmic haystack” in the vernacular, of which only a minuscule fraction has been sampled to date. There is a lively and rich literature on what channels aliens might use and what kind of signals they might send, and an equally rich literature on why we haven’t seen any evidence of them (outside of the racks in supermarkets). Among the possible answers is that we are under quarantine, or that technological species kill themselves off before they get to the stage of reaching out. Or perhaps that we simply don’t have any idea what we are looking for. We know of only one example of life and intelligence in the universe, Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute once told me. That is of course our own biosphere. “In this field,” she said, “number two is the number. We count one, two, infinity. We’re all looking for number two. ”

Reinventing Democracy in America Starts by Voting, Then Building an Accountability Movement

Reinventing Democracy in America Starts by Voting, Then Building an Accountability Movement Posted on Nov 2, 2016 ( The Prophet / CC BY-SA 2.0 ) Voting is supposed to be a constitutional right in the United States. But the sad truth is that voting is a privilege . This reality has been made colder since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. Steps have been taken to curtail the impact of that decision— Shelby County v. Holder —on the 2016 general election, but voter discrimination still exists. Some Americans have fewer rights than others. Compare minorities, the poor, immigrants, felons, ex-convicts and the elderly with well-off whites, the educated and so-called 1 percenters. Whose voices do you think are heard more? The current system has been designed to maintain the status quo and keep the disenfranchised from changing their status. Discriminatory voting laws compound the problem . According to the Brennan Center for Justice, new voting restrictions are in place in 14 states this year: “The new laws range from strict photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to registration restrictions. Those 14 states are: Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.” Voter suppression is nothing new. In the latest issue of The New Yorker, Caleb Crain provides a history lesson in “ The Case Against Democracy ”: In the United States, élites who feared the ignorance of poor immigrants tried to restrict ballots. In 1855, Connecticut introduced the first literacy test for American voters. Although a New York Democrat protested, in 1868, that “if a man is ignorant, he needs the ballot for his protection all the more,” in the next half century the tests spread to almost all parts of the country. They helped racists in the South circumvent the Fifteenth Amendment and disenfranchise blacks, and even in immigrant-rich New York a 1921 law required new voters to take a test if they couldn’t prove that they had an eighth-grade education. About fifteen per cent flunked. Voter literacy tests weren’t permanently outlawed by Congress until 1975, years after the civil-rights movement had discredited them. The article reviews a new book called “Against Democracy,” by Jason Brennan, a political philosopher at Georgetown University who argues for “epistocracy,” a word (coined by another political philosopher, David Estlund of Brown) that means “government by the knowledgeable.” Brennan believes that uninformed voters do more damage than good, so decision-making should be left to the informed. In other words, voting should not be a duty for all. That’s a radical idea. But in a way, such thinking aligns with how the Founding Fathers viewed the electorate, Crain acknowledges. He cites a warning from James Madison: “There are particular moments in public affairs, when the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or misled by the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may call for measures which they themselves will afterwards be the most ready to lament and condemn. In these critical moments, how salutary will be the interference of some temperate and respectable body of citizens, in order to check the misguided career, and to suspend the blow meditated by the people against themselves, until reason, justice, and truth can regain their authority over the public mind?” Madison wrote those words (under the pseudonym Publius) for Federalist No. 63 —an essay that was part of The Federalist Papers—to explain the concept of the United States Senate. He went on to say: The people can never willfully betray their own interests; but they may possibly be betrayed by the representatives of the people; and the danger will be evidently greater where the whole legislative trust is lodged in the hands of one body of men, than where the concurrence of separate and dissimilar bodies is required in every public act. The difference most relied on, between the American and other republics, consists in the principle of representation; which is the pivot on which the former move, and which is supposed to have been unknown to the latter, or at least to the ancient part of them. ... In the most pure democracies ... many of the executive functions were performed, not by the people themselves, but by officers elected by the people, and representing the people in their executive capacity. ... Besides the conclusive evidence resulting from this assemblage of facts, that the federal Senate will never be able to transform itself, by gradual usurpations, into an independent and aristocratic body, we are warranted in believing, that if such a revolution should ever happen from causes which the foresight of man cannot guard against, the House of Representatives, with the people on their side, will at all times be able to bring back the Constitution to its primitive form and principles. Against the force of the immediate representatives of the people, nothing will be able to maintain even the constitutional authority of the Senate, but such a display of enlightened policy, and attachment to the public good, as will divide with that branch of the legislature the affections and support of the entire body of the people themselves. Here’s another radical idea: Instead of having only a few informed people make decisions for everyone, how about we make everyone informed by providing the same, free educational opportunities for every U.S. citizen? Over the 240 years of the American experiment, the nation has moved away from its early ideals. Democracy has been corrupted, becoming the perverted form of corporatocracy and plutocracy we now have. The only way we can fix the defects in our system is by voting in principled leaders, then insisting they follow through on what they promise. If they do not, we must vote them out and put people in power who do. Start in your own community. It will require some sacrifice. Lee Ellis knows about all about sacrifice . He spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He has written two books on honor, “ Engaging With Honor ” and “ Leading With Honor .” He has not lost faith in the United States and believes voting is a key to restoring honor to America. “When you become indifferent and refuse to stand up for your ideas, you forfeit and must live by the ideas of others,” Ellis told Truthdig in a telephone interview. “You are making a choice to let someone else make your choice for you. And I think that is a terrible way to live. We cannot afford to be indifferent about these key decisions. Evaluate the risk of the candidates. There are no risk-free choices. We’re always taking a risk. Which is the most likely to pursue the principles that you feel are important?” Apathy is no longer an option. It’s not too late for America, but we have to act fast. Now is no time to be timid. Look at the water protectors in Standing Rock in North Dakota. They are putting their lives on the line for us, our planet, the fate of generations. If you are a responsible U.S. citizen who cares about the future of our world, you have a role in our survival. That starts by voting. To be a responsible voter requires being informed. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in political science or be the political equivalent of Ralph Nader . Anyone can know something . Everyone can do something . Research the candidates. Read up on ballot initiatives. Learn about down-ticket races. Check your sources—make sure they are trustworthy. Share what you know (in a respectful way) with friends and family and on social media. Encourage others to do the same.

Report: Palestinian Delegation to Meet Trump Officials in DC This Month

Breitbart Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Post reports: A delegation of five Palestinian officials is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington, D. C. later this or next month to discuss reviving the peace process, a senior Fatah official said on Sunday. [“We have ongoing contacts with the administration and expect the delegation will go to America after the holiday,” Azzam a Fatah Central Committee member, said in a telephone interview, referring to the Muslim holiday Eid that follows Ramadan, which will most likely fall on June 26 or June 27. According to the senior Fatah official, Trump asked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to Bethlehem on May 23 to dispatch a delegation of five Palestinian officials to the American capital to continue talks about renewing the peace process. Ahmad added that the delegation has not been finalized, but will likely include Palestinian officials, who accompanied Abbas during his visit to the White House on May 3. Read more here.

The Postmodern Stalinism of the Western Media - Srdja Trifkovic

Originally appeared at Chronicles Magazine 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) 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 theWashington 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.

WATCH: Iraqi Christians on U.S. President - ‘We Have Confidence in Trump!’

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.

In a new video, a number of Christians living in Iraq expressed their admiration for U. S. President Donald Trump, and their hope that he will make good on promises to assist them and come down hard on the Islamic State. [Asked “What do you think of Donald Trump?” several members of the clergy as well as lay Christians answered that they sensed a positive change after the Obama years, and felt that they were finally being noticed. Father Immanuel, a Syriac Catholic priest in Mosul, said simply: “I love Trump because he understands this Christian matter in Iraq. ” Archbishop Bashar Warda, the Chaldean Catholic bishop of Erbil, said that he was “really encouraged to see that someone at least is thinking of the Christians and giving, not a priority, but at least attracting attention. ” “For me,” the Archbishop said, “I would say this is probably the first time that an American politician like a president would say, ‘No, there are some people who are dying or are suffering because of their faith and we have to think seriously about that. ’” Though in different words, a common thread running through the responses was the belief that Trump actually cares about persecuted Christians in the Middle East and would do something about it. Yohanna Toways, a Christian refugee from Qaraqosh, said that Christian and Yezidi minorities had actually prayed to God for Donald Trump to win the election. “We have confidence in Trump,” Toways said. “Before he was elected, all the Christians and the Yezidi are praying [for him] to win, all of them, and now that he is the president we have the hope he will be the savior of these minorities by his strong decisions. I think he can help us. ” People also said that Trump offered hope to local Christians, after eight years of a president who did nothing for them. “People here were more than disappointed with Obama, because he did nothing. So the view of Obama was terrible,” said John Neill, a volunteer aid worker for the Archdiocese of Erbil. “I think people here are feeling excited about Trump, that he will do something,” Neill continued. “He stated in his election speech that he would do something about Daesh. That is an indication that he will go further and help the minorities in Iraq to get back their lives. ” “If Trump cannot give them hope, then what hope is there?” he added. Similar sentiments were expressed Father Benedict Kiely, the founder of www. nasarean. org, a Christian aid group that has promoted awareness of Christian persecution in territory, especially through the spread of the Arabic ن symbol used to mark the homes of Christians. “Many people said in our interviews with them that they had hope because he is a strong man,” he said. “God bless him. Let’s be strong and help these people. He promised during the election I remember specifically to be the president for the Christians. ” “So let’s put it into action,” he said. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome

Links 11/11/16

Yves Smith

Ten-Step Program for Adjusting to President-Elect Trump New York Times. Actually not bad. Donald Trump Ran on Protecting Social Security But Transition Team Includes Privatizers / Intercept (martha r). Looks like the answer as to whether Trump was getting rolled by the Republican establishment is coming pretty quickly. Remember that Trump doesn’t owe Wall Street anything; this appears to be the result of turning to Republican “experts”. Trump Recruiting Among the Lobbyists He Once Denounced New York Times. Donald Trump: JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Being Considered for Treasury Fortune (resilc). Wonder if Trump is running this trial balloon to make Elizabeth Warren see red and make Trump’s good buddy Carl Ichan look good by comparison. Trump’s Transition Team Works to Form Cabinet Wall Street Journal. Story flogs Hensarling as a possible Treasury Secretary candidate (gah!) along with other scary ideas. But I tend to discount this because Hensarling is a buddy of Pence, and so far, Trump’s interactions with Pence have featured lots of friction. And Hensarling is plenty useful to Trump right where he is now. Let’s hope this reading proves to be correct. U.S. consumer financial agency could be defanged under Trump Reuters Trump Ascends to the Cherry Blossom Throne – Tyler Sic Semper Tyrannis (Kfathi). A contrary view to the links above, and today’s must read. Bear in mind that he exaggerates the role of Soros in US politics (Eastern Europe is a completely different kettle of fish). Too many other squillionaires throwing $ at candidates and think tanks. See his comment about John Bolton in particular (mind you I don’t see how anyone can think Bolton is a good idea), and his warning: “Instead, my friends on the Left, worry that he will not only do what he said he would, but he’ll go above and beyond, and the people will love him for it.” But this cheery reading discounts the difficulty Trump will have in securing the ability to govern. Saboteurs on what is nominally your side are a tougher obstacle than external opponents. Blankfein Says Trump Infrastructure Commitment Good for Growth Bloomberg (resilc) Before Taking the White House, Trump Due in Court over Fraud Vanity Fair. A President’s power of pardon is absolute save for impeachment, so Trump could pardon himself. But would he dare? And I’m not an expert on immigration law, but it’s hard to see how Trump is on shaky legal ground in deporting undocumented aliens. Other countries do it all the time. Try overstaying your visa and watch what happens if you get caught out. Trump Shows Every Sign of Carrying Out Sweeping Immigration Crackdown Bloomberg. If Trump moves too fast on deportations, as opposed to policy changes (as in relying on loud noises, including warnings to employers, to induce many undocumented workers to leave of their own accord), Trump could precipitate sustained and serious protests. But the Feds may lack the staffing to increase deportations all that much near term. Record Numbers of Undocumented Immigrants Being Detained in U.S. Bloomberg. Resilc: “Last I checked a demo has been in control since 2008.” Trump bucks protocol on press access Associated Press. Lambert: “And where were they when Clinton didn’t hold a press conference for ~300 days?” https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/58393 . Martha r: When you go to the link, click on Attachment to download the pdf of the 9-page report. from the bottom of page 6: OTHER INSIGHTS: Based on group discussion, and debate exercises distributed prior to the debate. By the Numbers • Who won the debate: 27 to 2(or 3*) in favor of Sanders • Who is more electable in November: 15 to 13 in favor of Sanders • Who has a stronger message: 17 to 11 in favor of Sanders • Who will win the South Carolina primary: 10 for Sanders, 9 for Clinton, and 11 unsure • Who moved undecided voters: 14 lean Sanders, 2 lean Clinton, 14 remain undecided *One of the HRC supporters was uncertain about her position post group. The Polls Missed Trump. We Asked Pollsters Why. FiveThirtyEight. Resilc: “Because they are a con and mumbo jumbo?” Moi: Notice how Silver focuses on how “pollsters” missed to exculpate his own failings. As Keynes said: A sound banker, alas, is not one who foresees danger and avoids it, but one who, when he is ruined, is ruined in a conventional way along with his fellows, so that no one can really blame him.

Trump Weighs In as Senate Slides Toward Showdown Over Neil Gorsuch - Breitbart

Ian Mason

President Donald Trump devoted Friday’s weekly White House address to praising Judge Neil Gorsuch, his nominee to fill the seat of beloved conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, and pushing for his speedy confirmation by the Senate. [“Judge Gorsuch is incredibly qualified, he has a sterling record, he was confirmed unanimously to the Court of Appeals,” the President said, making his case to the nation as a showdown over Senate cloture rules draws closer. “Judge Gorsuch’s nomination is about more than his incredible qualifications. It’s about preserving our republic,” he continued. The Senate fight over confirming Gorsuch has reached a over the last week, with the two parties running out of room for compromise. As the Trump Administration and Senate Republicans have signaled their willingness to confirm Gorsuch by any means necessary, increasing numbers of Democrats have insisted they will filibuster any attempt to allow an vote on the nominee, making it ever more likely Republicans will move to change Senate rules to allow a simple majority to close debate on Supreme Court nominees. Democrats, who under current rules need only votes to block a vote on Gorsuch, themselves used the “constitutional option” to allow simple majority confirmations for Court nominees in 2013. Four more Senate Democrats, Sen. Tammy Duckworth ( ) Sen. Brian Schatz ( ) Sen. Catherine ( ) and Sen. Claire McCaskill ( ) confirmed Friday they will move to filibuster and force the constitutional option. Senate Democrats are finding themselves under immense pressure to close ranks for this unprecedented filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee, first called for by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( ) last week. Friday, CREDO, a “” and a bevy of other progressive activist groups put their names to a letter to be delivered to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee demanding any Democratic Senator who fails to join the filibuster against Gorsuch be stripped of all funding from the national Democratic Party apparatus. “Democrats who refuse to defend the Supreme Court from Donald Trump’s racist, fascist agenda should not receive support for their ” CREDO told supporters on its website. Only nine Democratic and independent Senators remain who have yet to announce their intentions on the Gorsuch Confirmation, by Breitbart New’s count. In order to confirm Gorsuch without changing traditional Senate rules, six of these would need to join the chamber’s Republicans and Senators Joe Manchin ( ) and Heidi Heitkamp ( ) Democrats who have expressed their support for Gorsuch. Republicans have responded with more open insistence that they will do whatever it takes to confirm Gorsuch. Sen. John Cornyn ( ) in a CNN urging his Democratic colleagues to reconsider their filibuster, was unequivocal. “Judge Gorsuch will be confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice. The question is whether Democrats will give him the vote he deserves,” he wrote. Even Sen. John McCain ( ) who had as recently as Thursday held out hope a compromise might be reached to preserve the Senate’s traditional cloture rules, walked back from reports of a “deal” Friday. “I’ve had conversations with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. That’s all. There’s no gang. There’s no negotiations. Just having some conversations. No deal. No negotiations,” he told the Daily Caller. Gorsuch’s confirmation vote is now set for April 7.

Limbaugh on Comey Hearing: Message to Trump Is Stop the ’Drain-the-Swamp Stuff’ or Face Impeachment - Breitbart

Jeff Poor

Monday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh maintained a House Intelligence Committee hearing that featured testimony from FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Michael Rogers was meant to send a message to President Donald Trump and his administration. Limbaugh argued that although there were some good questions from Republicans members during the hearing, it was meant to be a warning shot at Trump — allow Washington Republicans to run the town or face possible impeachment. Partial transcript as follows (courtesy of RushLimbaugh. com): These hearings today, what happened last week and the week before that, what happened during the transition period … What all of this is can be explained simply by saying, “Look at how terrified they are in the York establishment, of Donald Trump and draining the swamp. ” The Never Trumpers on both sides of the aisle. There are conservative Never Trumpers today celebrating over the fact that Comey made it official that there’s an investigation of Trump and colluding with the Russians. These people know that there isn’t any evidence of this, but that doesn’t matter. What everybody in Washington supports is the smearing, the slander, and the libel of Donald Trump. And these hearings today? The FBI director, James Comey, is trying to save the jobs of a lot of people. He’s trying to save the careers of a whole lot of people — his included — in, I think, an inappropriate way. And the Republicans in this committee? Look folks, I’ve been waiting. I’ve been patiently waiting. I’ve been trying to hold it, keep the powder dry. But the Republicans on this committee … I know it’s early, and they’re gonna go on all day. But so far, outside of Trey Gowdy and a question from Peter King and Devin Nunes the chairman, there just hasn’t been much. For example, “Are you still investigating the Clinton Foundation, Director Comey?” “I can’t say. ” By the way, Comey said he got special permission to reveal this investigation. Who gave him that special permission? He said he went to the Department of Justice. Who’s over there? Who runs that? That it would be Jeff Sessions. The Trump administration itself granted permission for Comey to announce this today. (interruption) Well, no. My point there is that there’s no attempted of anything going on there. The Trump administration could very well have said, Jeff Sessions could have said, “Comey, look, it’s just like you said last summer about Hillary: We don’t detail ongoing investigations. ” But he today was given permission to do just that, and he’s running with it. And the whole point of this today — and, by the way, it doesn’t mean I’m not gonna go through this and give you what the real news of these hearings is today and what the backdrop of all this is. Because there’s a really salient factor that’s driving this from the Democrat side that is never going to be reported or commented on, which I’m going to touch on myself today. But, as I say, the purpose of this is to further the narrative that Trump is illegitimate, that he should not be president, that his election was the result of tampering by the Russians. So the objective is that Trump either stops this reform business he’s got, stops this stuff, and starts letting the Washington Republicans run the town again, or they’re gonna impeach him. That’s the message being sent today: “You either straighten up and fly right or you’re gone. ” “We’re coming for you,” is the message of these hearings today. Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

Toure: Black-on-Black Crime in Chicago Not a Prime Issue Black Americans Need Resolved - Breitbart

Trent Baker

During the Saturday “AM Joy” broadcast on MSNBC, MSNBC contributor Toure said crime is not the biggest issue for black Americans at this time. Instead, Toure suggested the war on drugs, wealth inequality, public schooling and police violence are bigger issues for the black community. “This attack on crime in Chicago — this is not the prime thing that black America needs dealt with” Toure told host Joy Reid. “We need the war on drugs dealt with, we need the wealth inequality dealt with, we need public schooling better, we need policing violence dealt with better. ” Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

The Grim Logic Behind Syria’s Chemical Weapons Attack - The New York Times

Anne Barnard

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The diplomatic situation had been looking bright for President Bashar of Syria. With the help of Russia, he had consolidated his power, the rebels were on their heels and the United States had just declared that ousting him was not a priority. So why would Mr. Assad risk it all, outraging the world by attacking civilians with what Turkey now says was the nerve agent sarin, killing scores of people, many of them children? Why would he inflict the deadliest chemical strike since the 2013 attacks outside Damascus? Those attacks came close to bringing American military retaliation then. And in a stunningly swift reversal, Tuesday’s attack drew a response from President Trump: dozens of cruise missiles launched at a Syrian air base. One of the main defenses offered by Mr. Assad’s allies and supporters, in disputing that his forces carried out the strike on Tuesday, is that such an attack would be “a crazy move,” as one Iranian analyst, Mosib Na’imi, told the Russian news site Sputnik. Yet, rather than an inexplicable act, analysts say, it is part of a carefully calculated strategy of escalating attacks against civilians. For years, at least since it began shelling neighborhoods with artillery in 2012, then bombing them from helicopters and later from jets, the Syrian government has adopted a policy of seeking total victory by making life as miserable as possible for anyone living in areas outside its control. Government forces have been herding defeated opponents from across the country into Idlib Province, where the chemical attack occurred. Starved and bombed out of their enclaves, they are bused under lopsided surrender deals to the province, where groups maintain a presence the Syrian military uses as an excuse to bomb without regard for the safety of civilians. Dr. Monzer Khalil, Idlib Province’s health director, said such extreme tactics aimed to demonstrate the government’s impunity and to demoralize its foes. “It makes us feel that we are defeated,” said Dr. Khalil, whose gums bled after he was exposed to scores of chemical victims on Tuesday. “The international community will stay gazing at what’s happening — and observing the explosive barrels falling and rockets bombing the civilians and the hospitals and the civil defense and killing children and medical staff — without doing anything. ” “Militarily, there is no need,” said Bente Scheller, the Middle East director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. “But it spreads the message: You are at our mercy. Don’t ask for international law. You see, it doesn’t protect even a child. ” On Thursday, Syria’s foreign minister challenged accounts by witnesses, experts and world leaders that his government was involved. “I stress to you once again: The Syrian Army has not, did not and will not use this kind of weapons — not just against our own people, but even against the terrorists that attack our civilians with their mortar rounds,” the minister, Walid said in Damascus. But the denial, as well as a Russian assertion that a bomb hit a chemical weapons depot controlled by the rebels, seemed perfunctory, almost without regard to the facts, which Western governments said pointed to a Syrian government hand. Critics of President Barack Obama, including President Trump, say that his decision not to enforce his “red line” on chemical attacks in 2013 convinced the Assad government it could get away with anything, and that it has been escalating its harsh tactics against civilians ever since. Since that “green light,” wrote Jihad Yazigi, an Syrian economist, “Assad knows that a attack against its civilians is a public relations liability but a political asset. ” That was only reinforced, critics say, by recent statements by American officials that it was time to accept the “political reality” of Mr. Assad’s grip on power. By showing it puts no limits on the tactics it uses, Mr. Yazigi wrote, “the regime shows to the world the West’s impotence and weakness. ” Dr. Khalil, 35, fled his job at a hospital in 2011. The Syrian uprising was in its early days, with largely peaceful protests that faced crackdowns from security forces. He said he was threatened with arrest for treating wounded protesters. In 2015, a mix of and other rebels, some supported by the United States and its allies, drove government forces from Idlib, the capital of Idlib Province. Dr. Khalil became the health director. The city then became a bombing target, and the Syrian government accused the Americans of backing the group, then called the Nusra Front. “We are aware that we are in this Qaeda trap,” Dr. Khalil said. “But in Idlib we have 2. 2 million people, and how many Qaeda fighters? You cannot kill the two million for their sake. ” The fall of Idlib led to another turning point: Russia’s entry into the conflict, adding its firepower to the Syrian government’s. Russia said it entered to fight the Islamic State, but directed most of its strikes at places farther west, like Idlib, where rival insurgents more urgently threatened government forces. Chlorine attacks continued — investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations concluded the government had carried out at least three in 2014 and 2015 — with little international reaction. Idlib’s population grew as rebels and civilians moved there from areas recaptured by Assad forces and allies. After Mr. Trump came into office, proclaiming a wish to work with Russia and maybe even Mr. Assad against the Islamic State, expectations grew that the international community would accept relegitimizing Mr. Assad. And last week came the statements from Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, indicating effectively that Washington could accept Mr. Assad remaining in power. On Monday, Western officials were gathering in Brussels to weigh billions of dollars in reconstruction aid to the Assad government, amid opposition fears that they would drop their demand for a political transition first. By Thursday, however, American military officials were discussing a possible military strike on Syria, and Mr. Tillerson was saying there was “no role” for Mr. Assad in Syria’s future. And then Thursday — before dawn on Friday in Syria — Mr. Trump ordered the attack on the Shayrat air base, from which, he said, the chemical attack was launched. Witnesses described how Tuesday’s attack unfolded. That morning, a network of observers was, as usual, tracking the skies to warn residents and rescuers of possible airstrikes. They spotted Syrian aircraft and sent out warnings on . Syrian aircraft were then seen circling above Khan Sheikhoun at 6:47 a. m. and again at 6:51 a. m. One of the observers — based on long experience — believed that the planes might be carrying a chemical payload. “Guys, tell people to wear masks,” he warned. Witnesses put the attack itself at just before 7 a. m. A video of the area at that time shows three towering puffs of smoke and one smaller cloud. Dr. Khalil said he and his wife were drinking coffee at home at 8 a. m. when he got a call and rushed to Idlib’s central hospital. He found 60 patients already packing the wards. His nose began to itch, from the toxic substances, he believes. Back in Khan Sheikhoun, new airstrikes hit a hospital and a civil defense headquarters. Across the province, doctors were noticing symptoms similar to those from sarin. Some of the displaced people who wound up in Idlib in recent years come from the Damascus suburbs that were attacked with sarin in 2013. One, a media activist from near Damascus, Moaz was sickened for two months by the 2013 attacks. Now living in Idlib, he was struck with the same vomiting and respiratory distress he remembered from that day. His voice remained hoarse on the telephone two days later.

Trepidation at City College in Wake of President’s Abrupt Exit - The New York Times

David W. Chen

When students at the City College of New York, the flagship of the largest urban public university in the country, showed up for classes on Thursday for the first time since an extended holiday break, they returned to a vastly different campus from the one they left last Friday. That was when the college’s president, Lisa S. Coico, abruptly resigned, a day after The New York Times contacted officials with new questions about her administration’s handling of more than $150, 000 of her personal expenses — a subject that is currently being investigated by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. By the time classes resumed after the break for Columbus Day and Yom Kippur, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been spotted on campus, apparently to interview employees students were burning up social media with “Brace Yourself” memes inspired by the “Game of Thrones” TV series and the chancellor of the City University of New York system had convened emergency meetings to assuage the concerns of shellshocked faculty members and alumni. Small wonder, then, that many students and faculty and staff members interviewed on campus said they felt discombobulated by the torrent of troubling news. “There’s a mood of trepidation,” Ruth E. Stark, a distinguished professor of chemistry, said. “On the one hand, the handling of money has to be looked at carefully, and monitored carefully. But at the same time, I think this is a great concern about the multiplying investigations that will be enveloping us. ” Right now, two investigations are underway. The first is being handled by the office of Robert L. Capers, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York. As part of that inquiry, additional subpoenas were issued in the last few days that, among other things, zeroed in on a memo related to Ms. Coico’s expenses that some college officials believe was fabricated to mislead prosecutors. CUNY, the college’s parent entity, and its Research Foundation, which manages the university’s research funds, were included in the new round of subpoenas. The second investigation is an internal one for CUNY being conducted by Andrew J. Levander, a former federal prosecutor. Soon, a third could be started: William C. Thompson Jr. a former New York City comptroller who is the new chairman of CUNY’s Board of Trustees, has urged the state inspector general to do a systemwide investigation of “all of the college foundations, alumni associations or other affiliated entities including the CUNY Research Foundation. ” The state provides the funding for CUNY’s senior colleges. Ms. Coico, who has hired a lawyer, has declined to comment. Of more immediate concern at City College, though, is the leadership vacuum. For the next few weeks, the administrator in charge will be Mary E. Driscoll, the college’s new interim provost. The university’s board of trustees is scheduled to meet on Oct. 26 and appoint an interim president. After that, a search will begin for a permanent replacement, with the goal of having someone in place by September. To assure nervous faculty members and others, James B. Milliken, CUNY’s chancellor, visited City College’s Gothic campus early Tuesday morning, when its administrative offices were open, to voice his unwavering support for, and faith in, the college. In an interview, Mr. Milliken said he was encouraged by the shared belief that the college, which has produced 10 Nobel Prize winners and illustrious alumni like the former secretary of state Colin L. Powell and Andrew S. Grove, who was the chief executive and chairman of Intel Corporation, should focus on its future. “Whenever there’s a transition at a leadership level of an institution, particularly one that is fairly abrupt, there is a level of anxiety,” Mr. Milliken said. “That was one reason I wanted to be at City College when they opened the doors, the first day back at the office. We’re going to do everything we can to ensure that they have stable, talented leadership there. ” Many students said they did not have much contact with Ms. Coico, and rarely saw her on campus. Yelina Espinal, a psychology major, said the only time she saw the former president was during freshman orientation she is now a senior. Still, Ms. Espinal was visibly disgusted with the news about Ms. Coico, as were many other students. “All the rumors about the things she’s done — it’s all over Facebook,” she said. “People are already upset about a lot of things on campus with the roofs leaking. Now we learn the extent that the president might be stealing? It’s ridiculous. ” Stephany Baez, 30, who works full time as a waitress while enrolled at the university, said she was offended by accusations that the president was pocketing extra money on top of her generous pay and benefits package, while she herself was struggling to pay for her classes. She also voiced frustration with the facilities, saying that escalators broke down routinely and that bedbugs had recently infested the library. “I’m so upset about this,” she said. “I struggle really hard. To find out that she’s being so greedy and taking advantage of students who are really having a hard time is really disheartening. ”

Singers in Russian Military Choir Among 92 Feared Dead After Plane Crashes Into Black Sea - The New York Times

Ivan Nechepurenko

SOCHI, Russia — A Russian aircraft bound for Syria carrying a famed military band to entertain Russia’s forces there crashed into the Black Sea moments after takeoff on Sunday, and the authorities said all 92 people aboard were believed dead. The cause of the crash is under investigation, although initial Russian news media reports indicated it was a technical failure rather than terrorism. The Russian military has had only minor casualties throughout its deployment in Syria, but the country has experienced a series of setbacks in recent days. On Monday, the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated at an art exhibit in Ankara, with the killer yelling, “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!” That came not long after forces from the Islamic State recaptured the storied Syrian city of Palmyra, forcing the Russian garrison that had been stationed there since helping to take the city last spring to flee. The military plane, a Tupolev disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from the resort town of Sochi. Russia’s official weather forecast agency said that conditions near the airport were “normal, easy,” the Interfax news agency reported. The airplane was technically fit, the Defense Ministry said. Wreckage of the plane, which was carrying 84 passengers and eight crew members, was found in the sea, most of it about one mile from shore, the Russian Defense Ministry said. No survivors have been found at the crash site, Russian officials said. Passengers on the flight, which originated in Moscow and stopped in Sochi to refuel, included 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the Russian military choir, who were traveling to Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria. The band planned to serenade Russian personnel in Syria on New Year’s Eve. President Vladimir V. Putin deployed Russian armed forces in Syria in September 2015, ostensibly to fight terrorism but primarily to prop up President Bashar the leader of the lone remaining Russian ally in the region, whose forces have been fighting an insurgency for nearly six years. Russian forces have been instrumental in helping the Damascus government regain the initiative, with the final rebels expelled from the besieged city of Aleppo on Thursday. Three journalists from Channel One, Russia’s main television station, were on the plane, as were journalists from the Zvezda and NTV television networks, news reports said. Yelizaveta P. Glinka, a prominent Russian philanthropist and a member of the presidential council on human rights and civil society, was also on the list of people on board. Mr. Putin recently honored Mrs. Glinka with a state award for her human rights and charity work. Valery V. Khalilov, the ensemble’s artistic director, was also on the plane, according to the list of passengers. Mr. Putin expressed his condolences to relatives of the victims, and he declared Monday a national day of mourning. (Christmas is not celebrated as an official holiday in Russia on Dec. 25, because the Russian Orthodox Church observes it on Jan. 7.) “First of all, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families of our citizens, who died today, as a result of an aviation catastrophe over the Black Sea this morning,” Mr. Putin said in St. Petersburg, according to remarks published on the Kremlin’s website. He also ordered Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev to establish a state commission, headed by the transportation minister, Maxim Sokolov, to investigate the crash. The Defense Ministry said that 11 bodies had been recovered as search efforts continued, Russian news agencies reported. A memorial was installed inside the Sochi airport, and people brought candles and flowers. Relatives of the victims were whisked away by the authorities to a specially designated zone where they were treated by psychiatrists. Mr. Sokolov told journalists inside the terminal building that the rescue effort would not stop at night. “It is premature to say anything about the causes of this tragedy,” he told reporters. More than 30 vessels were deployed in the recovery operation, Mr. Sokolov said, and the Defense Ministry said that more than 100 divers had been sent to the crash site. Founded in the Soviet era, the Alexandrov Ensemble, which had performed in Syria earlier this year, is the official band of the Russian armed forces. It consists of an orchestra, a choir and a dance ensemble, and is one of the two Russian orchestras allowed to use the title Red Army Choir. The ensemble was founded by Aleksandr V. Aleksandrov, a prominent Soviet composer and the author of the music of the Russian anthem. His grandson Yevgeny told Meduza, a Russian news website, that “the best members of the ensemble died. ” “All the best soloists, the whole choir,” he said. “Everything will collapse now. The best ones are gone. ” Several independent news outlets in Russia reported that the Alexandrov Ensemble had planned to give a concert in Aleppo. In May, the Russian military had flown a symphony orchestra led by one of its conductors, Valery Gergiev, to mark the reclaiming of Palmyra. Until recently, the which was designed in the 1960s, was one of the most widely used civilian aircraft in Russian aviation. The plane that crashed on Sunday was made in 1983, underwent planned maintenance work in the fall, and was operated by an experienced pilot, the Defense Ministry said. Russian airlines have mostly replaced outdated Soviet planes with new ones in recent years and have vastly improved the overall safety record. Many government agencies continue to fly the and other old Soviet aircraft, however. The age and reputation of the as well as the fact that the aircraft had flown out of secure military airfields, meant that most senior officials speaking publicly ruled out the possibility that an attack had caused the crash. But there was speculation by a few aviation experts, echoed by some officials, that terrorism could not be ruled out given the suddenness with which the plane disappeared and the size of the debris field. “For us the worst version is an act of terrorism, because if this is the case, this will mean that we have paid another bill for Aleppo,” Vadim Lukashevich, an aviation expert, told Dozhd, an independent television station. In one of Russia’s most recent air disasters, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for planting a bomb onboard a Russian civilian Airbus that crashed in Egypt in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board in a flight from the Egyptian resort of Sharm to St. Petersburg. Another military plane crashed in eastern Siberia on Monday, seriously injuring 16 of the 39 people on board, and the aviation authorities recently grounded the country’s newest civilian airliner, the Sukhoi Superjet 100, because of concerns about metal fatigue.

U.S. Near Bottom in Public ‘Confidence in Elections’

Eric Zuesse.

MOST Voters Now Think Clinton Broke the Law … TWICE As Many As Think that Trump Did → kimyo what is your interpretation of the following email from podesta re: a 2015 cnbc interview in which sanders stated “When you hustle money like that, you don’t sit in restaurants like this” and “That type of wealth has the potential to isolate you from the reality of the world.” podesta: This isn’t in keeping w the agreement. Since we clearly have some leverage, would be good to flag this for him. I could send a signal via Welch–or did you establish a direct line w him? Donate Recent Posts

After 6,000 Exorcisms, Priest Says ‘The Devil Is Afraid of Me’

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.

A Mexican priest who has performed more than 6, 000 exorcisms in his career says that he does not fear the devil, because the devil is afraid of him. [In a recent interview, exorcist Father Francisco López Sedano insisted that the devil exists and that he is not a mere personification of evil but an actual being. “Jesus often confronted Satan himself and spoke with him,” he said. “You do not talk with a thing, you talk to a person. ” The priest, who normally treats three to five cases a day, says that he has personally spoken with the devil on many occasions. “Who are you to expel me?” Satan has challenged him. “And I answer: ‘I am nobody, but I come from Christ, your God and Lord and you leave right now, I command you in the name of Him to go away!” he said. Lopez Sedano said that Linda Blair’s portrayal of a possessed person in The Exorcist film is not so far from reality. “When the devil is present, anything can happen,” he asserts. One particularly memorable case was that of a boy in his late teens who “pushed five enormous, extremely heavy benches that not even 10 people could have moved. He had a tremendous strength,” he said. Possessed people “can climb walls, yes, and even fly,” he said. Lopez Sedano says he became an exorcist not by personal inclination but “out of necessity,” after witnessing some very serious and painful cases of demonic possession. “Before, I did not think the devil could act so aggressively. It seemed fanciful, not realistic. ” A fellow priest also told Father Lopez that fighting the Evil One was an obligation. “You have to get into this by the Lord’s command,” he said. The Word of God carries three mandates from Jesus, the priest added, “to preach the word of God, heal the sick and cast out demons. ” All three of these are still in force in the church, he said, but many priests do not dare to engage the devil because “they are afraid of him. ” Others, he said, simply do not believe in the devil. The priest said that he has had cases in which people have gone to their pastor with their problems, but he has responded: “You are imagining things, that doesn’t exist. ” And the person leaves without knowing what to do, “because at night ‘someone’ bothers him, hits him, throws him out of bed, throws him against the wall,” he said. Demonic possession manifests itself in many ways, Father Lopez says. “A person possessed by demons may start screaming, barking like a dog, shrieking or writhing on the ground like a snake. There are a thousand ways,” he said. The priest claims that he is not afraid because God protects him. “If he didn’t, nobody would get into this work,” he said. “The devil is afraid of me. ” What the devil looks for is “to turn us away from God,” the priest said. “He wants to make us lazy, tire us out, fill us with distrust, make us despair and hate. Everything negative,” he said. What he really likes is “to separate us from God, frighten us, threaten us, and keep us trembling,” he said. Lopez Sedano said that the devil often enters people because they let him in, because they play around with occult practices. “People let the devil in. He would not mess with us if we did not open doors for him,” he said. “That is why God forbids practicing magic, superstition, witchcraft, sorcery, divination, consultation of the dead and spirits and astrology. ” Those are the lands of “lying and deceit,” he said. According to the priest, consulting horoscopes is ridiculous, but can also be dangerous. Thinking that the stars influence our lives is “the biggest lie,” Lopez said. “They’re a million miles away! They are bodies made up of metals and gases, how are they going to influence us?” “The same goes for magic, which is to attribute to things a power they do not have,” the priest said. “Carrying around a horseshoe because it’s going to give me good luck is a lie,” he said. Despite the grim reality of the devil, Lopez Sedano says he keeps a positive attitude toward life. “My hope is confirmed because on the cross Christ already triumphed,” he said. “He won the absolute war,” he said. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome

WSJ: White House Opens Door to Democrats in Wake of Health Bill Failure - Breitbart

Breitbart News

With Republicans unable to reach a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare, it appears that the Trump White House is fed up with the many factions in the House GOP conference, thus opening the door for Democrats, reports the Wall Street Journal. [In a story published in the Journal: The White House sent a warning shot to congressional Republicans that it may increase its outreach to Democrats if it can’t get the support of conservatives, a potential shift in legislative strategy that could affect drug prices, the future of a tax overhaul and budgetary priorities. Days after the House GOP health bill collapsed due to a lack of support from Republicans, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus brought up the idea of working with Democrats multiple times, leaving little doubt that the White House intended to send a message to the Republican flank. “This president is not going to be a partisan president,” Mr. Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday. ” He said that while “I think it’s time for our folks to come together, I also think it’s time to potentially get a few moderate Democrats on board as well. ” Read the full article here.

Fox Sports’ Clay Travis Rips ’Hypocritical’ Nike Equality Ad: ’Nike Doesn’t Treat Everybody Equal at All’ - Breitbart

Trent Baker

During the Monday version of his Fox Sports Radio show “Outkick the Coverage,” host Clay Travis reacted to the new Nike ad that promotes equality “everywhere,” pointing out how “hypocritical” the company is for paying its Indonesian workers what American factory workers make doing the same job. “Nike is making money hand over fist because they’re only paying their workers three dollars a day to make them in Indonesia,” Travis stated. “If equality is everywhere, doesn’t Nike actually have to treat its employees equally? Doesn’t Nike have to actually bring its brand to American shores and make this sneaker inside of our borders and actually pay people in America to make a shoe they’re asking people to buy?” “Don’t you think it’s a little bit hypocritical for Nike to say that equality is everywhere when it’s paying workers overseas of what they would have to pay for an American to make this?” he added. Travis went on to call what Nike has with its Indonesian employees “Indonesian virtual slave labor. ” “I guess everybody’s equal and there are no boundaries as long as you don’t live in Indonesia,” he concluded. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

Pillars of the West Shaken by ‘Brexit,’ but They’re Not Crumbling Yet - The New York Times

Steven Erlanger

LONDON — On a day that blended dull ritual with undeniable historical import, Britain formally began its departure from the European Union with the delivery of a letter to Brussels, followed by lofty words from Prime Minister Theresa May in Parliament. Two years of grinding divorce negotiations now begin, with the outcome unclear, except that the talks are certain to be contentious and spiteful — and that the only sure winners will be lawyers and trade negotiators. For the first time, the European bloc is losing a member, not to mention its economy. The multilateral architecture that has shaped the Western world since the aftermath of World War II has taken a severe blow, and as the letter was delivered on Wednesday, questions abounded about whether this pivot toward nationalism and represented the beginning of a more volatile global era. When Britons voted last June to leave the European Union, the champions of “Brexit” argued that the country, with its exit, was at the front edge of a larger populist wave. Months later, the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States only deepened the feeling that an political contagion was sweeping across Western democracies, upending the established order. Britain, the argument went, would be a winner in this new era. Few people predicted the British exit, and fewer still predicted Mr. Trump’s victory. But few predicted where things stand now, either: The European Union, if still ailing and dysfunctional, is far from dead. Populist parties are sinking in the polls in Germany and underperformed in the Dutch elections this month. Opinion polls in many countries show continued public unhappiness with the bloc but little desire to see it fall apart. “No one is following Britain out of the E. U.,” Pierpaolo Barbieri wrote recently for Foreign Affairs, a magazine published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan research group. The question now is whether some Europeans, having watched the first aftereffects of the vote to withdraw and the American presidential vote — political division in Britain and the fall of the pound, and political missteps in the Trump White House — are sobered by the chaos of the right. That thesis is speculative, too, and will be tested next month in France, where the traditional parties have imploded and the nationalist Marine Le Pen, if victorious, has promised to take France out of the European Union. But for now, Emmanuel Macron, who is is leading the polls. Picking winners at such a volatile moment is perilous, but many analysts agree that the British withdrawal, and the uncertainty it produced, has been good news for Russia, and possibly for China, as two large powers that can exercise greater leverage in negotiations with individual European capitals than with a tightly unified European bloc that, taken together, is a geopolitical powerhouse. “ ‘Brexit’ surely strengthens the disintegrative processes already underway in the E. U. and therefore is a boon” to Russia, said James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia program at the think tank Chatham House. “The E. U. is more powerful than any single actor, even Germany, so anything that diminishes a rival in the terms in which Russia thinks strengthens the Russian voice in Europe. ” Britain’s absence at the European table could also help the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. Partly pressed by Britain, the United States’ main ally, the European Union has been tough on Russia over its annexation of Crimea, and the bloc has moved to cut Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas. Anything that shifts power in Brussels away from that view is considered a plus for Moscow. The coming exit from the European Union has already turned Britain inward, with the government and the country’s powerful tabloid news media fixated on the particulars of its withdrawal: the uncertainties of whether the country will maintain access to the bloc’s single market demands that the country take control of its borders to stunt immigration and an insistence on “reclaiming sovereignty” by returning lawmaking powers to London. Those themes of national sovereignty and curbing immigration resonate across the Continent, which is why some saw the British exit as a political precursor and the European Union as an endangered species. In December, however, Austrians narrowly elected a president, Alexander Van der Bellen, over Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party. In Spain, the populist Podemos party underperformed polling expectations last year and the conservative prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, stayed in office. This month, the Dutch gave the politician Geert Wilders fewer votes than expected in a northern European country similar in its political outlook to Britain. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel remains popular in the polls, although weakened by her long service in the job and by severe criticism of her 2015 “ ” immigration policy. The Alternative for Deutschland is slipping, however, and Ms. Merkel’s main challenger is the Martin Schulz of the Social Democrats, the former head of the European Parliament. Even Bulgaria, the European Union country considered most influenced by Russia, saw voters endorse the party in elections last weekend. As European voters seem to be tentatively endorsing unity, Britain is confronted with widening divisions. On Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the exit letter was delivered to Brussels, the Scottish Parliament voted to demand a new referendum on independence from the United Kingdom. Such a referendum is unlikely to happen anytime soon — it requires the approval of the British government in Westminster — but the rising nationalism in Scotland is a reminder that London could get a taste of its own medicine. With her government desperate to maintain Britain’s standing in the world, Mrs. May has turned to President Trump. He and his chief political adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, are deeply skeptical of multilateralism, free trade and “entangling alliances. ” While NATO may pass muster as a security shield (provided everyone pays up) the European Union, like the United Nations, seems an example of the world that Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon want to dismantle or, at the very least, weaken. Yet Mrs. May has also tried to present Britain as committed to globalization and to global trade — as, effectively, still open for business. It is a tricky circle to square, demonstrating how difficult it is to predict Britain’s future. Some envision the country’s fate as being a European equivalent of Singapore, sovereign and respected, a partner eagerly sought by the rest of the world. Others warn that Britain could be left much more isolated than it is now, especially since European leaders feel they must strike a hard bargain. “There is a political imperative that ‘Brexit’ not be seen as a success,” said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, “because every government in Europe is challenged to some degree by resurgent nationalists who would be encouraged and inspired by a ‘Brexit’ success. ” For those British lawmakers in favor of the withdrawal, like Jacob a Conservative legislator, the exit “is a wonderful liberation for my country. ” The single market, he told Prospect magazine, “is a bureaucratic, highly regulated means of making British business more inefficient — it’s about having a closed, Fortress Europe approach, rather than engaging with the world. ” There is “no political event in my lifetime that has been better or more exciting for the nation,” he added. But Mr. Leonard has his doubts. “Britain may be sailing off to sea,” he said, “but the welcoming arms won’t be that numerous. ”

The Fed Plans for the Next Crisis

Ron Paul

In her recent address at the Jackson Hole monetary policy conference, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates by the end of the year. Markets reacted favorably to Yellen’s suggested rate increase. This is surprising, as, except for one small increase last year, the Federal Reserve has not followed through on the numerous suggestions of rate increases that Yellen and other Fed officials have made over the past several years. Much more significant than Yellen’s latest suggestion of a rate increase was her call for the Fed to think outside the box in developing responses to the next financial crisis. One of the outside the box ideas suggested by Yellen is increasing the Fed’s ability to intervene in markets by purchasing assets of private companies. Yellen also mentioned that the Fed could modify its inflation target. Increasing the Federal Reserve’s ability to purchase private assets will negatively impact economic growth and consumers’ well-being. This is because the Fed will use this power to keep failing companies alive, thus preventing the companies’ assets from being used to produce a good or service more highly valued by consumers. Investors may seek out companies whose assets have been purchased by the Federal Reserve, since it is likely that Congress and federal regulators would treat these companies as “too big to fail.” Federal Reserve ownership of private companies could also strengthen the movement to force businesses to base their decisions on political, rather than economic, considerations. Yellen’s suggestion of modifying the Fed’s inflation target means that the Fed would increase the inflation tax just when Americans are trying to cope with a major recession or even a depression. The inflation tax is the most insidious of all taxes because it is both hidden and regressive. The failure of the Federal Reserve’s eight-year spree of money creation via quantitative easing and historically low interest rates to reflate the bubble economy suggests that the fiat currency system may soon be coming to an end. Yellen’s outside the box proposals will only hasten that collapse. The collapse of the fiat system will not only cause a major economic crisis, but also the collapse of the welfare-warfare state. Yet, Congress not only refuses to consider meaningful spending cuts, it will not even pass legislation to audit the Fed. Passing Audit the Fed would allow the American people to know the full truth about the Federal Reserve’s conduct of monetary policy, including the complete details of the Fed’s plans to respond to the next economic crash. An audit will also likely uncover some very interesting details regarding the Federal Reserve’s dealings with foreign central banks. The large number of Americans embracing authoritarianism — whether of the left or right wing variety — is a sign of mass discontent with the current system. There is a great danger that, as the economic situation worsens, there will be an increase in violence and growing restrictions on liberty. However, public discontent also presents a great opportunity for those who understand free-market economics to show our fellow citizens that our problems are not caused by immigrants, imports, or the one percent, but by the Federal Reserve. Politicians will never restore sound money or limited government unless forced to do so by either an economic crisis or a shift in public option. It is up to us who know the truth to make sure the welfare-warfare state and the system of fiat money ends because the people have demanded it, not because a crisis left Congress with no other choice.

‘The Market Is Saturated’: Brooklyn’s Rental Boom May Turn Into a Glut - The New York Times

Charles V. Bagli

From the roof of a building near the Atlantic Terminal transit hub in Brooklyn, the formerly expansive views of Manhattan are now blocked by a rising forest of towers, radiating off Flatbush Avenue. The sign for Junior’s restaurant, once impossible to miss, can be glimpsed only between the new construction. There are 19 residential towers either under construction or recently completed along the section of Flatbush stretching from Barclays Center north to Myrtle Avenue. When all of them are finished, they will have added more than 6, 500 apartments — overwhelmingly rentals — to New York City’s housing stock. Another four buildings on Myrtle Avenue will add almost 1, 000 more units. There are so many new apartments in the neighborhood — roughly of all rental units expected to become available in the city in 2016 and 2017, according to Nancy Packes Data Services, a research firm — that the Brooklyn rental market seems poised to zoom right past boom, to glut. “The market is saturated,” said Sofia Estevez, executive vice president at the developer TF Cornerstone, which will begin offering apartments in a rental building at 33 Bond Street next spring. “I think it’ll take a couple years to stabilize. ” And just as overbuilding along Billionaires’ Row around 57th Street in Manhattan has caused prices to soften in the market, the construction boom in this stretch of Brooklyn has prompted landlords to strike deals to fill their buildings, which dwarf the surrounding brownstones, rowhouses and tenements. At 7 DeKalb, a new tower atop the City Point mall complex, the landlord is offering two months of free rent with a lease, and use of the building’s fitness center and other amenities for a year without charge. That means a place can be had for $3, 428 a month a apartment goes for $5, 057. The Gotham Organization, the developer of 250 Ashland Place, a tower with 586 units, and Two Trees Management, which is building 300 Ashland Place, a tower near the Brooklyn Academy of Music, are offering similar “free rent” periods: one and two months gratis, respectively, with a new lease. With the discount, a at 300 Ashland Place is being offered at $3, 375. Elsewhere, landlords are offering as much as four months free of charge. In at least one older building — meaning it went up in 2011 — the landlord is offering existing residents leases with no increase in rent for the first year in order to keep tenants who may be drawn to newer buildings. “It’s pretty astonishing,” said Gabby Warshawer, director of research at CityRealty, a research firm. “Clearly there’s a lot of supply right now. We’re seeing longer lease terms, which is fairly new. And months of free rent. ” Free rent is hardly what you would expect in Brooklyn, where demand for housing has been rising for a decade, driven by the borough’s reputation as a haven of youth, hipness and entrepreneurialism. But the original hip neighborhood, Williamsburg, is now expensive. And with the pending temporary shutdown of the L subway line in 2019 lengthening the commute into Manhattan, that neighborhood is no longer as appealing. The boom in this corner of Brooklyn, which has one of the biggest transit centers in the city, owes a lot to the city’s 2004 rezoning of the downtown area to encourage the development of office towers and some residential buildings that could compete with Jersey City for back office operations. At first, there was little activity because the city was offering tenants and developers enormous subsidies to rebuild and move to Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the creation of an arts district around the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Barclays arena at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, and the adjoining Atlantic Yards development, now known as Pacific Park, inspired interest in the area. And the city’s population has swelled, to an estimated 8. 6 million people a year ago from 8. 2 million people in 2010, setting off a seemingly unquenchable thirst for housing, especially given job growth in Brooklyn, which outpaces the city over all. Developers and consultants are not predicting that rents will plunge, but they do expect them to stagnate and perhaps ease in the short term. “We’ve had a big in rents,” said David Schwartz of Slate Property Group, which is developing a building at 1 Flatbush Avenue with 160 rental apartments, “but I don’t think we’ll see any significant growth in the next couple of years. ” Jonathan J. Miller, president and chief executive of Miller Samuel, a real estate appraisal and consulting firm, contends that the problem is not so much “too many units. ” “It’s too many units skewed to the upper end of the market,” above $3, 500 a month in rent, he continued. “The top of the market is soft for both rentals and condos. That’s where the bulk of the new supply is coming. ” Gary Barnett, founder of Extell Development Company, plans to start the third tower at City Point by the end of the year, but he is unsure whether it will be rentals or condominiums. The units, he said, will not be “superluxury. ” The Brodsky Organization, another developer, is finishing the second tower at the City Point complex with 440 apartments. Indeed, in a study of Brooklyn rents, Mr. Miller found that while median rents on apartments had climbed by 50 percent to $2, 481 from 2009 to 2016, those at the borough’s highest end had fallen by about 4 percent, to a median of $4, 783. But nearly of the apartments — a total of 1, 654 units — in the Flatbush corridor are reserved for and tenants under the city’s housing program, which offered developers generous property tax breaks for setting aside 20 percent of a project’s apartments for such tenants. At the Hub, a tower at 333 Schermerhorn Street with 750 apartments, 150 units are subsidized for poor and families, while 76 of the 379 rentals at 300 Ashland Place and 200 of the 250 units at 7 DeKalb Avenue are set aside for tenants. Roughly half of the subsidized apartments are connected to the first four buildings now under construction at the vast Pacific Park project next to Barclays Center and just south of Atlantic Terminal. That complex benefits from an enormous public investment. Some housing advocates, however, say there are still not enough apartments for the tenants being driven out of the area by gentrification. They point out that the developer Forest City Ratner got 80, 000 applications for 181 subsidized apartments at 461 Dean Street in Pacific Park. Others complain that developers are not building the infrastructure required for such a large influx of residents. Developers are taking solace from a coming slowdown in the construction of rental buildings, with the number expected to fall to almost zero in 2018. That is partly because of the demise in January of the program. And now 12 years after the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning, some developers are finally moving forward with plans for several office projects as well. “People really want to be living and working in Brooklyn, and that’s why you’ve seen so many developers flocking to this area,” said Amy Rose, of Rose Associates, which is putting up a building with 369 apartments at 210 Livingston Street with its partner Benenson Capital Partners. Mr. Schwartz, who is building the Slate tower at 1 Flatbush Avenue, said he was not worried about the number of buildings going up. Brooklyn, he said, is still “the coolest place on the planet. ”

The Dangers of ‘Polypharmacy,’ the Ever-Mounting Pile of Pills - The New York Times

Paula Span

Dr. Caleb Alexander knows how easily older people can fall into polypharmacy. Perhaps a patient, like most seniors, sees several specialists who write or renew prescriptions. “A cardiologist puts someone on good, medications for his heart,” said Dr. Alexander, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness. “An endocrinologist does the same for his bones. ” And let’s say the patient, like many older adults, also uses an reflux drug and takes a daily aspirin or a zinc supplement and fish oil capsules. “Pretty soon, you have an man who’s on 14 medications,” Dr. Alexander said, barely exaggerating. Geriatricians and researchers have warned for years about the potential hazards of polypharmacy, usually defined as taking five or more drugs concurrently. Yet it continues to rise in all age groups, reaching disturbingly high levels among older adults. “It’s as perennial as the grass,” Dr. Alexander said. “The average senior is taking more medicines than ever before. ” Tracking prescription drug use from 1999 to 2012 through a large national survey, Harvard researchers reported in November that 39 percent of those over age 65 now use five or more medications — a 70 percent increase in polypharmacy over 12 years. Lots of factors probably contributed, including the introduction of Medicare Part D drug coverage in 2006 and treatment guidelines that (controversially) call for greater use of statins. But older people don’t take just prescription drugs. An article published in JAMA Internal Medicine using a longitudinal national survey of people 62 to 85, may have revealed the fuller picture. More than a third were taking at least five prescription medications, and almost were using dietary supplements, including herbs and vitamins. Nearly 40 percent took drugs. Not all are imperiled by polypharmacy, of course. But some of those products, even those that sound natural and are available at health food stores, interact with others and can cause dangerous side effects. How often does that happen? The researchers, analyzing the drugs and supplements taken, calculated that more than 8 percent of older adults in 2005 and 2006 were at risk for a major drug interaction. Five years later, the proportion exceeded 15 percent. “We’re not paying attention to the interactions and safety of multiple medications,” said Dima Qato, the lead author of the JAMA Internal Medicine article (Dr. Alexander was a ) and a pharmacist and epidemiologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “This is a major public health problem. ” She was stunned to discover, for instance, that the use of fish oil supplements had quadrupled over five years. Her research suggests that almost one in five older adults now takes them. Users probably believe fish oil helps their hearts. But Dr. Qato pointed out fish oil capsules lacked regulation and evidence of effectiveness, and can cause bleeding in patients taking blood thinners like warfarin (brand name: Coumadin). Though drug interactions can occur in any age group, older people are more vulnerable, said Dr. Michael A. Steinman, a geriatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, who wrote an accompanying commentary. Most have multiple chronic diseases, so they take more drugs, putting them at higher risk for threatening interactions. The consequences can also be more threatening. Say a drug makes older patients dizzy. “They’re more prone to fall, because they don’t have the same reserves of balance and strength” as the young or Dr. Steinman said. “And if they do fall because they’re dizzy, they’re more likely to get hurt. ” Some common combinations that cropped up in the study and could spell trouble: aspirin and the drug clopidogrel (Plavix) both blood thinners that together increase the risk of bleeding with use aspirin and naproxen (Aleve) drugs that when combined can cause bleeding, ulceration or perforation of the stomach lining. Dr. Qato recalled reviewing the medications of a man taking both the cholesterol drug simvastatin (Zocor) and the blood pressure medication amlodipine (Norvasc) — the most common combination of interacting drugs that emerged in her study. Statins, along with their properties, can cause muscle pain and weakness Norvasc heightens that risk. A different blood pressure drug — there are many alternatives — would be a safer choice, Dr. Qato said. Yet almost 4 percent of the older adults in her study took both drugs. Moreover, though her patient wasn’t experiencing problems, he was also taking garlic and supplements, which can interact with prescription medications. “Did you tell your doctor you were on them? ’” Dr. Qato recalled asking. “He said, ‘No, why should I? If it was important, why didn’t he ask me? ’” A reasonable question. A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine, however, found that more than 42 percent of adults didn’t tell their primary care doctors about their most commonly used complementary and alternative medicines, including a quarter of those who relied most on herbs and supplements. Usually, that was because the physicians didn’t ask and the patients didn’t think they needed to know in a few cases, doctors had previously discouraged alternative therapies, or patients thought they would. And they might, especially for older patients with complex regimens. “I’m not a big fan of supplements,” Dr. Alexander tells patients taking lots of vitamins, supplements and herbal remedies. “I think the vast majority of evidence raises serious questions about their effectiveness or, in some cases, their safety. They’re less well regulated than prescription medications. I think you’d be better off stopping them. ” Patients often resist, he said, and “they’re the captain of their own ship. ” So he explains the risks and benefits, and negotiations ensue. Often, though, patients don’t know that a daily aspirin, Prilosec OTC or fish oil can interact with other drugs. Or they’re confused about what they’re actually taking. Dr. Steinman recalled asking a patient to bring in every pill he took for a brown bag review. He learned that the man had accumulated four or five bottles of the same drug without realizing it, and was ingesting several times the recommended dose. Ultimately, the best way to reduce polypharmacy is to overhaul our fragmented approach to health care. “The system is not geared to look at a person as a whole, to see how the patterns fit together,” Dr. Steinman said. In the meantime, though, patients and families can ask their physicians for brown bag reviews, including every supplement, and discuss whether to continue or change their regimens. Pharmacists, often underused as information sources, can help coordinate medications, and some patients qualify for medication reviews through Medicare. “We spend an awful lot of money and effort trying to figure out when to start medications,” Dr. Alexander said, “and shockingly little on when to stop. ”

Amazon extends olive branch to Megyn Kelly over book reviews, “flood of one-star ratings”

Staff Writer

11.23.2016 @4:17 PM EST More Establishment ties? ( INTELLIHUB ) — It looks as if Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s new book publisher, Harper Collins, may have been concerned with a plethora of negative book reviews posted by ‘Trump trolls’ on Amazon, resulting in Amazon censoring free speech by removing a score of reviews from the website entirely, reports say. Apparently Kelly’s new memoir titled Settle For More missed the mark so much that “a whopping 76% of all reports were one-star” at one point, before Amazon made adjustments in an effort to aide Kelly, according to Slate.com. Although USA Today and others are touting negative reviews as ‘attacks from pro-Trump trolls,’ Kelly’s negative reviews only stem from Kelly herself, who serves as a played out die-hard Establishment mouthpiece for the corporate elite. She’s been “trying to suck up to Rupert Murdoch for that twenty-million dollar contract,” one lady told Intellihub. ‘She’s courting him [Murdoch],’ the lady said. Currently Kelly’s book has a 2.4 0ut of a 5 star rating on Amazon.com. Gage Skidmore/Flickr

Secret Service Shoots Man Near White House - The New York Times

Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael S. Schmidt

WASHINGTON — A man who approached the White House on Friday brandishing a gun was shot and wounded by a Secret Service agent, the agency’s spokesman said. The man, whose identity was not released, was taken into custody and treated at a nearby hospital. President Obama was away at the time, playing golf at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. He was told about the shooting, a White House official said. The episode began shortly after 3 p. m. Friday, when the man walked toward a security checkpoint on E Street, southwest of the White House. “The Secret Service Uniformed Division officers gave numerous verbal commands for the subject to stop and drop the firearm,” David A. Iacovetti, the deputy assistant director of government and public affairs for the Secret Service, said in a statement. “When the subject failed to comply with the verbal commands, he was shot once by a Secret Service agent and taken into custody. ” The agents recovered the gun, Mr. Iacovetti said. The shooting, in a area near the National Mall crowded with tourists and other bystanders, was the latest in a string of security episodes involving the White House. In September 2014, a man who climbed over the fence on the north lawn eluded officers and made it through the front door of the White House before being apprehended. Several days later, the director of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson, was forced to resign. Since then, the Secret Service has significantly expanded training for officers and beefed up security around the fence. In this episode, the Secret Service said, the armed man did not penetrate the White House grounds. “No one within or associated with the White House was injured, and everyone in the White House is safe and accounted for,” an administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to comment publicly about the incident. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was secured “within the White House complex” during the shooting, said Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman. Still, the White House and Treasury Department were placed on lockdown while the police investigated, interrupting an unusually sleepy spring afternoon at the White House. Mr. Obama, who is scheduled to leave on Saturday for a weeklong trip to Vietnam and Japan, decided to squeeze in a rare weekday round of golf with three close aides.

E3 Hands-On with ’South Park: The Fractured but Whole’: South Park Takes Aim at Superhero Genre - Breitbart

Lucas Nolan

The title of South Park: The Fractured but Whole essentially sets the comedic tone for the upcoming RPG which sets its sights on the superhero genre.[ South Park’s latest video game acts as a sequel to the 2014 release South Park: The Stick of Truth which was well received by critics and fans alike due to its surprisingly compelling storyline, humor, and engaging gameplay. The Fractured but Whole aims to outdo The Stick of Truth in every way, ramping up the series signature offensive humor and outlandish storylines. The new storyline of The Fractured but Whole see’s the main characters assuming their superhero identities that many fans will recognize from the TV show. A fight between members of the team known as The Coon and Friends results in the superhero group splitting into two factions in an apparent nod to Marvel’s Civil War, one led by Cartman as The Coon and another led by Kenny’s alter ego Mysterion. The player takes on the role of “The New Kid” and can play as a male or female character. The demo that I played at E3 took place in a strip club. Your character starts as a lowly sidekick, not yet having made the transition to hero. You accompany Captain Diabetes inside the club where you search for a particular stripper with a male tattoo on her chest. Players must traverse the strip club speaking to various strippers and attempting to gain information from club patrons. Eventually, two men offer to take you to the VIP room in the back of the club in exchange for a lapdance. This triggers a lapdance minigame where players must move the controller’s analog sticks in certain directions in order to grind on the lap of the business man. Once this is over, the businessmen become belligerent which leads to a fight scene. This is where we get to see The Fractured but Whole’s combat system in action. Much like The Stick of Truth, the combat is with players moving their team members on a grid system and selecting certain attacks in order to beat their enemies. Shortly after this fight scene players learn the name of the elusive stripper — Classi, naturally — which leads to Captain Diabetes hatching a new plan to find her. Captain Diabetes suggests concocting a drink that will knock out the club DJ who announces each new stripper, allowing Captain Diabetes to use the PA system to call the stripper to the stage. This leads players on a search mission for certain ingredients which are obtained through various mechanics such as firecracker and fart throwing. Once all of the suitably disgusting items are found, the DJ is given the drink and promptly leaves to get sick, allowing Captain Diabetes to use the intercom system to call Classi, who attempts to escape upon seeing the player and is then chased by the player and Captain Diabetes, which ends the demo. Overall The Fractured but Whole is made specifically for South Park fans. If you’re not a fan of fart jokes and crude humor, this game is not for you. Those that enjoyed The Stick of Truth should be thoroughly impressed with The Fractured but Whole when it releases on October 17. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com

Earth To Ammosexuals: NRA Admits No One Is Coming For Your Guns! (VIDEO)

Natalie Dailey

Earth To Ammosexuals: NRA Admits No One Is Coming For Your Guns! (VIDEO) By Natalie Dailey For decades, gun-toting, ammosexual Right Wing Nut Jobs have claimed that the government is going to take their guns away. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been preaching this kind of crap “news” for years, and blaming it on Democratic presidents. It turns out that the organization has finally admitted that this is a lie. When asked about it, President Barack Obama said : “I’m about to leave office. There have been more guns sold since I’ve been president than just about any time in U.S. history. There are enough guns for every man, woman and child in this country. And at no point have I ever proposed confiscating guns from responsible gun owners. So it is just not true.” The NRA responded with : “Congress writes the laws, not the president. He could then have listed the many attacks on the right to bear arms — from Operation Fast and Furious to Operation Choke Point to Obama’s attempted ban on common ammunition for AR-15-type rifles to his using a ‘pen and phone’ to push anti-gun executive actions. But Rhude respectfully stayed silent.” Even if Congress and the president were able to pass such a law, the Supreme Court would rule it unconstitutional if challenged since they would be going against the Second Amendment. Not only has the NRA lied about taking away guns, but Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is spreading that BS as well. He said this about it back in May: “Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment. She wants to abolish it. Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away and she wants to abolish the Second Amendment. She wants to take the bullets away. She wants to take it.” Americans really need to stop listening to these fear-mongering idiots. No one is coming after your guns. We need to keep guns out of the hands of people who abuse them and commit crimes with them. Here is a clip from The Daily Show about Obama’s last batch of gun control executive orders : Featured image via YouTube screenshot . About Natalie Dailey Hi, I'm from Huntsville, AL. I'm a Liberal living in the Bible Belt, which can be quite challenging at times. I'm passionate about many issues including mental health, women's rights, gay rights, and many others. Check out my blog abravealabamaatheist.com. Check out my other blog weneedtotalkaboutmentalhealth.com Connect

Toyota Recalls 1.4 Million Vehicles as 2nd Major Airbag Maker Is Under Scrutiny - The New York Times

Hiroko Tabuchi and Jonathan Soble

Public concern about faulty automobile airbags spread to a second major supplier on Wednesday, after Toyota recalled 1. 43 million Prius and Lexus models equipped with bags made by Autoliv, a big manufacturer. Although no injuries have been reported from the problem, there have been incidents in which the Autoliv bags deployed spontaneously in parked vehicles, sending metal pieces of the inflater into the cars’ cabins. The problem sounded ominously similar to issues with faulty airbags made by another major supplier, Takata, which have been linked to 14 known deaths and more than 100 injuries. Takata’s airbags have been the target of the largest safety recall in automotive history. Fourteen automakers have recalled more than 60 million Takata airbags in the United States, and millions more worldwide. Autoliv, based in Stockholm, provides airbags to most of the major auto companies and is supplying many of the replacement inflaters being fitted in cars affected by the Takata recalls. Autoliv and Takata, together with the American supplier TRW and the Japanese maker Daicel, provide of the global supply of airbag inflaters. “Inflaters are one of the most complex automotive components to manufacture,” said Scott Upham, chief executive of the automotive consulting firm Valient Market Research. Airbag makers need to have extensive experience in chemistry, explosives, as well as quality control, he said. “This is the reason why there are so few inflater suppliers in the industry,” he said. Autoliv’s problem also underscored the challenges of overseeing the work of subcontractors in the making of crucial auto safety equipment. The company on Wednesday said substandard welds on inflaters made by a subcontractor from 2010 to 2012 were responsible for the problems leading to Toyota’s recall on Wednesday. The recall covered two models of Toyota hybrid vehicles, the Prius and the Lexus CT200h, from 2010 to 2012. They were equipped with Autoliv airbags, which are fitted in the car’s side roof rails and meant to protect occupants in crashes. Toyota did not name the airbag supplier when it announced the recall in Tokyo on Wednesday, but Autoliv later identified itself and said it was cooperating with the recall. Autoliv stressed that its airbag defect had caused no known injuries or deaths. And it was quick to distance itself from Takata’s woes, which have involved driver and passenger airbags. “They are extremely different cases,” Thomas Jonsson, a spokesman for Autoliv, said Wednesday. Still, the defect in the Autoliv airbag inflaters share some similarities with the fault in Takata’s, raising concerns about possible wider manufacturing and design issues. In both cases, the airbag inflater can break apart when the bag engages, sending metal parts into the car’s cabin. And in both cases, high temperatures appear to play a role. All seven incidents known to Autoliv had occurred in parked cars in hot weather, Mr. Jonsson said. Echoing language initially used by Takata, Autoliv was still investigating the “root cause” of the defect, he said. At the heart of Takata’s defect is its propellant, the explosive that helps inflate the airbag in a tiny fraction of a second. Takata’s propellant is based on a solid compound called ammonium nitrate, which can break down over time when exposed to moisture or high temperatures. And in its state, the compound can burn violently, causing the inflater to overpressurize and explode. In one recent incident, a Texas teenager was killed when an inflater fragment severed an artery in her neck. Autoliv does not use ammonium nitrate in its airbags, Mr. Jonsson said. Instead, its inflaters use stored compressed gas and a different solid propellant to inflate the airbag. A welding problem in metal tubing made by an Autoliv subcontractor was causing a crack to appear in the inflater, Mr. Jonsson said, and in hot conditions, the gas could overpressurize, causing the inflater to break in two. He said the subcontractor deviated from approved manufacturing processes between 2010 and 2012, resulting in the defect. But that process has since been fixed, he said. Mr. Jonsson disputed Toyota’s description of the defect in its filing with Japanese regulators, which warned that inflater fragments could burst into the car’s cabin. Mr. Jonsson said that in six of the seven incidents, the broken parts of the inflater had stayed put or had simply dropped out in one case, there was “more movement. ” Autoliv supplied the inflater in question to four other automakers. Mr. Jonsson refused to name those automakers, however, saying Autoliv was not aware of any airbag incidents in their cars. Those automakers are not conducting recalls. Autoliv said in a regulatory filing in April that it was investigating six incidents related to its airbags, and possible recall costs of $10 million to $40 million. But the details of its airbag defect had not been known. Toyota on Wednesday issued a second recall in Japan, to fix a possible fault with a mechanism in vehicles’ fuel tanks that releases evaporated fuel.

Trump on If ’Tapes’ Exist of Comey Conversation: ’I’ll Tell You About That Maybe Sometime in the Near Future’ - Breitbart

Pam Key

Pres. Trump on if “tapes” exist of his conversations with Comey: ”Well, I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the near future. ” pic. twitter. Friday during his joint press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, President Donald Trump was asked if tapes existed of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey. Trump said he would address that “maybe sometime in the near future. ” Trump said, “Well, I’ll tell you something about that maybe sometime in the very near future. In the meantime, no collusion, no obstruction. He’s a leaker. But we want to get back to running our great country, jobs, trade deficits. We want them to disappear fast. North Korea, big problem. The Middle East, a big problem. ” “So, that’s what I am focused on. That’s what I have been focused on. But yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction. We are doing very well. It’s almost impossible for the Democrats to lose the electoral college, as you know. You have to run up the whole East Coast and win everything as a Republican, and that’s what we did. So it was just an excuse. But we were very, very happy and, frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said and some of the things that he said just weren’t true. Thank you very much. Do you have a question?” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

The Bangladeshi Traffic Jam That Never Ends - The New York Times

Jody Rosen

Of all the dysfunctions that plague the world’s megacities, none may be more pernicious than bad (really, really bad) traffic. Sitting still in Dhaka, where bad design takes on epic proportions. I WAS IN DHAKA, which is to say I was stuck in traffic. The proposition might more accurately be phrased the other way around: I was stuck in traffic, therefore I was in Dhaka. If you spend some time in Bangladesh’s capital, you begin to look anew at the word “traffic,” and to revise your definition. In other cities, there are vehicles and pedestrians on the roads occasionally, the roads get clogged, and progress is impeded. The situation in Dhaka is different. Dhaka’s traffic is traffic in extremis, a state of chaos so pervasive and permanent that it has become the city’s organizing principle. It’s the weather of the city, a storm that never lets up. Dhakaites will tell you that the rest of the world doesn’t understand traffic, that the worst traffic jam in Mumbai or Cairo or Los Angeles is equivalent to a good day for Dhaka’s drivers. Experts agree. In the 2016 Global Liveability Survey, the quality of life report issued annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Dhaka ranked 137th out of 140 cities, edging out only Lagos, Tripoli and Damascus its infrastructure rating was the worst of any city in the survey. Like other megacities of the developing world, Dhaka is both a boomtown and a necropolis, with a thriving market, a growing middle class and a lively cultural and intellectual life that is offset by rampant misery: poverty, pollution, disease, political corruption, extremist violence and terror attacks. But it is traffic that has sealed Dhaka’s reputation among academics and development specialists as the great symbol of urban dysfunction, the world’s most broken city. It has made Dhaka a surreal place, a town that is both frenetic and paralyzed, and has altered the rhythms of daily life for its 17. 5 residents. Not long ago, the Daily Star newspaper published an article titled “5 Things to Do While Stuck in Traffic. ” Suggested activities included “catching up with friends,” reading and journaling. The first chapter of my own Dhaka journal begins in March of last year, on a highway that runs south from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport into the center of town. If you do a web search for this stretch of road, you may come across a Facebook page titled “Highway to Hell, Airport Road. ” Photographs posted online reveal the nature of the hell, aerial shots capturing a scrum of automobiles strewn at odd angles across eight lanes of road. It looks like a Matchbox set that has been scattered by an angry toddler: the morning commute as a cosmic temper tantrum. These images had me prepared for the worst. Yet on my flight to Dhaka I was told that the traffic in the city would be unusually light. For weeks, Bangladesh had been gripped by a hartal, a nationwide general strike and “transportation blockade. ” The hartal, called by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was an effort to pressure Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina into holding new elections. The strike had disrupted everyday life in the capital, with street demonstrations and sporadic violence causing Dhaka’s denizens to curb their normal routines. It had accomplished the seemingly impossible, breaking the logjam on Dhaka’s streets. A Bangladeshi on my flight explained the situation. “In Dhaka, you have either horrible traffic or really horrible traffic,” he said. “But with the hartal, there will be almost no traffic. Traffic will be O. K. ” Horrible traffic, really horrible traffic, almost no traffic, O. K. traffic — it takes just a few minutes in Dhaka to realize that these are not scientific terms. When my plane touched down I caught a taxi, which exited the airport into a roundabout before making its way onto the infamous highway. There, unmistakably, was a traffic jam: cars and trucks, as far the eye could see, stacked up in a configuration that bore no clear relationship to the lanes painted on the blacktop. My cab nosed into the convoy. Whereupon a crawl commenced. The traffic rolled south for 20 seconds. The traffic stopped. My cab idled for a couple of minutes at a dead standstill. Then, for mysterious reasons, it crept forward again. Occasionally, the traffic would flow unimpeded for a minute or so, reaching a clip of perhaps 15 miles per hour. But soon we’d lurch to a halt again. It was the kind of routine I’d experienced on American interstates, the “ ” conditions that traffic reporters describe on news radio, shouting something about a jackknifed over thumping helicopter rotors. In this case, though, the problem was not an accident. The problem was Dhaka. It was hot and I was . I dozed off. When I snapped awake, about an hour later, the congestion had thickened and the scenery had turned frantic. We were in the heart of the city now, penned in by surging pedestrians and hundreds of vehicles competing for space on a wide road called Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue. There were passenger cars and puttering rickshaws. There were buses so with passengers that many riders were forced onto the exterior, clinging to open doorways and crouched on rooftop luggage racks. There were cargo tricycles, known locally as “vans,” heading to markets bearing heaping payloads of bamboo, watermelons, metal pipes, eggs, live animals. And, of course, there were the iconic Dhaka passenger vehicles, bicycle rickshaws. Officially, rickshaws are banned on major thoroughfares like Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, but there they were, in vast phalanxes, their bicycle bells pealing above the roar of the traffic jam. Eventually, my taxi reached a roundabout, and we turned left onto another thoroughfare, the Panthapath Tejgaon Link Road. There, the cabdriver executed a and a tricky sequence of maneuvers to win a place in a feeder lane that permitted entrance to the driveway of my hotel. The lane was empty: our final hundred yards of terrain to travel, and our first stretch of open road. The distance from airport to hotel was eight and a half miles. The trip had taken two and a half hours. We wheeled into the hotel’s driveway and the cabby spun around to offer his verdict. “Some traffic,” he said. “Not so bad. ” “BANGLADESH IS NOT so much a nation as a condition of distress,” wrote the journalist William Langewiesche in 2000. It sounds like an overstatement, but to behold the gridlocked streets of Dhaka is to see distress in action, or rather, in inaction. The stalled traffic in the capital city is symptomatic of the nation’s broader woes, in particular population growth, which is moderate by the standards of the developing world, but disastrous given the size of Bangladesh. Fundamentally, traffic is an issue of density: It’s what happens when too many people try to squeeze through too small a space. Bangladesh is the 12th most densely settled nation on earth, but with an estimated 160 million citizens it is by far the most populous, and the poorest, of the countries at the top of the list. To put the matter in different terms: The landmass of Bangladesh is the size of Russia, but its population exceeds Russia’s by more than 25 million. Bangladesh’s density problem is magnified in Dhaka, in part because, practically speaking, Dhaka is Bangladesh. Nearly all of the country’s government, business, health care and educational institutions, and a large percentage of its jobs, are concentrated in Dhaka. Each year, 400, 000 new residents pour into the capital, a mass migration that has made Dhaka the world’s most densely settled megacity, and one of the fastest growing. The town that those millions inhabit almost completely lacks the basic infrastructure and rule of law that make big cities navigable. There are just 60 traffic lights in Dhaka, and they are more or less ornamental few drivers heed them. The main problem with Dhaka’s anarchic streets, though, is that there aren’t enough. The Daily Star has reported that just 7 percent of Dhaka is covered by roads. (In places like Paris and Barcelona, models of urban planning, the number is around 30 percent.) Footpaths are also an issue. There are too few sidewalks in Dhaka, and those that exist are often impassable, occupied by vendors and masses of poor citizens who make their homes in curbside shanties. The usual solution to congestion in cities like Dhaka is to move commuters under the streets rather than over them. But Dhaka has no subway, and no concrete plans to build one. The problem is compounded by the growing appeal of private transport: a vogue for automobiles among Dhaka’s middle classes that is adding tens of thousands of new vehicles to the city’s streets every year. By the government’s own estimate, Dhaka’s traffic jams eat up 3. 2 million working hours each day and drain billions of dollars from the city’s economy annually. Traffic takes another kind of toll on the lives and minds of Dhakaites. “The city is atomized,” says Sarwar Jahan, a professor of urban and regional planning at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. “People cannot socialize because of the traffic problems. You can only occasionally go to a friend’s house or relatives. It simply takes too long. ” It is wrong, in other words, to speak of Dhaka’s traffic as an inconvenience even “crisis” is too mild a term. Adnan Morshed, an associate professor of architecture and planning at the Catholic University of America, has called Dhaka’s congestion “a vast urban pathology” that “continues to kill. ” Bangladesh’s thriving textile industry has given the nation’s economy a jolt, but analysts warn that if the capital cannot solve its traffic and infrastructure problem, such gains will prove fleeting — that progress itself may grind to a standstill. roads are the indelible image of Dhaka’s agony. They may also be its single greatest cause. DHAKA’S TRAFFIC OVERLOAD is a sensory overload. You can smell and taste it: The exhaust fumes tickle your nostrils and coat your mouth, leaving an acrid taste on your tongue. You can — often, you must — reach out and touch the traffic, executing defensive maneuvers to ward off vehicles and fellow pedestrians as you scramble across packed streets. But the traffic hits you most forcefully in your ears. Some historians claim that the city’s name derives from the dhak, a big drum with a clattering sound. True or not, there’s no mistaking the pounding that the city gives to your auditory nerves. Traffic is Dhaka’s deafening music, a dissonant theme song of shouting drivers, rumbling engines and, leading the attack, honking horns: vocals, bass, brass. That din is the sound of aggression. Dhaka’s drivers may be the most brutish and pitiless on earth. They may also be some of the best, if your idea of skillful driving is expansive enough to include the lawlessness and daredevilry that Dhaka demands. One afternoon I hailed an near the National Cricket Stadium and took a long, meandering journey through some of the city’s most heavily trafficked streets. Dhakaites call “CNGs,” because they run on compressed natural gas. They’re the kind of vehicles you find all over urban Asia, essentially small metal boxes, propped atop three wheels and divided into two tiny compartments, one for the driver, and another, slightly larger but still a tight squeeze, for passengers. In Dhaka, they’re painted forest green, nearly all of them are dirty and dinged up, and they make a lot of loud, unpleasant noise snarling through the streets. They’re scruffy, ornery little machines, the piratical cousins of golf carts. My CNG was piloted by an unsmiling man who looked to be in his late 20s. On the road, he was relentless. He vied for every centimeter of roadway in thick traffic and sped as fast as possible when congestion eased. We were in one of the busiest parts of town now, on Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue, a wide street lined with malls and crammed with shoppers. Another mall, of a sort, had sprung up on the road itself. In Dhaka, a traffic jam is an economic opportunity: Vehicles are descended on by vendors hawking bottles of water, peeled cucumbers, books. Crime is an issue, too. Once, CNGs had no doors, but wire doors were added as protection from muggers who prey on riders in stalled traffic. Enterprising thieves have been known to drop in on passengers, clambering on top of CNGs and slicing through their canvas roofing to gain entry. The weapon of choice for some muggers is Tiger Balm, the heat rub, which they smear on victims’ eyes to disable them. My driver’s modus operandi was to keep his CNG in motion no matter what, even in conditions. When he couldn’t push the thing forward vertically, he moved horizontally, crossing lanes of traffic by beating out a nattering pattern on his horn, nosing his way in between vehicles and forcing other drivers to budge in turn, even if the only movement possible was an inch or two. He kept repeating two syllables, barking at fellow commuters in between horn blasts: “ !” he cried. “ ! ! !” Later, I asked a friend who speaks Bengali to translate the word for me. Aste, it turns out, means “slowly, gently. ” There is one form of transportation in Dhaka that might be deemed gentle, at least by the city’s standards. Bicycle rickshaws are the quaintest and most ubiquitous of all the vehicles on Dhaka’s streets. No one is certain about the size of the city’s rickshaw fleet. (Only a fraction of the vehicles are officially licensed.) Most estimates put the number upward of 200, 000 some reckon there are several times that many. Arguing about rickshaws is as big a pastime in Dhaka as riding them. There have been many proposals to ban the machines, but the efforts have always been beaten back. Some contend that rickshaws are the vehicles to roads, and the most environmentally friendly. Others say that they are inefficient, that four rickshaws rolling abreast on a Dhaka street take up the square footage of a bus while transporting just eight passengers. One thing that everyone agrees on is that Dhaka’s rickshaws look great. They have been called “moving museums. ” They’re elaborately appliquéd with tinsel and tassels their frames bear colorful paintings of flowers, portraits, heroic images of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence, pastoral and urban scenes. Scrutinize the cityscapes painted on rickshaws and you will note an irony. Invariably they show a dreamily placid city, with swooping birds and sunsets blazing behind turreted towers. As for the roads depicted in the paintings: They are tidy, tranquil, serenely . FOR THE FORESEEABLE future, those rickshaw paintings are the closest thing to orderly street scenes that you’ll find in Dhaka. When experts are asked about solutions to the city’s woes, they recite a familiar litany. They talk about traffic lights, dedicated rickshaw lanes, arterial roads, light rail. They speak of decentralization, of easing the burden on Dhaka by developing secondary cities like Chittagong and Khulna. The government, for its part, is touting the $1. 14 billion Dhaka Elevated Expressway, whose construction began in August of 2015. But skepticism about such projects runs deep in Dhaka, where progress has so often been stymied by government ineptitude and corruption. In the meantime, the capital’s roadways seethe. It takes just a few days in Dhaka to acclimate, and to develop an affection for the city’s impregnable streets. For a greenhorn, the traffic offers a novel perspective on an alien city. I learned to appreciate the way that 360 degrees of traffic transformed sight lines, collapsing space and perspective, shattering Dhaka’s scenery into Cubist shards: splashes of color a flash of a painted sign on a wall a glimpse of a driver’s beard in his truck’s rearview mirror a pile of corrugated metal siding, surreally floating a dozen feet in the air, the payload of an unseen cargo tricycle. I knew, of course, that it was unseemly for a visitor from one of the world’s richest cities to aestheticize the chaos and dysfunction of one of its poorest. Traffic in Dhaka is not just a nuisance. It is poverty, it’s injustice, it’s suffering. Yet nearly everyone I met in Dhaka spoke of the traffic as a trial by fire, a test of mettle, a horror that is also a perverse source of pride. One woman, a lifelong Dhaka resident, told me she “missed the jams” when she lived abroad: In the big cities of Europe and America, the relative lack of congestion unnerved her. When you make it through a day in Dhaka, when you make it across a snarled intersection, you have triumphed against the odds, and over the gods. The town puts you in a philosophical frame of mind. Dhaka teaches that travel is hell, but it also reminds you of the primitive wonder of travel, the truth that, to complete any journey, no matter how quotidian, is to conquer space, and — depending just how awful the congestion is on the Mirpur Road — to subdue time. When the day came for my return to New York, I’d been in Dhaka long enough to have learned its golden rule of commuting: Leave early. So I arranged for a call and at 4:45 a. m. more than five hours before my flight’s boarding time, I staggered into a waiting taxi. The cabdriver assured me that the traffic at that hour would not be so bad. Lo and behold, he was right. The sun hadn’t yet risen, and the taxi went hurtling through the black streets of central Dhaka. There was no traffic — zilch. We gained the Airport Road, and whizzed faster still. I watched the kilometers tick off on the dashboard speedometer and I rolled down my window. As the taxi revved past 50 miles per hour, we seemed to be flying. Then, a mile or so south of our destination, a formation of cars and trucks and CNGs pressed up against us, the taxi slowed and suddenly we were earthbound again: on a road in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We stopped, we started, we stopped again. The cause of the congestion was unclear, but it was obvious that I’d have no trouble making my flight. So I relaxed: I was going to relish the madness one last time. Eventually, the speedometer nudged a hair above five miles per hour, and as we started to crawl forward again, a thought stole into my mind, proof that Dhaka had done its work on me. You call this traffic? C’mon. This isn’t traffic.

John Kasich Signs One Abortion Bill in Ohio but Vetoes a More Restrictive Measure - The New York Times

Sheryl Gay Stolberg

WASHINGTON — Gov. John Kasich of Ohio on Tuesday signed into law a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but vetoed a far more restrictive measure that would have barred abortions after a fetal heartbeat was detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. In reaching the split decision on the two bans, adopted last week by the Ohio legislature, Mr. Kasich said the heartbeat bill was “clearly contrary to the Supreme Court’s current rulings on abortion. ” He called the ban the “best, most legally sound and sustainable approach to protecting the sanctity of human life. ” The ban has no exceptions for rape or incest, and abortion rights advocates consider it extreme. Under existing Ohio law, there will be an exception for life of the mother, Mr. Kasich’s office said. Current Ohio law bars abortion after 20 weeks unless doctors can show that the baby is not viable outside the womb. Many medical experts cite the age of viability as 24 weeks. With the governor’s signature, Ohio becomes the 18th state to adopt a abortion ban, though two of the bans — in Arizona and Idaho — have been struck down as unconstitutional by federal courts. Legal experts say Ohio’s ban is far more likely to survive a constitutional challenge than the heartbeat bill. Barring court action, the law will take effect in 90 days, but a legal challenge appears inevitable. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which said on Tuesday that the measure was “unconstitutional and will harm women and families,” was expected to file a suit to block it. “There’s no way we’re going to take this lying down,” said Gabriel Mann, a spokesman for Naral Ohio, an advocacy group. “It’s too horrific of a restriction for women who are facing medical complications and situations where they need an abortion around that period. ” About 20, 000 abortions are performed in Ohio each year, Mr. Mann said, and fewer than 2 percent occur after 20 weeks of pregnancy. While the state keeps track of the number of abortions, it does not track the reasons for termination. Abortion opponents argue that one abortion is one too many. Mr. Kasich’s actions come as abortion rights advocates and abortion opponents around the country are gearing up for intense battles in the wake of the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House. Mr. Trump’s victory has changed the political winds around abortion politics, emboldening the movement. People on both sides of the debate see abortion rights in greater danger than at any time since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which found a legal right to abortion within the 14th Amendment. Mr. Trump has committed to appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe. Even so, movement leaders in Ohio feared that the heartbeat bill would bring on a court challenge, and could ultimately set back their cause, given the current makeup of the Supreme Court. In June, after the death in February of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court struck down a Texas bill, . But even if Mr. Trump fills Justice Scalia’s seat, the balance of the court will not change it will still tip in favor of Roe, said Michael Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life, the organization that pushed for the ban. “The governor got this right,” Mr. Gonidakis said. “At the end of the day, he had to exercise great restraint in what legislation he signed. ”

California Today: What, Exactly, Is in Your Sushi? - The New York Times

Mike McPhate

Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the .) JoAnna Klein, a science writer, brings us today’s introduction. Earlier this month, the scientific journal Conservation Biology published a study that found that nearly half of the fish sampled at roughly 10 percent of Los Angeles sushi restaurants were not what they were purported to be on menus. In many cases fish were substituted with cheaper, more environmentally sustainable catches. But in some instances, replacement fish were actually endangered or threatened. Halibut and red snapper were found to be the most frequently misidentified. Between 2012 and 2014, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and Loyola Marymount University sent their students to 26 Los Angeles restaurants with various price points and high ratings on Yelp and Zagat. Their mission was simple: Order dishes containing each of nine targeted fish that are common on menus and often mislabeled confirm with the restaurant that the fish was what the menu said it was collect a piece of sushi about the size of a kernel of corn drop it in a labeled jar of ethanol and take it back to the lab for DNA analysis. Knowing rates of mislabeled fish is important, the authors say, because it threatens consumer health. It also threatens a marine ecosystem and the billion dollar fishing industry that depends on it. But studies in the past have been inconsistent in terms of seafood mislabeling rates. “We wanted to see why there is that huge level of variation,” said Demian Willette, a biologist who helped lead the study. So they did the same thing at the same place each year for four years. The students collected more than 350 samples over all. In every restaurant, there was at least one case of mislabeled fish. But the researchers say you can’t blame the restaurant in every case. Like their diners, and even their grocers, the restaurants were most likely victims of fish fraud. For consumers going forward, Mr. Willette suggested asking your waiter directly what you’re ordering. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch also offers resources and a phone app to help . (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) • Are we at “peak millennial?” Why cities can’t assume more young people will live there. [The New York Times] • Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency after recent severe flooding. [Los Angeles Times] • California Republicans are demanding audits and hearings over the bullet train project. [San Francisco Chronicle] • President Trump’s abandoning of the Partnership could leave Central Valley farmers hurting. [Fresno Bee] • Charlie Liteky, who received the Medal of Honor then later returned it in protest, died in San Francisco. He was 85. [The New York Times] • Lawyers are pushing an unexpected theory of how the Oakland warehouse fire started. [East Bay Times] • A proposal to ban the display of Vietnam’s flag on city poles has divided San Jose’s Vietnamese community. [The Mercury News] • Investors announced a plan to bring a Major League Soccer team to San Diego. [The Associated Press] • are trying to commercialize A. I. music for everything from jingles to pop hits. [The New York Times] • Beyoncé’s mother resides in a home atop the Hollywood Hills surrounded by black contemporary art. [The New York Times] • Videos: How some Californians had fun during the weekend flooding. [Orange County Register] Under cover of darkness, a woman vandalized a mosque in Davis early Sunday. Caught on surveillance video, she draped bacon on a door handle and broke half a dozen window panes at the Islamic Center of Davis. Pork is forbidden under Islamic dietary laws. A hate crime inquiry was opened by the authorities in Davis, a college town known more for its culture and farmers’ markets. Throughout the day Monday, dropped by the mosque with flowers and messages of support. An online campaign raised nearly $20, 000 for repairs. Lynsie Mason, 23, a nearby resident, walked over with a box of doughnuts and a card. Mosque leaders said hate incidents were rare. Ahmed Ali, a postdoc in civil engineering at U. C. Davis, said he was less rattled by the vandalism than perplexed. “The motivation is unknown. Why?” he said. “I mean if she wants to steal something, that’s fine. She might be in need. ” He paused and then added, “It’s just hate. ” Before he was a photographer, Michael Zagaris was a law school dropout in the 1960s. He started dropping acid and hanging out at the Fillmore music club in San Francisco with a notion that he would write a book. Armed with a tape recorder and a camera, he interviewed the musicians who performed there. It was Eric Clapton who suggested to Mr. Zagaris that he should try to sell his pictures. And that’s the moment he found his calling — photographing rock ’n’ roll. As luck had it, San Francisco was assuming a central place in rock history at the time. Looking back, Mr. Zagaris said in an interview, “I was in Europe for the Renaissance. ” Late last year, he put out a new photography book, “Total Excess,” with images of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Lou Reed, the Clash and others at the height of their fame in the 1970s. He shared a selection below: California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley.

300 US Marines To Be Deployed To Russian Border In Norway

« Previous - Next » 300 US Marines To Be Deployed To Russian Border In Norway It has long been a controversy for the United States often getting involved in affairs that shouldn't necessarily involve them. Many other countries believe that the United State is nothing more warmongers who lust for more power and authority over the many weaker countries throughout the world, hence the history of unwarranted wars that have taken place throughout. Some of these range from the Vietnam War, which was shown to have been a basis that never existed in the Gulf of Tonkin event. Another infamous event includes the idea to invade Iraq, which included the destruction of many innocent people, but did not assist in any way for any other country. It created more hatred however. Troops From US May Open Up Shop In Norway Despite all this, it is now being believed that US troops may be joining their NATO ally in Norway by stationing troops in the country of Norway. It is expected to involve over 300 marines going to Norway. This is troubling as it is the first time foreign troops have come to the country, since the devastating events of World War ll. Could this possibly be a preparation for World War lll, if the United States is coming to a country that is near Russia? It could affect Norway as the Defense Minister has expressed serious concern regarding the Russian military, which has continued to flex its muscles through the takeover of many smaller countries with mere ease. Norway has come under some fire about the decision to involve the United States as some believe this is not a good signal to show to someone that opposes them as it looks like they are welcoming the idea of a war . Some also believe that Norway should try to defend itself by reinforcing its own army rather than involving the United States troops to give them a helping hand. Some also believe that it makes them look rather weak if they are instantly calling upon their strongest ally in the United States to help them as soon as they start to have a fear of a certain situation. What remains unknown is what may develop upon stationing these troops. Is World War lll on the cusp of existence with the strategic and sudden move by Norway? Hopefully not, because this could easily be as devastating as all of the other wars combined, given the advancement of fighting techniques. This article (300 US Marines To Be Deployed To Russian Border In Norway) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with full attribution and a link to the original source on Disclose.tv Related Articles

Awkward Sex, Onscreen and Off - The New York Times

Teddy Wayne

Perhaps you’ve seen the new TV series whose pilot episode begins this way: A man and a woman are having sex, but something soon goes awry, and the whole production wraps up on an ungainly, awkward note. If you’re having trouble naming the show, it’s because there isn’t just one that commences this way. The awkward sex scene has become a staple of the modern television series opener. And while it can seem like merely a (now hackneyed) storytelling device, its prevalence may also reflect recent tectonic shifts in heterosexual politics. First, a rundown of some examples (with a tip of the hat to Benjamin R. Cohen, a professor in engineering at Lafayette College, who alerted me to the trend): In “Love,” we are treated to no fewer than three sex scenes within the first six minutes, the most dramatically significant one being the male protagonist having stiff, monotonous sex with his aloof girlfriend, both of them still wearing tops, as he asks her to move in with him. (She says yes a month later, in their next scene together, she breaks up with him.) In “Togetherness” (canceled by HBO after its second season) the male lead attempts to initiate sex with his wife. When rebuffed, he begins masturbating, hoping she won’t notice. She does, and kicks him out of bed, but not before asking him to take the baby monitor with him. “Master of None” opens with a accident during a stand. The two characters end up doing an online search for the risk of impregnation from fluid (and, in learning about it, he admits that he masturbated before going out that night). The two leads of “Broad City” are having a conversation on their laptops it is later revealed that Ilana has been having sex with a guy during their talk while Abby has been engaged in a “scheduled” masturbation session. Some of this litany has to do with the medium. As an narrative strategy, depicting sex (erotically or not, à deux or solo) invariably succeeds. Comedy, for which all of the shows in question aim, doesn’t play well with dim lighting, sultry music and simultaneous orgasms. Furthermore, TV writers, especially those in mostly premium cable and streaming TV, are undoubtedly eager to push the envelope of frank realism in a less puritanical era. Yet, perhaps, a bigger engine for the proliferation of awkward sex scenes is the change occurring in the contemporary bedroom. Compare the aforementioned shows to how “Sex and the City” began in 1998, with Carrie’s relating the tale of a seemingly storybook romance (replete with “wonderful” sex, filmed in moonlight with silhouetted figures) that, inevitably, crumbles because of yet another noncommittal “toxic bachelor. ” In Carrie’s first sex scene, she is gratified by cunnilingus before turning down a request for fellatio and skedaddling off to work. The mood is not one of unease or embarrassment, but empowerment through role reversal. “I’d done it,” she proudly tells the viewer. “I’d just had sex like a man. ” The show “made big headway” when it came to women “talking about their sex lives in a public forum,” said Sarah Heyward, a on “Girls. ” “If the public is forced to get more O. K. with women talking graphically about their sex lives, inevitably on TV we’ll see women being more aggressive and being the initiator. ” “Sex and the City” not only paved the way for onscreen representation of women with more sexual agency, but also underscored a sea change in how both genders approach love and lust behind closed doors. After the “Broad City” scene ends, the guy in bed (Hannibal Buress) asks: “What are we? Are we just having sex, hooking up, dating? What is this?” “This is … purely physical,” Ilana says. “Why does this always happen to me?” he wonders aloud. Two decades ago, it’s doubtful a male character would have uttered such a lament on television unless it was played for straight laughs. On “Broad City,” though, it reads as a sign of the times: A woman can have sex “like a man,” as per Carrie’s declaration, and a man can express emotions as vulnerably as women have historically done. While this progressive movement toward equality ideally results in more satisfying romantic lives for all parties, television has mined the oftentimes vexed and perplexing renegotiations of status for humorous material. Consider an example from the pilot episode of “Girls” (which doesn’t open the show but takes place a demure 15 minutes in). The elusive and carnally adventurous Adam instructs Hannah to hold a physically uncomfortable sexual position. What follows is a superb comic scene pitting Hannah’s verbally open vulnerability and desire to please — up to a point — in conflict with Adam’s inarticulate desire that is unconcerned with her needs. The end result is a dampening of arousal for both parties. To a degree, theirs is a pairing: the laconic, detached Adam, one of Carrie’s “toxic bachelors,” with the garrulous, needy Hannah. (In subsequent episodes, Hannah plays the role of the initiator more frequently, often to amusing results.) And, obviously, moments just like this took place in real life before the sexual revolution they just couldn’t have been shown on TV. Yet they were likely far less commonplace than now, and the particulars of their arrangement would have been very different (for starters, back then, Adam and Hannah would have more realistically been married, not having exploratory casual sex). Gus, the nerdy male protagonist of “Love,” is closer to Mr. Buress’s character on “Broad City” than he is to Adam, and he struggles with the problems presented by his own inclination to romance. “The show is trying to explore the limits of being sensitive,” said Paul Rust, who plays Gus (and is the of the series with his wife, Lesley Arfin). “Maybe during sex is not the best time to ask if you want to move in together. That might not necessarily be a in bed. It’s pragmatic dirty talk. ” “Love” seems to posit that behind the genial, meek facade of the domesticated millennial guy lurks the atavistic anger and repressed hostility of the male animal. “What am I?” Gus demands of his girlfriend as they fight during their breakup. “Am I too nice? Am I too mean?” She yells back: “You’re not nice! You’re which is worse than being mean. ” Gus’s erratic navigation between the Scylla and Charybdis of domineering and emasculated behavior — the former no longer as socially acceptable as it used to be, the latter still not doing one many favors even on Tinder, let alone at a bar — constitutes much of the show’s subtext (and comedy). “You can do this, Gus,” he tells himself in a bathroom mirror, trying to psych himself up before approaching a girl at a party. “You’re the man. You’re … like a man. You’re close to being a man. ” “I’m sure it’s confusing for men: ‘Be like Don Draper, but also be this nice guy,’” said Daley Haggar, who has written for sitcoms like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Anger Management. ” Jon Hamm’s character on “Mad Men” may have been one of the more attractive leading men on TV to female viewers in recent memory, but Ms. Haggar pointed out that much of his conduct would be considered or inappropriate in the 21st century. “Women fantasize about Don, but they don’t want an actual Don,” she said. “He’s cold and mildly sociopathic and he cheats. What they want is Jon Hamm dressed up in a suit doing a sort of cosplay of a ’50s stoic guy and being dominant. What he does, you’d be arrested for now. ” Moreover, she added, intercourse with a figure like Don probably wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be on the show. “I don’t know that there were great orgasms with Don Draper,” she said. Mr. Rust looked to a different decade, the 1970s, as a bridge between the eras portrayed by “Mad Men” and the current crop of shows, and noted a possible subconscious influence in opening “Love” with an anticlimactic sex scene. His favorite film, 1975’s “Shampoo,” begins with Warren Beatty’s Lothario hairdresser having sex as another woman interrupts with a phone call. Watching it for the first time was a revelation. “There was a relief for me: ‘Oh, man, even Warren Beatty can have awkward sex,’” he recalled. His acting turn may have similar repercussions for today’s young men exploring their own sensitive sides, including those who may appear at first glance not to have any. “I was at an A. T. M. a couple weeks ago, and a dude walked up to me,” Mr. Rust said. “He me and said, ‘Dude, thanks for the vulnerability. ’”