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Putin: Trump Win Is A Massive Defeat For New World Order

Starkman

Russia is hoping for a “new understanding” and “restored Russian-American relations” according to Kremlin sources, with President Putin said to be “encouraged” by the American people voting to back themselves and reject the prospect of a New World Order totalitarian world government. Via Yournewswire According to sources, Putin believes that the result of the U.S. election proves the globalists’ destructive agenda is deeply unpopular with real people, and when given a chance they will instinctively reject it out of hand. “The American people stood up against the media, the banks, the establishment, everything was against them, but they said enough. They want change.” Putin vowed to destroy the New World Order in 2016, and it appears people all over the world have started to wake up and resonate with his goal. The President is “deeply encouraged” that his determination to destroy the invasive organisation’s agenda is shared by people all over the world, and gaining momentum all the time. This election result represents the biggest uprising by the American people against the elite who run the country since the Boston Tea Party in 1771, and the New World Order controlled puppets in Washington are reeling. All of the elite – politicians, bankers, economists, celebrities – told the people to vote for the NWO selected candidate, Hillary Clinton. But the people are waking up. The people said no. The Rothschild NWO cabal will be pacing nervously in their mansions, wondering how to deal with this massive, unexpected blow to their globalist agenda. Their roadmap to arriving at a one world government – so close, yet so far away – has been thrown off course by this uprising of the people. In an annual press conference with his countrymen last April, Putin expressed skepticism about the American electoral process, which he believes is corrupt – elite family clans taking turns occupying the White House. He also hinted at how he personally saw Hillary Clinton. “First there was Bush senior in power, then Bush junior. [Bill] Clinton was[U.S. President] two times in a row, now his wife has ambitions. Again, the family might stay in power. As they say in Russia, a husband and a wife are the same Satan.” Neither side of the political establishment wanted Trump anywhere near the White House. The mainstream media were vilifying him. In short, the sock puppets of the New World Order were united against him. They have a lot to lose if somebody who isn’t playing by their rules takes control – and their nightmare has come true. Do not be surprised if the mainstream media attempt to convince you of something deeply disturbing in the near future. Never in history has the NWO had such a firm grip on mainstream media operations. The New World Order controlled elites in Washington did not expect this blow and they will be a scrambling to take back control. Triggered by a massive popular uprising, stoked by wholly rational fears, and fired up by hard facts, America has regained its status as a powerful, sovereign nation. The people chose to make the United States powerful again, to take control of their economy, and make themselves respected in the eyes of the world. They have taken the bull by the horns and backed themselves as American. They have voted for advance over stagnation. It is the answer for our times.

Amazon Increases Robotic Workforce by 50% - Breitbart

Nate Church

In the last year, Amazon has dramatically increased employment of robots, going from 30, 000 robots in 2015 to 45, 000 in 2016. [When Amazon acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012, they immediately began implementing the squat automatons into their network of massive warehouses. The 16 inch, 320 lb. machines can carry more than twice their own weight and have taken over a sizable chunk of transport and packing tasks. For now, the increase in robotic employment at Amazon is only outpacing actual people by a narrow margin — 50% as opposed to 46% more humans, according to The Seattle Times. Human awareness and dexterity still prevent us from becoming a redundant part of these processes … for now, as white collar insurance claims agents are being replaced with AI and the development of synthetic muscle that could make robots as graceful as any person. Amazon is perhaps the biggest company leading the charge toward an automated workforce, in the process of hashing out ideas that range from drone delivery services to the flying motherships that could someday house them. According to Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky, “[Amazon has] changed, again, the automation, the size, the scale many times, and we continue to learn and grow there. ” They’re already running an Amazon storefront without a single cashier, and their latest corporate campus in Seattle is being built inside of biospheres. We’re constantly seeing news about Amazon’s relentless march into new territory, and the pace continues to increase. I’m not sure whether to buy stock, or build a fallout shelter. Just to be sure, maybe I’ll ask Watson. Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both.

World Animal Population To Be Down By Two-Thirds In 2020

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze As if the November elections weren’t bad enough news for the world, a new report by the Living Planet Index was recently released that contains very frightening visions for the future. According to the report, the number of living wild animals is expected to fall by two-thirds by 2020 from its 1970 levels. The report suggests that this massive disappearance is actually part of a mass extinction that will have effects that reach every corner of the globe and ultimately destroying the natural world and thus, humanity itself. The report is considered the most comprehensive analysis published so far by many experts. It points out that animal populations between 1970 and 2012 declined by 58 percent and that by 2020 it is projected to reach 67 percent. In other words, we are in the midst of a mass die-off and only four years away from seeing an irreparable amount of damage to the natural world. Researchers from the World Wildlife Fund (an admittedly questionable organization) and the Zoological Society of London were responsible for compiling the report drawn from various data sources and determined that pollution, over-hunting/fishing and the destruction of wild habitats were to blame. Not only endangered species like elephants and gorillas are in danger, however. For instance, vultures and salamanders appear to be on their way to extinction and the animals at risk reside in forests, jungles, mountains, deserts, rivers and oceans. According to the Guardian , The report analysed the changing abundance of more than 14,000 monitored populations of the 3,700 vertebrate species for which good data is available. This produced a measure akin to a stock market index that indicates the state of the world’s 64,000 animal species and is used by scientists to measure the progress of conservation efforts. According to the report, logging and the destructing of natural habitats for farming purposes are the biggest cause of animal deaths. Poaching and over fishing and over-hunting for food are other major causes. Recent research shows that 300 mammal species are being eaten into extinction . Pollution is also an obvious significant factor. For instance, dolphins and killer whales in European seas are being killed by the presence of industrial chemicals. In Southeast Asia the vulture population has been decimated for two decades due to the fact that the birds are dying after eating cattle carcasses of cows who had been treated with anti-inflammatory drugs. Fungal diseases are having a horrific effect on the amphibian population – a disaster that many believe to be caused by world trade of frogs and newts. Rivers and lakes are having the most dramatic declines. Here, animal populations are down 81% since 1970. As Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF, said: The richness and diversity of life on Earth is fundamental to the complex life systems that underpin it. Life supports life itself and we are part of the same equation. Lose biodiversity and the natural world and the life support systems, as we know them today, will collapse. While Westerners wring their hands and obsess over CO2, they continue to ignore real environmental catastrophes like industrial chemical pollution, over-fishing, loss of biodiversity through genetic modification and unsustainable farming. If the world wants to survive 21st century, it will immediately begin to look at ways in which development and higher living standards can be produced while at the same time ensuring that the natural world is protected. At this point, we have no other choice.

Michael Moore: People Voting Trump As “Ultimate F–– You… A Human Molotov Cocktail”

Mac Slavo

Email A tidal wave is coming. Michael Moore, a liberal’s liberal who holds die-hard loyalty to Hillary Clinton , is acknowledging what everyone with a clear head recognizes: that she doesn’t even remotely connect with the average voter, doesn’t understand their problems – and above all, doesn’t care about them. Although Moore can’t support Donald Trump , he seems to admire his ability to resonate with the actual problems that the people who formerly made up the middle class are going through – economic and otherwise. Moore, like Trump, understands the pulse of the people, though they differ in just about every other way. This election represents a pivotal point, and an end of the line for the deal that people once held with their leaders. After decades of broken promises and deals to sell them short and sell them out, people have had enough. THAT’S what this election is about. Right or wrong, Trump represents a rebuke of the system – as Moore calls it, the ultimate “F––– You” ever directed at the system. Listen to the audio of what Moore said ( Warning: Foul Language ): Here’s some of what he said in an epic rant (reportedly excerpted from his rush-election film Trumpland) that is strangely validating of Trump’s entire campaign: Whether Trump means it or not, it’s kind of irrelevant because he’s saying the things that people who are hurting. And it’s why every beaten down, nameless, forgotten working stiff who used to be part of what was called the middle-class loves Trump. “They’re not racists or rednecks, they’re actually pretty decent people. So, after talking to a number of them, I sort of wanted to sort of write this.” […] Donald Trump came to the Detroit Economic Club and stood there in front of the Ford Motor executives and said: if you close these factories, as you are planning to do in Detroit, and rebuild them in Mexico, I am going to put a 35% tariff on those cars when you send them back and nobody’s going to buy them. It was an amazing thing to see. No politician — Republican or Democrat — had ever said anything like that to these executives. It was music to the ears of people in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The Brexit states. You live here in Ohio. You know what I am talking about. He is the human Molotov cocktail that they have been waiting for. The human hand grenade that they can legally throw into the system that stole their lives from them. And on November 8th — Election Day — although they have lost their jobs. Although they’ve been foreclosed on by the bank. Next came the divorce and now the wife and kids are gone. The car’s been repossessed. They haven’t had a real vacation in years. They’re stuck with the shitty Obamacare bronze plan. They can’t even get a f**king percocet. They have essentially lost everything they had…except one thing. The one thing that doesn’t cost them a cent and is guaranteed to them by the American Constitution: the right to vote. […] So, on November 8th, the dispossessed will walk into the voting booth, be handed a ballot, close the curtain, take that lever — or felt pen or touchscreen — and put a big f**king X in the box by the name of the man who has threatened to upend and overturn the very system that has ruined their lives: Donald J. Trump. […] They see that the elites who have ruined their lives hate Trump. Corporate America hates Trump. Wall Street hates Trump. The career politicians hate Trump. The Media hates Trump… The enemy of my enemy is who I am voting for on November 8th. Trump’s election is going to be the biggest F**K YOU ever recorded in human history. And it will feel good. What red-blooded American, working stiff or laid off schmo wouldn’t want to stick it to the establishment and rebuke the very system that brought them to this point? After all, it is their fault. People have been hurting and in decline for eight long years – and for all his smiles and posturing, Obama hasn’t done a damned thing. And Hillary can’t even pretend. The people who will be deciding the popular vote in this election want to take down that system and put someone in who will – once and for all – stand up for them. Basically, Americans want revenge. What the electoral college decides is another matter altogether, of course. Article reposted with permission from SHTF Plan Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook , Google Plus , & Twitter . You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here .

Yahoo and the Online Universe According to Verizon - The New York Times

David Gelles

Verizon Communications’ $4. 83 billion acquisition of Yahoo has the technology cognoscenti scratching their heads. What does Verizon, the country’s biggest wireless company, see in an internet ? Fortune criticized “The Problem With . ” ’s chief executive, John Legere, derided the deal as a “slippery slope. ” The chief executive of Sprint, Marcelo Claure, said that when telecommunications companies try to get into the content business, “history has proven that every single one of them has failed. ” And there are reasons to think history might repeat itself. Yahoo will be merged with AOL, another faded star of Web 1. 0 that Verizon bought last year. These brands from yesterday are supposed to compete for the same advertising dollars that titans like Google and Facebook are devouring faster than ever. Still, there is a surprisingly ambitious, and risky, unifying theme hidden in the oddball assortment of websites and internet services that Verizon has acquired over the last year or so: The company is rethinking who its customer actually is. It is imagining a future when its most important client may not be a mother signing up for a family cellphone plan in the Verizon store. Instead, the customer will be corporations — advertisers — that want to reach that family, and that are willing to pay Verizon to help them do so. “Their goal is not to appeal to users in a different way,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. “It’s to appeal to advertisers in a different way. ” It represents a profound philosophical shift for a company that traces its roots back to history’s first telephone call. And whether or not it succeeds, it could have ramifications for tech, media and advertising companies around the globe. Already, it is drawing Verizon into new controversies around privacy and net neutrality. But executives prefer to emphasize other aspects of their idea. They talk up how Verizon’s existing assets — phone and data networks that knit together the nation — might be paired with its new media properties, which include The Huffington Post and Style Me Pretty, a website “for the modern bride. ” Location information from wireless customers could mean better geolocated ads for smartphone users. National Football League games licensed for viewing on smartphones might be streamed on Yahoo sites as well — all in the service of selling ads. Taken together, Yahoo, AOL and Verizon’s other websites still reach more than a billion users a month, a significant number even in Silicon Valley. And Verizon is eager to change the narrative. For six and a half contentious weeks this spring, the company was ensnared in a nasty labor battle with the unions representing nearly 40, 000 workers who service its landlines. Picketers massed outside Verizon stores. Workers held a candlelight vigil at the home of Verizon’s chief executive. Senator Bernie Sanders accused the company of “corporate greed. ” The Labor secretary finally brokered a truce. Everything about the street fight was at odds with the kind of company Verizon has been spending billions of dollars trying to become. Yet change will come slowly for a company as big as Verizon. Valued at roughly $225 billion, Verizon is one of the 15 largest companies in the country by sales. Annual revenues exceed $130 billion and the work force is 160, 000. Verizon is now the biggest wireless company in the country, selling voice and data plans to roughly one in three Americans. That is more precarious than it might sound. While Verizon is still adding wireless customers, its sales are no longer growing. Price wars with ATT, Sprint and have limited how much Verizon can charge. This week, the company reported a rare decline in quarterly revenues. Profits were down too, hurt by the strike. This dynamic is unlikely to change soon. If Verizon remains a traditional telecommunications company, it is likely to face years of eroding sales and slumping profits. That’s why Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s chief executive, is trying to buy his way into the plump and growing market for digital advertising. “It’s empire retention,” said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research. If Verizon has its way, it will cast off its reputation as a big, boring telephone company battling a unionized work force and emerge as a digital media player mentioned in the same breath as Snapchat and Pokémon. It’s quite the pivot. At first glance, the acquisitions have almost nothing to do with Verizon’s main moneymaking activity — selling data plans to its roughly 110 million cellphone customers. “There’s not really any synergy between Verizon’s core business and the AOL and Yahoo play,” Mr. Wieser said. Yet even before it scooped up AOL and Yahoo, Verizon set about trying to remake itself. In recent years, Verizon has spent more than $10 billion on deals. Some have been successful. EdgeCast and UpLynk, companies that serve video content and video advertising, still have growing revenues. A decade ago Verizon launched Fios, an expensive landline cable television and internet service. In doing so, it was taking on established cable giants like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Today, Fios has gained 5. 5 million customers, and the business brings in about $10 billion a year. But other new ventures haven’t panned out. CloudSwitch and Terremark, two recent acquisitions, were meant to be the foundation for Verizon’s push into cloud computing, a growing industry dominated by Google, Amazon and Microsoft. This year, Verizon pulled back on its cloud businesses, ceding ground in one of the most lucrative new industries in computing. Whether or not Yahoo and AOL can give Mr. McAdam the growth he needs isn’t clear. Though the companies aren’t in the same class as Facebook and Google, they wouldn’t have to improve much to start making a difference at Verizon. Even if Verizon captured just 2 percent more of the global market for digital advertising, that would add more than $3 billion to the company’s annual sales. “This industry is so big and it’s so new,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL’s chief executive, who will be overseeing the integration with Yahoo. “People act like Google and Facebook have already won. But nobody owns the future. ” Mr. Armstrong’s answer to Facebook and Google is hardly a sure thing. Verizon’s forays have already landed the company in hot water. This year Verizon settled with the Federal Communications Commission after the company used “supercookies” — an extremely technology — to track the web browsing of its wireless customers. Though some version of this practice is commonplace, Verizon made the browsing data available to other companies. As part of the settlement, Verizon agreed to notify customers about its targeting advertising programs and pay a $1. 35 million fine. The episode left privacy watchdogs wary of how Verizon would handle user data as its reach across the web grew. “There is some concern, especially given how reluctant Verizon was to own up to the issue with the supercookies,” said Jeremy Gillula, senior staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “It would be one thing if they had just owned up to it. ” Giving advertisers access to smartphone users’ data without their knowledge could also be a problem for Verizon. “There’s the potential for using the consumer data they have, but they have to tread a fine line,” Mr. Wieser said. “Even if they get a user to opt in, it doesn’t take many complaints to get hauled before the F. C. C. ” And in recent months, Verizon has come under fire for possible violations of net neutrality rules. In February, it emerged that Verizon had stopped charging its wireless customers for data if they were streaming video from Go90, a site, leading to scrutiny from the tech press. “This sort of clearly favoring your own content raises all sorts of net neutrality concerns,” Mr. Gillula said. Yahoo has popular franchises in sports and finance, and a home page. AOL continues to draw users, and also serves the ads for MSN, the Microsoft portal, which still attracts visitors. Additionally, Verizon now owns the Go90 video site and AOL sites including TechCrunch, and it Complex, a men’s lifestyle website. Verizon has other plans as well. Mr. Armstrong said the goal was to amass an audience of two billion by 2020, and said the company was likely to continue buying websites. He promoted advertising informed by the movements of Verizon’s wireless subscribers, the potential for the companies to make money off the internet of things — where your dishwasher or doorbell is connected to the web — augmented and virtual reality, and connected cars. “There’s a tremendous growth opportunity,” he said. “We’re in the right industry. ” Advertisers, worried that Google and Facebook are effectively becoming a duopoly, might bite. “With Facebook and Google taking an estimated 78 cents of every new digital dollar spent, having a viable third option is welcome,” said Joe Marchese, president of advanced ad products at Fox Networks. “Advertisers want to make it work,” Mr. Wieser said. “There’s really interest in supporting and propping up a No. 3. ” Yet for Verizon to believe it will have an easy path is “willful optimism,” Mr. Wieser said. It ignores Google and Facebook’s dominance of online advertising. Together the Silicon Valley rivals control nearly half of the worldwide online ad market, generating close to $80 billion in sales. In recent days both Facebook and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported healthy quarterly results, suggesting that they are only growing stronger. At the least, Verizon appears to have gotten a good deal. It paid less than $9 billion for both AOL and Yahoo. That is a relatively insignificant sum for Verizon, which takes in more than that each month. And for that price, it obtained about 1. 2 billion active users that it can use to lure advertisers. What’s more, AOL and Yahoo already generate about $7 billion in revenue annually. Compare that with LinkedIn, which had annual revenue of $3 billion, and was just sold to Microsoft for $26 billion. Or to Twitter, which had just over $2 billion in sales last year and is valued at about $12 billion. And even if Verizon’s push into digital media doesn’t transform the company, it has finally achieved what many knew was inevitable, but no one could previously achieve: the union of AOL and Yahoo. For years, AOL and Yahoo orbited each other like two dying stars. Rumors that one would buy the other were constant. But egos, activist investors and fluctuating share prices prevented the companies from going through with the union. “There’s been a lot of people with a lot of ideas about doing this over a long time,” said Mr. Armstrong, the AOL chief. He added that he had been aware of discussions about such a deal for more than a decade. How the companies will be integrated remains to be seen. But most analysts expect Mr. Armstrong to run the combined operation. What that means for Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo chief executive, isn’t clear. Big personalities aside, the true test will be whether AOL, Yahoo and the growing assortment of online properties Verizon is amassing can give Mr. McAdam the revenue increase he needs to please Wall Street. So far, there appears to be reason for some hope. Though Verizon doesn’t regularly break out AOL’s revenue, it said this week that the unit had $713 million in sales last quarter. This suggests that Verizon has managed to lift AOL revenue modestly over the last year. Doing the same for Yahoo, which was reporting steadily deteriorating revenue before the sale to Verizon, may be tougher. “On paper, the strategy makes sense,” Mr. Moffett said. “But executing is incredibly hard, and whether they chose the right set of assets is an open question. ”

Trump: ’I Didn’t Soften My Stance’ On China Trade and Currency Manipulation - Breitbart

Ian Hanchett

.@POTUS addresses claims he’s softened his stance on China pic. twitter. During an interview broadcast on Tuesday’s “Fox Friends” on the Fox News Channel, President Trump denied that he had softened his stance on China with regards to trade and China being a currency manipulator. Trump said, “I didn’t soften my stance. … Now, what am I going to do, start a trade war with China in the middle of him working on a bigger problem, frankly, with North Korea? So, I’m dealing with China with great respect. I have great respect for him. We’ll see what he can do. Now, maybe he won’t be able to help. That’s possible. I think he’s trying, but maybe he won’t be able to help. ” He added, “What am I going to do, in the middle of him talking with North Korea, I’m going to hit them with currency manipulation? This is the fake media that just does a number. … I haven’t changed my stance. China’s trying to help us. I don’t know if they’re going to be able to or not. But, would I want to start heavy, heavy trade or currency statements against somebody that’s out there right now trying to stop what could be a very bad situation?” ( Grabien) Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

British Decision on Nuclear Plant Angers China and France - The New York Times

Steven Erlanger

LONDON — The decision of the new British government to postpone a deal on a nuclear power station, to be built by France with major Chinese investment, has shocked both of those countries and is a potentially major step away from the policies of former Prime Minister David Cameron. The sudden choice of Prime Minister Theresa May not to sign the deal but to take until the autumn for further study, reportedly on security and economic grounds, has angered both Paris, which will be crucial to Britain’s future relations with the European Union after the country’s vote to leave the bloc, and Beijing, which Mr. Cameron had cultivated aggressively for investment and trade ties despite criticism that he was subordinating human rights and geopolitical concerns to commerce. The menu had already been published for a grand lunch after a signing ceremony last Friday on the Somerset coast, the site of the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, which is designed to produce 3, 200 megawatts with two new French reactors at a cost of at least 18 billion pounds, about $23. 7 billion. The day before, the board of the largely EDF, the French power utility, voted 10 to 7 to approve Hinkley Point, despite serious concerns about the ability of the company to handle the project and its costs. But late Thursday night, Downing Street said it would not sign the deal the next day as planned. Travel by French and Chinese officials to Somerset for the party was canceled, and the “hoi sin local lamb skewers” and mackerel ceviche had to be abandoned. While Downing Street said that Mrs. May had told President François Hollande of France the week before that she would postpone the deal, the board of EDF was taken by surprise. Lévy, the company’s chief executive, said he had been unaware of the British hesitation before the board’s vote and found out about it during a newspaper interview. Mrs. May told Mr. Hollande that her new government wanted to look at the deal again, as any new government would. But since then it has become clear that her main concerns are with the Chinese involvement, and she seemed to be signaling an end to the British willingness to be China’s best Western ally in return for Chinese investment. Having served as home secretary for six years before becoming prime minister, Mrs. May is security minded and had expressed concerns in cabinet meetings during the Cameron administration about bringing Beijing into such a sensitive project. The project is meant to provide about 7 percent of Britain’s electricity needs. She was also reported to have been unhappy on security grounds when British Telecom agreed to a deal with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. While China is funding just over a third of the Hinkley Point project, the real advantage for Beijing is that the deal offers China a chance to build and operate a nuclear power plant of its own design at another site in Britain, at in Essex. That reportedly troubles Mrs. May because it could give China control over an important part of Britain’s energy supply. On Monday, China reacted angrily to suggestions that its investment in the project threatened British security. The official Xinhua news agency published a commentary arguing that the delay “adds uncertainties to the ‘Golden Era’ of . K. ties” and suggesting that further Chinese investment in Britain could be rethought. “China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but cannot tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for cooperation,” the commentary said. Mr. Cameron and his chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, had made a big pitch for closer economic and ties with China, including a state visit last October by President Xi Jinping. The British decision in March 2015 to become the first Western country to join China’s rival to the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, shocked the Obama administration. The Hinkley Point C project is still expected to go ahead at this point, especially given the added British jobs. But Mrs. May could try to alter China’s role. The delay was interpreted as a message to Beijing and Washington that her position toward China is more skeptical than that of Mr. Cameron and Mr. Osborne, who had aspirations of becoming prime minister but whom she fired from government. On Monday, Helen Bower, a spokeswoman for Mrs. May, said that Britain did not want a break with Beijing. “With the role China has to play on world affairs, on the global economy, on a whole range of international issues, we are going to continue to seek a strong relationship with China,” she said. As for France, Mr. Hollande has near record disapproval ratings in the polls and faces elections in May. He has pushed for EDF to win the project as a needed lift for the country’s nuclear industry, which has suffered since the disaster at Fukushima in Japan. This pressurized water reactor is complex, and the company has experienced construction problems and severe cost overruns as it tries to finish the first ones in Finland and Flamanville, France. EDF unions, some board members, engineers and senior executives have expressed deep reservations over the financial risks the construction of the reactor entailed for the indebted power company.

Julian Assange Says Trump 'Won't be Allowed to Win' : Information

Darren Boyle

Julian Assange Says Trump 'Won't be Allowed to Win' By Darren Boyle " Daily Mail " - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed Donald Trump 'won't be allowed to win' next week's election during an interview to be broadcast on a pro-Kremlin TV station. The Australian computer hacker was speaking from inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he also accused Hillary Clinton of receiving donations from the same people funding ISIS . Assange said he was basing his claims on emails released last month by WikiLeaks. Speaking to Australian journalist John Pilger for Dartmouth Films, Assange claimed one of the leaked documents between showed a message sent by the then Secretary of State to John Podesta, who was an adviser to President Barack Obama. Assange said the email urged Obama to 'bring pressure' on the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, 'which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [ISIS] and other radical Sunni groups'. He described the email as the 'most important' in the entire collection. He claimed: 'All serious analysts know, and even the US government has agreed, that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIS and funding ISIS, but the dodge has always been that it is some “rogue” princes using their oil money to do whatever they like, but actually the government disapproves. But that email says that it is the government of Saudi Arabia, and the government of Qatar that have been funding ISIS.' Clinton has also been criticized over claims that the Clinton Foundation receives funding from Saudi and Qatari sources. Later in the 25-minute interview, which will be broadcast on Russia Today, Assange claims next Tuesday's presidential election has been fixed in favour of Hillary Clinton. He added: 'My analysis is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he has had every establishment off his side. Trump does not have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment. Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc. are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.' Donald Trump has repeatedly said Tuesday's presidential election may be rigged, while providing scant evidence, and has urged supporters to keep an eye out for signs of voting fraud in Philadelphia and other heavily Democratic areas. Democrats worry that could encourage Trump supporters to harass minority voters in a state that could determine whether Trump or his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, wins the presidency. Voting-rights advocates said they are already receiving reports of harassment. Democrats have launched a legal blitz of their own in an attempt to shut down Trump's poll-watching efforts in Pennsylvania and three other battleground states, arguing in lawsuits that Republican monitoring efforts amount to 'vigilante voter intimidation' that violates federal law. Assange earlier denied he was a stooge for the Russian intelligence services, claiming they were not behind the damaging leaks to the Clinton campaign. He has been wanted by Swedish authorities since 2010 over rape allegations. He has been hiding the the Ecuadorian embassy in London over fears he will be extradited to the United States. He said: 'The Clinton camp has been able to project a neo-McCarthyist hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything. 'Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 US intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That's false – we can say that the Russian government is not the source.' The first tranche of emails published by WikiLeaks claimed the Democratic party leadership actively favored Clinton over her rival for the nomination Bernie Sanders. The Department of Homeland Security Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said last month they were 'confident' the Russian government was responsible for the leaks. But Russia has denied this and presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said it was 'nonsense'. In an interview with veteran John Pilger on RT, Assange said: 'We have independently authenticated the emails. WikiLeaks has a decade-long, perfect record in the accurate authentication of leaked documents.' Assange: Clinton & ISIS funded by same money, Trump won’t be allowed to win (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE) Read more: Assange: Clinton & ISIS funded by same money, Trump won’t be allowed to win (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE) — RT News

Your Weekend Briefing: Transgender Rights, Donald Trump, Doping - The New York Times

Andrea Kannapell and Andrew Hinderaker

Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. 1. The Obama administration made its stance on transgender rights clear to public schools across the country, sending a letter telling districts to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. The directive isn’t a law, but the threat of lawsuits or loss of federal aid is implicit. The move came at the end of a week that also saw the Justice Department and North Carolina sue one another over access to public restrooms. _____ 2. Donald Trump dominated campaign news, both in political maneuvering on Capitol Hill and seamier stories — like a former butler threatening to lynch President Obama and his contradictory relationships with women. The sheer volume of such reports may be dulling their impact. “He moves so quick and creates outrages so fast, you almost forget what happened,” a Republican strategist said. _____ 3. On the Democratic side of the presidential contest, some supporters of Bernie Sanders are working on a proposal that he suspend his campaign after the June 7 California primary, concede to Hillary Clinton and use his popularity to focus his efforts on helping defeat Mr. Trump. A spokesman for Mr. Sanders rejected the idea. _____ 4. The leadership struggle in Brazil turned decisive, as the Senate suspended President Dilma Rousseff to try her for fiscal skullduggery. The move could push the country, a bastion of the South American left, farther to the right. _____ 5. Did Russia cheat to be the top at the 2014 Olympics at Sochi? A former Russian official said he had overseen a vast doping program, years in the making, and that at Sochi, his team was able to access urine samples through a hole in a wall, open supposedly bottles and replace dozens of athletes’ tainted samples with clean urine. Russia denounced the account. _____ 6. Years of debate within the White House ended in an announcement that, yes, President Obama would visit Hiroshima. In less than two weeks, he will become the first sitting U. S. president to visit the memorial to the victims of the atomic bombs the U. S. dropped on Japan in World War II. The two countries, now allies, still tend to see the other as failing to fully accept its responsibility. _____ 7. Forget the fountain of youth: Scientists are working on a second skin to erase the effects of aging. The invisible film has been successful, in small studies, at making undereye bags vanish and wrinkles disappear, as on the left above. It might also be used to treat eczema, psoriasis and other skin conditions, researchers say. _____ 8. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised federal money to help rebuild the Canadian city of Fort McMurray, which was nearly destroyed by a wildfire. Damage estimates rise into the billions of dollars. Fires have been ravaging vast swaths of boreal forests in northern latitudes around the world, with climate change often a major factor. _____ 9. Time for a bit of greener news: Researchers are restoring Emily Dickinson’s beloved gardens at her home in Amherst, Mass. She died 130 years ago today, and her extensive flower and vegetable fields, along with an orchard and greenhouse, were removed by later owners. She once wrote: “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church — I keep it, staying at Home — With a Bobolink for a Chorister — And an Orchard, for a Dome. ” _____ 10. An extraordinary bank heist: For a second time, thieves penetrated the Swift global financial messaging system, apparently targeting a commercial bank in Vietnam. A few months ago, digital robbers got away with $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank, above. In both cases, the thieves used real network credentials — suggesting the possibility of insider accomplices — and hid their actions behind malware. _____ 11. Finally, a sweet note. Japan just loves Kit Kat. There are nearly 300 varieties (including Adzuki Bean and Wasabi) and you can find them in department stores and specialty shops. And at least for a few weeks last year, a single stick coated with gold leaf was being sold. Have a great week. _____ Karen Workman contributed reporting. Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Evening Briefing, weeknights at 6 p. m. Eastern. Want to look back? Here’s Friday’s Evening Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

Watch: Canadian Crowd Joins Together to Sing U.S. National Anthem After Singer’s Mic Fails - Breitbart

Trent Baker

An incredible momentWhen the mic doesn’t work, the crowd takes over belts out The Banner. .... .In Edmonton🇺🇸🇨🇦 #StanleyCup pic. twitter. Microphone issues before the third game of the Stanley Cup playoffs between the Anaheim Ducks and the Edmonton Oilers forced those in attendance to improvise at Edmonton’s Rogers Place Sunday. Country singer Brett Kissel was supposed to sing the U. S. national anthem, but when he noticed the microphone was not working, he led the packed Canadian crowd in singing the “ Banner” together. The Ducks went on to win the game putting them down in the seven game series. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

Your Facebook Page Could Land You In a FEMA Camp

Dave Hodges

Against my better judgment, I often put my articles on Facebook. Lately, Facebook has been taking down my posts, particularily on topics related to World War III. One of my readers counted 14 sites saw my articles disappear. It is too late for me, but for most of you, you should consider not participating on Facebook. It is one more intelligence gathering tool designed to separate the sheep, from the independent thinkers! No matter how annoying Facebook’s censors may be, there are real dangers associated with posting and reading on Facebook. Facebook’s Friends Are Not Nice People Facebook is aligned with both the CIA and the NSA. I have several credible sources tell me that all data posted on Facebook goes into series of cataloged files which culminates with each person being assigned a “Threat Matrix Score”. The mere existence of a Threat Matrix Score should send chills up and the collective spines of every American. When, not if, martial law comes to America, this Threat Matrix Score, of which Facebook data is used to help compile an “enemies of the state” list, your future longevity could be seriously imperiled. It is too late for people like Steve Quayle, Doug and Joe Hagmann, John B. Wells and myself to avoid being placed on this list. However, it is not too late for the average American to limit their exposure by NOT posting and participating on Facebook. Facebook participation should come with a black box warning: “WARNING: The views expressed on Facebook can and will be used against you. Participation in Facebook could prove detrimental to the length of your life. All political dissident views are immediately reported to the CIA and the NSA. Risk of repeated exposure on Facebook could result in you and your family being hauled out of their homes at 3AM, separated from your family and sent to a re-education camp”. Before you dismiss this hypothetical black box warning as too much “tongue in cheek”, please consider that the NSA is presently extracting large amounts of Facebook data and I do not think they are compiling a Christmas card list. Facebook’s Welcome Is Wearing Off Many of us in print and broadcast media are rethinking our association with Facebook. Several of our journalistic brothers and sisters have been censored and/or otherwise treated unprofessionally by this entity. Facebook has become replete with trolls who patrol the cyber corridors of this monolithic entity chastising and censoring whoever exposes the liberal, anti-human, depopulation agenda of the New World Order. Whether it is gun control, criticism of NWO puppet Obama or anything that the alleged grandson of David Rockefeller, Mark Zuckerberg, and his people disagree with, they will kick your Facebook account to the curb for daring to express a legitimate political opinion. Facebook’s Zuckerberg, The Self-Perceived Purveyor of Integrity and Morality Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook emphasized three times in a single interview with David Kirkpatrick in his book, The Facebook Effect “ You have one identity, and the days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity .” Who appointed Mr. Zuckerberg to be the moral police and the judge of integrity? It sounds like Zuckerberg can take his place with Soros, Gates, Turner, et al., and the rest of the global elite who think they have the right to treat humanity as their own personal property and view the masses as a disposable commodity. Julian Assange Assessment of Facebook Whistle blower, Julian Assange, once stated that “Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented. Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations and the communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US intelligence. Facebook, Google , Yahoo – all these major US organizations have built-in interfaces for US intelligence. It’s not a matter of serving a subpoena. They have an interface that they have developed for US intelligence to use.” Never before in American cyber-history do we see such an arrogant and agenda serving entity operating their propaganda so far in the open as we do with Facebook. This propaganda end of the New World Order is being blatantly exposed. Facebook’s arrogance was on full display when highly respected journalist, Jon Rappoport was banned from sharing his articles on Facebook. In this instance of blatant censorship, Jon’s banned article was merely a review of certain aspects of American presidents ranging from Nixon to Obama. Like so many of us that understand history and can see the tyrannical path that Obama is taking us down, Rappoport identified Obama’s unconstitutional missteps. And for daring to tell the truth, Facebook banned Rappoport for the mere expression of a legitimate political opinion. Readers may also recall when members of Infowars.com and the popular talk show host, Michael Rivero were banned in December of 2012, until the public outcry for Facebook to reinstate their respective accounts backed Facebook into a corner from which they acquiesced and reinstated the previously banned media figures. Rules For Thee but Not For Me Facebook does not apply their holier than thou attitude to their own corporate behavior. As Zuckerberg talks about rectifying Americans lack of integrity through timely Facebook exposure, Facebook fails to pay its own fair share of taxes as a result of tax loopholes and deductions. Facebook paid no income tax for the fiscal year 2012 , despite reaping $1.1 billion in U.S. corporate profits. While Americans have just been subjected to higher taxes, billion-dollar corporations like Facebook, General Electric, Boeing and Wells Fargo have all been able to avoid paying any corporate income taxes, reports the Citizens for Tax Justice . PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DON’T FORGET TO “LIKE” US Reddit Co-Founder Dissociates From Involvement With Facebook In an interview with CNN, Reddit.com co-founder Alex Ohanian explains that he won’t be investing in Facebook, the largest technology IPO in the history of the Internet. Facebook founder, Zuckerberg, had stated, at the time that Facebook first made their public offering, that he expected to make billions of dollars. Ohanian further stated that he would not be investing in Facebook in order to enrich Zuckerberg. Ohanian’s reasons for avoiding Facebook as an investment vehicle is tied to the fact that he strongly believes that Facebook’s stance in favor of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, CISPA, is very dangerous to the viability of the internet. In other words, Reddit.com’s founder has clearly stated that Facebook is at the vanguard of Internet censorship. I applaud Ohanian’s stance as it is clear that Ohanian respects free speech. It is safe to say that Facebook and CISPA are two birds of a feather as they both support blatant censorship regarding political views which differ from their own. Tax evasion, legal or not, seems to be a trait of Facebook personnel, both past and present. Not only does Facebook not pay taxes while the rest of America is suffering under crushing tax increases, Zuckerberg’s former co-founder, Eduardo Saverin , renounced his U.S. citizenship back in August of 2012 in order to pay less tax. I guess that birds of a feather “Facebook” together. Can it be said that Facebook is a shining example of duplicity and censorship? I think so and I welcome being banned by the monolith because soon Zuckerberg will learn the lesson the phrase “pride goeth before the fall.” I have long said that Facebook will face some very stiff competition and the millions who have been irritated by the trolls which send warning messages for sending simple personal messages could very well be looking for new jobs. Technology is fleeting and Facebook could someday go the way of Myspace. I have long advocated that the average citizen needs to avoid the globalist corporate chain stores (e.g. Walmart) and shop locally as much as possible. I think the same could be said about social media sites as well. Why in the world are we posting personal information and our political views on an NSA controlled social media site such as Facebook? To do so, is suicide! Conclusion Although it is too late for me to avoid going on the “naughty list”, due to the fact that my work has been published in thousands of venues, I have come to the considered opinion that the average American is placing themselves on the equivalent of the East German Stasi political enemies hit list by posting political views on the NSA-controlled Facebook. My advice to all unpublished Americans is to immediately cease posting on Facebook, which is a direct conduit to being placed on the proverbial “RED LIST” and seek out alternatives which are not New World Order friendly. The sane alternative to Facebook Seen.Life-The Facebook alternative- no censorship, no spying–

Things We Are Thankful For, Thanksgiving 2016

Daniel McAdams

Written by Daniel McAdams Thursday November 24, 2016 We've spent the year urging fixes to what is wrong with our foreign, domestic, and monetary policy. In today's Liberty Report we prefer to discuss things we are thankful for. Dr. Paul recollects his childhood, how he is grateful for the opportunities he has had through his life, and more. We are thankful also for our Liberty Report viewers. Watch the episode here: Copyright © 2016 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

Bruce Springsteen’s Memoir: Riding Shotgun With the Boss - The New York Times

Dwight Garner

Long dark highways and thin white lines fire roads and Interstates the skeleton frames of Chevrolets barefoot girls sitting on the hoods of Dodges pink Cadillacs power drives men who go out for a ride and never come back. Bruce Springsteen’s song lyrics have injected more drama and mystery into the myths of the American road than any figure since Jack Kerouac. He knows this, of course. So it’s one of the running jokes in his big, loose, rangy and intensely satisfying new memoir, “Born to Run” (what else was he going to call it?) that he didn’t begin to drive until he was well into his 20s — around the time he landed simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek. His brooding and violent father had been too impatient to teach him and, anyway, he couldn’t afford a car. When Mr. Springsteen was forced to sneak behind the wheel, licenseless, to handle some of the driving on his earliest tours, his ineptitude terrified his band members. He did not exactly, when young and virile, ride through mansions of glory on suicide machines. He mostly stuck out his thumb. He’d been born to hitch. “Every sort of rube, redneck, responsible citizen and the Jersey Shore had to offer, I rode with ’em,” he writes in “Born to Run. ” These rides matter because Mr. Springsteen’s songs, like the poems of Philip Levine, are intensely peopled. Wild Billy and Crazy Janey, Johnny 99, Mary from “Thunder Road,” Wayne from “Darlington County,” Jimmy the Saint and Bobby Jean had to come from somewhere. This memoir suggests Mr. Springsteen met many of them while cackling over there in the shotgun seat. The headline news in “Born to Run,” to judge by the early news media tweets, is that Mr. Springsteen, who turns 67 on Friday, has suffered periodically from serious depression. I will admit that this information shook me. If Bruce Springsteen has to resort to Klonopin, what hope is there for anyone? But these sections are not the reason to come to “Born to Run. ” The book is like one of Mr. Springsteen’s shows — long, ecstatic, exhausting, filled with peaks and valleys. It’s part séance and part keg party, and then the house lights come up and you realize that, A) you look ridiculous dancing to “Twist and Shout” and, B) you will be driving home in a minivan and not a Camaro. His writing voice is much like his speaking voice there’s a big, raspy laugh on at least every other page. There’s some raunch here. This book has not been utterly sanitized for anyone’s protection, and many of the best lines won’t be printed in this newspaper. Most important, “Born to Run” is, like his finest songs, closely observed from end to end. His story is intimate and personal, but he has an interest in other people and a gift for sizing them up. Here’s just one example, chosen nearly at random. When Mr. Springsteen meets a future girlfriend on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, N. J. (one of innumerable girlfriends on display here) he delivers this electric introduction: “She was Italian, funny, a beatific tomboy, with just the hint of a lazy eye, and wore a pair of glasses that made me think of the wonders of the library. ” Well, hello, you think. Much of the writing in “Born to Run” is this fresh — the sound of a writer who could have phoned his book in but did not. There are dollops of pretension and in “Born to Run. ” Springsteen wouldn’t be Springsteen without homilies, a few of them leaden, about fathers and sons and love and work and community. But this book mostly gets away clean, leaving behind the scent of lightly scorched rubber. Mr. Springsteen’s father was a frequently unemployed bus driver, among other jobs his mother a legal secretary. They were fairly poor. In their houses — more often — there was generally no telephone and little heat. Meals were cooked on a coal stove. “Born to Run” is potent on the subject of social class. In Mr. Springsteen’s part of New Jersey it was the “ ” (preppies) versus the greasers, and there was no doubt which side of that line he was on. At some of his early shows, guys in chinos spat on him. “I could still feel the shadow of that spit that hit me long ago when I moved to Rumson in 1983, 16 years later,” he writes. He’d found fame and bought a decent place. Yet: “At 33 years old, I still had to take a big gulp of air before walking through the door of my new home. ” He suggests there’s a freight of psychic payback in “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” his most fully realized album. “For my parents’ troubled lives I was determined to be the enlightened, compassionate voice of reason and revenge. ” Mr. Springsteen got his first guitar, a rental, after seeing Elvis on “The Ed Sullivan Show. ” He had a serious work ethic, and went on to play in a string of bands with names like Child and Earth and Steel Mill. When his first record, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N. J.,” appeared in 1973, he was lumped with the New Dylans, folk singers like Loudon Wainwright III and John Prine. But there was a crucial difference. Unlike those performers, Mr. Springsteen onstage, thanks to his long apprenticeship, could blow audiences backward. Mr. Springsteen writes that he’s never thought much of his singing voice. As good a guitar player as he is, others were better. It was his songs, he realized early, that would have to put him over the top. If this book has one curious blind spot, it’s that we never quite understand how those words came into being. He studied the songwriting of people like Mr. Dylan, Donovan and Tim Buckley, he writes. But so did many others. If his early reading was an influence, he doesn’t say. The words were apparently just there, available, on tap. And they stayed there, even when his lyrics became pared down. Songs like “The River” and “Stolen Car” are as evocative in their details as are Raymond Carver’s best short stories. “Born to Run” takes us, album by album, through his career. These chapters sometimes feel clipped and compressed, as if he’s wedged the data in his heart onto a thumb drive. The book takes us through his many stabs at romance, which tended to end badly. (He once gave his father the crabs after they’d shared a toilet seat.) He details the failure of his first marriage, to the actress Julianne Phillips, and the success of his second, to Patti Scialfa, whom he describes, in a childhood photo, as “a Raggedy Ann of a little girl. ” He raised his three children without mementos in the house. “My kids didn’t know ‘Badlands’ from matzo ball soup,” he writes. “When I was approached on the street for autographs, I’d explain to them that in my job I was Barney (the purple dinosaur) for adults. ” His eldest son says, in shock, “Dad, that guy has you tattooed on his arm. ” Mr. Springsteen’s work ethic has never abandoned him, or he it. “I’m glad I’ve been handsomely paid for my efforts,” he writes, “but I truly would have done it for free. ”

U.S. Breaks With Allies Over Trade Issues Amid Trump’s ‘America First’ Vows - The New York Times

Jack Ewing

Germany — The United States broke with other large industrial nations over trade on Saturday as the Trump administration rejected concerns among allies about spreading protectionism and made clear that it would seek new approaches to managing global commerce. At a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations and the European Union, Steven Mnuchin, attending his first major international gathering as Treasury secretary, signaled that American policy would follow the campaign promises made by President Trump to put “America first” and review existing trade agreements to seek better deals for the United States. As a result, the ministers’ joint statement, normally a study in blandness, became an unlikely focus of controversy here. The representatives could agree only on a tortured compromise stating, in effect, that trade is a good thing. Adjectives like “open” were dropped, and the ministers omitted language used in previous communiqués that condemned protectionism, repudiating decades of free trade doctrine. For Asian and European officials, many of them meeting their Trump administration counterparts for the first time, it was a startling lesson in how Mr. Trump and his team are overturning assumptions about international commerce. Mr. Mnuchin led off the ministers’ meeting on Friday with a declaration that current trade rules were unfair to the United States, positioning the administration against virtually all the other participants, according to an official who attended the closed session and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. “We thought that it was very important for the communiqué to reflect what we discussed here,” Mr. Mnuchin said at a news conference on Saturday. “The historical language was not relevant. ” At the insistence of the United States, the communiqué also dropped a pledge to observe the Paris accords on climate change. Mr. Mnuchin deflected questions on the issue, saying it was outside his purview. The American government’s lack of reverence for existing norms and treaties is particularly unsettling to the Europeans, who are coping with weak economic growth and a surge in populism. The last thing they need is a disruption in commerce with their biggest trading partner. Some complained privately that the American delegation rode into this stately spa and casino town, where Romans once bathed in the waters, determined to shake up the existing order but without any clear idea of what should replace it. The disagreement over trade principles was a sharp contrast to the statement issued when the central bankers and finance ministers met in Chengdu, China, last July. “We underscore the role of open trade policies,” the leaders said in the Chengdu communiqué, which used the word “trade” six times. They promised to “resist all forms of protectionism. ” Less than a year ago, such a statement was not questioned. Business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic still hoped for a trade pact between the United States and the European Union that would eliminate already low tariffs and harmonize regulations governing things like vehicle headlights. Since then, Mr. Trump has pulled out of the Partnership negotiated by President Barack Obama, vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, and criticized the German carmaker BMW for building a factory in Mexico. The best that the Group of 20 participants could come up with on Saturday was this: “We are working to strengthen the contribution of trade to our economies. ” Mr. Mnuchin argued that the news media’s focus on the language of the communiqué was overblown and said that the discussions in Baden Baden had been congenial. “We were incredibly productive,” he said. But he also made it clear that the Trump administration had a vastly different view than its recent predecessors. “We believe in free trade,” he said. But he added, “We want to certain agreements. ” “Balanced trade has to be what’s good for us and what’s good for other people,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “It has to be a situation. ” The communiqués issued at the end of Group of 20 summit meetings are meant to show that nations like Brazil, China, France and Japan can put aside competing interests and reach consensus, however vague, on major issues. The statements emerge from tortuous deliberations and are the opposite of impulsive. But even the usual boilerplate platitudes proved fraught at this summit meeting. For many European and Asian officials, meeting in a Belle Époch spa building with polished marble floors and chandeliers dangling from the ceiling, it was their first encounter with the Trump administration and its “America first” foreign policy. Some viewed the meetings as a chance to socialize with the new American representatives and to try to absorb them into the international order. Angel Gurría, the of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and a participant in the meetings, said the chance to get to know Mr. Mnuchin was more important than any joint statement. “We want to make him feel comfortable we want to make him feel at home,” Mr. Gurría told reporters. “These meetings are not about the communiqué. ” In their public statements, European leaders played down the conflicts and said that the discussions had been amiable. The meetings in came after Mr. Mnuchin visited Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, in Berlin. “Naturally we have different points of view,” Mr. Schäuble said at a news conference on Saturday in . But he added, “We worked very hard for two days in a pleasant atmosphere. ” He also denied that the American delegation was at odds with other participants. “The Americans were not isolated,” Mr. Schäuble said. Mr. Trump’s threats to impose punitive taxes on imported goods are a particular worry for Germany, whose economy is built around exports of automobiles and industrial machinery. The United States is the biggest purchaser of German goods, buying 107 billion euros, or $115 billion, worth last year. Germany imported goods from the United States worth 58 billion euros. The trade imbalance has made Germany a target for Trump administration officials, who have accused Germany of manipulating the value of the euro and have said they want to renegotiate trade terms directly with Berlin, even though that task is done at a European level by Brussels. “We are going to look to our counterparts to continue to trade, but to look to have more balanced trade,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “That means over time reducing our trade deficits. I think we can do that in a way that’s good for the American worker, that’s good for our companies and that’s good for our counterparties. ”

Brazil’s Lower House of Congress Votes for Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff - The New York Times

Andrew Jacobs

BRASÍLIA — Brazilian legislators voted on Sunday night to approve impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the nation’s first female president, whose tenure has been buffeted by a dizzying corruption scandal, a shrinking economy and spreading disillusionment. After three days of impassioned debate, the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, voted to send the case against Ms. Rousseff to the Senate. Its 81 members will vote by a simple majority on whether to hold a trial on charges that the president illegally used money from banks to conceal a yawning budget deficit in an effort to bolster her prospects. That vote is expected to take place next month. Those pressing for impeachment had to win the support of of the 513 deputies in the lower house the decisive 342nd vote for impeachment happened at about 10:10 p. m. Eastern time. The final vote was 367 for impeachment, 137 against and 7 abstaining. Two deputies did not vote. If the Senate accepts the case, Ms. Rousseff will step down temporarily while it deliberates her fate. Vice President Michel Temer, a constitutional law scholar and seasoned politician, will assume the presidency. Given the margin of deputies voting for impeachment, some political analysts said the Senate was likely to remove Ms. Rousseff from office, a ruling that would require a majority. “Politicians know how to read society pretty well, and they can sense that the people want her out,” said Paulo Sotero, the director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. Ms. Rousseff can still appeal to the Supreme Federal Tribunal, Brazil’s highest court, though it has rejected previous motions to have the impeachment measure dismissed. The chamber’s decision to impeach Ms. Rousseff less than halfway through her second term provoked shouts of joy among the thousands of protesters who had gathered in the capital and in cities across the country, but also cries of treachery from her supporters. Weeping as she stood amid the throngs rallying in support of the president, Gabriela Correia, 22, a customer service representative, said she was disgusted that so many deputies, some of them notoriously corrupt, had voted against Ms. Rousseff. “I want to make clear that I’m not here to defend a politician, but to protect our democratic political system,” she said. “My heart is aching. ” Some political analysts said they worried that the move to impeach Ms. Rousseff would cause lasting damage to Brazil’s young democracy, in 1985 after two decades of military dictatorship. “This is a coup, a traumatic injury to Brazil’s presidential system,” said Pedro Arruda, a political analyst at the Pontifical Catholic University in São Paulo. “This is just pretext to take down a president who was elected by 54 million people. She doesn’t have foreign bank accounts, and she hasn’t been accused of corruption, unlike those who are trying to impeach her. ” Although legal experts and political analysts are divided, many have expressed concern over the basis of the impeachment drive. They note that the budgetary sleight of hand that Ms. Rousseff is accused of employing to address the deficit has been used by many elected officials, though not on so large a scale. “It’s putting a very large bullet in Brazilian democracy,” said Lincoln Secco, a professor of history at the University of São Paulo. “This will set a very dangerous precedent for democracy in Brazil, because from now on, any moment that we have a highly unpopular president, there will be pressure to start an impeachment process. ” The vote to impeach is a crushing defeat for Ms. Rousseff and her Workers’ Party, a former band of leftist agitators who battled the nation’s military rulers in the 1980s and who swept to power in 2002 with the election of one of the group’s founders, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to the presidency. Mr. da Silva, a skillful politician who endeared himself to both rich and poor, presided over heady economic growth and a generous expansion of social welfare benefits that helped lift millions of Brazilians out of abject poverty. He also moved to strengthen the government’s control of key industries like petroleum. That set the stage for abuses at Petrobras, the oil company, that would later ensnare scores of the nation’s political and business elite in a scheme that funneled kickbacks into campaign coffers. Barred by the constitution from running for a third term, he anointed Ms. Rouseff as his successor, and she easily won election in 2010. A former Marxist guerrilla, Ms. Rousseff had never before held elected office, and critics say her lack of political skills hampered her ability to work with opposition members in Congress as well as key figures in her governing coalition. In 2014, she was by a thin margin after an especially divisive campaign. As the economy went into a tailspin and a huge corruption scandal took down political figures, Ms. Rousseff was abandoned by many of her allies, giving momentum to an impeachment initiative conceived by her rivals. “When things started going wrong, she was unable to get the situation under control, and her lack of flexibility and stubbornness made things worse,” said Mathieu Turgeon, a political scientist at the University of Brasília. “All of this has now caught up with her. ” The impeachment drive has been polarizing, spurring raucous street protests, sundering friendships and provoking widespread anxiety over the potential impact to Brazil’s democracy. Ms. Rousseff and her supporters have likened the impeachment drive to a coup by her political rivals, among them Mr. Temer, her vice president, who last month joined those calling for her impeachment. The recent fortunes of Brazil, once an economic powerhouse of the developing world, have gone from bad to worse, with the economy expected to contract at least 3. 5 percent for a second year in a row. Millions of Brazilians have lost their jobs since the days of growth, fueled in part by China’s hunger for commodities. In recent months, her approval ratings have dipped below 8 percent. “This is a government that has lost legitimacy, credibility and the ability to govern,” said Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a research group in Washington. “It’s a terrible situation. ” Although Ms. Rousseff is not accused of corruption, the Petrobras scandal has implicated important members of her party, including Mr. da Silva. He is being investigated over allegations that he and his foundation received the equivalent of $7. 8 million in services and lecture fees from construction companies seeking government contracts. The unfolding scandal, known as Operação Lava Jato, or Operation Car Wash, has riveted Brazilians, as prosecutors have released details of how Petrobras funneled millions of dollars into the political campaigns of Workers’ Party politicians and their allies. “The impeachment is on relatively weak constitutional grounds, but at the end of the day, this is a vote on the massive corruption probe, deep recession and a series of other issues that have plagued this administration,” said Christopher Garman, a Brazil analyst at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm. Ms. Rousseff is the second Brazilian leader to be impeached since 1992, when Fernando Collor de Mello, facing huge protests over an scandal, resigned moments before the Senate was to vote on his ouster. Ms. Rousseff’s predicament is somewhat different. Unlike Mr. Collor de Mello, she has not been accused of and despite her sagging popularity, only 61 percent of Brazilians support impeachment, down from 68 percent last month, according to a survey by the polling firm Datafolha. Then there is the question of who and what comes next. Vice President Temer, a senior member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, will have to grapple with political and economic challenges. He also faces possible impeachment over the same allegations lodged against Ms. Rousseff, as well as accusations that he was involved in an illegal scheme. Next in line for the presidency after Mr. Temer is Eduardo Cunha, the powerful leader of the lower house, who has been a driving force behind Ms. Rousseff’s impeachment. An evangelical Christian who is fond of using his Twitter account to spread biblical verse, Mr. Cunha is accused of using a Swiss bank account to conceal $40 million in bribes. “People are fed up with the mismanagement and economic mistakes of Dilma, and the corruption and arrogance of the Workers’ Party, but no one feels any optimism for what might come next,” said Raul Juste Lores, the editor at large for Folha de S. Paulo, a leading Brazilian newspaper. As tens of thousands of people gathered outside the National Congress on Sunday to express their support for or against impeachment, some celebrated by setting off fireworks, while others said there were no winners in the day’s vote. Among them was Stephany Machado, 22, a Portuguese teacher who had made the trip by bus from São Paulo. Although she said she was not a supporter of the Workers’ Party, she worries about the damage that impeachment could inflict on democracy in Brazil. “Dilma is president through the power of our votes, and what they are trying to do is remove her from power in an anticonstitutional way,” she said. “We can’t give this up without a fight. ”

Sir John Chilcot to begin twenty-eight-year-long inquiry into what Brexit means. More soon.

NewsBiscuit

WATCH: Mass Shooting Occurs During #TrumpRiot; Media Ignores (Video)

Guest Author

WATCH: Mass Shooting Occurs During #TrumpRiot; Media Ignores (Video) WATCH: Mass Shooting Occurs During #TrumpRiot; Media Ignores (Video) 45 pm by Guest Author Renee Nal | New Zeal Seattle’s Socialist Alternative organize anti-Trump rally. Note the manufactured signs and the hammer & sickle logo. “The five victims range in age from their 20s to 50s, and they have gunshot wounds to their legs, chest and neck.”– The Seattle Times , November 10, 2016 Seattle police are assuring citizens that a virtually unreported mass shooting has nothing to do with an anti-Trump rally incited by Seattle socialists, featuring Kshama Sawant, the Marxist Seattle city council member who is significant as being the only socialist to run openly as a member of Socialist Alternative , a Trotskyist organization. The shooting occurred “outside the 7-Eleven store on Third Avenue between Pike and Pine streets,” close to where protesters gathered, carrying their “Socialist Alternative” signs after being encouraged by Kshama Sawant to “attend the inauguration and shut it down.” Watch: Gulag-wide Bulletins from Sovereignty Unbound We respect your privacy, time, and inbox. Track us Down @GulagBound Like the Gulag There are many important matters that Gulag Bound itself is not treating on a daily basis. For that reason we suggest The Globe & Malevolence and the sites shown under "Key Links in our Chains," below. Your Daily Intelligence Brief MattSkosh on Secret Service Agents Pay a Visit to Anti-Obama Artist Sabo Tags activism Agenda 21 anti-American revolution authoritarianism Barack Hussein Obama II candidate eligibility collectivists & propaganda communisty organizations corruption crisis strategy Democrat finance & banking fraud George Soros globalism - NWO global Marxist-fascist movement government domination of resources history illegal immigration Islam Islamism jihad jihadism Israel kleptocracy labor unions Marxism Marxofascism Marxstream media Military Mitt Romney Obamacare health control Occupy Wall Street race-baiting/racism Republican Right of Private Property Russia Sovereignty Tea Party terrorism U.S. Congress U.S. Constitution U.S. Presidency (POTUS) United Nations (UN) video violence voting youth & education Sabotage What good will it do, to protect the United States of America, or our presumed interests against the aggressiveness of China, Russia, or Islam, if, partially in fear of these threats, we lose our free and independent nation to the stealth imperialism of transnational and global governance? As America threatens to shatter, we must see how a semi-covert, global, cartel collective and their NWO in the USA ("progressive" neo-Marxists and neo-fascists corporatists, updated with 21st Century techniques and technology) intentionally perpetrate this sabotage, while we patriots try to prevent it. Have a look around our camp, as we struggle to survive. - your tour guide Archives Militarization in America About DHS militarization, see the new, breakthrough analysis from James Simpson, " Police Militarization, Abuses of Power, and the Road to Impeachment " and our earlier, "Marxist President’s Military Exercises in These U.S. Cities; Yours One?" About the trajectory of this, we must pray, communicate, keep calm, and do not become the first to engage. If it comes to it, do not even respond in kind, until after the after the first times that extreme, anti-American violence is done by them. It calls for an attitude of self sacrifice -- first cheek, second cheek, then no more. And speak out about the potential and strategic "sense" of the Obama/NWO's DHS carrying out false flag missions of violence, blaming it on American patriots, perhaps upon our militia movements. We are in a real war, right now (of which others and I have been trying to alert fellow Sovereign Citizens for years) and the prime war is for the minds, hearts, and wills of the American People. We are opposed by an anti-American insurrection using any means of power (see Gramsci, Frankfurt School) including government power, as they are granted that opportunity.

Jackie Mason: Plumbers Should Win Oscars, We Can Live Without’ Movie Stars

Daniel Nussbaum

In these trying times, Jackie Mason is the Voice of Reason. [With buzz surrounding the Academy Awards heating up just days before the show, Jackie says that instead of armchair critics debating whether La La Land or Moonlight will win Best Picture, the country should be focused on recognizing a different group of Americans. “The most important conversation in America now is about which movie [will win] which Oscar … . who cares?” Jackie says. “It’s not going to affect your life it’s not going to make any difference. You know what we should be discussing? Who’s the best plumber. Because a plumber is a lot more important than an actor. And you know what’s more important than a movie? A toilet. ” “You can’t get into a toilet, you’re in a lot of trouble. You can’t get into a movie, who cares?” he added. “You ever see a guy who can’t get into a toilet? Can’t walk, can’t move. It looks like he was hit by lightning. ” Besides, Jackie explains, an awards show for plumbers would be a lot more entertaining than watching movie stars all say the exact same thing in their Oscars acceptance speeches: “To hell with Trump. ” It will be a contest to see which actor can say they hate Trump the most, Jackie says: “‘I want to thank my daughter, my cousin and my … you thought [the previous guy] hated Trump? That’s nothing compared to how much I hate Trump.’ And then another guy: ‘Do you know how much those two people hate Trump? That’s nothing compared to what I wish on Trump, and I hope he gets it faster than everybody else gets it. ’” Either way, Jackie’s probably tuning out. Watch his full clip above. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

A Chicago Shooting Survivor, but in Need of a Miracle - The New York Times

Mitch Smith

CHICAGO — In a spacious room on the fourth floor of a rehabilitation hospital, Stacey Turner talked to her only daughter, Precious Land, as if she could understand every word. She styled Ms. Land’s hair, massaged her hands and set out to paint her fingernails. The only sound was the whirring of a ventilator. Then the phone rang, and Ms. Turner became exuberant. After hanging up, she leaned down to kiss her daughter’s face and share the good news. “You’re coming home, baby,” she told Ms. Land, who was covered by a blue blanket that stretched from the tracheotomy tube in her throat to the padded boots on her feet. “You hear that, girl? You’re coming home. ” More than three months had passed since Ms. Land had walked, talked or hugged her children — more than three months since a bullet from an unknown gunman was fired at the car she was driving just a block from her house, severing her spine and interrupting blood flow to her brain. Ms. Land was among 64 people shot in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, when journalists for The New York Times fanned out across the city to record a steep rise in violence. Six of those victims died, including a teenage girl fatally wounded on Lake Shore Drive and a railroad worker shot dead in a car on a quiet street. The 58 survivors, including Ms. Land, were mostly left to languish in anonymity. Ms. Land was 26, a working mother who the Chicago police said had no criminal record. Doctors do not expect her to recover. And as with most of the shootings in Chicago so far this year, her case remains unsolved. Ms. Turner, 47, had gone that August morning to visit her daughter at the rehab hospital on the city’s West Side, a trek she made almost every day. But she was thinking ahead. She had ideas, plans. They started with Ms. Land coming home. For weeks, Ms. Land, paralyzed and comatose, had been on the verge of leaving rehab and returning to the brick, house where she lived with her children and her mother. Once in that setting again, Ms. Turner believed, Ms. Land just might wake up. To prepare for her daughter’s arrival, Ms. Turner converted her own bedroom into a makeshift hospital room with a mechanized bed and a ventilator. There were new linens and artwork purchased at Dollar General. A hall closet was stocked with feeding tube meals, bandages and tracheotomy supplies. But since one planned moving date after another had slipped by. Each time, there was a reason: The doctor had not signed off the specialized bed had not been delivered Ms. Land’s blood platelet levels were too low. Ms. Turner was disappointed each time, so she instructed the rehab center staff not to call her until everything was finalized, and the only step remaining was to put Ms. Land in the ambulance for the ride home. Finally, she was told, that time had come. An employee from the home health care company arrived at the rehab center to help pack Ms. Land’s equipment into a purple tote bag. But just as the move seemed imminent, the plans began to fall apart. The doctor had not signed off on her departure and was not responding to phone calls. And there was uncertainty about what Ms. Land should be fed. The morning faded into afternoon. Before long, the purple tote bag was unpacked and the equipment placed back on the shelf. Ms. Land was not going home that day. Maybe next week, Ms. Turner was told. “Same thing as last time,” Ms. Turner said, the smile she wore an hour earlier wiped from her face. “They did it to me again. ” May 28 was a warm Saturday night midway through the Memorial Day weekend. For many in Chicago, it was a time for barbecues and celebration, the unofficial start of summer in a city known for music festivals and baseball games. But in the West Garfield Park community, a place of few businesses but many lots, Memorial Day denoted the start of peak shooting season. More people are murdered in Chicago than in any other American city, the bloodshed overwhelmingly concentrated near West Garfield Park and a handful of other neighborhoods on the South and West Sides. Some expect the city to eclipse 600 murders in 2016, perhaps more than in New York and Los Angeles combined. That May evening, Ms. Land dropped off her children — Daveon, Tyreanna and Timia Kirkman, and Jimarrion Williams — a few blocks away to play at the house of a family friend. Then she began the short drive home, steering her car onto West Lexington Street, a dotted with churches and modest houses. When she was just a block from her doorstep, gunfire sounded. A bullet pierced a tinted side window of Ms. Land’s black Pontiac Grand Prix, slicing through her neck and lodging behind her shoulder. An ambulance rushed to the scene. Police officers and journalists went, too. One television reporter told his viewers that the nameless victim had died. He was wrong. As the evening grew darker, Ms. Turner started to worry. Her daughter should have been home by then. More than an hour passed, and Ms. Turner got a call to pick up Jimarrion, who had grown restless at the friend’s house. On her way to retrieve him, Ms. Turner saw police cars blocking traffic on Lexington and was forced to take a detour. Someone had been shot, she assumed, a sad but ordinary event here. Ms. Turner had already lost a child to Chicago’s violence. A son, Anthony Jackson, known as “Pierrie,” was shot to death on Nov. 15, 2014. He was 22 years old, and had a son of his own. Mr. Jackson had planned to help his mother clean the house on the day he died. “Twenty minutes later, my phone is ringing, people saying Pierrie is dead,” Ms. Turner recalled. “And I’m like, ‘He just left out the house. ’” His burial fell on Ms. Turner’s birthday, which she no longer celebrates. Ms. Turner had long worried about a violent end for her son, who she said was in a gang. But Ms. Land was different, family and friends said. She was a homebody and a hard worker. When she was not at work, she doted on her children and watched “General Hospital” with her mother. She was a bit of a loner, but had an infectious laugh and was never shy about speaking her mind. Born here on the West Side, at the same hospital she was taken to by ambulance after she was shot, she had spent her whole life in Chicago. At 15, she became pregnant. “Then she got pregnant again with Tyreanna two years later, then Timia a year later, then Jimarrion a year later,” her mother said. She left high school to care for her children, then later enrolled at an alternative school but never graduated. But she managed to stay out of trouble in a neighborhood brimming with crime. Instead, Ms. Land gravitated to work, holding a series of hourly jobs. Early this year, relatives said, she took a job with a company near O’Hare International Airport, where she helped prepare meals for flights. She enjoyed the work, rising early for the 4 a. m. shift and picking up extra hours whenever she could. Ms. Land was the family breadwinner, while Ms. Turner, a longtime nursing assistant, stayed home with the children. These days, the loss of a steady pay check weighs heavily on Ms. Turner’s mind. After the death of Mr. Jackson, Ms. Turner said, Ms. Land “totally changed. ” “She got paranoid,” Ms. Turner went on. “She didn’t like to go outside. She didn’t like to sit out front. She always sat out back. ” For all Ms. Land’s caution, Ms. Turner questioned her decision last winter to start driving an old Grand Prix. The car was more functional than flashy, and would blend in at any suburban parking lot. But here on the West Side, Ms. Turner said, the black sedan projected an unintentional message that put her daughter at risk. “Gangbangers, these guys, ride around in these cars,” Ms. Turner said. “A young woman shouldn’t be in a car like that. ” On that May night, the Grand Prix sat behind crime scene tape. A few hours elapsed, the sun set, and only one police car was left. Ms. Turner still did not know why her daughter was not home. Then, a woman knocked on her window: Precious had been shot. In a daze, Ms. Turner raced down the block. She saw the bullet hole in the window of her daughter’s Pontiac. She sobbed and rushed to the hospital. There was no prayer circle for Precious Land, no profile of her on the front page of the newspaper, no statements of outrage from City Hall. In three months, a Gofundme page raising money to relocate Ms. Land’s family drew just $200 of its $50, 000 goal in donations. Only one local news outlet identified Ms. Land by name. The truth is this: In a city that averages almost two murders a day — 502 so far this year — a collective numbness has settled in, and there is rarely much attention left over for the thousands of Chicagoans who survive their gunshot wounds. Ms. Turner worries that it is not just her neighbors and the news media who have forgotten about her daughter, but perhaps also the police. As the weeks passed, Ms. Turner said, she still did not hear anything about the investigation or speak to a detective. She wants to help officers find the gunman. She wants the person who pulled the trigger to go to prison. But she worries that Ms. Land, one of 3, 030 people shot in Chicago this year, has become just another case in an overwhelmed police district where murders have increased about 75 percent this year over 2015. Finally, two months after the shooting, a detective met one of Ms. Land’s relatives by coincidence and called Ms. Turner to say they were working on the case. A police spokesman later told The Times that detectives had left several voice mail messages for Ms. Turner in the weeks after the shooting, but had not heard back from her. Ms. Turner said she received no such messages. At one point, the police also said they had conducted a “comprehensive interview” with Ms. Land, something doctors say would have been impossible since she has been in a coma. Later, a department spokesman corrected himself and said that there had been no interview of Ms. Land, but that the police had gathered “community intelligence” and were optimistic about solving the case. By early September, Ms. Turner said she had still not seen a detective in person. “I guess they see so many shootings and they all think they’re gang related,” Ms. Turner said. “I don’t fault them. But you know, at least come see me so y’all can know that my daughter is not this type of person. ” Ms. Land’s elder son, Daveon, an swimming enthusiast now in the sixth grade, said his mother was fun but careful she made sure her children avoided the park down the block. When asked why, Daveon said “They be shooting. ” Ms. Turner said her grandson struggled to understand how this could have happened to his mother, and now meets regularly with a counselor. “He’s very angry,” Ms. Turner said. With the new school year approaching, Daveon paid only his second visit to the rehab center. This time, he stayed in the room instead of darting out in tears. Seeing his mother left him shaken, but Daveon said it only reaffirmed his goal of one day becoming a Chicago police officer. Why that career? “They help people and save people,” he said. Ms. Turner is hoping for a miracle. She does not go to church anymore — she hasn’t for years — but she believes God is watching her daughter. At Mount Sinai Hospital, Ms. Land’s heart stopped twice that first night. Both times, doctors revived her. Ms. Turner believes there was a reason. But since then there has been one bit of bad news after another. First, Ms. Turner learned about her daughter’s paralysis. Then doctors said that her daughter had suffered irreversible neurological damage from the interrupted blood flow to her brain stem. A few days after the shooting, Ms. Turner’s phone rang before sunrise, and a nurse told her that her daughter’s heart had stopped again. She asked whether staff members should continue trying to revive Ms. Land. Of course, Ms. Turner responded. “I hop out of the bed, didn’t tell anybody, got in the car,” Ms. Turner said. “That was at 4 o’clock. I pulled in front of Mount Sinai at 4:06. They said, ‘We got her back.’ They got her heart back, but she wasn’t back. ” Cases like Ms. Land’s are tragically routine at Mount Sinai and Chicago’s other trauma hospitals. Gunshot victims arrive almost every day. For patients like Ms. Land, costs can multiply and continue for years so can the toll on loved ones. “It’s much easier to go out and tell somebody their family member died than it is to tell them they have ‘survived’ but are never going to wake up and are never going to be functional again and are forever going to be in the state they’re going to see them,” said Dr. Gary Merlotti, chairman of Mount Sinai’s surgery department. “At least there’s some finality to death, and healing can begin after the grieving process. ” For weeks, doctors at Mount Sinai treated Ms. Land. But her condition remained largely unchanged, and they saw little hope for her recovery. “She is in, if I can be crass, a condition: She will die as a result of this injury,” Dr. Merlotti said later in an interview. “The death is going to be a result of infections that come from having had a tube in her throat to breathe, from having to have a tube in her bladder to drain urine, from getting bed sores. Eventually, she’s going to succumb to this injury. ” But when doctors took Ms. Turner into a meeting room to deliver that news and ask if she wanted to discontinue life support, she was aghast. Death is God’s decision alone, she said later. “Oh my God, I went crazy,” Ms. Turner said. “I mean, I went nuts. I’m like, ‘Hell no. I am a fighter. My daughter’s a fighter. And we’re going to fight. Her heart is still beating.’ “I told them no, and I walked out. ” Ms. Land spent her 27th birthday in the hospital on June 11, with family at her bedside. After a few weeks, she was moved to RML Specialty Hospital, the rehab center. Ms. Turner began a routine of enduring sweltering heat on dangerous streets to make the walk to visit. Ms. Turner had kind words to say about the rehab center workers, but she prefers to care for Ms. Land herself. She went to classes on how to care for her daughter at home, though she says it was mostly a review from her career as a nursing assistant. She is determined to get her daughter home. “I cry at night,” Ms. Turner said during a visit to her daughter’s bedside. “Nobody knows. I have to keep myself strong for these kids. ” Keeping them occupied all summer had been a challenge. But finally, for the three youngest children, it was the first full day of school. The morning began at 6 a. m. Ms. Turner, wearing pink fleece pajamas with images of frogs, had arranged each child’s school uniform — a blue shirt and khaki bottoms — on a kitchen chair. The girls, Tyreanna, 9, and Timia, 7, emerged from the bathroom first, looking weary but ready. Then Jimarrion, 6, who was starting the first grade, lumbered out of his bedroom. Ms. Turner fixed the girls’ hair, tying it off with gold ribbons they picked out themselves. Jimarrion struggled to stay awake. The preparations were interrupted when the local television newscast playing in the background shifted to a story about a girl shot on the West Side. The child had been attending a memorial for another shooting victim August would prove to be the city’s deadliest month in about two decades. “Another kid got shot at a vigil for a ” Ms. Turner said as her grandchildren stared at the TV screen. “It’s crazy. ” Ms. Turner had little time to dwell on it. “I’m going to get your shoes,” she said as she lined up three new backpacks. Ms. Turner has spent her whole life on the West Side, but she yearns to move to the suburbs, where some of her relatives have escaped the city’s violence. “I’m moving where the white people are at,” she said. “There’s no crime. You can go to the store. ” Staying on Lexington Street has been trying. “I cannot stay here,” Ms. Turner said. “I’m very uncomfortable that my baby got hurt down the street. ” But finding a apartment in a safe suburb on her budget is difficult. For the moment, Ms. Turner has little choice but to stay on the West Side. There was a knock on the window, and Tyreanna, Timia and Jimarrion ran out to where a family friend had pulled up in a minivan. Ms. Turner rode the mile with them to their charter school on a quiet residential block. Outside, teachers greeted children and parents by name. Ms. Turner, a decade or two older than most of the other adults, inched through the crowd with her grandchildren, toward the entrance. Back when things were normal, just three months earlier, Ms. Land would be checking up on homework assignments and helping, on the days she was not at work, to manage the morning chaos. “Usually, the kids will be yelling,” Ms. Turner said. “I’ll be screaming and hollering. Precious will be screaming and hollering. ” Ms. Turner longed to hear that voice again, or to at least have her daughter back home. But for now, all she could do was wait.

US Military Prepares To Shut Down Russia’s Internet If It Hacks The Election

Alex Ansary

US Military Prepares To Shut Down Russia’s Internet If It Hacks The Election 11/08/2016 DAILY CALLER American hackers recently broke into Russia’s communications networks, electrical grid and government systems in preparation for a retaliatory cyber strike should Russian hackers meddle in the U.S. election, according to NBC News. Officials do not expect any major attacks on U.S. infrastructure, which would be tantamount to an act of war, but they are concerned that Russian hackers may meddle in the election by spreading false information. The hacker “Guccifer 2.0” — which officials and some cyber security experts believe is a front for Russian intelligence — claimed they would be monitoring elections “from inside the system.” The U.S. preparations are no different than Russia and China’s probing of U.S. networks. The penetration caused no damage to Russia, instead it was the equivalent of a military scouting mission. Cyber weapons could be deployed if the U.S. suffered a significant attack, but officials tell NBC News that is an unlikely scenario. Just to be sure though, Obama administration officials issued a back-channel warning to Russia to stay out of the election. “You’d gain access to a network, you’d establish your presence on the network and then you’re poised to do what you would like to do with the network,” Gary Brown, a former legal adviser to U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM), told NBC News. U.S. cyber capabilities are top of the line, but the Obama administration has been wary of deploying them, despite consistent Russian provocation. CYBERCOM and the National Security Agency, the agencies responsible for U.S. cyber security, are incredibly secretive regarding U.S. capabilities. Stuxnet is the most well-known, publicized U.S. cyber weapon. The highly advanced computer worm wreaked havoc on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program in 2010. CYBERCOM is currently involved in cyber attacks against the Islamic State, but Pentagon officials have been especially silent on the exact details of the “ cyber bombs ” being dropped on the terrorist group. Russia may find itself the next target, should it decide to go from misinformation campaigns to attacks on infrastructure.

Progressive Hypocrisy On Tolerance BRUTALLY Exposed

TFPP Writer

You are here: Home / US / Progressive Hypocrisy On Tolerance BRUTALLY Exposed Progressive Hypocrisy On Tolerance BRUTALLY Exposed October 27, 2016 Pinterest Robert Gehl reports that, in her Washington Post article explaining why she and her lady friends decided to drive around the neighborhood and steal Donald Trump signs from private property, there’s one line that explains perfectly the leftist mentality. The liberal idea that your feelings are more important than the law – your personal opinions, or grudges, or perceived injustices grant you permission to commit criminal acts with little regard to the consequences. Betta Stothart wrote her article in The Post on Tuesday (she provided a link to her Twitter feed, which was brand new at the time she wrote it, but has already been taken down) confessing to driving around her Falmouth, Maine, neighborhood with two other compatriots stealing dozens of Donald Trump signs from people’s yards. She was caught and arrested and now has to go to court. She tells us she’s sorry, but she’s not. Because her feelings about this campaign are more important. Read how she describes her situation: I committed a crime this month, along with two of my friends. I’m not the lawbreaking type. In fact, as a 52-year-old mom, my life is pretty predictable and boring. But this election, a particular candidate’s boasts about women pushed me over the edge. In the suburban, upper-middle-class part of Maine where I live, Republicans and Democrats live together mostly in harmony. In every election cycle, there’s some tension. But the 2016 presidential campaign has been different. Tensions in my town are running at a fevered pitch. Which is how three middle-aged moms came to be running down the road, tearing up the Donald Trump signs along our version of Main Street. We’d been talking about the infamous Billy Bush tape and the women who have since come forward to share their own stories of abuse. We were angry. Getting Trump’s name off our median strip seemed like the best way to express our rage. These three women must have been proud of themselves, probably laughing heartily as they committed theft, trespassing and violated the First Amendment of their neighbors. Why? Because she thinks she was assaulted by the signs. In retrospect, I realize I shouldn’t be proud of my transgression. Hanging out with a bunch of moms, we started grousing about the proliferation of signs. Can you believe someone would put that many Trump signs so close together on our roads? It’s so rude. Who is this jerk? We felt assaulted by the number of signs . The idea of “cleansing” our streets seemed like the fastest way to restore balance and alleviate our election stress — at least, that night it did. “ Assaulted” ? This is exactly why the Left is so dangerous. They are “assaulted” by ideas – by mere thoughts or opinions that are not their own. They will do anything- and Ms. Stothart did – to silence any dissent. And she writes that “ in retrospect, I realize I shouldn’t be proud of my transgression. ” She doesn’t say she isn’t proud, she merely tells us that in retrospect she shouldn’t be proud. Which tells us that she is . She is proud of what she did. When asked what she would say to the victims of her trespassing and theft, she offers no apology, merely a justification that Trump is bad, and that because she herself was a victim of an unwanted sexual advance, it justifies her behavior. She claims she’ll go to court in December with some sense of humility and shame – she’ll “explain” and “apologize.” But she’s not sorry. Not really. To her – and the millions of Leftists like her – the ends justify the means. Silence dissent, crush the opposition, tear down and destroy any thing that strays from your worldview. This is the world that Ms. Stothart lives in. She still lives in it today. She takes pride in suppressing the political view of her fellow Americans. She writes that the “agitation and fear is rising on both sides.” No, Ms. Stothart. I have yet to see a single story about a Trump supporter violating the Constitutional rights of a Hillary Clinton supporter by stealing yard signs. This is liberal America. This is Ms. Stothart’s America. This is not the America I want to live in.

Trinh Thi Ngo, Broadcaster Called ‘Hanoi Hannah’ in Vietnam War, Dies - The New York Times

Mike Ives

Trinh Thi Ngo, a radio announcer known as Hanoi Hannah who entertained American forces during the Vietnam War while trying to persuade them that the conflict was immoral, died on Friday in Ho Chi Minh City. She was believed to be 85. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, a former colleague of Mrs. Ngo’s at Voice of Vietnam, the state broadcaster where she worked for decades, confirmed her death in a telephone interview on Tuesday and said she had been treated for liver ailments. Mrs. Ngo, who broadcast in English, was a propaganda weapon for North Vietnam as it battled the United States and the South Vietnamese government. Her work was in the tradition of Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally, whose radio broadcasts were intended to damage the morale of American troops during World War II. Mr. Thuy said that Mrs. Ngo was both a national celebrity and a role model to her younger colleagues, including himself. “We admired her perfect voice and her legendary role” in the war effort, he said in the interview. Mrs. Ngo was born in Hanoi, the capital, in 1931, when Vietnam was a French colony. (Her exact birth date could not be learned, nor was there information on survivors.) She learned English from private tutors in the early 1950s — partly, she later recalled, because she loved watching Hollywood films like “Gone With the Wind. ” “I always preferred American movies to French films,” she said in an interview with The New York Times in 1994. “The French talked too much. There was more action in American movies. ’’ Mrs. Ngo began broadcasting for Voice of Vietnam in 1955, a year after Vietnamese revolutionaries defeated France at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, forcing the French from Indochina. Early in her career she used the name Thu Huong, or Autumn Fragrance, because it was easier for her listeners to pronounce, she told The Times. “Fewer syllables,” she said. Her broadcasts aimed at United States forces began in 1965, and she was still on the air in 1975, when North Vietnam captured Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, and renamed it Ho Chi Minh City. As part of her programs, each 30 minutes long, Mrs. Ngo would announce the names of American soldiers who had died in battle the previous month. Her listeners included the Navy pilot John McCain, the future United States senator, who was a prisoner of war in Hanoi for five and a half years after his plane was shot down in October 1967. On a visit to Hanoi in April 2000, Senator McCain said he had listened to Mrs. Ngo’s broadcasts on loudspeakers that hung from the ceiling in a cellblock illuminated by a single bulb. “I heard her every day,” he said. “She’s a marvelous entertainer. I’m surprised she didn’t get to Hollywood. ” Mrs. Ngo’s broadcasts included music by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and other antiwar American folk singers, and she took a friendly approach to her listeners, Mr. Thuy said. But beneath her gentle tone, he added, was a steely confidence in the North Vietnamese cause. Nguyen Van Vinh, a Vietnamese cameraman who filmed Mrs. Ngo’s meeting the actress and antiwar activist Jane Fonda in Hanoi in 1972, said Mrs. Ngo had “talked in a whisper to the G. I. s. ” “Soldiers used a gun, but in Hanoi, in North Vietnam, she used her voice,” he said. Mrs. Ngo acknowledged as much in the 1994 interview with The Times. “My work was to make the G. I. s understand that it was not right for them to take part in this war,” she said. “I talk to them about the traditions of the Vietnamese, to resist aggression. I want them to know the truth about this war and to do a little bit to demoralize them so that they will refuse to fight. ” She said the Americans had called her Hanoi Hannah for a simple reason: alliteration. “The Americans like nicknames,” she added.

Donald Trump a KGB Spy?

Alex Ansary

Donald Trump a KGB Spy? 11/02/2016 In today’s video, Christopher Greene of AMTV reports Hillary Clinton campaign accusation that Donald Trump is a KGB spy is about as weak and baseless a claim as a Salem witch hunt or McCarthy era trial. It’s only because Hillary Clinton is losing that she is lobbing conspiracy theory. Citizen Quasar The way I see it, one of two things will happen: 1. Trump will win by a landslide but the election will be stolen via electronic voting, just like I have been predicting for over a decade, and the American People will accept the skewed election results just like they accept the TSA into their crotches. 2. Somebody will bust a cap in Hillary’s @$$ killing her and the election will be postponed. Follow AMTV!

James Comey Role Recalls Hoover’s F.B.I., Fairly or Not - The New York Times

Scott Shane and Sharon LaFraniere

WASHINGTON — Since President Obama named James B. Comey director of the F. B. I. in 2013, the former prosecutor has spoken often of dark chapters in the bureau’s history, notably J. Edgar Hoover’s order to wiretap the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and use the tapes to try to drive the civil rights leader to suicide. “The reason I do those things,” Mr. Comey said in a talk at Georgetown University last year, “is to ensure that we remember our mistakes and that we learn from them. ” His point: The nation’s leading law enforcement agency must preserve investigations from any taint of political motive or extralegal influence. So it may be especially painful to Mr. Comey that today, after his second sensational public statement on the F. B. I. ’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email, some critics and historians are comparing him to Hoover. “I think this is sort of a flashback to the days of J. Edgar Hoover,” said Sanford J. Ungar, a Georgetown scholar, former journalist and author who has written about the F. B. I. ’s history. “I don’t mean to smear Comey, and it may be an unfair comparison. But Hoover would weigh in on issues without warning or expectation. I just wonder how Comey sees his role. ” The parallels to Hoover, who ran the F. B. I. and its predecessor from 1924 to 1972 as a fief that reflected his personal and political views, may be quite a stretch. People who know Mr. Comey well dismiss out of hand the notion that he acted to tip the election to either Mrs. Clinton or Donald J. Trump. If he is guilty of anything, they say, it may be a sort of moral hubris, a desire to put his rectitude and incorruptibility on public display. After all, Mr. Comey first came to wide public attention for his role in a 2004 drama at the hospital bedside of John Ashcroft, then the attorney general. Acting in place of the ailing Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Comey had refused to sign off on the reauthorization of National Security Agency surveillance programs that he believed were legally flawed. When he heard two top aides to President George W. Bush planned to have Mr. Ashcroft sign the reauthorization, Mr. Comey sped to the hospital to head them off. It was a rare Washington drama that has often been recounted, usually with Mr. Comey as the heroic agent of justice. But before Mr. Comey, Hoover was the last F. B. I. director to be accused — at least by some historians — of trying to influence a presidential election, by feeding useful scraps of information on Harry S. Truman, a Democrat, to the campaign of Thomas E. Dewey, a Republican. To his critics, Mr. Comey has twice flagrantly violated the longstanding norms of law enforcement, politicizing the F. B. I. by injecting it into a election. His defenders say the controversy may simply show the difficulty of running a law enforcement organization as a purely professional, apolitical endeavor in an election year awash in political passions, suspicions and accusations. (Just ask Loretta E. Lynch, Mr. Comey’s boss as attorney general, who said after an airport encounter with former President Bill Clinton that drew Republican criticism that she would accept whatever the F. B. I. recommended on the Clinton email inquiry.) Several F. B. I. directors have found themselves tangled in politicized disputes — Louis J. Freeh, the director from 1993 to 2001, had a contentious relationship with Mr. Clinton. But in the Hoover years, the bureau was a deeply political instrument. Hoover’s personal crusade against communists, real and imagined, his targeting of antiwar and civil rights activists, and his use of F. B. I. files to pressure or blackmail other officials — sometimes including presidents — defined the bureau for decades. “The bureau played a very important role behind the scenes in shaping American politics during the Cold War,” said Athan G. Theoharis, a professor emeritus at Marquette University and a historian of the F. B. I. “When you have a secret agency that uses its huge resources to influence politics, that’s a dangerous thing. ” The actions that have put Mr. Comey in the spotlight, however unusual, are starkly different from Hoover’s secret maneuverings. Indeed, it may be his determination to be the transparent and above politics, that has gotten Mr. Comey in hot water, first with Republicans and now with Democrats. Unlike Hoover’s clandestine efforts for Dewey in the 1948 campaign, Mr. Comey’s actions have been very public and directly related to legitimate F. B. I. business. In July, at a news conference that some former prosecutors now characterize as a mistake, he announced that Mrs. Clinton would not be charged in connection with her use of a private email server, but added that he believed her conduct was “extremely careless. ” On Friday, he announced that agents had found additional emails that might be relevant to the investigation, raising the possibility that Mrs. Clinton’s exoneration had been premature. While Hoover acted to further the fortunes of one candidate, Mr. Comey has been accused, at different times, of seeking to help both sides. Overnight, the F. B. I. director went from being vilified by supporters of Mr. Trump for covering up Mrs. Clinton’s supposed wrongdoing, to coming under attack from backers of Mrs. Clinton for what they said was his improperly handing political ammunition to Mr. Trump. As F. B. I. director, Mr. Comey was faced with a rare phenomenon: a criminal investigation of a leading candidate for president. He responded in July with a rare display of openness about an investigation, saying, “I am going to include more detail about our process than I ordinarily would, because I think the American people deserve those details in a case of intense public interest. ” He even testified to Congress in September about the inquiry and was grilled by Republicans. Pressed by Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, Mr. Comey offered a seemingly obvious promise: “We would certainly look at any new and substantial information. ” Then an unrelated investigation of Anthony D. Weiner, a former congressman from New York and the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide, led to an archive of emails that agents thought might be relevant to the Clinton email matter. Mr. Comey, in an email of his own to the F. B. I. work force, made clear that he felt his July statement necessitated another public disclosure. “We don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed,” Mr. Comey wrote. Going public the first time, he suggested, forced him to go public a second time. By Justice Department convention, however, Mr. Comey’s repeated public statements may have been a mistake. Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University School of Law who specializes in legal ethics, said Mr. Comey would have been justified had he simply announced that the Clinton investigation was over. But his first mistake, Mr. Gillers said, was to go further and criticize her sloppy handling of email. “If you decide not to go ahead with a case, you don’t say bad things about a person you have been investigating because there is no forum in which that person can defend themselves,” said Mr. Gillers, a Democrat. “He made a terrible, terrible error. ” With his recent statement, Mr. Gillers said, Mr. Comey again exceeded his authority and “got himself in deeper. ” He should have said nothing, Mr. Gillers said. Instead, “he injected himself into a political campaign. ” Michael Chertoff, a Republican who led the Justice Department’s criminal division under Mr. Bush but who supports Mrs. Clinton, said Mr. Comey violated longstanding department rules and practices in July and again Friday. In doing so, Mr. Chertoff said, he has provided “fodder for a lot of unsubstantiated allegations and accusations. ”

Texas Rape Victim Was Jailed for Fear She Would Not Testify, Lawsuit Says - The New York Times

Daniel Victor

A rape victim who was jailed in Texas for nearly a month because prosecutors feared she would not return to testify after having a mental breakdown on the stand has sued the Harris County district attorney’s office, county officials and jail employees. The woman, identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, was held in the general population at the county jail — the same place where the rape suspect, Keith Hendricks, was housed. There, the suit says, she was misclassified as the perpetrator of a sexual assault — not as a victim — attacked by an inmate, denied medication and punched in the face by a guard. Jane Doe’s treatment amounted to “an absolute deprivation of her personal integrity,” her lawyer, Sean Buckley, said in an interview Thursday. “As a rape victim, the psychological trauma she experienced was an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and helplessness. ” “And if you take out the sexual violation itself and you look at the underlying psychological trauma,” he added, “this is exactly what these defendants did to her again while she was still in recovery for her rape. ” According to the suit filed Monday in United States District Court in Houston, the woman began testifying in December against the man she said had choked, beaten and raped her two years earlier. The woman has bipolar disorder, the suit says, and did not finish her testimony. In what the district attorney later called “an extraordinarily difficult and unusual situation,” because of concern she would not return to the courtroom, a judge had her locked up until the trial resumed, even though she was not charged with a crime. A spokesman for the Harris County district attorney’s office declined to comment on Thursday, though prosecutors and the Harris County sheriff’s office have defended their decisions. The decision raises questions about the treatment of people with mental health disorders in the Texas justice system and about the wisdom of jailing someone already victimized and traumatized by a suspect the district attorney called “a serial rapist. ” But the move was not unheard of. In a case in Sacramento, Calif. prosecutors in 2012 demanded that a victim of sexual assault be held in juvenile detention to ensure that she showed up to testify at the trial of her alleged attacker. She had failed to appear at two previous hearings. But a judge decided about a month later that she could be released and monitored by a GPS device. Advocates for sexual assault survivors said they feared that the Texas case could have a chilling effect on other victims’ willingness to speak up. The case was originally reported by a local television station. The woman was sent to St. Joseph’s Medical Center for 10 days after she broke down on the stand, the lawyer said. There was no after she was released from the hospital, and she was handcuffed, arrested and sent to jail on Dec. 18, Mr. Buckley said. During that time, the woman was taken to the courtroom to testify against Mr. Hendricks. He was convicted and sentenced to two life sentences without parole. A judge allowed her to go home on Jan. 14 — 27 days after she was jailed. In a video statement that has been uploaded to YouTube, Devon Anderson, the county district attorney, said the rape victim had suffered through a mental health crisis and had expressed her intention during the trial not to testify again. “If nothing was done to prevent the victim from leaving Harris County in the middle of trial, a serial rapist would have gone free, and her life would have been at risk while homeless on the street,” Ms. Anderson says in the video. “This was an extraordinarily difficult and unusual situation. There were no apparent alternatives that would ensure both the victim’s safety and her appearance at trial. ” Mr. Buckley, the woman’s lawyer, acknowledged that the woman had said she might not testify again. But he said that was “while she was having a mental breakdown. ” He said county officials did not have the legal right to detain her since she lived outside Harris County — in an apartment in Longview, Tex. — and had not been subpoenaed. Instead of putting the woman in jail, officials should have arranged with a community organization or provided a hotel room with a sheriff’s deputy as a chaperone, Mr. Buckley said. “Had they done that, she would have testified, she would have testified well, and she would not have been abused in the jail,” he said. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said the woman was taken to jail after a district judge issued a bench warrant, ordering the sheriff’s office to detain her as a material witness. “The sheriff’s office had no authority but to follow the court’s order to detain Jane Doe,” Ryan Sullivan, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said in a statement. Mr. Sullivan said the woman would have been placed in a separate cell had the court ordered that she be kept separate from the general population, but no such order was issued. The lawsuit says that when the woman was processed, she was accidentally classified as having committed a sexual crime, leading to negative treatment from the jail’s medical staff members who didn’t believe her protests. She was in at least two physical confrontations while in jail. On Dec. 23, an inmate pushed her to the ground and repeatedly slammed her head into the concrete floor, according to the lawsuit. On Jan. 8, she suffered “an acute psychiatric episode,” the lawsuit says. The prison guards’ response caused her to have a panic attack, during which “she became hysterical and physically uncontrollable,” the suit said. At one point, a guard punched her, causing a bruised eye socket, the lawsuit said. She was also charged with felony aggravated assault but that charge was later dropped. The Harris County Jail, one of the nation’s largest, has become known for allegations of deaths, beatings, civil rights abuses, unjust prosecutions and medical neglect, according to a series in The Houston Chronicle. Jane Doe’s lawsuit, which seeks punitive damages, names the Harris County sheriff, Ron Hickman Taylor Adams, the prison guard Nicholas Socias, an assistant district attorney Harris County and unnamed employees of the jail and the district attorney’s office. In a statement, Rebecca White, the chief executive of the Women’s Center, said, “We appreciate the importance of doing all we can to hold perpetrators accountable, but also believe that respecting the dignity of survivors and providing full support are paramount. ” Ms. White added that the group was “concerned that sexual assault is already underreported and that this may further deter survivors from coming forward. ”

Michael Moore Threatens Dems: Block Gorsuch or Face Primaries

Jerome Hudson

filmmaker Michael Moore sent a warning to Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday: block President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch or face a “true progressive” in the next election. [“This Supreme Court pick was Obama’s to make and it was stolen by Republicans. Democrats had better block this and demand a nom we approve,” Moore tweeted to his 3. 8 million Twitter followers. Moore continued, “Senate Dems, let’s be very clear: You will filibuster block this SC nom or we will find a true progressive and primary u in next election”: This Supreme Court pick was Obama’s to make and it was stolen by Republicans. Democrats had better block this and demand a nom we approve. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) February 1, 2017, Senate Dems, let’s be very clear: You will filibuster block this SC nom or we will find a true progressive and primary u in next election. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) February 1, 2017, Moore’s gripes invoke the liberal argument that Democrats should block the nomination of Trump’s SCOTUS pick in the same way that Republicans halted Merrick Garland’s hearings after Obama picked him to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. One U. S. senator has already heeded Moore’s demand that Democrats block Gorsuch’s nomination proceedings. Senator Jeff Merkley took to Twitter Wednesday and said, “Not only is this a stolen seat, but @realDonaldTrump has nominated a far right extremist. Unacceptable. ” Not only is this a stolen seat, but @realDonaldTrump has nominated a far right extremist. Unacceptable. https: . pic. twitter. — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) February 1, 2017, Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson.

Nous avons comparé les programmes d’Alain Juppé et François Fillon >> Le Gorafi

Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. the Rock, Is People’s Sexiest Man Alive - The New York Times

Erin McCann

People magazine has named Dwayne Johnson, a. k. a. The Rock, its “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2016, ushering him into an elite group of physically appealing men that over the years has included George Clooney, Matt Damon and David Beckham. The award is, of course, a naked public relations enterprise, bestowed upon a celebrity — often an actor — who is in the throes of promoting a new project. In Mr. Johnson’s case, that would be “Moana,” an animated Disney film, which will open in wide release on Nov. 23. He will also in the eighth film of the “Fast and the Furious” franchise next year as well as in a remake of “Jumanji,” and he has been chronicling daily the filming process of that film on his Instagram account, which has nearly 70 million followers. Mr. Johnson told the magazine: “I’m not quite too sure where we go from here. I’ve done it all this is it. ” The magazine has been criticized for nearly always choosing a white man for the cover of this issue. But in Mr. Johnson, the magazine chose its first actor of Samoan heritage. (In interviews, Mr. Johnson has described himself as half black and half Samoan.) Denzel Washington was the first black actor to hold the title. Mr. Johnson, who is 44 and the father of two girls — Simone, 15, and Jasmine, 11 months — became famous in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a performer with World Wrestling Entertainment. He turned toward Hollywood and found success with films like “The Mummy Returns” (2001) and a spinoff, “The Scorpion King” (2002). He joined the “Fast and the Furious” franchise in 2011 for its fifth film. This year, according to Forbes magazine, he became the world’s actor. (It may be noteworthy that four of the Top 5 earners — Mr. Johnson, Mr. Damon, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp — have each been People’s Sexiest Man Alive. It may also be noteworthy that with one exception, Kate Upton in 2014, the magazine does not traditionally name a “Sexiest Woman Alive. ”) “Remember, sexy isn’t something you ‘try and be.’ Sexy happens naturally when you’re comfortable just being yourself,” Mr. Johnson wrote on Instagram Tuesday when sharing the news. At and 245 pounds, he is, physically, one of the largest men ever chosen by the magazine. Muscle and Fitness magazine once chronicled his daily diet at the height of his bodybuilding regimen: more than 5, 000 calories spread over seven meals, including a dozen eggs, a lot of cod and a steak. (In “Moana,” he voices the demigod Maui, a character that has been criticized as promoting negative stereotypes of Polynesians as overweight.) The actor is unabashedly populist in his career choices, telling British GQ last summer that he is “in the business of making movies for people, making content for people. ” “And that means people all over the world,” he continued. “Because as soon as you start thinking on a global scale, you are making more people happy, you are making more money, you are making the studios more money, you are making everybody happy. ” In that same interview, Mr. Johnson floated the idea of following the model set by Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow and perhaps going into politics. “I can’t deny that the thought of being governor, the thought of being president, is alluring,” he said. “And beyond that, it would be an opportunity to make a real impact on people’s lives on a global scale. ”

Scientists Conclude Fluoride Causes Hypothyroidism Leading To Depression, Weight Gain and Worse

Heather Callaghan

By Organic and Healthy Two damning studies on the effects of fluoride in our water have been released in the hope that people will wake up to this real problem. Researchers at the University of Kent...

N.F.L. Concussion Settlement Payments Can Begin After Supreme Court Defers - The New York Times

Ken Belson

The United States Supreme Court on Monday denied a request to review the N. F. L. ’s settlement with retired players who had accused the league of hiding the dangers of head trauma, paving the way for some players with brain ailments to begin receiving payments of as much as $5 million. The decision ends a contentious fight between the league and many former players, some of whom are suffering from Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other debilitating conditions. The settlement, worth perhaps as much as $1 billion, covers nearly every former player for the next 65 years the league’s actuaries estimated that just under 30 percent of them could develop Alzheimer’s or other conditions covered in the settlement. The agreement is by far the largest settlement, and a landmark in light of the league’s repeated denials, made over many years, of the links between repeated head trauma and brain disease. The N. C. A. A. agreed to a far smaller settlement, while the N. H. L. is still fighting its former players, who have filed a suit largely similar to the one brought by the retired N. F. L. players. “This decision means that, finally, retired N. F. L. players will receive care and support for the serious neurocognitive injuries they are facing,” Christopher Seeger, one of the lead lawyers for the retired players, said in a statement. “These courageous men and their families, who in the face of great adversity took on the N. F. L. have made history. ” The Supreme Court was asked to review the settlement by a subset of retired players who believed, among other things, that the agreement unfairly excluded players who received a diagnosis of a severe brain disease linked to head hits, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, after Judge Anita B. Brody of United States District Court approved the settlement last year. They also argued that the settlement did not adequately account for scientific innovations that may allow for C. T. E. to be diagnosed in people while they are alive. Currently, the disease can be confirmed only in autopsies. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit already rejected those arguments, and the Supreme Court, without comment, followed suit by refusing to review the case. “We are pleased that the Supreme Court has decided not to review the unanimous and decisions of Judge Brody and the Third Circuit approving the settlement of this litigation,” the league said in a statement. “We look forward to working with class counsel and Judge Brody to implement the settlement and provide the important benefits that our retired players and their families have been waiting to receive. ” Cullin O’Brien, the lawyer who represented the former N. F. L. player Cookie Gilchrist in the petition to the Supreme Court, had no comment. He and other lawyers representing players who petitioned the court could ask the court to reconsider its refusal, but legal experts said that would be a long shot. Still, the agreement did not come easily. For several years, the N. F. L. insisted that arbitrators, not the courts, should be used to settle disputes between players and the league. The players would likely have had to prove that the concussions they received in the N. F. L. led directly to their current conditions. After Judge Brody questioned whether the initial agreement, worth $765 million, would be enough to cover every player, the league agreed to pay an unlimited amount of damages. Some estimates suggest that the league could pay $1 billion to cover all claims. Critically, the players will not have to prove that they sustained any concussions while playing in the N. F. L. or whether those concussions led to their ailments. The N. F. L. faced with the potentially damaging possibility of players testifying on the stand about their brain injuries and ailments, agreed to settle the case in August 2013. Judge Brody still must rule on the status of more than 100 former players who opted out of the settlement. She also must rule on the $112 million payment that the N. F. L. has agreed to pay the plaintiffs’ lawyers. Starting next month, the league must make six monthly deposits of $20 million into a special account for players covered by the settlement. By April, the plaintiffs’ lawyers must set up the apparatus to allow players to start filing claims. Mr. Seeger said players with diseases that have already been diagnosed should receive checks within weeks after filing their paperwork. Mr. Seeger said he was negotiating with Medicare, which is allowed in cases of this kind to recoup its medical expenses already spent. As he is negotiating on behalf of a large group of about 20, 000 Mr. Seeger said, he expects Medicare to offer a substantial discount. Those medical liens would be deducted from any settlements.

Toddler, Parents Rushed to Hospital after London Acid Attack

Virginia Hale

A family has suffered injuries described as “ ” after ‘strong acid’ was thrown at a two year old boy and his parents on a street in North London. [Emergency services were called to a residential street in Islington on Saturday just after 1 pm following reports of an assault, where they found a 40 year old father, 36 year old mother and their young son suffering effects of having a “noxious’ acid thrown at them. Acid was thrown at the man, in the attack on Copenhagen Street, with the substance then splashing onto a woman then the child, according to The Sun. All three were taken to hospital by ambulance, and the child found to have slight chemical burns to his face, after firefighters at the scene used water from a hose to cool down the family’s burns. But his father’s injuries were described as “ ” and both parents suffered 15 per cent chemical burns on their hands and bodies as a result of the attack. Shop owner Murat Kayran said: “They were a Chinese family, a woman frantically ran in here when it happened and said ‘there’s been an acid attack’. “She bought one bottle at first and then after that bought three more bottles of 1. 5l water to pour on the man’s burns after a person threw acid in his face. “Then a gentleman came in and bought another three. “About five minutes later and ambulance and police cars turned up, as well as the fire brigade. “It’s such a scary thing to happen” he told the Sun. Authorities have now launched an investigation into the alleged assault and to ascertain exactly what the substance used was. “Tests have found a strong acid and oxidising substance” said a London Fire Brigade (LFB) spokesman of the unknown liquid, which examinations showed to have a PH level of 1. Appealing for witnesses Saturday, a spokesman for the Met Police said: “Three people — a man, woman and a boy — were found with injuries consistent with a noxious substance being thrown. “The woman and child suffered minor injuries. The man’s injuries are not being treated as life threatening, however we await an update as to whether they are . “Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances and ascertain what the substance is. ”

The Intercept Outs Neocon Democrat’s Smear Against Trump as ‘Putin’s Puppet’

Eric Zuesse.

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Eric Zuesse. Eric Zuesse On November 1st, The Intercept headlined “HERE’S THE PROBLEM WITH THE STORY CONNECTING RUSSIA TO DONALD TRUMP’S EMAIL SERVER” , and the reporting team of Sam Biddle, Lee Fang, Micah Lee, and Morgan Marquis-Boire, revealed that: “Slate’s Franklin Foer published a story that’s been circulating through the dark web and various newsrooms since summertime, an enormous, eyebrow-raising claim that Donald Trump uses a secret server to communicate with Russia. That claim resulted in an explosive night of Twitter confusion and misinformation. The gist of the Slate article is dramatic — incredible, even: Cybersecurity researchers found that the Trump Organization used a secret box configured to communicate exclusively with Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest commercial bank. This is a story that any reporter in our election cycle would drool over, and drool Foer did.” The Intercept team concluded their detailed analysis of the evidence by saying: “Could it be that Donald Trump used one of his shoddy empire’s spam marketing machines, one with his last name built right into the domain name, to secretly collaborate with a Moscow bank? Sure. At this moment, there’s literally no way to disprove that. But there’s also literally no way to prove it, and such a grand claim carries a high burden of proof. Without more evidence it would be safer (and saner) to assume that this is exactly what it looks like: A company that Trump has used since 2007 to outsource his hotel spam is doing exactly that. Otherwise, we’re all making the exact same speculation about the unknown that’s caused untold millions of voters to believe Hillary’s deleted emails might have contained Benghazi cover-up PDFs. Given equal evidence for both, go with the less wacky story.” However, they failed to dig deeper to explain what could have motivated this smear of Trump: was it just sloppiness on the part of Slate, and of Foer? Hardly — it was anything but unintentional: A core part of the Democratic Party’s campaign for Hillary Clinton consists of her claim that Donald Trump is secretly a Russian agent. This is an updated version of the Republican Joseph R. McCarthy’s campaign to “root communists out of the federal government,” and of the John Birch Society’s accusation even against the Republican President Dwight Eisenhower that, “With regard to … Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason.” Neoconservatives — in both Parties — are the heirs of the Republican Party’s hard-right, which now, even decades after the 1991 end of communism and the Soviet Union, hate Russia above all of their other passions. Neoconservatism has emerged as today’s Republican Party’s Establishment, and (like with the Democratic Party’s original neocon, U.S. Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, the “Senator from Boeing”) they’ve always viewed Russia to be America’s chief enemy, and they have favored the overthrow of any nation’s leader who is friendly toward Russia, such as Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Viktor Yanukovych, and Bashar al-Assad. Hatred and demonization of Russia is the common core of neoconservatism — the post-Cold-War extension of Joseph R. McCarthy and the John Birch Society. Both Slate and especially Foer have long pedigrees as Democratic Party neoconservatives — champions of U.S. invasions, otherwise called PR agents (‘journalists’) promoting the products and services that a few giant and exclusive military corporations such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Dyncorp, and the Carlyle Group, offer to the U.S. federal government. I’ll deal here only with Foer, not with his latest employer (in a string, all of which are neocon Democratic ‘news’ media). Foer wrote in The New York Times , on 10 October 2004, against ‘isolationist’ Republicans, who regretted having supported George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, and he headlined about them there, “Once Again, America First” , equating non -neoconservative Republicans with, essentially, the pro-fascist isolationists of the 1930s. He concluded that they would come to regret their regret: “Conservatives could soon find themselves retracing Buckley’s steps, wrestling all over again with their isolationist instincts.” That’s how far-right Franklin Foer is: he’s to the right of those Republicans. On 7 June 2004, Foer, in a tediously long, badly written and argued, article in New York Magazine , “The Source of the Trouble” , described the downfall of The New York Times’s leading stenographer for George W. Bush’s lies to invade Iraq, their reporter Judith Miller. He closed by concluding that “the source of the trouble” was that Miller was simply too earnest and tried too hard — not that she was a stenographer to power: “People like Miller, with her outsize journalistic temperament of ambition, obsession, and competitive fervor, relying on people like Ahmad Chalabi, with his smooth, affable exterior retailing false information for his own motives, for the benefit of people reading a newspaper, trying to get at the truth of what’s what. ” (She was anything but “trying to get at the truth of what’s what.” She was the opposite: a mere stenographer to George W. Bush and to the Administration’s chosen mouthpieces, such as the anti-Saddam exiled Iraqi Ahmad Chalaby.) On 20 December 2004, when the question of whether to bomb Iran was being debated by neoconservatives, Foer, who then was the Editor of the leading Democratic Party neoconservative magazine, The New Republic , headlined in his magazine, “Identity Crisis: Neocon v. Neocon on Iran” , and he introduced a supposed non-neocon from the supposedly non-neocon Brookings Institution, Kenneth Pollack, to comment upon the conflict among ( the other Party’s ) neocons: “In part, the lack of neocon consensus [on whether to, as John McCain was to so poetically put it, ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran’ ] can be attributed to the nature of the problem. Nobody — not the Council on Foreign Relations, not John Kerry’s brain trust — has designed a plausible policy to walk Iran back from the nuclear brink. Or, as Kenneth M. Pollack concludes in his new book, The Persian Puzzle, this is a ‘problem from Hell’ with no good solution.” But, actually, both Pollack and Brookings are Democratic Party neocons themselves; and among the leading proponents of invading Iraq had been not only Pollack but Brookings’s Michael O’Hanlon . Brookings had no prominent opponent of invading Iraq. (Brookings has a long history of neoconservatism , and routinely leads the Democratic Party’s contingent of neocon thinking, even urging a Democratic administration to have its stooge-regimes violate international laws .) The real reason why neocons (being the heirs of the far-right extremists’ Cold-War demonization of Russia, even after communism is gone) wanted to conquer both Iraq and Iran, was that both countries’ leaders were friendly towards Russia, and were opposed by the Saud family who own Saudi Arabia, which family quietly worked not only with the U.S. government but with Israel’s government, against both Iraq and Iran, as well as against Syria — those three nations (Iraq, Iran, and Syria) all being friendly toward Russia, which both the Saudi aristocracy, and not only the U.S. aristocracy, hate. It’s not just the conservative ‘news’ media that are neoconservative now. The so-called ‘liberal’ media are so neoconservative that, for example, Salon can condemn Donald Trump for his having condemned Hillary and Obama’s bombing of Libya. Salon condemned Trump’s having said “We would be so much better off if Qaddafi were in charge right now” — as if Trump weren’t correct, and as if what happened after our overthrow and killing of Qaddafi weren’t far worse for both Libyans and the world than what now exists in Libya is. (But, of course, for Lockheed Martin etc., it is far better). CBS News and Mother Jones condemned the Trilateralist Joseph Nye for having veered temporarily away from his normal neoconservatism. Then, Nye wrote in the neocon Huffington Post saying that David Corn of Mother Jones and Franklin Foer of The New Republic had misrepresented what he had said, and that he was actually a good neocon after all. Nye closed: “In any case, I have never supported Gaddafi and am on record wishing him gone, and also on record supporting Obama’s actions in recent weeks. We now know that Gaddafi’s departure is the only change that will work in Libya.” Sure, it did. Oh, really? It’s Trump who is crazy here? More recently, Foer headlined at Slate, “Putin’s Puppet: If the Russian president could design a candidate to undermine American interests — and advance his own — he’d look a lot like Donald Trump.” Foer proceeded to present the view of Trump that subsequently became parroted by the Hillary Clinton campaign (that Trump=traitor). Wikipedia has a 450-person ”List of Republicans opposing Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016″ , and it’s almost entirely comprised of well-known neoconservatives — the farthest-right of all Republicans, the people closest to Joseph R. McCarthy and the John Birch Society. Foer cited many neoconservative sources that are not commonly thought of as Republican, such as Buzzfeed; and he even had the gall to blame the Russian government for having made public its best evidence behind its charge (which was true ) that the overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 was no authentic ‘democratic revolution’ such as the U.S. government and its ‘news’ media said, but was instead a very bloody U.S. coup d’etat in Ukraine , which was organized from the U.S. Embassy there, starting by no later than 1 March 2013 , a year beforehand. Foer wrote: “The Russians have made an art of publicizing the material they have filched to injure their adversaries. The locus classicus of this method was a recording of a blunt call between State Department official Toria [that’s actually ‘Victoria’] Nuland [a close friend of both Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney] and the American ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pyatt. The Russians allegedly planted the recording on YouTube and then tweeted a link to it — and from there it became international news. Though they never claimed credit for the leak, few doubted the White House’s contention that Russia was the source.” To a neoconservative, even defensive measures (such as Russia’s there exposing the lies that America uses to ‘justify’ economic sanctions and other hostile acts against Russia) — indeed, anything that Russia does against America’s aggressions against Russia, and against Russia’s allies (such as Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar al-Assad, and Viktor Yanukovych) — anything that Russia does, is somehow evil and blameworthy. And, of course, America’s aggressions are not. The U.S. government and its neocon propagandists are outraged that some people are trying to expose — instead of to spread — their lies. The American government isn’t yet neocon enough, in the view of such liars.

Trump Hopes to Slash EPA Staff, Carbon Footprint by 50% - Breitbart

Sean Moran

President Trump hopes to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 15, 000 person staff by at least half, says Myron Ebell, Trump’s former head of the EPA transition team. [According to the Washington Examiner: “Let’s aim for half and see how it works out, and then maybe we’ll want to go further,” Myron Ebell said now that he has returned to his position as director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Other reports say Ebell wants the staffing level to be on par with that 45 years ago when the EPA was started during the administration of former Republican President Richard Nixon. That would mean as few as 5, 000 employees would remain. “President Trump said during the campaign that he would like to abolish the EPA, or ‘leave a little bit,’” Ebell said. “I think the administration is likely to start proposing cuts to the 15, 000 staff, because the fact is that a huge amount of the work of the EPA is actually done by state agencies. It’s not clear why so many employees are needed at the federal level. ” Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general to serve as his EPA Director. Pruitt has been a voracious opponent of environmental regulations and has promised to dismantle EPA regulations, including the Clean Power Plan. To aid worried EPA staffers, the agency will offer counseling: A source inside the EPA took a quick picture of counseling sessions being advertised at the agency as @realDonaldTrump takes over. pic. twitter. — Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) January 27, 2017, The advertised seminar, entitled “Feeling Pressured? Worried About Change at EPA?” appears to consists of a 45 minute session on how to deal with change and how to “stop yourself from getting hurt angry”. EPA Spokeswoman Enersta Jones told Axios that the agency has frequent training seminars and that “This is just one of the more recent ones that were offered. ”

Former Miss Finland accuses Trump of sexual assault, bringing number of accusers to 12

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Former Miss Finland accuses Trump of sexual assault, bringing number of accusers... Former Miss Finland accuses Trump of sexual assault, bringing number of accusers to 12 By 0 58 Miss Finland 2006 has become the 12th woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault. Ninni Laaksonen claims the presidential candidate groped her while they took a picture together before an appearance on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ 10 years ago. Laaksonen, now 30, told Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat on Thursday that Trump groped her in New York in July 2006. A translation provided by the Daily Beast explains that the incident occurred when she and three other Miss Universe contestants were taking photos outside the Late Show studio. “ Trump stood right next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt. He really grabbed my butt, ” she said. “ I don’t think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought, ‘What is happening?’ ” The beauty queen also attended parties at Trump’s residence with Melania, whom he had married one year prior to the incident. “ Somebody told me there that Trump liked me because I looked like Melania when she was younger ,” she told The Telegraph. Trump has vowed to sue all of his accusers, calling them “ horrible, horrible liars .” However, he may have a difficult time taking Laaksonen to court, as she currently lives in Finland where she runs Ninnin Lifestyle and Living, a beauty and cosmetic company. Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.

Tancredo: The Disgusting Media Double Standard Between Obama and Trump - Breitbart

Tom Tancredo

Pop quiz: Who said, “The Middle East is an issue that has obviously plagued the region for centuries”? No, it wasn’t Ross Perot, and it wasn’t Donald Trump. It was Barack Obama, the same man the White House press corps hailed as the smartest man to ever sit in the Oval Office. [The political bias of the establishment media has never been more outrageous than what we see in the press’s double standard for covering President Donald Trump. For contrasts that will make your head spin and your heart ache, compare Trump’s treatment to the press’s idolatrous treatment of President Obama. The media’s attitude toward Obama was unprecedented in the modern era. Not even handsome Jack Kennedy or war hero Eisenhower got the treatment that Obama got. Obama’s frequent goofy statements and embarrassing gaffes were either overlooked entirely or treated as amusing sidebars. Will any historian ever catalog Obama’s frequent misstatements of elementary facts? How many do you remember? Here are few of the gems liberal historians will overlook: Such historical ignorance and efforts at personal were routine for Obama — and never challenged by the working press. Obama’s hilarious mispronunciations and stupid asides were a regular feature of his speeches and interviews, at home and abroad. And yet, they did not tarnish his reputation in the White House press corps as a great intellectual and “perhaps the smartest man to ever sit in the Oval office. ” Oh, really? Now, compare the worshipful treatment of Obama to what Trump has experienced since winning the election on November 8. The establishment press won’t even accept the legitimacy of Trump’s election, much less the strong points of his policy initiatives. They won’t let go of the popular vote versus the Electoral College. That is not ignorance of Civics 101 it is part of a political strategy to demonize and delegitimize the entire Trump program. The media has openly joined the campaign by the Democratic Party and the “Social Justice” left to deny that President Trump has any policy mandates whatsoever. The narrative is this: since his presidency is illegitimate to begin with, it is okay to use violence to obstruct him at every point. Trump is justified and very smart to communicate with the American people directly and not expect the media to convey his messages fairly. Too many of them have become angry partisans in the left’s demonization strategy, and they need to be . Conservatives and constitutionalists have seen media bias for half a century, and America has survived it. Yet, never has that bias and that vituperation been so uniform and vicious as what we see waged against President Trump. When it is coordinated with the cultural bias in the entertainment and educational institutions, a triad of treachery emerges to challenge the very foundations of civic order.

Man Burns Himself Trying to Start Fire Outside Trump D.C. Hotel

Katherine Rodriguez

A man was injured Tuesday night while attempting to start a fire outside the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D. C.[D. C. Fire and EMS was called at 9:23 p. m. to respond to a report that a man was setting himself on fire, CNN reported. “We did arrive and did find a male adult with burns and we transported that patient to an area hospital with potential but not burns,” DC Fire and EMS Department spokesman Vito Maggiolo told CNN Wednesday. The man suffered minor burns and was taken to a hospital for treatment, Fox News reported. The man, who told a reporter that he was from California, said he tried to set himself on fire “as an act of protest”: “We have a dictator that has been elected,” the unidentified man told WRC. The D. C. Police Department said they notified Secret Service officials of the incident. It is unclear whether the man will face charges. Nearly a million people are expected to be in D. C. this weekend for the inauguration and for the protests accompanying it.

Goldman Sachs CEO: Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration ’Not a Policy We Support’

Katherine Rodriguez

The CEO of Goldman Sachs has come out against President Trump’s executive order on immigration. [Lloyd Blankfein, the company’s CEO, told employees of the firm that the company does not support Trump’s policy and that it goes against the company’s principles. “This is not a policy we support, and I would note that it has already been challenged in federal court,” he said in a voicemail to employees, as reported by Business Insider. “If the order were to become or remain effective, I recognize that there is potential for disruption to the firm, and especially to some of our people and their families,” he said. “I want to assure all of you that we will work to minimize such disruption to the extent we can within the law and are focused on supporting our colleagues and their families who may be affected. ” Blankfein’s position against the order is noteworthy because several Goldman Sachs alumni have joined the Trump administration. Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for treasury secretary, top economic adviser Gary Cohn, top adviser Anthony Scaramucci, and chief strategist Steve Bannon all had careers at Goldman, the Hill reported. Blankfein, who supported Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign, is not alone in his opposition to the President’s executive order. Ridesharing company Lyft donated $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union to fight against Trump’s executive order, while online residential lodging company AirBnB criticized the executive order and offered free housing Saturday to anyone who was stranded as a result of the travel ban, Breitbart News reported.

Black November

Ilan Pappe

Black November The Balfour Declaration 99 years ago marked the beginning of a settler colonial project of tragic proportions. By Ilan Pappe Al Jazeera " - November is a painful month in the Palestinian calendar. It is dotted with commemorative days that have one theme in common: the partitioning of Palestine. Today is the 99th anniversary of the Balfour declaration. Although it did not offer partition, it sowed the seeds for it, which eventually allowed the Zionist movement to take over Palestine. On November 15, we commemorate the Palestinian Declaration of Independence (issued by the Palestinian National Council (PNC)), which was a reluctant national Palestinian consent to partition, notwithstanding the injustice and criminality involved in such an act. At the end of the month, on the 29th, we commemorate the UN General Assembly Resolution 181, which recommended in 1947 the partition of Palestine into two states. Put into the right chronological sequence, we can see a direct line between the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1947 UN partition resolution and the 1988 PNC's document. It is worth our while to re-read Edward Said's wise words about the Balfour Declaration. "What is important about the Declaration is, first, that it has long formed the juridical basis of Zionist claims to Palestine, and second, more crucial for our purposes here, that it was a statement whose positional force can only be appreciated when the demographic, or human realities of Palestine are clearly understood. For the Declaration was made (a) by a European power (b) about a non-European territory (c) in a flat disregard of both the presences and the wishes of the native majority resident in that territory, and (d) it took the form of a promise about this same territory to another foreign group, that this foreign group might, quite literally, make this territory a national home for the Jewish people." In fact, it was more than that: It allowed a settler colonial movement, appearing very late in history, to envisage a triumphant project even before it set proper foot in the land or had a meaningful geographical and demographic presence there. 'The logic of the elimination of the native' The native population in Palestine was much better equipped than the American Indians or Aborigines to deal with the danger of Zionism when it had just arrived. They also had far better understanding of self-determination and nationhood than any of the other indigenous people at the time. In 1917, the Palestinians inhabited their homeland almost exclusively and possessed most of its lands. Only with the help of British bayonets could the settler colonial project of Zionism survive in its early stages through the Palestinian uprisings of 1920, 1921, 1929 and, in particular, 1936. The British army employed immense force, which included the Royal Air Force, to quell the 1936 Palestinian uprising. It lasted for three years and ended with the British elimination of the Palestinian national leadership, either by killing or by exiling. This was the main legacy of the Balfour project: not its hallowed text but the policy that ensued in its wake, leading eventually to the catastrophe of 1948. There were British officials at home and on the ground who had second thoughts and qualms about the alliance with Zionism. They had their say when the British government despatched a Royal Inquiry Commission to examine the origins of the 1936 revolt. The commission hoped to rectify some of the injustice by suggesting partition between the settlers and the native population. The Zionist leadership urged the British to transfer the Palestinians from any area that would be accorded to the Zionist settlers, but this was something London refused to do. However, by legitimising partition in Palestine as a "solution" with international credibility, Britain associated this geographical arrangement clearly with the basic impulse of any settler colonial movement, the one so brilliantly defined by the late Patrick Wolfe as "the logic of the elimination of the native". With such a blessing, no wonder that, henceforth, partition and ethnic cleansing in Zionist thought and practice went hand in hand. When the British cabinet announced its decision to leave Palestine at the beginning of February 1947, and referred the future of the country to the UN, the historical opportunity arose to fuse once more partition with transfer of population. This time, the Zionist leadership did not seek international legitimacy for the transfer; they sought it only for the partition. It assumed correctly that partition, in particular two years after the Holocaust, would be accepted internationally as a just, moral and reasonable solution. A European crime The natural Palestinian rejection of the notion of dividing their homeland with settlers, the majority of whom had arrived only few a years earlier, fell on deaf Western ears. Locating the Jews in Palestine, without the need to come to terms with what Europe did to them in World War II, became the easiest corridor out of Europe's ugliest historical moment. As is clear today from the documents, the Zionist leadership regarded the partition resolution as both international legitimisation for a Jewish state in Palestine, and the Palestinian rejection of it as a valid pretext for the ethnic cleansing of the native population. The Arab world supported the Palestinian rejection and hoped at first through diplomatic means to change it. When it became clear during the first of months of 1948 that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine was beginning in earnest (by the beginning of May, most Palestinian towns were depopulated and some wiped out entirely by the Zionist forces), Arab public opinion demanded more from its governments. The last straw was the Deir Yassin massacre of April 1948. In its wake, the Arab League began to coordinate a large-scale military operation to stop the destruction of Palestine. Not all the Arab leaders were genuinely interested in this goal, and not one of them was willing to throw into the campaign a meaningful military force. The result was a total defeat by the Israeli forces, which continued, without any international rebuke or intervention, the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Occupation Two areas remained outside Israel's reach: the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Not because Israel at the time lacked the power to occupy them, but because its leaders decided that the West Bank was a demographic liability and the Gaza Strip could serve as a huge receptor for the hundreds of thousands of refugees Israel pushed out south of Jaffa and Jerusalem. However, ever since 1948, a lobby had been operating in Israel demanding the occupation of these last bits of Palestine. The opportunity came in 1967. Soon after it became clear that, at least for some of the Israelis, this was not a welcome development: Occupying the lands of millions of Palestinians proved an unexpected political headache and for a while a financial burden. Thus the Israeli peace camp was born wishing to control these two areas from the outside and grant them autonomy, and later some members of the movement were even willing to call the areas a state. At the same time, settlers, with and without government blessing, began to colonise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. As in 1936, so in 1987, an oppressed people tried to shake off the colonial project. This time there was some positive international reaction which the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was hoping to galvanise for the cause. It seemed that even the US in the post-Cold War era might change its attitude. Substituting presence with absence American blessing came with a price - a demand that the PLO would acknowledge the partition of Palestine and accept the loss of almost 80 percent of the homeland. The Declaration of Independence navigated between the pragmatism required and loyalty to the moral and basic principles of the liberation movement. Partition was recognised both as a crime and a fait accompli. Despite the historical injustice done to the Palestinian Arab people in its displacement and in being deprived of the right to self-determination following the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) of 1947, which partitioned Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish State, that resolution nevertheless continues to set preconditions to international legitimacy that guarantee the Palestinian Arab people the right to sovereignty and national independence. This might have worked had partition been a genuine strategy or vision of the settler state of Israel. However, conceding demographic exclusivity and total geographical ownership is an unthinkable scenario for any settler colonial project. The aim is to displace the natives and replace them; or, as Edward Said put it so well, substituting presence with absence. From the Israeli/Zionist perspective, partition can only be a means of completing the project of settler colonialism; it can never be used for limiting or forsaking the project. Thus, the Declaration of Independence did not affect the reality on the ground, and neither did all the next international, regional or local attempts to resell the idea of partition as a "two states solution". The discourse on partition continued, while the reality of settler colonialism covered now almost every inch of historical Palestine. November is a good month to ponder why partition, described in American parlance as the best way of keeping neighbours happy, equates occupation, colonisation and ethnic cleansing. The seeds were sown in 1917, reaped in 1947 and poisoned the country ever since. It is time to adopt a fresh moral and political view on this history for the sake of a better future. Ilan Pappe is the director of the European Center of Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter. He has published 15 books on the Middle East and on the Palestine Question.

Is the Supreme Court Clueless About Corruption? Ask Jack Abramoff - The New York Times

Carl Hulse

WASHINGTON — Take it from a corrupt lobbyist: When it comes to peddling influence and buying politicians, the Supreme Court just doesn’t get it. Jack Abramoff, the former superlobbyist who ended up in prison, said he fears the court’s unanimous decision to toss out the bribery conviction of Bob McDonnell, the of Virginia, reflects a regrettable innocence about how things work in the real world. “I continue to be concerned by what seems to be a lack of understanding on the part of the justices that a little bit of money can breed corruption,” Mr. Abramoff said when I asked him about the McDonnell case. “When somebody petitioning a public servant for action provides any kind of extra resources — money or a gift or anything — that affects the process,” Mr. Abramoff said. He should know. Once a man with Republican connections and easy access to the White House and Capitol leadership suites, Mr. Abramoff and his partners were masters of spreading favors around Washington. They parceled out tickets to major sporting events, escorted influential officials on golf junkets, paid the tabs for lavish dinners and cozied up to politicians at Signatures, a restaurant Mr. Abramoff once owned on Pennsylvania Avenue. All the while they were soliciting and obtaining help on issues ranging from gambling to wages to tax policy. It all came crashing down ignominiously in January 2006, when Mr. Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and tax offenses, ending his career and landing members of his inner circle behind bars with him. Dealings with Mr. Abramoff also sent Bob Ney, a former Republican representative from Ohio, to the penitentiary and contributed to the downfall of Tom DeLay of Texas, the powerful No. 2 House Republican. Mr. Abramoff, now chastened and repentant, spent nearly four years in prison. Since his release, he has spoken out against the dangers of what he says is an inherently corrupt system where financial aid and other perks are provided to politicians who only naturally take care of benefactors they consider friends. “People come to think those seeking favors and giving you things are your friends, your buddies,” he said, remembering his own days as an insider. “Human nature is such that your natural inclination is, ‘He has done something for me, what can I do for him?’ The minute that has crept into the public service discussion, that is a problem. ” Such favors were at the heart of the case against Mr. McDonnell. During a period of personal financial turmoil, he received a Rolex, loans, trips, clothing and other benefits from Jonnie R. Williams Sr. a wealthy businessman who was seeking the governor’s help in securing state testing of a dietary supplement. While the governor arranged meetings, made recommendations and appeared with Mr. Williams, the court ruled that he may never have committed an “official act” on Mr. Williams’s behalf and that the jury should have received clearer instructions on that point. To many observers, the court essentially said that a politician can be found guilty of corruption only if the government can definitively show an official “quo” in response to a benefactor’s “quid” — a very high bar in a world of winks and nods. “When you have a system that defines the line between illegal and legal as it does, there are ways of kind of working through it,” Mr. Abramoff said. “Maybe 95 percent or 99 percent of what I did wasn’t really illegal. ” The court’s decision was quietly celebrated by politicians who believe that prosecutors who are intent on criminalizing ordinary political wheeling and dealing have overreached in a number of cases and needed to be slapped down. They worry that too wide a net could eventually ensnare them and their colleagues. But the ruling was loudly protested by advocates who worried that the court had thrown open the door to more misdeeds and undermined already flagging public confidence in government. “This is an absolutely terrible message to the public at the worst possible time, when our campaigns are being flooded with huge contributions that are going to buy influence in the future,” said Fred Wertheimer, a longtime campaign watchdog and the president of Democracy 21, a group that pushes for government transparency. “The court forgot about the public. ” The decision was the latest in which the court has seemed to play down, even minimize, the power of money to influence outcomes. The justices did not seem persuaded that donations, trips or expensive meals could make politicians beholden to the giver. After all, the justices themselves take free trips to fancy locales to meet and speak with private groups. In this case, the court seemed to accept Mr. McDonnell’s argument that his efforts on behalf of Mr. Williams amounted to routine constituent work, something he might have done without the watch or the $15, 000 for his daughter’s wedding. During oral arguments in April, some justices seemed worried that politicians were at the mercy of vague rules that could leave them the prey of overzealous prosecutors. “For better or worse, it puts at risk behavior that is common, particularly when the quid is a lunch or a baseball ticket, throughout this country,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer said. Mr. Abramoff said the justices seem far removed from the unpleasant realities of his old life. “I do think there is a disconnect, and I understand it because none of them have been in the political process,” he said of the justices. And that remove may now have diminished both the practice and public perception of politics.

“Bernie needs to be ground to a pulp.” Leaked Email to John Podesta in February

Eric Zuesse.

Koch Brothers Secretly Allied w. George Soros for Hillary Clinton → Jay Kurtz Why would Bernie supporters vote Clinton? Because if she wins, his movement will be finished, and she will see to it that it is. On the other hand, if Trump wins, Hillary is finished, and Bernie will become the driving force in the Democratic Party, and will crush Trump in 2020. I just don’t understand why ANY Bernie supporter would be DUMB ENOUGH to vote for Hillary. gmatch There are many reasons not to vote for Hillary. Bernie is a proven fraud and should go away. If Trump wins – the DNC will have to change or it will not survive. kimyo while we’re talking about podesta emails, 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? my interpretation: you fell for sanders’ schtick like an egg from a tall chicken. he was never for real. you’ve been reporting on wrestlemania 2016 without comprehending that the whole thing is staged. you never said a single word about the theft of california, brooklyn and beyond. WHY? the word ‘agreement’, that doesn’t raise any red flags for you? Donate

Donald Trump Sweeps 5 States Hillary Clinton Takes 4 - The New York Times

Patrick Healy and Jonathan Martin

Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton barreled toward a general election showdown on Tuesday night as they dominated primaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland and other Eastern states, piling up enough delegates to close in on their parties’ nominations. Looking past their fading rivals, the two even taunted each other in dueling events. Mrs. Clinton chided the Republican’s penchant for harsh language by saying that “love trumps hate. ” Mr. Trump was more bluntly dismissive of Mrs. Clinton, saying her appeal boiled down to her gender. “Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she would get 5 percent of the vote,” Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump had the more convincing performance on Tuesday: He swept all five primaries, winning landslides of more than 30 percentage points over his rivals, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. His routs represented a breakthrough: He received more than half the vote in every state, after months of winning most primaries by only pluralities. The big night for Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton intensified the aura of inevitability around their nomination bids and created urgent new challenges for their rivals. More significant, it increased Mr. Trump’s chances of avoiding a fight on the floor of the Republican convention in July and of claiming the nomination on the delegates’ first ballot. “When the boxer knocks out the other boxer, you don’t have to wait around for a decision,” he said boastfully at an appearance before supporters at Trump Tower in New York. He added: “As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. ” Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich fared so poorly on Tuesday that together they were likely to win just 10 of the 118 bound delegates up for grabs. Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware also went for Mr. Trump, who was on track to bring his total to about 950 of the 1, 237 needed to clinch the nomination outright. Mr. Cruz is now under growing pressure to beat Mr. Trump in Indiana’s primary next week, perhaps the last real chance the forces have to halt his march to the nomination. He and Mr. Kasich forged an alliance to thwart Mr. Trump in Indiana, but it has yet to show signs of working. Even before polls closed in the East on Tuesday night, Mr. Cruz tried to the rush of coverage about Mr. Trump’s dominance. “Tonight this campaign moves back to more favorable terrain,” Mr. Cruz told supporters in the Knightstown, Ind. gymnasium where the high school basketball movie “Hoosiers,” about underdogs who triumph over a rival, was filmed. On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders won only the primary in Rhode Island and fell further behind Mrs. Clinton in their race to amass 2, 383 Democratic delegates to clinch the nomination. Clinton advisers predicted late Tuesday night that she was poised to net roughly 50 more pledged delegates than Mr. Sanders, out of 462 up for grabs, adding to her lead of about 240 going into the primaries. Clinton advisers said Tuesday’s final delegate tally would reveal not if, but when, Mrs. Clinton would win the nomination: either in early June, if she continues at her current pace, or as soon as the Kentucky and Oregon primaries on May 17, if she does better than expected in the coming weeks, once her support from more than 500 superdelegates is included. Superdelegates could switch their votes at any point, but Mrs. Clinton’s are widely considered to be staunch supporters. Mrs. Clinton predicted that she would return to Philadelphia this summer for the Democratic convention “with the most votes and the most pledged delegates. ” She pledged to heal the party’s wounds after a long nomination fight, telling Sanders supporters that “there is much more that unites us than divides us. ” But she also looked past Mr. Sanders to take a swipe at Mr. Trump and his campaign motto, “Make America Great Again. ” “Despite what other candidates say, we believe in the goodness of our people and the greatness of our nation,” Mrs. Clinton said. Mr. Sanders, speaking Tuesday night to an audience of 6, 500 people in West Virginia, which votes May 10, said emphatically that he would stay in the race. He made an unusually pointed appeal to superdelegates, arguing that he had won more votes from independents and from Republicans than Mrs. Clinton and would be a stronger general election candidate. After the rally, however, Mr. Sanders issued a statement saying he would go to the Democratic convention in July “with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform” — a remark that some Democrats interpreted as his first acknowledgment that he would not attend the convention as the nominee. Still, for all his fortitude, Mr. Sanders plans to reassess his candidacy on Wednesday and decide whether to adjust his strategy if Mrs. Clinton’s delegate lead appears all but insurmountable. His senior strategist, Tad Devine, said the Sanders team would discuss a range of issues including how to adjust messaging about the nominating process and what route if any there is to winning it. Mr. Devine said he could still see a mathematical path to securing the nomination but added that, if it changed, the campaign would have to adjust. “If we are sitting here and there’s no sort of mathematical way to do it, we will be up front about that,” Mr. Devine said Tuesday. The broad support for Mr. Trump spanned some of the dividing lines that have characterized the Republican race until now: He won among the affluent and as well as with voters and those with no more than a high school education, according to exit polls. But the unease about Mr. Trump’s candidacy in some quarters of the party persisted, a potential warning sign if he emerges as the nominee. About a quarter of Republican primary voters in Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania said they would not support him if he were the party’s nominee. The resistance to Mr. Trump was greatest among Mr. Kasich’s supporters, who are more : Six in 10 said they would not vote for Mr. Trump in November. Mrs. Clinton was lifted once again by strong backing from blacks and older voters, but she also ran stronger with white voters than she has in many states. In Pennsylvania, she narrowly won among whites. Her performance was even better in Maryland, where she carried white voters by 12 points. Mr. Trump’s advantage across all five states was so forbidding that Mr. Cruz abandoned the Northeast entirely on Saturday, and Mr. Kasich was left to pick up stray delegates. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders campaigned aggressively in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, but they focused largely on policy issues like fracking, gun control and Wall Street reform rather than sniping at each other as they did in a raucous televised debate in Brooklyn. Not only did Mr. Trump have significant prospects for a substantial delegate haul Tuesday, a week after his dominating performance in New York, he also had the opportunity to send a clear message to party leaders and other Republicans that resistance to his nomination is futile. Mr. Trump’s path toward a delegate majority becomes far clearer if Mr. Cruz is unable to defeat him in Indiana. That is why Mr. Cruz left Pennsylvania on Saturday to head to Indiana, and he plans to campaign there as aggressively as he has anywhere since the Iowa caucuses, where he scored a surprise victory. The stakes for Mr. Cruz are so high that within political circles, speculation has been swirling this week that he would try to change the subject from his latest losses and announce his pick for vice president before the primary in Indiana. Advisers to Mr. Cruz were cagey about whether he would take such an extraordinary step in an effort to win Indiana, where polls last week put Mr. Trump ahead. But the advisers did not dismiss the possibility, an indication that they were thinking about such a move, wanted to keep the speculation alive, or both. But Mr. Trump has no intention of giving Mr. Cruz the opening in Indiana he so plainly needs. He planned a rally Wednesday night in Indianapolis with a beloved figure in the state who has also been known to speak his mind and find controversy: Bobby Knight, the former Indiana University men’s basketball coach. The two Democrats have also been eyeing Indiana, with Mrs. Clinton campaigning there on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton narrowly beat Barack Obama in the Indiana primary in 2008, winning support from a sizable majority of white voters — who made up nearly 80 percent of the electorate in that primary — while Mr. Obama won about 90 percent of the black vote. In the 2016 primaries and caucuses, Mr. Sanders has often beaten Mrs. Clinton among white voters, especially white men, and he also performs well with independents, young people and college students, all of whom were expected to be forces in Indiana. “While our area has lost a lot of manufacturing jobs, and Senator Sanders has a way of tapping into that, I think Democrats are ready to rally around Mrs. Clinton and help her get ready to take on Trump and the Republicans,” said Dennis Tyler, a Clinton backer who is mayor of Muncie, Ind. in a county Mrs. Clinton carried eight years ago. Sanders advisers have been steadily optimistic about Indiana, but they also acknowledged that a victory there would not matter much if Mr. Sanders fell even further behind Mrs. Clinton in the race for delegates. “If we do,” said Mr. Devine, the senator’s strategist, “we may have to go back to the drawing board. ”

Comment on Brother of Clinton’s Campaign Chair is an Active Foreign Agent on the Saudi Arabian Payroll by marlene

marlene

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Claire Bernish Tony Podesta — brother of the now-disgraced Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta , whose files Wikileaks has been publishing — is not only a powerful Democratic Party lobbyist, but a registered foreign agent receiving a hefty monthly paycheck from the nefarious government of Saudi Arabia. No — as tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist as it might sound — that scenario is the absolute truth. In 1988, John and Tony Podesta formed the Podesta Group and have used their bigwig party-insider status to lobby and influence government policies — while, at various times, simultaneously holding positions of power — which has created a number of glaring conflicts of interest. According to the March 2016 filing made in accordance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, Tony Podesta is an active foreign agent of the Saudi government with the “ Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court ,” and acts as an officer of the Saudi Arabia account. At this point, the web of pay-for-play between the Washington, political heavyweights, and foreign governments comes lurching into the spotlight. For starters, the Podesta brothers’ lobbying firm receives $140,000 every month from the Saudi government, which, in no uncertain terms — and despite a status as privileged U.S. ally — wages a bloody campaign of censorship, murder, suppression, human rights abuse, and worse against its civilian population, while bombing hospitals, schools, and aid convoys in neighboring nations. John Podesta previously served as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, founded the think tank Center for American Progress (which oh-so-coincidentally touts the need to reframe Saudi Arabia’s hopelessly tarnished image), counseled President Obama, and now chairs Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Tony Podesta acts as a foreign agent for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — lobbying to influence government policy in favor of the Kingdom — while also contributing to and bundling for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Think about that for a moment. One brother uses the influence of money to both affect United States foreign policy and infuse the Clinton campaign with cash — while the other wields the influence of power as a political insider for the same entities. As the Washington Post reported months ago in July, Tony Podesta’s lobbying efforts “raised $268,000 for the campaign and $31,000 for the victory fund.” “The Saudis hired the Podesta Group in 2015 because it was getting hammered in the press over civilian casualties from its airstrikes in Yemen and its crackdown on political dissidents at home, including sentencing blogger Raif Badawi to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for ‘insulting Islam,’” Alternet reported . “Since then, Tony Podesta’s fingerprints have been all over Saudi Arabia’s advocacy efforts in Washington DC. When Saudi Arabia executed the prominent nonviolent Shia dissident Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, causing protests throughout the Shia world and inflaming sectarian divisions, The New York Times noted that the Podesta Group provided the newspaper with a Saudi commentator who defended the execution.” Notably, the Saudis’ reputation has only worsened as further atrocities pile up — concerning not only a record number of barbaric beheadings this year, but suspiciously reckless and errant U.S.-backed coalition bombings of civilian sites in several regions of active conflict. Additionally, Tony Podesta’s status as a registered foreign agent for Saudi Arabia is at least obliquely discussed in an email from April 15, 2015 — ironically revealed by Wikileaks’ publishing of his brothers personal communiques — in which former Clinton Foundation chief development officer and now campaign national finance director Dennis Cheng wrote to a small group of insiders: “Hi all – we do need to make a decision on this ASAP as our friends who happen to be registered with FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] are already donating and raising. “I do want to push back a bit (it’s my job!): I feel like we are leaving a good amount of money on the table (both for primary and general, and then DNC and state parties)… and how do we explain to people that we’ll take money from a corporate lobbyist but not them; that the Foundation takes $ from foreign govts but we now won’t. Either way, we need to make a decision soon.” To which general counsel to the Clinton campaign, attorney Marc Elias, replied [all errors original and emphasis added], “Responding to all on this. I was not on the call this morning, but I lean away from a bright line rule here. It seems odd to say that someone who represents Alberta, Canada can’t give, but a lobbyist for Phillip Morris can. Just as we vet lobbyists case by case, I would do the same with FARA. While this may lead to a large number of FARA registrants being denied, it would not be a flat our ban. A total ban feels arbitrary and will engender the same eye-rolling and ill will that it did for Obama.” As the exchange continues, how to precisely handle the campaign’s image with potentially controversial donors — while, at all costs, maintaining the flow of cash — becomes even more apparent. As strategist and campaign manager Robby Mook responds, “Where do we draw the line though?” Elias suggests a particularly intricate solution: “If we do it case by case, then it will be subjective. We would look at who the donor is and what foreign entity they are registered for. In judging whether to take the money, we would consider the relationship between that country and the United States, its relationship to the State Department during Hillary’s time as Secretary, and its relationship, if any, to the Foundation. In judging the individual, we would look at their history of support for political candidates generally and Hillary’s past campaigns specifically. “Put simply, we would use the same criteria we use for lobbyists, except with a somewhat more stringent screen. “As a legal matter, I am not saying we have to do this – we can decide to simply ban foreign registrants entirely. I’m just offering this up as a middle ground.” Mook eventually decides plainly, “Marc made a convincing case to me this am that these sorts of restrictions don’t really get you anything…that Obama actually got judged MORE harshly as a result. He convinced me. So…in a complete U-turn, I’m ok just taking the money and dealing with any attacks. Are you guys ok with that?” All of this political wrangling appears to have had the desired effect — despite increasing calls for the United States to either rein in or sever completely its support for the bloody Saudi regime — the U.S. approved a stunning $1.29 billion sale of smart bombs to the Kingdom in November 2015. Tony Podesta’s specific contract with the government-run Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court, which will earn $1.68 million by year’s end, does, indeed, suggest the infusion of a pro-Saudi message into the U.S. media propaganda machine. “Saudi Arabia is consistently one of the bigger players when it comes to foreign influence in Washington,” Sunlight Foundation spokesman Josh Stewart told the Washington Post . “That spans both what you’d call the inside game, which is lobbying and government relations, and the outside game, which is PR and other things that tend to reach a broader audience than just lobbying.” That broader audience — the American public — has indeed been manipulated courtesy of at least the thoroughly-corrupt Clinton campaign if not surreptitiously by the Saudis, as well. As The Free Thought Project has repeatedly reported , the evidence of collusion among the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the mainstream presstitutes is indisputable — including no less than 65 so-called journalists listed by name in various leaks as darlings of the campaign. Although this level of corruption and collusion would be considered intolerable in nearly any other nation on the planet. And yet, at the center of this shit storm of contention is an official nominee for the White House — who will not be held responsible for any number of questionable and criminal acts. The system isn’t rigged — it’s performing exactly as intended — and always will as long as the vote validates its existence. 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:

Obamacare Architect Asked How to 'Fix' the Program. His Answer Reinforces Critics' Worst Fears.

Jason Howerton

Share on Twitter With premiums set to spike dramatically in 2017, MIT economist and so-called Obamacare “architect” Jonathan Gruber shared his big idea to fix the struggling health care law during an interview on CNN Wednesday. “Once again, there’s no sense in which this has to be fixed. The law is working as designed, however it could work better,” Gruber said. “I think probably the most important thing experts would agree on is that we need a larger mandate penalty.” So Gruber’s idea is to make it more expensive for people choosing to incur the “mandate penalty” in order to nudge them to enroll in Obamacare and take on higher premiums. The theory is that as more people enroll, the associated costs will go down. You might remember Gruber from a 2014 video in which he bragged about the Obama administration was able to take advantage of the “stupidity of the American voter” to get Obamacare passed. “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” he said in the video. “Call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get anything to pass.” On several occasions, Gruber has been captured on video talking about exploiting American voters “lack of economic understanding.” The Obama administration admitted on Monday that Obamacare premiums for mid-level benchmark plans will increase by 25 percent on average across the country. Further, 20 percent of consumers will also have just one insurer to select from. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to “repeal and replace” Obamacare with a new plan to provide ”great health care at a fraction of the cost.” He has offered few details on what that plan would entail. Hillary Clinton has promised to build on Obamacare and enact fixes rather than trashing the entire program.

How Correct Breathing Can Prevent Cancer and Depression?

Maia M

Keywords: Body Detox , breath , breathing exercises , Breathing Techniques Breathing – a process that goes almost unnoticed and happens on such a deep subconscious level, yet it is vital for our being. Nowadays, there are more and more cases of people breathing incorrectly. Living in a big city surrounded by constant stress, pollution and technology can sometimes bring the body out of sync with the nature’s flow. Young children know how to breathe correctly on an intuitive level. Their body follows the rhythm of nature. With time, as the stress increases and obstacles come into our lives we quickly forget our calm manner of breathing and switch to a frantic one instead, without even realizing it. Cancer Prevention In 1931, Dr. Otto Warburg received a Nobel Prize when he proved that cancer cells are anaerobic . This means that they cannot survive in high levels of oxygen. When a body is low on oxygen some cells start to replace it by fermenting sugar. A normal cell gets its energy through a process of respiration of oxygen, whereas a cancer cell does it through fermentation. Cardiovascular Health Hypertension is all too common, quite often as a result of stress. In order to lower the blood pressure, it’s important to decrease the stress levels . One of the oldest and most natural ways to do that is through deep, slow breathing. Not only does it calm your heart beat, but it allows the blood to flow at a more even pace. Research was conducted over a 30 year period that showed how proper breathing can prolong the lifespan , as well as increase general health. The Framingham study found a correlation between the vital capacity, meaning the largest amount of air that can be expelled from the lungs after a deep breath, and the lifespan of that person. An increased vital capacity means a potentially longer lifespan. Cure for Depression Brain needs oxygen to work, just like any other organ in the body. Stroke has a tendency to leave the body paralyzed as a result. One of the causes is the lack of oxygen supply to the brain during a stroke. This is an extreme example, but looking on a smaller scale there is a connection between improper breathing and depression. Long periods of even a slightly limited air supply to the body caused by improper breathing, can lead to a decrease in cognitive functions. Symptoms such brain fog, forgetfulness, lack of concentration and in the end depression are all interconnected. Increased Energy Levels Have you ever told someone you’re tired and in return you were told to go for a walk or do a light exercise? This is because the body converts oxygen into energy through a process called cellular respiration . When you inhale the air correctly, more of it gets to your body, thus increasing the energy levels through conversion. It is also one of the reasons why people who exercise on a regular basis are generally more energetic than those with sedentary lifestyles. Different Breathing Techniques There is a countless number of breathing techniques for different purposes and each one of them has its own benefits. Breathing exercises can lower or raise blood pressure, improve sleep, help with anxiety and much more. Yoga is one of the practices that incorporates breathing exercises called Pranayama as an essential part of the process. Coming from the East, it’s uncertain when exactly yoga originated, but there is evidence that it has been around for at least 5,000 years . Yogic breathing techniques have been applied for thousands of years, making them timeproof. I will share with you a couple of my favorite breathing techniques that I personally use in different situations. Best Body Detoxifier Kapalbhati is a breathing technique that detoxifies your body, opens up your nasal passages and allows your mind to concentrate. After doing the exercise you will feel a rush of energy that will immediately wake you up. Instructions: Sit comfortably with a straight spine. Place your left hand on the knee with the palm facing upwards and your right hand on the stomach. Take a deep breath. Quickly exhale. While exhaling, pull the stomach in as if you’re trying to touch the back and do it to an extent that feels comfortable. However, do not apply strength or pressure beyond the level of comfort. 20 repetitions per set. Come back to normal breathing after each set and observe your body’s sensations. It’s advised to do 100-200 repetitions daily. Sleeping and Stress Reducing Technique It’s a simple slow breathing 4-7-8 exercise that helps you fall asleep faster or calm down during an anxiety attack. All you have to do is: Fully exhale through your mouth with a sound whoosh With a closed mouth, slowly inhale with your nose on a count of four Hold your breath for seven seconds Exhale fully through your mouth on a count of eight , making a whoosh sound Repeat until you feel sleepy or calm

‘The BFG’ Stumbles as ‘Finding Dory’ Rules Box Office - The New York Times

Brooks Barnes

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood’s summer lineup continued to falter over the weekend, at least in North America, as two movies carrying a combined $500 million in production and global marketing costs arrived to $57. 7 million in total ticket sales. “The BFG,” directed by Steven Spielberg and released by Walt Disney Studios, was envisioned as a return to family form for the director — marketing materials reminded consumers that he made “E. T. ” — but it ended up as a colossal misfire. The movie, an fantasy that drew appreciative reviews, took in about $19. 6 million Friday through Sunday, according to comScore, which compiles box office data. Faring better was “The Legend of Tarzan. ” Starring Alexander Skarsgard as the and made by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, “Tarzan” collected roughly $38. 1 million over the period. That total was much higher than analysts predicted before release. Most critics turned up their noses, but audiences gave the film an in CinemaScore exit polls, suggesting positive word of mouth. Even so, “Tarzan” remains squarely in the loser column when it comes to profitability. Loaded with visual effects — violent apes, stampeding wildebeests — the movie cost a $180 million to make, not counting marketing. “This property has always really been about the international opportunity,” Jeff Goldstein, Warner’s executive vice president of domestic distribution, said by phone on Sunday. “You can best assess it a month from now. ” Directed by David Yates and Margot Robbie, “Tarzan” opened in limited overseas release over the weekend, taking in $18. 8 million. Important markets like Britain and China are still to come. While acknowledging a “frustrating” result for “The BFG” at home, David Hollis, Disney’s distribution chief, also pointed to international audiences as a potential salvation for the movie, which is based on a book by Roald Dahl. “We’re really proud of the film,” Mr. Hollis said. “We’re going to be reliant in a lot of ways on international. ” So far, “The BFG” has opened in only two overseas markets, Russia and Australia. With “The BFG” collapsing in North America and “Tarzan” not exactly sizzling, the No. 1 movie on Hollywood’s home turf over the July Fourth weekend was again “Finding Dory. ” That sequel, from Disney’s Pixar division, took in an estimated $41. 9 million for a domestic total of $372. 3 million. “Tarzan” was second. Third place went to “The Purge: Election Year” (Universal) a horror sequel that cost only $10 million to make and roughly $20 million to market. It sold a strong $30. 9 million in tickets. Blumhouse Productions, the company behind the “Purge” series, has successfully kept this franchise going by pursuing different storytelling styles. The previous installment had action underpinnings this one added a political dimension. The summer box office always has ups and downs, but the current season has been much bumpier than usual. Disney has found two monster hits (“Finding Dory” and “Captain America: Civil War”) but has also suffered two major flops (“The BFG” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”). Other movies that have received a disappointing response from domestic audiences include “Independence Day: Resurgence,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” and “Warcraft. ” An on sequels has been one reason for Hollywood’s rough ride. But analysts have cautioned about overgeneralizing at the season’s midway point. Several movies ahead could still salvage the summer box office, including “The Secret Life of Pets,” “Ghostbusters” and “Suicide Squad. ”

BUSTED: ABC News Staged Fake Crime Scene

Dikran Arakelian (noreply@blogger.com)

Share on Facebook ABC News has been caught staging a fake “crime scene” for reporter Linsey Davis to report from in a segment broadcast on Good Morning America. Viewers were presented with the sight of Davis standing in front of yellow police tape with the words “SHERIFF'S LINE DO NOT CROSS” and ABC News, reporting from the site for hours, claimed Davis was in the middle of an active crime scene. But she wasn't. The ABC News report had more in common with a Hollywood production than a breaking news report. Linsey Davis was actually standing in a field in Woodruffe, South Carolina – not at the crime scene she was claiming to be reporting from. Sources with knowledge of the matter say the sheriff's tape was placed there by the ABC News crew for the purpose of its inclusion in the live shot. A photo leaked by an anonymous source shows the sheriff's tape running no more than 30 yards – and tied at both ends to ABC News camera stands. Busted – and ABC know it. “This action is completely unacceptable and fails to meet the standards of ABC News,” said Julie Townsend, the vice president of communications at ABC News. “As soon as it was brought to our attention, we decided to take the producer out of the field, and we're investigating further.” Fake Sheriff's Tape, Fake News But ABC News' recent behavior gets even worse. While they are spending money and resources on faking crime scenes to set their viewers' pulses racing, they have also been exposed misleading their audience about real news. After ignoring the bombshell news that the FBI has been conducting an active investigation into the Clinton Foundation for more than a year, Good Morning America on Friday finally realized they couldn't continue ignoring the story without losing credibility. So they covered the story. But only for 40 seconds and only to dismiss it as “inaccurate and “unsubstantiated.” CBS This Morning's Major Garrett followed up by chiding “unconfirmed speculation.” On Good Morning America, correspondent Tom Llamas continued the misleading angle. “With just four days to go, Trump in full attack mode against Hillary Clinton, sending his crowds into a frenzy with these unsubstantiated reports ABC News sources say are inaccurate.” How can anybody trust these exposed liars anymore? Deceit and manipulation are fundamental to mainstream media operations these days. Sources: Cable News Network , Mashable Related:

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Hong Kong Elected 2 Separatists. China Took Drastic Action. - The New York Times

Michael Forsythe

HONG KONG — In the nearly two decades since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule, the Communist government in Beijing has tolerated all manner of activity in the city that it generally finds intolerable on the mainland: annual vigils for those killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre, newspapers publishing scurrilous gossip about China’s leaders, huge demonstrations for free elections. But by deciding to intervene in a local court case and essentially blocking two politicians from taking seats in Hong Kong’s legislature, China signaled more clearly than ever on Monday that there was a limit to its tolerance in this former British colony, which was promised a “high degree of autonomy” in an international treaty. The two young activists who are testing that limit are advocates of independence for Hong Kong. While being sworn in, they made a statement of defiance against Chinese rule, using a crude obscenity and a term that many consider a slur against Chinese people. In acting against them, the government of President Xi Jinping has asserted new authority to set policy in Hong Kong, opening what could be a more chaotic era here, in which elected officials are held to a vague standard of political loyalty and blacklisted if they fall short. The Communist Party’s intervention in Hong Kong’s independent legal system could also damage the territory’s reputation as an international trade and finance hub in Asia. Many multinational corporations, banks and law firms are based here because of the dependability and fairness of the city’s courts. Businesses also find Hong Kong appealing because of its political stability, but thousands of people demonstrated and clashed with the police on Sunday night in anticipation of Beijing’s action, which could incite more street protests. China’s move came in the form of a rare interpretation of the Basic Law, the charter that governs Hong Kong and that was negotiated with Britain before the territory’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. The charter gives China’s Parliament the right to interpret the Basic Law, and the Communist leadership has done so four other times since the handover. Monday’s ruling breaks new ground because it is the first time that Beijing has acted in a pending court case without a request by the Hong Kong government or judiciary, and because it appears to establish a mechanism for the authorities to block critics of Communist rule from taking elected office or even getting their names on ballots. Some scholars said the decision went beyond interpreting the charter and amounted to rewriting the local statute governing how officials are to be sworn in. It requires lawmakers to read their oaths “completely and solemnly,” exactly as written, and orders those who administer oaths to disqualify lawmakers who alter or deliver the words in an “insincere or undignified manner,” barring them from office without another chance to be sworn in. The decision also says lawmakers will be held liable if they violate their oaths, but it provides no guidance on who has the power to determine whether a lawmaker is in breach or what the punishment should be. The fear is that this will inject a degree of arbitrariness into a system that is based on rules underpinned by centuries of precedent under British common law. “Whether it would affect my seat is secondary,” Nathan Law, 23, a new member of the Legislative Council who advocates greater for Hong Kong, said of the ruling by Beijing. “What’s most important is that the interpretation is vesting so much power in a person to decide whether someone is sincere and allegiant enough to take office, and there is no against that person. ” The Basic Law says little about oaths, only that officials must swear allegiance “in accordance with law” to the “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. ” Two politicians elected to the legislature in September, Sixtus Leung, 30, known as Baggio, and Yau 25, set off the legal case by changing the wording of their oaths, replacing the word China with “” a term that many find offensive and that was used by Japan during World War II, when it occupied much of China, including Hong Kong. Ms. Yau also inserted an obscenity. The Chinese government condemned the pair and labeled them threats to national security for their advocacy of independence, and officials in Beijing left little doubt in announcing Monday’s decision that it was intended to keep them out of office. Li Fei, the chairman of China’s parliamentary committee on the Basic Law, compared Mr. Leung and Ms. Yau, and their supporters, to traitors espousing a “fascist” line. “There is a great patriotic tradition in the Chinese nation,” he said. “All traitors and those who sell out their countries will come to no good end. ” He added that the government’s stance “will not be ambiguous or lenient. ” The United States, on the eve of its own presidential election, urged China not to undermine the “one country, two systems” formula that has protected basic civil liberties in Hong Kong. The United States believes “an open society with the highest possible degree of autonomy and governed by the rule of law is essential for Hong Kong’s continued stability and prosperity as a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China,” the State Department spokesman, Mark C. Toner, said on Monday. Hong Kong’s politicians reacted along predictable lines, with the establishment endorsing the decision and the opposition criticizing it as an infringement on in the territory. The unpopular chief executive, Leung vowed to fully enforce the decision, saying, “This is about the country’s unity and sovereignty. ” Michael Tien, a lawmaker in Hong Kong who endorsed the ruling, said it could be used to screen future candidates running for office and to challenge those who have already taken seats in the Legislative Council, including several opposition lawmakers who have made statements in favor of or independence for Hong Kong. “This thing is expansive,” Mr. Tien said in a telephone interview, adding that Beijing’s allies in Hong Kong could ask courts to rule on whether these lawmakers were sincere in swearing allegiance or had violated their oaths. Such a process is likely to be contentious, said Simon Young, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong, because the language of Beijing’s decision is short on specifics. It says nothing about whether advocating or independence violates an officeholder’s oath, for example, or how to handle candidates who change their position on the issue. As a result, politicians such as Mr. Leung and Ms. Yau could seek to win back their seats by renouncing support for independence and going back to court. And that could lead Beijing to intervene further and issue new decisions to stamp out people it wants to disqualify. “This will possibly be the first of a possible series of interpretations,” Mr. Young said. In the meantime, he added, “the courts in Hong Kong will have to interpret the interpretation. ” The Chinese government’s overarching goal is to crush a small but growing independence movement in Hong Kong, which gained momentum after Beijing rejected calls for free elections in the territory during the enormous demonstrations of 2014. But by intervening in the legal case over Mr. Leung and Ms. Yau, Mr. Xi has drawn more attention to their cause, and he risks provoking a backlash that could strengthen it. In a scene that resembled the 2014 demonstrations, the police used pepper spray early Monday to battle crowds of protesters who had gathered around the Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, some of whom were shouting, “Hong Kong independence. ”

Why ice ages occur every 100,000 years

Wed, 26 Oct 2016 03:20 UTC From CARDIFF UNIVERSITY Why does our planet experience an ice age every 100,000 years? Deep storage of carbon dioxide in the oceans may have triggered this unexplained phenomena, new research shows. © Lisieki and Raymo LR04 δ18O from Lisieki and Raymo (2005) correlated to the temperature anomaly inferred from the deuterium concentration in ice cores from EPICA Dome C, Antarctica (Jouzel et al., 2007). The main orbital (purple), tectonic (brown) and oceanic (blue) events are indicated (see the text for the references of each event). The orange box represents the start of the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciations. 100 kyrs and 40 kyrs correspond to the orbitally-driven glacial/interglacial cycles period. This period changed from 41 kyrs to 100 kyrs during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition toward 1 Ma (MPT). click to enlarge Experts from Cardiff University have offered up an explanation as to why our planet began to move in and out of ice ages every 100,000 years. This mysterious phenomena, dubbed the '100,000 year problem', has been occurring for the past million years or so and leads to vast ice sheets covering North America, Europe and Asia. Up until now, scientists have been unable to explain why this happens. Our planet's ice ages used to occur at intervals of every 40,000 years, which made sense to scientists as the Earth's seasons vary in a predictable way, with colder summers occurring at these intervals. However there was a point, about a million years ago, called the 'Mid-Pleistocene Transition', in which the ice age intervals changed from every 40,000 years to every 100,000 years. New research published today in the journal Geology has suggested the oceans may be responsible for this change, specifically in the way that they suck carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere. By studying the chemical make-up of tiny fossils on the ocean floor, the team discovered that there was more CO2 stored in the deep ocean during the ice age periods at regular intervals every 100,000 years. This suggests that extra carbon dioxide was being pulled from the atmosphere and into the oceans at this time, subsequently lowering the temperature on Earth and enabling vast ice sheets to engulf the Northern Hemisphere. Lead author of the research Professor Carrie Lear, from the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: "We can think of the oceans as inhaling and exhaling carbon dioxide, so when the ice sheets are larger, the oceans have inhaled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making the planet colder. When the ice sheets are small, the oceans have exhaled carbon dioxide, so there is more in the atmosphere which makes the planet warmer. "By looking at the fossils of tiny creatures on the ocean floor, we showed that when ice sheets were advancing and retreating every 100,000 years the oceans were inhaling more carbon dioxide in the cold periods, suggesting that there was less left in the atmosphere." Marine algae play a key role in removing CO2 from the atmosphere as it is an essential ingredient of photosynthesis. CO2 is put back into the atmosphere when deep ocean water rises to the surface through a process called upwelling, but when a vast amount of sea ice is present this prevents the CO2 from being exhaled, which could make the ice sheets bigger and prolong the ice age. "If we think of the oceans inhaling and exhaling carbon dioxide, the presence of vast amounts of ice is like a giant gobstopper. It's like a lid on the surface of the ocean," Prof Lear continued. The Earth's climate is currently in a warm spell between glacial periods. The last ice age ended about 11,000 years ago. Since then, temperatures and sea levels have risen, and ice caps have retreated back to the poles. In addition to these natural cycles, manmade carbon emissions are also having an effect by warming the climate.

Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) Is Another Example of a Lazy Corrupt Agency

Rahul Manchanda, Esq.

VA Backlog Means Thousands Of Veterans Owed Money In NC ‹ › Professor and Attorney Rahul Manchanda worked for one of the largest law firms in Manhattan where he focused on asbestos litigation. At the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”) in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Manchanda was exposed to international trade law, arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, and comparisons of the American common law with European civil law. He later worked for one of the largest multi-national law firms in Paris France, Coudert Frères, where he focused primarily on international arbitration, arbitration agreements, the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards against multinational parent corporations, piercing the corporate veil, arbitration venue choice, and foreign policy. In Paris, Mr. Manchanda analyzed and compared the American legal system with its British, French, Russian, German, and Chinese counterparts. Mr. Manchanda also has extensive technical experience in Federal Patent Prosecution and Intellectual Property issues working for Milde Hoffberg & Macklin LLP and Moses & Singer LLP, and has contributed to the issuing of patents in the areas of biotechnology, organic chemistry, biopharmaceuticals, electrical and mechanical engineering, computer software and technology, and internet business methods. He was recently the Keynote Address Speaker for Hamline University School of International Law on the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, as well as a Chief Speaker for the Civil Rights Litigation Update Seminar on Balancing Inalienable Civil Rights and National Security in the Post-911 Era. Professor Manchanda is also a Faculty Member for LawLine.com, an online Continuing Legal Education (“CLE”) program designed to educate Attorneys all across the country on cutting edge issues of Immigration Law and Deportation and Removal Defense Litigation as well as a second CLE on the Foundations of International Law, as well as 5 different Immigration Law/Deportation Defense Seminars for Rossdale CLE. Click here to watch a portion of his 2 hour lecture on Immigration and Deportation and Removal Defense Litigation or The Foundations of International Law. You can also watch some of his many appearances on FoxNews, CNN, CourtTV, NBC, and other major media networks on some of the most notable cases in global history, here. He has also given multiple lectures as one of the first pioneering immigration law practitioners who merged Criminal Defense Law and Immigration/Deportation Defense Law in such lectures with other immigration law luminaries in LexisNexis Presents a Complimentary Webinar: Criminal Law and Immigration Intersection 101 and Immigration Reform and the Workplace: An Overview of Legal and Legislative Developments. At Boston University, Mr. Manchanda received a Bachelors degree in Biology, where he distinguished himself in the chemical and biological sciences, doing extensive research in organic chemistry, in both field and laboratory work relating to organic synthesis and isolation, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, structure determination, and production of synthetic bio-active natural products. At BU, Mr. Manchanda also was on the BU Shotokan Karate Team as well as a Lead Tenor with the Marsh Chapel Choir, also finding time to be a Teaching Fellow in Molecular Cell Biology, Organic Chemistry, and a private tutor in Calculus based Physics and Organic Chemistry. He also attended Yale University where he studied Molecular Cell and Evolutionary Biology. He served on the Pace University School of Law’s Mentor Program where he received his Juris Doctor degree. Attorney Manchanda graduated from the Wooster Prep School in Danbury Connecticut where he was a Varsity Letterman in Soccer, Wrestling, Tennis, and Lacrosse, as well as Lead in the Drama Program. For more than 14 years, his internationally recognized law firm has a formidable presence in Federal and State Criminal, Civil, International, and Immigration Courts throughout the United States pertaining to Master, Individual, and Final Hearings, Naturalization Interviews, Writs of Habeas Corpus, Writs of Corum Nobis, Marriage Cases, U.S. Embassy and Consular Processing, American Citizen Services, United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of State liaison, 440 Motions to Vacate, Amend, or Expunge Criminal Convictions, Aggravated Felonies, Drug Smuggling Cases, Stokes Hearings, Political Asylum, Taxation, Hardship, Removal of Condition Hearings, National Security, and Adjustment of Status Interviews. He served as an American Immigration Lawyer Association (“AILA“) Committee Member for the Congressional/Advocacy Committee, the Department of Labor (“DOL“) Committee, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR“)/District Counsel/Political Asylum Committee. Attorney Manchanda also proudly served on the New York State Bar Association Empire State Counsel Program, which is a small group of Attorneys who serve the poor without charge, helping people who otherwise could not afford legal counsel to achieve justice. Attorney Manchanda also proudly serves as a Member of the American Bar Association Advisory Panel, a group of Attorneys that informs the ABA’s priorities and decisions by providing opinions about the direction of the ABA and issues facing the profession. Attorney Rahul Manchanda of Manchanda Law Office PLLC has also traveled extensively throughout the world where he has fought for peace and mutual understanding by and between the United States and different countries overseas. His work, observations, and travels have been published and been received to make foreign policy decisions by the International Atomic Energy Agency (“IAEA”), the US RAHUL MANCHANDA IN TEHRAN IRANCongress, US Senate, US Executive Branch, as well as countless other think-tanks, foreign and domestic governmental agencies, NGOs, foreign and domestic policy institutions, such as can be found here. Attorney Rahul Manchanda’s ceaseless and tireless work advocating peace, universal human and civil rights, and the avoidance of war and conflict has truly transformed the world, perhaps even helping to stop World War 3, for which he has been viciously attacked online and personally by warmongers, enemies of global peace, and religious extremists. In addition to Mr. Manchanda’s extensive international litigation practice in Federal and State Criminal Defense Law, Immigration Law, Deportation and Removal Defense Litigation, Family Law, International Law, and Civil Litigation, he has advised on, been consulted on, prepared, and filed tens of thousands of Arraignments, Trials, Hearings, Non-Immigrant and Immigrant Visa Petitions including, but not limited to: H-1B1, B, C, D, E, L, O, P, H-3, J, K, M, R, S, T, and U Visas, as well as I-130 and I-140 Immigrant Petitions with accompanying Adjustment of Status (I-485), Extraordinary Ability Petitions, EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-5, Investment Based Visas, PERM, RIR, and Regular Labor Certification Applications with the Department of Labor, Political Asylum, Marriage Cases, Stokes Interviews, Naturalization/Citizenship, Agricultural, 245(I), CSS/Lulac/Zambrano, LIFE Act, Removal of Conditions, Criminal and Overstay Waivers, and Aggravated Felony and CMT Defense. Attorney Manchanda has succeeded for his Clients in Deportation and Removal Proceedings, Asylum, Employment Based Visa Petitions including PERM/Labor Certification, Business Immigration Visas, and Family Based Immigration Petitions, for tens of thousands of people, for more than 14 years. He taught Immigration Law at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice for the City University of New York located in Manhattan New York. He has also successfully advised on and appeared in Criminal Court throughout New York for many different types of State and Federal Criminal Defense Matters. He was sworn in and admitted to practice in the highest courts in New York State as well as in the Federal United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Federal United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the Federal United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, the United States District Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States District Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He has been an active member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Phi Alpha Delta International, the Global Interdependence Center (“GIC”), the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Network 20/20, and the Asia Society. He regularly participated in conferences with the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, Capitol Hill, the Center For Strategic and International Studies (“CSIS”), and the Council on Foreign Relations (“CFR”) in Washington, D.C. pertaining to counter-terrorism and foreign policy in South Asia, as well as completing counter-terrorism training with Security Solutions International (“SSI”). He served on a New York Committee on State Regulation of Immigration Law in front of the New York State Senate. He served on the Board of Directors and Sponsor of the US-India Institute (“USINI”), a non-partisan foreign policy advisory board and think tank located in Washington, D.C. focusing on critical geo-strategic issues of national security, defense and economic relations between the U.S. and India, informing and educating key policy makers in the U.S. and India on issues of common interest, and advocating the importance of achieving and maintaining peace through Rahul Manchanda Attorneystrength and economic freedom. He served as the U.S.-India Political Action Committee (“USINPAC“) Co-Chairman for New York where he impacted U.S. Foreign Policy on issues of concern to the Indian American community in the United States, providing bipartisan support to candidates for Federal, State and Local office who supported the issues that were important to the Indian American community, including research, support, and advocacy towards the successful passage of the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-Proliferation Enhancement Act, signed into law on October 8, 2008 after more than three years of contentious bi-partisan and bi-lateral negotiations. Recently Attorney Manchanda was awarded the prestigious Hind Rattan Award for his outstanding services, achievements, and contributions in his field for “keeping the flag of India high” as an NRI/PIO by the NRI Welfare Society of India, an award bestowed on only 30 “eminent” NRIs/PIOs around the globe every year, and for making contributions in strengthening India’s economy. Attorney Manchanda was also Knighted by the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Justice of London England, given the appellation and nobility of Sir Rahul Manchanda. Attorney Manchanda also served on the Paris Conference Presidential Desk of the European Association of Lawyers (“AEA“), a highly selective network of international law firms with a presence in most of the world’s countries. He is also a member of the Indian American Lawyers Association of Manhattan New York as well as the Manhattan Committee on Foreign Relations, which is a private organization that promotes foreign policy and international affairs dialogue between policy makers, researchers, and other high level analysts and the Committee’s membership. Attorney Manchanda is also on the Advisory Council for the Republican National Lawyers Association. Attorney Rahul Manchanda is also a Member of the Queens District Attorney’s Office Defense Attorney Database for new cases assigned to Assistant District Attorneys and a Member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce. Additionally Rahul Manchanda is the founder of the India Anti-Defamation Committee Ltd which is a premier civil rights organization dedicated to fighting and eradicating racism, discrimination, and hatred directed towards people from the Indian subcontinent. Rahul Manchanda is also a Freemason. Mr. Manchanda has appeared as International Law Expert regularly on major media television program channels such as Fox News, CNN, Court TV, and NBC on such television programs as Dayside, Studio B with Shephard Smith, Fox and Friends, Heartland with John Kasich, Live from CNN with Kyra Phillips, the Live Desk with Martha McCallum, Anderson Cooper 360°, the O’Reilly Factor, Nancy Grace, Banfield & Ford Courtside, Best Defense with Jami Floyd, Justice with Jeanine Pirro, and the Catherine Crier Show on the most publicized and globally newsworthy of international legal issues and cases. You can watch many of these appearances here. He is also featured in Newsweek Magazine‘s Top Attorneys in the United States of America in 2013, and Top Immigration Lawyers in the United States of America in 2012 Showcases. His in depth expertise in International Affairs, State and Federal Criminal Defense Litigation, Consular Processing Issues, Immigration Law, Foreign Affairs, Customs Law, and High-Level Scientific Training has enabled Attorney Manchanda to secure solutions for his Clients in a quick, efficient, and accurate manner for more than 13 years. Mr. Manchanda is fluent in French, English, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi. He has also studied Russian, Latin, and Hebrew. His hobbies include Politics, International Affairs, and Soccer. In his spare time, he enjoys Chess and Classical Music.

Scientists Told To ‘Remain Silent’ On Glyphosate Cancer Findings

Starkman

The World Health Organization (WHO) have told scientists to stay silent on documents relating to the cancer-causing dangers associated with glyphosate. Via YourNewsWire In a letter, officials from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) warned scientists against disclosing information from a 2015 study that suggests that Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup is carcinogenic. The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) distributed a report in early 2015 calling the weed killer “probably carcinogenic.” Makers of the product say the claim is false, citing their own research into the product. Since then, several groups using Freedom of Information Laws have asked for documents related to how the IARC decision was made, including scientists on the panel that live and work in the U.S. at U.S. institutions. In response, the WHO said those documents pertaining to glyphosate research are private and its own property. Reuters reports some parties are considering a lawsuit seeking to clarify whether that’s the case and if it’s subject to U.S. FOIA laws. Glyphosate is the key ingredient of Roundup, which is sold by Monsanto.

Michael Moore Owes Me $4.99

shorty

Where to Invade Next Official Trailer 1 (2016) – Michael Moore Documentary HD M ichael Moore has made some terrific movies in the past, and Where to Invade Next may be the best of them, but I expected Trumpland to be (1) about Trump, (2) funny, (3) honest, (4) at least relatively free of jokes glorifying mass murder. I was wrong on all counts and would like my $4.99 back, Michael. Moore’s new movie is a film of him doing a stand-up comedy show about how wonderfully awesome Hillary Clinton is — except that he mentions Trump a bit at the beginning and he’s dead serious about Clinton being wonderfully awesome. This film is a text book illustration of why rational arguments for lesser evilist voting do not work. Lesser evilists become self-delusionists. They identify with their lesser evil candidate and delude themselves into adoring the person. Moore is not pushing the “Elect her and then hold her accountable” stuff. He says we have a responsibility to “support her” and “get behind her,” and that if after two years — yes, TWO YEARS — she hasn’t lived up to a platform he’s fantasized for her, well then, never fear, because he, Michael Moore, will run a joke presidential campaign against her for the next two years (this from a guy who backed restricting the length of election campaigns in one of his better works). Moore maintains that virtually all criticism of Hillary Clinton is nonsense. What do we think, he asks, that she asks how many millions of dollars you’ve put into the Clinton Foundation and then she agrees to bomb Yemen for you? Bwahahaha! Pretty funny. Except that Saudi Arabia put over $10 million into the Clinton Foundation, and while she was Secretary of State Boeing put in another $900,000, upon which Hillary Clinton reportedly made it her mission to get the planes sold to Saudi Arabia, despite legal restrictions — the planes now dropping U.S.-made bombs on Yemen with U.S. guidance, U.S. refueling mid-air, U.S. protection at the United Nations, and U.S. cover in the form of pop-culture distraction and deception from entertainers like Michael Moore. Standing before a giant Air Force missile and enormous photos of Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore claims that substantive criticism of Clinton can consist of only two things, which he dismisses in a flash: her vote for a war on Iraq and her coziness with Wall Street. He says nothing more about what that “coziness” consists of, and he claims that she’s more or less apologized and learned her lesson on Iraq. What? It wasn’t one vote. It was numerous votes to start the war, fund it, and escalate it. It was the lies to get it going and keep it going. It’s all the other wars before and since. *She says President Obama was wrong not to launch missile strikes on Syria in 2013. *She pushed hard for the overthrow of Qadaffi in 2011. *She supported the coup government in Honduras in 2009. *She has backed escalation and prolongation of war in Afghanistan. *She skillfully promoted the White House justification for the war on Iraq. *She does not hesitate to back the use of drones for targeted killing. *She has consistently backed the military initiatives of Israel. *She was not ashamed to laugh at the killing of Qadaffi. *She has not hesitated to warn that she could obliterate Iran. *She is eager to antagonize Russia. *She helped facilitate a military coup in Ukraine. *She has the financial support of the arms makers and many of their foreign customers. *She waived restrictions at the State Department on selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar, all states wise enough to donate to the Clinton Foundation. *She supported President Bill Clinton’s wars and the power of the president to make war without Congress. *She has advocated for arming fighters in Syria and for a “No Fly” zone. *She supported a surge in Iraq even before President Bush did. That’s just her war problem. What about her banking problem, prison problem, fracking problem, corporate trade problem, corporate healthcare problem, climate change problem, labor problem, Social Security problem, etc.? Moore parts company from substantive critique in order to lament unproven rightwing claims that Hillary Clinton has murdered various people. “I hope she did,” screams Moore. “That’s who I want as Commander in Chief!” Hee hee hee. Then Moore shamelessly pushes the myth that Hillary tried to create single-payer, or at least “universal” healthcare (whatever that is) in the 1990s. In fact, as I heard Paul Wellstone tell it, single-payer easily won the support of Clinton’s focus group, but she buried it for her corporate pals and produced the phonebook-size monstrosity that was dead on arrival but reborn in another form years later as Obamacare. She killed single-payer then, has not supported it since, and does not propose it now. (Well, she does admit in private that it’s the only thing that works, as her husband essentially blurts out in public.) But Moore claims that because we didn’t create “universal” healthcare in the 1990s we all have the blood of millions on our hands, millions whom Hillary would have saved had we let her. Moore openly fantasizes: what would it be like if Hillary Clinton is secretly progressive? Remember that Moore and many others did the exact same thing with Obama eight years ago. To prove Clinton’s progressiveness Moore plays an audio clip of her giving a speech at age 22 in which she does not hint at any position on any issue whatsoever. Mostly, however, Moore informs us that Hillary Clinton is female. He anticipates “that glorious moment when the other gender has a chance to run this world and kick some righteous ass.” Now tell me please, dear world, if your ass is kicked by killers working for a female president will you feel better about it? How do you like Moore’s inclusive comments throughout his performance: “We’re all Americans, right?” Moore’s fantasy is that Clinton will dash off a giant pile of executive orders, just writing Congress out of the government — executive orders doing things like releasing all nonviolent drug offenders from prison immediately (something the real Hillary Clinton would oppose in every way she could). But when he runs for president, Moore says, he’ll give everybody free drugs. I’ll tell you the Clinton ad I’d like to see. She’s standing over a stove holding an egg. “This is your brain,” she says solemnly, cracking it into the pan with a sizzle. “This is your brain on partisanship.” NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS PLEASE COMMENT AND DEBATE DIRECTLY ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP CLICK HERE ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Swanson wants you to declare peace at http://WorldBeyondWar.org His new book is War No More: The Case for Abolition . Note to Commenters Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: editor@greanvillepost.com We apologize for this inconvenience. What will it take to bring America to live according to its own propaganda? =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week.

Rare ’Pink Star’ Diamond Becomes Priciest Diamond Ever Sold at $71.2M - Breitbart

Katherine Rodriguez

A 59. 6 carat pink diamond broke the world record for the priciest diamond ever sold. [The diamond, known as the “Pink Star,” sold for $71. 2 million at Sotheby’s auction house in Hong Kong, the Associated Press reported. The oval, mixed cut diamond surpassed Sotheby’s estimate of $60 million. The gem was sold for $83 million at another Sotheby’s auction in Geneva, but the buyer defaulted and the purchase never went through. The jewel is the largest pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America. “We’re very happy,” said Sotheby’s Asia Chairwoman Patti Wong. Wong identified the winning bidder as Hong Kong jewelry firm Chow Tai Fook. The company’s chairman, Henry Cheng placed the winning bid over the phone, CNN Money reported. Wong said the company is not worried about a default this time because the auction house vetted the bidders, who also just so happen to have longstanding relationships with Sotheby’s. The last gem to hold the record of most expensive jewel ever sold was the “Oppenheimer Blue,” which sold for $57. 5 million at Christie’s auction house in Geneva in May 2016, NBC News reported.

Mom Has Powerful Response for Haters Who Say Disabled Toddler is “Less Attractive” Now That She’s “Gained Weight"

Prudence Hill

Share on Twitter Sonia Morales didn't hesitate for a moment when she was told that her unborn daughter would be born with a severe birth defect. While doctors suggested she terminate the pregnancy, Sonia knew she had been given a gift. And when online strangers make hateful comments about her daughter now, Sonia has the perfect response. Loading Facebook Post... As WJLA News reports, Sonia was 16 weeks pregnant when she learned that her child had anencephaly. Her daughter would be born without a portion of her brain, skull, and scalp. Doctors predicted that the baby would survive a few hours or days, but Sonia refused to consider abortion. She tells WJLA: “God made no mistake giving Angela to Rony, Elizabeth, and I. He chose us for this sacred task and we said yes to his calling. We made the commitment even before her birth. We will take care of her the rest of her life here on earth.” Sonia and her family welcomed baby Angela on March 23, 2014. Sonia began working to raise awareness about anencephaly, creating a Facebook page about her daughter and her “miraculous journey.” Loading Facebook Post... With the internet being what it is, however, it was only a matter of time before the horrible remarks came trickling in. Quite a few commenters wrote about how they thought Angela was less than human. Some even suggested that Sonia would be doing her daughter a favor if she ended Angela's life. Sonia says that the hateful messages bring tears to her eyes, but that she tries to move past them. However, one comment in particular drove her to respond. She recounts on Facebook what one poster wrote: “Angela looks less attractive now that she is growing and gaining weight.” Sonia decided to reply for the daughter who could not. After pointing out that beauty lies within, she writes: “I know that Angela looks different from my typical child, but she is beautiful just the way she is. ... She is full of grace and has great peace despite the struggles. She is a radiant light in the darkness in this materialistic and shallow culture that defines beauty in the pleasure of interests. She is a true picture of strength; she is a precious little girl with a beautiful soul. So this statement does not define whom Angela IS, it defines who YOU really are!” In response to those who hold her daughter's life cheap, Sonia only says that they can't know what it's like to enjoy her daughter's smiles and laughter. She tells WJLA: "Even if her life does not please some people, we can’t play God and assume the right to dictate who should live and die. If you get to spend five minutes with her, you will see that she is perfect the way she is.” Now two years old, Angela has defied expectations, and her family says that they are blessed to have her with them for as long as they can. Loading Facebook Post... After seeing how her daughter has been an inspiration to so many, Sonia knows exactly how meaningless the harsh words from strangers are. She tells NBC10 News : “It is so amazing to see how many lives Angela has touched around the world. She hasn't said a word, but her testimony of life and love has reached more than 50 countries. God chose Angela before she was even born. She might never walk or talk or go to school or run a marathon, but she has done more than I have ever done in my entire life.” And despite the negative comments, Sonia knows that she gets to spend her days with a miracle.

Jeff Sessions: Justice Dept. Under Trump Has ’Zero Tolerance for Gang Violence’ - Breitbart

Ian Mason

Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with leaders from across federal law enforcement Tuesday to address transnational organized crime. [“Let me state this clearly. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has ZERO tolerance for gang violence,” Sessions told the press in a prepared statement before the meeting of the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Council. The group, which has met since 1970, is made up of representatives from the many federal agencies and task forces that address organized crime in America. Sessions touted President Donald Trump’s February executive order on criminal gangs as leading the way for efforts to dismantle the international criminal organizations responsible for a large amount of the violence, drug trafficking, and human exploitation in this country. “Today, we’ll be proposing concrete ideas to follow through on President Trump’s directive,” he said. The Attorney General singled out the particularly brutal gang Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as “ ” for his attention: has become a symbol of this plague that has spread across our country and into our communities. There are over 30, 000 members abroad with their headquarters in the El Salvadoran prison system. According to the National Gang Intelligence Center, now has more than 10, 000 members in at least 40 states in this country — up significantly from just a few years ago. originated among Salvadorans in Los Angeles, California, many of whom fled to this country in the 1980s to escape El Salvador’s horrific civil war and the death squads operating throughout Central America at the time. Today, is made up of tens of thousands of members, primarily Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and their descendants in the United States. Operating without any regard for national borders, the gang has brought the kind of atrocities once confined to Central America’s political conflicts with it wherever it has spread. Recently, has been linked to a string gruesome murders across the United States. Last Wednesday, the bodies of four men and boys aged were found in suburban Long Island, New York. The victims were tortured and mutilated to the point their tattoos had to used to identify them. Two additional bodies were discovered last in Fairfax, Virginia, only a few dozen miles from the Capital Dome, too badly disfigured to be identified. Details in each case led authorities to suspect the involvement of whose members have faced justice for countless similarly brutal crimes. operates under the motto “kill, rape, control,” according to a DOJ fact sheet on the group. Justice officials believe that when crews in the United States are not aggressive or ruthless enough, their leaders in El Salvador’s prisons warn them to keep to “La Programma” — The Program — understood to mean stepping up the violence and brutality in their allotted territory to increase the gang’s power and territory. Sessions compared the group to the Mafia and the Colombian cartels, two once imposing criminal groups brought low by federal law enforcement in the past. Attorney General Sessions linked the transnational gang problem to immigration issues: Because of an open border and years of lax immigration enforcement, has been sending both recruiters and members to regenerate gangs that previously had been decimated, and smuggling members across the border as unaccompanied minors. Sessions has made enforcement of our immigration laws a centerpiece of his tenure at Justice. He has stated that gang members will be among those illegal aliens who will be a top priority for deportation. Many of and other gangs’ members are illegals, and efforts are being stepped up to remove them from the country. On Saturday, the Attorney General confirmed to Fox News’s Judge Jeanine Pirro that gang affiliation alone will be enough to qualify illegal aliens for priority removal. Sessions specifically hit upon “sanctuary cities” for the role they play, according to him, in providing harbor to members of and other gangs. “Sanctuary cities are aiding these cartels to refill their ranks and putting innocent life — including the lives of countless immigrants — in danger,” he said. Sessions’ DOJ is looking into methods to compel these jurisdictions to comply with federal immigration laws and cooperate with federal authorities. Some sanctuary city leaders, however, are resisting these efforts. Answering questions from the press after his address, Sessions acknowledged the need to move quickly to confirm his new Justice Department team, including all 94 United States Attorneys. The Attorney General has previously expressed dismay at the slow pace of confirmations in the new administration. Tuesday he said he hoped to have all these important positions filled with competent prosecutors.

Aoun has been appointed the President of Lebanon – Again.

Muhammed Ali Carter

By Muhammed Ali Carter on November 2, 2016 Lebanon's future now rests in the hands of a man older than the supreme leader of Iran. Lebanese celebrate in the streets of the coastal city of Batroun after election of former general Michel Aoun as president The news didn’t come as much of a surprise in the end. Presidential posters with Michel Aoun’s face were already being hung around east Beirut before the results had even been released but now it’s official, Lebanon has finally elected a new president! Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian and former military chief, was elected on Monday making him the country’s 17th president, ending a two-year political vacuum in the country’s top post that had left Lebanon paralysed. Aoun now takes the reigns of a country heavily plagued by poverty, joblessness, a massive refugee overload with refugees from various countries, practically non-existent public services, constant threat of war from their southern neighbour Israel, and bomb attacks from Salafi terrorists. Interestingly enough, this is the second time that Aoun has been announced the President (according to himself) when he and the Christian-led military government of East Beirut appointed itself in 1988 and anyone who dared disputed this was met with violence, which did eventually occur. Aoun even went on to fight a ‘war of liberation’ against the Syrian Arab army forces stationed in Lebanon during 1990 [i] which ended in failure and forced Aoun to flee his native land into exile in France. [ii] The man behind the poster Aoun is considered, by his supporters, to be a strong leader with a military background who knows how to play the political field to achieve his goals. On the other hand, most Lebanese I have spoken to about Aoun have offered plenty of negative feedback even from people who I assumed would throw their full support behind the old boy. Corrupt, untrustworthy, an overall slippery character who has been lucky enough to pick the right partners since his return to Lebanon after his 15-year exile. I have to admit, the side of my personality that appreciates dark comedy chuckled at the picture of President Aoun sitting in the big chair of the Baabda presidential palace with just the slightest whisper of a cheeky smile on his face. The last time Aoun held the Baabda palace, the Syrian army under the authority of Michel Aoun, pictured at the presidential palace in Baabdaafter being elected President of Lebanon. President Hafez Al-Assad of Syria, bombed him out in a US-backed attempt to illuminate a stubborn Lebanese nationalist troublemaker. Yet now, twenty-six years later, Bashar Al-Assad (the son of Hafez) offered his personal congratulations to Aoun on his election victory. [iii] Just maybe, President Aoun also shares my dark humour, which would explain his sly self-satisfied smirk while he sat in his long-awaited prize seat. Despite all the odds, he has returned to Lebanon and claimed what he had always wanted, the presidency. Aoun carries with him a considerable amount of political baggage from a long career full of conflict, civil war and side switching which has left many in Lebanon questioning if this old-school lord of war is the man worth appointing to end the political stalemate which some have suggested – Lebanon would be better off remaining politically frozen – instead of appointing a man who has fought against the Assad administration in Lebanon during the late 80’s but now fully backs Assad and Hezbollah in Syria. This is a totally understandable stance given the lack of honest candidates available in Lebanese politics, however, the fact remains that Lebanon has been left completely disabled by the political deadlock which is pushing the country to the brink. I personally agree with the Progressive Socialist Party and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt who said on Twitter prior to the vote that it’s time to elect ‘any’ president to escape the presidential vacuum. [iv] Why elect Aoun now? I have a growing concern that behind closed doors some very egotistical and conniving millionaires are beginning to see the massive potential gas wealth just sitting off the Lebanese coast [v] but Lebanon’s political class has been far too busy infighting among themselves to invest in steps towards harvesting and selling Lebanese gas. Israel & Egypt also have their eyes on this untapped wealth lying below the Mediterranean. [vi] Perhaps this could be why so many old adversaries of Aoun have decided to suddenly put an end to their refusal to back Hezbollah’s ally for president; Hariri who is smart enough to see this type of opportunity on the horizon and just about desperate enough to surrender his staunch opposition to Aoun’s candidacy in return for inclusion in any future plans. Given Hariri’s recent bad luck with his struggling business in Saudi Arabia, I wouldn’t put it past him. [vii] Imagine, Saad Hariri, who is still eagerly perusing the trial and conviction of what he believes where Hezbollah hitmen who Michel Aoun (L) at news conference, beside Lebanon’s former prime minister Saad al-Hariri, after Hariri announced that he will back Aoun to become president assassinated his father, Rafic Hariri, is now willing to throw his vote to Hezbollah’s candidate in order to secure the position (also for the second time) as prime minister. Certainly there are many more aspects to consider in what has been a rollercoaster two-year timeline leading up to yesterday’s grand finale but I suspect that Lebanon’s political godfathers are smart enough to realize they are sitting on a potential trillion dollar money maker which, now, is at risk of being high jacked if they continue pussyfooting around over never ending, decades-old sectarian feuds. What Could Aoun Bring? During my last trip to Lebanon, I was shocked to see how even the average middle-class Lebanese struggle with the lack of basic services. The country is a mess and the only institution that is worth any praise is the Lebanese army that has coped remarkably well under the strains of constant terror attacks from radical Salafi terrorists [viii] , the rise of regional sectarianism and a huge lack of money & equipment. Aoun, the one-time proxy of Saddam Hussein [ix] (the Iraqi dictator who fought a long bloody war against Iran) is now considered the candidate who confirms an Iranian political victory over its competitor for political influence in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia. What has largely held the country back is the fact that Lebanon has been stuck in a vicious game of tug-of-war between Saudi & Iran. Lebanon’s refusal to pick a side has left the country empty handed with no vision of a safe future. Saudi has cancelled a desperately needed arms deal with a pathetic excuse, blaming the deal cancellation on a statement made by Lebanon’s foreign minister (who happens to be Aoun’s son-in-law) Gebran Bassil who refused to accept a Saudi-proposed statement referring to Hezbollah as a terrorist group. [x] The Saudi produced statement Left, Lebanon FM Gebran Bassil. Centre Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai. Right, Michel Aoun President of Lebanon. also demanded all Arab league members to condemn Iran which both Lebanon & Iraq refused to do. However, in previous attempts to remain neutral, Lebanon has also refused to accept any Iranian or Russian offers to provide free arms deliveries to the Lebanese army in order not to upset the countries ties to the US or the Gulf. Now that Aoun holds office, Lebanon may have the guts to finally accept Iran’s offers of arms and economic support to better supply its security forces and enhance Lebanese ability to protect itself and boost its frail economy. I have to give Aoun credit, In his first speech after becoming president, he pledged to fight corruption and protect Lebanon from the fires raging around it, referring to the Syrian civil war. Aoun was also talking tough against Israel according to Hezbollah’s Al Manar-TV with promises to liberate contested territory which Aoun labelled an “Israeli occupation,” referring to Israeli-occupied parts of the Golan Heights. Iran too has been quick to hail Aoun with congratulations. Ali Akbar Velayati a veteran MP of the Islamic Republic, described the choice as a victory for Iran and its allies in Lebanon because the Lebanese president is “a very significant ring in the chain of the Islamic resistance,”. [xi] Aoun has been willing to publicly side with Iran’s ally Hezbollah and his son-in-law foreign minister Bassil refused to condemn Iran politically while under pressure to do so from most of the Arab league, so it seems fair to expect that Aoun’s Lebanon would be willing to build bridges between Beirut and Tehran, despite the offence this would cause to the Gulf. Whether you like Aoun or not all that really matters at such a desperate stage is whether he has what it takes to do a good job or not. Yes, he is old and has a dodgy past but to be frank everyone in Lebanese politics does. There is not a single candidate who could make all sides happy and there is probably not a single candidate who will not abuse his position to one degree or another but if Aoun is willing to at least take care of the country’s basic needs then most Lebanese would accept his leadership with just the usual contempt and frustration towards their political class which is typical of the Lebanese. Lebanon has huge potential to be a successful nation but big challenges must be met with strong, relentless and above all tireless leadership that has a clear vision of what it wants to make the country great again. The President has to be able to balance a relationship with various national (and in some cases sectarian) rival political blocks as well as large international powers, some of which are brutal adversaries, to get the best deal for Lebanon. Iran is a country which, like Lebanon, has massive economic opportunities; Lebanon could do very well if they decide to open their doors to Iran on an economic level without childish sectarian restrictions being imposed by Saudi Arabia. Long road ahead Lebanon is one of a few countries in the middle east with a better educated, modern society which allows many basic freedoms which are considered unacceptable elsewhere in the region. I cannot say in all good continence, that Aoun has what it takes to lead Lebanon to greatness, he has certainly not earned that type of praise from his past exploits. I just hope the old boy has a genuine intention as well as the physical will-power to tackle all of Lebanon’s various conundrums. Considering Lebanon’s future now lies in the hands of an 81-year-old right wing Christian who is known by his followers as “the general” I think you could all understand my concerns following his appointment. Lebanon needs new ideas, the Lebanese establishment has been leaning towards the US & Saudi Arabia for years which has produced nothing tangible on any level. Iran has proven itself, (despite what the Saudi or Israeli media have to say) as a more practical, rational and generally sober partner in the region. I have argued that countries like Lebanon should look to explore the possibility of building potentially prosperous relations with Tehran who for a long time been genuinely interested in building working relationships, especially with Lebanon. Lebanon needs to get over its old fruitless relationships and open its doors to whoever is willing to provide real tangible economic support, this is key if Aoun wishes to pursuereal internal reform and investment in Lebanon’s knackered institutions. That has to be the priority for any administration seriously planning to turn Lebanon around. I hope, for Lebanon’s sake, that Aoun will have the capability to reform Lebanon but given his history, age and the massive mountain of difficulties Aoun needs to drag the country over before noticeable changes can be achieved, you can’t blame me for choosing to remain sceptical References [i] “Aoun calls majority cowards for not waging war on Syria” . Ya Libnan. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2008. “During this period Aoun became critical of American support for Syria and moved closer to Iraq, accepting arms supplies from Saddam Hussein.” [ii] BBC News (31 October 2016) Lebanon: Michel Aoun elected president, ending two-year stalemate, Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-37821597 [iii] France 24 News (31 October 2016 – 20H45) Syria’s Assad congratulates Lebanon’s new president, Available at: http://www.france24.com/en/20161031-syrias-assad-congratulates-lebanons-new-president [iv] Nayla Tueni (Saturday, 22 October 2016 KSA 08:47 – GMT 05:47) Lebanon needs a strong president, not a president by force, Available at: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/10/22/Lebanon-needs-a-strong-president-not-a-president-by-force.html (Accessed: Saturday, 22 October 2016). [v] The Daily Star Lebanon (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Local/2016/Oct-19/377101-its-too-early-for-lebanon-to-celebrate-gas-wealth-study.ashx) It ’ s too early for Lebanon to celebrate gas wealth, Available at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Local/2016/Oct-19/377101-its-too-early-for-lebanon-to-celebrate-gas-wealth-study.ashx (Accessed: October 19, 2016). [vi] Tani Goldstein () Israel willing to use force to protect gas finds, Available at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3910329,00.html (Accessed: Published: 24.06.10 , 17:02). [vii] By AFP for The Jordan Times (Last updated at Mar 27,2016) Workers suffer in Saudi Arabia as once-mighty Hariri firm falters, Available at: http://www.jordantimes.com/news/business/workers-suffer-saudi-arabia-once-mighty-hariri-firm-falters (Accessed: Mar 27,2016). [viii] Matteo Tomasini (Spring 2010) The Salafi Jihadist Threat in Lebanon. [Online]. Available at: http://fletcher.tufts.edu/~/media/Fletcher/Microsites/al%20Nakhlah/archives/pdfs/Tomasini%20The%20Salafi%20Jihadist%20Threat%20in%20Lebanon.pdf [ix] The New Arab (Date of publication: 21 October, 2016) Former ally slams Hariri’s nomination of Aoun for presidency, Available at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/10/21/former-ally-slams-hariris-nomination-of-aoun-for-presidency [x] THE LEVANT NEWS — BEIRUT (Feb 20, 2016) Lebanon Foreign Ministry rejects blame in Saudi aid row, Available at: http://the-levant.com/lebanon-foreign-ministry-rejects-blame-in-saudi-aid-row/ (Accessed: ). [xi] Oren Dorell (12:28 a.m. EDT November 1, 2016) Lebanon chooses a president supported by Iran and Hezbollah, Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/10/31/lebanon-chooses-president-supported-iran-and-hezbollah/93064358/ Related Posts:

If Trump Tweets It, Is It News? A Quandary for the News Media - The New York Times

Michael M. Grynbaum and Sydney Ember

Since Election Day, Donald J. Trump has proposed a in American diplomatic relations with Cuba, boasted about negotiations with a major manufacturer, trumpeted false claims about millions of illegal votes and hinted that he might upend current free speech laws by banning flag burning. All in 140 characters or less. As news organizations grapple with covering a commander in chief unlike any other, Mr. Trump’s Twitter account — a bully pulpit, propaganda weapon and attention magnet all rolled into one — has quickly emerged as a fresh journalistic challenge and a source of lively debate. How to cover a president’s pronouncements when they are both provocative and maddeningly vague? Does an tweet amount to a planned shift in American policy? Should news outlets, as some readers argue, ignore clearly untrue tweets, rather than amplify falsehoods further? In interviews on Tuesday, political editors and reporters said that, for now, they planned to apply the same news judgment they would apply to any statement by a powerful leader, even as some acknowledged that social media allows Mr. Trump to reduce complicated subjects to snappy, and sometimes misleading, slogans and sound bites. “Reporting complex policy issues out of tweets, I would say that’s not ideal,” said Carrie Budoff Brown, the newly installed editor of Politico, adding: “We have to treat it as one piece of a bigger reporting puzzle that we have to put together. ” But fundamentally, she said, the thoughts of a are inherently newsworthy — as long as journalists also provide readers with the right context, like whether a proposal is feasible or legal, or correct a baseless claim. “This is the way he’s communicating with millions upon millions of people, and as journalists we can’t ignore that,” Ms. Brown said. Some readers disagree. On social media, there have been calls for news outlets to boycott covering Mr. Trump’s tweets entirely. Critics say that any coverage elevates unsubstantiated assertions and murky policy suggestions. “Media would be wise to stop of Trump’s tweets — they distract, distort and debase,” Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, said in a Twitter post on Tuesday. The historian Fred Kaplan declared, “It’s time to ignore his tweets,” echoing others who wondered whether Mr. Trump’s provocative statements were a deliberate effort to distract journalists. Part of the concern is that Mr. Trump’s Twitter posts can have a ripple effect in the media ecosystem. Producers of morning shows and newspaper assignment editors wake up to statements from the future leader of the free world those remarks sometimes dominate coverage for hours. Even if journalists insert caveats or clearly label a statement as false, the remarks still reach a large audience. But many veteran journalists argue that keeping the public in the dark about their president’s comments would be a worse sin. “Anything that a president would say — even if it was libelous or scandalous — it’s the president talking, and I think you report it,” said Chris Wallace, the “Fox News Sunday” host who moderated this year’s third presidential debate. “Under any definition, it’s news, whether it’s sensible or not, factual or not, productive or not. ” Mr. Wallace recalled that as a reporter in Washington, he reported from President Ronald Reagan as he boarded a helicopter to Camp David. “As far as I’m concerned, this is like Donald Trump making a statement on the way to the helicopter,” Mr. Wallace said of the ’s tweets. Handling Mr. Trump’s Twitter account has been a hot topic in big newsrooms. Matthew Purdy, a deputy managing editor at The New York Times, said on Tuesday that the Mr. Trump’s remarks had to be assessed one by one. “Clearly his tweets are a window into policy decisions or his state of mind,” Mr. Purdy said in an interview. “Just because he tweets it doesn’t make it news. But just because he tweets it doesn’t make it frivolous either. ” Steven Ginsberg, senior politics editor at The Washington Post, agreed. “My view, frankly, is that everybody is getting way too caught up with the fact that he’s tweeting,” he said, adding that even if Mr. Trump “shouts something on a street corner, I think it’s worth taking up on its own merits. ” “In this postelection period, anything he says in any way you have to consider it and you have to weigh whether it deserves a story,” Mr. Ginsberg said. At some publications, the calculus about coverage is more about the resources on hand. At The Los Angeles Times, covering every Twitter post would prevent reporters from focusing on other political issues, like the future of the Affordable Care Act. “We’ve got a smaller staff than some other folks do, so I’m sure there have been ones that we’ve passed on,” said David Lauter, the paper’s Washington bureau chief. Still, Mr. Trump’s tweets have become particularly intriguing. Typically, hold news conferences after the election — but Mr. Trump has not, offering few opportunities for journalists to question him about plans for his administration. (He has granted interviews to “60 Minutes,” The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.) “These pronouncements on Twitter are the only available evidence of what the man is thinking, or wants us to think he’s thinking,” said Todd Gitlin, a former political activist who has criticized press coverage of Mr. Trump. There is also a novelty factor. American presidents, aware that their words carry gravity and consequence worldwide, are typically circumspect in their remarks, opting for dry statements and withholding major proposals until a legislative or legal framework is in place. Mr. Trump seems to relish doing the opposite, as he did throughout the election season. Jack Shafer, who writes about the media for Politico, said that journalists could ultimately best serve the public by being judicious in the way they report on Mr. Trump’s tweets. “I think that you starve the troll by just pointing out that the troll is lying and the troll is trolling,” Mr. Shafer said. “Don’t ignore him, but hold him accountable when he tweets for effect. ” Some have speculated that come January, Mr. Trump may rely less on Twitter, once he moves into the White House and has the Oval Office and West Wing briefing room at his disposal. But asked about this on Tuesday, Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, issued a reply: Don’t bet on it. “ Trump has amassed an incredible social media following, one he used very effectively throughout the campaign to communicate his message,” Ms. Hicks said in an email. “He intends to continue utilizing this modern form of communication, while taking into account his new role and responsibilities may call for modified usage. ” For now, Ms. Hicks declined to say if Mr. Trump would move his musings to the White House’s official @POTUS Twitter account. As of Tuesday, @POTUS had 12. 3 million followers. And @realDonaldTrump? 16. 3 million.

Militarized Police Shot Journalist At Standing Rock During An Interview

Militarized Police Shot Journalist At Standing Rock During An Interview Please scroll down for video Scenes at Cannon Ball in North Dakota are turning increasingly ugly as peaceful protestors continue to clash with riot police and the National Guard. The protest concerns the planned drilling in the area to build a gas pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe have spoken out against the plans as they will run through a sacred burial ground in violation of Native American treaties. They have found support and partnership with environmental activists who do not believe that the United States government should be creating new fossil fuel infrastructure. Militarized police tactics escalate at Standing Rock Despite the fact that the United Nation has called on the American government to cease construction, the government shows no signs of abating their plans. Instead, they have turned their attention to a brutal crackdown on the protestors. According to a journalist, an activist Erin Schrode, protestors have been maced, beaten with batons, subject to Taser fire and been shot with rubber bullets. I can’t believe what is happening here in Standing Rock. It’s a scene like I’ve never seen anywhere else in the world, and it’s right here at home. Schrode herself had conducted an interview on camera when she was shot with a rubber bullet. In a post on her Facebook profile, she claims that while she was physically unhurt, she was shaken by the attack and simply could not understand why she had been targeted in such a violent way. In an interview with Fusion she said; I couldn’t fathom that I’d just been hit. Why would they target me? Why would they shoot anyone? There was absolutely nothing violent, aggressive, provocative going on at the protests yesterday. This entire disturbing incident was caught on camera which Schrode has shared on her Twitter feed. The full video can be viewed here: The use of rubber bullets for crowd control has been outlawed in most places in the developed world owing to the number of fatalities and serious injuries they caused when deployed in the long-running conflict in Northern Ireland. Their use in situations without the threat of serious violence is practically unheard of. But despite this unprecedented level of police brutality, the protestors at Standing Rock are not intimidated and will refuse to leave the protest site until construction has ceased or they are forced off the land . This article (Militarized Police Shot Journalist At Standing Rock During An Interview) 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

March Madness: What Happened on Day 4 of the N.C.A.A. Tournament - The New York Times

Zach Schonbrun

It was a tough day for the A. C. C. with Louisville and Duke both getting knocked out in the round of 32, and No. 1 North Carolina narrowly escaping an upset against Arkansas. Here’s a look at what happened Sunday: Wisconsin, Florida, Baylor and South Carolina. That’s what is left of your East region. North Carolina. That’s what is left from the Atlantic Coast Conference in the N. C. A. A. tournament, after the No. 7 seed Gamecocks knocked off No. 2 Duke in a stunning upset, on Sunday night. The winners of the A. C. C. tournament championship in Brooklyn, Duke roared into March like a team finally hitting its stride. Paced by star freshman Jayson Tatum, the conference’s leading scorer Luke Kennard, and an enigmatic talent off the bench, Grayson Allen, the Blue Devils were looking like favorites to tear through the bracket, potentially setting up a showdown with top seed Villanova in the Round of 8 at Madison Square Garden. Well, Wisconsin took care of the Wildcats on Saturday. And a day later, South Carolina, playing in front of a raucous crowd just 100 miles from its campus, obliterated Duke in the second half. The Gamecocks had not won an N. C. A. A. tournament game before Friday since 1973. But they played the role of aggressors in the second half against Duke and its champion coach, Mike Krzyzewski. After making just seven field goals in the entire first half, South Carolina shot 71 percent from the floor in the second, looking quicker, stronger and hungrier than the Blue Devils. Foul trouble kept Kennard from becoming a factor, and South Carolina stretched its zone to really bother Duke’s shooters. Sindarius Thornwell, who scored 29 points in the Gamecocks’ win over Marquette on Friday, was terrific again, finishing with a 24 points. “When you shoot 7 for 35 in the first half and you’re down just 7 points, I tell you, it just gives you confidence,” Thornwell said. “It was our defense. It kept us in it. We thought we could win the game coming out the second half because of shooting so poorly the first half. ” Point guard Duane Notice was impossible to keep out of the paint, scoring 17 points on 6 of 8 field goals. North Carolina nearly lost on that same court in Greenville in the game before this one, but the Tar Heels rallied to hold off Arkansas. After No. 2 Louisville’s loss earlier in the day, though, the A. C. C. which set a record with nine teams in the tournament, is down to just one: the Tar Heels. Meanwhile, South Carolina moves on to play in New York, where it will face No. 3 Baylor in a matchup that few could have ever seen coming. Oregon is moving on to the round of 16 after coming from behind to beat upstart No. 11 seed Rhode Island, . Down by eight at halftime, and by 11 with 13 minutes remaining, the Ducks leaned on sophomore Tyler Dorsey (27 points) and junior Dillon Brooks (19 points) to climb back in it. Rhode Island got a huge performance from Stanford Robinson, who scored 21 points off the bench on field goals, including a with 2:11 left to give Rhode Island a lead. A by Tyler Dorsey tied it 30 seconds later. He would put Oregon up again with 30 seconds left after burying another three. Down with no timeouts, Rhode Island had one last chance to tie the game. But a long by E. C. Matthews, defended by Jordan Bell, sailed long. Well, that was interesting. North Carolina narrowly — narrowly — avoided being the second No. 1 seed to get knocked off in the opening weekend, beating Arkansas, . The Tar Heels did not make it easy on themselves. After leading at one point late in the first half, North Carolina let No. 8 Arkansas creep back and then, finally, take the lead with 12 minutes remaining in the game. The Tar Heels were sloppy with the ball (17 turnovers) and putrid shooting the ball (38 percent from the field). The Razorbacks led by three with just over two minutes remaining. But it seemed as though Arkansas simply ran out of gas. A run and some energized defensive stands against an exhausted Arkansas team gave the Tar Heels a lead with 35. 7 seconds left. Arkansas had a chance to trim it but Moses Kingsley missed two free throws. After a missed free throw by Isaiah Hicks, Arkansas guard Anton Beard pulled up for a potential with 14 seconds left. It clanged off the back rim. Arkansas went scoreless in the final 3 minutes 31 seconds of the game. North Carolina won with its defense, because its offense looked very out of sorts. When Michigan State cut Kansas’s lead to with 12 minutes remaining, fans buckled up for an exciting finish. Unfortunately, it never came to be. The No. 1 Jayhawks outscored the Spartans, from that point on to win easily, . There just was no stopping Kansas out in the open floor. The game became a highlight reel of and dunks. Four players scored in double figures, led by Josh Jackson (23 points) Frank Mason III (20 points) and Deonte Graham (18 points). Foul trouble for Michigan State’s Nick Ward, and a banged up Miles Bridges meant the Spartans were not the same as they had been on Friday. Coach Tom Izzo squeezed everything he could out of his team, but they just ran out of steam. The No. 2 seed in the South region is still alive. Kentucky withstood a late rally by No. 10 seed Wichita State in what was a highly physical, strong defensive matchup, winning, . The Shockers did not let the Wildcats play their style: and . But this young and dangerous Kentucky team proved it could win anyway. The Shockers trailed by five, with 2:30 left when Landry Shamet was fouled attempting a . He hit all three free throws to cut the deficit to 2. Shamet hit another with 55 seconds left to make it a game — 19 of his 20 points came in the second half. After a Kentucky miss, Wichita had a chance to take the lead. But Malik Monk blocked a deep shot attempt by Markis MaDuffie with 10 seconds remaining. It was one of two blocks on deep shots in the closing seconds that sealed the win and showed how good Kentucky’s perimeter defenders can be at closing out. After Monk connected on two free throws, making it a game, the Shockers still had a chance. But Bam Adebayo blocked Shamet’s attempt as time expired. Now it’s getting serious. No. 7 Michigan’s improbable run continued Sunday as it stormed back from a deficit to upset No. 2 Louisville, in Indianapolis. The Wolverines have not lost since that plane incident before the Big Ten tournament. Now they are heading to the round of 16. Sophomore forward Mo Wagner had a huge second half, finishing with a 26 points on 11 of 14 field goals to lead Michigan. A Louisville steal and a layup out of the press made it a game with just under a minute. But Derrick Walton Jr. drove and scooped it high off the glass with 29 seconds left to put the Wolverines back ahead by 4. Layups by Donovan Mitchell (19 points) kept bringing the margin down to 2. But Michigan’s D. J. Wilson was clutch at the line, going 4 for 4 in the closing seconds to keep Louisville at bay. Louisville’s defense flustered Michigan in the first half, but the Cardinals’ youth and inexperience showed down the stretch with some bad fouls and stagnant offense. Coach Rick Pitino had cracked before the game that many of his players are so young they did not know who Grant Hill is. On the other side, Michigan, led by seniors Walton and Zak Irvin, still have yet to crack under pressure. Before any action tipped off, a shockwave was sent around the college basketball world early Sunday: Mike Hopkins, an assistant under Coach Jim Boeheim for 22 years, and the designated once Boeheim retires, was named the new coach at Washington, according to the Huskies’ twitter account. The move was initially reported by ESPN. Coach Hop, a respected tactician and recruiter, apparently got tired of waiting. Though he has had offers to leave Syracuse in the past, Hopkins had always remained at the Hall of Famer Boeheim’s side. Boeheim has said repeatedly he intended to retire after the season. Now, that might have to be seriously . Or perhaps Hopkins knew it already was. Hopkins, a Southern California native, played for Syracuse and began coaching there in 1995. At Washington, he will inherit a program that had the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation, according to ESPN, although a lot of that depends on what happens with the top prospect Michael Porter, Jr. who has indicated he might reopen his recruitment. It was certainly not a good weekend for Syracuse, which lost in the second round of the N. I. T. on Saturday to Ole Miss. f

El Cajon Police Release Video of Fatal Shooting - The New York Times

Christopher Mele

The authorities in El Cajon, Calif. on Friday released video footage of an officer fatally shooting an unarmed black man, as part of an effort to quell what has been growing unrest in the community since the episode on Tuesday. The footage shed little new light on what happened to the man, Alfred Olango, 38. The video came from two perspectives — one from a civilian’s cellphone and the other from a surveillance camera at a window at a taco shop. In both videos, the faces and heads of the officers and Mr. Olango were blurred to appear as gray dots. Also, both videos were taken from a distance. The surveillance video shows the scene before the shooting and as a patrol car arrived. The second video shows Mr. Olango walking toward an officer and then walking away backward and sideways as the officer approaches. The officer and Mr. Olango, facing each other, then move side to side in tandem six times before a second officer appears. Multiple shots are fired, and a woman can then be heard screaming. The angle and distance of the videos made it difficult to see clearly what happened because one of the officers was standing in front of Mr. Olango when the shooting happened. The police previously said they responded to a report of a person acting “erratically. ” Mr. Olango refused “multiple instructions” by the first officer to remove his hand from his pocket, the police said in a news release on Tuesday. The officer drew his weapon and pointed it at Mr. Olango while continuing to direct him to take his hand out of his pocket. A second officer arrived and prepared to use an electronic control device. As Mr. Olango paced and the officers tried to talk to him, he “rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together and extended them rapidly toward the officer taking up what appeared to be a shooting stance,” the police said. The object he pointed was a silvery vape smoking device with a cylinder, the police said. At that point, the officer with the electronic control device discharged his weapon, the police said. Simultaneously, the officer with the firearm discharged his weapon several times, striking Mr. Olango. No gun was found. Mr. Olango’s mother said during an emotional news conference on Thursday that her son was having a mental breakdown when he was confronted by the police at the taco shop, Reuters reported. The shooting has touched off days of growing unrest and violence in El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego. On Thursday night, about 75 protesters gathered near the scene of the shooting and threw rocks, bricks and bottles at officers, broke windows and jumped on cars, the El Cajon police chief, Jeff Davis, said at the news conference. A San Diego police officer was struck on the head with a brick, the chief said. The officer was not seriously hurt. Four demonstrators were charged with unlawful assembly and one was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for the episode with the officer. The chief was joined at the news conference by religious and civic leaders who said they wanted the community to move forward in peace. Bonnie Dumanis, the San Diego County district attorney, said that the shooting was under investigation and that “no decision has been made” about filing charges. Chief Davis said the department released the footage in the interest of public safety because protests had shifted from peaceful to more violent over the past days. “This is a difficult situation as any law enforcement officer will encounter and not one we seek,” the chief said.

Help Blow Up the Globalists Plot to Steal the Presidency- Make This Go Viral

Dave Hodges

Help Blow Up the Globalists Plot to Steal the Presidency- Make This Go Viral The Benedict Arnold of the Republican Party, Paul “Rat” Ryan, your next President if the globalists get their way. People laughed at me when I said back in April, that Paul Ryan would be your next President. How could I be so sure, because he would not actively campaign and endorse anyone, in a meaningful way during the Republican Primary. He filed paperwork to run for President on January 30, 2016. And he is a Clintonista, a globalist, a traitor to the American people. He doesn’t carry the criminal baggage of Clinton, but he supports all free trade agreements, the elimination of all national borders, the weakening of our military. etc., etc. Paul Ryan represents the globalists and their Plan B since Hillary Clinton is going to be indicted AFTER the election. Please watch the following video and you will see the inescapable conclusion that Hillary Clinton is no longer useful to the globalists and Ryan’s lack of a criminal record , whose election will not spark rioting in the streets from 50% of Americans who do not know any better, and who will do what he is told by the Rothschild/Rockefeller cartel. All the documentation you need is on The Common Sense Show. Please make this go viral. Awareness of this insidious plot designed to fool the American people can blow this plan up. Every American needs to see this evidence so that even the casual Clinton supporters will not cast their vote for her knowing she will never make it to Inauguration Day.

UK Interested in Strong Energy Sector, Stable Int'l Market - Ex-Minister

Get short URL 0 5 0 0 A strong energy sector will serve as an economic driver for the UK's economy, Britain's former minister for energy and climate change told Sputnik. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United Kingdom is interested in a strong energy sector as an economic driver for the whole British economy, and consequently in the stabilization of prices on the global oil market, Charles Hendry , a former UK Minister for Energy and Climate Change, told Sputnik on Wednesday. "Oil consumers have enjoyed low oil prices, that's been good, but ultimately we need strong oil and gas sector because the economic driver which it creates and provides. So for the United Kingdom we have seen both the upside and the downside. … There is a beginning consensus of people [in the United Kingdom] recognizing that action needs to be taken [to stabilize oil market]," Hendry said. He added, however, that few countries could take steps that would contribute to stability of the global oil market, among them are Saudi Arabia and Russia . © AP Photo/ Vahid Salemi Russian Companies Set to Get a Slice of Iranian Oil Pie The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which comprises Saudi Arabia among other 13 major oil producers, is in ongoing consultations on finalizing a preliminary agreement on oil output cuts reached in late September and aimed at stabilizing oil prices, that may see non-OPEC oil producers also joining the deal. The agreement, which is expected to be finalized on November 30 during OPEC's next meeting in Vienna, was reached against the backdrop of decline in oil prices, which have dropped from some $110 a barrel to the below-$50 mark since mid-2014. ...

New O’Keefe Video: Leftists Plan to Blockade Trump Inauguration

Joel B. Pollak

James O’Keefe and Project Veritas released a new undercover video on Tuesday showing activists with the “DisruptJ20” effort plotting to stop Donald Trump’s inauguration by chaining D. C. Metro trains and blocking roads. [The video adds a layer of deep detail to a story by Ryan Lovelace in the Washington Examiner earlier this month, “How protesters plan to wreck Donald Trump’s inauguration,” which first reported the efforts of “#DisruptJ20. ” One activist leader is captured on the Project Veritas video saying: “So simultaneous to the checkpoint blockades in the morning, we are also doing a series of clusterfuck blockades, where we are going to try to blockade all the major ingress points into the city. ” The blockade plan allegedly included stopping the D. C. Metro, according to an audio recording: So we figured out this, um, the trains pull up, one person is going to lock one end of a chain to an edge, and on the other end of the chain the end of the car, so on and so forth, done. It takes 15 seconds and everyone can leave and literally it can’t go anywhere at that point, its anchored. And you can use a really thin chain — you don’t need a heavy chain — that would require like a bolt cutter to undo, basically to shut down that line … Metro Center, Gallery Place, and L’Enfant Plaza, they are all close enough to walk to and that’s every single line in the city. Another plan allegedly involved using setting up tables, ostensibly for distributing charitable donations for the poor and homeless, to block roads to the inauguration: “So, we want to encourage you all to give to the poor and the homeless. Go right down to 2nd and D, help us to block the vehicle traffic and the pedestrian traffic flowing to the inauguration. And set up tables, food, give out whatever, right there, there 2nd and D a block from either direction and help to block traffic. ” One of the more creative plans apparently discussed was to move protesters into position near a park by posing as members of a yoga class. Other apparent discussions involved violent tactics to use in street battles with police. One activist expresses the desire to see the inauguration moved inside because of the protests. The Project Veritas video is Part Two of a series on protests of the inauguration. Part One, released on Monday, showed activists planning to set off stink bombs at an party. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Life: Move Over, SoulCycle: This Spin Studio Motivates Its Students By Hooking Up Each Bike To A Sick Child’s Life Support

Email If you’re always making excuses to skip the gym, you’ve got to check this out. Let’s be honest: We all can use a little extra push to get the most out of our workouts. Now, there’s one spin studio that has a brand-new approach to take motivation to the next level. At SpinZone NYC, they’ve got a great new twist to keep riders active and focused the whole 45 minutes: Every one of their bikes is hooked up to a sick child’s life support. Too cool! Where do we sign up??? If you thought spin class was intense before, just wait until you see this setup. With 16 bikes, each hooked up to the equipment needed to keep one child alive, there’s no doubt that every bit of effort counts—if you stop pedaling, the machines stop, too. Even with the array of pulsing lights and music we’ve come to expect from spin class, the distinct sound of an EKG flatlining on a 7-year-old can be a powerful motivator to let riders know it’s time to step things up. In an increasingly competitive fitness market, the innovative approach at SpinZone NYC is a breath of fresh air, and it’s winning them new customers left and right. With no backup generators and no excuses, they’ve created exactly the kind of environment people need to get real results. Instructors are always there to offer a word of encouragement and remind cyclists how severe their child’s condition is. And forget about plateauing—once participants make it through a full session with one sick kid, that just means a bigger and sicker child for the next workout. “I used to make it 30 minutes, tops,” said Erika Perry, a regular who says she never breaks eye contact with her kid for extra motivation to keep going. “Now I regularly make it the full class. There’s something about a child depending on me for survival that really gets me going in the morning. And I’ve dropped 11 pounds and feel great!” Wow, it sounds like things are off to a great start! If this catches on, it’s exactly the kind of bold idea that can transform an entire industry. Way to go, SpinZone NYC. Keep on pedaling!

Daniel J. Berrigan, Defiant Priest Who Preached Pacifism, Dies at 94 - The New York Times

Daniel Lewis

The Rev. Daniel J. Berrigan, a Jesuit priest and poet whose defiant protests helped shape the tactics of opposition to the Vietnam War and landed him in prison, died on Saturday in the Bronx. He was 94. His death, at Hall, the Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University, was confirmed by the Rev. James Martin, editor at large at America magazine, a national Catholic magazine published by the Jesuits. The United States was tearing itself apart over civil rights and the war in Southeast Asia when Father Berrigan emerged in the 1960s as an intellectual star of the Roman Catholic “new left,” articulating a view that racism and poverty, militarism and capitalist greed were interconnected pieces of the same big problem: an unjust society. It was an essentially religious position, based on a stringent reading of the Scriptures that some called pure and others radical. But it would have explosive political consequences as Father Berrigan his brother Philip, a Josephite priest and their allies took their case to the streets with rising disregard for the law or their personal fortunes. A defining point was the burning of Selective Service draft records in Catonsville, Md. and the subsequent trial of the Catonsville Nine, a sequence of events that inspired an escalation of protests across the country there were marches, the public burning of draft cards and other acts of civil disobedience. The catalyzing episode occurred on May 17, 1968, six weeks after the murder of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the outbreak of new riots in dozens of cities. Nine Catholic activists, led by Daniel and Philip Berrigan, entered a Knights of Columbus building in Catonsville and went up to the second floor, where the local draft board had offices. In front of astonished clerks, they seized hundreds of draft records, carried them down to the parking lot and set them on fire with homemade napalm. Some reporters had been told of the raid in advance. They were given a statement that said in part, “We destroy these draft records not only because they exploit our young men but because they represent misplaced power concentrated in the ruling class of America. ” It added, “We confront the Catholic Church, other Christian bodies and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our country’s crimes. ” In a year sick with images of destruction, from the Tet offensive in Vietnam to the murder of Dr. King, a scene was recorded that had been contrived to shock people to attention, and did so. When the police came, the trespassers were praying in the parking lot, led by two men in clerical collars: the big, craggy Philip, a decorated hero of World War II, and the ascetic Daniel, waiting peacefully to be led into the van. In the years to come, well into his 80s, Daniel Berrigan was arrested time and again, for greater or lesser offenses: in 1980, for taking part in the Plowshares raid on a General Electric missile plant in King of Prussia, Pa. where the Berrigan brothers and others rained hammer blows on missile warheads in 2006, for blocking the entrance to the Intrepid naval museum in Manhattan. “The day after I’m embalmed,” he said in 2001, on his 80th birthday, “that’s when I’ll give it up. ” It was not for lack of other things to do. In his long career of writing and teaching at Fordham and other universities, Father Berrigan published a torrent of essays and broadsides and, on average, a book a year. Among the more than 50 books were 15 volumes of poetry — the first of which, “Time Without Number,” won the prestigious Lamont Poetry Prize (now known as the James Laughlin Award) given by the Academy of American Poets, in 1957 — as well as autobiography, social criticism, commentaries on the Old Testament prophets and indictments of the established order, both secular and ecclesiastic. While he was known for his wry wit, there was a darkness in much of what Father Berrigan wrote and said, the burden of which was that one had to keep trying to do the right thing regardless of the near certainty that it would make no difference. In the withering of the pacifist movement and the country’s general support for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, he saw proof that it was folly to expect lasting results. “This is the worst time of my long life,” he said in an interview with The Nation in 2008. “I have never had such meager expectations of the system. ” What made it bearable, he wrote elsewhere, was a disciplined, implicitly difficult belief in God as the key to sanity and survival. Many books by and about Father Berrigan remain in print, and a collection of his work over half a century, “Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings,” was published in 2009. He also had a way of popping up in the wider culture: as the “radical priest” in Paul Simon’s song “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” as inspiration for the character Father Corrigan in Colum McCann’s 2009 novel, “Let the Great World Spin. ” He even had a small movie role, appearing as a Jesuit priest in “The Mission” in 1986. But his place in the public imagination was pretty much fixed at the time of the Catonsville raid, as the half of the Berrigan brothers — traitors and anarchists in the minds of a great many Americans, exemplars to those who formed what some called the . After a trial that served as a platform for their antiwar message, the Berrigans were convicted of destroying government property and sentenced to three years each in the federal prison in Danbury, Conn. Having exhausted their appeals, they were to begin serving their terms on April 10, 1970. Instead, they raised the stakes by going underground. The men who had been on the cover of Time were now on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list. As Daniel explained in a letter to the French magazine Africasia, he was not buying the “mythology” fostered by American liberals that there was a “moral necessity of joining illegal action to legal consequences. ” In any case, both brothers were tracked down and sent to prison. Philip Berrigan had been the main force behind Catonsville, but it was mostly Daniel who mined the incident and its aftermath for literary meaning — a process already underway when the F. B. I. caught up with him on Block Island, off the Rhode Island coast, on Aug. 11, 1970. There was “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,” a play in free verse drawn directly from the court transcripts, and “Prison Poems,” written during his incarceration in Danbury. In “My Father,” he wrote: I sit here in the prison wardnervously dickering with my ulcera animalraising hell in its living space But in 500 lines the poem talks as well about the politics of resistance, memories of childhood terror and, most of all, the overbearing weight of his dead father: I wonder if I ever loved himif he ever loved usif he ever loved me. The father was Thomas William Berrigan, a man full of words and grievances who got by as a railroad engineer, labor union officer and farmer. He married Frida Fromhart and had six sons with her. Daniel, the fourth, was born on May 9, 1921, in Virginia, Minn. When he was a young boy, the family moved to a farm near Syracuse to be close to his father’s family. In his autobiography, “To Dwell in Peace,” Daniel Berrigan described his father as “an incendiary without a cause,” a subscriber to Catholic liberal periodicals and the frustrated writer of poems of no distinction. “Early on,” he wrote, “we grew inured, as the price of survival, to violence as a norm of existence. I remember, my eyes open to the lives of neighbors, my astonishment at seeing that wives and husbands were not natural enemies. ” Born with weak ankles, Daniel could not walk until he was 4. His frailty spared him the heavy lifting demanded of his brothers instead he helped his mother around the house. Thus he seemed to absorb not only his father’s sense of life’s unfairness but also an intimate knowledge of how a man’s rage can play out in the victimization of women. At an early age, he wrote, he believed that the church condoned his father’s treatment of his mother. Yet he wanted to be a priest. After high school he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1946 from St. a Jesuit seminary in Hyde Park, N. Y. and a master’s from Woodstock College in Baltimore in 1952. He was ordained that year. Sent for a year of study and ministerial work in France, he met some who gave him “a practical vision of the Church as she should be,” he wrote. Afterward he spent three years at the Jesuits’ Brooklyn Preparatory School, teaching theology and French, while absorbing the poetry of Robert Frost, E. E. Cummings and the Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins. His own early work often combined elements of nature with religious symbols. But he was not to become a pastoral poet or live the retiring life he had imagined. His ideas were simply turning too hot, sometimes even for friends and mentors like Dorothy Day, the of the Catholic Worker Movement, and the Trappist intellectual Thomas Merton. At Le Moyne College in Syracuse, where he was a popular professor of New Testament studies from 1957 to 1963, Father Berrigan formed friendships with his students that other faculty members disapproved of, inculcating in them his ideas about pacifism and civil rights. (One student, David Miller, became the first burner to be convicted under a 1965 law.) Father Berrigan was effectively exiled in 1965, after angering the hawkish Cardinal Francis Spellman in New York. Besides Father Berrigan’s work in organizing antiwar groups like the interdenominational Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, there was the matter of the death of Roger La Porte, a young man with whom Father Berrigan said he was slightly acquainted. To protest American involvement in Southeast Asia, Mr. La Porte set himself on fire outside the United Nations building in November 1965. Soon, according to Father Berrigan, “the most atrocious rumors were linking his death to his friendship with me. ” He spoke at a service for Mr. La Porte, and soon thereafter the Jesuits, widely believed to have been pressured by Cardinal Spellman, sent him on a “fact finding” mission among poor workers in South America. An outcry from Catholic liberals brought him back after only three months, enough time for him to have been radicalized even further by the facts he had found. For the Jesuits, Father Berrigan was both a magnet to bright young seminarians and a troublemaker who could not be kept in any one faculty job too long. At one time or another he held faculty positions or ran programs at Union Seminary, Loyola University New Orleans, Columbia, Cornell and Yale. Eventually he settled into a long tenure at Fordham, the Jesuit university in the Bronx, where for a time he had the title of poet in residence. Father Berrigan was released from the Danbury penitentiary in 1972 the Jesuits, alarmed at his failing health, managed to get him out early. He then resumed his travels. After visiting the Middle East, he bluntly accused Israel of “militarism” and the “domestic repressions” of Palestinians. His remarks angered many American Jews. “Let us call this by its right name,” wrote Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, himself a contentious figure among religious scholars: “ theological . ” Nor was Father Berrigan universally admired by Catholics. Many faulted him for not singling out repressive Communist states in his diatribes against the world order, and later for not lending his voice to the outcry over sexual abuse by priests. There was also a sense that his notoriety was a distraction from the religious work that needed to be done. Not the least of his battles was with the church hierarchy. He was scathing about the shift to conservatism under Pope John Paul II and the “company men” he appointed to high positions. Much of Father Berrigan’s later work was concentrated on helping AIDS patients in New York City. In 2012, he appeared in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan to support the Occupy Wall Street protest. He also devoted himself to writing biblical studies. He felt a special affinity for the Hebrew prophets, especially Jeremiah, who was chosen by God to warn of impending disaster and commanded to keep at it, even though no one would listen for 40 years. A brother, Jerry, died in July at 95, and his brother Philip died in 2002 at 79. Father Berrigan seemed to reach a poet’s awareness of his place in the scheme of things, and that of his brother Philip, who left the priesthood for a married life of service to the poor and spent a total of 11 years in prison for disturbing the peace in one way or another before his death. While they both still lived, Daniel Berrigan wrote: My brother and I stand like the fencesof abandoned farms, changed timestoo loosely webbed againstdeicide homicideA really powerful blowwould bring us down like scarecrows. Nature, knowing this, finding us mildly usefulindulging alsoher backhanded love of freakishnessallows us to stand.

In Paris, the Seine Rises to Highest Level Since 1982 - The New York Times

Lilia Blaise and Benoît Morenne

PARIS — Heavy rains in France lifted the Seine on Friday to its highest levels since 1982, threatening Paris’s cultural institutions and soaking the French countryside east of the capital. The Seine has continued to swell since the river burst its banks on Wednesday, raising alarms throughout the city. As of 10 p. m. on Friday, its waters had reached 20 feet. The river was expected to crest on Saturday morning at up to 21. 3 feet, and to remain at high levels throughout the weekend, the French Environment Ministry said in a statement. “The situation is still evolving hour by hour,” a deputy mayor of Paris, Colombe Brossel, said at a news conference at City Hall, adding that the authorities estimated that it would take at least a week or more for the water to recede to normal levels, which are typically three to six feet above the standard reference point for measuring the height of the river. Near the Cathedral of pieces of tree trunks floated along the swollen river. The waters had risen to the waistline of the Zouave, a notable statue next to the Pont de l’Alma that has traditionally been used as a gauge of the Seine’s levels. The city’s government urged residents to move valuables out of their basements. An art collection had to be removed from the city hall in a southeastern suburb of Paris. “Around the Eiffel Tower, the banks are flooded,” said Julien Rogard, 23, an engineer who takes the No. 6 Métro line, which crosses over the Seine on the Pont de . “Where we usually can walk, we can’t anymore. ” The Seine has not overflowed this much since December 1982, when it rose to about 20 feet, but the river’s level is still short of the 26. 2 feet reached in the catastrophic flood of January 1910. Parisians and tourists thronged to take photos of the swollen river, prompting a warning from Ms. Brossel, who said: “There are still people going on the riverbanks to take pictures. It is not safe. We are asking you to respect the ban on going there. ” The government has made emergency plans to shift operations from the Élysée Palace, the seat of the French presidency, to the Château de Vincennes, a former royal fortress just east of the capital, if the waters go above 21 feet. “We’re not yet at this stage,” an official at the general secretariat for national defense and security told the magazine Le Point. “For now, we’re making sure that all plans are ready and that the different measures may be set in motion to ensure the continuation of governmental work. ” Officials expressed fears that telecommunications and computer equipment on the lower floors of the Foreign Ministry building on the Left Bank could be inundated. They said the ministry’s archives had been moved to the suburbs in 2010 for safekeeping. Across France, 20, 000 households were without power on Friday, mostly in the area, east of Paris, and in Essonne, south of Paris, a result of the swelling of the Marne and Loing tributaries of the Seine. Workers in Paris erected a special barrier on Friday morning to protect an underground electrical transformer station near the Pont de l’Alma. The substation provides power to about 80, 000 customers in the Seventh and Eighth Arrondissements. The evacuation of artworks from the Louvre, which was closed to visitors, has attracted particular attention. Starting on Thursday, officials at the museum activated an emergency plan established in 2002, prioritizing the most fragile artworks, such as tapestries. An estimated 150, 000 artworks in storage rooms and an additional 7, 000 pieces in galleries were vulnerable to flooding, and a large portion of those were moved to higher floors as a precaution, officials said. Officials emphasized that no waters had entered the museum. Other cultural institutions that were closed on Friday included the Musée d’Orsay, which is in a former train station on the Left Bank the Musée du Quai Branly, which is devoted to art and the main Bibliothèque Nationale building, named after former President François Mitterrand. The Musée Girodet in Montargis, a town about 77 miles south of Paris, suffered heavy damage on Thursday. The museum is devoted mainly to the work of Girodet, a Romantic painter who died in 1824. Heavy rains also caused deadly flooding in Germany, particularly in the southwestern state of and in the southern state of Bavaria.

Ford Move, Cited as Victory by Trump, Has No Effect on U.S. Jobs - The New York Times

Neal E. Boudette

Judging from a couple of Twitter messages by Donald J. Trump, he had scored a victory for American autoworkers by persuading Ford Motor to keep a Lincoln plant in Louisville, Ky. rather than move it to Mexico. The reality proved less straightforward. Ford had never said it was moving a plant to Mexico, only that it was transferring the production of a small Lincoln sport utility vehicle there so it could fully dedicate a Louisville plant to a model. That decision has now been reversed — but either way, it will have no impact on jobs at the factory. The plant is already operating virtually around the clock at full capacity. The decision, which Ford Motor said it made before Mr. Trump spoke by phone on Thursday with William Clay Ford Jr. the company’s executive chairman, will simply keep the current product mix in place at the factory. The Louisville plant will continue making a far larger number of Ford Escapes, a small S. U. V. that is a less luxurious vehicle than the Lincoln model, the MKC. Ford, which during the election campaign was a frequent target of Mr. Trump’s criticism for moving jobs to Mexico, was no doubt waving a political olive branch by deciding to keep Lincoln MKC production in Kentucky. But the move was largely symbolic. And that Mr. Trump seemingly overstated its impact — if it proves emblematic of his future dealings with the industry — could indicate that his promises to save and restore auto jobs may not require significant changes on the part of carmakers. Mr. Trump’s vows to protect manufacturing jobs in the United States helped him win the support of voters, including many factory workers in Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. He sought to underscore the message in his Twitter dispatches on Thursday night. “Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky — no Mexico,” Mr. Trump wrote in a message. In a subsequent post, he wrote: “I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!” Both posts overstated certain issues. The plant is not primarily a Lincoln plant — the MKC represents roughly 10 percent of its total output. The MKC is a more expensive version of the Ford Escape, which is a much bigger seller than the MKC. Production of the Escape alone is enough to keep the Louisville plant running at full capacity. Moreover, the decision to keep the MKC in Louisville was made before the two men spoke on Thursday, not as a result of their conversation, according to Ford. “We have been reviewing the sourcing of this product, and Bill Ford spoke to the yesterday and shared our recent decision to keep Lincoln MKC in Kentucky,” a Ford spokeswoman, Christin Baker, said in a statement on Friday. “We are encouraged the economic policies he will pursue will help improve U. S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the U. S. ” Ford’s chief financial officer, Robert L. Shanks, held a conference call with analysts on Thursday morning in which he expressed hope that Mr. Trump’s policies would “provide an environment where it makes economic sense to build back up manufacturing jobs here. ” But how Mr. Trump governs may be “a bit different” from his campaign speeches, Mr. Shanks said. “So let’s just wait and see. ’’ During the campaign, Mr. Trump heavily criticized Ford for deciding to shuffle its manufacturing operations so that all its small cars are made in Mexico. At times, he even suggested hitting the company and others with a 35 percent tariff on vehicles imported from Mexico. Ford has countered that moving assembly to Mexican plants would have no impact on American jobs. For example, a factory in Wayne, Mich. that now makes the weakly selling Ford Focus compact will be retooled to make trucks and S. U. V. s, which are selling briskly. Ford said the higher profit margins on trucks and S. U. V.s allow it to absorb the higher labor costs of building the vehicles in the United States. The Wayne plant is expected to remain fully staffed with 3, 700 workers. In October, speaking to reporters at an auto technology conference, Mr. Ford voiced frustration with the criticism Mr. Trump was then aiming at the company. “Look, we are everything he should be celebrating about this country,” Mr. Ford said, noting that the company makes more cars and trucks in United States plants than any of its rivals and that it was investing in its American operations and adding jobs. “He knows all that,” Mr. Ford said of Mr. Trump at the time. “I can’t control what he says. ” This week, Ford’s chief executive, Mark Fields, spoke at the Los Angeles Auto Show and reiterated the company’s commitment to shift assembly of small cars like the Focus to Mexico. The decision on the MKC gave Mr. Ford some good news to pass on to Mr. Trump. Ford wanted to move the MKC to another plant to increase production of the Escape, a change that had been planned for 2018. It could still increase output of the Escape by cutting back the number of MKCs it makes in Louisville, or it could move the Lincoln model to another plant in the United States. The Louisville plant’s work force would remain unchanged even if the MKC were moved to a new factory. The factory employs 4, 500 hourly workers and is operating on three shifts, producing vehicles almost around the clock. In the first 10 months of this year, the plant made nearly 300, 000 Ford Escapes and just over 37, 000 Lincoln MKCs. In the auto industry, plants are considered to be operating at 100 percent capacity if they are running two shifts a day. Most typically produce 200, 000 to 250, 000 vehicles a year.

Obama After Dark: The Precious Hours Alone - The New York Times

Michael D. Shear

WASHINGTON — “Are you up?” The emails arrive late, often after 1 a. m. tapped out on a secure BlackBerry from an email address known only to a few. The weary recipients know that once again, the boss has not yet gone to bed. The interruptions from President Obama might be sharply worded questions about memos he has read. Sometimes they are taunts because the recipient’s sports team just lost. Last month it was a 12:30 a. m. email to Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, and Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff, telling them he had finished reworking a speechwriter’s draft of presidential remarks for later that morning. Mr. Obama had spent three hours scrawling in longhand on a yellow legal pad an angry condemnation of Donald J. Trump’s response to the attack in Orlando, Fla. and told his aides they could pick up his rewrite at the White House usher’s office when they came in for work. Mr. Obama calls himself a “night guy,” and as president, he has come to consider the long, solitary hours after dark as essential as his time in the Oval Office. Almost every night that he is in the White House, Mr. Obama has dinner at 6:30 with his wife and daughters and then withdraws to the Treaty Room, his private office down the hall from his bedroom on the second floor of the White House residence. There, his closest aides say, he spends four or five hours largely by himself. He works on speeches. He reads the stack of briefing papers delivered at 8 p. m. by the staff secretary. He reads 10 letters from Americans chosen each day by his staff. “How can we allow private citizens to buy automatic weapons? They are weapons of war,” Liz O’Connor, a Connecticut middle school teacher, wrote in a letter Mr. Obama read on the night of June 13. The president also watches ESPN, reads novels or plays Words With Friends on his iPad. Michelle Obama occasionally pops in, but she goes to bed before the president, who is up so late he barely gets five hours of sleep a night. For Mr. Obama, the time alone has become more important. “Everybody carves out their time to get their thoughts together. There is no doubt that window is his window,” said Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s first chief of staff. “You can’t block out a and try to do it during the day. It’s too much incoming. That’s the place where it can all be put aside and you can focus. ” President George W. Bush, an early riser, was in bed by 10. President Bill Clinton was up late like Mr. Obama, but he spent the time in lengthy, freewheeling phone conversations with friends and political allies, forcing aides to scan the White House phone logs in the mornings to keep track of whom the president might have called the night before. “A lot of times, for some of our presidential leaders, the energy they need comes from contact with other people,” said the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who has had dinner with Mr. Obama several times in the past seven and a half years. “He seems to be somebody who is at home with himself. ” When Mr. Obama first arrived at the White House, his routine started around 7:15 p. m. in the game room, on the third floor of the residence. There, on an old Brunswick pool table, Mr. Obama and Sam Kass, then the Obama family’s personal chef, would spend 45 minutes playing . Mr. Kass saw pool as a chance for Mr. Obama to decompress after intense days in the Oval Office, and the two kept a running score. “He’s a bit ahead,” said Mr. Kass, who left the White House at the end of 2014. In those days, the president followed the billiards game with bedtime routines with his daughters. These days, now that both are teenagers, Mr. Obama heads directly to the Treaty Room, named for the many historical documents that have been signed in it, including the peace protocol that ended the War in 1898. “The sports channel is on,” Mr. Emanuel said, recalling the ubiquitous images on the room’s large television. “Sports in the background, with the volume down. ” By 8 p. m. the usher’s office delivers the president’s daily briefing book — a large binder accompanied by a tall stack of folders with memos and documents from across the government, all demanding the president’s attention. “An insane amount of paper,” Mr. Kass said. Mr. Obama often reads through it in a leather swivel chair at his tablelike desk, under a portrait of President Ulysses S. Grant. Windows on each side of Grant look out on the brightly lit Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial. Other nights, the president settles in on the sofa under the 1976 “Butterfly” by Susan Rothenberg, a canvas of burnt sienna and black slashes that evokes a galloping horse. “He is thoroughly predictable in having gone through every piece of paper that he gets,” said Tom Donilon, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser from 2010 to 2013. “You’ll come in in the morning, it will be there: questions, notes, decisions. ” To stay awake, the president does not turn to caffeine. He rarely drinks coffee or tea, and more often has a bottle of water next to him than a soda. His friends say his only snack at night is seven lightly salted almonds. “Michelle and I would always joke: Not six. Not eight,” Mr. Kass said. “Always seven almonds. ” The demands of the president’s day job sometimes intrude. A photo taken in 2011 shows Mr. Obama in the Treaty Room with Mr. McDonough, at that time the deputy national security adviser, and John O. Brennan, then Mr. Obama’s counterterrorism chief and now the director of the C. I. A. after placing a call to Prime Minister Naoto Kan of Japan shortly after Japan was hit by a devastating magnitude 9. 0 earthquake. “The call was made near midnight,” the photo caption says. But most often, Mr. Obama’s time in the Treaty Room is his own. “I’ll probably read briefing papers or do paperwork or write stuff until about 11:30 p. m. and then I usually have about a to read before I go to bed, about midnight, 12:30 a. m. sometimes a little later,” Mr. Obama told Jon Meacham, the editor in chief of Newsweek, in 2009. In 2014, Mr. Obama told Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan of ABC’s “Live With Kelly and Michael” that he stayed up even later — “until like 2 o’clock at night, reading briefings and doing work” — and added that he woke up “at a pretty reasonable hour, usually around 7. ” Mr. Obama’s longest nights — the ones that stretch well into the early morning — usually involve speeches. One night last June, Cody Keenan, the president’s chief speechwriter, had just returned home from work at 9 p. m. and ordered pizza when he heard from the president: “Can you come back tonight?” Mr. Keenan met the president in the usher’s office on the first floor of the residence, where the two worked until nearly 11 p. m. on the president’s eulogy for nine fatally shot during Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S. C. Three months earlier, Mr. Keenan had had to return to the White House when the president summoned him — at midnight — to go over changes to a speech Mr. Obama was to deliver in Selma, Ala. on the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when protesters were brutally beaten by the police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. “There’s something about the night,” Mr. Keenan said, reflecting on his boss’s use of the time. “It’s smaller. It lets you think. ” In 2009, Jon Favreau, Mr. Keenan’s predecessor, gave the president a draft of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech the night before they were scheduled to leave for the ceremony in Oslo. Mr. Obama stayed up until 4 a. m. revising the speech, and handed Mr. Favreau 11 handwritten pages later that morning. On the plane to Norway, Mr. Obama, Mr. Favreau and two other aides pulled another as they continued to work on the speech. Once Mr. Obama had delivered it, he called the exhausted Mr. Favreau at his hotel. “He said, ‘Hey, I think that turned out O. K.,’” Mr. Favreau recalled. “I said, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘Let’s never do that again. ’” Not everything that goes on in the Treaty Room is work. In addition to playing Words With Friends, a online game, on his iPad, Mr. Obama turns up the sound on the television for big sports games. “If he’s watching a game, he will send a message. ‘Duke should have won that game,’ or whatever,” said Reggie Love, a former Duke basketball player who was Mr. Obama’s personal aide for the first three years of his presidency. The president also uses the time to catch up on the news, skimming The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal on his iPad or watching cable. Mr. Love recalls getting an email after 1 a. m. after Mr. Obama saw a television report about students whose “bucket list” included meeting the president. Why had he not met them, the president asked Mr. Love. “‘Someone decided it wasn’t a good idea,’ I said,” Mr. Love recalled. “He said, ‘Well, I’m the president and I think it’s a good idea. ’” Mr. Obama and his wife are also fans of cable dramas like “Boardwalk Empire,” “Game of Thrones” and “Breaking Bad. ” On Friday nights — movie night at the White House — Mr. Obama and his family are often in the Family Theater, a screening room on the first floor of the East Wing, watching films they have chosen and had delivered from the Motion Picture Association of America. There is time, too, for fantasy about what life would be like outside the White House. Mr. Emanuel, who is now the mayor of Chicago but remains close to the president, said he and Mr. Obama once imagined moving to Hawaii to open a shack that sold only one size (medium) and one color (white). Their dream was that they would no longer have to make decisions. During difficult White House meetings when no good decision seemed possible, Mr. Emanuel would sometimes turn to Mr. Obama and say, “White. ” Mr. Obama would in turn say, “Medium. ” Now Mr. Obama, who has six months left of solitary late nights in the Treaty Room, seems to be looking toward the end. Once he is out of the White House, he said in March at an Easter prayer breakfast in the State Dining Room, “I am going to take three, four months where I just sleep. ”

How Instagram Becomes Backbone for Businesses

johnrussell

How Instagram Becomes Backbone for Businesses Ad 728×90 – HBS Account – 2149237058061490 http://blogs.naturalnews.com/instagram-becomes-backbone-businesses/ By johnrussell Posted Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 08:30am EDT Keywords: business marketing , content marketing , How Social Media Can Help You to Win New Business , Instagram Instagram is one of the most popular social media applications in the world today.According to statistics ,500 million active users across the globe have instagram accounts. It is an amazing platform for people to connect with their friends,colleagues and acquaintances. The app allows people with similar interests to discover each others profile and connect with them. Instagram developers have made a brilliant job of using the app as a platform for start up business in Asia. Thousands of Instagram accounts are used to promote brands,free on the Google Play Store or Itunes, the app becomes available to a wide range of people from different age groups, nationalities and backgrounds. In Asia, the Instagram app has received massive success over the past few years. In general , Asian enjoy sharing their photos and videos to their Instagram followers. It’s a fun and enjoyable way to share day to day life experiences through pixels on their mobile phones.Since Asians are very hardworking , there are thousands of start up companies who make use of Instagram to boost their sales and profits. The app provides start up companies an avenue to communicate with their followers and engage with them in an efficient way. Asian countries have a multicultural society and the east meets west theme is present in most of them.Asia is an incredibly diverse melting pot of different races and cultures.Because of Asia’s unique identity which resonates so much culture and tradition, a large number of international brands uses it as a regional hub for their businesses.Asian countries are always at the forefront of economic and technological advancements.Countries in Asia are always closely aligned with the most advanced regional and global trends, culture and news. Since social media has become mainstream, it was able to deeply influence and reshape the way Asian’s collaborate, work and consume information. Communications and marketing strategies saw a rapid increase over the past few years because social media.Asian countries are one of the highest global ranking smartphone users in the world. The social media landscape is constantly evolving and Asia is quick to adapt to these changes. Various countries such as Japan ,Singapore ,Malaysia, South Korea , Philippines,Thailand and India have all made use of Instagram as a business platform , especially for startups. On Instagram search, users are free to browse endless amounts of products ,sports , events ,activities and news to keep them up to date with the latest happenings. Over the past few years since social media has become mainstream ,more and more Asian countries have been motivated to startup their companies through apps such as Instagram. They use it to leverage their marketing strategies and boost their sales.Instagram has been a very successful platform for startup companies who strive to increase their online presence.Every startup company’s goal is to one day become famously known fore their quality products and services. One of the best examples of Asian startups on Instagram are fashion accounts. But of course tech startups also had the chance to leverage this social media giant.Millions of people around the world browse Instagram to search for fashion and style inspiration. A startup company called Roposo is the ultimate social network for fashion addicts.Since it was first launched in April 2015, it has already received more than 2 million active followers. The company originated from India. It is a user generated content platform similar to Facebook and Instagram. Raposo’s target market are women and they receive more than 1 posts each month. The developers of Roposo were Inspired from the success of Instagram. They were motivated to create a similar platform which will bring fashion lovers together. This is a great example of how Instagram influences startup companies in Asia. According to recent statistics, Instagram will achieve a higher net mobile display compared to Twitter and Google in 2017. The forecast predicted that the app will receive approximately 3$ billion in revenue by 2017. This is significantly higher than the 595$ million earnings Instagram received in 2015. A new study made by TapInInfluence found that social media marketing influence is eleven times more well received than other types of advertisements such as billboards, banners, and magazines advertorials. As a result, social media accounts who have established massive followings are much coveted by the most successful brands and companies. Social media influencers are conducted by various brands and they are instructed to promote specific products and services in exchange for monetary agreements. According to experts, the world of social media and streaming have greatly influenced companies to pay less attention on television advertisements or print media advertising. Most consumers trust the opinions of the social media influencers they follow which include bloggers, pop stars, celebrities, models etc..As a result, brands and retailers try their best to build good long lasting relationships to increase their brand exposure and gain more profits. Author Bio: JSeager is a Social media fanatic and content creator. . His skills are much sought and he is one of those cool guys who made Instagram Search pretty easy. Follow his blog to know more about his works. Click here for the blog. You might also like…

Your Monday Evening Briefing: Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Johnny Manziel - The New York Times

Andrea Kannapell and Sandra Stevenson

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Signs of friction threatened to undercut a deal between Ted Cruz and John Kasich to coordinate against Donald Trump. Mr. Trump is expected to dominate in Tuesday’s primaries in five northeastern states, but his delegate count could fall short if he loses in Indiana next week, allowing the rivals to fight it out at the convention. Polls show Bernie Sanders gaining on Hillary Clinton in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Indiana, though she appears ahead in Pennsylvania and Maryland. _____ 2. President Obama, wrapping up a trip to Europe, said he would send 250 more U. S. military personnel to Syria to help local forces fight the Islamic State. Addressing Europe’s economic and migration problems, he appeared to refer to Mr. Trump’s divisive politics. Mr. Obama said challenging conditions opened the door to “those who would try to exploit those fears and frustrations and channel them in a destructive way. ” _____ 3. The family of Tamir Rice, the fatally shot by the Cleveland police in 2014, is set to receive $6 million if a court approves. It’s the latest in a series of settlements made by major cities over the deaths of at the hands of the police. _____ 4. Beyoncé’s surprise album, “Lemonade,” and an accompanying video focus on the harm men have done to black women, insinuated that her husband, Jay Z, had an affair. (Above, the couple last year.) Her admirers — the Beyhive — took the other woman identified in song as “Becky with the good hair” to be the designer Rachel Roy. But, oops, some accidentally exacted their social media revenge on the Food Network star Rachael Ray. (Also oops, we spelled her name Rachel earlier.) _____ 5. Tough news for the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry is likely to be out for at least two weeks because of a sprained right knee. The king of will miss, at minimum, the start of the second round of the N. B. A. playoffs. He took a positive tone on Twitter: “Thanks 4 all the prayers messages. Can feel all the positive energy. God is Great! All things considered I’m Gonna be alright!” _____ 6. Football made headlines off the field. A U. S. appeals court reinstated Tom Brady’s suspension in the Deflategate case, agreeing that the N. F. L. commissioner, Roger Goodell, had broad discretion to suspend players. And Johnny Manziel, the quarterback, pictured above in December, was indicted on a misdemeanor assault charge. Commentary on his fall, our reporter says, exposes “the underbelly of fandom. ” _____ 7. At North Carolina’s statehouse, supporters and critics held battling protests over a law blocking protections for gay people and limiting transgender people’s bathroom access. _____ 8. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a “road map for ” to help those leaving prison stay out. The plan includes a federal focus on job training and substance abuse treatment before release, and closer monitoring after. And Ms. Lynch urged states to allow the newly released to trade their prisoner IDs for IDs. Above, an auto repair training shop at the Louisiana state penitentiary in Angola. _____ 9. An international panel’s report on 43 missing Mexican students reverberated through the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto. The students had been engaged in a night of confrontation with the police that turned unexpectedly violent before they disappeared, the report said, countering the official narrative that they fell victim to a drug gang. _____ 10. China halted plans for power stations in many parts of the country after signing the Paris climate accord. That means about planned 200 plants, with a combined generating capacity of 105 gigawatts, may not be built. “It’s a lot of power,” a coal specialist said. “It’s a heck of a lot of power. ” _____ 11. Finally, meet a few of the dwindling population of the world’s largest primate, Grauer’s gorilla. Conservationists say years of conflict in the jungles of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have eased, enabling them to make a head count that confirmed their fears. With fewer than 3, 800 remaining, extinction is possible. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s the Weekend Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

Job Creation Slumps in May - Breitbart

John Carney

Job creation slowed down in May, with total nonfarm payrolls increasing by 138, 000 while unemployment was little changed at 4. 3 percent. Health care and mining saw jobs gains. [Economists had expected nonfarm payrolls to grow by 145, 000 with an unemployment rate of 4. 4 percent. The number of unemployed at 6. 9 million and the unemployment rate of 4. 3 percent were nearly unchanged from the prior month. Since January, the unemployment rate has fallen by a half a percentage point and the number of unemployed has declined by 774, 000. Labor force participation declined of a percent to 62. 7 percent, near the lowest levels since the 1970s. The unemployment rate for whites declined slightly to 3. 7 percent in May. The jobless rate for Asians was 3. 6 percent, for Hispanics 5. 2 percent and for blacks 7. 5 percent. Payrolls grew in health care and mining. Health care added 24, 000 jobs, while mining jobs grew by 7, 000. Employment in restaurants and bars grew by 38, 000. (Amusing aside: the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls bars “drinking places” in its official releases.) Part time jobs grew by 113, 000, while full time jobs fell by 367, 000. Much of the jobs created in May were in occupations. Prior months were revised downward. March nonfarm payroll growth came down to 50, 000 from 79. 000. April fell to 174, 000 from 211, 000. The report would appear to support the arguments of President Donald Trump and others that the economy is still running too slowly and would benefit from fiscal stimulus in the form of tax cuts.

Abby Martin Exposes John Podesta : Information

informationclearinghouse.info

Abby Martin Exposes John Podesta Video Abby Martin explores John Podesta’s political rise, his vast network of corporate connections and his think tank "Center for American Progress." Learn why the Podestas and the Clintons are a match made in ruling class heaven. With the Wikileaks release of thousands of emails belonging to John Podesta, very little is known in US society about Podesta himself. While he’s maintained a low profile, John Podesta is actually considered one of Washington’s biggest players, and one of the most powerful corporate lobbyists in the world. Posted November 06, 2016

Prankster Alters Hollywood Sign to Read ’Hollyweed’

Daniel Nussbaum

One vandal rang in the New Year early Sunday morning by trekking up to the iconic Hollywood sign in Los Angeles and altering it to read, “Hollyweed. ”[A law enforcement official told CBS Los Angeles that the prankster hiked up Mount Lee and draped two tarps over the “O”s in the sign to make them appear as “E”s. As the sun rose over Los Angeles Sunday morning, locals took to social media to share snaps of the altered sign. THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN GOT VANDALISED AND IT NOW SAYS HOLLYWEED pic. twitter. — ebola ✨ (@mileynoticedme) January 1, 2017, Last night the Hollywood sign was vandalized into ’Hollyweed’ Starting 2017 on a high note. #2017 #hollyweed pic. twitter. — Kory DeSoto (@Korsoto) January 1, 2017, Someone managed to change the Hollywood sign to say ”Hollyweed” — 2017 starting off strong 😂😂😂😂😂 pic. twitter. — Jon (@MrDalekJD) January 1, 2017, The incident was reportedly caught on tape by security cameras and police are investigating it as misdemeanor trespassing. The vandal may have been making a political statement, or may have simply been celebrating in November, California legalized marijuana for recreational use for those 21 and older, the most significant statewide change in marijuana laws since the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, which legalized the drug for medical use. As other outlets have noted, this is not the first time the iconic sign has been altered to read “Hollyweed. ” On New Year’s Day 1976, a student at Cal State Northridge similarly draped tarps over the “O”s to change them into “E”s, and the same thing reportedly happened again in 1983. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

Bill Maher to Tom Brady, Bill Belichick: ’F*** You,’ ’Go Falcons’ - Breitbart

Trent Baker

During Friday’s “Real Time” on HBO, host Bill Maher went on a rant about how he is cheering for the Atlanta Falcons Sunday in Super Bowl LI all because President Donald Trump is close with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft. “The Falcons are playing a team where the owner, the coach, and the star quarterback all love and support Donald Trump, so I’d really like for them to lose by a score of a million f***ing thousand to none,” Maher said to applause. Later, Maher told both Brady and Belichick, “F*** you!” Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

Zika, U.S. Presidential Race, Ryan Lochte: Your Friday Evening Briefing - The New York Times

Andrea Kannapell and Sandra Stevenson

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Federal health officials advised pregnant women to avoid a second area of County where the Zika virus is spreading. The new zone includes South Beach, the tourist mecca of Miami Beach, above. The officials also sounded the alarm about the virus’s possible spread in a much larger area of South Florida. “All it takes is one mosquito bite to change the entire course of our lives,” a worried pregnant woman said. Here’s what travelers need to know. _____ 2. Donald Trump’s campaign lost its chairman, Paul Manafort, another bump in a tumultuous week for his team. Mr. Trump visited Baton Rouge with his running mate, Mike Pence, to offer consolation and draw attention to what many in Louisiana feel has been a lack of media and presidential attention. President Obama, who has been in Martha’s Vineyard on a family vacation, plans to visit Baton Rouge on Tuesday. In our latest campaign podcast, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir of growing up as part of the white underclass, explains Mr. Trump’s political rise. _____ 3. The faltering of Mr. Trump’s campaign has encouraged Democrats to press for action on President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Separately, F. B. I. documents given to Congress this week show that Hillary Clinton told investigators that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had advised her to use a personal email account. Above, a meeting in 2014. _____ 4. “I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend — for not being more careful and candid,” the Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte posted. He was referring to his account of a gunpoint robbery in Rio, which has been contradicted by witnesses, including teammates, who say he had a clash with employees of a gas station that he was drunkenly vandalizing. The apology did little to soothe angry Brazilians. “He’s still portraying himself as a victim,” said a sports commentator. “So much arrogance. ” _____ 5. The Rio Olympics are speeding toward Sunday’s closing ceremony, with just a few focal events left. One is the women’s 800 meters on Saturday night, with the South African runner Caster Semenya heavily favored to win. She still faces sporadic backbiting over whether she has a hormonal advantage over rivals. The U. S. won the women’s relay on Friday, taking a final for which they almost did not qualify. Usain Bolt won three sprinting gold medals for the third straight Olympic Games, helping Jamaica to victory in the 4x100 relay. The U. S. women’s water polo team won its second consecutive gold medal, and the U. S. men’s basketball team advanced to Sunday’s final. Russia won in synchronized swimming. _____ 6. Russia fired cruise missiles into Syria from warships in the Mediterranean for the first time, intensifying its efforts to turn back insurgent forces. The missiles, aimed near Aleppo, came days after Russia began flying bombing missions from an Iranian base. _____ 7. The former Navy SEAL who wrote an account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden apologized for failing to clear his disclosures with the Pentagon. Matt Bissonnette, who wrote under the pen name Mark Owen, agreed to forfeit $6. 8 million in book royalties and speaking fees, hoping to settle more than two years of investigations. “I acknowledge my mistake and have paid a stiff price, both personally and financially, for that error,” he said in a statement. The deal awaits court approval. _____ 8. In theaters this weekend: Natalie Portman’s “elegant and intimate” directing debut, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” based on a memoir by the Israeli novelist Amos Oz. If you’d rather hang by the small screen, Amazon Prime has “Mission Impossible — Rogue Nation. ” Our reviewers recommend nine new books, including Colson Whitehead’s daring novel, “The Underground Railroad,” and Jules Feiffer’s latest graphic novel, “Cousin Joseph. ” Foodies might want to try our recipe for creamy tomato gazpacho with crunchy pecorino. _____ 9. And finally, here’s an idea for an alternative vacation: a voyage on a freighter along the most traveled inland waterway in the U. S. a corridor that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. Travelers stay in private cabins, taking shore leave while the crew loads, unloads or navigates locks. During his passage of Lake Ontario, our travel writer observed, “The air was still and the view ahead was so wide I could see the curvature of the earth. ” Have a great weekend. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

Exclusive-Rep. Mark Meadows: I Promised President Trump I Would Negotiate Obamacare Repeal-Replace in Good Faith - Breitbart

Neil W. McCabe

Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus Rep. Mark Meadows (R. . C.) told Breitbart News on Friday that he will work with moderate Republicans to pass better Obamacare legislation than the bill offered by Speaker Paul Ryan (R. .) — as part of his understanding with President Donald Trump. [“Based on my conversations with the president and the they want to get it right, and they want to get it done quickly,” said Meadows. “They also want to make sure they reduce premiums for Americans — and when that happens, we’re in total solidarity with our president and . ” The congressman said the American Health Care Act does not have the mechanisms to reduce premiums, nor costs, until further on down the path of replacement of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. “I want to applaud the president, having met with him yesterday,” he said. “He’s negotiating in good faith. I committed to him that I would negotiate in good faith,” Meadows said. “The only troubling thing that I continue to hear is that no amendments are going to be going to be allowed to be made in order. Certainly, no amendments were supported by either of the chairmen in either of the committees of jurisdiction. ” As part of his good faith commitment to the president, Meadows said he would work with more moderate Republicans, whose districts are less conservative than his, in order to find common ground. One of the frustrations Capitol Hill conservatives are dealing with is the contrast between the 2o17 repeal effort and the 2015 repeal effort. In December 2015, Republicans in the House and Senate passed an Obamacare repeal bill authored by Rep. Tom Price (R. . ). Price is a physician and now the secretary of Health and Human Services, but in 2o15, he was the chairman of the House Budget Committee. The Price bill was the “root and branch” repeal conservatives demanded from the party. Although it was vetoed by President Barack Obama, conservatives expected the return of the 2015 bill as the opening move, followed by a replacement bill that combined parts of Obamacare that had already become part of the national consensus and a transition period that gave the economy and body politic time to adjust. The RyanCare bill was crafted to be “RepealPlus,” Meadow said. “The 2015 bill that all of us vote on? He doesn’t want to do,” he said. “He is saying that the reason why he doesn’t want to do the 2015 bill is that it won’t pass in the Senate. Well, my encouragement is to send it over to the Senate and let them amend it and then they can send it back to us. ” I support my friends @RandPaul, @SenMikeLee, and @tedcruz. Every tax, every mandate, every regulation of #Obamacare needs to go. https: . — Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) February 28, 2017, Meadows said he does bank on promises of future reform and adjustments. “In Washington, D. C. you have to make the assumption that the only thing that is going to get done is the one thing you are voting on today,” he said. “History shows us that if count on just the thing you are voting on today to get done, that is a more prudent calculation than assuming that you vote on something and assuming you’ll get three or four things that may or may not happen. ” This between the two chambers is the normal legislative process Ryan and the Republican leadership are hoping to avoid. If the RyanCare bill can progress through the House and Senate unchanged, then there is no need for a conference to reconcile two versions of the same bill. In a conference, the power shifts to the Senate from the House because a senator chairs the conference committee. For Ryan, the additional risk is that a conference committee is free to produce whatever bill they come up with for votes in the House and Senate. There is a suspicion on Capitol Hill that the RyanCare language is frozen because of agreements made between the Republican leadership and insurance company representatives when the bill was written. Certainly, it is strange for a bill to be touted as the return of “regular order” when it was developed outside the committees, without hearings. It also has not escaped notice among conservatives that not a single Republican member of either the Ways and Means Committee nor the Energy and Commerce Committee offered amendments to the RyanCare bill in their committee markups. Ryan dropped his bill Monday at 6 p. m. as members were coming back to Washington from the weekend recess and with no outreach to conservative media. A leadership staffer familiar with the RyanCare rollout told Breitbart News that the rollout was part of the party’s plan that takes Capitol Hill Republicans from January through Labor Day. January and February were devoted to confirmations and regulatory relief through the Congressional Review Act, the staffer said. March is devoted to passing leadership’s health care bill, the staffer said. The RyanCare bill is meant to be the first phase of the process, and it is written in such a way as to preserve its status as a privileged motion through the budget reconciliation process. Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, but for regular legislation, there is a requirement to close debate and bring up a vote. Because the Republicans do not have the 60 votes required for cloture, they must use the budget track, which means the repeal bill can only address issues. Further changes to the PPACA legislation are vulnerable to Democratic efforts to extend debate indefinitely as long as they control 41 votes. This maneuver is the filibuster and Republicans are anticipating that once the financial underpinnings of Obamacare are restricted through the budget bill, enough Democrats will participate in the process to pass the additional phases of replacement. As a practical matter, the House Republican Leadership must get to 216 votes, not 218, because there are five vacant House seats. The House Freedom Caucus does not list its members publicly, but during the 2015 fight to Speaker John Boehner (R. ) it was accepted that the HFC was solid for 30 votes. With 237 sitting Republicans, 22 defections are enough to kill the RyanCare bill on the floor. In the recent past, so many Republicans have bucked the House GOP leaders that the Republicans needed Democratic votes to pass leadership’s compromises with Obama and the Democrats. There were 67 Republicans who voted against the Dec. 11, 2014 “Cromnibus” budget deal. Republicans voted against Ryan’s budget agreement with Democrats in 2013. In the fiscal cliff vote Jan. 1, 2013, 151 Republicans voted against the Republican leadership. But these votes were before Ryan took the gavel and Trump moved into the White House. The next hurdle for the American Health Care Act is the House Budget Committee, chaired by Rep. Diane Black (R. . ).

#NotMyPresident? #DrainTheSwamp? The REAL Revolution Is Already Here

Corbett

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed So you say you want a revolution? Well don’t worry, it’s already happening and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the political game that the ruling oligarchs entice you to play once every four years. As the radical decentralization transforms the economy and finance and manufacturing and the media itself, the only question is whether or not you’re taking part in it. Yes, the revolution is happening, and no, it will not be televised. SHOW NOTES

Everybody Is Telling Me That Trump Is Going To Win – So Why Do I Have Such An Ominous Feeling?

Michael Snyder

Archives Michael On Television Everybody Is Telling Me That Trump Is Going To Win – So Why Do I Have Such An Ominous Feeling? By Michael Snyder, on November 6th, 2016 I hope that I am wrong. On Tuesday night we will find out who our next president will be, and I have a very ominous feeling about what is going to happen. But all around me there are people telling me that Trump is going to win. They tell me to disregard the polls because they cannot be trusted, and that very well may be true . They tell me that new voters and independent voters will overwhelmingly vote for Trump, and they tell me that it is obvious that Trump has more enthusiasm for his campaign because of the size of his rallies. I have even heard some people say that God told them that Donald Trump is going to win the election. Well, we will find out on Tuesday night who was right and who was wrong. Personally, I don’t know what is going to happen, but I am quite skeptical of Trump’s chances and I can’t shake this ominous feeling about what Tuesday night will bring. Even if Trump could legitimately get the votes that he needs, would the elite just stand by and allow him to win the election? There was evidence of widespread fraud in the last election , and there have already been reports of vote switching in this election . Bev Harris of blackboxvoting.org has been documenting how our elections have been stolen for many years, and at this point I have very little faith in the integrity of our system. But I still voted. Early voting is available where I live, and on Friday I voted for Donald Trump. I just wish that I could believe that my vote is going to matter. On Sunday we got another glaring example of how rigged the system is. In a letter to Congress, FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency is ending the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails . By some miracle, the FBI was able to examine approximately 650,000 emails in just eight days. But there are only 691,200 seconds in eight days. So the FBI somehow reviewed these emails at the rate of about one every second, and now they have conveniently come to the conclusion that Hillary Clinton is totally innocent just two days before the election. When this story broke, it really did hit me on an emotional level, and I already detailed my thoughts in an article for The Most Important News entitled “ I Just Lost All Faith In Our Deeply Corrupt Legal System And In The Rule Of Law In The United States “. I don’t know how any American is going to be able to have faith in our system of justice after this. We truly do live in a lawless nation, and if the American people elect Hillary Clinton they are willingly choosing lawlessness. But let’s pretend for a moment that our elections are completely and totally fair and that Donald Trump has an honest chance. Even though the polls have tightened up over the past week, it is still very difficult to see a path to victory for Trump. Virtually everyone agrees that the electoral map gives the Democrats a built-in advantage. In order to win the election, Donald Trump is going to have to win all of the “battleground states” plus steal a mid-size state from Hillary’s column. For Hillary, there are many paths to victory for her. If Hillary Clinton wins Florida, she wins the election. If Hillary Clinton wins Ohio, she wins the election. If Hillary Clinton wins North Carolina or Arizona, she almost certainly wins the election. In order for Donald Trump to win, he has got to win Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Arizona, Nevada and either Pennsylvania or Michigan. Of course that is possible, but it is not probable even if the fight was fair. And apparently I am not the only one that has an ominous feeling about what is coming. NBC News is reporting on a tremendous surge in emergency food sales as preppers get ready for the outcome of this election… In case of an election night Doomsday, preppers are running up sales of emergency survival food. While sales for “long term food” typically see an increase around natural disasters and elections, “this is more intense than what we saw in 2012,” said Keith Bansemer, VP of marketing for My Patriot Supply, a manufacturer and seller of survival food. During the previous election his company saw sales double. This time it’s triple. “We have everyone we can on the phones,” he said. “We are overwhelmed.” And a Yahoo article is warning that militia groups “are preparing for the possibility of a stolen election”… As the most divisive presidential election in recent memory nears its conclusion, some armed militia groups are preparing for the possibility of a stolen election on Nov. 8 and civil unrest in the days following a victory by Democrat Hillary Clinton. They say they won’t fire the first shot, but they’re not planning to leave their guns at home, either. Tens of millions of Americans are very deeply emotionally invested in this campaign, and undoubtedly some of my readers will get upset with me for writing this article. But I am not writing this article to get people down. In fact, I am strongly urging everyone to vote. If you don’t vote now, you may never get a chance to vote in a pivotal election such as this one ever again. And everyone needs to be watching for signs of election fraud when they go to vote. People are freaked out about the potential for a stolen election because of what has happened in the past, and we want to do our very best to make sure that it doesn’t happen this time. If Donald Trump wins on Tuesday, I will be very, very happy to have been proven wrong. And if Hillary Clinton wins, I will take absolutely no joy in being right. I truly do believe that this election represents America’s “last chance”. The most evil politician in the entire country is on the verge of becoming our next president, and the American people have a decision to make. If the American people willingly choose Hillary Clinton, I believe that will be the final nail in our coffin. So please vote on Tuesday, because the fate of our nation hangs in the balance. November 6th, 2016 | Tags: 2016 Election , Anxiety , Clinton , Depression , Donald Trump , Election , Election 2016 , Feeling , Feeling Pain , Hillary Clinton , Pain , Painful , Painful Feeling , Trump | Category: Commentary If Donald Trump Wins, He Will Be 70 Years, 7 Months And 7 Days Old On His First Full Day In Office » ALWAYSTOMORROW COUNTDOWN. Today, November 6, 2016. In 2 days I predict Mrs. Clinton will be elected our next president. Bob332 God gave this country TWO chances over the past 8 trs to get this country back on course & people BLEW it. Now it will be 3 strikes and your out IF this evil, corrupt POS is elected. As Lenin once said ” America is like a healthy body and it’s resistance is three fold , it’s PATRIOTISM, it’ s MORALITY and it’s Spiritual life.If we can undermine these three areas America WILL COLLAPSE from within” Ask yourself one question. Have these area’s finally been undermined? The answer is YES and we WILL suffer the ramifications! ALWAYSTOMORROW Mike, what happened to your “A Hillary Clinton Indictment Is Coming” article? Those rotten Russian hackers I’ll bet.

MILO Takes it to the Face, Reenacts Infamous UC Davis Pepper Spray - Breitbart

Ben Kew

As part of their free speech countermarch following last nights event, MILO and the Davis College Republicans reenacted the 2011 UC Davis incident with silly string.[ The reenactment was a mockery of the 2011 UC Davis incident, in which protestors from the Occupy Movement were pepper sprayed by police after refusing to leave when asked. The incident led to mass protests on the campus at the time, with every affected student receiving $30, 000 in compensation. It also led to a against former UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who was ousted after a relentless campaign by leftists angry that she defended the police officer involved in the incident. MILO and the members of the College Republicans sat down in the quad and were sprayed by silly spring by a team of Donald Trump supporters. The countermarch was a response to last nights cancellation of the event with MILO and Martin Shkreli, after violent protestors assaulted cameramen and security staff, and the event was deemed too great a security risk to go ahead. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com,

Redlist Renegade

The fact that you are ALWAYS on here dogging him with your Liberal bullshit makes it obvious that You’re a shill and a troll !!! He has a lot of valid points in his reporting and most of us that read his articles recognize that ! You and a few other people that I’ve called out on here have become obvious to most of the rest of us on here for just what you really ARE !!! If you don’t LIKE thi s type of reporting then why don’t you just get on a LIBERAL website where you can “Express” your liberal opinions along with all of your other Liberal troll buddies ?!!! Your just a closet queer that drives a cab for a living !!! If you REALLY had those two “Advanced” degrees that you like to BRAG about on here and if you were a REAL “Professional Sports Bettor” you wouldn’t be driving a cab , hanging out in casinos and spending so much time on HERE !!! You’re just a Real Looser that’s never done anything or gone anyplace in life Snitch and that’s ALL you are !!!

US secretly using Tunisia airbase for drones spying on Libya: Sources

admin

US secretly using Tunisia airbase for drones spying on Libya: Sources US secretly using Tunisia airbase for drones spying on Libya: Sources By 0 184 The US military forces have secretly been using an airbase in Tunisia for drone operations to gather intelligence from inside oil-rich Libya, officials say. The announcement was made by unnamed sources cited in a Washington Post report on Wednesday. Libya has been struggling to contain the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, who started expanding their presence in the country following the overthrow and death of longtime dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011. The base has apparently been in use since late June in an alleged effort to support the Libyan government’s fight against the terrorists currently in control of the northern city of Sirte. The US has also been using bases in Niger and Djibouti but those ones are farther away. Efforts by the administration of President Barack Obama to Access the airbase were meant to keep drones and small Special Operations teams within striking distance of the militants and close a “blind spot” for US and Western spy…

Selling a Home in the City? Turn Those Quirks Into Assets - The New York Times

Michelle Higgins

New York City apartments are notorious for their quirks and annoyances, from awkward layouts to windows that face a brick wall. When it’s time to sell, these can be major turnoffs for potential buyers. But, with a little creativity, many of these issues can be minimized, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do it. THE PROBLEM Low ceilings THE SOLUTION White paint, tall window dressings and furniture Using a lighter shade of paint on the ceilings than the walls tends to draw the eye upward and make the ceiling look higher. “Use flat, not semigloss, on the crown molding, in the same shade as the ceiling,” recommends Pat Christodoulou, who stages homes in Connecticut and New York. “This gives you an uninterrupted perspective, which results in visually raising the ceiling. ” If you don’t have moldings, she said, adding a cove molding, which begins on the wall and extends to the ceiling, will create an elongating effect. Minimalist furnishings that sit low to the floor will help increase the impression of height. sheers will also “give the illusion of larger windows and higher ceilings,” said Elizabeth Kee, a broker at CORE in Manhattan, who recently hung curtains in a $ rental in Chelsea to “create an optical illusion that the ceilings are soaring. ” THE PROBLEM Windows that face a brick wall or let in scant light THE SOLUTION Pops of bright color, strategically placed bulbs or decorative window film “At a window that faced an alleyway or brick wall, we’ve had success with placing a fixture with a daylight florescent bulb behind the curtain,” said Jeff Schleider, the senior vice president of Business Development for Citi Habitats. “It gives the illusion of natural sunlight. ” In a small on the Upper West Side, where all the windows faced out on an air shaft, Joseph G. Sheehan, a salesman with Bond New York, used “cheery yellow drapes” and sheer white curtains to dress up the windows, and bright throws, pillows and rugs to offer “a nod to sunlight and brightness” in the dark space. The apartment, which had originally been listed by another broker for $399, 000, went into contract for $435, 000 just two weeks after Mr. Sheehan brightened it up. Deanna Kory, an associate broker at the Corcoran Group, recommends white shutters or white wooden Venetian blinds with to slats. “Any light that hits the windows will be reflected favorably and create a lighter feeling within the apartment,” she said. Another option: decorative window film, which lets in light while obscuring an unattractive view it can be found at Home Depot from about $25 for elderberry or etched lace designs. Hanging a framed panel in front of the window offers a similar effect. If you’re willing to splurge, a custom window may be the solution. That’s what a client of Madeline A. McKenna, a broker at Stribling Associates, did more than a decade ago in a Midtown apartment with “a very depressing view” from the living room. It wasn’t a cheap fix, she said, noting that the multipane frosted window with inlay cost about $10, 000. But the investment eventually paid off: In 2005, the client was able to sell the apartment quickly, for about $975, 000. “We didn’t have to apologize or make excuses for the ugly window view onto the ugly, dark, dank air shaft. It became a beautiful centerpiece for the living room instead,” Ms. McKenna said, adding that the unit sold again, in 2012, for $1. 25 million and was in 2014, at $1. 35 million, with the same frosted window. “Seems everyone likes the aesthetic. ” THE PROBLEM An awkward layout THE SOLUTION Rework the floor plan The Yorkville, Manhattan, duplex apartment that Jai Lee, a saleswoman at Mdrn. Residential, listed for $599, 000 in July had plenty of assets: “The bathroom was amazing, with heated floor, enormous deep, deep tub and shower heads on both sides,” she said. But to get to it, “you had to walk past the open kitchen into the barely bedroom. ” Down a spiral staircase from the living room was a finished basement area with a and small adjoining den. “It certainly was not ideal,” said Ms. Lee, who came up with the idea of recasting the downstairs space as an unconventional master bedroom, with the master bathroom upstairs, along with a spacious closet (in what was the old master bedroom). “I started selling the idea of using the ‘master’ as your own dream closet, with spa bathroom,” she said. To help potential buyers picture her vision, she drafted a new floor plan showing the lower level as a potential bedroom with a and adjacent office or hobby room. “I made sure to only show the listing by appointment,” she added. “This way I could control the narrative and envisioning process. ” The unit sold within a month for the full asking price. THE PROBLEM A unit with windows facing the street THE SOLUTION Curtains, decorative film or window boxes For homes, especially those with bars on the windows, Anna Kahn, an associate broker at Halstead Property, recommends installing window boxes. “Live flowers add color and take away from the starkness of the grates,” she said. Another option: “ ” curtains, which are opaque near the floor and sheer at the top, to “allow sunlight to enter the apartment while still providing a sense of privacy,” suggested Mr. Schleider of Citi Habitats. Or consider using opaque film: “We sold an apartment with razor wire outside the bedroom windows,” said Vivian Ducat, a saleswoman at Halstead, who had covered part of the window, obscuring the wire. “Even though everyone opened the windows to see what was out there, they seemed satisfied that the apartment had integrity and could look good, from the look we gave it. ”

Anthropologists Discover Isolated Tribe Of Joyful Americans Living In Remote Village Untouched By 2016 Election - The Onion - America's Finest News Source

More Election Coverage Anthropologists Discover Isolated Tribe Of Joyful Americans Living In Remote Village Untouched By 2016 Election Researchers say the newly discovered tribe scored the highest on the Gross National Happiness Index of any society they have ever studied. Close Researchers say the newly discovered tribe scored the highest on the Gross National Happiness Index of any society they have ever studied. NEWS October 28, 2016 Vol 52 Issue 42 · Politics · Politicians · Election 2016 WALDPORT, OR—A team of anthropologists announced Friday it had discovered an isolated tribe of blissful Americans who have never been exposed to the current presidential campaign or its candidates, noting that the newly identified population lives contentedly in a remote village completely untouched by the 2016 race. According to researchers from Lewis & Clark College, the peaceful, secluded community along the outskirts of Oregon’s Drift Creek Wilderness remains uncontacted by political canvassers, pollsters, and the election media, allowing its generally cheerful and affable inhabitants to go about their daily lives without ever encountering a political poll, election news story, campaign ad, soundbite, or stump speech. “Upon first entering the village, we immediately noticed how relaxed and upbeat the inhabitants appeared, but it wasn’t until speaking with them directly that we understood how insulated they were from the country’s political climate,” said professor Elizabeth Letts, adding that the tribe’s levels of stress, depression, and anxiety were far lower than those recorded over the past 18 months among the broader American populace. “They actually seem to lead gratifying, well-balanced lives. The adults enjoy eight hours of sleep each night, and in place of discussing politics or the latest revelations about the candidates, they were seen regularly smiling or laughing—not cynically, or as a defense mechanism, even, but out of genuine joy.” “In my 30 years studying human cultures, I’ve never come across a people so happy,” she continued. According to Letts, when tribe members were asked their thoughts on major-party candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, they looked puzzled for a moment and then shrugged their shoulders before grinning warmly and continuing on with their day. Similarly, villagers reportedly appeared confused but at ease when asked about the national mood, saying that as far as they could tell, people were feeling pretty good about everything. The anthropologists confirmed this sense of tranquility permeated all aspects of life in the tribe, observing that when extended families gathered for mealtimes, the tenor of their conversation remained pleasant and amicable, with no subjects deemed off-limits. Moreover, scientists noted that the village lacked any signage, clothing, or other paraphernalia bearing divisive words or imagery, and residents appeared to trust one another and appreciate time spent interacting. “When I brought out my iPad to show them footage of the recent presidential debates, they immediately became agitated, and several of the children started to cry,” said graduate student Lester Reinhold, who explained that the perplexed villagers kept asking him why the people on the screen interrupted each other so often when they didn’t even have anything of value to say. “I explained that one of the two people onstage would be their next leader, and they all gasped and recoiled in horror, with many saying they didn’t see how that could possibly be true.” “I then tried showing them an attack ad about Donald Trump’s comments and actions toward women, but many of them became terrified and began screaming—that’s when one of the village elders swatted the tablet out of my hand,” he added. “After seeing how upset it made them, I determined that it was in their best interest to keep all audio and video clips from the election cycle away from them for the rest of our onsite study.” Scientists noted that when they surveyed members of the tribe about their expectations for the future, specifically after November 8, the responses they received were universally optimistic. Every villager, regardless of age, gender, or social status within the community, reportedly mentioned how they anticipated things would continue to go as well as they had been going. When asked to name the most pressing issue facing them, a few members of the group reportedly admitted, however, that it had been raining a lot lately, and that a little sunshine might be nice. “This is a perfectly preserved community, probably the last of its kind anywhere,” said Letts, who expressed concern that outside forces such as the ever-lengthening campaign season and an increase of on-the-ground political operatives in the area threatened to encroach on the tribe’s simpler and more satisfying way of life. “Even though they’re disconnected from much of the modern-day world and the daily news cycle, these individuals seemed to possess something we don’t: a true sense of delight and positivity toward everyday existence, like each new day is a gift to be cherished.” “Our society could learn a lot from these people,” she added. At press time, sources confirmed a campaign bus could be seen winding its way down a wooded road toward the village. Share This Story: Sign up For The Onion's Newsletter Give your spam filter something to do. Daily Headlines

’Merkel’s Migrants’: Germany’s Rejected Asylum Seekers Flood Paris

Nick Hallett

Migrants rejected for asylum by Germany are flooding into the French capital Paris, leaving some migrant centres almost completely full. [Between 50 and 100 rejected asylum seekers are entering France per day, according to figures from Europe 1 Le JDD, causing a new headache for the country’s authorities and creating a defining issue for the forthcoming presidential election. Berlin registered some 280, 000 asylum claims in 2016, although over 700, 000 are still being processed. Of these, 162, 510 were filed by Syrians and 127, 892 by Afghans. The vast majority of Syrians receive asylum status if they can prove their identity. However, one out of every two asylum applications from Afghans get rejected. Those rejected migrants, instead of waiting to be deported, then try their luck in a different country. A asylum centre opened by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo in November is already and the city has announced the creation of another 200 places to cope with demand. Authorities have been sounding the alarm for the past few days as makeshift camps begin forming in the streets again. Breitbart London reported in November how Paris’s migrant slums were hotbeds of crime, as gangs fought one another on the city’s streets. Many of migrants had originally travelled to the city after authorities dismantled the infamous “Jungle” camp in Calais, with large numbers gathering in the Stalingrad district. Footage from April 2016 shows the Stalingrad camp explode in violence as massive riot erupted between over 1, 000 people. Despite being officially broken up, authorities are concerned that the camp and others like it will reform as the new wave of rejected asylum seekers travels across the border from Germany. One local resident said in November: “The stench of urine, faeces, and rubbish has made Stalingrad an unhealthy place to live. The place is dead, no one wants to come here anymore. People are afraid to go out and lock themselves in. ”

John Bolton: Only Way to End North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program Is to ‘End the North’

John Hayward

Former U. N. Ambassador John Bolton talked about North Korea, Russia, and Syria during his regular visit to Breitbart News Daily on Thursday. [Bolton said Trump was correct to see Syria’s use of chemical weapons as a threat to the United States. “I think this has been a view that has developed in the United States for a hundred years,” he observed. “You know, we’re just past the hundredth anniversary of America’s entry into World War I. It was the use of poison gas in World War I that caused people to begin to think about what we now call weapons of mass destruction. It didn’t happen overnight, but today, we include in that category nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. It’s been a consistent, and I think correct, policy of the United States for decades to prevent the proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction and to oppose their use, particularly against innocent civilians. ” “This attack by the Syrians was as much an act of terrorism as it was an act of military action,” he declared. As for policing the use of WMD, Bolton pointed out that “nobody else is going to do it, anywhere in the world, let’s not kid ourselves. ” “Not the United Nations, not the European Union, certainly not Russia or China, who are, by the way, themselves likely violating the Chemical Weapons Convention. We did it, and we did it because we’re going to make it clear that you don’t use weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “I think it was a precise and limited rationale and a very precise strike,” he judged. “I think it has almost no implications for the conflict in Syria, the civil war there. ” “Now, I know in the past four or five days since the attack, those who advocate more U. S. involvement in the Syrian civil war have said there’s a dramatic change in policy, and they’re in favor of it. Many who oppose greater U. S. involvement in the Syrian civil war have said it’s a dramatic change in policy, and they oppose it. They’re all wrong. I don’t think this is a change of policy with respect to Syria. I think it’s about weapons of mass destruction,” he said. SiriusXM host Alex Marlow brought up the rumors that President Trump ordered the Syria strike as an “emotional response” by members of the Trump family to photos and videos of chemical attack victims, especially the children. “I don’t think you should respond to strategic threats with an emotional response,” said Bolton. “I know that sounds to some people, but I think that’s the reality that the has to face. I don’t know exactly what the role of the president’s family was in persuading him to do this. ” “I would say we would test that over the next several weeks,” he proposed. “For example, many who want greater U. S. involvement on the side of the opposition, the rebels in Syria, have said, ‘Well, what difference does it make if Assad uses chemical weapons to kill innocent men, women, and children one day and uses cluster bombs or barrel bombs the next day? The people are just as dead.’ That’s an argument that says once you see an atrocity — and Secretary of State Tillerson said that we’ll come to the protection of innocents all over the world. ” “I said before, strategic analysis can be . It’s certainly the case that the victims of these attacks are just as dead, no matter what the methods used. But I would say there is a strategic difference and a real difference for the United States whether the brutality is carried out by conventional means or by weapons of mass destruction,” said Bolton. “We are not going to stop all brutality around the world. I think it’s inherent in human nature, among other reasons,” he acknowledged. “But we can say with this category of weapon — biological, chemical, and nuclear — they are different. They’re different because of their capacity to kill in large numbers and the nature of the regimes that use them. ” “This is a complex subject. I can’t prove this moment that the president’s going to stick to the line that he articulated or that maybe there will be an emotional response after another Syrian attack or an attack by somebody else. But I can say where we are right now on this retaliatory action against Syria’s use of chemical weapons, I think we’re right where we should be,” he contended. Marlow noted that many of Trump’s voters disagree with traditional Republican foreign policy by failing to see even a heinous deployment of chemical weapons in distant lands as a direct threat to the United States. “I think that the efforts we’ve made over the years to prevent the proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction demonstrates why we think it is a threat to the United States,” Bolton countered. “We don’t want more countries to have nuclear weapons. We don’t want more countries to have chemical and biological weapons. ” “Some people say there’s a huge difference between chem and bio on one side and nuclear on the other. Never forget that analysts call chemical and biological weapons ‘the poor man’s atomic bomb’ because it takes an awful lot less to create those kinds of weapons than the nuclear side,” he pointed out. “There have been technological reasons that it’s been hard to use chemical and biological weapons because when you deliver them via artillery shell, the explosive force of the shell destroys much of the weapon — which is why more sophisticated techniques are now being used, using ventilation systems at domed stadiums, for example, or large office buildings and that sort of thing. Put the chemical or biological weapon in the ventilation system and let it reach tens of thousands of people that way,” he said. “Don’t underestimate the extent to which terrorists and others would love to perfect these weapons to use against us,” Bolton warned. “In the caves of Afghanistan, in ’s files, we found after the overthrow of the Taliban that had been pursuing weapons of mass destruction almost from its inception. I think saying to everybody, ‘Don’t even think about using these weapons’ ultimately safeguards the United States more than anybody else because of our presence all around the world. ” Bolton said it was difficult to have complete confidence that Trump’s strike on Syria would be a “ ” action with no implications for deeper involvement but added that “as of now, when you listen to the president, his rationale has been very limited and very precise. ” “It is true that some of his senior advisers have been much more expansive in what they’re saying and have given the indication that they would like nothing more than to get further military activity underway,” he acknowledged. “I thought perhaps the most disturbing thing that I heard yesterday at the press conference in Moscow between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was an observation that Lavrov made. I just want to say, for all the obvious reasons that you and your listeners can understand, I don’t want to be in a public spitting contest with Rex Tillerson, but I would say this if Mother Teresa had made this comment,” Bolton said. “Lavrov said that Rex Tillerson told him he didn’t care about history he just wanted to solve the current problems that we have. I hate to say I agree with Lavrov, but he went on to say you can’t solve today’s problems unless you understand the history. This temptation to say, ‘Well, the new guys are here. We’re the pros from Dover. We know how to do it. We’ll take care of it’ is a risk, a risk of expanded activity without a strategic rationale behind it,” he cautioned. “I think what we’ve got now is, we’re in the right place, and I think the president should hear from his supporters the positive reinforcement that we understand the rationale for the strike against Syria, that we support it, and we think it’s just fine to stop there,” he said. Bolton sought to avoid hyperbole in describing the dismal state of relations between the United States and Russia. “In the midst of the politics that we found ourselves the last eight months, where after forty years of finding it difficult to stand up to the Soviet threat, the Democrats pretended to be the only defenders of America against the Manchurian candidacy run by Moscow that would convey Donald Trump into the White House, where he would do their bidding,” he observed sarcastically. Bolton speculated that Trump “feels that Russian complicity, quite possibly, in this chemical weapons attack, certainly Russian efforts to cover it up after the fact through disinformation, have made it impossible for him to do what he hoped to do, which is see if he could better relations. ” “Of course, he’s frustrated by that. I think anybody would be. I’m not so frustrated by it in the sense I fully expected it. Part of assuming the office is learning in a very personal sense some hard truths out there,” he said. Bolton found more hard truths to be learned in North Korea, where he said there was no doubt that “because of eight years of the Obama administration doing nothing, under the guise of a policy they called ‘strategic patience,’ which was really a synonym for doing nothing, North Korea is perilously close to having the capability to put a nuclear device under the nose cone of an ICBM and land it on the United States. ” “There is interesting testimony, I think it was just last week, by the commander of the U. S. Strategic Command, who said that of all the things you need to do to have a worldwide ballistic missile delivery capability for nuclear weapons that he doesn’t think the North Koreans have is the miniaturization issue — taking the nuclear device and putting it in a small enough package that it can actually be delivered via missile,” Bolton said. “Since we know that Russia and China both obviously mastered that a long time ago, you have to worry that the North may be even closer than we thought,” he continued. “The estimates were they were close to that point, people said, within a few years. There are people at the Pentagon, serious people, who believe that it could be 2018. That’s why I think there’s real concern about what’s going on. ” “I think it’s coupled with the disarray in South Korea, where they’ve just had their president impeached — an election coming up next month that could return a administration, which would be a real problem for us. So I think there’s good reason to be concerned,” he added. “You ask what the solution is. I believe this: North Korea will never be talked out of its nuclear weapons — not by diplomacy, not be economic pressure. People in North Korea live a prison camp now. The regime doesn’t care about their economic . They care about staying in power. A nuclear weapon is the regime’s ace in the hole to stay in power,” he contended. “I think the only way to deal with the North Korean nuclear weapons program is to end the regime in North Korea,” Bolton advised. “Reunite the Korean peninsula. It’s not enough to pressure China to impose sanctions on North Korea. They need to understand that this regime poses a threat to stability in the region that undermines their security as well. We need to bring them to the realization that reunification is going to happen one way or the other. We can either do it the sensible way, or it will happen in a much more threatening way. I don’t pretend that’s easy, but that’s the real solution. ” He said if reunification occurs, the “ ” necessary to repair North Korea would be done by the Korean people themselves. “To return to the German analogy, the country in the North Atlantic region that wanted German reunification most was the United States,” he noted. “The other European powers feared it, the West Germans thought it would cost too much, but ultimately, it was the United States that prevailed. I think the same thing is true here. ” “The South Koreans are worried about their pensions. In fact, the reunification of the two Koreas would produce an economic boom for South Korea,” he argued. “A huge labor force in the North that would become available to their capital investments — boy, I tell you, the Korean peninsula would just take off after reunification. ” “What China needs to be convinced of is that they wouldn’t see American troops on the Yalu River, the border with China, after reunification,” Bolton stressed. “They saw that movie in 1950. They didn’t like [it] then. They don’t like it now. Fortunately, we don’t want to be on the Yalu River either. We want to be at the southern tip of the peninsula so we can deploy elsewhere in East Asia if there’s a crisis. There’s a deal there. ” “As I say, it’s not easy. I don’t underestimate it. But there’s a way to do this if we start now and persist on it,” he said. “I would be very wary of Chinese assurances that they’re going to help persuade North Korea to give up the nuclear weapons program,” Bolton cautioned. “They’ve said that for 25 years, and they haven’t done a single thing to materially impede North Korea’s nuclear program. I think further discussions with North Korea, further efforts to pressure North Korea, are basically a waste of time. The way to end the North’s nuclear program is to end the North — merge it, reunify it with South Korea. ” John Bolton is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and head of his own political action committee, BoltonPAC. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN:

Black Agenda Radio for Week of Nov 14, 2016

Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford

News, information and analysis from the black left. Black Agenda Radio for Week of Nov 14, 2016 Submitted by Nellie Bailey a... on Mon, 11/14/2016 - 21:23 2016 elections Cornel West: Class Becoming “Much More Central” “We are witnessing the end of the neoliberal era,” said Dr. Cornel West , the nation’s most prominent Black public intellectual, assessing the import of last week’s election. West backed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, then endorsed the Green Party’s presidential ticket. The election “did not go left-populist, following Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein,” he said. Instead, “it went rightwing-fascist. But the neoliberal era is coming to a close and the neoliberal establishment is being exposed. The issues of class now are becoming much more central.” Trump Supporters Mounted an “Insurrection” Duboisian scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro was among the few observers on the Left that thought Donald Trump would win at the polls. But, even he was startled at the scope of Trump’s sweep. “I felt that the insurgency would grow and deepen, but I never thought that it would become an insurrection,” said Monteiro. “In a certain sense, white working and poor people in these small, rust belt towns have a sense of achievement in having brought the Clintons down that Black people had in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected with a huge Black turnout,” he said. Monteiro is one of the organizers of a Conference on Political Science for Radical Times, set for December 9-10, in Philadelphia. TPP “On Its Death Bed” With Donald Trump’s victory, President Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership corporate rights trade deal is “looking like it’s on its death bed,” said Kevin Zeese , of Popular Resistance. “We’ve worked for five years to make TPP stand for Toxic Political Poison, and that seems to have happened,” said Zeese. Trump won in “the rust belt that was destroyed by NAFTA” -- Bill Clinton’s jobs-exporting bill of a generation ago -- “and was going to be threatened again by TPP.” Zeese said Obama may make a last bid to pass TPP in the lame duck session of Congress that begins this week. Finally, a Practical Guide to Black Self-Determination The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations adopted a 19-point Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination, at a conference in Washington. The document applies the principle of self-determination to the broadest range of issues, from Black Community Control of the Police, to Mass Black Incarceration, to Nationalization of the Banks. “Everybody wants self-determination,” said Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela , “but what does it mean, practically?” The 19 points give direction to the struggle. “This isn’t something you work on every four years,” said Yeshitela. “This is something you work on every day. This is our program.” Margaret Kimberley , an editor and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report, told the conference: “When we meet together, today, we are showing the world what self-determination looks like.” Voting for “your enemies” is not self-determination, and “thinking that electoral politics is the only road to liberation is not self-determination,” said Kimberley. Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.

Trump Halts U.S. Funding of United Nations Population Fund

Dr. Susan Berry

President Trump’s administration is ending U. S. funding of the United Nations Population Fund — an agency that human rights activists have linked to the support of population control programs such as China’s coercive abortion “ policy. ”[The halt to the funding of the United Nations Population Fund — known as UNFPA — comes as Trump is scheduled this week to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at the president’s resort in Florida. In January, Trump signed an executive order that reinstated the “Mexico City Policy,” which concerns U. S. aid for abortions overseas. The president updated the policy by directing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to implement a plan that expands the policy across all global health assistance funding. The directive means that U. S. taxpayer dollars will no longer be supporting organizations that promote or participate in the management of a coercive abortion program, such as that espoused by China. A report by the Associated Press states that as a result of the end of U. S. funding of UNFPA, $32. 5 million will shift to the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which has the goal of reducing maternal deaths and practices such as genital mutilation. As Breitbart News reported in December 2015, Rep. Chris Smith ( ) of the Congressional Executive Committee on China, observed during a hearing, “The Chinese government is not the only one culpable in these heinous crimes against women and children. The UN Population Fund helped fund birth restrictions, fund forced abortions, and a massive and coercive family planning bureaucracy. ” “The UNFPA whitewashed China’s crimes for decades and continues to do so today,” the congressman continued, adding that on its website UNFPA “justifies its history in China, saying it was ‘tasked by the Executive Committee’ to help China and had to ‘engage with China as a sovereign nation. ’” More than a year ago, China announced that it had switched to a “ policy,” one that Smith said only continues the country’s longstanding attempts to control family life: The “ policy” may possibly become a “ policy” but China’s police state population control policies will not end anytime soon. The Chinese government retains the power to tell couples what their families must look like and the power to punish those who disobey birth quotas. For the past 35 years the Chinese government has wasted precious human potential and sanctioned violence against women and children — enabled by groups globally and the United Nations Population Fund. No one should applaud China’s announced “ ” policy instead we should be insisting they abolish intrusive and abusive birth restrictions forever. Trump’s reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy was criticized in February by Bill and Melinda Gates, whose foundation has as its focus the support of family planning across the globe. The Gates Foundation is also criticizing Trump’s foreign aid cuts: Foreign aid and access to contraceptives can be smart investments in a more stable and prosperous future. https: . — Gates Foundation (@gatesfoundation) April 3, 2017, “We’re concerned that this shift could impact millions of women and girls around the world,” Melinda Gates told the Guardian. “It’s likely to have a negative effect on a broad range of health programs that provide lifesaving treatment and prevention options to those most in need”: In Indonesia, I saw more proof that when we invest in contraceptives, we invest in a more stable prosperous future https: . — Melinda Gates (@melindagates) April 2, 2017,

Hillary Tells MASSIVE Lie & This Time It’s About 9/11 – This Will Make Your Blood Boil!

The Conservative Millennial

0 comments At a Florida rally, Hillary Clinton used the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks to pander to her supporters, and told a massive lie in the process. “I know what happened not far from here at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando,” Hillary said. “I was in New York City on 9/11 as one of the two Senators. I will defeat ISIS. I will protect America.” Watch: — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) November 2, 2016 But here’s the thing… Hillary wasn’t actually there on 9/11, and it’s common knowledge. TellMeNow reported: She went to New York City the following day, but she definitely wasn’t there on the day of the terrorist attacks. She toured the area on 9/12 with Mayor Rudy Giuliani then hightailed it back to DC. She didn’t get her hands dirty. She went for a short photo op and now she can’t even get the facts of that straight. It is sickening that someone would use such a tragedy for personal gain, but then, this is Hillary Clinton we’re talking about. She left four Americans to die in Benghazi, she threatened women who were assaulted by her own husband, she laughed about getting a child rapist off the hook, and the list goes on and on… She is heartless.

HIDDEN CAM: FBI Botched First Clinton Investigation – Why Trust Them Now?

Rachel Blevins

We Are Change The FBI is on round two of their investigation into the emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton on her private server, and a recently released undercover video serves as a reminder of everything that was wrong with the initial investigation. It all starts with who they did and did not interview. In March 2015, reports first surfaced revealing that Clinton did not have a government email address, and opted to use her personal address during her tenure as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. Reports then concluded that her private address was linked to a private server at her home in Chappaqua, New York. However, the FBI did not publicly admit that they were conducting an investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information until June 2016, when FBI general counsel James Baker sent a letter to the State Department confirming that there was, in fact, an “ongoing investigation.” The public knowledge of Clinton’s email practices came about because she was already being investigated by the House Select Committee on Benghazi for her involvement in the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghzi, Libya. Despite the fact that a former Secretary of State who was already being investigated , admitted that she used a private server for government business, and then told the public that she deleted 33,000 emails, the FBI still waited nearly a year to confirm that they were conducting an investigation into her email practices. According to a recent video from Project Veritas, the FBI’s initial investigation into Clinton’s email was not nearly as thorough as it should have been. The undercover report revealed that State Department IT Systems Administrator Cindy Almodovar knew of Clinton’s email practices in 2010, and even “met with Huma Abedin for 30 minutes regarding emails at the then unknown, but now notorious, @clintoneail.com site.” However, Almodovar claims in the video that she was never interviewed by the FBI in connection with their investigation, despite the fact that her name was mentioned in the emails and her knowledge of Clinton’s practices was clear. While the FBI failed to interview Almodovar, they did manage to interview Clinton’s close confidante and top aide: Huma Abedin. At the time, Adedin swore under oath that she turned in all of the “all of the devices” she owned that contained State Department emails. However, the FBI now claims to have found “tens of thousands” of emails belonging to Abedin on the laptop of her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner. Weiner is currently being investigated for engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage girl. Some sources have said that Clinton is “likely to be indicted” this time around, but this comes after FBI Director James Comey laid out of all of the reasons Clinton should have been arrested in the first investigation, and then ultimately defended her. Why should we trust that Comey and the FBI will get it right this time around? With all of the recent revelations from WikiLeaks and Project Veritas coming together, it serves as a reminder that it’s not just about Clinton this time. It is not about both Hillary Clinton and the entire FBI being held accountable for their actions. Follow Rachel Blevins on Facebook and Twitter . The post HIDDEN CAM: FBI Botched First Clinton Investigation – Why Trust Them Now? appeared first on We Are Change .

‘Hidden Figures’ Ties ‘Rogue One’ at Box Office - The New York Times

Brooks Barnes

LOS ANGELES — It was a surprise photo finish at the weekend box office, with the drama “Hidden Figures” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” each selling an estimated $22 million in tickets at North American theaters. Most analysts had expected “Rogue One” (Disney) to easily repeat as the No. 1 multiplex attraction. The “Star Wars” spinoff has now collected about $477. 3 million over four weeks. Overseas, it has taken in another $437 million. But in its first weekend in wide release “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox) about unsung black heroines in the NASA space race of the 1960s, was lifted by strong reviews, an aggressive marketing campaign that included a appeal to faith audiences, and attention on Hollywood’s annual awards circuit. Fox said “Hidden Figures,” directed by Theodore Melfi and starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe, did particularly well in San Francisco, Washington, Chicago and Cleveland. Produced by Chernin Entertainment and Levantine Films for about $25 million, after accounting for tax credits, “Hidden Figures” received an grade from ticket buyers in CinemaScore exit polls. The movie was most popular with women (64 percent of the audience) and people over the age of 35 (about 56 percent of attendees). The animated musical “Sing” (Universal) was next in line, taking in about $20 million, for a domestic total of $213. 4 million. The weekend’s other new movie, “Underworld: Blood Wars” (Sony) only managed $13 million in ticket sales, or nearly 50 percent less than the initial results for its 2012 franchise predecessor. Sony noted that “Blood Wars” also cost half as much to make — about $35 million — and has already taken in $45 million overseas. Sony also blamed winter storms in the Eastern United States for decreasing turnout. Among specialty releases: “Manchester by the Sea” (Roadside Attractions) sold about $2. 5 million in tickets in 1, 054 theaters, lifting its total to $34 million “Patriots Day” (CBS Films and Lionsgate) about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, had $105, 000 in seven locations, ahead of its nationwide release on Friday.

Federal Law Doesn’t Require Healthcare Providers to Report FGM Despite Half a Million ’At Risk’

Michael Patrick Leahy

The barbaric practise of female genital mutilation — a procedure made unlawful by the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 — has been thrust to the fore of public debate in the United States following the arrests of Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, and Attar’s wife Farida in Michigan this month. [According to reports, several young Somali girls were brought from Minnesota, one of states that have passed legislation to make female genital mutilation (FGM) illegal according to state laws, to Michigan, one of states in which FGM has not been made illegal in state law, where Dr. Nagarwala, with assistance from Mrs. Attar, performed the procedure outlawed by federal law in a medical office owned by Dr. Attar. “Since 1996, there have been specific federal criminal penalties for performing in the United States on anyone under 18 years old, including fines, up to 5 years in prison, or both. In 2013, Congress amended the federal statute related to to criminalize the knowing transportation of a girl under 18 years old from the United States for the purpose of performing abroad — often referred to as ‘vacation cutting,’ ” according to the June 2016 Government Accountability Office’s report Female Genital . The current federal statute, which codifies both the 1996 law and the 2013 law can be seen here at U. S. Code Title 18 Part I Chapter 7 § 116 — Female genital mutilation. Surprisingly, neither the 1996 federal law that outlawed FGM, nor the 2013 federal law that outlawed “vacation cutting” requires health care providers to report known or suspected instances of FGM to local, state, or federal health authorities or law enforcement. Current federal law criminalizes the practice of FGM, but does not specifically require reporting on it, though health care providers are obligated to report instances of child abuse, a category in which FGM falls. With this paucity of reporting data, two recent studies, one by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) another by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have used demographic analysis to estimate that the number of women who have “undergone” FGM or are “at risk of the procedure” in the United States exceeds 500, 000. “Female genital ( ) involving partial or total removal of the external genitals of girls and women for religious, cultural, or other nonmedical reasons, has devastating immediate and health and social effects, especially related to childbirth,” the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) a research organized funded in part by the Bill Melissa Gates Foundation, reported in February 2016. “In 2013, there were up to 507, 000 U. S. women and girls who had undergone or were at risk of the procedure, according to PRB’s data analysis. This figure is more than twice the number of women and girls estimated to be at risk in 2000 (228, 000). The rapid increase in women and girls at risk reflects an increase in immigration to the United States, rather than an increase in the share of women and girls at risk of being cut. The estimated U. S. population at risk of is calculated by applying and prevalence rates to the number of U. S. women and girls with ties to those countries,” PRB reported. PRB’s “at risk” estimates were based on demographic analysis, rather than actual reported incidents of FGM in the United States. They made the common sense assumption that young girls raised in immigrant households where the country of origin is one where the FGM incidence has been documented to be high are “at risk” since those cultural practices are not left in the home country by the family but are likely to continue in the United States. “Just three sending countries — Egypt, Ethiopia, and Somalia — accounted for 55 percent of all U. S. women and girls at risk in 2013 (see Table 1). These three countries stand out because they have a combination of high prevalence rates and a relatively large number of immigrants to the United States. The prevalence rate for women and girls ages 15 to 49 is 91 percent in Egypt, 74 percent in Ethiopia, and 98 percent in Somalia. About 97 percent of U. S. women and girls at risk were from African countries, while just 3 percent were from Asia (Iraq and Yemen),” PRB explained. “ has gained attention in the United States in part because of the rising number of immigrants from countries where is prevalent, especially Africa. Between 2000 and 2013, the population from Africa more than doubled, from 881, 000 to 1. 8 million,” the PRB report added: This type of violence against women violates women’s human rights. There are more than 3 million girls, the majority in Africa, who are at risk of each year. In Djibouti, Guinea, and Somalia, nine in 10 girls ages 15 to 19 have been subjected to . Some countries in Africa have recently outlawed the practice, including but progress in eliminating the harmful traditional practice has been slow. 1 Although is most prevalent in Africa, global migration patterns have increased the risk of among women and girls living in developed countries, including the United States. “CDC published a report in 2016 estimating that 513, 000 women and girls in the United States were at risk of or may have been subjected to in 2012,” according to the June 2016 Government Accountability Office’s report Female Genital . The CDC report found the virtually the same results PRB found using 2013 data: While subject to certain limitations, this represents a substantial increase — about threefold — from CDC’s prior estimate of 168, 000, which was based on 1990 data. CDC attributed this increase to a sharp rise in recent decades in the U. S. population originating from countries where is commonly practiced, and noted that the increase occurred despite prevalence not increasing or seemingly falling in many of these countries. “In the report for the 2012 estimate, the authors said that until scientifically valid data are collected, the approach used provides the best available information on the potential levels of ” GAO wrote: CDC and others have acknowledged that collecting more scientifically valid data would be difficult due, in part, to the cultural and legal sensitivity of theinformation needed. International efforts to collect data on the actual occurrence of have faced similar challenges. Starting in October2015, however, the United Kingdom began requiring health care providers in England to report through a nationwide database any instance of described to them or discovered during physical exams. (emphasis added) Recent press reports indicate that the methodologies used in both the CDC report and the PRB report are supported by at least one instance where health care providers actually tracked the incidence of FGM among recent immigrants to the United States from a country in which it is a very common cultural practice. “In Phoenix, Arizona, a staggering 98 percent of Somali women being treated at the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic have been circumcised, founder Dr. Crista Johnson said. She estimates the Somali community is at least ” NBC News reported in 2014. But the work by the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic in Phoenix accurately reporting on the incidence of FGM among recent immigrants to the United States is the exception in a public health system that is not required to specifically report suspected or actual incidents of FGM by law in most jurisdictions and is reluctant to do so for a variety of ideological and institutional reasons. “Despite the fact that FGM in all forms has been explicitly illegal in the United States since 1996, legislation criminalizing the practice has not been comprehensively implemented or enforced, and community members, social service providers and law enforcement officials often fail to identify, report or investigate incidents of FGM,” Sanctuary for Families reported in 2013: Anecdotal evidence indicates that female genital mutilation also continues to be performed within the United States. Typically, FGM in the U. S. is carried out by traditional practitioners who operate covertly and illegally. When U. S. health care providers carry out the procedure, they frequently come from countries where the practice is prevalent, and they operate on girls from their own communities at the request of a child’s parents. “Some states have enacted laws specifically criminalizing while other states may pursue offenses under other related statutes, such as child abuse laws,” according to the June 2016 Government Accountability Office’s report Female Genital : In some instances, states require that an occurrence of be reported. DOJ indicates that two states, Illinois and Tennessee, have mandatory reporting for . All states have mandatory reporting laws governing child abuse, which may apply to reporting depending on the relevant circumstances and particular statutory requirements. Some state laws address other areas of such as provisions prohibiting “vacation cutting” or provisions for community education and outreach. “Local law enforcement and child protection officials told us that immigrant communities may underreport due to cultural norms, victims’ reluctance to betray their community or family members, and concern about potential effects on their immigration status and that of their family members. In addition, although many professionals who may be in contact with girls at risk for are mandatory reporters (e. g. health care, school, and child care officials) they may be uncertain about whether should be reported,” according to the Government Accountability Office’s June 2016 report Female Genital : For example, health care providers we spoke with stated that they may not report instances of girls being at risk of or subjected to due to uncertainty about mandatory reporting requirements (e. g. if occurred before arriving in the United States) or because they prefer to counsel parents on the consequences of to change parents’ position on the issue. School officials we spoke with had little or no experience encountering among their students, in general, and school officials may not be certain of what actions are appropriate when they encounter suspicions of which can affect reporting. For example, an official from a nongovernmental organization that works with Somali women said teachers contacted them for guidance on dealing with suspicions of vacation cutting. In addition, a former school psychologist who now works with a national organization told us about an instance when school officials had suspicions of vacation cutting that was notreported. However, they did not confirm these suspicions with the student or her family, out of concern that she would be pulled out of school and her home environment would be disrupted. Without clear evidence that had occurred, the officials decided to provide the student with general support for trauma. States’ mandatory reporting requirements vary across jurisdictions, are dependent on the relevant facts and circumstances, and would be subject to some level of interpretation bythe reporting official. These factors can make it challenging to determine the appropriate course of action when encountering potential instances or risks of on minors, The public health establishment — at the federal, state, and county levels — has been reluctant to look for and report on female genital mutilation (FGM) data, just as it has been reluctant to report on the incidence of latent and active tuberculosis (TB) among resettled refugees. An example of this reluctance when it comes to reporting on active TB among refugees is the hidden blockbuster discovered by Breitbart News in January that 1, 565 refugees have been “diagnosed with active TB since 2012, three times more than previously reported. ” Many state government health departments that report active TB among refugees make the data very difficult to find. Other state government health departments simply fail to fully report active TB among refugees, and many county governments, particularly those in urban areas controlled by Democrats, refuse to comply with the public health reporting requirements of the Refugee Act of 1980, particularly with regards to latent TB. Public data on the incidence of FGM — which occurs almost exclusively among the immigrant population arriving from Africa, the Middle East, and the Near East — is far more difficult to obtain than public data on the incidence of active TB. Every state has had very clear reporting standards about the incidence of active TB among the entire population for well over half a century — in many states for more than a century. Such is not the case with FGM, because the barbaric practice was virtually unknown in the United States until the significant upswing over the past several decades in the arrival of immigrants from countries where it is has been a common practice for centuries. “I think it’s more than mere reluctance,” an attorney familiar with the refugee resettlement program tells Breitbart News about the reluctance of public health officials to obtain and report data on FGM. “I think it’s a deliberate, ideological approach of moral equivalency, meaning that just about anything multiculturalism dishes out, should be respected and accepted — and the PC bureaucracy backs them up,” the attorney says. “Public health and medical care in general, is not supposed to be a judgment, and because FGM has been made illegal in the U. S. with individual states even passing their own laws, it’s made it easier for public health departments to opt out of addressing it, leaving it instead to law enforcement agencies,” the attorney adds. “If there is any doubt, just look at the annual refugee health reports like the one for Texas that has extensive data about health issues related to arriving refugees they report on STDS but there is nothing about FGM, a condition that for many women who have been mutilated, brings medical issues,” the attorney concludes. The 2014 Refugee Health Report issued by the state of Texas, for instance reports, extensively on the rates of syphilis for refugees over the age of 15, but includes no data on FGM. Refugee health reports for the states of California, Utah, Arizona, Minnesota, Indiana, and Florida follow a similar pattern. The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) guidelines to medical professionals responsible for conducting the initial domestic medical screenings of refugees arriving in the United States for resettlement by the federal government specifically recommend genital examinations, which would clearly identify arriving refugees who are FGM victims. However, a significant number of those screeners may not be following those recommendations, or may delay the examinations indefinitely based on language in the guidelines that states “[i]n refugees who previously experienced trauma (e. g. sexual assault victims) the anal and genital examination may be postponed until the refugee establishes a trusting relationship with a provider. ” That apparent failure misses key information that could help stop the spread of the barbaric practice in the United States, as adult women arriving in the country who are already victims of FGM are likely to be in family situations where their daughters are at risk of being subjected to the same abuse in this country. Common sense suggests that the PRB’s and CDC’s estimates of the number of girls in the United States at risk for FGM is likely to be very close to the true incidence of FGM in this country today. The public health establishment’s long record of hiding and obscuring data that accurately reflects the true public health status of immigrants and refugees, however, appears to be one of the major stumbling blocks in identifying and eradicating this barbaric practice in the United States, as is the lack of specificity in the underlying federal and state statutes.

The End of the Office Dress Code - The New York Times

Vanessa Friedman

Over the weekend an exhibition opened at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Entitled “Uniformity,” it displays 71 pieces from the museum’s collection of (surprise) uniforms, divided into four categories — military, work, school, sports — as well as a select group of the fashion looks they influenced, like Geoffrey Beene’s 1967 sequined football jersey gown and Rei Kawakubo’s 1998 military vest and pleated skirt for Comme des Garçons. “I was interested in the inherent dichotomy between uniforms and fashion,” said Emma McClendon, assistant curator of costume, and the organizer of the exhibition, “because while they should be antithetical to one another — the first is about conformity, the second about creativity — they are also deeply interrelated. It’s ironic. ” But not as ironic as the fact that the show opens just as a number of recent disputes have underscored a somewhat different, and disruptive, reality. We live in a moment in which the notion of a uniform is increasingly out of fashion, at least when it comes to the implicit codes of professional and public life. Indeed, the museum may be the only place they now make sense. If once upon a time Melanie Griffith’s character in “Working Girl” could manipulate viewers’ assumptions about her job and background simply by swapping leather jackets and minidresses for greige suits, today it would be impossible. “We are in a very murky period,” Ms. McClendon said. Just before the museum’s show opened, for example, Britain was momentarily distracted from discussions over Brexit (leaving the European Union) by the news that Nicola Thorp, a temp worker, had been sent home from her receptionist job at PricewaterhouseCoopers for refusing to wear heels, as dictated by the dress code of her agency, Portico. She took her cause public, starting a petition for a parliamentary hearing titled “Make it illegal for a company to require women to wear high heels at work. ” If you get more than 100, 000 signatures, Parliament will consider the petition, and as of Tuesday afternoon she had 140, 712. Almost immediately, ITV, the British television network, conducted a poll on whether employers should be allowed to require women to wear heels social media freaked out and Portico announced it had changed its policy: Flats were now acceptable for women (men, of course, could always wear them). A few days later, sweatergate broke out in the United States when a weather forecaster on in Los Angeles was handed a gray sweater to cover up a tank dress she was wearing on the air. She said it was a joke, courtesy of her but Twitter took offense, perceiving it as an attempt to control what women wear. All of this follows famous dress code brouhahas like the UBS scandal of 2010 when the Internet discovered that the Swiss bank had issued a booklet of guidelines for employee dress that included instructions on shoulder width and underwear shade. Then there was the “flat shoe” uproar of 2015, when two women were supposedly barred from the red carpet in Cannes for not wearing heels. (The festival director denied the report on Twitter.) And earlier this year, Kansas State Senator Mitch Holmes was forced to issue a public apology for having included, in his guidelines for the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, which he chaired, a rule for those appearing before the state panel that read: “Conferees should be dressed in professional attire. For ladies, necklines and miniskirts are inappropriate. ” No such specific guidelines were issued for men. Oops. This did not sit well with many. “I have decided to retract the conferee guidelines,” he said later in a statement, which also noted, “My failure to clearly specify that all conferees, regardless of gender, should strive to present themselves professionally is unacceptable. ” The slippery slope may have started as a gentle incline way back in the 1970s, and become a bit steeper during the Casual Friday movement of the 1990s and the success of the Facebook I. P. O. in 2012 with its billionaires. But today, we are speeding down it at breakneck pace, partly thanks to the conversation around gender equality, and fluidity. “There has been a dramatic change very recently,” said Susan Scafidi, a law professor at Fordham University and founder of the Fashion Law Institute. She noted that last December the New York City Commission on Human Rights announced new guidelines for the municipal human rights law that expressly prohibited “enforcing dress codes, uniforms, and grooming standards that impose different requirements based on sex or gender. ” As a result, no employer may require men to wear ties unless they also require women to wear ties, or ask that heels be worn unless both sexes have to wear them. And though this applies only to “official” dress codes, the effect is inevitable. “Dress is now open to the interpretation of the individual, rather than an institution,” Professor Scafidi said. This has created an even greater tension in the more ambiguous areas of office dress, especially as the boundaries between home and work become ever blurrier. “There’s a strain of thought that says an employee represents a company, and thus dress is not about personal expression, but company expression,” Professor Scafidi said. “But there’s a counterargument that believes because we identify so much with our careers, we should be able to be ourselves at work. ” And that has led to all sorts of complications. One person’s “appropriate” can easily be another’s “disgraceful,” and words like “professional,” when used to describe dress requirements, can seem so vague as to be almost meaningless. Kanye West wearing ripped jeans and a jeweled Balmain jacket at the Met Gala: cool or rude? Julia Roberts at the premiere of “Money Monster” at Cannes this year in bare feet: red carpet pioneer or a step too far? At The New York Times, Michael Golden, the vice chairman, told me: “We have jobs and those that are principally internal. We ask employees to dress appropriately for the interactions planned for their day. ” But that can have broad interpretations. In the newsroom, people show up in everything from suits to shorts from sneakers and Birkenstocks to platform heels. All of which leaves us where? Confused, mostly. And fast trying to create our own codes, or parse those of the offices around us. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, is on the record as saying he wears the same gray every day so that he can focus his energy on other decisions. Ms. McClendon acknowledges that she tends to wear “all black, pretty much every day, and sculptural shapes — it’s the museum uniform. ” Professor Scafidi said, “My business uniform is a black jacket with a fitted, sheath, classic pumps, and usually our logo pin — my equivalent of armor, arms and insignia, respectively. ” Indeed, according to Ms. McClendon, uniforms evolved for a reason: “They fulfill a need to identify your place in the world,” for the wearer and the observer. At least when they are easy to read. And part of the idea behind the F. I. T. show, she said, was to “put visitors in the to consider uniform dressing more broadly, and how it impacts their own lives. ” In other words, to live an examined life when it comes to your wardrobe and your workplace. Because these issues are only going to get more complicated. “We are moving into an era where personal expression is going to trump the desire to create a corporate identity,” Professor Scafidi said. “It’s a huge power shift. ” And it has already begun.

If You Live HERE, Forget Christmas Lights – They’ve Been BANNED to Avoid “Offending Refugees”

The Conservative Millennial

0 comments Perhaps no country has been more welcoming of Muslims refugees to their own detriment than Sweden. Not only has the country accepted far more of these migrants than they can feasibly handle, but the nation has also bent over backwards to make them comfortable. Things have gotten so out of hand that Christmas lights have now been banned so as not to offend these devout Muslims. The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) will not allow municipalities to erect Christmas street lights on light poles that the authority manages this year, which means that many towns will have no lights at all for the holiday. What a sad time for the native Christians in Sweden. To add insult to injury, Speisa called the decision “a victory for those who want to tone down the reminder of the country’s Christian traditions.” Shockingly, even though the onslaught of Islamic culture has wreaked havoc on Sweden’s people and infrastructure, they want to “tone down” the Christian influence. How backwards is that?! Authorities appear to be trying to sweep the decision under the rug by claiming it is a matter of “safety.” “Poles are not designed for the weight of Christmas lights, and we have to remove anything that should not be there,” said Eilin Isaksson, national coordinator at the Swedish Transport Administration. I’m not sure they’re going to be fooling anyone with this “safety” line. If they were really so worried about that, they wouldn’t be allowing millions of migrants to roam around raping their women and children. MRC Blog expressed the same sentiment: This argument that lights are too heavy and pose a safety risk is complete [sic] bogus, of course. Authorities in Sweden actually expect people to believe that lights normally held up by tree branches are now too weighty to be supported by metal poles. In reality, these lights have simply been banned to avoid offending Muslim “refugees.” You can be sure that if Hillary Clinton is elected, we have a future similar to Sweden’s to look forward to. She has privately expressed her desire for completely open borders and she kowtows to Muslims the same way President Obama does. SHARE this report if you think it is utterly absurd that Sweden has banned Christmas lights to appease Muslim refugees!

Undercover Video Exposes Obama’s Plan to Make American “Gun Laws” More Like Britain – TruthFeed

Amy Moreno

Undercover Video Exposes Obama’s Plan to Make American “Gun Laws” More Like Britain Undercover Video Exposes Obama’s Plan to Make American “Gun Laws” More Like Britain Videos By Amy Moreno October 26, 2016 We know that Obama and Hillary want to take away of Second Amendment right. They say we’re just paranoid freaks for thinking that way. But we know, right? This undercover video exposes a close Obama advisor speaking about Obama’s “issue” which is to make America more like Britain when it comes to gun violence. FYI, HANDGUNS ARE ILLEGAL IN BRITAIN – YOU CAN ONLY OWN “SPORTING RIFLES” AND THAT’S SUBJECT TO LICENSING. Don’t think it can happen here? Elect Hillary and a liberal Supreme Court and watch. This is a movement – we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.

Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs as PC Demand Plummets - The New York Times

Quentin Hardy

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel, the world’s largest maker of semiconductors, said on Tuesday that it was laying off 12, 000 people, about 11 percent of its work force, as it continues to reel from a long downturn in global demand for personal computers. The company’s chief executive, Brian Krzanich, announced the layoffs as part of a larger corporate restructuring, which will result in a $1. 2 billion charge. Intel also reported earnings and reduced its projected revenue for the year. “Intel has been known as the PC company,” Mr. Krzanich said in an earnings call with Wall Street analysts. “It’s time to make this transition and push the company all the way over” to supplying chips for things like smartphones, cloud computing, sensors and other devices. Intel’s restructuring is the latest evidence of how onetime tech bellwethers have had to navigate a rapid shift into the more flexible and dispersed tech world created by the combination of mobile computing devices connected to cloud computing systems. On Monday, for example, IBM reported lower profit and revenue, including a 22 percent drop in sales of computing hardware. Microsoft, which will report its financial results on Thursday, has over the last several years changed its strategy from software in PCs toward computer servers, a mix that involves much more software rented over its giant cloud system. Dell, a big PC maker, took itself private in 2013. divided into two companies last year, one focused on corporate computing and one that makes PCs and printers. Last September, HP announced about 30, 000 layoffs. At Intel, Mr. Krzanich became chief almost three years ago, and over much of that time he has talked about moving the company into new areas. More recently, top executives have left the company, and Mr. Krzanich has brought in executives from other companies. The new restructuring is intended to help Intel invest more heavily in its new segments, such as chips to power connected devices. Yet Intel still gets 60 percent of its revenue from chips supplied to PCs, and its profit margins there are not as good as in data center chips, its other major business. The company’s other businesses have small profits, or else lose money. That means PCs are still core to what Intel does. Most of the layoffs, along with things like consolidating facilities and cut projects, are expected to be inside the PC business. Employees who are affected by the restructuring will be notified in the next 60 days, the company said. The layoffs are the largest since 2006, when the company let go 10, 500 employees. Last week, Gartner reported that worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter were 64. 8 million units, down 9. 6 percent from a year ago. “The hope was that PC demand, which has fallen for years, would be flat, and other segments would start filling in,” said Mark Hung, an analyst with Gartner. “This threw a monkey wrench into that. ” For the first quarter, Intel had net income of $2 billion, or 42 cents a share, and revenue of $13. 7 billion. Wall Street analysts had projected that Intel would earn 47 cents a share on revenue of $13. 8 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. Revenue at the PC group fell 14 percent from the previous quarter, indicating Intel had to cut prices as demand fell. Intel faces other potential stumbling blocks. The company is unique as much of the tech industry counts on it continually delivering chips with more transistors for the same money. The process, known as Moore’s Law after Intel Gordon Moore, has generally happened in intervals. The next generation of chips, however, is likely to arrive in two and a half years, or more, leading to fears that Moore’s Law is slowing. Mr. Krzanich, who previously had played down the significance of his production schedule, took pains on Tuesday to say that Intel wanted to pick up its pace. “We are continuously striving to get back to two years,” he said. Intel had better do so, Mr. Hung said. “Its competitors don’t seem to be slowing down,” he said. “They may get to the next generation of chips at the same time as Intel. That would be . ” Besides cutting its operating expenses by $700 million this year through the restructuring, Intel may be seeking to sell different types of chips in combined ways for better efficiency and profit. “We’re moving from a company that was at the center of the PC market to being a company at the center of cloud computing,” said Stacy Smith, Intel’s chief financial officer. On Tuesday, Mr. Smith was named to run Intel’s sales, manufacturing and operations, another indication of how Intel needs to tighten its relationship with a few big cloud companies, like Amazon and Microsoft. This would involve integrating the production and sale of things like chips for computer memory along with computer processors. The company also wants to build a business in connecting things like automobiles to cloud computing, and needs to build faster wireless computing technologies for that. Intel added that it would begin a search for a new chief financial officer.

NYT: Populist Steve Bannon Reassures Conservatives Uneasy About Trump

Breitbart News

The New York Times’ Jeremy Peters writes that Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon “offered a message of soothing reassurance to the conservative activists” at the annual CPAC conference on Thursday. Bannon’s reputation, Peters writes, “has taken on almost mythic proportion as a populist, emerging power center, man of mystery. ”[From the New York Times: [Bannon] urged a ballroom full of activists to stick together against the forces that were trying to tear them apart. “Whether you’re a populist, whether you’re a conservative, whether you’re a libertarian, whether you’re an economic nationalist,” he said, “we want you to have our back. ” Despite Mr. Bannon’s assurances, a simmering unease remains among conservatives over whether Mr. Trump will honor his promises to them, given that he was not part of their movement — or any political movement, for that matter — until very recently. Not too many years ago CPAC almost denied Mr. Trump a speaking slot because it feared he only wanted to promote himself. As for Mr. Bannon, he was essentially banished from the premises when he was running Breitbart News. So Mr. Bannon started a rival conference at a hotel down the street and called it The Uninvited. Read the rest here.

Sailer In TakiMag:”It’s Who You Know”

Steve Sailer

Comey: AG Lynch Directed Me to Call Hillary Email Investigation a ‘Matter’ - Breitbart

Pam Key

Comey says Clinton, Lynch tarmac meeting convinced him, ”in an ultimately conclusive way” to go public with email probe. pic. twitter. Thursday during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, former FBI Director James Comey said former Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch had asked him to call the FBI investigation into former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information on a private email server a “matter. ” Comey said, “There were other things that contributed to that. One significant item I can’t. I know the committee’s been briefed on. There’s been public accounts of it which are nonsense. But I understand the committee has been briefed on the classified facts. Probably the only other consideration I guess can talk about in an open setting is at one point the attorney general had directed me not to call it an investigation but instead to call it matter, which confused me and concerned me. But that was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude I have to step away from the department if we’re to close this case credibly. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

Offizieller Friseur des Weißen Hauses erlitt am Wahlabend Nervenzusammenbruch

noreply@blogger.com (Der Postillon)

Donnerstag, 10. November 2016 Offizieller Friseur des Weißen Hauses erlitt am Wahlabend Nervenzusammenbruch Washington, D.C. (dpo) - Zu einem tragischen Zwischenfall ist es während der US-Präsidentschaftswahl am Dienstagabend in Washington gekommen. Wie erst heute bekannt wurde, musste der Friseur des US-Präsidenten kurz nach Bekanntgabe der ersten Wahlergebnisse ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert. Die Pressestelle des Weißen Hauses bestätigte den Vorfall. Demnach ging Arthur McMellow, der seit 31 Jahren im Amtssitz des Staatsoberhauptes für den perfekten Look der präsidialen Haarpracht zuständig ist, voller Euphorie zu einer Wahlparty in den Keller des Weißen Hauses, wo auch andere Mitarbeiter den Verlauf der Wahl verfolgten. "Anfangs war er wie wir alle sehr zuversichtlich und freute sich auf die Nacht", erinnert sich der Chefkoch des Weißen Hauses, der ebenfalls anwesend war. "Arthur hatte sich vorsorglich schon mit Material für blonde Strähnchen eingedeckt und war guter Dinge." Sind es politische Differenzen mit seinem künftigen Chef, die McMellow zu schaffen machten? Als gegen Mitternacht immer klarer wurde, dass Trump auf Obama folgen würde, sei die Stimmung zwar etwas gekippt, "aber alle Beschäftigten des Weißen Hauses blieben ruhig und professionell", wie einer der Gärtner berichtet. "Nur Arthur wurde immer fahriger und lauter, das ist sonst gar nicht seine Art." Normalerweise gilt McMellow in seinem Umfeld als sehr ausgeglichener Mensch, der seinen Job liebt und ihn mit Leidenschaft ausfüllt. Doch der 56-Jährige ließ sich nicht mehr beruhigen: Gegen ein Uhr morgens alarmierte der Leibarzt von Präsident Obama den Notruf. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt lag McMellow in Fötusstellung wimmernd am Boden. Inzwischen liegt er in einem Washingtoner Krankenhaus und befindet sich auf dem Weg der Besserung. Bekannte erklärten, McMellow plane, schnellstmöglich seine Stelle kündigen und in einen nervlich weniger fordernden Job wie etwa Löwendompteur zu wechseln. pfg; Foto oben: Shutterstock [M]; Foto unten: Michael Vadon , CC BY-SA 4.0 Artikel teilen:

Donald Trump: Chuck Schumer ’Leading Democrats to Doom’ - Breitbart

Ben Kew

During his speech in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump attacked Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer ( ) describing him as a “bad leader” who is “leading the Democrats to doom. ”[Discussing the opposition from Democrats to his plans to build a border wall, Trump said, “Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress have no leadership, they are rudderless. ” “Senator Schumer is a bad leader. I’ve known him a long time, Senator Schumer is a bad leader, not a natural leader at all. He works hard to study leadership … Well if you have to study leadership you’ve got problems,” Trump said. “His policies are hurting innocent Americans and making it easier for drug dealers to enter our country. Schumer is weak on crime and wants to raise your taxes through the roof. He is a poor leader, and he is leading the Democrats to doom,” Trump continued. Trump also criticized Democrats in Congress for opposing his immigration agenda, arguing that “If the Democrats knew what the hell they were doing, they would approve [the wall] so fast, as we want to stop crime in our country. ” He said: Obviously they don’t mind illegals coming in, they don’t mind drugs pouring in, they don’t mind MS13 coming in. Members of Congress who’ll be voting on border security have a simple choice, they can either help to vote drug cartels and criminal aliens trying to enter the United States, like frankly, the Democrats are doing. Or they can vote to help American citizens and American families be safe, that’s the choice. In March, Sen. Chuck Schumer claimed that Trump’s plans to build a wall on the southern border would not get sufficient votes from Democrats or Republicans, as “It’s not the best way to protect the border” and “It’s very expensive. ” You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com