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Report: Hillary, 6 Aides Had Access to Classified State Dept Info After Leaving Office - Breitbart

Jeff Poor

Hillary Clinton and 6 aides had access to classified State Department information after she left office, lawmaker says | @edhenry pic. twitter. Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox Friends,” network correspondent Ed Henry reported Sen. Chuck Grassley ( ) had revealed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, and six of her aides retained their access to top secret and classified information after leaving the State Department in 2013. “We’re learning from Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley that she and six staffers in 2013 retained clearances where they still had access to top secret and classified information,” Henry said. “Why? They were titled ‘research assistants.’ So the assumption on Capitol Hill is it was because she was writing her memoirs and saying, ‘Look, I still need access to this information in order to go through what happened in Syria, what happened with Russia. But obviously think back to what James Comey said in how Hillary Clinton handled classified information. ” Henry was referring to Comey’s July 2016 statement calling Clinton “extremely careless” in how she handled classified information. “He obviously believes something needs to be done about this,” Henry added. “The only positive for Chuck Grassley at this point is, there’s no longer a Democrat at the State Department, obviously. You got Rex Tillerson, so if you have these documents on why she retained these clearances, and for example does she still have a clearance today? A lot of former officials get to keep these clearances for years — when they’re consultants … some of them like to retain it because they say I was in the middle of all of these important issues. I need to keep abreast of it. Been then some of these folks in Washington — they say drain the swamp. ” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

Bored, Broke and Armed: Clues to Chicago’s Gang Violence - The New York Times

John Eligon

CHICAGO — The young men who call themselves Gangster Disciples skirted by an empty lot. They marched past a “Stop the Violence” mural painted on a corner store, coming to a halt when they saw members of a rival gang, the Black Disciples. It was late September on a busy South Side intersection, and now tensions were escalating, gang members who were there recalled. There were glares, they said. Then words. “You’re a rat,” a Black Disciple said to one of the Gangster Disciples who he believed had given the police information about him. Things were about to blow. It had been exactly 90 days since some of these same men had sat across from one another in an airy church hall to broker peace and confront a hard truth: The gang war they had inherited and were viciously continuing was helping to unravel parts of this city, where the levels of violence were reaching horrific new heights. With 739 murders as of Wednesday, 2016 has been Chicago’s deadliest year since 1997. Six fatalities came during Memorial Day weekend, when The New York Times tracked 49 shootings involving 64 victims over three days. One of the shooting survivors from that weekend was a Gangster Disciple known as Mexico, shot in his right leg on May 29 when tensions flared between the same factions that were about to square off in front of the store, New Food Inc. An overwhelming majority of the city’s 3, 451 shootings this year were the police say. What that means has become increasingly fuzzy, as the large, operations built around drug dealing have splintered, and are now little more than cliques or sets. The Times spent several weeks this fall with gang members to get a better understanding of what it means to be in a gang. They were often days of boredom, punctuated by bursts of drama and bravado. Gang life means animated debates over whether the guys on the next block meant to insult you or not. It means worrying over how to make enough for your next meal or your next high. And it means mourning the loss of loved ones, retaliating in their honor, yet wanting the cycle to stop. Ron, a Black Disciple who uses the nickname Kaos, and for safety reasons asked that his last name not be used, explained the relentless cycle of violence: I’ve already lost friends. If we are making money, I can ignore the urge to retaliate. “But if we’re sitting here bored, getting high and we got guns around, it ain’t nothing else to do,” he added. Still, these are young men who defy easy caricature. They are the sales associates who help you find shoes at a sportswear store or factory workers next to you on the assembly line. They kiss their young children on the lips and cry when someone close to them dies. And, yes, they do use and sell drugs, and sometimes lash out in inexplicable bursts of violence over disputes like a battle for a girl’s attention, or disrespectful words uttered on a rap video posted to YouTube. Or, as was the case in front of the corner store in late September, over an insult hurled on a busy intersection. There was supposed to be a mechanism to stop this from escalating. During the peace talks at Pastor Corey Brooks’s New Beginnings Church in June, the rival factions had brokered a truce. They had agreed to run their disputes up the ladder to gang elders, who would work to quash them. But now things moved fast, said the two gang members who were there. After the insult, the Gangster Disciples left the block, but then returned, and the verbal jabbing continued. Then, the Gangster Disciples claim, the Black Disciple who had called one of them a rat reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, pretending it was a gun. The Black Disciples denied that. Whatever the truth, a Gangster Disciple whipped out a pistol and opened fire, witnesses said. The busy block scattered. And the Black Disciple with the phone was shot in his foot. The truce established in the church hall had been broken. After the shooting, dozens of Black Disciples gathered at their home base: the Parkway Garden Homes, a complex of brick buildings stretching three blocks along South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, built in the 1950s to house black families. Michelle Obama lived there as a toddler. But over time, the families left, and mostly families moved in. More than half of the population lives in poverty in Parkway and the surrounding neighborhood, which is 95 percent black. An abandoned Walgreens sits on King Drive, along with cellphone stores and fast food shops that moved in when many businesses picked up and left. Parkway earned a reputation as one of Chicago’s most violent areas. It was, however, considered a safe zone for the Black Disciples who controlled the complex — a faction known as O’Block, named after a fallen ally, Odee Perry. Now they were debating how to respond to the shooting at New Food. Some people wanted to respect the truce, in large part because it allowed them to make money by selling drugs in peace. That was why many had advocated for it in the first place. Others, however, turned to the man who had been shot, Kaos recalled. “We’re with whatever you’re with — however you feel about it because you got shot,” he recalled some people saying. “If you want to push, we’re going to push. ” Black gangs began sprouting in Chicago in earnest in the 1950s during a second wave of northward migration of black Southerners. The migrants came looking for opportunity, but were crammed into overcrowded, segregated pockets on the city’s South and West sides where industry and jobs were dwindling. Conditions were ripe for what followed: Boys, with little supervision, money or education, formed cliques. They hung out socially, and got into fights and other petty trouble. The evolved into extortion of local businesses, much as it did with the existing white ethnic gangs and local mobsters. Then came the heroin and crack epidemics that turned gangs into lucrative organizations that fought over territory. For a while, though, the gangs in Woodlawn also helped keep calm and avoid riots after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and helped with a federally funded job training program in the area. But those highly organized operations have fizzled over the last 25 years as prosecutors swept up gang leaders, and the city demolished public housing projects, dispersing gang members primarily to minority neighborhoods on the West and South Sides. Now they were everywhere and nowhere — gangsters by name, but kings only of corners and blocks. And instead of turf and money, they fought over personal slights. Kaos was coy about how O’Block responded to the shots fired by the Jaro City member at New Food. Violence did, however, continue that week. Two days after the New Food shooting, two Gangster Disciples were shot at night in a about a block from the store, but people on both sides said that particular shooting was unrelated to the feud. A day later, the two sides clashed again near New Food, firing shots at each other. The mother of a Black Disciple was caught in the crossfire, shot in her left foot. By late that afternoon, Sept. 22, alarm bells were going off at New Beginnings Church. Pastor Brooks huddled with some of the gang elders. The truce seemed to be falling apart. Lavondale Glass, 43, a former Gangster Disciple who was helping to broker peace, saw the young men falling into the dangerous logic of revenge. “This is what I don’t understand with the younger generation,” Mr. Glass, who goes by the name Big Dale, told Kaos one day. “How could you honor the dead and not the living?” Those who were killed are dead, he said. “Ain’t no bringing them back. ” Big Dale had lost his own father, Leon Holton, in 1996 — assassinated in a Gangster Disciple power struggle as federal agents were moving hard against many of the gang’s top lieutenants. His son, who is part of the Jaro City faction, was shot in the hand a few days before the truce was brokered. But there often comes a time when the gang members lucky to make it past their 30s face the damage they have done and want to fix it. Big Dale had reached that point. Pastor Brooks and the elders decided that Big Dale would gather the Gangster Disciples to discuss what was going on, while the Black Disciple old heads would do the same with their side. They would then hold a joint session to determine how to get the peace back on track. But after the Black Disciples spent about an hour shouting at one another in a parking lot behind the church, the elders realized they first needed to resolve an internal rift. It appeared that some in the O’Block clique were jealous because, while they were broke, their allies from the 63rd Street faction seemed to be making money selling drugs, said a former Black Disciple who described the issue only on the condition of anonymity. The attitude of some of the young men on O’Block was that if they couldn’t make money, then “can’t nobody get nothing,” the former Black Disciple said. “When they get bored, they do stupid stuff. ” Boredom is, indeed, a big part of gang life. But boredom mixed with desperation can turn menacing. And that was where several of Kaos’s gang allies found themselves on a chilly night in late October as they slipped on clear Guy Fawkes masks and set upon a man they saw walking by himself along King Drive. They were broke, and this is what they were going to do about it. When Kaos was growing up, gang life seemed like anything but a thrifty, desperate existence. Living with his mother in the Robert Taylor Homes, a sprawling and notorious housing project just south of downtown, he saw the closets stuffed with plastic Aldi bags of cash, stashed by Gangster Disciples, he said. He moved away when the projects were demolished, and stayed with his grandmother in Black Disciples territory. By his early teens, he was found to have an impulsive behavior disorder, he said. He became deeply immersed in the Black Disciples after a friend was killed by a rival of the gang. At around 13, he said, he faced his first serious charges: attempted murder, which landed him in juvenile jail. He was charged with three gun felonies as an adult, but earned a G. E. D. in prison, he said. He spent two semesters in cooking school but dropped out in part because it was in rival gang territory and was dangerous, he said. He has managed to make enough money selling drugs to pose as something of a high roller. Tall with blond dreadlocks often hidden beneath a safari hat, Kaos wears Balmain jeans that cost hundreds of dollars, a Versace belt and a glittering wristwatch. But on this October day, his flashy trappings were mostly for show because he had gone several months without selling drugs, he said. Good product was hard to come by. He hung out in an apartment he shared with a girlfriend, and some friends stopped by. They all lamented the same problem: They had no money. For some, there was admittedly a lack of motivation to . For others, criminal records got in the way. Kaos said he had been turned away by Walmart, Walgreens, Footlocker and others. One in four adults in this neighborhood has not graduated from high school, and the unemployment rate is 33 percent, two and a half times the citywide rate. Even when Kaos landed a job, there were complications getting there. Riding public transportation can make gang members easy targets for rivals. But the alternatives are tough, too: Kaos had recently gotten a job with a company baking pastries for international flights, but he quit after three days because he wouldn’t be paid until after his second week, he said, and he didn’t have gas money to get to work. And in a neighborhood where people haggle over dollar bills, he did not have anyone to borrow money from. As darkness fell, Kaos said he peeked out of the window and saw about 10 gang allies slipping on the Guy Fawkes masks. A few minutes later, one knocked on his door, Kaos said. He and some of the younger gang members had tried to rob a man, he told Kaos. But the man pulled a pistol, shot one of them in the leg and ran off. An ambulance carted away the wounded man. His friends lingered in the courtyard, laughing about the fiasco. Inside, Kaos shook his head. “I don’t know what they were thinking,” he said, injecting a curse word. He later lamented, “It only takes one to push a crowd. ” Now there were fresh worries: The man they tried to rob could belong to a gang, meaning they may have incited a battle with an unknown clique, Kaos said. And if that guy wanted to retaliate, he had the element of surprise on his side because no one got a good look at his face. Retaliation is a universal worry of gang members. So it was in the rival Jaro City, which had been in a state of alert since the New Food shooting weeks earlier. The clique worried that the war was about to flare again, said Antwine White, 24, a Gangster Disciple who is called Weedy. “You just get prepared for the worst,” he said. “They can walk over here. We can think it’s cool. They shoot. ” That defines gang life in Chicago. The young men bound around with their chests out, but their heads are on constant swivels, eyeing everything around them. It’s why the gang members here engage in their own sort of profiling: People with dreadlocks and hoodies, especially those they have never seen before, draw more scrutiny. And so, weeks after the convenience store shooting, when peace seemed to have been restored, a passionate discussion about politics and revolution between Weedy and his gang allies broke up at the sight of an unfamiliar face: a man in a red hoodie. “Steady walking back and forth on the corner, right here in front of Rothschild,” a fellow Gangster Disciple said, referring to a liquor store about 100 yards from where they were standing. A couple of the Gangster Disciples hustled over to check him out. But Weedy hung back. Here he was, caught in a middle ground of ambivalence. Am I in the gang or out? How can I leave when most of my friends are still in it? Or when I still need to rely on it to make a few dollars? Weedy grew up on the block. His father was a prominent Gangster Disciple. His father’s friends would get a kick out of it whenever they reached for Weedy’s hand and he would mimic the gang handshake. He relished the attention. But as he got older, he yearned for a deeper relationship with his father. There was no fatherly slap on the back or shoes promised to him for making the honor roll. His father, who Weedy said had a drinking problem, would arrange to pick him up from his mother’s house, but he would sit there until 2 a. m. waiting. “Once I got immune to him lying, it was a wrap,” Weedy said. “My trust, that bond with him wasn’t there no more. ” So when he got into fights at school, when he needed information or wanted help solving problems, Weedy did not call his father. He turned to his friends on the block. The streets became even more appealing after a popular Gangster Disciple, Jarvis Smith, 22, was killed 11 years ago, drawing everyone in the neighborhood closer. Weedy started selling drugs and gambling. He wasn’t a gunman himself, he said, but he would put up money to buy guns. All seemed well until June 2, 2014, when he was headed to his job at a sportswear store downtown. Weedy would take the elevated train, but the closest stop was near rival turf, so he used one farther away in the other direction. As he walked toward the stop, he felt a shock pulse through his body. He fell. On the ground, he said, he looked over his shoulder and saw a man firing a gun about 20 yards away. Weedy had been shot twice before, but those were relatively minor injuries. This was serious. “I thought he was going to run up, stand over me,” Weedy said. “I thought it was over. ” His son was then only about six months old and it pained him, he said, to think the boy would grow up without a father. But the shooter never rushed up for the kill. After that, Weedy started thinking differently, he said. He resolved to reconcile with his father. He would recommit to leading his son in a better direction. And he told his friends not to seek revenge. “I’m covered in the blood of Jesus,” he told them. But leaving gang life is not simple. For one, just because you say you’re out of the gang doesn’t mean your rivals see it that way. On that afternoon, while his friends marched over to see if the man in the red hoodie was a threat, Weedy hung back. His allies would learn that the young man was, indeed, a rival’s relative. But he was not doing anything threatening, so they let it go. Weedy leaned on a black iron gate, looking on from afar. “Even if it was an opp, he can go to the store,” Weedy said, using the slang term for a rival. “We go to their store. What’s the problem? You got to play fair. ” He has not fully extricated himself from gang life, and may never do so. But here he was, no stranger himself to gunplay, questioning not just the scene playing out before him, but his own life. It was a delicate dance, Weedy said. Approach an opp aggressively and he might shoot you. Or you’re the one with the gun. “He talk crazy, you shoot him,” he said. “You go to jail, you get killed. It’s . For what?”

The Loophole That Could Cost Donald Trump the Nomination - The New York Times

Nate Cohn

Pennsylvania, which holds its primary next Tuesday, uses a nonbinding “loophole” primary — and that could cost Donald Trump the Republican nomination. If the state adopted the delegate rules of any other primary, he would probably be an favorite, or better, to amass the 1, 237 delegates needed before the convention. Instead, his chances may come down to the whims of 54 unpledged Pennsylvania delegates. No other state leaves so many of its delegates unbound — allowed to vote for whomever they please at the convention. That’s because it conducts its loophole primary in two parts. First is the “beauty contest,” which is a presidential primary preference vote. The winner of the beauty contest gets all of Pennsylvania’s 17 and bonus delegates. But the remaining 54 — the three delegates awarded to each congressional district — are unbound and elected in the delegate selection primary. In this part, voters directly elect delegates to the national convention. What makes Pennsylvania’s G. O. P. delegate selection primary so distinctive is that the ballot includes no guidance on whom a delegate will support at the national convention (the prospective Democratic delegates commit to a candidate). A voter will just see a list of names — some of whom might be recognizable, but others might as well be Joe Schmo. (It’s called a loophole primary because it could circumvent the delegate allocation rules. Voters could, in theory, elect a slate of delegates who unanimously support one candidate, even in cases where a contest was prohibited.) The result is that Pennsylvania, with the G. O. P. delegates of any state, ranks 49th in pledged delegates. It’s behind even Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The other two states with loophole primaries — West Virginia and Illinois — take a somewhat different approach: The delegates pledge whom they’ll support, and their preferences are listed alongside their names on the ballot. When you read articles about whether Mr. Trump can reach 1, 237 pledged delegates by the convention, these 54 delegates are held out of the analysis. Mr. Trump would be favored to win a majority of Pennsylvania’s 71 delegates under any other primary system. He leads by at least nine percentage points in every survey in the state, and is ahead of Ted Cruz by an average of 44 percent to 28 percent, according to The Huffington Post Pollster. He’s up by a similar margin of 46 percent to 30 percent in The Upshot’s model. Our model gives him an edge in 15 of the state’s 18 congressional districts. In a standard proportional allocation, Mr. Trump would probably be on track to win at least 40 of the state’s delegates. In a system, like Indiana’s or California’s, Mr. Trump would be favored to win at least 60 delegates. The difference matters a lot because Mr. Trump’s prize of 1, 237 hangs on a thread. He is probably on track to finish a bit short of 1, 237. Our model puts his projected delegate deficit as slightly less than the number of delegates left unpledged (54) in Pennsylvania, meaning he would be projected to win if they were bound delegates. Although facing a challenge in Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump has benefited from other quirks in the Republican primary rules. Compared with the Democrats’ rules, the Republican ones are far more favorable to a candidate who wins with a plurality of the vote. And with the race as close as it is, any number of tweaks in the rules could make Mr. Trump a clear favorite — or an overwhelming underdog.

Keith Ellison as DNC Chair: Another High Place, Another Empty Black Face

Bruce A. Dixon

Tweet Widget A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon In a decade on the House Financial Services Committee Keith Ellison hasn’t targeted the credit card racketeers, or the banksters who flooded the market with predatory home and student loans or federal officials who refuse to relieve underwater homeowners. Democratic party leaders need another empty black face to front the DNC, someone who blames Wikileaks and the Russians for Hillary’s defeat. Ellison will do just fine. Keith Ellison as DNC Chair: Another High Place, Another Empty Black Face A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, Democratic party honchos are scrambling to reassure their funders and to shore up the careers of Democratic elected officials who serve those funders. They must justify and retain whatever hold they still have on the millions of nominal Democratic voters who actually have no voice whatsoever in what their party stands for. At bottom, the two capitalist parties are owned by the same class of elite one percenter funders but with different voting bases At least one US party is always the self-declared White Man’s Party. Since the late sixties Republicans have reserved that slot for themselves, leaving Democrats to claim the allegiance of racial minorities and some other groups. The different voting bases of the two parties mean they have different campaign styles, but when the campaigns are over they’re both as Barack Obama affirmed, on the same team. Both parties deliver the mandate of their constituencies to their common funders, Big Ag, Big Oil, Big Insurance, Big Pharma, Big Real Estate, the military contractors and Wall Street. After the departures of Debbie Wasserman-Schulz and Donna Brazile, both deeply implicated in the sabotaging of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton’s loss, Democrats need a new face at the head of the Democratic National Committee, the national party’s executive body. Ideally it should be someone who reassures the funders and can help rally the base voters. The leading contender is Keith Ellison, just elected to his sixth term in Congress from Minneapolis. Keith Ellison seems a good fit. He was the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and current co-chair of the large and virtually impotent House Progressive Caucus. He was an early endorser of Bernie Sanders who did his duty trying to lead leftward strays back into Hillary’s big tent . In a decade on the House Financial Services Committee, Ellison managed not to deeply offend the banksters who flooded the market with predatory housing and student loans, or the payday lenders and credit card racketeers, and he didn’t embarrass or insult the colleagues who openly shill for them. In that target rich environment Ellison managed not just to keep from hitting anything, but not even to take aim. By contrast, Senator Elizabeth Warren in 2014 made headlines when she grilled Ellison's former Congressional Black Caucus colleague Mel Watt , on why the agency he heads, despite a clear mandate from Congress to reduce the principals on potentially millions of unpayable predatory home loans, refused to reduce the principal on a single one. Three years later the news is that the agency may reduce principal on a mere 3,100 home loans at most . We’re still waiting to hear from Ellison and the other eight black Democrats on the committee on this failure. But Ellison is black. He’s the first Muslim elected to Congress, he’s smart enough and telegenic. He votes infallibly to support the apartheid regime in Israel, and he says if it were up to him there’d have been a no-fly zone (and possible shooting war with the Russians) a long time ago. Hillary’s indispensable firewall was supposed to be the black vote, for which she needed to do little else than mumble about “black lives mattering” and pose occasionally with the mothers of some of those murdered by police. Democratic shot callers seem to still believe that all they need is another empty black face in a high place. They won’t get another First Black President. It was Hillary’s turn and that didn’t work out. Now it’s Keith Ellison’s another empty black face in a very high place. For Black Agenda Radio I’m Bruce Dixon. Find us on the web at www.blackagendareport.com . Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report and co-chair of the GA Green Party. He lives and works near Marietta GA and can be reached via email at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com.

Election Heats Up: Kerry Heads To The Poles…In ANTARCTICA WTF

Rachel Blevins

We Are Change While many Americans headed to the polls to vote in the 2016 election on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to… Antarctica. Kerry’s trip will include a visit to the McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole stations, which will make him the first Secretary of State to visit Antarctica, according to a press release from the National Science Foundation. It comes at a curious time, given the ongoing election. When asked about the timing, State Department spokesman John Kirby insisted that its purpose is “to talk to researchers and scientists largely about climate change research.” A reporter responded by questioning the legitimacy of the trip, noting, “There’s some criticism that this trip is basically, you know, the Secretary wants to knock Antarctica off his bucket list and he’s doing it on taxpayer expense.” Kirby insisted that it is important for Kerry “to see firsthand what we are learning about the environment down there on the South Pole.” “As an individual who has literally championed climate change research and awareness for decades now, the secretary is and will remain committed to increasing the awareness and education of the public about this,” Kirby said. The location of Kerry’s trip is also interesting. Russian scientists drew criticism in 2012 for drilling into Antarctica’s “Alien” Lake Vostok, which scientists claim went “undisturbed by sunlight for over 15 million years.” Theories as to what is under the surface of the lake—which is considered the sixth largest in the world— include oil, a secret Nazi base with Hitler’s remains, nuclear energy, Atlantis, and of course, a UFO landing site. Kerry’s trip will add to his lead as the Secretary of State who has traveled the most miles, with over 1.3 million since 2013. This sends him even further ahead former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who traveled 956,733 miles from 2009 to 2013. In addition to staying away from the polls in the U.S. where he would be expected to vote for Clinton, Kerry is also showing her up by reminding the world that he beat her in total miles traveled—an area where Clinton was very competitive. In 2010, Clinton wrote an email to her top aide Huma Abedin asking , “What’s my total now?” “We have 36 trips to date,” Abedin responded, noting that Clinton needed at least four more to beat the record of 1.06 million set by Condoleezza Rice. Follow Rachel Blevins on Facebook and Twitter . The post Election Heats Up: Kerry Heads To The Poles…In ANTARCTICA WTF appeared first on We Are Change .

GOP Office Is Bombed and Loretta Lynch (Mob) Stands Down

Dave Hodges

GOP Office Is Bombed and Loretta Lynch (Mob) Stands Down IF Trump wins the election, the following is a sign of very serious things to come. The GOP offices are firebombed in North Carolina. The obvious suspects are Soros’ groups, the Clinton Foundation and rabid Democrats. And what did Loretta Lynch (Mob) do? The answer to the question and more lies below.

2006 Audio Captures Hillary Clinton Proposing To Rig Palestine Election

Carol Adl

Carol Adl in Middle East , News , US // 0 Comments Hillary Clinton proposed rigging the Palestinian parliamentary elections while she was a US senator in 2006, according to a newly emerged recording. The decade-old audio exposes then-Senator Hillary Clinton saying the US should have manipulated Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 to prevent a Hamas victory. The US Democratic presidential nominee lamented that the US didn’t “determine who was going to win.” The result of that election was a victory for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas over the US-favored Fatah political party. RT reports: “I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake,” then-New York Senator Clinton told the Jewish Press, a New York-based weekly newspaper, several months after the January election. “And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win,” she said. Until Friday, the comment Clinton made on September 5, 2006, only existed on a private audio cassette belonging to journalist Eli Chomsky. An editor and a staff writer for the Jewish Press, he interviewed Clinton at the newspaper’s office in Brooklyn. Chomsky, who shared and played the tape for the Observer, says it is the only existing copy of that meeting with Clinton, during which the Palestinian parliamentary election was among top topics. The comments have been posted on SoundCloud. Speaking to the news portal, he recalled being confused by the fact that “anyone could support the idea — offered by a national political leader, no less — that the US should be in the business of fixing foreign elections.” The interview took place nine months after the Hamas movement claimed 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, pushing aside the US-favored Fatah movement and securing the right to form a new cabinet. That victory was neither welcomed in Israel, nor in the US. In Washington, where Hamas is considered a terrorist organization, officials repeatedly stated that they would not work with a Palestinian Authority that included Hamas. Then-President George W. Bush spoke of the elections as symbolizing the “power of democracy,” but refused to deal with Hamas as long as it opposed Israel’s existence and espoused violence. That day in September 2006, Clinton made “odd and controversial comments,” all now saved on the 45-minute record that Chomsky “held onto all these years.” “I went to my bosses at the time,” Chomsky told the Observer. “The Jewish Press had this mindset that they would not want to say anything offensive about anybody — even a direct quote from anyone — in a position of influence because they might need them down the road. My bosses didn’t think it was newsworthy at the time. I was convinced that it was and I held onto it all these years.” The latest revelation comes after repeated accusations by the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who says that the media and the political establishment have rigged the 2016 election against him. It would seem that the crooked Mrs Clinton thinks nothing of rigging any election to suit her agenda.

Poll: Majority of Americans Want Merit-Based Immigration

John Binder

A new survey shows widespread support for President Donald Trump’s plan to swap current U. S. immigration policy, based on toward entry based on skills and merit. [In a Rasmussen Reports poll, 44 percent of likely American voters want to move to a immigration system that only admits legal immigrants if their skills are needed in the U. S. Only 37 percent of likely voters want to keep the current legal immigration system which is based solely on family chain migration. Another 18 percent of likely voters said they did not know which system they would prefer. Men, as well as younger likely voters, much prefer a immigration system, with 51 percent saying they would like to see a switch, as opposed to 38 percent of women. Voters between the ages 18 to 30 favored a merit system by 49 percent. Voters from 40 to 64 preferred the status quo by 43 percent. While Trump’s plan is wildly popular with 60 percent of Republicans, likely voters who do not identify with either of the two major political parties show 47 percent support as well. The poll also found that Americans continue to support deportations of illegal immigrants, even if the illegal immigrant has a child in the U. S. percent of likely voters said illegal immigrants with children born in the U. S. should not be exempt from deportation. Only 37 percent disagreed. Across party lines, deportations of illegal immigrants with children remains popular, with 62 percent of Republicans supporting the action, along with 30 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of American voters who are not affiliated with either major political party. John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

Shock: Colin Kaepernick Cares More About Protesting Than He Does About Football - Breitbart

Dylan Gwinn

The sports media is just now learning what was apparent to conservatives and Republicans all last season: that Colin Kaepernick cares an awful lot more about politics than he does about football. [Peter King, from the Monday Morning Quarterback, spent the weekend of the NFL draft with the San Francisco 49ers. During that time, a time spent in close quarters with many of the 49ers staff, King came away with the distinct impression that many in the building felt Kaepernick would rather protest than play football. King wrote, “I spent a long draft weekend with the Niners in California and there are those in the building who think Kaepernick might actually rather do social justice work than play quarterback. ” King cites Kaepernick’s frequent tweeting about social justice and the Know Your Rights Camps, which the former 49er QB began somewhat recently. However, King also brought up Manhattan, where Kaepernick lives, and his wife Nessa, a DJ in New York City. King explains, “He emerges in New York City occasionally for noble cause work, last week donating 100 men’s suits to a parole office in Queens, so recipients, recently out of prison, would look more presentable when going on job interviews. I haven’t talked to Kaepernick, so I have no idea what his gut is telling him about what to do with his life. But it’s crazy that a quarterback who four years ago was coming off a Super Bowl appearance and looked to be a answer has no team now and no hot NFL prospects that anyone can see. ” What’s crazier, is that Kaepernick’s true priorities and passions are apparently news to the sports media. Playing quarterback in the NFL has no equal in sports in terms of difficulty and complexity. It’s literally the hardest thing anyone could do in sports, requiring complete and total concentration and channeling of focus. Yet, after the media turned his protest into the biggest story in sports, certain to engulf him, his team, and obscure everything they would attempt to accomplish on the field, what did Kaepernick do? Did he stop, for the benefit of the team? No, he wore a Fidel Castro to a press conference. How could anyone have seen this and come away with the conclusion that Kaepernick was putting football first? The sports media wanted so badly for Kaepernick to turn into a permanent statue of protest on television screens every Sunday throughout America, that they forgot all about the fact that you have to actually play really well in order to keep a job in the NFL. In fact, especially if you plan on insulting the flag and all who fought and died for it, you have to play exceedingly great. Kaepernick, obviously, did not play great, partially due to the fact that he’s never refined and evolved his game to counter defenses who have figured him out. But, in equal part, due to the fact that he was too busy buying pig socks. It’s still my opinion that Kaepernick will get signed at some point midseason. But, until then, the media will continue to have a sad about their protest puppet, and what might have been. Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn

Poll: 21% of American Voters Approve of Republican Healthcare Plan

Sean Moran

A recent Quinnipiac poll reveals that only 21 percent of American voters support the Republican healthcare plan, a slight raise from 17 percent in March. [Overall, 56 percent of U. S. voters oppose the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Nearly of white, Republican college graduates support President Donald Trump’s actions on health care. percent of voters believe that health insurance costs will increase, 11 percent of voters believe that costs will decrease, and 37 percent of voters believe that health premiums will remain the same. Americans also approve, percent, of the current Obamacare statute that prevents health insurers from raising health premiums for patients with conditions. Congressman Tom MacArthur ( ) who was heavily involved in drafting the AHCA, told Breitbart News that the new healthcare law also protects Americans with conditions. MacArthur explained: The other side has spent too much time speaking to people’s emotions and misstating the facts. For example, with conditions the bill could not be more explicit that insurers cannot discriminate, they can’t deny coverage, they can’t deny renewals, they can’t health rate someone who’s sick in the middle of being insured. If you get sick, your health rates don’t skyrocket. What it does say is that if you don’t maintain coverage for more than 63 days, you will pay an extra premium. However, states can request a waiver to look at those people, but they have to create a risk pool to ensure that the neediest amongst are not left behind. It balances to make sure people don’t skip out on buying health insurance when they get sick. That’s not fair to the rest of the American people. Voters believe, percent, including percent of Republicans, that it is a “bad idea” to give states the ability to waive certain Obamacare regulations that might reduce the cost of premiums. The question that begins, “Do you think that giving states the ability to decide whether or not to allow health insurance companies to raise insurance rates for Americans with conditions?” however, might influence the voters’ answers. percent of Americans believe that it is “very important” or “somewhat important” that all Americans can afford health care. The opposition to the American Health Care Act may surprise voters, although the sample for the poll favors Democrats and independents: Registered Voters Party Identification: The 11 percent gap between Republicans compared to either Democrats or independents might skew the polling data towards those who might want to retain, rather than reform, Obamacare. Tim Malloy, the poll’s assistant director, said in a press release, “Republicans gave up on their first attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare when a March 23 Quinnipiac University poll showed 17 percent of American voters supported their bill. ” “The second attempt wins the support of 21 percent of voters,” Malloy added. “The grim diagnosis from voters: Health care will cost more and deliver less. ” Read the poll results here.

Steve King’s Iowa Voters Rethink Their Support: ‘Way Out of Line’ - The New York Times

Trip Gabriel

ORANGE CITY, Iowa — A year ago, Evan Wielenga, 40, believed — as does his congressman, Steve King — that undocumented immigrants should all be deported. They broke the law to enter the country. They spoke little English. They strained schools and public services. But as talk of a border wall and a Muslim ban overtook the presidential campaign, Mr. Wielenga, the agronomy manager of a farmers’ here in northwestern Iowa, had a change of heart. He heard dairy farmers say they couldn’t get their cows milked without immigrants. “You can put an ad in the paper and you won’t get two white guys to apply,” said Mr. Wielenga, who grew up on a dairy farm himself. He heard of the ruinous damage an immigration raid had done to families. “Some of these kids were born in the U. S.,” he said. “These families had lived here 10 years, and all of a sudden, Dad’s gone, Mom’s gone. When you think of it from that perspective, what’s the lesser of two evils?” Mr. King, a Republican who has displayed a Confederate battle flag on his desk in Washington, shows no sign of budging in his views. His latest tirade — “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies,” he said — once again drew wide condemnation and critical attention to Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District, whose voters overwhelmingly him to an eighth term in November. Sioux County, Mr. Wielenga’s home, provided the largest margin in the district, Iowa’s most conservative. And there is no shortage of voters who echo Mr. King’s contention that “culture and demographics are our destiny,” as he said earlier this month to cheers from white supremacists. But in conversations over four days with residents who voted for Mr. King, a new chorus of earnest naysayers could also be heard in many corners of the district. Some said the congressman’s latest provocation — uttered in support of a Dutch politician — was finally more than they could brook. Several said they were rethinking their support. “I’ve always voted for him, but I think this was way out of line,” said Bill Kooi, a retired farmer, sipping coffee at a Hardees in Orange City, as the friends who shared his table — to a man, older white conservatives — all nodded. Again and again, voters brought up how much Mr. King’s district has changed since his election 15 years ago. Though still overwhelmingly white, it has absorbed a sizable population of Hispanics who have taken jobs and opened small businesses in the empty storefronts of struggling towns. As a generation of white children leaves for college and seldom returns, immigrants are keeping many of those communities alive. Denison, in Crawford County, is one. Eric Skoog, a county commissioner and owner of Cronk’s restaurant in Denison, where Mr. King, 67, sometimes stops on his way home, said the community had been successfully assimilating a steady stream of Hispanics for years. “One of our claims to fame is we don’t have a Hispanic neighborhood,” Mr. Skoog said. Rather, immigrants and their families live throughout the community. Before the 2010 census, city officials worked hard to persuade immigrants to allow themselves to be counted so Denison could receive its share of federal dollars. Mr. Skoog said that Latino newcomers had flocked to Denison to take jobs in meatpacking plants that Iowa farmers had once filled — but that those native Iowans wanted better for their children. “The next generation, there was not a supply of male white farmers around here,” he said. “So all of a sudden you saw the influx of the Hispanic population. ” Mr. Skoog counts himself a friend of Mr. King’s, but offered no explanation for the lawmaker’s and racially inflammatory statements, which go back years, including a 2013 description of undocumented teenagers with “calves the size of cantaloupes” from carrying drugs across the border. Selecting his words carefully, Mr. Skoog said of Mr. King: “There’s a personal relationship there. I don’t want to damage that by saying too much negative. ” Others describe an ethos that is changing day by day. Libbie Schillerberg has three children in the Denison schools, where more than half the students are Hispanic. Her oldest, Ethan, 15, plays guitar in a high school mariachi band. Her youngest, Addison, 6, is one of four whites in her class. “I’m on our youth soccer board,” Ms. Schillerberg said. “We didn’t used to see as many Hispanic parents volunteering to coach. We’re seeing more and more. When your kids are such good friends at school, people are getting to know each other better. They’re trusting each other, wanting to be around each other. ” Mario Flores, a loan officer at Bank Iowa in Denison, said Hispanics there were buying homes, investing in apartment buildings and otherwise injecting economic vitality into the community. “I believe both groups, the Anglo and are learning from each other,” he said. Mr. King has survived past denunciations: Last year, he drew a rare primary challenger, who accused him of being so toxic that his name on a bill rendered it “dead on arrival. ” But Mr. King won easily and went on to crush his Democratic opponent, Kim Weaver, an advocate for the elderly. Over the weekend, Ms. Weaver, who received a small gusher of donations after Mr. King’s latest remarks, announced she would challenge him again in 2018. It will not be easy. Last summer, Douglas Burns, an owner of The Times Herald in Carroll, Iowa, headlined a column: “King could use daily, still get here. ” Mr. Burns has branded Mr. King as a racist, but he recoiled from calling the district’s voters bigoted. Rather, he said in an interview, they embraced Mr. King for blackening the eyes of Washington and Des Moines elites. “I think people feel condescended to so much from urban forces that, while they may not like the racist tactics that King uses, if forced to choose sides, they’re going with King,” Mr. Burns said. But there are plenty who don’t seem to quibble much with Mr. King’s way of thinking. Sitting at the Hardees in Orange City last week, Don Engeltjes, 76, said he agreed with Mr. King on the need to clamp down on immigration. He said he believed new arrivals were a drain on taxpayers’ money, lumping immigrants from Mexico in with those from the Muslim world. “It’s just handout, handout, handout,” he said. “But Don, your dad is an immigrant too,” another man piped up, noting that Mr. Engeltjes’s father, like many forebears of the district’s voters, had come over from Holland at age 9. “You bet he was,” Mr. Engeltjes replied. “But the way it’s going nowadays, man, they’re outproducing us. We’re going to be the minority in a few years. ” Asked by a reporter who he meant by “we,” Mr. Engeltjes said: “The white people. The American people. ” Mr. Engeltjes said he did not oppose all immigrants. He described a successful prostate procedure he had not long ago in Sioux Falls, S. D. performed by a Korean doctor. But he complained that homes occupied by several Hispanic families living together were running down his neighborhood. On Sundays, he said, he picks up trash in the street from parties he believes are held by his Hispanic neighbors. Interviewed at his home later, where his wife, Alma, said her husband had occasionally made enemies by being outspoken, Mr. Engeltjes praised the same quality in Mr. King, for whom he said he would vote again. “Enough of this ” he said. “The man’s got a pair. ” Mr. Wielenga, the agronomist, suggested that northwestern Iowa, with its proud Dutch heritage, may have grown too insular, too complacent, during Mr. King’s tenure in Congress. He called it a safe community and a great place to raise children. He has four daughters and is the board president of Hull Christian School, where Mr. Wielenga said only one of the 100 families who send children to the private school is Hispanic. He said some of the area’s churches were entirely white. “We talk about this at school,” Mr. Wielenga said: “Are we living in a bubble? And is that what God is calling us to do — to live in a bubble?” “This has been going on now for 20 years,” he said of the Hispanic influx. “Now you want to fix it by kicking people out?” He gently shook his head.

kman821

Your hyperbole makes you sound more like a Trump supporter than a Stein supporter, but both groups of losers will continue to whine in unity.

Suicide Bombing in Baghdad Kills at Least 36 - The New York Times

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck loaded with explosives on Monday in a busy Baghdad market, killing at least 36 people hours after President François Hollande of France arrived in the Iraqi capital. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomb went off in a produce market that was packed with day laborers, a police officer said, adding that another 52 people were wounded. During a news conference with Mr. Hollande, Haider Iraq’s prime minister, said the suicide bomber had pretended to be a man seeking to hire day laborers. Once the workers gathered around, he detonated the vehicle. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, claimed the attack in a statement circulated on a website that is often used by the group. It was the third such attack in three days in or near Baghdad, underscoring the lingering threat posed by the extremist group despite a string of setbacks for it elsewhere in the country over the past year, including in and around the northern city of Mosul. The attack took place in Sadr City, a vast Shiite district in eastern Baghdad that has been repeatedly targeted by Sunni extremists since the 2003 invasion. Militiamen loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada were seen evacuating bodies in their trucks before ambulances arrived. Bodies were scattered across the bloody pavement alongside fruit, vegetables and laborers’ shovels and axes. A minibus filled with dead passengers was on fire. Asaad Hashim, 28, an owner of a nearby cellphone store, described how the laborers had pushed and shoved around the bomber’s vehicle, trying to get hired. “Then a big boom came, sending them up into the air,” said Mr. Hashim, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his right hand. He blamed “the most ineffective security forces in the world” for failing to prevent the attack. An angry crowd cursed the government, even after a representative of Mr. Sadr tried to calm them. Late last month, the Iraqi authorities started removing some of the security checkpoints in Baghdad in a bid to ease traffic for the capital’s six million residents. “We have no idea who will kill at any moment and who’s supposed to protect us,” said Ali Abbas, a father of four who was hurled over his vegetable stand by the blast. “If the securities forces can’t protect us, then allow us to do the job. ” Several smaller bombings elsewhere in the city on Monday killed at least 20 civilians and wounded at least 70, according to medics and police officials. All officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. The United States State Department condemned the attacks. Separately, the American military announced on Monday the death of a coalition service member in Iraq in a “ incident,” without providing further details. Mr. Hollande met with Mr. Abadi and President Fuad Masum, and later traveled to the northern Kurdish region to meet with French troops and local officials. He pledged to help displaced Iraqis return to Mosul, where Iraqi forces are waging a large offensive against the Islamic State. France is part of the coalition formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State after the extremist group seized large areas in Iraq and neighboring Syria. France has suffered multiple attacks claimed by the extremist group.

With Attention on Dakota, Obama Quietly Approves Two New Pipelines

161402 SHARES While the U.S. Department of Justice temporarily halted construction of a section of the Dakota Access Pipeline, two other pipelines are moving forward. In May, the Obama administration granted the permits for both the Trans-Pecos and Comanche Trail pipelines, and while construction has not yet begun on the pipelines, implementation plans for the building of the pipelines is well underway. Earlier this week, DeSmogBlog investigative reporter Steve Horn highlighted the approval and pending construction of both pipelines, as well as their significant impact on local water supplies and indigenous territory. As Horn wrote, the Trans-Pecos pipeline will carry natural gas extracted from the Permian Basin in West Texas, and transport it across international borders to Mexico. According to the Texas Tribune, the 42-inch-wide Trans-Pecos Pipeline will carry 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas every day under the Rio Grande River. Should a leak or spill occur, the effects could be felt in both Texas and Mexico. The Comanche Trail pipeline, which is also 42-inches, will carry gas from the Waha Hub in the Northern part of Pecos County, Texas, to San Elizario, Texas, where it will then be carried across the United States/Mexico border . “[The] Trans-Pecos and Comanche go through the Big Bend area, a rural area containing mountains, desert, and ranch land. Most importantly, they link to a massive set of pipelines in Mexico that are in the process of being built and it’s a bit difficult to say what the impacts of land/spills would be there,” Horn told US Uncut. “What sorts of environmental/ecological reviews are being done in Mexico? What are the potential risks of spills there and would we even hear about them if they took place?” However, Horn says the “elephant in the room” on assessing environmental impact is the fracking being done to take natural gas out of Texas’ Permian Basin. “With temperature records being broken left and right, that’s what the conversation should really center around,” Horn said. According to the latest status report filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) earlier this month by pipeline builder Energy Transfer Partners (the company also building the Dakota Access Pipeline), construction has not yet begun. However, because the pipeline has already been granted approval by both the United States and Mexican governments, Horn says the only recourse left for activists is civil disobedience. “Dakota Access, and everything that preceded the now-ongoing civil disobedience and largest convening of Native American tribes in modern history, shows the regulatory system is designed as a corporate rubber-stamp process,” Horn said. “The courts are happy to ratify rulings based on laws written by and for Corporate America.” Horn credited the Native American tribes chaining their bodies to pipeline construction equipment in North Dakota with the Obama administration’s recent call to temporarily halt Dakota Access Pipeline construction near the Missouri River. “[Civil disobedience] might be the only option left given how much the deck is stacked in favor powerful big business interests in the US regulatory and legislative system.” Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at [email protected]

Trump Calls for Closer Relationship Between U.S. and Russia - The New York Times

Nicholas Fandos

WASHINGTON — A day after the release of a damning intelligence report on Russia’s efforts to influence the American election, Donald J. Trump called on Saturday for a closer relationship between the two nations, saying only “stupid” people or “fools” would think this was unwise. The United States, Mr. Trump wrote in a series of Twitter messages Saturday morning, has “enough problems around the world without yet another one. ” He pledged that Russia would “respect us far more than they do now” after he is sworn in as president, and said that the two nations could perhaps work together on the international stage. For years, Russia has been anything but a willing partner of the United States. Relations became strained well before the cyberattacks began nearly a year and a half ago, despite the Obama administration’s early effort to reset relations. After Russia’s intrusion into Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea in 2014, the United States and its allies levied broad sanctions against the Russian economy and blacklisted dozens of its citizens, including some close to the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. President Obama added to those measures last month in retaliation for the hacking, expelling 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on two Russian intelligence services. Russia and the United States have also often been at odds over Moscow’s involvement in the war in Syria. Senior intelligence officials briefed Mr. Trump on their findings on Russian election interference on Friday, before releasing a declassified report that concluded that Mr. Putin had “ordered” a sprawling campaign intended to denigrate Hillary Clinton and aid Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has consistently dismissed the intelligence agencies’ conclusions as politically motivated, but he appeared to soften that stance in a statement his transition team released after the briefing. He also seemingly conceded Russian involvement in the election, but he has taken pains to point out that there is no evidence that any vote tallies were altered, apparently seeking to avoid the suggestion that his victory was illegitimate. Mr. Trump has said repeatedly that it is time to “move on” from the focus on Russian meddling in the election, arguing that it has received such attention only because Democrats are embarrassed about their loss — an assertion he repeated on Twitter on Saturday. Late on Friday, he blamed the Democratic National Committee for the hacking of its computer systems, saying that “gross negligence” had allowed it to happen. Many Democrats said on Twitter that Mr. Trump was essentially engaging in .

International Women’s Day: Calls to Action, Protests and Words of Praise - The New York Times

The New York Times

Iceland’s government announced plans to eradicate gender pay disparities by 2022. Four Russian feminist activists unfurled a giant poster outside the Kremlin in Moscow, denouncing the patriarchy (they were arrested). India’s prime minister honored a symbol of rural women’s aspirations for dignity and — the toilet. The Egyptian authorities said they would allow female prisoners an extra family visit this month. The events were all centered on International Women’s Day on Wednesday, and people and governments across the globe observed it in an outpouring of support for women’s equality and empowerment. But amid the celebrations, protests were brewing. Demonstrations were scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in dozens of cities across France. In Paris, protesters planned to march from the Place de la République to the Opéra Garnier. Unions, student organizations and feminist associations were calling for women to start striking at 3:40 p. m. — symbolically the time of day when Frenchwomen stop being paid, they argue, because of an average 26 percent pay gap with men. With the coming presidential election, the protest organizers unveiled a list of 20 demands, including salary increases, less temporary work and better enforcement of penalties for companies that discriminate against women, including when they are pregnant. In Buenos Aires, small groups of women began taking to the street at noon in preparation for a march later in the afternoon. Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend. Erika Monteiro, 30, a employee, decided to join a protest of about two dozen women outside congress during her hourlong lunch break. “They are killing us,” Ms. Monteiro said, referring to the chilling statistic that a woman is killed in Argentina every 30 hours because of her gender. “We can’t get used to that as if it were normal. ” The call for women to leave their workplace and make noise (called “ruidazo”) was the to the fourth women’s march across the country since June 2015, when tens of thousands gathered under one banner, Ni Una Menos (Not One Less) after a horrific wave of killings. In October, the brutal rape and murder of a led to the first women’s strike in the country. Laura De Marinis, a lawyer, clapped and blocked a road alongside other protesters. “I left my kid at home with my husband,” she said, emphasizing one of the key points of the demonstration: Domestic work continues to fall disproportionately on women. Many of those present said they had witnessed a change in attitudes. “Women are starting to stand up for themselves more, and we are realizing that we don’t have to put up with a culture that oppresses us just for being women,” said Lucía D’Agostino, 48, a psychologist. In Tbilisi, Georgia, women demonstrated under a symbolic “glass ceiling” to illustrate limitations on women’s empowerment. Thousands marched in Rome on Wednesday evening, in what was the largest of dozens of demonstrations in various Italian cities. Wearing pink boas, waving placards with figures of matryoshka dolls in various guises and chanting slogans from the 1970s, women of all ages, as well as some men, took to the streets to protest discrimination, wage inequality and violence against women. “There are so many young women, it’s transgenerational. That’s bellissimo,” said Maria Brighi of Rome’s International House of Women, and one of the organizers of the march. Organizers said that some 20, 000 people had participated in the protests, which started from the Colosseum and wove through parts of downtown Rome, blocking traffic and shutting down public transportation. To mark the deaths of women killed by and former partners, flags were flown at in front of Italy’s lower house, Montecitorio. In Russia, where International Women’s Day is a holdover that is sometimes called St. Valentine’s Day, President Vladimir V. Putin lauded women, saying: “Even today, on International Women’s Day, you are still caught up in your routine, working tirelessly, always on time. We often ask ourselves: How do they manage it all?” An airline crew from Brazil took to the skies to mark the occasion, days after Air India said it become the first airline to fly around the world with an crew. About 700 women’s rights advocates rallied in a conference hall in Seoul, South Korea, calling for an end to gender discrimination and the loosening of abortion restrictions. Demonstrators carried signs reading, “3 O’Clock, Stop,” a reference to the gender pay gap. Women are compensated so much less than men that they are essentially working free after 3 p. m. In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, women danced during a celebration. In Colombo, Sri Lanka, traditional dancers performed. Outside a Roman Catholic church in Manila, women wore masks smudged with fake blood to call for an end to violence against women. At a rally near the United States Embassy, female police officers holding shields stood guard as a women’s group, Gabriela, held a rally. The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, who has made inflammatory remarks about sexual assault, gave a speech praising women — though he also lashed out at the country’s female elected official, Vice President Leni Robredo, and at a political rival, Senator Leila de Lima. Another senator, Risa Hontiveros, accused Mr. Duterte of allowing a “pervasive culture of sexism, misogyny and gender bias. ” One of the most unusual events occurred in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a ceremony in honor of 10 “clean warriors,” all women who had campaigned to improve rural sanitation. They included Sushila Khurkute, 30, who recently gained prominence when, seven months into her third pregnancy, she spent three solitary days chipping away at the rocky ground with a stick to make her family a toilet. A group of Unicef volunteers touring the area began documenting her efforts and her story. The toilet, she told them, was crucial to the welfare of her child. Because women defecating in open fields are vulnerable to sexual assault, she said, she had starved herself during her two previous pregnancies, weakening her babies. The images rippled across India, where around 300 million women still defecate in the open. As Ms. Khurkute’s story was widely shared online, news outlets joined the discussion, nominating women like Kajal Roy, who mortgaged her jewelry and used the money to build 100 toilets, and Kunwar Bai, whose age was reported as 105 and who had sold two goats to build herself a toilet, despite never having used one. In a constellation of villages in the northern part of the country, elders recently voted to impose a new regulation — no daughters would be given away in marriage to a household that did not have a toilet. In the United Nations sponsored a bicycle race and ceremony as part of a workshop on women in the workplace. Far fewer than half of all workers in the nation are women. Many work in the informal economy, with low pay and no social protection. The U. N. also teamed up with the African Union to release a report on women’s rights. It showed the strides women had made, such as participation in various legislative bodies, but also highlighted the strides other countries have made. Several nations have passed measures against discrimination and violence, according to the report. In six African countries, however, legal protection for women against domestic violence does not exist. In 2013, African women and girls accounted for 62 percent of all deaths around the globe from preventable illnesses tied to pregnancy and childbirth. If current trends continue, the report said, almost half of the world’s child brides in 2050 will be African. Elsewhere in the world: ■ #ADayWithoutaWoman quickly became a popular hashtag on social media, calling on American women to participate in a national strike by taking the day off from work not shopping (except in small businesses or or stores) or wearing red in solidarity. ■ The organizers of the Women’s March in Washington targeted the Trump International Hotel for a protest, and some were arrested. ■ The investment firm State Street Global Advisors issued a statement on Tuesday calling on 3, 500 companies for gender parity on their boards. To commemorate International Women’s Day, it also unveiled a statue of a girl facing down the charging bull of Wall Street in New York. The bronze statue, by the artist Kristen Visbal, will be in place for a week. ■ Activists with a movement to end violence against women and girls, organized a “One Billion Rising” campaign, with protests around the world. ■ Marches for reproductive rights took place in Dublin, Warsaw and other cities. ■ In Hong Kong, protesters held a vigil against the policies of President Trump, whose Twitter post on International Women’s Day drew a backlash. On social media, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, the wife of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, was also roundly criticized for what some called a “tone deaf” Facebook post on International Women’s Day: asking people to “celebrate the boys and men in our lives who encourage us to be who we truly are, who treat girls women with respect. ” The post included a photo of her and her husband holding hands. One Facebook user asked, according to the BBC: “Why do we have to celebrate men on International Women’s Day?” Others were supportive of her post, with one user writing: “Ma’am, despite the backlash you’re taking over this, I’d like to say thank you for the spirit of inclusion it was clearly meant in. ” Others commemorated the day on Twitter:

Why Save American Politics?

Daily Bell Staff

Why Save American Politics? By Daily Bell Staff - October 29, 2016 Four Steps to Save American Politics … Donald Trump has taken a battering ram to longstanding political norms — the unwritten conventions that make governance possible … Immediately after the election, one of the most pressing questions will be how to restore them. To answer that question … what are the minimal norms on which we might agree? Here are four suggestions. -Bloomberg Cass R. Sunstein is disturbed that “unwritten political conventions” have not been adhered to in the current presidential election. From our point of view, the disintegration of such conventions is good news. Anything that impedes the political system from working in the US is probably a net positive. The current political system has virtually bankrupted the US and especially the middle class, many of whom have less than $1,000 in savings and over $100,000 in debt. Some 90 million potential workers don’t have formal employment. The US continues to engage in serial, undeclared wars that have killed and wounded tens of millions overseas. And in the past few years, the military-industrial complex, facilitated by Congress and the executive branch, has embarked on a series of provocations abroad that have heightened tensions with both Russia and China. The political system itself is held in low repute, with Congressional approval in the single digits. The US justice system and even the executive branch are not held in high regard. Yet for some reason Sunstein is worried that “normal” American politics won’t be “restored.” He makes four points. 1: Civility now … Right after the election, the losing and winning candidates should strike notes of humility and grace, and Democratic and Republican leaders should join them. 2: Compromise, early and often. 2017 could be the year of splitting differences. On gun control, for example, Clinton has a number of ideas, such as forbidding the sale of guns to people on the terrorist watch list, that many Republicans could accept. 3: Identify a set of attractive proposals from “the other side,” and champion them. With a compromise, one party yields to another; it gives something up. But there is an even more appealing possibility, which is to find domains in which the two parties agree with one another, and no one has to yield a thing. 4: Ease up on the process for confirming executive-branch nominees. This is more important than it may seem, because the current system, in which nominations are held up for months or even years, discourages good people from entering public service, wastes time and money, creates acrimony, and makes it much harder for government to serve the American people Let’s take these points one at a time. Why should civility return to a process that has bankrupted the American people, put six million of them in various stages of incarceration and murdered millions abroad in serial, illegal wars? Civility presumably makes the system less dysfunction. Our take: the more dysfunctional the better. Why should the system seek out compromise? This assumes that compromise will actually be beneficial to those being governed. But compromise merely facilitates the secret goals of those who run the federal political system from behind the scenes – especially banking and military interests. Why ease their way? Champion proposals from the other side? The US is $20 million in debt, is viciously divided and increasingly provides a government that is actively adversarial to the people it is supposed to “serve.” The FBI and IRS are only two elements of governance that have proven dysfunctional in the immediate past. Why support such a system or advance it? Confirm executive-branch nominees? These individuals for the most part ease the way to more effective federal actions domestically and abroad. Yet when one examines what the federal government does, it become hard to make an argument that much of it, or almost any of it, supports the civilian population it is supposed to aid. Why facilitate federal government actions when those actions are most often destructive? Sunstein concludes his editorial by claiming that the current rancor in federal government and its heightening dysfunction has made the American people “the real losers.” He suggests that immediately after the election, those involved should rebuild the “institutional norms that have long served the nation well.” Again, as is normal, when we discover a Sunstein editorial, we find his speculations highly questionable . To sum up: The US struggles with unpayable debt, is run by shadowy military and banking forces with their own agenda and increasingly the federal government is hostile to its own civilian population. Conclusion: The most troubling issue is that larger international interests are apparently trying to destroy Western civilization in order to install globalism. Governments generally are employed as part of this destructive process and the US federal government is no exception. To enhance its utility only supports this destructiveness. Better that it remains dysfunctional. Paralysis is not an enemy when it comes government.

JIHAD WATCH’s Robert Spencer: Candidate Hillary Warns about Muslim Immigration — Sometimes

Brenda Walker

Vincent Viola, Billionaire Businessman, Is Trump’s Choice to Lead the Army - The New York Times

Helene Cooper

WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump plans to nominate Vincent Viola, the billionaire founder of a trading company, as secretary of the Army, the Trump transition office said. Mr. Viola, a retired Army major and graduate of West Point, is the owner of the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange and founder of Virtu Financial. He is worth $1. 8 billion, according to Forbes, making him one of the 400 wealthiest Americans. He joins a growing list of billionaires selected by Mr. Trump for senior administration positions. In its statement announcing the selection, the transition office lauded Mr. Viola for working “tirelessly to promote the Army philanthropically in the areas of counterterrorism, cybersecurity and leadership development. ” Mr. Viola helped found the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point after the Sept. 11 attacks. The center describes itself as “an important national resource that rigorously studies the terrorist threat and provides research while moving the boundaries of academic knowledge. ” Mr. Trump, in the announcement, described Mr. Viola as “incredibly accomplished and selfless. ” If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Viola, 61, would be the Army’s senior civilian leader, succeeding Eric Fanning, the openly gay person at the Pentagon. Mr. Fanning has been helping to guide the country’s largest military service as it undertakes a sweeping integration of women into combat roles and lets openly gay soldiers serve. Mr. Viola would report to Gen. James N. Mattis, Mr. Trump’s choice for secretary of defense, if the Senate confirms General Mattis, a retired officer in the Marines. A person familiar with Pentagon appointments for the transition said that General Mattis had reached an agreement with Vice Mike Pence that the new defense secretary would choose who would fill the top policy jobs at the Pentagon — like under secretary of defense and general counsel — while the White House would select the service secretaries, like Mr. Viola. Mr. Viola, a native of Brooklyn, graduated from Ranger School and served in the 101st Airborne Division. He holds a degree from New York Law School. In the statement from the Trump transition team, Mr. Viola called it an “honor” to be chosen and said, “A primary focus of my leadership will be ensuring that America’s soldiers have the ways and means to fight and win across the full spectrum of conflict. ” Mr. Trump has continued to meet with a series of figures. On Saturday, after holding the final “thank you” rally of his transition, he met with Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, for dinner at his resort, a representative for the transition said on Monday. The meeting, reported by The Washington Post, was notable because Mr. Trump has vilified Mexico, and at times Mr. Slim, for illegal immigration and the loss of American manufacturing jobs. As a candidate, he also used Mr. Slim as a target in his frequent assaults on the news media, because Mr. Slim is a major shareholder in The New York Times Company.

‘The Only Good Cop is a Dead Cop,’ Says Alleged PA Cop-Killer

Bob Price

A manhunt for the killer of a Pennsylvania state trooper who responded to a domestic disturbance before being shot has ended after an overnight search. The suspected is dead. [“The only good cop is a dead cop,” Jason Robinson, the alleged posted on Facebook earlier this month, according to the Central Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania. The post was reported to have been deleted from Facebook about 1 a. m. on Saturday morning. The post was said to include an image of a police cruiser that crashed and a photo of an injured police officer. Pennsylvania State Police officials confirmed that Robinson is dead following a massive overnight manhunt. The initial announcement did not state whether Robinson killed himself or if he was killed in an engagement with police, PennLive. com reported Saturday morning. UPDATE: “Troopers encountered Robison at an unoccupied mobile home not far from his residence,” State Police officials posted on Facebook. “Robison refused commands to surrender, made threats to harm additional law enforcement personnel, and was shot and killed in the ensuing confrontation. ” Trooper Landon Weaver was shot and killed after responding with another trooper to a call regarding a “ incident,” the Central Daily Times reported. The incident took place early Friday evening. Details of the encounter remain sketchy at this time. The shooting took place at a residence in Juniata Township, about an hour east of Pittsburg. Weaver had been dispatched to the suspect’s mother’s house to investigate a call about a violation of an order of protection that had been placed on Robinson, PennLive. com reported Friday evening. Before the alleged killing of Trooper Weaver, Robinson had several encounters with law enforcement. Court records reported by PennLive. com revealed he was currently awaiting trial on charges filed in December for theft, receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and driving without a license. He was also arrested by state police troopers in April for unlawful bodily injury, simple assault and harassment. A motion had previously been filed with the courts for a mental health evaluation. Trooper Weaver was in his first year as a state trooper. He became a state police officer in December 2015 but did not graduate from the police academy until June. Officials reported he is the 97th member of the Pennsylvania State Police to be killed in the line of duty. Weaver had been assigned to Troop G, Hollidaysburg, which is located near his home in East Freedom, Pennsylvania. He was also in his first year of marriage, having married his high school sweetheart, Macy Gottshall, in June, the Central Daily Times reported. The trooper was the 140th law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty this year, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). He is the 63rd officer this year to have been killed by gunfire. The State of Pennsylvania has suffered the loss of three other law enforcement officers this year, the ODMP reported. Police Officer Scott Leslie Bashioum from the Canonsburg Borough Police Department was shot and killed just six weeks ago on November 10. Two correctional officers, Corrections Officer David M. Weaver and Correctional Officer Kristopher D. Moules, also died in the line of duty. Officer Weaver died in a fall and Officer Moules died from injuries in an assault. Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with additional information from the State Police about the death of the suspect. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.

GOP VP candidate Mike Pences plane skids off runway at LaGuardia airport

queenofswords

GOP VP candidate Mike Pence's plane skids off runway at LaGuardia airport page: 1 JAMAICA, Queens (WABC) -- Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Mike Pence's plane skidded off the runway at LaGuardia Airport on Thursday night. It happened just before 8 p.m. Everyone on board is reportedly ok. Just witnessed an emergency landing at La Guardia Airport. Hope everyone's safe. @ABC7NY pic.twitter.com/e4PtrsQDeo — Xpl0iter (@itsmeJilani) October 27, 2016 It's not yet known what led to the mishap. Scary! No details as to what happened yet. CNN reporting that a witness from 27 years ago has come forward stating Trump told her he was going to kill Pence one day. Details forthcoming link originally posted by: In4ormant CNN reporting that a witness from 27 years ago has come forward stating Trump told her he was going to kill Pence one day. Details forthcoming link originally posted by: In4ormant CNN reporting that a witness from 27 years ago has come forward stating Trump told her he was going to kill Pence one day. Details forthcoming The witness wishes to stay anonymous and does not seek legal action. They just thought this is a good time to bring it up. link a reply to: xuenchen The onl thing to add is that he was on his to a fundraiser that he will no longer attend. link a reply to: In4ormant yea it definitely has been eyes are re, and i need a beer so i dont get teh tremors... anyway glad everyones ok I'm sure that there are those that are disappointed that no one was hurt. hate to be the one to say it, but it's true. I'm sure that there are those that are disappointed that no one was hurt. hate to be the one to say it, but it's true. Good god, why would you say that? Fox had a producer on Board, and he is saying everybody is ok (were about 45 people on the plane). Sounds like a real close call! link originally posted by: mobiusmale Fox had a producer on Board, and he is saying everybody is ok (were about 45 people on the plane). Sounds like a real close call! Good link This happens several times a year at that airport. They built the runway too short. Burbank airport in los angeles had a plane go off the runway. Through a fence and hit a bunch of cars in traffic on a major blvd several years ago originally posted by: BASSPLYR This happens several times a year at that airport. They built the runway too short. Burbank airport in los angeles had a plane go off the runway. Through a fence and hit a bunch of cars in traffic on a major blvd several years ago I could never stand landing there. They make you fly so high above the city and then drop you like a stone on to a short strip. I would rather parachute In. link I worry about this sort of thing happening to Donald Trump as we get closer to the election, and he keeps gaining on Evil Hillary. I have no doubt that the U.S. government would sabotage some part of Trump's jet, if he gets too close for comfort. link There’s a retro look to the aircraft flying Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence. Aviation enthusiasts may recognize the Eastern Air Lines paint scheme on the Boeing 737-700 picked to shuttle Pence, Donald Trump's running mate, between campaign stops. ... That’s because the old Eastern name and logo has been resurrected by a new Miami-based start-up carrier. The “new" Eastern made its first revenue flight in 2015 on a charter from Miami to Havana, Cuba. Eastern spokesman Nicholas Loudon confirmed to Today in the Sky it is an Eastern 737 that's flying the Republican candidate for vice president. The aircraft is configured in an all-business class layout that can seat 62 passengers. As for the current incarnation of Eastern, the company has said it intends to eventually launch regularly scheduled flights from U.S. airports. For now, however, the airline is focused on operating charter services to Cuba and destinations in the Caribbean region.

MILO Resigns from Breitbart News - Breitbart

Breitbart News

Milo Yiannopoulos announced at a Tuesday New York City press conference his decision to resign as Breitbart Tech editor.[ “Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved,” said Yiannopoulos. “They have allowed me to carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that would otherwise never have heard them. They have been a significant factor in my success. I’m grateful for that freedom and for the friendships I forged there. ” Milo continued: “I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues’ important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately. This decision is mine alone. ” Yiannopoulos added: “When your friends have done right by you, you do right by them. For me, now, that means stepping aside so my colleagues at Breitbart can get back to the great work they do. ” A Breitbart News company statement released after the press conference stated: “Milo Yiannopoulos’s bold voice has sparked debate on important cultural topics confronting universities, the LGBTQ community, the press, and the tech industry. “Milo notified us this morning of his decision to resign as editor of Breitbart Tech and we accepted his resignation. ”

The forgotten political debate that led to America’s worldwide interventionism

Jim Miles

The forgotten political debate that led to America’s worldwide interventionism By Jim Miles The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of the American Empire By Stephen Kinzer Henry Holt and Company, New York. 2017 The American empire is usually not spoken of as such within today’s current mainstream media discussions, but is generally recognized as such during infrequent candid moments, and within discussions in much of the alternate media. The discussion is not new, and the factors within the discussion, while changing somewhat with the times, tend to have remained the same. Stephen Kinzer’s illustrative new history, The True Flag, takes the reader back to the turn of the Twentieth Century when the first acts of overseas empire were argued and acted on. It can be argued that ‘empire’ starts with the first movement across the continent by the new United States, incorporating, by various means, Florida, the Louisiana Purchase, the northern half of Mexican territory, and the lands of the native population. Kinzer acknowledges all that indirectly, as do some of the characters in the history, but his focus is on the pivotal years of 1898 to 1901 when the arguments concerning overseas territories focused on the Spanish empire in Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the then sovereign state of Hawaii. The writing is history at its best. Kinzer writes an interesting history with a casual anecdotal style of reading rather than the more common dry textbook style. While doing so the reader receives a sense of the actual personality and characteristics of each person within the narrative. As the story unwinds, these personality traits become as important as the actual facts of what happened, the latter having devolved form each individual’s interests and intentions. The title highlights Roosevelt and Mark Twain as the prime protagonist/antagonist pair. The history itself presents a significant group on either side: McKinley, Hearst, Lodge, and Roosevelt promoting empire; Hoar, Carnegie, Bryan, and Twain opposing the annexation/conquest of overseas territories. Many other characters come into play, but his group displays the personal characteristics that helped shape the overall argument. The themes of the arguments are surprisingly familiar to contemporary empire critics. The racist nature of U.S. endeavours runs throughout the discussion, ranging from the idea of “benevolent assimilation” allowing the “blessings of good and stable government . . . under the free flag of the United States [McKinley],” to “the misguided Filipino [McKinley],” but more strongly worded in the sanctimonious terms of “savage tribes [Roosevelt]” and from the military commander in the Philippines, a people “in the childhood stage of race development.” Sound familiar to today’s rhetoric? So do the underlying rationalizations and apologetics for empire. The Filipinos “shall for ages hence bless the American republic,” for their “emancipation” not just from another empire but from the “arrogant rule of a native dictator.” On the other hand, when the fighting became bloody and fierce, the insurrection fighters were attacked as “They assailed our sovereignty [McKinley—again],” while the anti-imperialists at home became “complicit in the killing of U.S. soldiers [Roosevelt].” Rally ‘round the flag boys. Other current themes run through the works. The ideas of the U.S. as a moral nation collided with the now consistent idea that “it was foolish to dwell on constitutional niceties when vital interests were concerned.” The concept of forceful morality came into play as it does today. Mckinley argued, Forcible intervention of the United States as a neutral to stop the war [would be] in the cause of humanity.” The imperialists in general “considered war purifying,” and “In their imagined future, humanity would be guided by a virtuous United States and disciplined by American military power.” Sounds like something out of our contemporary Thomas Friedman and his “hidden fist.” The reality underlying most of the rhetoric was markets, resources, and profits, much as it is today with the U.S. concern for maintaining its petrodollar hegemony. With the U.S. in an economic downturn, and millions unemployed (still familiar?) the imperialists argued that “commerce would have to be protected, or imposed on unwilling nations by naval power . . . [fusing] America’s commercial and strategic interests into a global strategy.” Empire would create “outlets for the surplus” and guarantee America’s “commercial supremacy.” Cuba was already mostly owned by fruit and sugar farmers, and the Philippines represented a market of 10 million citizens who would be educated to the U.S. manner of consumption and also would serve as a stepping stone into Asian markets. The anti-empire people obviously lost the argument—perhaps not the argument, but certainly the reality. Their central focus was the adverse effects overseas acquisitions would have on the very nature of the Republic that would eventually lead to its decline and its dislike and distrust by much of the world. In that sense, yes, they won the argument, but not the reality. Similar to his other works, Stephen Kinzer presents an easily readable, entertaining, and informative history of these important years. The True Flag is an important addition to not only understanding this particular time of imperial expansion, but also as a basis for understanding most of the subsequent events leading up to today’s aggrandizing imperial rhetoric—it is not new. Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces and book reviews for The Palestine Chronicle. Miles’ work is also presented globally through other alternative websites and news publications. Reviews . Bookmark the permalink .

Putin “Collecting” Former US Allies

stevew

How Putin’s Plan to Collect Former US Allies Could End the American Empire Oct 24, 2016 ( UR ) As Anti-Media reported Monday, analysis of recent events suggests President Vladimir Putin may have ulterior motives in sending the largest Russian naval fleet since the Cold War steaming toward the Mediterranean Sea. He may, in fact, be initiating the first stages of militarily securing the long-desired Turkish Stream pipeline. As highlighted , positioning the aircraft carrier-led fleet just off the western coast of Syria in the Mediterranean also strategically places it between friendly nations to the north and south — Turkey, with whom the pipeline deal was officially signed last week, and Egypt, with whom Russia is now expanding ties both militarily and economically. But in truth, the agreements being struck around the Mediterranean — while unquestionably important in their own right — are indicative of a much broader, and rather recent, Russian pattern. On the southeast border of Russian ally, Iran, for instance, lies Pakistan. Russia raised eyebrows back in September when it announced that for the first time in modern history Russia and Pakistan would conduct joint military drills — a signal Russia’s influence is spreading across Asia. In October, it was reported additional joint exercises between the two nations had been scheduled for 2017. Pakistan’s neighbor to the east is India. In mid-October, it was announced Russia’s largely state-owned oil company Rosneft, along with other partners, would invest around $12.9 billion in India’s Essar Oil. Additionally, a Russian state investment fund would work with an Indian counterpart to invest $1 billion toward Indian infrastructure. Share:

Boy wearing a ‘My dad is an ATM’ T-shirt chased by mob; father frisked, robbed

Ashwin Kumar

Boy wearing a ‘My dad is an ATM’ T-shirt chased by mob; father frisked, robbed Posted on Tweet Rakesh Bemaani, the 16-year old son of billionaire Lokesh Bemaani, was caught in a mad chase yesterday, which resulted in his father being attacked by a vicious, bloodthirsty mob. The reason? The unsuspecting youngster was wearing one of the popular t-shirts that read “My dad is an ATM.” (Image via redbubble.net) A horrified Rakesh has vowed to never, ever don the t-shirt henceforth. “There I was, zooming around in my Merc as usual, with a few cops on the road saluting me. But as I was driving, I happened to notice large queues on the roads, outside ATMs. I thought of seeing what the problem was and stepped out of the car. The moment the crowd saw me, they looked intently at each other and before I knew it, they collectively sprinted towards me, gunning for my throat. I quickly hopped into my car and sped away, but they chased me unflinchingly. Thankfully, I saw my dad, surrounded by a few security guards, just returning from his morning walk. The guards were of no avail, as the mob overpowered them with ease and started frisking dad all over. Some of them even stuffed his mouth with their debit cards, hoping for some notes to come out. Thankfully, dad had only ₹500 and ₹1000 rupee notes in his wallet, so the mobsters threw the wallet right back at his face, spat at us and went back. It was only after the melee subsided, did I realize the reason for it all happening – I was wearing one of my dozen of ‘My dad is an ATM’ t-shirts. Phew! Never putting these on again,” the harrowed Rakesh narrated to The UnReal Times . Companies manufacturing the t-shirts have offered to insert a ‘NOT’ in the middle of the statement for free. “We’re recalling all such t-shirts and without any payment, we’re willing to stitch a ^ NOT after the ‘is’ and before the ‘an.’ The safety and security of our customers is our topmost concern,” one such clothing manufacturer stated. The Bemaani family, however, received a flurry of support from the Bollywood fraternity. Tweeting to PM Narendra Modi was actor Arshad Warsi, who stated, “Mr. PM, your so-called masterstroke and surgical strike is paining not only the poor and common men, but also the billionaires. Of what good is all this, really? Can you please come back to India and repeal this goddamn rule? I don’t mind sponsoring your return ticket, if you do this!” Warsi was followed by director Anurag Kashyap, who tweeted angrily to the PM demanding an apology. The Bemaani family was also visited by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who sat in protest against the abrupt demonetization scheme. “Like aloo ki factories, we also need paise ki factories instead of ATMs. If we empower the villagers, we can get this done soon,” the Nehru-Gandhi scion stated. The Delhi CM was far more scathing in his diatribe. “The psychopath isn’t happy with the already prevailing smog. He wants more people to come out to the streets, thereby increase the smog and punish Delhites fatally for not voting for him. Yehi to scam hai ji ,” the AAP chief yelled. A section of liberal democrats in the US, however, hailed the development as a sweet revenge against the presidential election of Donald Trump. “It’s all happening! Billionaires all over the world will have to incur people’s wrath like this, for having one of their own, and a racist, bigot, xenophobe at that, as the US president,” said one such tolerant, intellectual democrat. Tweet About Ashwin Kumar 1 of the proud columnists of URT, former co-editor of URT Tamil, amateur musician, Real Harris Jayaraj devotee, UnReal T. Rajendar fanatic, passionate about stopping female foeticide.

Israel Passes Provocative Law to Retroactively Legalize Settlements - The New York Times

Ian Fisher

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Parliament passed a provocative law late Monday that would retroactively legalize Jewish settlements on privately owned Palestinian land, pressing ahead with a statement of assertiveness despite the likelihood that the country’s high court will nullify the legislation. It was a defining — opponents said frightening — moment in Israel’s relations with Palestinians and amid fading hopes of ending decades of conflict through a solution. While polls consistently show that most Israelis still support two states, their leaders and the reality of what is happening on the ground are consistently heading in the opposite direction: Fifty years after Israel defeated Jordan and captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, many politicians say that now — with negotiations with the Palestinians frozen — is the moment Israel must decide what it wants and act decisively on it. The new law is “deteriorating Israel’s democracy, making stealing an official policy and bringing us one step closer to annexation” of more land Palestinians claim for a future state, said Anat Ben Nun, the director of external relations for Peace Now, an group. Only a few months ago, the law was believed to have little chance of coming up for a vote. Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was flying back from a meeting with Britain’s leaders as the law was being debated, seemed to oppose its passage for fear of further international censure. The bill had been so contentious that the nation’s attorney general, who described it as unconstitutional and in contravention of international law, said he would not defend it in the high court, which seemed in any case likely to nullify it. That is partly because the law applies to Palestinians and their property rights. Since Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are not Israeli citizens and cannot vote for candidates for Israel’s Parliament, or Knesset, critics of the legislation say it is inherently . Under the law, Palestinian landowners will be offered compensation for the use of their property but will not be able to reclaim it. But the bill gained internal momentum through several forces: Mr. Netanyahu is determined to show his support to the powerful settler movement, and is under pressure from on the right and from corruption investigations that even his supporters say appear serious. That pressure intensified last week after Mr. Netanyahu’s government carried out a court order to evacuate about 40 settler families at the Amona outpost, declared illegal a decade ago. “Today Israel decreed that developing settlement in Judea and Samaria is an Israeli interest,” said Bezalel Smotrich, a lawmaker, using the biblical names for the West Bank. “From here we move on to expanding Israeli sovereignty and continuing to build and develop settlements across the land. ” At the same time, Mr. Netanyahu and the right — some allies, some opponents — have taken into account that they have more leeway under President Trump than under President Barack Obama, who regularly condemned settlement building. It is uncertain, however, just how firm the support from the new administration in Washington is: Last week, the White House issued a statement, amid announcements here about thousands of units of housing for settlers, saying that further expansion “may not be helpful” in achieving a deal with the Palestinians, which Mr. Trump has said he wants. A clearer sense of how Mr. Trump differs from Mr. Obama and from nearly 50 years of American opposition to settlement building is expected to emerge from a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu on Feb. 15 in Washington. The vote on Monday, which passed, 60 to 52, retroactively legalized several thousand housing units in 16 settlements on about 2, 000 acres of land. The law provides for compensation to Palestinian landowners. Opponents said the law would encourage more settlements on Palestinian land, with the expectation that they, too, would be legalized. “Looting is illegal,” Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, said in a statement after the vote. “The Israeli settlement enterprise negates peace and the possibility of the solution. ” Yair Lapid, the opposition politician seeking to succeed Mr. Netanyahu, said before the vote: “It’s unjust, it’s not smart, and it’s a law which damages the state of Israel, the security of Israel, governance in Israel and our ability to fight back against those who hate Israel. ” He added, “They are passing a law which endangers our soldiers, will undermine our international standing and undermine us as a country of law and order. ” Israel’s settlement activity has come under intense international criticism. In December, the United Nations — with the tacit support of the outgoing Obama administration — condemned Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as an impediment to a solution. Settlers and Israelis say the West Bank and East Jerusalem, captured from Jordan in the War of 1967, belong to the Jewish people. The international significance of the vote on Monday was underscored during Mr. Netanyahu’s quick trip to visit Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain. On one hand, she noted that her first meeting with Mr. Netanyahu came 100 years after the Balfour Declaration, in which the British government governing the area supported the creation of Jewish state. She said, however, that Britain remained “committed to a solution,” adding, “It’s the best way of building stability, peace and prosperity in the future. ” Appearing before reporters with Mrs. May in London, Mr. Netanyahu, who has in the past tepidly supported a solution, did not do so on Monday. As voting neared, tensions rose in the divided Knesset. “You are only passing this law so that the Supreme Court will later overturn it, and then you’ll be in the position to blame the judges,” Revital Swid, a member of the Zionist Union Party, told the governing Likud Party’s science minister, Ofir Akunis. “The land of Israel is ours, and this cannot be disputed or be divided,” Mr. Akunis responded. “The concept of settlement blocs is no longer relevant because there are no Arabs to negotiate with anymore. ” The vote came on the same day as a rocket fired from Gaza landed near the Israeli city of Ashkelon. No one was hurt. The Israeli military responded with artillery fire and airstrikes in northern Gaza. It was unclear if the rocket attack was related to Monday’s vote.

Oscars: Ava DuVernay Lauds Mideast Christian Stronghold Lebanon as ’Majority Muslim’ - Breitbart

Edwin Mora

Director Ava DuVernay celebrated her decision to wear a gown to the 2017 Oscars by a designer from Lebanon, which she proudly described as “a majority Muslim country. ” Lebanon was founded as a Christian “sanctuary” state in the Middle East, and its religious makeup is so controversial the nation has not held a census since 1932. [Although various assessments that use other metrics have determined that Lebanon is a slightly country, Tom Harb, of the Middle East Christian Committee, believes otherwise. In Lebanon, “Christians are the majority including [Lebanese people] abroad,” Harb told Breitbart News, adding that there has been “no census since 1932. ” “The Muslims in Lebanon refused the Lebanese diaspora to be counted because they count for more than 70 percent of the Christian Population,” he explained. “A small sign of solidarity. I chose to wear a gown by a designer from a majority Muslim country. Thanks to @AshiStudio of Lebanon. #Oscars,” director Ava DuVernay wrote on Twitter on Sunday, the day of the awards. A small sign of solidarity. I chose to wear a gown by a designer from a majority Muslim country. Thanks to @AshiStudio of Lebanon. #Oscars pic. twitter. — Ava DuVernay (@ava) February 27, 2017, The move to wear a dress from Lebanese brand Ashi Studio was a deliberate snub towards President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting immigration from seven countries, which she has protested in the past. Lebanon is not among the countries on the list. Intended as a sanctuary for Christians in the Middle East, Lebanon was established over territory from the crumbling Ottoman Empire. However, Lebanese Christians are currently being persecuted and facing genocide at the hands of jihadist groups such as the Islamic State ( ) among others, reported the Gatestone Institute, noting, “Recent upheavals in Lebanon are making local Christians communities worry about their existence as heirs and descendants of the first Christians. ” The CIA World Factbook reports that about 55 percent of Lebanon’s estimated 6. 2 million people are Muslims, split down the middle between Sunnis and Shiites, and 40 percent Christian. “Lebanon is a country. There hasn’t been an official census since 1932. However, estimates and data from other sources, such as voter registries, indicate that the two Muslim sects — Sunnis and Shiites — are almost equal in size to each other and represent around 60 percent of the population,” Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) told Breitbart News. “All Christian sects combined come to about 35% or so. ” Unlike other governments in the Muslim world, Lebanon’s political system is established under a agreement between Shiites, Sunnis, and Christians. However, Badran notes that Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah “dominates the political order and the institutions of the state, and also maintains a standing army of its own. ” Lebanon’s government system is established under a agreement between the major religious groups in the country, including Christians. A Christian is required to serve as president, a Sunni as prime minister, and a Shiite as speaker of parliament. However, more than two years and 45 attempts to appoint a president occurred before the incumbent, the Michel Aoun, came to power late last year. Muslim politicians in the country have also stripped Christians of some of their political power. Muslim politicians reportedly want to officially designate Lebanon an Arab Islamic republic and change the constitution so that the country is ruled by Sharia law like many other Muslim countries. The Gatestone Institute pointed out last year: Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim politician supported by Saudi Arabia, has invited every Lebanese party to his office to sign a document confirming that Lebanon is an Arab state. This is clearly intended to turn Lebanon into yet another officially Arab Muslim state. The next step will be to ask that the constitution of Lebanon be changed so that the country be ruled by Sharia law, as with many other Arab and Islamic states. “When it was first carved out of the crumbling Ottoman empire, Lebanon was intended as a haven for Christians in the Middle East,” reported the Economist in November 2016. “Their numbers have since dwindled after decades of war, emigration and low birth rates. ”

U.S. Accuses Chinese Jet of Flying Too Close to American Plane - The New York Times

Jane Perlez

BEIJING — The American military has accused a Chinese fighter jet of maneuvering too fast and too close to a United States Air Force reconnaissance plane as it flew in international airspace over the East China Sea this week. The United States Pacific Command said in a statement that one of two Chinese jets involved in an intercept operation on Tuesday had “an unsafe excessive rate of closure on the aircraft. ” “This seems to be a case of improper airmanship, as no other provocative or unsafe maneuvers occurred,” the Pacific Command said. The episode was the second report of an unsafe intercept recently by a Chinese jet tracking an American spy plane in the waters around China. Last month, the Pentagon said two Chinese fighter jets flew dangerously close to an aircraft off the coast of Hainan, the southernmost province of China. In that case, the Chinese plane flew within 50 feet of the American plane over the South China Sea, breaking an agreement on safe conduct in the air that Beijing and Washington signed last year, the Pentagon said. The American plane had been on a routine patrol, the Pentagon said then. The East China Sea is a delicate area for China and Japan, an American treaty ally. Islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, a group of uninhabited rocks in the East China Sea, are at the center of a bitter territorial dispute between the two countries, which regularly send patrol ships close to them. China’s Ministry of Defense told Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, that the United States was “deliberately hyping up the issue of reconnaissance by American military aircraft near China. ” Chinese military pilots always operate according to the rules and act in a “professional and responsible” manner, a ministry spokesman who was not identified by the newspaper was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The commander of the Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. said at a conference in Singapore last weekend that he had seen “positive behavior” by Chinese military aircraft and ships recently. “Every now and then, you’ll see an incident in the air that we may judge to be unsafe,” Admiral Harris said. “Those are really, over the course of time, rare. ”

Plane carrying Pence skids off runway at LaGuardia Airport

The Funny Farmer

A plane carrying Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence slid off the runway while landing at New York City’s Laguardia Airport Thursday evening. There was no immediate word of any injuries. The aircraft, a Boeing 737, tore up two tracks of concrete on the runway before coming to rest on a patch of grass. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement, “A crushable concrete runway safety technology called an Engineered Material Arresting System stopped the plane.” “We seemed to be sliding for the distance of the landing and a burning smell became very obvious — like rubber,” Fox News producer Dan Gallo wrote in an email. Hard to see much from these plane windows. But emergency vehicles are here. pic.twitter.com/XAkNSgDuWD — Dan Gallo (@dangallo) October 27, 2016 According to Gallo, Pence said that he saw mud on windows at the front of the plane when he came to check on passengers in the rear of the aircraft. “We can see mud on the front windows,” a calm Pence said in the press cabin about a minute after the plane came to rest. He said he felt fine. “So thankful everyone on our plane is safe,” Pence said in a later tweet . “Grateful for our first responders & the concern & prayers of so many. Back on the trail tomorrow!” So thankful everyone on our plane is safe. Grateful for our first responders & the concern & prayers of so many. Back on the trail tomorrow! — Mike Pence (@mike_pence) October 28, 2016 The roughly 40 passengers and crew on board, including Pence, were evacuated through the back of the aircraft as a large amount of emergency vehicles responded to the scene. Campaign spokesman Marc Loetter later told reporters that Pence had missed his fundraiser in New York City and was headed to his hotel for the night. Pence later called into his fundraiser being held at Trump Tower from the car in the motorcade as he drove into Manhattan. Campaign officials told Fox News another plane is on the way, and Pence looks forward to being on the campaign trail on Friday as planned. A Trump campaign spokesperson told Fox News in a statement the Republican nominee reached out to his running mate after the incident. “Mr. Trump did reach out to Gov Pence and is very glad everyone on board plane is safe,” Trump campaign spokesperson Stephanie Grisham said. Trump later told a crowd a campaign rally in Geneva, Ohio that “everbody is fine.” “I just spoke to our future Vice President and he’s okay,” Trump told supporters. “Do you know he was in a big accident wth the plane? The plane skidded off the runway and was pretty close to grave, grave danger, but I just spoke to Mike Pence and he’s fine, got out. Everybody’s fine.” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said in a tweet she was “glad to hear” everyone on board was safe. Glad to hear @mike_pence , his staff, Secret Service, and the crew are all safe. -H — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 28, 2016 New York City’s Office of Emergency Management said the airport was closed for roughly an hour a result of the incident. Due to a plane skidding off the runway, #LaGuardia is currently closed until further notice. Check with your airline for additional info. — NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) October 28, 2016 Following an earlier incident, #LaGuardia Airport has reopened to limited air traffic. Expect delays. Check with airline for additional info — NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) October 28, 2016 New York City was being affected by heavy rain Thursday evening. It was not immediately clear whether that played a role in the landing.

Yes, It’s Early, but Donald Trump Would Have Uphill Battle Against Hillary Clinton - The New York Times

Nate Cohn

A general election matchup between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton became all but certain on Tuesday after Mr. Trump’s decisive victory in Indiana. He would begin that matchup at a significant disadvantage. Yes, it’s still a long way until Election Day. And Mr. Trump has already upended the conventional wisdom many times. But this is when early polls start to give a rough sense of the November election, and Mr. Trump trails Mrs. Clinton by around 10 percentage points in early general election surveys, both nationally and in key battleground states. He even trails in some polls of several states where Mitt Romney won in 2012, like North Carolina, Arizona, Missouri and Utah. Could Mr. Trump overtake Mrs. Clinton? Sure. Mrs. Clinton is very unpopular herself. Her polling lead is a snapshot in time, before the barrage of attack ads that are sure to come her way. There have been shifts over the general election season before, even if it’s uncommon. But there isn’t much of a precedent for huge swings in races with candidates as well known as Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton. A majority of Americans may not like her, but they say they’re scared of him. To have a chance, he’ll need to change that. Mr. Trump’s biggest problem is that he would be the most unpopular major party nominee in the modern era, with nearly saying they have an unfavorable opinion of him. More than half view him “very unfavorably” or say they’re “scared” of his candidacy — figures with no precedent among modern presidential nominees. Mr. Trump’s ratings are worst with the voters who made up the Obama coalition of young, nonwhite and voters who propelled President Obama’s four years ago. In some ways, Mrs. Clinton is not a natural fit to reunite Mr. Obama’s supporters — especially the younger voters who have overwhelmingly preferred Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. But whatever challenges she may have among these groups dissipate against Mr. Trump. Recent surveys even show her leading among to voters by a larger margin than Mr. Obama’s when he won them four years ago. Mrs. Clinton’s strength among young, nonwhite and voters would be enough to make her a favorite. The G. O. P. path to victory without adding some of these voters is narrow. The Republicans would need to do nearly as well among white voters as Ronald Reagan did in his landslide in 1984 merely to fight to a draw in today’s far more diverse country. Nonwhite voters could make up nearly 30 percent of the electorate in 2016, up from 14 percent in 1984. But what raises the possibility of a more decisive defeat for Mr. Trump is that he is struggling to reunite the voters who supported Mr. Romney — especially white women and white voters. A recent Post poll showed Mr. Trump with just a 29 percent favorability rating among white women and 23 percent among white college graduates, while 68 percent and 74 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Mr. Trump is faring worse than Mr. Romney among white voters in all of the presidential battleground states. Polls even show Mr. Trump losing white voters in states where Mr. Romney won them, like Colorado, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It’s enough to put him at a big disadvantage in early surveys of diverse battleground states like Florida and Virginia — as well as North Carolina and Arizona, two states Mr. Romney won in 2012. Mr. Trump has even trailed in a poll in strongly Republican Utah, which is one of the states in the country. It’s unlikely that Mrs. Clinton could win Utah in the end, but it’s nonetheless telling that Mr. Trump trails in a survey of a state where Democrats have not reached 35 percent of the vote in the last 11 presidential elections. The Trump campaign’s aim to compete in industrial states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio has not looked promising either. That’s in part because of his broader challenge with whites (a recent survey showed Mr. Trump trailing by 29 points in the Philadelphia suburbs) but it’s also because he isn’t connecting among white Democrats the way the campaign had hoped. The same survey showed Mrs. Clinton leading in western Pennsylvania, where Mr. Obama lost many registered Democrats to Mr. Romney. Part of the problem for Mr. Trump is that the anger that has driven his success in the Republican primaries isn’t seen at the same levels in the general electorate. A majority of Americans now narrowly approve of Mr. Obama’s performance — a big improvement from his standing in surveys ahead of the midterm elections, when his ratings were decidedly negative. An Post poll found that just 24 percent of Americans were angry at the federal government. There also isn’t much evidence that Americans are particularly dissatisfied with the state of the economy. The unemployment rate is at 5 percent, and gas prices are low. Consumer and economic confidence indicators are well within historical norms. By all of these measures, national political and economic conditions are more favorable to the president’s party than they were at this time in 2012, when Mr. Obama won . These indicators might make Mrs. Clinton a slight favorite even if she were facing a more typical Republican nominee. Instead, it seems she will be facing a nominee who has both defied expectations and created enormous challenges for himself.

How Emotion Over Pet Care Helps Explain Human Health Spending - The New York Times

Austin Frakt

In almost every year since the 1960s, health care spending has grown at least as fast as the overall economy, and often much faster. Health economists have long debated why. Strange as it may sound, how we care for our pets offers some answers. The pet care markets look a little like the market for human health care. Health spending by American households has grown 50 percent between 1996 and 2012. Pet care spending has grown by a similar amount, 60 percent, though from a much smaller base. (Americans spent more than $15 billion on pet health care in 2015, but $3. 2 trillion on human health care.) An estimated 68 percent of households have pets those families with higher incomes spend more, which is also true of human care. And they spend more toward the end of humans’ and pets’ lives alike. The supply of both physicians and of veterinarians has grown at a more rapid rate than overall employment. Since 1996, the number of physicians has grown by about 40 percent. The number of veterinarians is up 100 percent. “These commonalities made us think that something else may be behind the rapid growth in human health care spending,” said Amy Finkelstein, an M. I. T. economist and one of the authors of a recent study on pet care. She, along with her Liran Einav and Atul Gupta of Stanford, tried to find what that something else could be in their study on pet health care presented at the American Economic Association annual meeting in Chicago. “We often blame generous insurance and significant public sector involvement, but those are absent from pet care,” Ms. Finkelstein said. Some health economists say generous health insurance and significant government intervention in the health care market promote unnecessary spending. They note the United States spends more of its G. D. P. on health care than other similar advanced economies yet does not exhibit broadly better health outcomes, a sign of inefficiency. But other economists argue that health care is so valuable that we might reasonably spend even more on it than we do today. Which camp is right? The three economists pointed out that, in contrast with the market for human health care, there is much less government involvement in pet care. Pet health insurance is also much less common. More than 90 percent of Americans now have health insurance, an industry that has been with us since before World War II. But only 1 percent of dogs and cats are insured for pet care, a relatively new product. (According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, the first pet health insurance policy in the United States was written for Lassie, the TV dog star, in 1982.) So the economists’ focus turned to the commonalities. Human and pet health care are both provided by experts — doctors and veterinarians — who’ve undergone lengthy and expensive training and occupational licensing. That expertise commands high salaries. It also gives them the authority to recommend treatments and tests, the need for which most consumers cannot independently judge. You trust your vet as you would trust your doctor to do what is best, especially when an emotional decision is being made. Both human and pet health care are accompanied by strong emotions, making it hard to rationally weigh the value of options. Moreover, the need for care, whether it is for a pet or a human, is difficult to predict and often urgent, again threatening our ability and willingness to shop for the best deals. Technology plays a role, too. Complex procedures, new pharmaceuticals and imaging, which drive human health care spending, are no longer uncommon in pet care, increasing those costs. Though routine veterinary visits might cost pet owners only a couple of hundred dollars per year, a serious condition can be very expensive. A dog’s kidney transplant can run $25, 000, and a cat’s cancer treatment can cost $10, 000 or more. Even if such high costs are extremely rare, it is not as uncommon for a pet owner to encounter a $2, 000 to $4, 000 bill at some point, particularly near the end of a pet’s life. “It makes you think that the emotional nature of the treatment decision may be important in explaining high and sometimes heroic health care spending,” Ms. Finkelstein said, “whether on your dog or on your mother. ” If emotions are in fact driving the higher spending, will it hasten the trend toward more pet insurance? The pet health insurance industry is growing, with total premium volume up about 17 percent in each of the last two years. It’s one of the employee benefits Delta Air Lines, Microsoft, U. P. S. and Xerox now offer it. The most common policies cover care for injuries due to accidents, as well as care for illnesses like arthritis or cancer, with monthly premiums starting around $22 for dogs and $16 for cats. But premiums can be higher depending on breed, age and where you live. Some other policies also cover preventive care, like vaccinations. In general, plans won’t cover conditions, pregnancy and costs, or animals less than a couple of months old. Typically owners pay 20 percent of treatment costs, with plans picking up 80 percent, though some insurers offer other options. Is pet insurance a good deal? Consumer Reports explored its value last year and concluded it’s typically not worth the price. Only if your pet has very high care costs will insurance pay out more than you would pay in premiums. According to analysis by Ms. Finkelstein and her Stanford colleagues, nearly of all pet care costs is spent by just 20 percent of households with pets. This guarantees that most policyholders won’t get back what they pay in. This is true of human health insurance, too, and for the same reason. But the point of health insurance — whether for humans or their pets — is to protect against the risk of catastrophically high costs, not to make money. Consumer Reports suggests an alternative when it comes to pet care: . Many pet owners could probably build up several thousand dollars in an emergency fund that could be used to help cushion the blow of unusually high pet care costs. Saving enough to weather a serious, human medical condition that could cost tens of thousands of dollars year after year or more is not something most Americans could do. Though you might reasonably avoid pet care insurance, you really can’t do that with human health insurance. Human and pet health care may have some commonalities, but this isn’t one of them.

NCAA Shuns LGBTQ Groups, Restores NC as Destination for Championship Games - Breitbart

Robert J. Marlow

Much to the chagrin of LBGTQ groups, the National Collegiate Athletic Association removed its boycott of North Carolina as a venue for hosting championship games. [Until Tuesday the NCAA remained quiet about whether or not it would allow NC to regain permission to host the games. The Tar Heel state lost its privilege as a destination for games in 2016 when it decreed under the law HB2 that all people, including transgenders, have to use bathrooms corresponding to their biological gender as indicated on their birth certificate. Many advocates for transgender rights believe the repeal of HB2, and replacing it with HB142, does not go far enough to protect the rights of transexuals. The new law essentially restores the status quo prior to HB2. However, prohibits government entities from creating laws that pertain to bathrooms, showers, and changing rooms unless it’s “in accordance with an act of the General Assembly. ” The new law only applies until December 1, 2020. According to The Washington Times, the NCAA called HB142 “far from perfect,” but “meets the minimal NCAA requirements,” therefore allowing them to lift the boycott of championship games. “We are actively determining site selections, and this new law has minimally achieved a situation where we believe NCAA championships may be conducted in a nondiscriminatory environment,” the NCAA said in a statement. “If we find that our expectations of a environment are not met, we will not hesitate to take necessary action at any time. ” advocacy groups were not happy with the NCAA’s decision. “What a ” Lambda Legal tweeted, after hearing the news. “The NCAA’s decision to backtrack on their vow to protect LGBTQ players, employees and fans is deeply disappointing and puts people at risk. ” Chad Griffin, president of Human Rights Campaign responded, “After drawing a line in the sand and calling for repeal of HB2, the NCAA simply let North Carolina lawmakers off the hook. ” So far the NBA has not stated whether HB142 meets their minimum standards for holding games in NC in the future. In February, the NBA relocated its Weekend, which was scheduled for Charlotte, and moved it to New Orleans as a protest to HB2.

Squatters See a New Frontier in the Empty Homes of Las Vegas - The New York Times

Ian Lovett

LAS VEGAS — On a drive through this desert city, the blight from the housing collapse of eight years ago can be seen on almost every block: Overgrown yards and windows identify the foreclosed and abandoned homes that still pockmark southern Nevada. But not all of the dwellings are empty. Squatters have descended on every corner of the Las Vegas Valley, taking over empty houses in struggling neighborhoods, in upscale planned communities like Summerlin, and everywhere in between. And they often bring a trail of crime with them. While some unauthorized tenants are families seeking shelter, police officers here say they are more frequently finding chop shops, drug dealers and counterfeiters operating out of foreclosed homes. One man who the police say was squatting has been charged with murdering a neighbor during a burglary. Even as construction cranes have returned to the Las Vegas Strip and unemployment here has fallen to single digits, the situation is getting worse: the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has received more calls about squatters each year since it began tracking the problem there were more than 4, 000 complaints last year, up 43 percent from 2014 and more than twice as many as in 2012. Residents say the explosion of squatters has shattered their sense of security, leaving them wary of any new neighbors at a time when the city is still trying to climb back from the depths of the recession. “Things get out of hand pretty quickly when these people move in,” said Jacquelyn Romero, 59, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 15 years. “We’re trying to do almost like a neighborhood watch, just to keep ourselves safe. ” Like many homeowners here, Ms. Romero does not know how many squatters have taken up residence on her block over the last few years. There was the one who broke into cars on the street, and the one who threatened neighbors with a metal pipe. She is sure there have been others in the neighborhood’s foreclosed and homes, but it is sometimes hard to identify them. The problem has grown so acute that the Nevada Legislature passed a law last fall to make it easier to arrest squatters, who often brandish phony leases in hopes of staying longer in the homes they have taken over. “People drive through neighborhoods and look for houses that appear to be vacant,” said Lt. Nick Farese, who is leading the police department’s antisquatter efforts. He said that squatters occupied homes across this entire city of 600, 000 people, adding that “we have seen a direct correlation between squatter houses and crime — burglaries, theft, robberies, narcotics. ” Several other areas that were hit hard by the housing crisis, like Detroit and parts of Florida, have also dealt with persistent squatters. In Las Vegas, the crackdown against squatters coincides with a resurgence, albeit modest, in the local housing market. Foreclosures are falling and home prices are creeping upward (though they remain far short of the prerecession peak). But with a transient population of gamblers and a glut of homes that have already been foreclosed, opportunists can still take their pick of thousands of empty houses. Inside one, squatters had scrawled a warning to stay away on a wall: “Violent tweekers on guard. ” In North Las Vegas, Deborah Lewis has seen just about every kind of squatter at the house next door since the owners walked away four years ago. First, two women said they had just bought the home, but they stole water from the neighbors’ outdoor spigots at night, because like most abandoned homes this one had no running water. Then came a group of counterfeiters, who left their printing materials visible from the window, Ms. Lewis said. Later groups tore out the stove, refrigerator and copper wire broke windows and burned the kitchen floor. Since water at the house had been shut off, they left feces all over one room, a common problem that creates health hazards. (For electricity, those who can afford it can set up accounts with the power company those who cannot often run wires to nearby utility boxes.) “It’s been a total circus — you name it, we’ve had it next door,” Ms. Lewis, 58, said. “It’s scary, because you don’t know if these people are packing. One guy came over here, and he was looking in our window. Scary. ” Real estate agents, who spend much of their time opening up homes they expect will be empty, are particularly at risk. Victoria Seaman, a Realtor and state assemblywoman who represents Las Vegas, said she realized how serious the problem was after she found herself face to face with squatters. While she was checking on a property she was selling, two children answered the door and showed her a lease that Ms. Seaman said she knew was bogus. The parents said they had found the place on Craigslist and met someone at a casino once a month to pay rent in cash. But there was little that the police could do under Nevada law at that time: If the squatters produced a lease, even if it was clearly a fake, and there was no evidence of breaking and entering, it was considered a civil dispute. “When do kids have a lease in their back pocket?” Ms. Seaman said. “That’s when I realized how bad it was. I was a legislator and a Realtor, and I felt so helpless. ” Ms. Seaman found that across her district in northwestern Las Vegas squatters had infiltrated even wealthier neighborhoods. So she sponsored a law that established new criminal offenses like unlawful occupancy, which outlaws moving into a vacant home knowing you do not have permission to be there. Violators can face misdemeanor or felony charges. The new law has hardly been a though. Investigating fake leases cases takes time, police officers say, and usually involves finding the legal owner — and owners who walked away from underwater mortgages are not always in the mood to help. And years of budget cuts during the recession have left local police departments short on resources. “One of the biggest challenges is carving out time to combat squatters in the middle of the violent crime epidemic we’re facing,” Lieutenant Farese said. “There’s a lack of budget, a lack of manpower. ” Local agencies have started to get creative in their efforts to combat squatters. Banks have slowed a “cash for keys” program that offered residents money to leave foreclosed homes local elected officials said squatters were making a living moving into one foreclosed house after another, then asking the bank to pay them to move out. Once a home is listed as foreclosed in North Las Vegas, new residents cannot get their water turned on unless they prove legal occupancy. But squatters are getting creative as well. Some repair broken windows and other damage from past squatters, pretending they own the place, neighbors say. At least one group of alleged squatters filed a federal lawsuit in an attempt to keep possession of the $800, 000 home in the hills they were occupying, with its pool and views overlooking the Strip. (Repeated calls and knocks on the door at that house went unanswered, even though four people were visible in the living room. The police raided the house and arrested four people on Wednesday.) In North Las Vegas, Officer Scott Vaughn has investigated 80 squatting cases so far this year, and said he had seen everything: prostitution rings teenagers using vacant homes for parties and even a squatter who tried to pull a Jedi mind trick. “He was staring at me and telling me, ‘You don’t want to arrest me. You want to let me go,’” Officer Vaughn said. “I said, ‘The Force is not on your side today. You’re going to jail. ’”

A Long-Running Scandal and a Senate Pick Stir Corruption Questions in Alabama - The New York Times

Alan Blinder

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — When Luther Strange ran for attorney general in this state in 2010, he appeared in an advertisement that spoke darkly of the Alabama capital’s “corruption, grand jury investigations, insider deals, abusing the public trust. ” Mr. Strange won that year’s general election easily, and then another one in 2014. But since ascending to the United States Senate this month, he has found his popularity threatened and his fellow Republicans troubled, largely because he accepted the appointment of Gov. Robert J. Bentley, a subject of an active investigation that the new senator spent months overseeing. A startling number of people in and around the State House openly suspect, but lack evidence to prove, that part of Mr. Bentley’s reason for appointing Mr. Strange to the Senate was to try to undermine the inquiry. Beyond clouding Mr. Strange’s early days in the Senate, the appointment to fill the seat of Jeff Sessions, President Trump’s new attorney general, has exacerbated the controversy that has publicly swirled around Mr. Bentley for almost a year. The maze of scandal — featuring sexually explicit conversations and the sudden firing of a top law enforcement official, and consuming hundreds of thousands of dollars from public and political bank accounts — has led to swelling demands for the impeachment of the governor, a Republican. “It’s like every time we turn around, there’s somebody else who is potentially going to jail, or being too greedy, or being too arrogant,” said State Representative Ed Henry, a Republican who has pushed for Mr. Bentley’s ouster. Mr. Bentley, 74, who did not agree to an interview request, has been on the defensive for nearly a year. In March, Spencer Collier, whom Mr. Bentley had fired as the head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, accused the governor of having an affair with an aide and said the aide had served as the “de facto governor. ” An audio recording of Mr. Bentley, said to be in conversation with the woman, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, was leaked and left Alabama residents listening to the governor utter phrases like “when I stand behind you and I put my arms around you and I put my hands on your breasts. ” Mr. Bentley, whose wife of 50 years filed for divorce in August 2015, said he had apologized for “any conversations and behavior that was inappropriate,” but he insisted that he had not had a physical relationship with Mrs. Mason. Mrs. Mason, who declined to comment and whose husband leads the Governor’s Office of and Volunteer Service, resigned as Mr. Bentley’s senior political adviser soon after the governor’s public acknowledgment of misconduct. Mr. Bentley’s words and Mrs. Mason’s formal exit — she and her husband have remained connected to the governor and traveled to last month’s presidential inauguration with him — did little to curb outrage. Lawsuits emerged, federal and state investigations began, and at least one grand jury here has been considering evidence. Mr. Strange, a former lobbyist widely regarded as ambitious and long seen as the future of Republican politics in Alabama, attended some of the grand jury testimony. Then Mr. Bentley, in his second and final term, chose Mr. Strange as Mr. Sessions’s replacement in the Senate and scheduled a special election for 2018. When his appointment was announced, Mr. Strange, 63, said the rampant speculation about an inquiry involving the governor was “unfair to him and unfair to the process. ” He also said, in a remark that has since been parsed, analyzed and criticized, “We have never said in our office that we are investigating the governor. ” Less than a week later, the man Mr. Bentley chose to succeed Mr. Strange as attorney general, Steven T. Marshall, appointed Alabama’s equivalent of a special prosecutor and asked her to “assume oversight of the state’s interest in the current investigative matter relating to Gov. Robert Bentley, to include all potential criminal matters arising from that investigation. ” One of the lawyers leading the inquiry, Matt Hart, helped to secure the conviction last year of Michael G. Hubbard, then the speaker of the State House of Representatives. Although many senior Republicans in Alabama and in Washington strongly urged Mr. Bentley to appoint Mr. Strange, the only one of six finalists to have been elected statewide, the choice and Mr. Marshall’s acknowledgment of an investigation still upset many people here. “Luther would have been the man to beat in an election,” said State Representative Corey Harbison, a Republican who decided to support Mr. Bentley’s impeachment because of misgivings about why the governor named Mr. Strange to the Senate. “He would have been solid, and he probably would have beaten the governor’s appointment. ” He added, “Luther’s ambition to become a United States senator caused him to do things that I don’t think he would have done in normal circumstances. ” Mr. Harbison said he would have strongly considered supporting Mr. Strange in next year’s special election. Mr. Strange said in a statement that he was confident that prosecutors in his former office would “relentlessly pursue the rule of law,” and his allies noted that his Senate appointment had hardly derailed the inquiry related to Mr. Bentley. “My own commitment to rooting out corruption in government speaks for itself,” Mr. Strange said. “That vow has never wavered and will continue to guide me as I serve the people of Alabama in the U. S. Senate. ” But Republicans are talking regularly of the political obstacles the senator might confront next year, when he could face a primary campaign focused more on ethics than on devotion to conservative policy ideas. Perry Hooper Jr. a former member of the Legislature who was a finalist for the Senate seat, said he was considering a challenge to Mr. Strange that could center on the circumstances of the appointment. And Mr. Strange’s new political patron, Mr. Bentley, is unlikely to be of much help. According to an internal poll commissioned by Republican officeholders and described by several Republicans who were not authorized to discuss a confidential survey, the governor’s approval rating is at an abysmally low level. “It’s very important in our state for our governor to be recognized and acknowledged as the strongest elected official in the state of Alabama,” said John H. Merrill, a Republican and the secretary of state. “I don’t think that there are a whole lot of people in our state who would think the governor is in that position today. ” With Mr. Strange’s turn at the ballot box more than a year away, Mr. Bentley is in more immediate political jeopardy. This is chiefly because his choice of Mr. Strange for the Senate seat has helped spur new support for an impeachment push that Mr. Henry conceded had been “fizzling out. ” (Last year, Mr. Strange asked the Legislature to suspend its impeachment inquiry because his office was conducting “related work. ” For now, the Legislature’s review, part of a murky process, remains on hold and a large number of lawmakers have said its findings would prove decisive in any votes they cast on impeachment.) “I met with him the day he appointed Luther Strange and told him, ‘If you do this, it will be the end,’” Mr. Henry recalled of a recent conversation with the governor. “He believed that was his best appointment, and it did nothing but his impeachment, and I believe it has probably a potential indictment. It reeked of corruption. ” One of Mr. Bentley’s lawyers, William C. Athanas, said that Mr. Bentley would “cooperate fully” in the state’s inquiry but that it would be “inappropriate for the governor to comment on the substance of this matter. ” Even if the criminal investigations remain open, some House Republicans believe that by the end of May, they will have settled the matter of whether Mr. Bentley will keep his job. Despite winning two statewide general elections with ease, Mr. Bentley is frequently isolated. Still, after Mr. Bentley had decided to promote a man who was investigating him to the Senate, he called Mr. Hooper to talk. He spoke of old alliances and cherished relationships. “You can’t buy loyalty,” Mr. Bentley told Mr. Hooper, “and you can’t buy friendship. ”

Why Men Don’t Want the Jobs Done Mostly by Women - The New York Times

Claire Cain Miller

It hasn’t been a great time to be a man without a job. The jobs that have been disappearing, like machine operator, are predominantly those that men do. The occupations that are growing, like health aide, employ mostly women. One solution is for the men who have lost jobs in factories to become health aides. But while more than a fifth of American men aren’t working, they aren’t running to these new jobs. Why? They require very different skills, and pay a lot less. They’re also seen as women’s work, which has always been devalued in the American labor market. The two occupations predicted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to decline most quickly from 2014 to 2024 are locomotive firers, shrinking 70 percent, and vehicle electronics installers and repairers, down 50 percent. They are 96 percent and 98 percent male. Of the jobs, many are various types of health aides, which are about 90 percent female. When men take these jobs, they have more job security and wage growth than in work, according to recent research. But they are paid less and feel stigmatized. “The jobs being created are very different than the jobs being eliminated,” said David Autor, an economist at M. I. T. “I’m not worried about whether there will be jobs. I’m very worried about whether there will be jobs for adults, especially the males, who seem very reluctant to take the new jobs. ” Take Tracy Dawson, 53, a welder in St. Clair, Mo. He lost several jobs, some because his employers took the work to China and Mexico and others because the workers were replaced by robots. He has heard the promises of jobs in the health care field: His daughter trained to be a medical technician. But he never considered it. “I ain’t gonna be a nurse I don’t have the tolerance for people,” he said. “I don’t want it to sound bad, but I’ve always seen a woman in the position of a nurse or some kind of health care worker. I see it as more of a woman’s touch. ” Also, health aides earn a median wage of $10. 50 an hour. Mr. Dawson used to earn $18 an hour making railroad traction motors. “I was a welder — that’s all I know how to do,” said Mr. Dawson, who is living on disability insurance because he has rheumatoid arthritis. Women were hit harder than men by the decline in jobs, according to Mr. Autor. But they have more easily moved into the expanding occupations, and earn more college degrees than men. Women have always entered fields — usually professional ones — more than men enter ones. There are now many female lawyers, but male nurses are still rare. One reason is that jobs done by women, especially caregiving jobs, have always had lower pay and lower status. Yet when men, especially white men, enter fields, they are paid more and promoted faster than women, a phenomenon known as the glass escalator. Much of men’s resistance to jobs is tied up in the culture of masculinity, say people who study the issue. Women are assumed to be empathetic and caring men are supposed to be strong, tough and able to support a family. “Traditional masculinity is standing in the way of men’s employment, and I think it’s a problem,” said Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist and public policy professor at Johns Hopkins and author of “Labor’s Love Lost: The Rise and Fall of the Family in America. ” “We have a cultural lag where our views of masculinity have not caught up to the change in the job market,” he said. But telling men to take feminine jobs plays to their anxieties and comes off as condescending, said Joan Williams, a law professor at U. C. Hastings and author of “Reshaping the Debate: Why Men and Class Matter. ” “White men’s wages have plummeted, and what happens to men in that context is anxieties about whether they’re ‘real men,’ ” she said. It’s no surprise, then, that Donald J. Trump appealed to men who feel this way — not just his promises to bring back factory jobs, but also his machismo. Many unemployed men who did manual labor say they can’t take the time and make the effort to train for a new career because they have bills to pay. And they say they chose their original careers because they wanted to build things, not take care of people. Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard, has a term for this: “retrospective wait unemployment,” or “looking for the job you used to have. ” “It’s not a skill mismatch, but an identity mismatch,” he said. “It’s not that they couldn’t become a health worker, it’s that people have backward views of what their identity is. ” Jon Ray, 31, of Inez, Ky. was an electrician at a coal mine until it was shuttered a year ago. He applied unsuccessfully for maintenance and repair jobs, and got a job in manufacturing after enrolling in a program to learn how to operate computerized tools. jobs weren’t an option, he said. “I couldn’t afford to go back to school,” he said. “And I’m used to working with my hands. ” If more men do jobs, they could erase the stigma and turn them into men’s jobs, said Janette Dill, a sociologist at the University of Akron, at least for jobs that require less caregiving. “More men will go into care because they don’t have a choice, but they’re going to carve out spaces for themselves that feel less like women’s work,” she said. Ms. Dill was a of a study published in April that looked at what happens when men move into jobs in the health care field. Men in the health jobs, like the nursing assistants who change patients’ sheets and help them bathe, earned 10 percent less than men in jobs. But they were less likely to be laid off and their wages rose over time, while wages were stagnant. Technical health care jobs like ultrasound technician — requiring more training but not a college degree — paid 22 percent more than other jobs, after controlling for things like education. They involve less interaction with patients and more with computers, so they are less stereotypically feminine. There is an education and race divide among the men who take these jobs, the study found. Black men were 3. 3 times as likely as white men to take the health jobs, and other minority men were 1. 8 times as likely. White men were more likely to take the technical jobs. For men without college degrees, more technical training that equips them for those jobs could help. And if health aide jobs paid more and offered better benefits, they’d probably attract more men. Some hospitals are trying to make caregiving jobs seem manly — like with a recruitment poster comparing the “adrenaline rush” of being an operating room nurse to mountain climbing. Perhaps then men could take the same pride in their work that Mr. Dawson, the unemployed welder, showed when he talked about making pilings for the rebuilt World Trade Center. “I had a good life as a welder,” he said. “It always amused me. That’s one reason I picked the job. ”

For the Rio Olympic Games, There’s No Turning Back Now - The New York Times

Juliet Macur

RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s too late to cancel the Rio Olympics. Despite protests and criticisms that the Summer Games do not belong in Brazil, a country struggling with political turmoil and economic collapse — not to mention the Zika virus — the competitions have begun: shooting, gymnastics, volleyball and more. Already the Games have produced elation and anguish, cheers and curses. And that was only the first day. The curtain on these Games rose at the Maracanã stadium during Friday night’s opening ceremony, with tens of thousands watching live and millions of people from all parts of the world watching from home. And on that first night, Brazil, despite a squeezed budget, did what it could to put on a good show. The party was clearly but irresistibly fun, proving that deep pockets, which are often considered so necessary in the Olympic world, aren’t so necessary after all. There were dancing and bossa nova and fireworks and more dancing. And when the song “The Girl from Ipanema” began playing, naturally the supermodel Gisele Bündchen strutted across the giant stage in a shimmering gold dress that had a slit up to there, as the crowd roared for one of its stars. In one segment, images of water and waves were projected onto the floor to simulate the ocean. Floating garbage and untreated sewage — and sometimes even dead bodies and body parts — weren’t part of the picture, as they are a part of real life here, in the contaminated Guanabara Bay, where some Olympic athletes will compete. In another segment, puppets resembling giant insects stomped around as a lovely story unfolded of how Brazil was born. None of those bugs were mosquitoes. Rio showed Brazil’s best side to the world, and its Olympic debut as a host went off without a glitch. Here’s hoping it’s a harbinger for the rest of these Summer Games, the first held in a South American nation. History tells us that we shouldn’t worry — at least all that much. Because even when doom and gloom are a part of the mood before the Games, which they have been for a least a decade now, most of the time the Olympics unfold without any fears coming true. In Salt Lake City in 2002, the first Olympics, there was apprehension about more terrorism. Police and military helicopters buzzed overhead. In 2004 in Athens, that terror threat only grew, with some news outlets providing biohazard suits to reporters as part of their Olympic gear. In Beijing in 2008, some athletes were given inhalers and specially designed face masks to protect them from the heavy pollution (which miraculously disappeared when the Olympics began, then reappeared a day after the closing ceremony). In 2010, Vancouver rushed to bring snow to the mountains because unusually warm weather had left the ground relatively bare. For London 2012 and Sochi 2014, more threats of terror created a dark cloud, but those Games ended without major disruption. And now, here is Rio, a breathtaking city with white sand beaches and emerald rain forests, but a city ridden with crime and corruption and pollution. People watching on TV will see a sanitized version of it. A generation of children will be inspired. My is already leaping around the house and doing cartwheels, pretending to be Simone Biles, the American gymnast who could win five gold medals. She and her friends at the pool insist on wearing “Olympian goggles” because they, too, want to be Olympic swimmers someday. They don’t know how rough a road it has been for the Olympics to get here, and that is quite likely for the best. Carlos Nuzman, president of the organizing committee, nailed it when he addressed the crowd at the opening ceremony and said, “The best place in the world is here, now. ” You could say that Nuzman was right because Rio and these Olympics are thousands of miles away from the United States’ presidential election, and the negativity surrounding it. And that, of course, would be true. But watch the athletes and you’ll really know why Nuzman was right. There are about 11, 000 of them at these Games, and many of them walked into the Maracanã for the opening ceremony on Friday, mugging for the cameras and toting selfie sticks. There was the for Tonga, who marched in with skin so well oiled that he looked coated in Crisco as he glistened under the lights. And there was the team of refugee athletes who marched behind the Olympic flag, getting the opportunity to compete in the Games when they otherwise wouldn’t have. They received the biggest cheers of the night, which made sense. Just look at what those athletes have overcome to get here. One of those refugees, Yusra Mardini, and her family had fled Syria. When their dinghy, which was too packed with people, began to sink en route from Turkey to Greece, she and her sister jumped into the sea to pull the boat to the shore, and to safety. Now she will swim at the Olympics, and her accomplishment will be a reminder that humans can be resilient, even when faced with the darkest odds. Even the Russians seemed happy on Friday as they made their way into the stadium. Well, not all the Russians. Nearly 300 of them will compete in Rio, but 100 others were barred from the Games because they were linked to a doping program. But there they were, the ones who convinced their international sports federations that they were clean, and they appeared delighted as they, like the other athletes, danced to the samba music. No matter which athletes, from no matter which country, this is what they’ve been waiting for. Right now, they don’t care that Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, may be impeached. Or that superbacteria lurk in the waters they will swim in or sail on. Now, for those athletes, and for many of us, it’s too late to turn back. It’s right here, right now, blinders on, bug spray on. Fingers crossed. Full speed ahead.

In Address, Cuomo Posits New York’s Policies as an Answer to Trump - The New York Times

Vivian Yee

Delivering the first of six State of the State addresses planned around the state this week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday located the cure to the nation’s political fever in New York State, implicitly offering himself as an antidote to a whose name went unmentioned. “New York knows that our progressive principles of acceptance and diversity are not the enemy of our middle class, and we know that success is not the enemy of our progressive beliefs,” he said. “In fact, it was the progressive policies that created the nation’s middle class in the first place. ” Ahead of his scheduled stops in western and central New York, on Long Island, in Westchester County and in Albany, Mr. Cuomo’s remarks in a room at 1 World Trade Center colored largely within state lines. But remarkably for a politician who has avoided even the appearance of White House ambitions since entering the governor’s mansion in 2011, his speech also seemed aimed at an audience outside New York. Mr. Cuomo reiterated his promise to upgrade Queens’s two major airports, but he dwelled far longer on the reality on Queens’s streets. There, he said, the economic recovery trumpeted by the Obama administration had somehow never gotten around to the Hillside Avenue gas station where he worked as a teenager or the “pizzeria where we hung out. ” “It is not what they feel,” he said, referring to the white voters who proved so receptive to Donald J. Trump’s candidacy. “It is not their reality. ” Lines drawn from the Elizabeth Warren syllabus got the Cuomo treatment (at one point, he noted that the Wall Street executives who presided over the financial crisis were never punished). One of Mr. Cuomo’s chief proposals on Monday was a “ recovery act” that he said would provide jobs and erect infrastructure, expand access to education and lower taxes. Lest anybody miss the point, the governor’s staff circulated “key takeaways” and quotations from the speech, billing the address as a groundbreaking blueprint for moving forward in the Trump era. There were ’ proposals covering what seemed like the whole spectrum of liberal causes. Doubling the tax credit for more than 200, 000 families. Executive orders intended to reduce a wage gap for women working for the state. Criminal justice reforms affecting the state’s bail system, recordings of police interrogations, the age of criminal liability and access to a speedy trial. voter registration and early voting. Mr. Cuomo proposed a defense fund guaranteeing legal representation to immigrants, as well as passing the Dream Act, a piece of legislation that would open financial aid at state colleges to undocumented immigrants. For environmentalists, Mr. Cuomo unveiled a deal, reported by The New York Times on Friday, that would lead to the shutdown of Indian Point, a nuclear plant north of New York City. The governor had already announced several initiatives before the speech, including a pledge to cover tuition costs at state universities and community colleges for families making up to $125, 000 a year. Some of his ideas seemed to be flags planted directly on the liberal territory previously staked out by Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, who listened from the second row on Monday — the latest subplot of a feud between governor and mayor that recently reached new depths over the death of a deer. Mr. Cuomo even took credit for establishing a universal prekindergarten program in New York City, a mayoral proposal ultimately financed by Albany. Yet for all that Ms. Warren or Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont might find to like in the speech, Mr. Cuomo, who has been criticized by the left over collaborating with Republicans, faces a bumpy session in Albany. Legislators have taken the governor’s decision to split the traditional State of the State address in Albany into six regional events as a snub, and legislative leaders have declined to attend. But there was someone present who wanted to air the legislators’ grievances, however lonely the quest. About 64 floors below the pristine white room in which Mr. Cuomo spoke, Edward F. Cox, the chairman of the state Republican Party and a Trump supporter who had been denied entrance, monitored the proceedings from a Joe the Juice shop. “He’s afraid to face them,” Mr. Cox said outside afterward, referring to state legislators. “So he’s running around the state giving great speeches that really sound like speeches for someone who’d like to be president of the United States, rather than someone who’s governor of New York State. ” In the cold wind, Mr. Cox fended off a shiver. He planned to follow the governor to his afternoon speech in Buffalo, where Mr. Cox would be, doubtless, equally unwelcome.

We Finally Know Why Hillary Disappeared On Election Night: “She Was Crying Inconsolably… It Was Hard To Understand What She Was Saying She Was Crying So Hard”

Mac Slavo

As Donald Trump’s election to the highest office of the land became inevitable on Tuesday night The Daily Sheeple reported that the Clinton campaign mysteriously went dark: “THEY KNOW” – NBC Reports Clinton Campaign Has Gone Completely Dark – No Longer Talking To Media #trump #hillary #itsover #election — The Daily Sheeple (@TheDailySheeple) November 9, 2016 Even Hillary herself must have know it was over, because she published a not-so-victorious Tweet to her supporters several hours before the official counts started being confirmed: This team has so much to be proud of. Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything. pic.twitter.com/x13iWOzILL — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 9, 2016 As confirmation of Trump’s victory swept the world, many undoubtedly wondered what was going on in Hillary’s mind. Then, as reports of a Clinton concession came to the forefront, it turned out that Hillary, in an unprecedented move for a losing Presidential candidate, refused to take the stage in front of thousands of distraught party goers who were expecting a coronation and fireworks show. Instead of Hillary, controversial campaign manager John Podesta took the stage to announce that the election wasn’t over and that votes were still being counted, implying that Hillary would not concede. At that moment, we knew something was wrong: Is something wrong with Hillary? Has she had another health episode? https://t.co/yP3fYWpinL #trump #hillary #vote #2016 #hillaryhealth — The Daily Sheeple (@TheDailySheeple) November 9, 2016 Had Hillary suffered another health episode? Was she so emotionally destroyed by the loss that she couldn’t handle it mentally? It turns out, according to Ed Klein who spoke with a close friend and confidante of Hillary, that she did, in fact, have a serious breakdown and was in no condition to speak to America on live television. The shock of losing after having been a “98%” lock for the Presidency was simply too much to bare. And as you might expect from a Clinton, it was everybody else’s fault: Here’s what I know, not my opinion. About 6:30 this morning she called an old friend. She was crying inconsolably. She couldn’t stop crying. And her friend, her female friend from way, way back said it was even hard to understand what she was saying she was crying so hard. This is Hillary we’re talking about. Eventually her friend said she could make out that she was blaming James Comey, the Director of the FBI, for her loss, and, I don’t understand exactly, the president of the United States for not doing enough. Via Gateway Pundit If all goes well, Hillary will be crying again when they put the handcuffs on her after President Trump’s special prosecutor recommends charges, that is, so long as Trump didn’t make a secret deal to let Hillary off the hook .

Rosana colabora con Joseba de Carglass en su nuevo disco “Lunas de oferta”

Xavi Puig

Rosana colabora con Joseba de Carglass en su nuevo disco “Lunas de oferta” "LUNAS NUEVAS PARA LUNAS ROTAS" ES EL TEMA CON EL QUE ARRACA EL ÁLBUM Rosana La cantante canaria Rosana Arbelo ha anunciado hoy la inminente publicación de su nuevo álbum, “Lunas de oferta”, un trabajo hecho en colaboración con Joseba de Carglass. “Carglass cambia, Carglass repara, Carglass sigue el camino del cortejo, a fuego lento, a fuego viejo”, reza la letra de “Lunas de oferta”, el single que da nombre al disco. La colaboración era un secreto a voces en el mundo de la música, pues es sobradamente conocido el interés de Rosana por las lunas. “Lunas rotas, luna nueva, ocho lunas… era cuestión de tiempo que ella y Joseba se conocieran”, explica el representante de la canaria. “Es el disco con la producción más barata que he hecho nunca”, reconoce Rosana, añadiendo que “las lunas de Carglass estaban a un precio irresistible y él sabe que a mí me da igual si están rotas. De hecho, tanto mejor”. “Lunas nuevas para lunas rotas” es el “single” elegido para presentar el álbum. “No te doy la luna llena porque es la eterna rosa”, canta Rosana en esta canción. Luego, añade Joseba: “Pero si tienes un impacto en tu parabrisas, puedes ahorrarte tiempo y dinero si lo reparas ya”. El disco incluye también una versión de “Gaviotas de cristal” en la que ahora el cristal de las gaviotas es tintado y está un 30% más barato.

Kushner Family Is in Talks to Buy Miami Marlins - The New York Times

Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael. J. De La Merced

The sale of a major league sports team always draws attention and local interest. But this one may attract even more interest, especially around the White House. The Kushners, the New York real estate family whose scion is a close adviser to President Trump, are in negotiations to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Kushners — led by Joshua Kushner, a venture capitalist, and Joseph Meyer, his and key lieutenant for the family’s investments — have pursued the Marlins for several months, devising a complicated financial arrangement that would include bringing in partners later, these people said. Mr. Kushner is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s . Neither Jared Kushner, who married Ivanka Trump in 2009 and is a top White House adviser, nor Charles Kushner, the family patriarch who spent over a year in prison for illegal campaign donations, tax evasion and witness tampering, is participating in the effort, these people said. Yet it was unclear whether a deal would be reached, or whether the family would prevail in any bidding contest. Forbes reported on Thursday that the team had a “handshake agreement” to sell the team for about $1. 6 billion, a figure that the people involved in the process said the Kushner family has contended was too high and refused to pay. Any deal would have to win the approval of Major League Baseball, which would closely scrutinize the buyer’s financing and would probably seek to ensure that Charles Kushner had no role in operations. The deal has already prompted questions within Major League Baseball, according to the people briefed on the conversations, about what kind of relationship Mr. Trump would have to the team and whether that would be a benefit or a disadvantage. Would fans or sponsors boycott or embrace the team or league based on a comment or Twitter post by Mr. Trump? And would Mr. Trump attend games? While Jared Kushner has not been not involved in the bidding for the Marlins — and he has pledged to be from any of the family’s businesses — he and his brother had bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, though they eventually withdrew from the bidding. The winner was a group backed by the financial firm Guggenheim Partners, which paid over $2 billion. As part of the financing for the Kushners’ bid, which was being shepherded by the boutique investment bank LionTree, the family would plan to bring in additional partners to help defray the costs. Representatives for the Kushners, the Marlins and LionTree declined to comment. Some of the people with knowledge of the Kushners’ bid said that Joshua Kushner, drawing upon his experience investing in technology companies like Instagram, saw potential profits in capitalizing on the Marlins’ digital rights. The Marlins are currently owned by Jeffrey Loria, who paid $158 million for the team in 2002 after selling the Montreal Expos back to Major League Baseball. The team won the World Series in 2003 — when they defeated the Yankees — but has not returned to the playoffs since. Still, Mr. Loria persuaded County to sell bonds to finance the construction of a new $639 million stadium. Critics of the agreement argued that the bond sale could eventually cost Miami taxpayers more than $1 billion. And there is one other potential wrinkle that might weigh on Mr. Loria: having to pay a percentage of any sale’s profits back to the county. As part of the Marlins’ agreement with the county, Mr. Loria would owe money if he sold the team within 11 years of signing the 2009 stadium agreement. According to The Miami Herald, the payment would be based on the team’s 2009 valuation of about $250 million it has risen since then.

North Dakota Police Arrest Over 140 Pipeline Protesters

Carol Adl

Carol Adl in News // 0 Comments Hundreds of police in riot gear with heavy military equipment have evicted Dakota Access Pipeline protesters from their encampment on private land in the US state of North Dakota. Police have protesters more or less surrounded. #noDAPL pic.twitter.com/G4xGQuXpZM — Jason Patinkin (@JasonPatinkin) October 27, 2016 The police reportedly arrested at least 141 Native Americans and other demonstrators who are seeking to halt construction of a controversial oil pipeline. Press TV reports At least 141 protesters were arrested on Thursday evening and Friday morning as officers attempt to clear a camp on private property in the path of the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Officers in riot helmets used pepper spray and shot beanbag rounds on some of the estimated 330 protesters as helicopters flew overhead. Demonstrators also allegedly set a car and some tires on fire, giving the scene a war zone-like appearance. The protesters have been demonstrating for several months, and dozens have been arrested. Police expect additional protests, and possibly more arrests, in the coming days. Native American protesters had occupied the property that crosses the pipeline’s path since Monday in an effort to stop Energy Transfer Partners’ construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline has infuriated the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and environmental activists who say it threatens the region’s water supply and sacred tribal sites. The tribe’s reservation is close to the pipeline’s route. North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple said police were successful in clearing the camp. “Private property is not the place to carry out a peaceful protest,” he said. Demonstrators, however, say they aren’t trespassing on private property, citing an 1851 treaty with the US government that says the land belongs to Native American tribes. The Native American-led protest has grown into a larger movement in the United States, drawing in other tribes, environmentalists and advocates for Native Americans. The federal government has twice asked the pipeline operator to voluntarily pause construction near the tribe’s reservation while the authorities reconsider the project’s route. But courts have refused to compel a halt. The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe criticized law enforcement’s “militarized” response to the activists. “Militarized law enforcement agencies moved in on water protectors with tanks and riot gear today. We continue to pray for peace,” Dave Archambault II said in a statement Thursday evening.

Disappointed First-Time Voter Thought He Was Going To Get To Pull Big Lever - The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Disappointed First-Time Voter Thought He Was Going To Get To Pull Big Lever Close Vol 52 Issue 44 · Politics · Politicians · Election 2016 NASHVILLE, TN—Complaining that there wasn’t even some sort of button to press, disappointed first-time voter Rob Blackman told reporters Tuesday he thought he was going to get to pull a big lever inside the voting booth. “I was sure there’d be a handle I’d have to really yank down on to officially cast my vote, and then there’d be this satisfying mechanical thunk sound,” said Blackman, 19, adding that quietly filling in bubbles on a sheet of paper was a “complete fucking letdown.” “I always thought you’d open up the curtain, see two big levers, and pull down on the one that corresponded to your candidate. But no, there was just a little table in there and that’s it. This is such bullshit.” Blackman went on to say that he wasn’t sure if he’d participate in another election since there really wasn’t an incentive for him to vote anymore. Check back throughout the day for live updates from the Onion political team as it covers Election Day 2016. Share This Story: WATCH VIDEO FROM THE ONION Sign up For The Onion's Newsletter Give your spam filter something to do. Daily Headlines

Otto Warmbier, American Taken Hostage by North Korea, Dies Days After Return to U.S. - Breitbart

Ben Kew

Otto Warmbier, an American student detained in North Korea for committing “hostile acts” has died, his parents confirmed Tuesday in a statement. He was 22. [Warmbier, who returned to America last Tuesday, having previously been sentenced to 15 years hard labor after stealing paraphernalia from his hotel, had lapsed into a coma before his return. The North Korean government claimed Warmbier had contracted botulism shortly after his conviction of crimes against the communist state in March 2016. Doctors treating Warmbier upon his return to Ohio stated, however, that they found no evidence of botulism, instead finding “extensive brain damage. ” The North Korean government has not remarked on the discrepancy or provided any explanation for what could have caused Warmbier such brain damage in prison. “It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home,” his family wrote in a statement. “We would like to thank the wonderful professionals at Cincinnati Medical Center who did everything they could for Otto. Unfortunately, the awful torturous treatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today. ” Otto Warmbier, US student detained in North Korea, dies after returning home in coma pic. twitter. — Jason Calabretta (@JasonCalabretta) June 19, 2017, According to the Warmbier family, Otto was “unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. ” Warmbier had gone to North Korea in early 2016 on an adventure tour of the rogue state, under the auspices of the Young Pioneer Tours, which preys on the curiosity of young westerners by offering “Budget tours to destinations your mother wants you to stay away from!” Warmbier was arrested during his visit for allegedly having attempted to steal a communist propaganda sign and forced to confess to the “serious crime” on North Korean television in February 2016. Warmbier pleaded guilty to taking down a political sign from a area of his hotel. “I have made the worst mistake of my life, but please act to save me,” he said at the time. Under duress, Warmbier accused the United States of bribing him to steal the sign, calling it “the worst mistake of my life. ” In an appearance carefully choreographed by North Korean authorities, Warmbier said that although his crime was “very severe and ” he was grateful for the regime’s “humanitarian treatment of severe criminals. ” Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for his “crime. ” North Korea continues to imprison three other U. S. citizens: academics Kim and Tony Kim, and businessman Kim . Update: President Donald Trump has released a statement on Warmbier’s passing: Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing. There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto’s family and friends, and all who loved him. Otto’s fate deepens my Administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.

Fans Tweet About Mental Illness to Honor Carrie Fisher - The New York Times

Ryan Burleson and Tara Parker-Pope

The actress Carrie Fisher, who spoke openly about her struggles with mental illness, once joked that she wanted to start a “Bipolar Pride Day” to help erase the stigma of the disease. Legions of fans seemed to grant her wish on Tuesday in the hours after her death at age 60. One after another, in words both and deeply personal, admirers paid tribute to Ms. Fisher by “coming out” on Twitter with their own stories of mental illness. [ Read the obituary | Carrie Fisher and “bipolar pride” ] Ana Marie Cox, senior political correspondent for MTV with 1. 3 million followers on Twitter, was among the first to tweet. “I really did think, ‘What would Carrie do? ’” Ms. Cox said in a subsequent telephone interview, as she described trying to decide how open to be about her own health. Choking back tears as she spoke, Ms. Cox continued: “I really did identify her as a feminist icon, a model for being a tough smart girl. But where she really pushed the boundary of what we could talk about in polite company or impolite company was her mental illness and her openness about that. ” Almost immediately after her tweet, some of Ms. Cox’s followers began sharing their own stories about mental illness. Jeremy Hitchcock, 34, a computer programmer from Manhattan, was seeing the new movie “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” on Friday when he heard other audience members sharing the news that Ms. Fisher had suffered a heart attack hours earlier. Mr. Hitchcock, who was so devoted to the space saga that he named his son Luke after the character Luke Skywalker, said in an interview that he was devastated by her death. After seeing Ms. Cox’s tweet, he decided to do something he’d never done before, something that terrified him. He announced publicly that he has bipolar disorder. The Chicago radio personality Julie DiCaro also followed Ms. Cox’s lead, tweeting to her 31, 000 followers that she suffers from depression. She also began the hashtag #InHonorOfCarrie. Within a couple of hours, the hashtag had reached 182, 000 unique viewers as people began opening up about their struggles with bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, suicide — often for the first time in such public fashion. “I wanted to do something that wasn’t about her being beautiful or a sex symbol,” Ms. DiCaro said of Ms. Fisher, “but about her being a woman who wasn’t afraid to speak out about mental illness. She became a hero to me because of who she was off the screen more than who she was on the screen. ” “People who struggle with these issues often feel like they’re going it alone,” Ms. DiCaro continued. “But it’s comforting that Carrie, or Princess Leia — who’s cooler than Princess Leia? — was comfortable speaking publicly about her struggles. It made me feel comfortable. ” Ms. Fisher has said that she was first given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder at the age of 24, but that it wasn’t until five years later that she actually accepted it. In time, she spoke often about her lifelong struggles with both addiction and bipolar disorder and her desire to erase the stigma of mental illness. She wrote her 1987 novel “Postcards From the Edge” after a stint in rehab following a drug overdose. It was during her autobiographical stage show, “Wishful Drinking,” that she first posited the idea for “Bipolar Pride Day. ” Dr. Barron Lerner, a medical historian, said that while public outpourings are common after a celebrity’s death, the nature of the tribute to Ms. Fisher is unusual. “The fact that they are outing their mental illness needs to be acknowledged as it remains far more stigmatized than other diseases,” said Dr. Lerner, an internist at New York University Langone Medical Center and author of the book “When Illness Goes Public. ” “Rather than just saying ‘R. I. P. Carrie,’ it is much more powerful to take a courageous step oneself to honor the memory of someone famous who also struggled with what you have,” he added. Ms. Cox, who also writes the “Talk” column for The New York Times Magazine, said that while it felt risky to tweet about her bipolar disorder, she received a number of emails and tweets from people close to her who also cope with mental illness. And the overwhelming response on social media has convinced her it was a fitting tribute to Ms. Fisher. “I think she would be floored,” Ms. Cox said. “I think she would be happy. It’s a powerful thing. ” Ms. Fisher’s efforts to destigmatize mental illness and addiction took new form this year as she started writing the column “Advice From the Dark Side” for The Guardian. Characteristically funny and cleareyed, Ms. Fisher fielded questions from readers on bipolar disorder and dysfunctional marriages, among other topics. She ended one memorable exchange with a line that was often tweeted on Tuesday:

MSNBC’s Election Day “Crystal Ball” is Broken

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

MSNBC’s Election Day “Crystal Ball” is Broken MSNBC’s Election Day “Crystal Ball” is Broken November 16, 2016, 9:34 am by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton Leave a Comment 0 By: Cliff Kincaid | Accuracy in Media Instead of underwriting media stars who fail to predict the future, perhaps the University of Virginia (UVA) ought to get back to teaching students marketable skills so they can obtain good jobs. One of the big losers on November 8 was UVA media star and Professor Larry Sabato, who said on MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell show that “Our prediction is that Hillary Clinton will get 322 electoral votes, and Donald Trump will get 216.” Trump/Pence are projected to get 306 electoral votes to Clinton/Kaine’s 232. Perhaps he should take up astrology. His Crystal Ball newsletter “has been a leader in accurately predicting elections since its inception,” says Sabato’s website. Described as “authoritative,” the newsletter is part of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. His total compensation in 2014 was $380,000. On the November 7 O’Donnell show, Sabato predicted Clinton would win North Carolina (Trump won it) and that Clinton had a real shot of winning Ohio (Trump won it by nine points). Sabato said, “One of my great people at the Crystal Ball, Kyle Condik, wrote a book called Bellwether about Ohio…so his contacts are the best and they keep telling us that it’s much, much closer than people realize and that Clinton might, might be able to pull out a victory there…” Kondik is managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball newsletter. Sabato also predicted a net gain of four for Democrats in the Senate, resulting in a 50-50 tie in Congress’ upper chamber. “If we’re right about the presidential contest, that means Vice President Tim Kaine (D) will be breaking ties after Inauguration,” Sabato claimed. Sabato thought there was a chance of Democrats taking the Senate. “If we’re off on the total number of seat changes [in the Senate],” he said, “we think it’s slightly likelier that Democrats get to 51 or 52 than Republicans. That could mean the Democrats pulling out a win in Indiana, Missouri, or North Carolina. If Republicans hold on to the majority, it probably would be because Ayotte survives in New Hampshire.” In fact, Ayotte lost in New Hampshire and Republicans won in Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina. Ayotte alienated Republicans by abandoning Trump. Her campaign alienated conservatives by passing out free condoms to get votes at the University of New Hampshire. Rather than being losses, the GOP victories were: In Indiana, the Republican Todd Young beat Democrat Evan Bayh by 52.1 to 42.4. In Missouri, the Republican Roy Blunt beat the Democrat Jason Kander by 49.4 to 46.2. In North Carolina, the Republican Richard Burr beat the Democrat Deborah Ross by 51.1 to 45.3. After the Trump victory, Sabato’s UVA website declared , “We heard for months from many of you, saying that we were underestimating the size of a potential hidden Trump vote and his ability to win. We didn’t believe it, and we were wrong. The Crystal Ball is shattered. We’ll pick up the pieces starting next week as we try to unpack what happened in this election, where there was so much dramatic change from just four years ago.” He added, “We have a lot to learn, and we must make sure the Crystal Ball never has another year like this. This team expects more of itself, and we apologize to our readers for our errors.” Perhaps Sabato ought to spend more time teaching classes and less time on MSNBC, CNN and other channels. To make matters worse, O’Donnell brought on Ana Marie Cox, a rabid feminist now with MTV, who breathed a sigh of relief at Sabato’s prediction that Trump wouldn’t win. But she said America still had a lot to fear because Trump’s success in the primaries had revealed some “real ugly things” about the U.S. She added, “I am hopeful this is going to be a fairly resounding victory and that is going to put some shame back in people about the kinds of things that have come up during this election.” Former Jeb Bush communications director Tim Miller was then brought on to say that he was hopeful that Hispanic immigrants would be “the ones to put the nail in Donald Trump`s coffin” in states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida. Trump lost in Nevada by only 2 points and Colorado by only about 3 points. Trump beat Clinton in Florida. Sabato told O’Donnell that a firm called Latino Decisions had estimated that Clinton would get a higher percentage of Latino votes than Barack Obama, and that Trump was at only 16 percent. The results were much different. In fact, the Pew Research Center says Clinton had a lower percentage of Latinos than Obama, and Trump got 29 percent, two more points that Mitt Romney in 2012. My crystal ball says Sabato will not change the name of his newsletter and that he will be back in four years making another round of predictions. O’Donnell himself bought into the hype, declaring that the fear is that “the presidency will be handed over to ignorance, incompetence and bigotry,” but that “the latest polls indicate that…America should have nothing to fear.” He added, “Donald Trump has taken this country to the brink, and tomorrow voters are likely to take it back.” This episode of the O’Donnell show demonstrates how the media talk among themselves, using sources that reaffirm their biases, while ignoring objective reality. We have come to expect this from MSNBC, but to have a prestigious university like UVA participate in such a charade is an absolute disgrace. “The glass ceiling did not break Tuesday night, but the Crystal Ball shattered,” wrote Andrew Cain of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, in a story about Sabato’s humiliation. But don’t think that Sabato will slink away in disgrace. He was back on CNN on Monday giving his opinion on the Electoral College.

McClatchy: Breitbart’s Aaron Klein Leads Influential Israel Bureau

Breitbart Jerusalem

On Monday, Katie Glueck, senior political correspondent for the McClatchy news agency, published an extensive profile of Breitbart Jerusalem and how bureau chief Aaron Klein leads a team that reports from the Middle East while Breitbart grows in influence during the era of President Donald Trump. [Gleuck reported: On a Wednesday afternoon in March, Klein was found running Breitbart Jerusalem operations from his luxurious apartment located, notably, not in Jerusalem but in Tel Aviv, the most liberal, cosmopolitan city in Israel. As storm clouds gathered over the Mediterranean, which was visible from his airy kitchen, Klein sipped a Diet Coke and alternated between expounding on the opportunities for Breitbart Jerusalem in the Trump era and tending to his dog, a black and white papillon named Uzi — for the gun. “We have major influence right now politically,” said Klein, who also makes the trek to Jerusalem multiple times a week to report. “Our platform skyrocketed since the election. It increased in the last year, I would say. Around the time of the campaign,” he said. “With the rise of Trump and the rise of Breitbart. ” … Klein said the Breitbart Jerusalem platform is growing in influence along with the rest of the organization in the Trump era, and the outlet has recently landed interviews with prominent American and Middle Eastern officials. Read the full piece here.

Elon Musk Predicts Humans Will Soon Merge with Machines - Breitbart

Charlie Nash

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk explained to an audience at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday why humans will need to merge with machines to keep up in an world. [“Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence,” declared Musk. “It’s mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output. ” “Some high bandwidth interface to the brain will be something that helps achieve a symbiosis between human and machine intelligence and maybe solves the control problem and the usefulness problem,” he continued. “Musk explained what he meant by saying that computers can communicate at ‘a trillion bits per second’ while humans, whose main communication method is typing with their fingers via a mobile device, can do about 10 bits per second,” reported CNBC. “In an age when AI threatens to become widespread, humans would be useless, so there’s a need to merge with machines, according to Musk. ” In November, Musk predicted that automated robots would lead to mass unemployment, which could eventually create a universal wage from the government. In June, the billionaire tech entrepreneur claimed it likely that mankind is living in a computer simulation. Musk was also one of the Silicon Valley billionaires, along with fellow PayPal Mafia members Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman, who invested $1 billion into an artificial intelligence center in 2015. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.

Palestinian Authority Forked Out $1 Billion in 4 Years to Terrorists Salaries

Deborah Danan

TEL AVIV — The Palestinian Authority has paid out NIS 4 billion ($1. 12 billion) over the past four years towards salaries for terrorists and their families, a former intelligence chief said on Monday. [Brig. . (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, who served as the director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the longer a Palestinian security prisoner is jailed, “the higher the salary. … Anyone who has sat in prison for more than 30 years gets NIS 12, 000 ($3, 360) per month. ” “When they’re released, they get a grant and are promised a job at the Palestinian Authority. They get a military rank that’s determined according to the number of years they’ve served in jail,” he added, according to the (Hebrew) NRG website. Kuperwasser also said the PA’s claim that the funds are social welfare benefits to needy families is simply a lie. Their own budgets, he said, “clearly state that these are salaries and not welfare payments. ” Kuperwasser, today a project director at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs think tank, told the Committee that the funds were channeled indirectly from the PA to recipients “via a ‘payment fund. ’” “There was a willingness to believe the lies that it was social support. In practice, no steps have been taken to change the situation and in the meantime, the Palestinians are trying to depict themselves as supporting peace while they are still paying the families of terrorists,” Kuperwasser said. “Assurance of a cash prize for acts of terror is encouragement to terrorism and is against international law, international conventions, the Oslo accords and other agreements that they have signed on. ” The Knesset briefing came days after President Donald Trump visited Israel and met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas for the second time in one month. Trump addressed Abbas on the issue at their joint press conference, saying, “Peace can never take root in an environment where violence is tolerated, funded or rewarded. ” According to Israel’s Channel 2 TV, when Trump and Abbas met behind closed doors just an hour earlier, the U. S. president lashed out at the Palestinian leader for lying to him. “You tricked me in DC! You talked there about your commitment to peace, but the Israelis showed me your involvement in incitement [against Israel],” Trump fumed. The sudden display of anger shocked the Palestinian representatives into silence for several minutes, the report said, and thereafter the meeting was filled with tension. Palestinian sources swiftly denied the report, saying the meeting went well. The Palestinian Ma’an news agency quoted a PA official on Monday accusing Israel’s media of “lying” about the meeting in order to evade peace talks “because the Israelis don’t want to achieve peace. ” However, a Palestinian official told the Israel Hayom daily on Monday that while the meeting “started on a positive note,” it soon “deteriorated after Trump accused Abbas of supporting incitement and terrorism with the salaries paid to prisoners. ” “Trump made it clear to Abbas that he must curb incitement in the Palestinian education system, saying Abbas cannot turn a blind eye to Palestinian incitement and pay stipends to terrorists’ families while simultaneously setting conditions that hinder any progress in the peace talks,” the report said. Abbas reportedly defended his government’s actions by saying that “in the past, there was a joint committee that sought to deal with incitement on both sides, but it has not met for years. As for the prisoners’ stipends, those are paid by the PLO’s prisoner authority, not the Palestinian government. ” At this point, according to the Israel Hayom report, “Trump lost his patience and interrupted Abbas, banging his fist on the table and admonishing him, saying, ‘You can talk about how much you want peace, but that’s empty [rhetoric]. ’” Following Kuperwasser’s briefing on Monday, the committee’s chairman, Avi Dichter (Likud) said he would review what steps Israel should take in response to what he said was continued Palestinian incitement to terror. “The State of Israel cannot get involved in a political process aimed at peace when those who are supposed to be our partners incite [to terror]. For years, not only has it [incitement] not decreased, it has increased,” Dichter, a former director of the Shin Bet security service, said. According to PA law, Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails and families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis receive monthly stipends that range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand in accordance with the gravity of their crimes. The U. S. Congress is pushing hard for the Taylor Force Act — legislation that would cut U. S. funding to the Palestinian Authority so long as it continues to provide financial support to the families of perpetrators of attacks against Israelis and . The bill is named after former U. S. Army veteran and Vanderbilt University graduate student Taylor Force, who was killed in a stabbing attack while he toured Tel Aviv with his school in March 2016. On Tuesday, Nitsana told Breitbart News Daily it was “shocking” that the administration was still implicitly supporting the payment of terrorists’ salaries and it was high time the U. S. cut funding to the PA. This money is inducing others to go and kill, and as you can see not only Israelis are getting killed on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. A lot of tourists are getting killed. Israel is a popular country and gets a lot of visits from people all over the world, and Taylor Force was not the first American getting killed in Tel Aviv and unfortunately will not be the last one. The United States knows that part of the money they are giving to the Palestinian Authority is going to pay these prisoners and to pay the families of those who have killed their own civilians, American citizens, and as you say it’s totally ironic, horrible and unbelievable that the administration keeps supporting the Palestinian Authority without demanding right now to bring to a halt right now all these payments to the prisoners and the families of suicide bombers.

Black Lives Matter to Attempt Disruption of Super Bowl Attendees’ Arrival

Bob Price

HOUSTON, Texas — In addition to massive security constraints, Super Bowl attendees will also have to face possible disruption of their arrival plans by Black Lives Matter protesters. [Black Lives Matter organizers are planning a protest dubbed “Stand Up, Fight Back: Super Bowl LI Protest March. ” “It is time for the city government of Houston to see how diverse we are,” organizers posted on Facebook. “The grand claim was made that we are a ‘welcoming city,’ but the treatment of the local homeless community, gentrification, lack clarity on where our elected leaders stand on Trump’s policies and of course the issue of anti Blackness need to be addressed. ” “WE WILL MARCH UP FANNIN FROM HERMANN PARK TO NRG PARK. RAIN OR SHINE,” organizers wrote. The march is scheduled to coincide with the arrival of attendees to the Super Bowl. Attendees have been encouraged to use public transportation. Some of the seating capacity of these buses and trains could be taken up by protesters in an attempt to slow down the attendees’ arrival to the NRG Stadium. The protest is expected to end before game time. A massive security operation is underway in advance of Sunday’s Super Bowl LI presentation. Additional resources have been brought in from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. U. S. Customs and Border Protection is adding resources to the effort to maintain safety at the event. The agency tasked with securing our nation’s borders and ports of entry is providing aviation and electronic resources in addition to manpower. “LOOK @CustomsBorder working with many partners @HoustonTX to ensure safe #SB51 #SEESOMETHINGSAYSOMETHING,” the agency tweeted on Saturday. LOOK @CustomsBorder working with many partners @HoustonTX to ensure safe #SB51 #SEESOMETHINGSAYSOMETHING pic. twitter. — CBP Central Texas (@CBPCentralTX) February 4, 2017, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told Breitbart Texas in a conversation on Thursday he is pulling out all the stops to make sure the Super Bowl goes off without the kind of incidents of violence seen in other parts of the country. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX. Big Government, Breitbart Sports, Breitbart Texas, 2016 Super Bowl, blacklivesmatter, CBP, Houston Police Department, Super Bowl LI, Sylvester Turner, U. S. Customs and Border Protection

Coulter: If Trump Does Not Keep His Promises in 2018, GOP Will Be Wiped Out, Dems Will Impeach - Breitbart

Pam Key

Monday on Fox Business Network’s “Varney Company,” conservative columnist and “In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!” author Ann Coulter said if President Donald Trump does not keep his campaign promises, Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections and then attempt to impeach him. Coulter said, “I love the tweets. Almost everything that everyone else dislikes about Trump are what I consider his strong points. I love his tweets. That is how he defends himself. I love that he had steak — he brought his own steak to Saudi Arabia — everything others attack him for. What I’m concerned with — I’m not — I mean, we had no choice. What were you going to do, vote for Rubio? No. Both political parties for years and years have been pushing whatever Wall Street and elites want. Trump was the only candidate who is going to put Americans first. I just want him to get back to his campaign promises, but I love his 3 a. m. tweets. I think they’re hilarious. ” “I hope Trump notices that if he doesn’t keep his promises, Republicans will be wiped out in the midterm election,” Coulter warned. “Democrats will have the House of Representatives, and they will absolutely impeach him. It doesn’t matter. He could be purer than Caesar’s wife. They will impeach him. The base is obsessed with that. So Trump better keep his promises. ” She added, “I blame the Republicans in Congress the most, but we always knew that. I know they were traitors again, working for the lobbyists, the Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street, and not for the American people. We knew that Trump would have a tough road to hoe, but he was supposed to go down and be a bull in a china shop. We’re still waiting for the bull in the china shop. I mean, there is obviously still time. It has only been a few months now, but so far, that budget deal, it was, it was like a George Soros practical joke. I mean, sending Washington bureaucracy $18 million to study misogyny in the Marines, funding for a wall specifically prohibited, funding for, you know, Planned Parenthood. No, this isn’t what we voted for, And I do think Trump meant what he said. You wouldn’t go through what he went through for 18 months, being attacked by both political parties, the entire media, the Washington bureaucracy, it is tough when he is up against. It’s what he promised. That is what we want. ” ( Grabien) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

Michelle Obama Deletes Hillary Clinton From Twitter

Baxter Dmitry

Michelle Obama Deletes Hillary Clinton From Twitter When Hillary goes low, Michelle goes BYE! Posted on November 1, 2016 by Baxter Dmitry in News , US // 1 Comment Michelle Obama has scrubbed all references to Hillary Clinton from both of her Twitter accounts as news breaks that Clinton is under two different FBI investigations involving four FBI offices. The @FLOTUS account has been wiped clean of all traces of Hillary, and @MichelleObama , a verified page with almost six million followers, has been scrubbed all the way back to 2013. Is Michelle performing a last minute tidy up, clearing out the clutter before the dumpster fire of the Democratic campaign finally burns out? RELATED CONTENT Obama Administration Begs Court Not To Depose Hillary Clinton Are the Washington elite preparing to move on from Hillary? Bernie Sanders has also begun to change his tune. A Twitter post today sure didn’t sound like it was referring to Hillary Clinton. Now is the time for our next president to rally people against Wall Street and corporate greed and stand up for the declining middle class. — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 30, 2016 Bernie was asked by a supporter about the write-in thing – and his response might surprise you. “ If you want to write me in here [Vermont], I think it’s fine.”

Thomas VT05602

This is the Filippino Trump. They are so much alike that I cannot tell them apart.

Native American Project Urges Political Involvement, Representation Beyond Standing Rock

Native American Project Urges Political Involvement, Representation Beyond Standing Rock Posted on Oct 26, 2016 ( Vox Efx / CC 2.0 ) Fighting back against decades of exclusion from the voting process and underrepresentation in government, Native Americans across the United States are struggling to have their voices heard beyond the Dakota Access pipeline protest—within local, state and federal elections. According to a report released Tuesday by Advance Native Political Leadership (ANPL), Native Americans suffer from injustice in voting rights, intimidation tactics, unequal access to polls and “gross underrepresentation … at every level of government,” which prevent people from “[seeing] themselves in these elections.” But, the report argues, Native American representation in elected offices is necessary to secure a democracy that reflects the increasingly diverse American population. “If we want to see race equity in the United States, we can’t get there without Native Americans being represented in political office,” the report’s lead author, Chrissie Castro, director of the ANPL and a citizen of the Navajo Nation, told Truthdig. “The issues and concerns that Native Americans have are what everyone cares about. … We say that we want more Native American elected officials in political office because this is about everyone—this inclusive picture of democracy is about all of us.” Advertisement Square, Site wide Of 41,000 elected officials in the United States, 90 percent are white and 0.03 percent are Native American, the lowest percentage of any minority group, according to the Reflective Democracy Campaign , a project of the Women Donors Network . Native Americans have held few positions on the federal level—“one vice president, eight House representatives and two Senators,” according to the report. “We’re the first ones here, and we’re the last ones to have the opportunity to vote,” Brian Cladoosby, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said of Native American communities. Native Americans across the country face barriers that systematically prevent them from voting , such as out-of-the-way polling booths, mail-in ballots sent only to those who have mailing addresses, refusal of state citizenship and bans from voting in state elections in states such as Arizona and New Mexico, which have significant Native populations. “We were the first peoples of this country, and yet we are not part of the governance of this country, and we think that’s a real miss,” Castro said. “In order for us to get ourselves into elected office, we need people to elect us. What we’ve seen time and time again is that there are structural barriers that really dilute the Native vote or make it very difficult [to get] into elected office.” “We are having to deal with a colonial legacy that was intended to exclude us,” Chase Iron Eyes of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who is running for the House of Representatives in North Dakota, told BBC News . Some Native American communities don’t see themselves as a significant part of the electorate. But while they make up less than 2 percent of the total U.S. population, they can make a difference in an election. “We are really working to change our cultural norms around our relationship with voting. … We’re doing the hard work of culture shift to say that it is important that we participate,” Castro said. “The Native vote does matter.” The Native vote has made a difference, the report says, in swing or battleground states with significant Native American populations that overwhelmingly lean Democratic. In 2012, Colorlines reports, Democratic candidates’ victories in some of the tightest Senate races in New Mexico, Montana and North Dakota are attributed to the Native vote . Presidential hopefuls Dr. Jill Stein and Sen. Bernie Sanders understood the power of the Native vote, Castro said. Sanders brought on a Native American adviser, Tara Houska, and Stein joined the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s protests . During the primaries, Secretary Clinton met with tribal leaders in Iowa, Washington, Arizona and California, according to BBC News. According to the report, the Democratic Party has a formal infrastructure that is inclusive of Native Americans, including several Democratic Native American caucuses on the West Coast and a national director of Native American outreach. However, various Republican representatives told Castro that there is no comparable infrastructure in the GOP. The Dakota Access pipeline protest has helped bring Native American issues to the forefront, Castro said. “I think the Dakota Access pipeline has really galvanized the Native American community across the country and even internationally,” she said. “At Standing Rock, there’s been a lot of work to do canvassing and [engaging] voters as part of a strategy to make sure people that are in elected office understand the issues and the experiences of Native American people.” Though the numbers this year are promising, with a record of eight Native American candidates running for Congress and more than 90 running for state legislatures, there needs to be “pathways” in place for future Native American politicians to make their way on to the ballot, the report argues. One way Native politicians can have equal access to government offices is for accurate data on Native Americans to be available so they could use the information to design voter turnout strategies. Currently, in California, there is data on numerous minority groups, but not Native American voters. There has been some recent success in bringing out the Native vote. Since its launch three months ago, Native Vote has registered 1,000 Native American voters in California, Castro said, calling this a necessary and robust Native American voter engagement campaign. Your #NativeVote makes a difference, and together, Indian Country's voices count! #RestoreTheVRA — Native Vote (@nativevote) Oct. 20, 2016 In 2017, ANPL will launch pilot projects in Montana and New Mexico that will “build a pathway for Native American elected officials” by teaching children the importance of civic engagement and providing training for potential campaign managers and team members. Portland and Los Angeles will also host pilot projects on a local level, since more than 70 percent of Native Americans live away from reservations, in cities and suburbs. “We thought it was important to start looking at municipal races, to look at school boards, water boards, looking at city planning commissions, and really building infrastructure in municipals for elected and appointed positions to make sure our voices are heard at the local level,” Castro said. “I think as Native Americans we are taking our rightful place as part of the fabric of leadership in this country. I think that we’re going to see good things if we’re able to see a more reflective democracy that’s inclusive of Native American peoples [and] of all of the diversity that exists in this country that we don’t see in these positions of power and decision-making.” Castro is hopeful that Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) proposed bill, the 2015 Native American Voting Rights Act , will pass next year and “right the wrongs” to protect Native American access to the polls. “We have a lot of work to do to make sure that people see themselves in these elections,” she said. TAGS:

President Higgins Accidentally Visits Laois Instead Of Laos After ‘GPS Fuck Up’

Julius Hubris

0 Add Comment AN EMBARRASSING sequence of events has led to Irish President Michael D. Higgins taking an elaborate detour from his official tour of South East Asia and ending up in a field in Laois, WWN can exclusively report. After an historic visit to Vietnam, President Higgins was expected to then head to the neighbouring nation of Laos, but a GPS entry mishap on board Ireland’s presidential jet sent the travelling party several thousand miles in the wrong direction. Disembarking from the plane and unaware of his true location, the President was heard remarking “I know it isn’t a well off country but fuckin’ hell this kip looks like Laois”. The President then greeted a bewildered Portlaoise farmer, whose field the plane had landed in, by speaking fluent Thai. The President was said to livid after discovering that someone had erroneously typed ‘Laois’ into the plane’s on-board GPS. “One fuckin’ holiday I wanted this year, just one fuckin’ holiday and some eejit pilot has bollocks’d it,” the normally articulate leader shouted. “Now myself and Sabina are definitely going to miss that full moon party in Thailand,” he angrily added.

CNN’s Stelter: Trump’s Attacks on the Press Are the ‘Verbal Form of Poison’ - Breitbart

Pam Key

Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” host Brian Stelter said President Donald Trump‘s tweet labeling the press an “enemy” of the American people was “a verbal form of poison. ” Stelter said, “Poison. that’s what it is. It’s a verbal form of poison meant to affect your view of the media world. Meant to harm news organizations. Notice what Trump was doing with this tweet. The famous tweet from Friday. It says the fake news media, failing New York Times, NBC, CBS, CNN is not my enemy. It’s the enemy of the American people. ” “He was signaling out specific news outlets as enemies,” he continued. “He wasn’t talking about the entire press. He was talking about those five. He wasn’t saying they are his enemy but your enemy. Maybe trying to drive another wedge between the sources he likes and the sources he dislikes. Maybe he was trying to distract us. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

Soldiers Getting Stiffed

Butler Shaffer

Butler Shaffer blog/soldiers-getting-stiffed/ There is a long-standing myth that “soldiers fight for our freedom.” The fraudulent nature of this claim is found, repeatedly, in examples that confirm that soldiers do not even fight for their own freedom, much less that of the rest of us. One finds current evidence for this in the California National Guard having offered reenlistment bonuses up to $15,000 to each of some ten thousand soldiers then serving in the Iraq/Afghanistan war. The soldiers and California Guard contractually agreed to this, but the federal government, some ten years later, is now intervening to demand that the soldiers return such bonuses, on the grounds that the California National Guard did not have the authority to enter into such contracts. Many of the ex-soldiers are now being threatened with foreclosure on the liens the government had put on their homes, lawsuits, or with garnishment of wages, and other remedies sought by the federal government. Who are these soldiers to complain? Don’t they know that respect for the inviolability of contracts applies only to “persons” (i.e., to human beings) and that they, along with the rest of us, have been redefined as government “assets,” not self-owning persons? When Tony Snow – then White House press secretary under President George W. Bush – dismissed the deaths of some 2,500 American soldiers as “it’s a number,” and when earlier Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declared that the boycott-incurred deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children was acceptable to her, the state was telling us of our status as no more than resources for its ends. Readers familiar with Jacques Ellul’s critiques of the “technological imperative,” will see how this dehumanizing premise gets played out, not only on battlefields, but even in more peaceful settings. At a time when the institutional order boasts of the computerized, driverless trucks and cars it is now introducing to American highways, we witness yet another step in the process of helping us turn ourselves into mindless robots, programmed by our Frankenstein masters. Robots have no independent will or sense of being to be respected by arrogant established authorities. Like the aforementioned soldiers, the relationship between ourselves and the corporate-state is no more to be thought of as contractually-based than is our relationship to a family dog or cat 1:09 pm on October 26, 2016

Report: 1 In 4 Fantasize About A.I. Assistants Including Siri, Alexa - Breitbart

Charlie Nash

One in four people fantasize about A. I. virtual assistants, including Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, according to a new survey. [“The ‘Speak Easy’ study — based on the responses of over 1, 000 UK smartphone owners aged 18+ and 100 Amazon Echo owners — was published on Wednesday by advertising agencies JWT and Mindshare,” reported Business Insider on the survey. “It’s not clear what percentage of respondents were men and what percentage were women. ” “The study also found that 37% of voice technology users ‘love their voice assistant so much that they wish it were a real person. ’” they continued, adding that “Clearly some humans are finding themselves very attached to their voice assistants. ” The survey also discovered that 88% of UK smartphone users surveyed had used voice technology services, or would consider doing so in the future. “We are on the cusp of a new era in technology where voice is set to become mainstream,” said Elizabeth Cherian, a director at JWT. “Our research shows that 88% of UK smartphone users have used voice technology or would consider doing so in the future. ” “To successfully integrate voice into their offerings, brands need to understand how the technology can simplify everyday tasks by adding value and removing friction from their experience,” she continued. “This is not about tech for tech’s sake. Thoughtful and helpful interactions which genuinely enhance the experience will drive engagement and deeper relationships between consumers and brands. ” Last year, it was also reported that sexual conversations with A. I. were on the rise, with one company CEO claiming that his virtual assistant “Robin” is used by “teenagers and truckers without girlfriends” for up to 300 conversations a day. “This happens because people are lonely and bored,” said Robin Labs chief executive Ilya Eckstein. “It is a symptom of our society. ” Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.

MILO Media Meltdown: Breitbart Editor’s UC Davis Event Dominates Headlines - Breitbart

Ben Kew

The cancellation of MILO’s event with pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli at UC Davis protestors dominated headlines over the weekend, as America looked on in shock at the violence and aggression of student protestors. [Los Angeles Times — ‘Breitbart provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is shouted down at UC Davis but gets the last word’ The Los Angeles Times reports on the initially successful attempt to stop the “puerile” Yiannopoulos from speaking, adding that his Dangerous Faggot Tour offers “nothing new,” despite being a “flamboyant gay Brit who wears jewellery, makeup and Gucci accessories, and carries a gold lame backpack. ” Whether for Milo or against, UC Davis protesters were ’passionate about his right to be there.’ @abcarianLAT https: . — Marc Duvoisin (@MarcDuvoisin) January 15, 2017, The Washington Post — Protests derail UC Davis event with Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos, ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli, The Washington Post focuses on factual reporting, chronicling the events from Friday evening right through to Saturday afternoon. One poignant quote came from student Zareen Nayyar, a MILO fan, who was reportedly in tears after being told to leave, saying that “she had every right to be here. ” Unlike other news organisations, rather than falsely declaring MILO the “King of the ” The Washington Post quotes what he has actually said on the topic, that being that he is “a chronicler of, and occasional fellow traveller. ” Protests derail UC Davis event with Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos, ”pharma bro” Martin Shkreli https: . — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 15, 2017, CNN — ‘Protestors shut down Milo Yiannopoulos event at UC Davis’ CNN emphasises how an arrest was made inside the venue as a protestor attempted to storm the building. It also reports on Martin Shkreli’s comments, in which he describes the cancellation as “disgusting. ” “Progressivism is about having a conversation,” he said. Protestors at UC Davis force cancellation last night of talks by Breitbart’s Yiannopoulos also Shkreli https: . — Paul Knoepfler (@pknoepfler) January 14, 2017, FOX News — Chancellor slams protests that shutdown Milo Yiannopoulos, ‘pharma bro’ at UC Davis, FOX News chose to focus on the comments of UC Davis Interim Chancellor Ralph Hexter, who said he was “deeply disappointed” by the protests, saying “our community is founded on principles of respect for all views, even those that we personally find repellent. ” Chancellor slams protests that shutdown Milo Yiannopoulos, ’pharma bro’ at UC Davis https: . pic. twitter. — Fox News (@FoxNews) January 15, 2017, The Independent — Protestors shut down Milo Yiannopoulos and Martin Shkreli University of California event, The Independent gleefully reports on how “heated protests” led to the cancellation of the event with MILO, who they describe as “ . ” The story also refers to a sign held by a student that claims “you can’t pink wash fascism. ” ’You can’t fascism’: Protestors successfully shut down a Milo Yiannopoulos and Martin Shkreli event https: . — Maya Oppenheim (@MayaOppenheim) January 15, 2017, The Daily Beast — ‘Protests Derail University Event With Milo Yiannopoulos, Martin Shkreli’ The Daily Beast also takes a more favourable view towards the protestors, smearing MILO as someone “known for his controversial, racist rhetoric often used by the movement. ” Gathering of Scumbags derailed by Protests https: . via @thedailybeast, — Pampaw (@pampaw327) January 14, 2017, LGBTQ Nation — ‘UC Davis Republicans cancel Milo Yiannopoulos event amid protests’ LGBTQ Nation takes a predictably skeptical view of the nights events, claiming that all instances of “violent” acts were not confirmed by police, adding that he is a person who “frequently demeans transgender people,” who has “also been accused of racism and misogyny. ” One might’ve thought they’d be a bit more complimentary of MILO, given that he won their poll for “LGBTQ Nation 2016 Person of the Year. ” Fortune — ‘Milo Yiannopoulos, Martin Shkreli Campus Event Cancelled Due to Protests’ The business magazine Fortune focuses on “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli’s role in the evening, being a special guest in what was meant to be an event called “Shkrelopoulos. ” Milo Yiannopoulos, Martin Shkreli campus event cancelled due to protests https: . pic. twitter. — Fortune (@FortuneMagazine) January 14, 2017, Esquire — ‘A Protestor Pelted Martin Shkreli with Dog Poop’ The men’s fashion magazine Esquire reports the totally false news story that Martin Shkreli had dog poop thrown in his face. Shkreli confirmed to Breitbart News that at no point was dog poop thrown at him. I hope this happens literally every time this guy steps outside. Or steps inside. https: . — Cozy Snugglefield (@GaryBuh) January 15, 2017, Here are some others … The Daily Mail — ‘UC Davis cancels speeches by commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and ‘pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli after angry students ‘throw dog feces’ and clash with police’ UC Davis cancels speeches by Milo Yiannopoulos and Martin Shkreli after protests | Daily Mail Online https: . — Cookie (@Cookiemuffen) January 15, 2017, The Week — Protests shut down UC Davis speech by Breitbart‘s Milo Yiannopoulos, #twickerfeed Protests shut down UC Davis speech by Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos. https: . — OttleyInk (@OttleyInk) January 15, 2017, The Huffington Post — Protesters Shut Down Event Featuring Milo Yiannopoulos, ‘Pharma Bro’ Protesters shut down event featuring Milo Yiannopoulos, ”Pharma Bro” https: . — huffpostqueer (@huffpostqueer) January 15, 2017, The Sacramento Bee — ‘Controversial Breitbart editor talks to UC Davis crowd and ‘recreates’ ’ UC Davis embroiled in another controversy https: . — Christopher Cadelago (@CapitolAlert) January 15, 2017, Reason. com — Censorship: Student Protesters Shut Down Milo Yiannopoulos, #Censorship: Student Protesters Shut Down Milo Yiannopoulos https: . — Scott (@Scott20024) January 15, 2017, Mediaite — ‘Milo Yiannopoulos Event at UC Davis Cancelled After Massive Protest’ Milo Yiannopoulos Event at UC Davis Cancelled After Massive Protest https: . (VIDEO) pic. twitter. — Mediaite (@Mediaite) January 14, 2017, Haaretz — ‘ Favorite Milo Yiannopoulos Holds Rally at UC Davis, Despite Event Being Cancelled’ favorite Milo Yiannopoulos holds rally at UC Davis, despite event being cancelled https: . — Haaretz. com (@haaretzcom) January 15, 2017, You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com

3 Health Supplements To Maximize Wellness

Lance Schuttler

3 Health Supplements To Maximize Wellness Nov 17, 2016 0 0 With more people around the world wanting to reclaim and maintain excellent health and well-being, health supplements continue to be a sought-after solution. For many people, eating a balanced diet makes them feel they are getting all of their nutrients into their diet. For others, adding in a few health supplements helps them to address their specific needs. While there are many excellent foods and supplements out there, we’ll provide information on three that really stand out…and for good reason. Health supplements can contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Fulvic Acid According Dr. Daniel Nuzum , fulvic acids are created by soil-based microorganisms and is the end-product of decomposed organic matter. Fulvic acid has numerous benefits for the body, including being the most potent anti-oxidant known, an extremely rich source of electrolytes, catalyzes enzyme reactions, helps to chelate heavy metals, restores electrochemical balance and increases the synthesis rate of RNA and DNA. Fulvic and humic acids are beneficial to all biological life. Fulvic acid is a unique free radical scavenger (anti-oxidant) in that it can both accept and donate electrons to neutralize and render useless free radicals. There is no other substance that is know that can do that. Amazingly, it has over 14 tetratrillion electrons it can donate or receive, according to Dr. Nuzum . A single fulvic acid molecule contains over 14,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 electrons. Since it supplies so many electrons, electrochemical balance returns and allows the body to function optimally. According to Dr. Jerry Tennant , having enough electrical activity within the body is necessary for not only wellness, but life itself. “Chronic disease is always defined by having low body voltage. One cannot cure chronic disease without inserting enough electrons to achieve -50mV (millivolts). One must have the raw materials necessary to make new cells and to eliminate the toxins or infections present that will damage the new cells. You can take all the medications you like and do as much surgery as you like, but you will not heal unless you have -50mV, raw materials (nutrients) and lack of toxins.” In addition to supplying sufficient electrical activity, according to Supreme Fulvic , fulvic acid is also able to increase nutrient assimilation into the cells, transport any nutrient possible (due to its extremely low molecular weight) and detoxify cellular waste. It can also chemically convert toxins into usable nutrients for cells. In essence, that means it converts metabolic waste into food and energy for the cell. Radioactive substances also react very quickly with fulvic acid, which is able to render the radioactive substances harmless. In the search for any health supplement it is best to search for the best source of your desired product. As for fulvic acid, Optimally Organic says it is best when it is water-extracted from lush vegetation and not from a dried rock bed. Reishi Reishi mushrooms have also been found growing on other planets. A truly cosmic mushroom. Reishi mushroom is known in Chinese medicine as the “mushroom of immortality.” It is also said to be one of the only substances on Earth that provides the three different types of non-physical energy, which is Shen, Chi and Jing. On the physical level, this claim appears to be backed up with many scientific studies. Some studies show that Reishi helps to protect a person from liver disease, cardiovascular disease, cancers, digestive issues, diabetes, HIV and AIDS, high blood pressure and anxiety and depression. In the thousands of years that Reishi has been used, there have yet to be any contraindications found with it , which means it is safe to use with pharmaceutical drugs. Rose Essential Oil Rose essential oil has a wonderful smell. “To inhale rose is to inhale the love and kisses of angels,” says Valerie Ann Wordwood, author of Aromatherapy For The Soul . If you have smelled rose essential oil, you just may agree with her. Rose essential oil is most widely known for it’s anti-depressant qualities and it’s benefits for the skin. Rubbing drops of rose oil on one’s temples or pulse points can help it create this anti-depressant effect, as well as inhaling it. Due to the olfactory system being so connected to the limbic system of the brain, when we smell the rose oil molecules, they positive affect the limbic system, which deals with stress, anxiety, emotional response and memory. So, if a person becomes physically or emotionally stressed or is having trouble with memory, smelling rose essential oil may be a healthy way to deal with those challenges. According to Dr. Josh Axe , rose essential oil is also great for libido and balancing the hormone response within our body. Options With great options everywhere for health supplements , it is important to find what is right for you. What may be right for someone, may not be right for someone else. Use discernment and ask questions to find the best sourced and highest quality supplements possible. What are some of your favorite health supplements ? Have you used any of the three listed above? Are you apt to try any of these after reading more about each of them? Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science-Health Coaching and offers health coaching services through his website Orgonlight Health. You can follow the Orgonlight Health Facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, your friend or family member as well as view other inspiring articles.

Check your Ballets Voting Machines Malfunction

Samantha Clove

Keywords: Election 2016 , rigged election , Voting , voting errors , voting machines malfunction Voting Machines Malfunction This is just a straight up fact, especially since many of our voting machines are so antiquated. As you vote this year you should watch out for these glitches. Sometimes the votes appear to be “flipped” as in a voter intends to vote for Candidate A, but Candidate B’s name is selected on the screen. When this happens it is known as “vote flipping,” and is supposed to only happen rarely. With millions of votes cast, there have supposedly only been a few hundred reports of vote flipping every year for the past decade. These are the ones reported so you do wonder whether this happens unnoticed much more often. I’m just saying I’m seeing reports of this specifically happening all around the country so cast your vote and double check. Check your ballot after you cast your vote and if it happens to you call on a poll worker to help get it fixed. Remember Voting Machine malfunctions do happen. There are reports of this happening already in North Carolina, Texas and Nevada with machines vote flipping in the last couple weeks. “You have to remember that the majority of the machines in use today predate the iPhone or the iPad, and most of them use technology from the late ’90s,” Lawrence Norden, a voting technology expert at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, told TIME. “As these machines age, you start to have hardware issues.” One problem that also occurs on older machines is the glue that attaches the screen to the machine breaks down and you can get alignment issues as well. Poll workers and technicians need to reset the machines regularly to ensure the buttons are lined up right. In other cases, it can just be a user error because no one uses the type of equipment used at the voting centers on a regular basis. In Texas voters reported attempting to vote a straight Republican ticket, but found the Clinton/Kaine ticket selected instead. This can be found specifically in voting districts where they use the old, rotary-style voting machine. If you select one candidate and the other appears on the screen or if you’re looking at the summary screen and it just isn’t right voters should notify the poll workers. They can cancel out your session so you can do it over. Poll from PressTV.com 10/28/2016

Butter or Margarine? In Dunkin’ Donuts Lawsuit, Man Accepts No Substitutes - The New York Times

Daniel Victor

If you order chicken, you expect chicken. If you order a coffee, you expect a coffee. But if you order butter, is margarine or a vegetable spread an acceptable substitute? It wasn’t to Jan Polanik, who sued 23 Dunkin’ Donuts locations in Massachusetts for serving him “margarine or a butter substitute” instead of butter with his bagels between June 2012 and June 2016. He filed a pair of lawsuits in March against franchise owners who are responsible for multiple stores. He paid 25 cents for butter and was not told a substitute was used, according to the suits. If settlement agreements filed on Monday are approved, up to 1, 400 people may claim up to three free buttered muffins, bagels or other baked goods from the 23 locations in Grafton, Leominster, Lowell, Millbury, Shrewsbury, Westborough and Worcester. Customers would not need to show a receipt of a previous purchase. The stores will be required to use only butter — no margarine or butter substitute — for a year. If they use butter substitutes in the future, the menus will have to explicitly say so. Mr. Polanik, who lives in the Worcester area, will receive $500 as an “incentive award” for representing the class. Thomas G. Shapiro, a lawyer who represented Mr. Polanik, said it was unclear what each of the restaurants used in lieu of butter, but one of the stores had “a large tub that looked a lot like a tub of Country Crock, a very inexpensive spread that is sold in grocery stores. ” “The main thrust of the case, really, is to get the stores, and hopefully Dunkin’ Donuts generally, to change that practice and not deceive people,” he said on Monday. Dunkin’ Donuts said in a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit but did not address any companywide butter policies. “The majority of Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in Massachusetts carry both individual whipped butter packets and a vegetable spread,” the company said in a statement. To culinary partisans, the question, which The New York Times called a “ debate” in a 1974 article, rubs up against as among the most contentious dividers of our time. Based on either health concerns or personal taste, preferences run deep. Take Wisconsin. It would be wise for you to not mess with Wisconsin’s butter. There, laws crack down on margarine hawkers. An unannounced swap at a restaurant is expressly forbidden, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and three months in prison for the first offense, and as much as $1, 000 and a year in prison for subsequent offenses. Margarine cannot be served to students, patients or inmates in state facilities. Even the butter selection is limited. Kerrygold, an Irish brand, cannot be sold in Wisconsin grocery stores because it has not been graded for quality by state or federal authorities, causing some butter bandits to carry bricks over state lines. A group of residents filed a lawsuit in March challenging the law. Tom Balmer, a spokesman for the American Butter Institute, said he was unaware of other states with butter laws. But dairy products of all stripes face competition from “imitators attempting to capitalize on dairy’s excellent reputation for delivering flavor, wholesomeness and nutrition,” he said. “Our friends in the milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream industries are currently waging their own battles with substitutes which are frequently inferior in terms of taste, performance and (especially) nutrition,” he said in a statement. “As a result, we can foresee similar issues arising, particularly in the food service sector, if labeling and product identity messaging are less than clear. ” History is replete with scientific on which is healthier. Butter is high in cholesterol and saturated fat, which are linked to heart disease. Margarine contains unsaturated fat, but some varieties contain trans fats, which are also dangerous. Nutritionists suggest closely inspecting the label of your brand. “Your goal is to limit intake of saturated fats and to avoid trans fats altogether,” according to Harvard Medical School. “Look for a spread that doesn’t have trans fats and has the least amount of saturated fat,” according to the Mayo Clinic. In 2013, a Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman, Lindsay Harrington, offered an explanation for why a vegetable spread might be used. “For food safety reasons, we do not allow butter to be stored at room temperature, which is the temperature necessary for butter to be easily spread onto a bagel or pastry,” she told The Boston Globe. The recommended procedure in the store, she said, was for individual whipped butter packets to be served on the side of a bagel or pastry, but not applied. “The vegetable spread is generally used if the employee applies the topping,” she said. Such explanations were insufficient for Mr. Polanik. “It’s the basic principle that if something is misrepresented to you, it should be corrected,” Mr. Shapiro said. “He really just prefers butter for a number of reasons. ”

A ‘Honeymoon Tour’ of Laughs From Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher - The New York Times

Dave Itzkoff

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — On one of their earliest dates, the comedians Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher knew they were meant for each other. During that fateful assignation, Ms. Leggero was searching Mr. Kasher’s car for a lost cigarette when she instead found a pair of women’s underwear — not hers. Mr. Kasher, who acknowledged that they belonged to a previous paramour, said that he could still remember his panicked reaction. “All of my focus was on going, like: ‘What? I don’t know what those are,’” he said over a recent dinner with Ms. Leggero here. “‘I don’t know what objects are. I don’t know what fabric is. ’” Ms. Leggero, who was not especially angry then or now, laughed at Mr. Kasher’s recollection. “That’s a good joke — you should do that in your act,” she said. Now married, Ms. Leggero, a saucy standup, actress and of the Comedy Central historical satire “Another Period,” and Mr. Kasher, a hyperverbal performer, podcaster and creative contributor to films like “Zoolander 2,” have found further ways to strengthen their union. Though they had a proper honeymoon after their Oct. 11 nuptials, they have spent the past weeks on what they are calling their “Honeymoon Tour. ” At these comedy shows in comfortable destinations, they perform their individual routines, then appear together. (The tour started on May 22 in Honolulu and continues through Monday in Los Angeles.) Yes, this tour, which offers the sufficiently rare sight of on the same bill, allows them to earn money while vacationing at luxury resorts (like the San Ysidro Ranch, where they were now dining). It is also an opportunity for them to bond as a couple, and to stave off feelings of isolation that many comedians experience. “It is the ideal way to tour,” Mr. Kasher said. “Except for having to split the money, this couldn’t be better. ” Later that night, they performed at Velvet Jones, a Santa Barbara nightclub where Ms. Leggero joked about having never wanted to marry and having no desire to become pregnant. (“You have to stop drinking in public,” she explained.) Mr. Kasher needled her for claiming that he had performed on HBO. (“I’ve never been on HBO,” he said. “That’s my wife. ”) Over dinner, the two spoke with more tenderness for each other. Before they began dating, Ms. Leggero said, she was “a serial monogamist” Mr. Kasher said he was “busy, romantically” (by which, he added, he meant “very promiscuous”). But, from afar, they appreciated each other’s work, and Mr. Kasher said he considered Ms. Leggero the type of friend “that you’ll text every six months to remind them that you’re around, if they’re ever single. ” Chelsea Peretti, the “Brooklyn ” star and a longtime friend of the couple, said that they were compatible because they were both “blunt hippies. ” “They have this weird common ground,” Ms. Peretti said in a telephone interview. “They both have this spiritual side and this side that likes to be indulgent. Moshe does Burning Man, and Natasha will do spa baths that I don’t venture into. But then they both can be cutting and outspoken. ” Despite the misgivings about marriage she joked about, Ms. Leggero said that when they were dating, she felt they were “on the marriage track. ” But Mr. Kasher, who has written in his memoir, “Kasher in the Rye,” about growing up in Oakland, Calif. and Brooklyn as a child of divorced parents, said he had felt uncertain about the relationship models he’d seen in his life. Ms. Leggero, who grew up in Rockford, Ill. was more guarded about her upbringing but agreed with Mr. Kasher’s assessment that her parents were also volatile. (“Next question,” she said softly.) Mr. Kasher compared his hesitation to his fear, earlier in his career, of moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, where they now live. “Somebody said to me, ‘You know, you can just move back,’” he explained. “I was like: ‘Huh. Yeah.’ The same thing with marriage. Why not give it a whirl? And if you fail, you can just get a divorce. ” The wedding was a traditional Jewish ceremony — Ms. Leggero converted from Roman Catholicism — and took place at the couple’s house in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. “Because we’re comedians, we agreed: No bits at the wedding,” Mr. Kasher said. But, Ms. Leggero added, “He let me have just one. ” After their vows, the couple momentarily disappeared, then reappeared to mock a rite by holding up a sheet that said, “She’s a virgin!” Ms. Peretti, who married the comedian Jordan Peele (“Key Peele”) this year, said Ms. Leggero and Mr. Kasher’s ceremony was so enjoyable that it made her question her decision to elope with Mr. Peele. “It was bittersweet, going to a fun wedding,” Ms. Peretti said. “You go, ‘Ugh, are we missing out on family and friends?’ And then ultimately, we decided, ‘Nah. ’” As professional partners, Ms. Leggero and Mr. Kasher said they did not compete over material or industry stature, though Mr. Kasher, who also works on “Another Period,” said wryly that he can sometimes feel “a power imbalance” there. “I make her scream ‘executive producer’ when we’re making love,” he said. “I need a constant reassurance that I’m valued and it wasn’t nepotism. ” Though they could point to only a few examples of other comic spouses who have traveled and performed together — vintage duos like Gracie Allen and George Burns or Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, or contemporaries like Bonnie McFarlane and Rich Vos — they said their tour let them lean on each other in lonely moments on the road. Looking back on a New Year’s Eve when he was performing solo in Grand Rapids, Mich. Mr. Kasher said: “At 12:05, I was in the lobby of a Courtyard Marriott with some Doritos and a Diet Coke, headed to my room to watch Netflix. It’s nice to be on the road and do these shows. ” “That’s so sad,” Ms. Leggero said. If there is any downside to marital bliss, they say, it is the fear that happiness will take away the tension and the skepticism that shape their comedic perspectives. “When you become happy, and your life is becoming more solid and stable, it is a little harder,” Ms. Leggero said. “I felt like I was much funnier when I had, like, $30 in my account. ” Of course, if they need to make their lives complicated again, they can have a baby. “There’s definitely people in comedy that have had children for material,” Mr. Kasher said. Her routine notwithstanding, Ms. Leggero said she was ready to embrace having a child, but added, “I’m not having it for material. ” Mr. Kasher replied, “We’re naming it Material. ”

Spicer: Yates a ’Strong Supporter’ of Clinton, ’Political Opponent’ of Trump - Breitbart

Pam Key

On White House response to Yates’ warning about Flynn, @PressSec says she was ”not exactly someone that was excited about President Trump.” pic. twitter. Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the Trump administration weighed the fact that concerns about Mike Flynn were coming from former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, “who is not exactly a supporter of the president’s agenda. ” Spicer said, “One thing that’s important to note is — let’s look at again how this came down. Someone who is not exactly a supporter of the president’s agenda, who a couple days after this first conversation took place refused to uphold a lawful order of the president, who is not exactly someone that was excited about President Trump taking office or his agenda. ” “She had come here, given a told us there were materials and at the same time, we did what we should do,” he continued. “Just because someone comes in and gives you a about something and says I want to share some information doesn’t mean you immediately jump the gun and go take an action. I think if you flip the scenario and say what if we had just dismissed somebody because a political opponent of the president had made an utterance, you would argue it was pretty irrational to act in that manner. We did what we were supposed to do. The president made ultimately the right decision. ” Spicer added Yates was “appointed by the Obama Administration” and “a strong supporter of Clinton. ”

Federal Investigators Search for Cause of Deadly Hoboken Train Crash - The New York Times

Matt A.V. Chaban and Emma G. Fitzsimmons

HOBOKEN, N. J. — Federal investigators have still not inspected the train that slammed into a busy transportation hub here, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 others, because of the extensive damage at the scene of the crash, officials said on Friday. A day after the crash set off a panic at the station during the morning commute, federal investigators have provided few answers about why the train careened into a wall. On Friday evening, officials said that they had not yet interviewed the train’s engineer or examined most of the train. Jim Southworth, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said he had not sent investigators into the front of the train because of concerns over asbestos and the structural integrity of the building. The damage from the train’s impact caused part of the terminal’s roof to collapse. “Because of the asbestos, because of the unsettled structures that we’re not sure about, I’m not allowing anybody to go in there,” Mr. Southworth said at a news conference. “None of the evidence in there is perishable, so I have the time to go in there. ” Federal investigators said they could not estimate when the historic station, Hoboken Terminal, might reopen or when they would remove the train from the tracks, prompting questions over how long New Jersey Transit’s train service to the station might remain suspended. Officials were still working to schedule an interview with the train’s engineer, Thomas Gallagher, who was injured on Thursday, said Bella the vice chairwoman of the safety board. The results of his toxicology report were not yet available, she said. While investigators removed the event recorder from the locomotive in the rear of the train, they were not able to download the information on it and sent it to the manufacturer for assistance. The recorder is an important device that can reveal how fast the train was traveling. The safety board planned to spend as many as 10 days at the scene of the crash as part of the investigation, which could take a year to complete. The board will review several possible factors, including the engineer’s actions, the train’s maintenance and the railroad’s tracks and signals. The train’s crew had been cooperative, and investigators were scheduling interviews with two other train crew members — a conductor and a brakeman, officials said. At the station, part of the collapsed roof was resting on top of the front of the train. “As you can imagine we don’t want anyone to go in there until it’s completely stable,” Ms. said. Another obstacle facing investigators is the likely presence of asbestos inside the building that houses Hoboken Terminal, Ms. said. On Friday, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey told reporters that New Jersey Transit had an exemplary safety record. Still, he added, “No accident is acceptable, and so we have to get to the bottom of what happened, and I promise you that we will. ” Later in the day, Mr. Christie, a Republican, announced a deal to finance the transportation trust fund, which pays for mass transit projects, roads and bridges. The governor had received criticism over funding for the railroad after the crash. The closing of Hoboken Terminal, which serves six New Jersey Transit rail lines, forced commuters to make do with contingency plans provided by New Jersey Transit, the commuter rail system in the country. New Jersey Transit officials said they could not restart service until receiving approval from the safety board. If train service at the station remains suspended for days or weeks, many New Jerseyans could be forced to consider painful travel options and heavy crowds on other train lines and buses. Veronica Vanterpool, the executive director of the Transportation Campaign, a rider advocacy group, said she hoped train service would resume by next week. But she had concerns over how quickly the railroad could bounce back since it has been facing financial problems and other issues. “If it were the M. T. A. I think service could be restored relatively quickly, but I think N. J. T. has had so many operational challenges,” Ms. Vanterpool said in reference to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York’s subways and commuter rail. On Friday morning, many commuters braved long and complicated commutes into New York and other areas, facing a confusing slate of schedule changes, delays and cancellations with a mixture of weariness, frustration and stoicism. Many, like Maulik Pokiya, were determined not to let the disaster keep them from getting where they needed to be. Mr. Pokiya was a passenger on the train as it plowed into Hoboken Terminal, watching out the window of the second car as electrical wires were being ripped loose from their holds and were flashing sparks. The terror had yet to fade from his mind. Though he was given the option to work from home, Mr. Pokiya was back on another train on Friday. He climbed aboard in Oradell, N. J. and was joined by his brother, who usually takes a later train but was providing emotional support. “Since I was safe, I’m not worried,” Mr. Pokiya said. “I was feeling scared, but anything can happen. ” Stephen Schroeder, who was in the train’s first car when it crashed — the quiet car where cellphones are supposed to be on mute and conversation kept to a minimum — was similarly unbowed. “I thought about working from home, but I just prefer being in the office,” said Mr. Schroeder, a resident of Park Ridge who works for a software company. He looked out the window of the bus as it crossed the marshes along the Hackensack River on the New Jersey Turnpike. It was a far cry from the day before. “I saw the roof collapse and people were screaming,” he said. “One guy kicked out the emergency exit, and I told him to be careful. ” Mr. Schroeder said he did not think he would ride in the first car anymore, as had been his habit. Those with less visceral connections to the crash had a simpler aim: to get to work on time. At the Secaucus Junction station, people walked and jogged to catch connecting shuttle buses. Donald Pantelli had allotted an additional two hours to make it to work. “Hopefully, the boss will be understanding,” he said. Though he had expected to take a bus to Hoboken, Mr. Pantelli found himself rerouted to Jersey City. “It is what it is we have to make these adjustments in life,” he said. Beverley Terry, riding the shuttle from Secaucus to Jersey City, said she missed the train that crashed because she was running late, an echo of Sept. 11, 2001, when she had been late to her job at the World Trade Center. “I had to come in today,” Ms. Terry said. “It’s like my mother told me: You always get back on that horse. ”

November 7: Daily Contrarian Reads

David Stockman

November 7: Daily Contrarian Reads By David Stockman. Posted On Monday, November 7th, 2016 My daily contrarian reads for Monday, November 7th, 2016. You need to login to view this content. David Stockman’s Contra Corner isn’t your typical financial tipsheet. Instead it’s an ongoing dialogue about what’s really happening in the markets… the economy… and governments… so you can understand the world around you and make better decisions for yourself. David believes the world -- certainly the United States -- is at a great inflection point in human history. The massive credit inflation of the last three decades has reached its apogee and is now going to splatter spectacularly. This will have lasting ramifications on how governments tax and regulate you… the type of work you and your family members will have available and what you get paid… the value of your nest egg… and all other areas comprising your quality of life. Login David Stockman's Contra Corner is the only place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked. Subscribe now to receive David Stockman’s latest posts by email each day as well as his model portfolio, Lee Adler’s Daily Data Dive and David’s personally curated insights and analysis from leading contrarian thinkers.

News: Inspiring: This Woman Wasn’t Born Before Women Could Vote, But She’s Still Pretty Fucking Old

Email In an election season full of anger and divisiveness, it’s easy to lose sight of just how important and meaningful our democratic process is. Thankfully, as millions have cast their ballots today, there’s been no shortage of heartwarming stories involving Americans exercising their right to vote. One of those stories centers around lifelong Mississippi resident Helen Karnes, who, although not quite old enough to have been born before women won the right to vote, is still pretty goddam old. Wow. What a special woman! While Karnes can’t claim that she was alive during a time when women were still politically disenfranchised, it just takes one look at her to tell that she’s fucking old. No, she might not have the inspiring, thematically satisfying story of a 100-year-old, but you get the sense that she’s definitely lived through some shit. She was certainly around in WWII times, and she might’ve even been there for the Depression, too. Who knows? This is no spring chicken we’re talking about here. Though, admittedly, Karnes’ story would be a bit cooler if she’d been alive before 1920, you still have to applaud her for being old on this historic Election Day. Also, her mom and her aunts were definitely alive before women’s suffrage, so you know she’s probably got some good secondhand stories that she heard from them. Maybe one of them was even an important figure in the women’s rights movement or something. Statistically speaking, that’s probably not the case, but you never know! It’s unclear if Karnes voted today for America’s first female presidential nominee, or if she even voted at all. But what matters is that she’s brittle, stooped-over, and ancient. There are probably lots of dusty ol‘ bats out there who are older than Karnes and who have more of a substantial foothold in U.S. women’s history, but this lady is still more or less a living skeleton. And that’s something that should make us all proud to be Americans.

Paul Ryan Turns Focus From Donald Trump to House Races, Roiling G.O.P. - The New York Times

Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin

The House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, dealt a hammer blow to Donald J. Trump’s presidential candidacy on Monday, dashing any remaining semblance of Republican unity and inviting fierce backlash from his own caucus by announcing that he would no longer defend Mr. Trump. Mr. Ryan’s stance drew an immediate rebuke from Mr. Trump, who posted on Twitter that Mr. Ryan should focus on governing “and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee. ” Mr. Ryan informed Republican lawmakers on a morning conference call that he would never again campaign for Mr. Trump and would dedicate himself instead to defending the party’s majority in Congress, according to five lawmakers who participated in the call and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Effectively conceding defeat for his party in the presidential race, Mr. Ryan said his most urgent task was ensuring that Hillary Clinton did not take the helm with Democratic control of the House and Senate, two lawmakers said. The reaction from was swift and angry. Over the course of an hour, a stream of conservative lawmakers urged their colleagues not to give up on Mr. Trump and chided Mr. Ryan for what they described as surrendering prematurely in the presidential race. Mr. Trump’s campaign is reeling after a disastrous two weeks that culminated in the release on Friday of a 2005 recording in which he bragged about sexual assault. One of the conservatives, Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, attacked the Republicans stepping away from Mr. Trump as “cowards,” three lawmakers said. Another, Representative Trent Franks of Arizona, said, using graphic language to describe abortion, that allowing Mrs. Clinton into the White House would end with fetuses being destroyed “limb from limb. ” Trying to quiet the uproar, Mr. Ryan interjected after about 45 minutes to assure members that he was not withdrawing his endorsement of Mr. Trump, but rather doing what he felt was in the best interests of the House. For five months, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Trump have alternated between friction and courtship, eventually forging an uneasy working relationship only to see it collapse now, in the final weeks of the race. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan, confirmed that his sole priority for the remainder of the election would be defending congressional Republicans. “The speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities,” she said. Mr. Trump did not repeat his Twitter jab at Mr. Ryan at a campaign event in Pennsylvania Monday afternoon, offering instead a diatribe unlikely to appeal beyond his dedicated base. He repeated his call from Sunday night’s debate for a special prosecutor to pursue Mrs. Clinton, called her “the devil” and warned that her election would lead to “the destruction of our country. ” A buoyant Mrs. Clinton seemed to revel in her growing advantage over Mr. Trump during a speech in Detroit on Monday afternoon. Mr. Trump, she said, had spent their debate “attacking when he should have been apologizing. ” While Mrs. Clinton made no direct reference to the fissures appearing among Republicans, her campaign tried to exploit the moment, releasing several television ads featuring voters who describe themselves as Republicans but plan to vote for Mrs. Clinton. Jennifer Palmieri, Mrs. Clinton’s communications director, expressed little sympathy for Republicans now fleeing Mr. Trump. “There was a time when they could have spoken out against him,” Ms. Palmieri said of party leaders like Mr. Ryan. “That time was this summer. Obviously, it is too late now. ” The consequences for both men are enormous. Mr. Ryan and other Republican leaders fear that Mr. Trump’s flagging campaign will imperil their majorities in the House and Senate, and Mr. Trump can ill afford more prominent rejections when he is trying to rally reluctant Republican voters behind him. Mr. Trump’s candidacy was already in dire condition before Mr. Ryan’s announcement. A poll published Monday by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal found him trailing Mrs. Clinton by a wide margin, drawing less than 40 percent of the vote. The survey was taken before the debate. And in a sign of how deep divisions now run among Republicans, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, held a conference call of his own after Mr. Ryan’s to emphasize his commitment to Mr. Trump. Mr. Priebus told members that the committee was working in “full coordination” with the Trump campaign and planned to direct “a lot” of money to the presidential race. “Nothing has changed in our support for our nominee,” he said, vowing “an incredible four weeks” until the election. Mr. Priebus, long a close political ally of Mr. Ryan, made no direct reference to the speaker’s announcement, or to the dozens of governors and members of Congress who have rescinded their support for Mr. Trump. Representative Scott Rigell of Virginia, a Republican who has long opposed Mr. Trump, said there was a general sense in the House that more humiliating disclosures about Mr. Trump were likely to come before Nov. 8, Election Day. “There’s a consensus, even among supporters, that the likelihood of something else breaking in a very embarrassing and negative fashion is certainly better than ” said Mr. Rigell, who joined the call on Monday. “The conference, members, et cetera, are bracing themselves for another salvo of this. ” Mr. Trump seemed to acknowledge that possibility in Pennsylvania, commenting offhand in his speech that if more recordings were to emerge, he would respond with more personal attacks on Mrs. Clinton and her husband. Mr. Trump’s allies had hoped that the debate would halt the exodus of fellow Republicans from his candidacy, and they publicly implored members of the party on Monday to stick with him through Election Day. Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, Mr. Trump’s running mate, punctured speculation that he might withdraw from the race by pronouncing himself “proud to stand with Donald Trump” in a visit to North Carolina. Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, also offered an ominous warning for Republicans fleeing Mr. Trump. She noted on television that Mr. Ryan had been booed by Trump fans over the weekend in Wisconsin and said she knew of Republican lawmakers who had behaved inappropriately toward young women, and whose criticism of Mr. Trump was therefore hypocritical. Just as telling as the frustration from outspoken conservatives in the House on Monday was the silence from so many mainstream Republicans in the chamber, who showed little appetite to argue for or with their embattled nominee. Few voices weighed in on the call with Mr. Ryan. Representative Martha Roby of Alabama, who defected from Mr. Trump on Saturday, said she would contribute significant money to help Republicans hold their House majority. But she also said she would speak with colleagues in private about her decision to withdraw her endorsement in the presidential race. Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, a vocal critic of Mr. Trump, asked his colleagues if they were truly confident that there would be no more damaging disclosures. In any case, Mr. Dent argued that the race was effectively over for Mr. Trump. No new prominent Republicans have withdrawn their endorsements since the debate, but there was a palpable fear throughout the party that Mr. Trump had been damaged beyond repair. Representative Greg Walden of Oregon, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, urged members on the conference call to take polls in their districts to gauge the effect of Mr. Trump’s political slide. Mr. Walden said they should brace for a significant erosion of support for Mr. Trump and acknowledged that the shift could hurt congressional candidates, too. He asked the entire caucus to contribute quickly to the party’s campaign arm, making it clear that they needed to strengthen their defenses across the country. At a briefing for Washington lobbyists later in the day, Mr. Walden acknowledged to donors that Republicans were in uncharted territory and wholly uncertain of what would happen next. Still, many members were pointed in expressing their dismay to Mr. Ryan, warning him of grave consequences, in November and beyond, if Mr. Trump’s campaign collapses altogether. Representative Billy Long of Missouri spoke up in Mr. Trump’s defense, citing the danger of losing the Supreme Court if Mrs. Clinton wins. “Many of us commented that if Hillary picks the next two to four judges, it will change the fabric of our country of 40, 50 years,” Mr. Long said later. “Abortion and the Second Amendment, also, and lots of Supreme Court concerns. ”

NATO Imposes Sanctions On Itself After Killing 30 Afghan Civilians

Julius Hubris

0 Add Comment IN an attempt to avoid accusations of hypocrisy NATO has taken swift action on itself after the death of 30 civilians in Afghanistan were killed by a NATO airstrike. Women, children and babies were among the innocent civilians struck by a missile in the Kunduz region of the country, prompting NATO to adopt the sort of stern rhetoric it normally adopts for when non-NATO nations carry out premeditated attacks on civilian populations. “Bold NATO, bold!” the organisation said, chastising itself, with further scolding not ruled out if similar tragedies were to occur again. Airstrikes were called in when US and Afghan forces came under fire from Taliban forces occupying a village in the northern province. Asked if a lengthy investigation would take place and possibly result in punishment for those involved in making the decisions which led to the fatalities, NATO was vague. “No, we’re the good guys,” it confirmed. The sanctions imposed include NATO restricting itself from being livid with on the ground independent monitors of conflicts for accurately reporting events and getting information to the public, for at least one week. The tragic loss of life in Kunduz comes one year after 42 innocent people were mistakenly killed in a US airstrike on a hospital operated by Médecins Sans Frontiéres in Kunduz, and 7 years after a US airstrike killed over 90 civilians in error in Kunduz.

How to dress like an adult - The New York Times

Vanessa Friedman

This article is part of a series aimed at helping you navigate life’s opportunities and challenges. What else should we write about? Contact us: smarterliving@nytimes. com. A few years ago, I was sitting in an Yves Saint Laurent presentation (this was before the Hedi Slimane era, when it was still YSL) when a model appeared in a short black silk tuxedo jumpsuit. It was sleek and elegant and hemmed at the upper thigh. She was wearing it with black tights and heels, and suddenly I thought: “Oh, this could solve a lot of my problems on those days when I have to go to a event for work and don’t feel like putting on a dress. I should get one!” (I know: We should all have such problems. But I have spent embarrassing amounts of time wrestling with what to wear to work events, time that could have been put to much better use. Odds are you will experience this at some point, too.) Still, this thought was followed fairly quickly with another: “Get a grip. You are well into middle age. You should not be wearing a shorts tuxedo jumpsuit. ” I took a breath, and moved on. But it was not an isolated incident. As dressing rules have relaxed, and exercise has improved, some of the traditional realities that used to define adult dressing (covering up flappy upper arms or saggy knees, for example) no longer apply. And so, what it means to dress like a has become ever more complicated. Just because you can wear something — just because your legs are good enough, your stomach flat enough, your imagination wild enough, your young enough — does not mean you should. But how do you know when you have crossed that line? Old axioms like “Dress for the job you want” cease to have meaning in a world where power dressing can mean a suit and tie or a gray and Tevas. Once upon a time, an adult wardrobe was built on items of clothing that signaled arrival in the world: a trench coat instead of a raincoat, a leather belt instead of a webbed belt, a suit instead of jeans, a good handbag, etc. etc. This is no longer the case. Now adult clothes have less to do with specific items than certain defining characteristics. This makes selecting them both more difficult and more liberating. Yet because your clothes are the first thing to be judged by those who see you — be they friends or clients or employers — the choice matters. A lot. So I have come up with the following three golden rules of garb. They may seem as if they apply only to workplace settings, but they are equally useful in private life. If you remember no other rule, or ignore the rest of them, please remember this: Clothes should not be the focus of attention, which is to say, they should not be what colleagues or friends remember after a meeting. This generally means you should not have to fiddle with straps, waistbands, decoration or any other part of a garment. Brevity, for example, may be the soul of wit, but it is less desirable in hemlines. You have better things to do with your time than spend it pulling down a skirt or worrying if too much sock is showing. Similarly, clothes should not be so revealing that what anyone in your vicinity remembers is a body part as opposed to an idea (unless you are a personal trainer, in which case that is exactly what you want them to remember). Generally speaking, transparency is good when it comes to collaborative strategy, and bad when it comes to shirts. The point is: You want people around you to think about what you say, not what your clothes say. They should support performance, but not be a performance. Part of dressing like an adult is dressing in a way that distinguishes your self from your adolescent self — a way that says to you and all who see you, “I am now at this life stage. ” To a certain extent, this means playacting at adulthood until your inside catches up with your outside. (I cannot tell you the moment when my husband and I stopped saying “honey” to each other in the kind of sarcastic “can you believe we’re married” way and started saying it in the totally “pass the milk” way, but it happened.) It means that if you see a garment and think “costume,” that doesn’t mean you should avoid said garment it may even mean you should buy it. It will start to feel natural soon enough. Sometimes, for example, I will be at a fashion show, see an outfit and think, “If I were a child, that is exactly how I would want my mother to dress. ” Meaning that whatever I am looking at (usually something elegant, flexible, packable and smart, often involving a pencil skirt and peplum) seems to me like the costume of a chic parent, which is the character I play in my mind. Figure out your own chosen role, and dress for the part. The single biggest signifier of adulthood, at least when it comes to clothing, is not any single style of garment but the condition of them all: whether they are spotted, stained, wrinkled, torn and so on whether they are missing a button, look as if they have been dropped on the floor, crumpled up in a corner, shoved to the back of the drawer or any of the other telltale signs that the wearers expect someone else to tidy up for them. Because that, in turn, is a telltale sign that they have not gone out on their own just yet. clothes suggest clothes that are valued, which suggests clothes that have been earned — which suggests independence. And that suggests adulthood. You know how your mother always told you to pick up after yourself? It wasn’t nagging. It was preparation.

Donald Trump: ‘Over-rated’ Meryl Streep a ‘Hillary Flunky’ - Breitbart

Charlie Spiering

Donald Trump fires back, after Hollywood actress Meryl Streep’s tirade during the Golden Globe awards. [“Meryl Streep, one of the most actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes,” Trump writes on Twitter. “She is a Hillary flunky who lost big. ” Streep accused of Trump making fun of a disabled reporter, lamenting that the event “sank its hooks in my heart. ” “It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie it was real life,” she said. But Trump argued that he was simply showing the reporter “groveling” for changing a 16 year old story to make him look bad. “Just more very dishonest media!” he concluded. Streep vocally supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign, and boldly celebrated that she would be the first woman president in a DNC convention speech. “You’re gonna make history again in November. Because Hillary Clinton will be our first woman president. And she will be a great president,” Streep said at the time. “And she will be the first in a long line of women. And men. Who serve with grit and grace. ” In June 2016, Streep also did an unflattering Trump impression during a performance at the Public Theater Gala, as she smeared a spray tan on her face and sang for the audience. She also gave a tribute speech to Hillary Clinton during a 2012 Women in the World summit. In December 1, 2012, Streep snapped selfies with Hillary Clinton as she prepared another run for president. During her Golden Globes speech, she fretted that Trump would make the country worse. “Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose,” she warned. “Disrespect invites disrespect” Meryl Streep pic. twitter. — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) January 9, 2017,

What Is Alzheimer’s Disease? - The New York Times

Pam Belluck

Alzheimer’s disease can seem frightening, mysterious and daunting. There are still a lot of unknowns about the disease, which afflicts more than five million Americans. Here are answers to some common questions: Just because you forgot an item on your grocery list doesn’t mean you are developing dementia. Most people have occasional memory lapses, which increase with age. The memory problems that characterize warning signs of Alzheimer’s are usually more frequent, and they begin to interfere with safe or competent daily functioning: forgetting to turn off the stove, leaving home without being properly dressed or forgetting important appointments. Beyond that, the disease usually involves a decline in other cognitive abilities: planning a schedule, following multistep directions, carrying out familiar logistical tasks like balancing a checkbook or cooking a meal. It can also involve mood changes, agitation, social withdrawal and feelings of confusion, and can even affect or slow a person’s gait. Diagnosing Alzheimer’s usually involves a series of assessments, including memory and cognitive tests. Clinicians will also do a thorough medical to determine whether the thinking and memory problems can be explained by other diagnoses, such as another type of dementia, a physical illness or side effects from a medication. Brain scans and spinal taps may also be conducted to check for corroborating evidence like the accumulation of amyloid, the hallmark protein of Alzheimer’s, in the brain or spinal fluid. The cause is unknown for most cases. Fewer than 5 percent of cases are linked to specific, rare gene mutations. Those are usually cases that develop in middle age. In the vast majority of cases, Alzheimer’s disease makes its presence known after age 65, and the older one gets, the greater the risk. Aside from age, which is the single biggest risk factor, there are health issues that can increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s. Heart and vascular problems, including stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure, appear to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Depression has also been associated with increased risk. People with one copy of the ApoE4 gene variant have two to four times as much risk of developing Alzheimer’s as people without the variant, and people with two copies of ApoE4 have about 10 times the risk. That risk appears to be larger in women. Carriers of ApoE4 also have a greater chance of developing symptoms at a younger age. About 25 percent of people have one copy of ApoE4 about 3 percent have two copies. Many researchers have been trying to figure this out. So far there is no clear answer. There are hints that behaviors that keep us healthy and engaged — exercise, healthy diet, social activities, educational activities — may keep dementia at bay for some time, probably because those behaviors promote overall brain and body health, as well as emotional . Education may promote what is called cognitive reserve, essentially the idea that the more we learn and stimulate our brains, the more brain cells we have that can temporarily compensate for some memory and thinking problems. But no vitamin, supplement or brain game has been found to be a magic wand. Before developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s, some people, but not all, experience a condition called mild cognitive impairment. One type of MCI affects memory. Another type affects perception or skills. Both types involve a slight decline in these abilities, but it does not prevent the person from functioning independently. People with MCI have a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s, but it is not inevitable. Recently, scientists have begun to recognize an even earlier state that can precede dementia, called subjective cognitive decline. This occurs when people notice lapses in their memory or thinking that worry them, even if those around them are not really aware of the lapses. Dementia experts have found that sometimes people recognize these issues before they reach the threshold of a clinical diagnosis, and that those people may be more likely to eventually develop Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s itself typically involves mild, moderate and severe stages. Mild and especially moderate stages can last years, and there is often no way to predict a person’s pace and path of decline. There are five drugs approved to treat Alzheimer’s, sold under the names Aricept, Exelon, Namenda, Namzaric and Razadyne. These drugs either slow the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine or block the overproduction of glutamate in the brain, but none have been shown to work very well for very long. The search for more effective medications has been met with years of failure. One theory behind that failure is that many drugs have been tested on patients too far along in the disease their brains may have been too damaged for the drugs to have an effect on their symptoms. Many of the drugs developed so far target the amyloid protein that forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, because many scientists believe that amyloid buildup is a cause of Alzheimer’s. Recent research has found that amyloid begins accumulating 20 years or more before symptoms of dementia occur, and advancements in scans that can detect amyloid are making it possible to identify people in earlier stages, including some who have no symptoms of dementia yet. Several clinical trials are underway, including large trials testing drugs at these early stages. It will be several years before solid results are known.

How Hillary Clinton Poisoned American Politics

Justin Raimondo

How Hillary Clinton Poisoned American Politics Crazy conspiracy theories dominate the final days before Nov. 8 Share This FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information has the Clintonites falling back on their tried-and-true response to all the revelations coming from WikiLeaks and other sources – it’s all a Russian plot. Except, this time, the hysteria has reached such a fever pitch, and the conspiracy theories are so unhinged, that the political discourse in this country will be poisoned for years to come. It started with Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “So the question is: Where did these [emails] come from? How did they get to the FBI? Is Russia involved in this? We don’t have a clue where this stuff is coming from.” We don’t know if Ryan was drunk ( again ) when he said this, but his nickname of “ Congressman Moonbeam ” seems well-earned, and the implication of his remarks – that the FBI is in league with the Russians – underscores his marginality. However, it wasn’t long before the marginal started merging with the mainstream. In tandem with Rya, Howard Dean, former presidential candidate and once head of the Democratic party, tweeted : “Ironically, Comey put himself on the same side as Putin.” Now Dean may be a bit more credible than Ryan, but who can forget the “ Dean scream ” that dramatized his loonier side, and effectively knocked him out of contention for the Democratic presidential nomination? And then there were those payments from the Mujahideen-e-Khalq , a nutty Marxist-Islamist cult, in return for serving as their front man. And so while Dean may be better known, what he’s know for isn’t exactly adding to his credibility, and so we can safely relegate this kind of conspiracy theorizing to the fringes of the Democratic party spectrum. Right? Wrong. Here is longtime Clintonite strategist James Carville opining that “It’s unprecedented … the House Republicans and the KGB are trying to influence our democracy.” Well, okay, who listens to Carville, anyway? He’s so yester day! Well, then, get a load of Harry Reid, who leads the Senate’s Democrats, repeating a different version of the same nonsense in a letter to Comey : "In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government – a foreign interest hostile to the united states, which Trump praises at every opportunity. The public has a right to know this information. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interests from releasing it. And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information." It’s so “explosive” that it exploded into utter nothingness, according to the New York Times this [Tuesday] morning: “For much of the summer, the F.B.I. pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the American presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald J. Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead – which they ultimately came to doubt – about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank. “Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, FBI and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump.” As Gertrude Stein once put it, “There’s no there there.” She was talking about Oakland, California, but might just as well have been describing the inside of Harry’s brain. And, yes, you read the above cited Times story right: instead of going after terrorists, or ordinary criminals, for months the FBI has been chasing down rabbit holes looking for Trump’s alleged links to the nonexistent International Kremlin/Alt-Right/Putinist Conspiracy. We have returned to the halcyon days of J. Edgar Hoover, when people were investigated and harassed for their political views at the instigation of their ideological opponents. Oh, but the FBI was too “ overburdened and undermanned ” to keep Omar Mateen on their radar. In this election, the tragic and the comic mix and merge, but surely the former is dominant in the latest of Franklin Foer’s Russophobic effusions. Formerly the editor of The New Republic , who was unceremoniously dumped by its new owner, Foer has teamed up with the Clinton campaign as its unofficial conspiracy theorist, spinning tales of Trump’s “links” to the Russians. He’s the Alex Jones of the Clinton crowd, except that not even Jones would be caught dead promoting the kind of incoherent nonsense in Foer’s latest screed . According to Foer, Trump has a “secret server” set up specifically to communicate with his Kremlin Masters. We know this because a “computer scientist” who wants to be known only as “Tea Leaves,” and other “experts” – who also don’t want to tell us their names – have supposedly “discovered” this Secret Link. The server connects to the Alfa Bank, which is located in – cue in scary music – Russia! And guess what!? This closed communication link was especially active during politically sensitive times! This, according to Foer and his anonymous band of “experts,” is conclusive proof that The Donald is a secret agent of the KGB, intent on polluting our precious bodily fluids with icky Russian cooties. The only problem with this wacky conspiracy theory is that there’s a prosaic explanation for the existence of this “suspicious” online traffic: the Trump Organization had hired a company to send out ads for their hotels. The online traffic to Alfa Bank meant only that several employees of that bank had stayed in Trump’s hotels and were being solicited to do so again. And in spite of the “scientific”-looking chart displayed in the Foer piece, in fact the online traffic to and from Alfa didn’t “peak” when the US political scene got hot: “That’s wrong,” writes Timothy B. Lee in the anti-Trump pro-Hillary Vox.com. “If anything, the chart shows the opposite of that.” As Lee puts it: “ Foer claims that the pattern of traffic between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank servers is highly unusual – so unusual that it can best be explained as a secretive communication link between Donald Trump and the Kremlin. “But in this case, there seems to be a plausible and perfectly innocent explanation for the traffic pattern suggested by an IT consultant named Naadir Jeewa and endorsed by security expert Robert Graham : The Trump organization is sending out promotional emails about Trump hotels, and one or more Alfa Bank employees is on the recipient list. “This is actually the explanation that’s suggested by Occam’s razor because – as Foer himself acknowledges in his story – the server was originally registered by an email marketing firm called Cendyn. The Trump organization seems to have hired Cendyn to send out emails promoting Trump’s hotels, a service Cendyn has been providing since the Trump server was registered in 2009. So the most obvious explanation for the traffic is that Cendyn is using its server for its intended purpose.” When Hillary Clinton’s Twitter account tweeted Foer’s farrago and declared “It’s time for Trump to answer serious questions about his ties to Russia,” cyber-security expert Robert Graham replied on his blog : “This is nonsense. The evidence available on the Internet is that Trump neither (directly) controls the domain "trump-email.com," nor has access to the server. Instead, the domain was setup and controlled by Cendyn, a company that does marketing/promotions for hotels, including many of Trump’s hotels. Cendyn outsources the email portions of its campaigns to a company called Listrak, which actually owns/operates the physical server in a data center in Philadelphia.” So the server wasn’t even owned by the Trump Organization . And yet it took the FBI months, and “journalists,” including even The Intercept , “weeks” to conclude that this story is completely bogus. The US taxpayers should demand their money back – not to mention Pierre Omidyar . Even after this sloppy McCarthyite smear was debunked, the Clinton campaign breathlessly repeated the charges: “This secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump’s ties to Russia”! What this perfervid fantasy is the actually key to is the hysterical desperation of the Clinton campaign as it is engulfed in daily scandals that threaten to sink it beneath the electoral waves. Are you laughing – or crying – yet? Oh, but I’m not done! If you think this grade-B conspiracy theory is the lowest form of electoral entertainment, then you obviously haven’t read David Corn’s latest entry into the Smear Trump Sweepstakes. Glenn Greenwald – no friend of Trump’s – describes it as “an unnamed person, from an unknown country, who used to work in an unnamed agency, claims Trump is a Russian agent.” How did the real estate mogul become a tool of the Kremlin? Well, you see, Trump once traveled to Russia, where he was suborned by one of those slinky-looking Russian ladies and “Russian intelligence had ‘compromised’ Trump during his visits to Moscow and could ‘blackmail him.’” Yes, they’re blackmailing Trump over a sexual indiscretion – because that would destroy him for sure ! And it’s all in a “secret memo” that only Corn, the editors of Mother Jones , and their Mysterious Veteran Spook have seen. On one level, this is hysterically funny; it’s grade-C thriller material that is likely to be found at the bottom of some publisher’s slush pile. On another level – the political level – it is immensely depressingly significant – because these people are “liberals,” even “leftists.” They aren’t stupid: they know the ignominious history of witch-hunting in this country. I’d call this McCarthyism – but even Joe McCarthy had some actual evidence to back up his claims of “foreign agents” lurking in the corridors of power. Corn, Foer, and the Clinton campaign are simply retailing lies. What’s depressing about this is the fact that, if Hillary wins, it isn’t going to stop. Far from it: the new “red scare” will accelerate, as her political enemies are tarred with the “KGB agent” brush. And when the notoriously vindictive Democratic candidate takes revenge not only on her domestic political enemies, but on the Russians, an ugly – and dangerous – confrontation is in the cards. She’ll sic the FBI on Trump’s supporters, and Trump himself, and she’ll unleash the US military and our allies on Putin – and then, watch out. That American liberalism has degenerated into a Russophobic, warmongering, witch-hunting ideology so quickly is one of the most astonishing ideological transformations in our political history. And all in the name of garnering partisan political advantage. As Donald Trump would put it: Sad! NOTES IN THE MARGIN You can check out my Twitter feed by going here . But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud. You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here . Read more by Justin Raimondo

Limbaugh: Virginia Shooter the Personification of ’the Lunatic Fringe Base, the Deranged Base of the Democrat Party’ - Breitbart

Jeff Poor

Wednesday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh reacted to a shooting at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, VA that had resulted in five people hospitalized, including House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise ( ). Limbaugh argued the shooter, identified as James T. Hodgkinson of Illinois, was influenced by the media and the Democratic Party stoking hatred and resentment. Partial transcript as follows (courtesy of RushLimbaugh. com): The sad and unfortunate fact is that, as evidenced by the sound bite of me yesterday, I have foreseen this coming. You can’t continue to enrage people the way the left, and predominantly the media, has been doing. The Democrat Party and the left for years have been feeding this. And particularly since the election of Trump they have virtually assured their supporters that Trump is guilty, guilty of treason. And every congressional hearing is going to provide the proof. Every one. Sessions yesterday, Comey a couple of times, Sally Yates, you name it. They build up these expectations that Trump is not really the president. He shouldn’t have been. He cheated. He colluded with the Russians. There isn’t any evidence for it, and so every time the left builds up an event where this is going to be established as fact and it blows up in their faces, it creates rising expectations followed immediately by rank disappointment and anger and letdown over the fact that it’s not happening. And I think these people on the left have been driven to this extreme for quite a while. I have been worried about it for I don’t know how long. And I’ve been telling you so. And we could, if we wanted to, we could scour — well, we have. I could go back and show you tweets, I could read you tweets. I could read you statements made by elected Democrats and others promoting just this kind of behavior, just this kind of behavior. You can find it. If you look at the TV programs and the media personalities that this guy, Hodgkinson, was devoted to, you’ll find out how radicalized he was by TV and comedy. Last week Tonight With John Oliver, the Nightly Show on the Comedy Central, Democracy Now, The Ed Show, the Rachel Maddow Show. He apparently loved Rachel Maddow, wanted her to run for president. The Daily Show on Comedy Central, Real Time with Bill Maher. Those are the TV shows that he recommended everybody watch. Clearly, he was radicalized. Now, I also want to say he probably started off this way. I don’t know that this guy’s ever been a rational, invisible functioning member of a community, but at some point he got radicalized, and if you dig deep you’ll find — we’ve got examples of it to share with you. This guy is the exact personification when I sit here and talk about the lunatic fringe base, the deranged base of the Democrat Party, this is the guy. This is the face. This is the picture. This is what you get when you stoke and fuel hatred, raw hatred and resentment, at some point it’s gonna blow over, because it cannot be contained, this kind of rage and repeated disappointment. You add climate change probably to this guy’s list of grievances, and I think everybody ought to take a step back and realize this guy is not isolated. This guy is probably typical. Not that there’s going to be rampant shootings, but he just happened to go over the edge and pull the trigger. But he, to me, is exactly what I am unfortunately worried about when I look at the way all of these lies and all these nothingness, nothing burger stories have now been out there for month after month after month. And you add everything else that the Democrat and the liberal media agenda is. It’s nothing but anger, it’s nothing but rage, it’s nothing but hatred, and it has to have an outlet. And they know it. The fact is, they know it. Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

Defeating White Liberalism in the Age of Trump

Daniel Haiphong

11 Shares 10 0 0 1 I grew up in a working class family and have experienced the deep racism of a society that views Vietnamese Americans as the targets of war. I've lived through successive Democratic Party administrations with little to celebrate. The Bill Clinton era brought NAFTA, which outsourced my Aunt's union job and forced her into the low-wage service sector. My mother never found a living wage job and relied on my father's public sector union position to meet our family's needs. In the 21st century, Obama expanded Bush’s War on Terror, which merged my father’s job with into the Department of Homeland Security. Downward pressure on wages and working conditions forced my father to refinance our home multiple times to pay college expenses for my sister and I. Even then, my sister and I graduated with large sums of student debt. I have worked four jobs in three years and only one has paid a truly living wage. Another four years of a Democratic Party President was not going to make anything better for my family. That is not to say that Donald Trump was the answer to the structural problems of exploitation. But Trump's victory is not the end of the world, either. Trump's victory is the product of global capitalism’s decay. Millions of people voted for Trump for a variety of reasons, namely because he clearly labeled problems and outlined solutions to them. I don’t agree with all of his solutions. White nationalism stains his domestic and international agenda. Trump’s call to further militarize the US-Mexico border yet make peace with Russia is a contradiction in and of itself. A white nationalist billionaire who speaks the language of racism on the one hand and the interests of peace on the other is not exactly a model of consistency. However, Trump’s consistency is not the most important aspect of this election. Millions of people have shown their disgust with the two-party system of the capitalist class. A number of mostly white workers and whites from the petty business class voted for Trump. Trump also received more votes than expected from the Black and Latino electorate. Meanwhile, the elections produced a low turnout for Clinton from the historic Democratic Party bases of Black voters, Latino voters, and women voters. Clinton may have won the electoral vote, but the balance of forces ensured the ruling class would gamble on Trump. Trump's base of white workers and petty business elites angered by thirty years of monopoly capitalist assault are more of a threat at the moment than the millions of Democratic party voters who are now without a home. The round table of elites called the Electoral College could not afford any more damage to the Democratic Party than what transpired during the election. So the Democratic Party is now on its deathbed and there is only one class of people willing to resurrect it: white liberals. A large section of the Democratic Party base wanted Bernie Sanders to be their next President. They did not hold their nose for Clinton. The legitimate concerns that immigrants and oppressed people possess with Trump's racism should not be led into the bowels of the Democratic Party. Yet for white liberals, this is the ultimate mission. MORE... Brian Cloughley: “The Greatest Achievement of Mr. Trump would be Engage in Positive Discussions with Russia and China” Arise President Trump (or Why it's not the End of the World as We Know it) Trump's sexual predator characteristics - His Grandfather was a pimp, but at least he paid the women he hired The significance of the GOP's attempted purge of Donald Trump Trump's victory has energized the white liberal section of the United States to fight back. White liberals began the process in a deep state of mourning over Clinton's loss. They then placed blame for Trump’s victory on Russia, low-voter turnout, and the white working class. White liberals have blamed everyone except Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. Now, white liberals in the US hope to wage a crusade against Trump in hopes of a Democratic Party recovery. It is all too clear that their primary intention is to get ahead of the genuine forces that rejected both Trump and Clinton and lead them into the Democratic Party graveyard. White liberals love to hide their own racism and ruling class sensibilities through a process of appeal and betrayal. They speak with the authority of moral righteousness on the one hand and the knife of oppression on the other. They talk down to the struggle of peoples oppressed by white supremacy and attempt to steer it in a way that benefits their class interests. White liberals despise the working class because they understand that there will come a day when it destroys the system that they profit so handsomely from. White liberals usually originate from the ruling class, the managerial class, and various stripes of the professionalized sector. Their class has ordained themselves the true leaders of "human rights" based on race, gender, and sexual equality. However, White liberals speak of human rights on the basis of a complete abandonment of the material struggle for liberation. In other words, the white liberal is the ultimate counterrevolutionary force in US society. It has wielded the so-called struggle for human rights as a weapon to prevent the emergence of class-consciousness among the oppressed and its genuine leaders. The 2016 elections have shown that the broad class arrangement of white liberals is indeed in crisis and only has itself to blame. White liberals cannot acknowledge that it was their brand of politics that led to the Trump moment. Their dominance over the left in the US ensured that no organized force existed strong enough to challenge the ills of capitalist decline. Millions of people voted for Sanders based on his demands for material relief. Millions of people voted for Trump for the similar reasons, his racism and sexism notwithstanding. Whatever racism and sexism existed in his rhetoric could not "trump" the fact that the trade deals and wars he spoke out against in part drove ordinary people to vote for him. If the Trump base wanted racism and sexism primarily, they would of voted for Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush in the primaries. So White liberal anger about Trump's victory is not directed at sexism, racism, or any other aspect of Trump's politics. White liberals are afraid of the sharpening contradictions of US society that threaten to squeeze them out of their privileged position under the racist and capitalist order. Millions of people are now asking where white liberalism was during the massive loss in working class income and wealth that occurred over the last forty years? Where were the White liberals during the endless wars that have been waged even more fervently by Democratic Party Administrations? Where were the White liberals during the erection of the largest police and prison state in the world, the institutions that murder and incarcerate Black Americans in record numbers and deport undocumented peoples at historic rates? The answer is that white liberals were supporting the US capitalist system's assault on the oppressed every step of the way. This is what they are trying to hide with their anger over Trump. We cannot defeat Trump's white nationalism if the white liberal is not defeated with just as much vigor. White liberal ideology has a history of infecting social movements. As it spreads, it breeds the germs of Democratic Party control over these movements. But the Democratic Party made its own bed by acting as the more effective evil of the ruling class. If a powerful movement of the working class is to emerge in the age of Trump, then we must fight hard against the white liberal forces working hard to resuscitate the Democratic Party and build an independent party of our own.

Tumult in Turkey: The Key Players - The New York Times

A faction of military forces in Turkey attempted a coup on Friday night, but within a few hours it appeared to be faltering. Here is a list of the key players involved in, or held responsible for, the night’s events. • The Turkish Armed Forces Turkey’s military is a trusted institution, seen as the guardian of the secularist principles on which modern Turkey was founded. It has intervened in national politics a number of times, including three previous coups since 1960, and, as recently as 1997, it maneuvered to oust an Islamist prime minister. Historically, the military has opposed interventions abroad, but it is not known how its senior officers, many of them appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, feel about his recent interventions in Syria. • President Erdogan An Islamist and populist who has been the dominant figure in the country for more than a decade, Mr. Erdogan came to power promising to reform the economy and give the country’s rural, more religious majority a bigger voice in the capital. More recently, he has grown increasingly autocratic and alienated many Turks as he cracked down on protests, took control of the media and renewed a war with Kurdish militants in the country’s southeast. • Fethullah Gulen Mr. Gulen is a former imam and onetime ally of Mr. Erdogan who now lives in exile in the United States, and has an extensive following in Turkey. He has promoted a more liberal stream of Islam, and his ideas are popular with the country’s police and intelligence establishments, though not necessarily the military. Mr. Erdogan accused Mr. Gulen and his supporters, whom Mr. Erdogan has called terrorists, of being responsible for the coup he has repeatedly accused Mr. Gulen of plotting against him in the past. The Gulen movement has denied any involvement in the coup attempt and denounced any military intervention in Turkey’s domestic affairs. • Republican People’s Party The leftist main opposition party is considered less than the governing Justice and Development Party. It has been trying to find a way to break Mr. Erdogan’s political grip, but it would not be likely to benefit from a coup in the past, the military has tended to sideline leaders of all political parties when it took power. In a statement, party leaders spoke out against the coup. • NATO and the United States Turkey has been an American ally and a NATO member since 1952. Though the Obama administration has criticized Mr. Erdogan’s crackdown on civil society in Turkey, the United States sees him as a stabilizing and mainly leader in a volatile region. The coalition fighting the Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq makes heavy use of Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

I Went to My First Classical Music Concert. It Was in My Living Room. - The New York Times

Tamara Best

The smile that spread across my face a few seconds after the Zaffre Quartet began the rousing finale of Mozart’s String Quartet in G was the first hint that I’d stumbled onto something special. A few minutes later, as I glanced around my living room, my friends’ and confirmed I wasn’t the only one enjoying the music. I barely listen to classical music, so how did a live string quartet end up in my apartment on a Saturday night? As I scrolled through my Twitter feed last month, a tweet about Groupmuse caught my attention. Groupmuse, which specializes in what it calls “classical music concerts,” sees itself as offering a fairly straightforward process: Set up an event as a host, hire musicians from its site, invite friends and people who use the Groupmuse site, sit back and relax. (Or you can simply attend an event, rather than hosting.) Each attendee contributes at least $10 to compensate the performers. Millennials are Groupmuse’s largest audience. Concerts are in New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle, with some elsewhere, and there are plans for nationwide expansion next year. “All you need is four chairs,” Sam Bodkin, the Groupmuse founder, said in a telephone interview. “So whether you’re under a bridge or on top of a building, we can create the great masterworks in the history of Western culture. That makes it a scalable and flexible experience that communities everywhere can gather over. ” From jazz clubs to experimental art shows, I regularly graze at the vast array of New York’s cultural buffet. And as a young black woman, I’m no stranger to navigating spaces in which I’m one of just a handful of minorities. But I still sometimes feel uncomfortable in those spaces — many of them considered highbrow cultural bubbles, even the ballet, which I love and attend every season. As with the ballet, there’s a perception that classical music isn’t the most welcoming, and certainly not the most diverse in its performers or audience members. Add to that the formal settings in which classical music is often presented, and you have the roots of my lack of interest. But if I didn’t have to leave my couch, did I have a valid excuse not to at least consider it? I made two decisions: to invite other classical music newbies, and not to listen beforehand to any of the music that would be played. The goal was to have my ears be a blank slate, even if my mind had some preconceived notions. Mr. Bodkin, who discovered classical music at 19 in a friend’s basement, offered me a few tips, highlighting the relationship between consonance and dissonance and the importance of focus and encouraging me to relinquish the idea of a linear narrative. “You do need to listen to classical music in a different way,” he said. “It’s not going to be about something specific it’s about an abstract emotional journey. ” Any jitters quickly dissipated as the quartet began the hourlong show: two sets and an intermission. During the performance, four of my guests (three friends and a Groupmuse newbie stranger) and I were treated to a swift lesson in Classical 101, with movements from works by Mozart, Haydn and Brahms. Before each piece, the cellist Julia Yang gave quick talks, providing contexts for the work and insights about the composers. As it turns out, quite a bit did resonate for me. I quickly picked up parallels between the music in my living room and sequences that accompanied the ballets I loved. Having set out the drinks before the show, playing hostess was a breeze, and not having to spend the usual energy on my attire (I opted for leggings and a long sweater) meant I could put the focus where it needed to be: on the music. However, it was the radical proximity of the guests and performers that made the evening. “I’ve never thought about classical music as emotional and soulful, and I don’t know if I would’ve if I was sitting in a different environment,” my friend Reginald Scott told me. During intermission, the violinist Zenas Hsu said, “You’re not elevated on the stage, so there’s definitely a deeper connection. ” After the performance, the quartet stayed to talk, a stark departure from the usual rush out the doors and into the subway. Orchestras and other institutions must cultivate the next generation of loyal patrons if they are to remain culturally relevant and financially stable. Their pitches land in the email inboxes of millennials like myself on a regular basis: Join a young patrons group and receive insider perks. In all of their appeals, there’s a constant: You have to go to them. Groupmuse works because, like many apps and tech it has shifted (and in some cases inverted) ideas around the delivery and consumption of goods and services. Not so different than Spotify, here, the music comes right to you. “Contemporary classical music patrons have done an absolutely invaluable service in preserving this art form, but institutional change is hard,” Mr. Bodkin said. “We’re creating the next generation of classical music listeners and the New York Philharmonic will be there to benefit from that. ” As my concert evening drew to a close and I cleared away the wine glasses, I was already thinking about hosting another Groupmuse. And who knows, maybe I’ll get dressed up and see a show at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall. For now, though, I’ll start with a Spotify playlist.

Suspect in Manhattan Killing Hated Black Men, Police Say - The New York Times

Ashley Southall

An Army veteran with a hatred of black men claimed responsibility on Wednesday for using a sword to fatally stab a homeless man in Manhattan this week, the police said, calling the attack random and racially motivated. The suspect, James Harris Jackson, 28, of Baltimore, surrendered to the police shortly after midnight on Wednesday, a day after the victim, Timothy Caughman, 66, stumbled into a police station bleeding from stab wounds to his chest and back, Assistant Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan South detectives, told reporters at Police Headquarters. The police arrested him on a charge of murder, but the chief said they wanted to upgrade the charge by classifying it a hate crime. “I’m the person you’re looking for,” Chief Aubry said Mr. Jackson told police officers when he walked into the police substation in Times Square. He had recognized himself in an image from a security camera broadcast on the news Tuesday evening, the chief said. Mr. Jackson told the police that he had chosen New York City to make a statement by attacking black men. He told investigators where he discarded the murder weapon, a sword with an blade, and told them he was carrying knives in his pocket. Chief Aubry said the police had collected video evidence that seemed to corroborate Mr. Jackson’s account of the evening. “He was very forthcoming with us,” Chief Aubry said. “He knew what he was doing when he was coming up here, and he relayed all of that information to us. ” The attack on Mr. Caughman, who was black, came as cities across the country, especially New York City, are experiencing a rise in hate crimes since the presidential election. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has condemned the attacks, denounced the killing, which he said appeared to be based solely on Mr. Caughman’s race. “More than an unspeakable human tragedy, this is an assault on what makes this the greatest city in the world: our inclusiveness and our diversity,” he said. The victim, who lived in a homeless shelter on West 36th Street, and was an avid recycler, according to his Twitter profile, had been sifting through the trash around the corner on 9th Avenue, in front of a row of restaurants, when he was accosted by a man in a dark coat around 11:15 p. m. on Monday, the police said. The assailant argued with Mr. Caughman before stabbing the victim, according to the police, who declined to say what words they exchanged. After the attack, Mr. Jackson, the police said, threw the sword in a nearby garbage can and went into a restaurant restroom to wash the blood off. Mr. Caughman walked two blocks to the Midtown South Precinct, where he arrived about 10 minutes after the attack. Officers summoned an ambulance to take him to Bellevue Hospital where Mr. Caughman was later pronounced dead. The police on Tuesday released an image of the suspect wearing a black coat and walking away from the scene of the stabbing. Around 12:30 a. m. on Wednesday, Mr. Jackson had turned himself in. Mr. Jackson was handcuffed and dressed in a Tyvek suit to protect evidence on his body when investigators escorted him out of the Midtown South Precinct on Wednesday afternoon. He appeared subdued as he was taken to his arraignment in criminal court in Manhattan, which was not expected to take place until later in the day. The police found two knives in Mr. Jackson’s coat, and later recovered the sword he said he used to kill Mr. Caughman, Chief Aubry said. Investigators were also seeking a warrant to search his cellphone and laptop. Mr. Jackson had a manifesto explaining his desire and plans that he had wanted to deliver to The New York Times, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the investigation is continuing. Mr. Jackson harbored a hatred of black men for more than a decade and came to New York last weekend to attack them, Chief Aubry said. Officials did not say if they knew what had triggered his animosity. Investigators were beginning to plumb his background, including any criminal history or mental health issues, the chief said. Mr. Jackson returned from a deployment to Afghanistan in 2011 and was stationed in Germany before he was discharged, according to information posted on his father’s Facebook page. It is not clear when he was discharged or under what circumstances. An Army spokeswoman did not return an email seeking comment. Calls to numbers listed for his parents in Maryland were not returned on Wednesday. Surveillance video recorded before the fatal attack showed Mr. Jackson following another black man around Midtown though he did not do anything to the man, the police said. “We’re very fortunate that it stopped at one, and it wasn’t more,” Chief Aubry said.

Oil prices rise globally amid glut woes

Oil prices rise globally amid glut woes November 03, 2016 A pump jack is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California October 14, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Oil prices rose globally Thursday as an attack on a Nigerian pipeline and momentum from a five-week low. Brent crude trading up 48 cents, or 1 percent, at $47.34 a barrel. U.S. crude up 40 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $45.74 per barrel. Futures have not recovered to levels traded in October Stockpiles of oil in the United States have risen to record amount of 14 million barrels. Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank: “Following a host of negative news, which culminated with another erratic U.S. inventory report, oil has stabilized and moved higher, driven by short-covering and the sense that it may have become too pessimistic about an OPEC deal being reached.” London broker PVM: "There is a massive market-share battle going on between Russia and Middle Eastern oil producers that sees Saudi oil ending up in Poland and Russian crude in traditional OPEC markets in the Far East.” "Last but definitely not least ... Russia is in dire economic difficulty and needs cash." (LONDON, UK) Oil prices rose on Thursday, supported by news of an attack on a Nigerian pipeline and moving up off a five-week low reached the previous session when U.S. crude stocks data compounded doubts that a glut in global oil supplies could be eroded. Brent crude was trading up 48 cents, or 1 percent, at $47.34 a barrel by 1200 GMT. U.S. crude was up 40 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $45.74 per barrel. Prices were underpinned by concerns about supply disruptions after militants in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta oil hub attacked a pipeline operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday.

Obama Jump Filed Me Regarding Illegal Pardons

Kanyetyan

Pepsi Pledges to Cut Sugar: Replacing One Addictive Substance With Another

Cherese Jackson

Far too often, artificial sweeteners replace one addictive substance with another. Recently, The Pepsi Corporation announced that it is pledging to cut sugar from its products, raising the percentage of its single-serving beverages with 100 or fewer calories to 66 percent by 2025. Currently, that percentage is less than 40. How are they planning to do this while still manufacturing and marketing a profitable addictive drink? Artificial sweeteners. Last year, responding to changing tastes, Pepsi pledged to reduce the number of their products with the artificial sweetener Aspartame in them. However, in September they actually re-introduced Aspartame into several products. Because the market craves that sweet taste and so long as that is the case profitable flavor companies will figure out how to meet that demand. The huge problem for people trying to lose weight is that artificial sweeteners undermine that goal. I find they are more dangerous than sugary drinks because it is easy for people to think they are getting a freebie—something sweet that will not impact their weight. How many chronically overweight people do you know who live on diet beverages? What is happening? …Well, a few things. First, when the sweet taste hits the tongue the body cues up the insulin response system, same as for sugar. Only, within minutes, the body is flooded with insulin, but there are no calories for that insulin to process. This breaks the body’s feedback mechanism and contributes to insulin resistance and Type-II diabetes. The added danger of anything that elevates the body’s insulin level is that we now know insulin blocks the hormone leptin in the brain. Leptin is critical for weight loss. It is the hormone that signals the body that it is full and needs to get moving. When leptin is blocked, the body feels relentlessly hungry and lethargic—and there is no amount of caffeinated diet cola that will fix that. Artificial sweeteners also put the body through the same high and insulin crash, making the body crave more sugar or caffeine to wake back up. Anything that sets you up to leave you feeling wanting is ultimately going to sabotage your weight goals. Second, drinking artificial sweeteners keeps cravings alive. Cravings are a function of a brain that has been overstimulated by sugar to the point that it has taken some pleasure receptors offline to cope. This is a neurological process called downregulation and you only have to eat the average amount of sugar Americans consume, 22 teaspoons daily, for three weeks for it to happen. The remaining receptors in the brain’s nucleus accumbens then demand more sugar just to stimulate them back to baseline functioning and now you have a sugar addiction. Artificial sweeteners do not heal that cycle. The sweet flavor jacks the brain the same way and triggers the same neurological response: MORE. The brain demands more. Therefore, the final result of eating artificial sweeteners should come as no surprise. Studies show that people who eat artificial sweeteners will eat more sugar later when it is offered, AND more total calories. Which makes sense. The body received a message that calories were coming, but none came. The next time calories are on offer the body is going to consume as many possible—and try to hold onto them. Because it is now nervous about your food source. Remember, we may live in a land of plenty, but for the majority of our species’ existence food was scarce. Our bodies operate from that place. In addition, when leptin is blocked by elevated insulin we are primed to be looking to consume calories anyway. Ultimately, I do not advocate the consumption of artificially sweetened beverages for my Bright Line Eating boot camp members because they keep the brain oriented around and expecting that fix. In order for the brain to heal from sugar addiction, the cycle has to be broken. The good news is if allowed to heal, receptors do replenish. Cravings diminish. Baseline insulin levels drop, and leptin gets back on board to make us feel full and eager to be active. I try to encourage people to think of Aspartame, NutraSweet, and Saccharine, not as free treats, but as methadone. They are simply an additive substitute that fully keeps the addiction alive and prevents you from living how I want all of my Bright Line Eaters to live—Happy, Thin and, most of all, Free. Written by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. (Edited by Cherese Jackson) Sources: Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin and Free Fortune: PepsiCo Sets a Global Target to Reduce Sugar in Its Soft Drinks Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. is a psychology professor, a brain and cognitive scientist, and an expert in the psychology of eating. She is President of the Institute for Sustainable Weight Loss and CEO of Bright Line Eating Solutions, a company dedicated to sharing the psychology and neurology of sustainable weight loss and helping people achieve it. Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin and Free (Hay House, March 2017). Photo Credits: Top Image Courtesy of Susan Peirce Thompson Featured Image Courtesy of Mike Mozart – Flickr License artificial sweetner , Pepsi , sugar

Cyrus Mistry speaks out, says TATA removal didn’t hurt as much as punny headlines on it

Ashwin Kumar

Cyrus Mistry speaks out, says TATA removal didn’t hurt as much as punny headlines on it Posted on Tweet Ousted TATA group chairman Cyrus Mistry finally spoke out regarding the development, terming that while getting the boot did hurt , it was nowhere in comparison to what he felt after reading dozens of pun-filled headlines over his name and ouster. “What the hell, yaar ? Whatever I pick up, all I read is: Mystery over Mistry’s ouster; Che-Mistry no more, TATA group sacks chairman; Mist yet to clear on why Mistry was ousted, TATA says tata to Mistry. I can’t take this anymore! Please stop. I can always find another job or even become a chairman of some other company if lady luck favors me, but will these Mistry puns ever end? I’ve had enough of this pun-ishment!” the ex-chairman cried out to The UnReal Times . The businessman was soon supported by Sixth Sense scientist Pranav Mistry, who tweeted, “I feel you, bro!” The mainstream media, however, shot back at Mistry, asking him to take a chill pill. “Sigh-rus Mistry clearly not happy over some witty puns, eh? ;)” tweeted Times Group chairman Vineet Jain. Jain’s tweet was soon followed by rival newspaper The Hindu publisher, N Ram’s tweet: “About time Cyrus gulps in some Citrus juice to calm himself. Ratan Tata’s right about the intolerance part – it’s coming from his own ex-chairman!” An upset Mistry mentioned that sooner or later, he would have to change his name if things continue this way. “The last thing I want now is Cyrus Broacha meeting me and the media saying ‘Cyrus broaches Mistry!’ AAARGH!” an angry Mistry cried. He was, however, consoled by actor Neil Nitin Mukesh. “Be happy you have a popular 2-word name and not a 3-word one. That’s much, much, much better! Seriously, seriously, seriously!” Neil Nitin Mukesh reportedly told him. Media-appointed BJP MP, the VHP’s Sadhvi Prachi, who usually asks people to go to Pakistan, got into a bit of a lighthearted mood herself. “If Cyrus doesn’t like what happened, he can go to Cyprus!” the Sadhvi exclaimed. The ex-chairman was also approached by Sports Minister Vijay Goel, who told him, “I can never get a selfie with Miley Cyrus. So let me at least get one with Mistry Cyrus.” Mistry’s biggest consolation and shoulder to cry on, though, came all the way from South Africa, from the quarters of wicket keeper Quinton De Kock. “I can’t tell you how it feels each time I trend on Twitter and see the tweets about me. Trust me, you’re much better off. You just can’t imagine how cocky some tweeters can get. Oops!” the keeper is supposed to have said. Tweet About Ashwin Kumar 1 of the proud columnists of URT, former co-editor of URT Tamil, amateur musician, Real Harris Jayaraj devotee, UnReal T. Rajendar fanatic, passionate about stopping female foeticide.

Курды разрубят ближневосточный узел

Мир » Азия » Ближний Восток Ближний Восток превратился в самую большую мировую головоломку, части которой уже никогда не сойдутся в изначальный рисунок. Потому что региональная специфика, помноженная на западные амбиции, приводит к полному провалу и неразберихе, которые мы имеем сегодня в Сирии. И пока Америка в предвыборной агонии усиленно разбрасывается грязным бельем, мы рассмотрим вектор развития российско-турецких отношений, на фоне сирийского конфликта вкупе с западными потугами сохранить демократический имидж. 0 комментариев 0 поделились Фото: AP Сделать это, скажу я вам, непросто, потому что политические перипетии — и так явление не для слабонервных, но когда в одном котле замешаны Россия, Турция, США, полуразвалившаяся Сирия, курды, Европа, ИГИЛ (запрещенная в России террористическая организация. — Ред. ) и т. д., то здесь одной статьей не обойтись… Начнем с крайней обеспокоенности Анкары по поводу активной поддержки курдов Вашингтоном. И обеспокоенность эта столь велика, что подталкивает Турцию к военному сотрудничеству с Москвой. Вплоть до того, что некоторые российские политики на радостях наивно предположили, что Турция выйдет из НАТО. Это вполне характерно для российско-турецких отношений, когда из полной безоговорочной "эйфории" катастрофически безнадежных отношений впадаем в эйфорию чуть ли не идеальных. Но это лишь крупный план нового витка взаимодействия России и Турции, а на заднем плане можно рассмотреть много моментов, которые остаются за кадром. Мы знаем, что в данный момент действия Турции в Сирии совместно с сирийской свободной армией продолжаются, пусть и не так активно, как в начале операции. На то есть две причины. Во-первых, Турцию в Сирии жестко контролируют США, а во-вторых, она уже подходит к тем стратегическим точкам, где ИГИЛ держится намного крепче (например, Эль-Баб), чем в других районах, откуда они уже ушли. Что касается города Дабыка, то это отдельная история, имеющая для ИГИЛ особый идеологический характер, так как, по исламской религии, священный бой между мусульманами и неверными должен пройти именно в этом населенном пункте. И то, по последней информации, Дабык уже находится под контролем Турции совместно со свободной сирийской армией (что-то очень быстро закончился священный бой). Также Запад четко обозначил, что не хочет участия Турции в операциях по спасению Ракии и Мосула. Одним словом, без слез на все эти рокировки не взглянешь. Еще пару месяцев назад действия Турции в регионе были ограничены из-за России, но уже сегодня свобода действий наступила благодаря России. И все это вопреки воле военного союза, в котором Турция находится. Турция осталась вне игры на Ближнем Востоке из-за России, но и вернулась она туда благодаря той же России. И то, что сегодня она может остаться вне игры уже из-за США, кардинально меняет дело. А такие опасения на сей счет не безосновательны. И если Турция будет сопротивляться, ей, очевидно, это дорого обойдется, и тут даже Россия не сможет помочь. По сути, для Турции ничего не меняется, то она была заложницей ситуации с Россией, то сейчас она может стать заложницей ситуации с США. А за всем этим стоит только одна проблема — вечный конфликт с курдами и нежелание решить этот вопрос в рамках общепринятых демократических основ. Нам не раз приходилось наблюдать, что курдская проблема подталкивает Турцию на необдуманные поступки и действия. Особенно когда курды выходят за локальные рамки в надежде на поддержку извне. А когда сама Хиллари Клинтон на почти решающих предвыборных дебатах открыто заявляет, что будет поставлять оружие и поддерживать курдов в регионе (а это значит, что вопрос разделения Сирии пока еще открыт) и когда весь Запад, так или иначе, делает ставки на курдов, — это, конечно, не может не отразиться на поведении Эрдогана. В связи с этим Эрдоган решил поменять свою риторику в отношении Асада. И отнюдь не только из-за того, что на этом настаивает Россия и чтобы угодить ей. Мы должны понять, что Турция сделала это, чтобы проучить США. Если быть честными, то все понимают, что экономические отношения между нашими странами имеют обоснованные причины, а политическое сближение чаще всего строится на противоречиях с другими странами. Проучить Америку Турция страстно желает из-за Гюлена, которого Вашингтон отказывается выдавать, и из-за активной поддержки США курдов в регионе. Как только эти обстоятельства изменятся, изменится и все остальное… Еще одно раздражающее Эрдогана явление — это невозможность уследить за переменчивыми настроениями США. То Америка поддерживает иракских курдов во главе с Барзани, то теперь РПК. То она хочет, чтобы именно Турция участвовала в операциях под Мосулом и Раккой, то, наоборот, считает, что Турция там вообще не нужна. И это не что иное, как стремление к деморализации Эрдогана. А в целом, все, что сегодня происходит с курдами в регионе, сбивает с толку многих, кому судьба курдов небезразлична. И многие россияне, в том числе, ровным счетом не понимают регионального расклада по курдам. То курды были, так сказать, в топе в России и были чуть ли не главной темой после Асада, то вновь канули в историческое и информационное небытие. При этом надо понимать, что все эти скачкообразные противоречивые процессы чисто конъюнктурные. И никто не знает, чем все это закончится. Ясно одно: в ближневосточном регионе ничего уже не будет, как прежде. И по той же логике — как не будет единственного выигравшего, так же и единственного проигравшего. И тех и других будет несколько. Понятия победы и поражения в контексте Сирии — явления коллективные. И выиграют, скорее всего, те, кто возьмет в свою команду курдов. При этом все понимают: как бы ни сложились обстоятельства, нужен консенсус между ведущими и второстепенными игроками. Почему консенсус? Да потому, что или консенсус, или третья мировая война. И это надо делать пока не пройдена точка невозврата. И еще потому, что, наверное, никому не захочется остаться наедине с экономическими и социальными последствиями этой разрушительной войны. Хотя обострение отношений между крупными державами, скорее всего, продолжится до выборов в США, а потом пойдет на спад, как это не раз было в истории. Но при условии, если бы год назад Россия взяла под свой полный контроль не только Асада, но и курдов (ведь в Сирии есть две реальные силы — это Асад и курды) и вплотную занялась строительством хотя бы маленькой военной базы и сопутствующих инфраструктур, которые сейчас вместо России вполне успешно возводят Соединенные Штаты в сирийском Курдистане, то вообще бы никаких вопросов не возникло. Сейчас американцы либо помалкивали бы в тряпочку, либо тихо ретировались в сторону Ирака. А сегодня момент упущен и, увы, придется с американцами считаться. Высоцкий пел: "Как мы место шаха проворонили… Нам этого потомки не простят". Скорее всего, на тот момент Россия не хотела раздражать ни Тегеран, ни Анкару, ни Дамаск. Я считаю, что Россия этот тонкий момент с курдами пропустила зря. И в этом случае с Турцией сегодня все было бы так же хорошо, как сейчас. И даже лучше, потому что и Москва, и Анкара, в отличие от США, реально заботятся о территориальной целостности Сирии. Именно поэтому на данном этапе такой расклад устраивал бы всех. В сложившейся ситуации курдам все равно, конечно, но России и Турции было бы приятнее, если бы в свой совместный союз они смогли включить курдов. Тогда я был бы спокоен за дальнейшую судьбу российско-турецких отношений. Как я говорил неоднократно, непредсказуемость турецкой внешней политики (на что очень часто жалуются в России) кроется именно в нерешенности курдского вопроса. Хотя все еще не поздно. Вернее, лучше поздно, чем никогда. Читайте также:

‘What’s Our Best Path To 270?’ Gary Johnson Asks Campaign Aides Packing Up Office - The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Man Wearing ‘Jewmerica’ T-Shirt Never Dreamed He’d See This Day SAND SPRINGS, OK—Feeling a mixture of intense pride and abject disbelief after news networks called the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, local man Terry Williams, who is currently wearing a T-shirt adorned with the word “Jewmerica,” told reporters late Tuesday night that he never dreamed he’d see this day during his lifetime. Nation Throws Off Tyrannical Yoke Of Moderate Respect For Women WASHINGTON—Political experts are hailing Donald Trump’s historic presidential victory early Wednesday as a resounding declaration that the nation is finally ready to cast off the tyrannical yoke of moderate respect for women that has suffocated the citizens of this country for generations. Nation Elects First Black-Hearted President WASHINGTON—Shattering a barrier long thought unbreakable in the United States, Donald Trump, the 70-year-old billionaire real estate mogul from New York, became the first black-hearted man in history to win the American presidency, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Nation’s Optimists Need To Shut The Fuck Up Right Now WASHINGTON—Saying their rosy attitude about the state of the election was not helping anything given what is currently transpiring, sources confirmed Tuesday night that the nation’s optimists need to seriously shut the fuck up as soon as humanly fucking possible. Anderson Cooper Informs Viewers CNN Just Minutes Away From First Significant Piece Of Information Of Day NEW YORK—Roughly two hours into the network’s live nine-hour-long “Election Night In America” programming block, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper informed viewers Tuesday evening he is only moments away from delivering the first piece of genuinely significant information of the day.

I Am A Syrian Living in Syria: “It was Never a Revolution nor a Civil War. The Terrorists are sent by your Government”

shorty

Theme: 9/11 &‘War on Terrorism’ , Crimes against Humanity , US NATO War Agenda Two years ago, “Majd” wrote these words on a Facebook posting: “ I am Syrian… living in Syria in the middle of everything. We have seen horrors. It was never a revolution nor a civil war. The terrorists are sent by your goverment. They are al Qaeda Jabhat al Nusra Wahhabi Salafists Talibans etc and the extremist jihadists sent by the West, the Saudis, Qatar and Turkey. Your Obama and whoever is behind him or above him are supporting al Qaeda and leading a proxy war on my country. We thought you are against al Qaeda and now you support them. The majority here loves Assad. He has never committed a crime against his own people… The chemical attack was staged by the terrorists helped by the USA and the UK, etc. Everyone knows that here. American soldiers and people should not be supporting barbarian al Qaeda terrorists who are killing Christians, Muslims in my country and everyone. Every massacre is committed by them. We were all happy in Syria: we had free school and university education available for everyone, free healthcare, no GMO, no fluoride, no chemtrails, no Rothschild IMF- controlled bank, state owned central bank which gives 11% interest, we are self-sufficient and have no foreign debt to any country or bank. Life before the crisis was so beautiful here. Now it is hard and horrific in some regions. I do not understand how the good and brave American people can accept to bomb my country which has never harmed them and therefore help the barbarian al Qaeda. These animals slit throats and behead for pleasure… they behead babies and rape young kids. They are satanic. Our military helped by the millions of civilian militias are winning the battle against al Qaeda. But now the USA wants to bomb the shit out of us so that al Qaeda can get the upper hand. Please help us American people. They are destroying the cradle of civilization. Stop your government. Impeach that bankster puppet you have as president… support Ron Paul or Rand or anyone the like who are true American patriots. but be sure of one.thing..if they attack and I think they will….it will be hell. Be sure that if it were to be a world war, many many will die. Syria can and will defend itself and will sink many US ships. Iran will go to war..Russia and China eventually if it escalates… and all this for what ? For the elites who created al Qaeda through the US government and use it to conduct proxy wars and destabilize countries which do not go along with their new world order agenda !!? American people…you gotta regain control of your once admirable country. Now everyone hates you for.the.death you bring almost everywhere. Ask the Iraqis…the Afghans…the Pakistanis…the Palestinians…the Syrians…the Macedonians and Serbs…the Libyans…the Somalis…the Yemenis ….all the ones you kill with drones everyday. Stop your wars, Enough wars. Use diplomacy..dialogue…help..not force.” Consistent testimonies from Syrians, as well as well-documented, open-source Western sources, and historical memory, all serve to reinforce the accuracy of the aforementioned testimony. Syrians are living the horror brought to them by the criminal West. They can not afford the complacency of shrugging their shoulders in indecision, not when their lives and their ancient civilization is being threatened by Western-paid terrorist mercenaries of the worst kind. “Our” proxies, slit throats, chop heads, and take no prisoners as we waffle in indecision, ignore empirical evidence, and take the comfortable easy road of believing the labyrinth of lies promulgated by Western media messaging. The veil of comfortable confusion, nested in an unconscious belief that our government knows best or that it is patriotic to believe the lies and fabrications implicit in the hollow words of politicians (who no longer represent us) and the false pronouncements of Imperial messengers, is concealing an overseas holocaust . Western societies are rotting from the inside out because of these lies and this barbarity. We are protecting a criminal cabal of corporate globalists who do not serve our interests and never will. Our democracies, which we should be protecting, have long disappeared – except in the hollow words of newspaper stenographers. Instead we are supporting transnational corporate elites and their delusional projects. Poverty and unemployment are all soaring beneath the fakery of government pronouncements, as the public domain evaporates beneath words like “efficiency” or the “economy” — all false covers that serve to enrich elites and destroy us. Internal imperialism at home is a faded replica of the foreign imperialism abroad. As countries are destroyed, and its peoples are slaughtered — think Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and others — by abhorrent Western proxies — public institutions are contaminated, and ultimately replaced by parasitical “privatized” facsimiles. Public banking is looted and destroyed in favour of transnational banksterism, World Bank funding, and IMF usury. Food security is destroyed and replaced by biotech tentacles and engineered dependencies on cash crops and unhealthy food. Currencies are destroyed, sanctions are imposed, and the unknown, unseen hand of totalitarian control imposes itself, amidst the cloud of diversions and confusions, aided by comprador regimes, oligarch interests, and shrugging domestic populations. Syria refuses to submit. That is why the West is taught to hate her, and the rest of the world learns to love and respect her. Yet, Syria’s struggles are our struggles. Syria represents international law, stability, and integrity: the same values that western peoples overtly cherish but stubbornly reject, as our countries wilt beneath suffocating veils of lies and delusions . I support Syria, because I respect what remains of international law. I support Syria because I reject Wahhabism, Sharia law, and terrorism. I support Syria because I reject the undemocratic, transnational oligarchies that are subverting our once flourishing, now dead, democracies. I reject the lies of our propagandizing media , the hollow words of our politicians, and the fake “humanitarian” messaging that demonizes non-belligerent countries and their populations. In the name of justice, humanity, and the rule of law, I support the elected government of Syria led by its President, Bashar al-Assad. Syria, an ancient cradle of civilization, is leading the way towards a better future for all of us. All we have to do is open our eyes. The original source of this article is Global Research Copyright © Mark Taliano , Global Research, 2016 NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS

‘Intl community still financing & protecting terrorists’ – Mother Agnes on Syria [VIDEO]

stevew

Click Here To Learn More About Alexandra's Personalized Essences Psychic Protection Click Here for More Information on Psychic Protection! Implant Removal Series Click here to listen to the IRP and SA/DNA Process Read The Testimonials Click Here To Read What Others Are Experiencing! Copyright © 2012 by Galactic Connection. All Rights Reserved. Excerpts may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alexandra Meadors and www.galacticconnection.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this website without express and written permission from its author and owner is strictly prohibited. Thank you. Privacy Policy By subscribing to GalacticConnection.com you acknowledge that your name and e-mail address will be added to our database. As with all other personal information, only working affiliates of GalacticConnection.com have access to this data. We do not give GalacticConnection.com addresses to outside companies, nor will we ever rent or sell your email address. Any e-mail you send to GalacticConnection.com is completely confidential. Therefore, we will not add your name to our e-mail list without your permission. Continue reading... Galactic Connection 2016 | Design & Development by AA at Superluminal Systems Sign Up forOur Newsletter Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates, interviews, discounts, and more. Join Us!

System Failure for the Establishment

Consortiumnews.com

System Failure for the Establishment November 11, 2016 Democrats thought the political establishment and mainstream media would assure them victory as they brushed off Bernie Sanders and insisted on Hillary Clinton, ignoring the growing hatred of “the system,” notes Lawrence Davidson. By Lawrence Davidson On Election Day, Hillary Clinton, with all her data specialists and poll gurus, came up short. The morning after, they didn’t know what hit them – that is, the unexpected fact that statistical data and real life don’t always coincide. People often tell pollsters what they think the pollsters want to hear, or what media tells them is the expected answer, while clandestinely harboring different opinions that they share only with their family, friends and drinking buddies. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic leadership, as well as their Republican Party counterparts, represent a well-entrenched political system. That system is responsive to lobbies or interest groups and not disgruntled citizens. What is more, none of the country’s political bosses can see beyond this system and how it relates to their own political needs. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking with supporters at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, March 21, 2016. (Photo by Gage Skidmore) During the 2016 election campaign that near sightedness led to a fatal misinterpretation: that Trump represented only hooligans and “deplorable” people who could not themselves possibly add up to a “silent majority.” Thinking along these lines, Clinton and the overconfident Democratic establishment made a perhaps unconscious decision to let this apparent bozo Trump lose the election, rather than they, the Democrats, going out there and doing what was necessary to win it. For instance, they apparently did not bother to design a message to compete for the votes of those listening to Trump. They did not take into consideration the historically observable fact that millions of Americans had, over the last 50 years, seemed to give up on politics because they saw the system as unresponsive. The Democrat establishment did not respond to this phenomenon. Indeed, they made sure Bernie Sanders, the only Democratic who was trying to respond, would fail. A Deep Division The truth is that the United States is a very deeply divided country, and has been since the 1960s. The division is multifaceted and involves cultural issues that touch on gender, race and lifestyle; and class issues such as job creation and trade treaties. Also, the city mouse/country mouse divide is very real and very deep. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confronts Sen. Bernie Sanders in Democratic presidential debate on Jan. 17, 2016. Much of rural white America has various degrees of negative feelings toward African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and anyone else who does not look and talk like them. These are the same sort of people who once hated kids with long hair, afros, and a preference for marijuana over whiskey. All of these disgruntled ones, like those millions of Christian Fundamentalists out there, have never gone away. They were just waiting – even if some of them didn’t know it. They were waiting for a “hero,” and when he appeared, they elected him president. So the divisions are real and they are not new. And no one in the political establishment, Democrat or Republican, addressed them. That opened the door for Mr. Trump. That means Trump’s victory should not properly be seen as a Republican Party victory. Trump just exploited the party label. In truth, he has destroyed the Republican Party as we traditionally knew it. Its future is very uncertain. What Can We Expect? Donald Trump has made a fetish out of being unpredictable, which, at the very least, is bad for the stock market. Inevitably, however, there will be signs that give a hint as to what might be expected. The run-down PIX Theatre sign reads “Vote Trump” on Main Street in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. July 15, 2016. (Photo by Tony Webster Flickr) For instance, Trump will have to name a cabinet. Interestingly enough, most of those who will be available, be they private-sector business people or right-wing goofballs like Sarah Palin and Chris Christie, are creatures of the standing political system. They have no real interest in reforming current ways of doing things as against profiting from them – which, of course, is a form of business as usual. There will be tremendous pressure on Donald Trump to go along with and slot himself into the existing political system in Washington (as did President Obama). At every turn, in Congress and in the bureaucracies, there will be no one to deal with but systems people. Beyond a limited number of exclusively executive functions, Trump needs standing political arrangements to operate. Thus, if he suddenly turns relatively conventional, no one should be too surprised. What about all that campaign rebel talk? Well, remember, he is unpredictable which, in his case, goes well with also being a consistent liar. Trump promised a lot during the campaign. He was going to rebuild the inner cities, the military, all of the nation’s bridges, etc. And he would do so while simultaneously lowering taxes. Short of bankrupting the country, this is fiscally impossible. He promised to remake foreign policy, which, being within the realm of executive power, may be more doable. Will he try to cancel international trade agreements? Will he pull out of NATO? Will he dump the Zionists and the Saudis? Will he ally with the Russians? These are interesting questions. What about global warming, which he claims not to believe in? How about international law and our relationship to the United Nations? It’s all up for grabs, and that worries a lot of people – very few of whom voted for Trump. Many of those who did vote for Donald Trump don’t care about any of this. They voted for him because he appeared to stand against the political system they hate. They want the country ethnically cleansed of Mexicans, the government downsized and, culturally, the clock turned back to the 1950s. If he does not do this, he will appear to have become part of that hateful system, and his fans may well end up hating him too.

Gun-Controlled Chicago: Over 400 Shot Year-to-Date

AWR Hawkins

It is Valentine’s Day in Chicago and there have been over 400 people shot in the city . [The Chicago Tribune puts the precise number at 403. Moreover, the Tribune shows that there were more shooting victims in January 2017 than in January 2016, which means last’s year carnage not only carried over into this year but increased. Breitbart News reported more than 300 people were shot in the first 30 days of 2017 alone. The Tribune reported 302 shootings January 1 through January 30, which is an average of just over 10 a day for 30 days. There have already been 70 homicides in Chicago . There were 54 in the first 30 days of 2017 alone. By January 22 of this year, it was clear Chicago was on a trajectory for another year of bloody streets and lost lives. According to the Tribune, “At least 228 people were shot in Chicago [January 1 through January 22, 2017],” which was an increase of 16 victims above the number shot during the same period in 2016. And there were “at least 42 homicides” by January 22, marking a “23. 5 percent … [increase from] the 34 homicides from the same period in 2016. ” On January 24 President Trump tweeted: If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ”carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016) I will send in the Feds! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017, The ATF has since been sent. In early February the agency announced it will be permanently relocating more agents to Chicago in an effort to reduce the gun crime that has overtaken the city. In reality, this is an effort to stop the violence that gun control birthed. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.

Frank Gaffney: ‘If Assad Must Go, What Do We Want There Next?’

John Hayward

Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy president, joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Wednesday’s Breitbart News Daily to discuss Gaffney’s warning that things can get worse in Syria. [“The Syria situation is one that is fraught with peril, as I see it, for the United States at this particular moment in time,” Gaffney explained. “Because President Trump seems sorely tempted — and I think that tempting is not simply a function of the usual suspects, people who have been horrified by the humanitarian crisis there, the people there who think that it will be resolved, or at least diminished, by bringing Heaven knows how many refugees from Syria here and the like — but now from his own national security team that we must get involved, we must inject ourselves into the crisis in Syria. ” “I think that’s folly,” he said. “It’s not because I’m indifferent to the suffering of the people there. It’s that I don’t see a good solution for, frankly, either the people of Syria or their neighbors or for us by making America part of this civil war. ” Gaffney said his specific concern is that “the idea that Assad is Hitler or something akin to him and must go, and Russia must help with that, raises, inevitably, the question: so what do we want there next?” “The choices, unfortunately, seem to be more of the same. At best, it’s an supported by the Russians, supported presumably by the Iranians, supported by Hezbollah. Or, alternatively, it’s sharia supremacists of the Sunni stripe supported by the Saudis, supported by the Turks, supported by perhaps or the Islamic State, or simply the Muslim Brotherhood. All very bad choices, in my judgment,” he said. Gaffney noted Russia has some concrete interests in Syria, including a port in the Mediterranean. “They have had the use of an airfield there as well. It’s been sort of a foothold for most of this period, certainly since ’67,” he said. “That’s been pretty much it for the Russians. They kind of lost their client relationship with the Egyptians. The United States became the dominant power in the Middle East. That base was important, and it remains so today. I think it’s been an incredibly critical vehicle for Putin to himself, not just into Syria, but into the Middle East more generally during the Obama years. So it’s a big deal, certainly, for the Russians. ” “It’s been the difference between holding on to power, perhaps even his claim to much of Syria, and either death at the hands of the mob, as Qaddafi experienced, or exile for Bashar Assad,” he added. Marlow noted the lack of consistency in comments from various Trump administration sources about Syria, making it difficult to judge if removing Assad from power is an active goal of the United States or how much military involvement with Syria might be on the horizon. “Putting the best face on it, Alex, as you know, Donald Trump indicated that he was going to be unpredictable to our allies, and most especially to our enemies overseas,” Gaffney replied. “He thought that that was a virtue. And arguably it is, at least in a tactical sense. ” “But what you’re describing is part of what worries me,” he continued. “I’m afraid that in the absence of clarity about what we’re doing, you may well see the president do what he did last week — which is on the basis, it seems as much as anything, of the horrific imagery on television of children being gassed, he decided he was going to depart from what he said repeatedly was going to be his policy and inject himself at least in that very tactical way, in retaliation against the gas attack. ” “Here’s the kicker: the president is perilously close in some of these comments, particularly by some subordinates, to embracing what the Obama administration actually formally embraced, which is the ‘duty to protect’ that is a formula for having the United States essentially become, if not the policeman of the world, the punisher of bad people around the world, without regard for the vital interests of the United States and the other demands on our resources — military and economic and so on,” he said. “This is a moment for real care to be exercised,” Gaffney advised. “I think, as usual, I find myself much more sympathetic to the views that we’re hearing attributed to Steve Bannon, who seems to be kinda holding back on some of this stuff. But let’s face it, pressure is on from General McMaster, the national security adviser General Mattis, the secretary of defense, and others — certainly the whole coterie of Obama holdovers who would love to see this president become embroiled in Syria. I think that would be a very serious mistake. ” Marlow asked about rumors that President Trump’s decision to strike the Syrian airbase was influenced by emotional responses to pictures of suffering Syrian children from members of his family. “It’s not to say that that’s not a perfectly responsible and even humane reaction to the horrors that we’re seeing,” Gaffney said. “It’s just to say, is it consistent with our national interests? I think keeping people from using weapons of mass destruction is consistent with our national interests, and I think that’s sort of the underlying rationale beyond that humanitarian response. But we’ve got to be thinking more strategically. ” “Let me just throw one idea out that I think it’s high time we begin to address,” he offered. “There is in this mix that I mentioned mostly bad actors. There’s a group that has generally been very responsible, very helpful to us and I think a force for good in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere. And that’s the Kurds. ” “I think one of the things that, as the administration thinks strategically about what the end state is that they’d like to see, everything ought to be on the table, as they say. One is redrawing the maps to recognize reality. There is no homeland for the ethnic population that is arguably the largest dispossessed people in that part of the world, namely the Kurds,” he elaborated. “I personally think the President of the United States ought to be thinking about a Kurdistan in at least the parts of Syria — and maybe even Iraq or Iran for that matter — that are Kurdish, that have the opportunity or the basis for being safe havens for minorities that are currently very much at risk and are being helped by the Kurds,” he suggested. “This is a place where some creative thinking is warranted and might actually have a strategic value, whereas just responding to the humanitarian crisis du jour is a formula for squandering resources and lives, probably American ones. ” “If we wind up embracing the Obama and U. N. idea of a ‘responsibility to protect,’ all bets are off on an America First sort of approach, either to national security or to rebuilding on the home front because there is no end of people in all kinds of places,” Gaffney warned. “I think the president is now being buffeted by individuals who have come in who apparently do not agree with his priority of defeating radical Islamic terrorism, as he calls it, and who have, instead, have the view that we should align ourselves with people who are the prime movers behind radical Islamic terrorism. That would include, by the way, the Saudis. It would include the Turks. It would include the Qataris and others in the region. I think that’s a grave concern,” he said. “I think the idea that the president is going to transform the Chinese, the Russians, the North Koreans into benign actors through the force of our diplomacy or through our various emissaries going there and telling them what to do, is unlikely as well,” he judged. “His planned and, I think, necessary focus on rebuilding what he called ‘peace through strength’ — my old boss Ronald Reagan’s philosophy of how to protect the United States — is the way forward. You can begin to perhaps moderate others’ behavior by demonstrating that you have the will, you have the capacity to be a formidable adversary, and not have to use that force or that coercive pressure on the ground,” Gaffney said. He added a prediction that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow would be “an early indicator of: is he going to be approaching that job as he did his last one, which is, essentially, as a guy who’s going to figure out how to do the bidding of the Russians — or is he going to be helping the President of the United States really institute this notion that America is a formidable force, and Putin is best advised not to be screwing around with us?” “Again, the philosophy of peace through strength in practice — watch for it, hopefully, in Moscow,” Gaffney concluded. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN:

Bus Driver Pulls Over to Stop Suicidal Woman from Jumping Off Bridge - Breitbart

Breitbart TV

An Ohio bus driver’s quick thinking last month saved a suicidal woman’s life, Daily Mail reports. Damone Hudson was crossing the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton, OH with his bus when he spotted a woman standing on the other side of the bridge’s railing. RTA bus surveillance video shows Hudson stopping to urge the woman to get away from the edge. “Hey miss, why don’t you come back on this side of the rail for me?” Damone said as he got off the bus. He then told the woman, “Ma’am, you look like you’re having a bad day, you know. Can I give you a hug?” Hudson stayed with the woman and talked to her until authorities arrived. Once they arrived, the woman got off the ledge and Hudson went back to his route. “Everyone’s going through something,” he told Fox 45. “Even if you are, just reach out and try to touch someone, even if it’s in a small way. ” RTA will recognize Hudson for his good work at the upcoming RTA Board meeting on March 17. Follow Breitbart. tv on Twitter @BreitbartVideo

Light Sentence for Brock Turner in Stanford Rape Case Draws Outrage - The New York Times

Liam Stack

A recall effort against a California judge was announced on Monday in a sexual assault case at Stanford University that ignited public outrage after the defendant was sentenced to a mere six months in jail and his father complained that his son’s life had been ruined for “20 minutes of action” fueled by alcohol and promiscuity. In court, the victim had spoken out against the inequities of the legal process, arguing that the trial, the sentencing and the legal system’s approach to sexual assault — from the defense lawyer’s questions about what she wore that night to her attacker’s sentence — were irrevocably marred by male and class privilege. The case, which had made headlines after the suspect was found guilty in March, began to seize the public’s attention anew after a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge, Aaron Persky, on Thursday handed the defendant, Brock Allen Turner, 20, what many critics denounced as a lenient sentence, including three years’ probation, for three felony counts of sexual assault. According to the judge: “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others. ” The next day, BuzzFeed published the full courtroom statement by the woman who was attacked. The statement, a cri de coeur against the role of privilege in the trial and the way the legal system deals with sexual assault, was provided by the victim and has since gone viral. By Monday, it had been viewed more than five million times on the BuzzFeed site. Also on Monday, the CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield spent part of an hour looking into the camera and reciting the entire statement live on the air. The unidentified victim, who was not a student of the university in Palo Alto, Calif. was attacked while visiting the campus, where she attended a fraternity party. In the statement, she spoke of drinking at the party, but not remembering the assault in January 2015. She said she was told she had been found behind a Dumpster, and learned from news reports that witnesses had discovered her attacker lying on top of her unconscious, partly clothed body. The witnesses intervened and held the attacker for the police. The judge, identified by The Guardian as a Stanford alumnus, handed Mr. Turner, a champion swimmer, far less than the maximum 14 years after he was convicted, pointing out that he had no “significant” prior offenses, he had been affected by the intense media coverage, and “there is less moral culpability attached to the defendant, who is . .. intoxicated,” The Guardian said. The victim said Mr. Turner had admitted drinking, but still had not acknowledged any fault in the attack, insisting the episode had been consensual. She said the court privileged his over her own, and in the end declined to punish him severely because the authorities considered the disruption to his studies and athletic career at a prestigious university when determining his sentence. She wrote: Michele Dauber, a law professor and sociologist at Stanford, said Monday that she was part of a committee that was organizing a recall challenge to Judge Persky, whose position is an elected one. And by Tuesday, a Change. org petition calling for the judge’s removal had garnered over 240, 000 supporters. Professor Dauber said the judge had misapplied the law by granting Mr. Turner probation and by taking his age, academic achievement and alcohol consumption into consideration. “If you’re going to declare that a perpetrator is an unusual case, then you’re saying to women on college campuses that they don’t deserve the full protection of the law in the state of California,” the professor said. On Sunday, Professor Dauber posted to Twitter a statement read to the court by the defendant’s father, Dan Turner. Mr. Turner’s father said that his son should not do jail time for the sexual assault, which he referred to as “the events” and “20 minutes of action” that were not violent. He said that his son suffered from depression and anxiety in the wake of the trial and argued that having to register as a sex offender — and the loss of his appetite for food he once enjoyed — was punishment enough. Brock Turner also lost a swimming scholarship to Stanford and has given up on his goal of competing at the Olympics. “I was always excited to buy him a big steak to grill or to get his favorite snack for him,” Dan Turner wrote. “Now he barely consumes any food and eats only to exist. These verdicts have broken and shattered him and our family in so many ways. ” In a statement, the Santa Clara, Calif. district attorney, Jeff Rosen, said the sentence “did not fit the crime,” and he called Brock Turner, who withdrew from Stanford, a “predatory offender” who refused to take responsibility or show remorse. “Campus rape is no different than rape,” Mr. Rosen said. “Rape is rape. ” In an editorial, The San Jose Mercury News called the sentence “a slap on the wrist” and “a setback for the movement to take campus rape seriously. ” Judge Persky did not respond to a request for comment sent to Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday. Stanford University said on Monday that it “takes the issue of sexual assault extremely seriously” and was proud of two students who intervened to stop Mr. Turner’s attack. “There is still much work to be done, not just here, but everywhere, to create a culture that does not tolerate sexual violence in any form and a judicial system that deals appropriately with sexual assault cases,” the university said in a statement. In his statement, Dan Turner said his son planned to use his time on probation to educate college students “about the dangers of alcohol consumption and sexual promiscuity” so that he could “give back to society in a net positive way. ” The victim, however, rebuked that proposal:

Donald Trump’s Terrorism Plan Mixes Cold War Concepts and Limits on Immigrants - The New York Times

David E. Sanger and Maggie Haberman

Donald J. Trump on Monday invoked comparisons to the Cold War era in arguing that the United States must wage an unrelenting ideological fight if it is to defeat the Islamic State. He said he would temporarily suspend immigration from “the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world” and judge allies solely on their participation in America’s mission to root out Islamic terrorism. In a speech at Youngstown State University in Ohio, a critical swing state where polls show him trailing Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump combined old vows to seize Middle Eastern oil fields with the announcement of a series of new, if still vague, proposals to change America’s battlefield tactics. “Just as we won the Cold War, in part by exposing the evils of communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam,” he said. He again tried to change his politically inflammatory approach to immigration, replacing his 2015 vow to bar Muslims from entering the United States with a new commitment to bar anyone from parts of the world where terrorism breeds. Once again, he did not name those countries, or say whether citizens of longtime allies where terrorists have plotted and executed attacks — Germany, France and Belgium among them — would be included. Mr. Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the border with Mexico, also said he would call for “extreme vetting” of immigrants that would include requiring them to respond to a questionnaire with an “ideological test. ” Over all, he appeared to be arguing for the kind of foreign policy that President George W. Bush adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But over time, that approach ran into complications: China and Russia used the fight against terrorism to crack down on Muslim minorities. And the Bush administration eventually discovered that a approach, measuring countries almost exclusively on their commitment to fighting Islamic terrorists, left it little leverage when their partners in counterterrorism took other steps opposed to American interests — from the Chinese claiming portions of the South China Sea to increasing Russian threats against former Soviet states. Monday’s speech represented another attempt by Mr. Trump to focus on issues after a rocky period in his campaign, much as he did last Monday with a speech on the economy. He laid the blame for the rise of Islamic extremism on President Obama and Mrs. Clinton. He said they made “a catastrophic mistake” in “the reckless way in which they pulled out” of Iraq. He charged that Mrs. Clinton compounded the error by attempting to “build a democracy in Libya. ” He argued — accurately — that Mrs. Clinton had been a vocal proponent of the American intervention in Libya in 2011, which Mr. Obama has repeatedly acknowledged was the most foreign policy move in his nearly eight years in office. He also charged that “Hillary Clinton wants to be America’s Angela Merkel,” a reference to the German chancellor. Germany has taken in tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria, in which fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar rebels opposed to his rule and Islamic State jihadists has claimed 400, 000 lives. Mr. Trump offered no criticism of Mr. Assad, but criticized the Obama administration for advocating the removal of the Syrian leader and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who was deposed in the first blush of the Arab Spring, because doing so took out the strongmen who kept the lid on violence in the region. He pledged to form a new partnership with Israel, Egypt and Jordan to try to stop the spread of terrorism, including groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. He also suggested that the United States would be well served by joining forces with Russia against the Islamic State. And though Mr. Trump made no reference to whether he would send more American troops back to the region, that appeared to be the clear implication. The kind of relentless attacks on the Islamic State he advocates — along with taking and holding the oil fields, which may well be a violation of international law — would require a considerable presence by American troops or their allies, and foreign bases to launch the drones. Peter Feaver, a former Bush administration official who handled Iraq strategy and now teaches at Duke University, and who has signed two letters from national security officials opposing Mr. Trump’s candidacy, praised Mr. Trump for giving a “surprisingly serious” speech on counterterrorism. But he also said that “given how vehemently Trump has denounced Bush’s national security team, it is striking how much of this speech depends on counterterrorism ideas developed by the Bush administration. It is not a perfect copy — we never contemplated seizing the oil for our own purposes and we were far more concerned about how rhetoric might demoralize the moderate Muslim voices we were seeking to empower. But the good parts are not new — they are imported from the Bush approach — and the new parts are not good. ” Mr. Trump did not explain how his vision of “extreme vetting” of immigrants, including an “ideological test,” would be enforced, or how it would be different from when prospective terrorists lie on questionnaires now. But he made clear that he views the recent terrorist attacks in the United States through the prism of immigration, pointing out that the common point between the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. and the mass attack in San Bernardino, Calif. was that they were carried out “by immigrants, or the children of immigrants. ” As part of the ideological battle against the Islamic State, he said, a Trump administration will “be a friend to all moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East,” and would speak out “against the horrible practice of honor killings, where women are murdered by their relatives for dressing, marrying or acting in a way that violates fundamentalist teachings. ” But he never squared that with the complexities he would confront in the Oval Office. Pakistan, where one recent honor killing occurred that Mr. Trump cited at length, is also considered a key partner in the counterterrorism fight — even though its intelligence service has, at times, been accused of supporting the Taliban. Jake Sullivan, Mrs. Clinton’s policy chief, argued that Mr. Trump’s concern about respecting minority rights within the Muslim religion was not sincere. “This ‘policy’ cannot be taken seriously,” he said in a statement. “How can Trump put this forward with a straight face when he opposes marriage equality and selected as his running mate the man who signed an . G. B. T. law in Indiana? It’s a cynical ploy to escape scrutiny of his outrageous proposal to ban an entire religion from our country, and no one should fall for it. ” In his address, Mr. Trump said that if he is elected, “the era of will be ended,” implicitly criticizing efforts to restore stability to Iraq and Afghanistan. He did not note that most of that began in the Bush administration, and much of it was terminated by President Obama. Mr. Trump was clearly defensive about challenges to his claim that he had opposed the invasion of Iraq, notably a Sept. 11, 2002, comment to Howard Stern, the radio host, in which he was asked whether he supported a future invasion of the country. “Yeah, I guess so,” he responded, “I wish the first time it was done correctly,” a reference to the Persian Gulf war. The day of the invasion in 2003, he described it as a “tremendous success from a military standpoint. ” But in his speech, Mr. Trump quoted himself from an August 2004 statement to Esquire when the Iraq war was beginning to turn against the United States. “It turns out that all the reasons for the war were blatantly wrong,” he said, 17 months after the invasion. “All this for nothing. ” He noted that he had warned that “two minutes after we leave, there’s going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. ”

GLAZOV: Thank You President Trump for Naming ’Radical Islamic Terrorism’ - Breitbart

Breitbart News

In this new Jamie Glazov Moment, Jamie says: Thank you President Trump for Naming “Radical Islamic Terrorism” and unveils the dire urgency of knowing the enemy and making a threat assessment. For more Jamie Glazov, please visit the Glazov Gang website.

Al Franken Disinvites Kathy Griffin from Book Event

Daniel Nussbaum

Sen. Al Franken ( ) has disinvited Kathy Griffin from an upcoming book event one day after saying he would still appear with her in the wake of the controversy generated by a photograph in which the comedian posed with what looked like President Donald Trump’s decapitated head. [Griffin had been set to appear alongside Franken at an event at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on July 7 to discuss Franken’s new book, Giant of the Senate. In a Wednesday appearance on CNN, the senator said the image of Griffin holding a bloody, fake head meant to resemble that of the president was a “horrible mistake” and “had no business being in our public discourse. ” But Franken — who has previously received campaign donations from Griffin — said the July book event would continue as scheduled. Franken backtracked Thursday, saying “it would be best” for Griffin not to appear at the event. “After hearing from many Minnesotans who were rightfully offended, I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be best for her not to participate in the event we had previously scheduled. I understand why Minnesotans were upset by this, and I take that very seriously,” Franken told Politico Thursday. “I believe what Kathy Griffin did was inappropriate and not something that should be anywhere in our national discourse. I consider her a friend and I’m glad she realized she crossed the line and apologized,” he added. The photo of Griffin — taken by L. A. photographer Tyler Shields — sparked a firestorm when it was first published by TMZ Tuesday morning. CNN fired the comedian from her role as of its New Year’s Eve coverage, and at least five venues have cancelled scheduled performances on her comedy tour. Griffin is set to hold a press conference Friday morning to address the “true motivation” behind the image, and respond to the “bullying” she says she had endured by the Trump family. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

IT’S OVER: HUMA ABEDIN JUST FLIPPED! | Silver Doctors

I suspect there’s at least one or two layers of deceipt not on the table here. Such as the Saudi’s genocide on Yemen (happening NOW), and their coziness with Israel. And let’s not forget that all genocides except the Yemeni are enacted by USA for Saudi Arabia. The stupid and the weak in NATO join in. Making this just a islamist thing seems still too shortsighted. This may just be the front. Some muslims may believe it, but this is not what the top intent is. Leave a Reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Today's Top Articles

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Trump’s Talk About Muslims Led Acting Attorney General to Defy Ban - The New York Times

Alan Blinder and Matt Apuzzo

ATLANTA — As a young prosecutor in the late 1990s, Sally Q. Yates sat at a conference table with a former sheriff and began picking away at his story. With an F. B. I. agent watching, Ms. Yates soon had the lawman in knots about a deposition. “I watched him as she broke him down, and he confessed that he had lied under oath,” the agent, Oliver G. Halle, now retired, recalled on Tuesday. “She can be very disarming, but underneath that disarming appearance is a woman who knows how to fight. ” As acting attorney general, Ms. Yates picked the fight of her life on Monday when she ordered the Justice Department not to defend President Trump’s executive order blocking refugees and restricting immigration to the United States. Ms. Yates became convinced, based on the president’s own statements, that he had intended to unlawfully single out Muslims, senior officials said. “We have comments from the president about what this is supposed to do,” Ms. Yates said in one meeting on Monday, according to two people involved in the discussions. She later added, “The intent was clear from the face of it. ” Ms. Yates, 56, was swiftly fired. Before she even finished packing up her office, she had become a hero to many Democrats, the face of a simmering resistance inside the government to Mr. Trump’s administration. Her firing was a politically divisive turn in a career that had, until now, earned her bipartisan praise. “She will be a hero of the American people, a hero of what’s right,” Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, said in 2015 at Ms. Yates’s confirmation hearing. “She’ll call them like she sees them, and she will be fair, and she will be just. ” While Ms. Yates was a reliably liberal voice in the Justice Department on issues of civil rights, criminal justice and sentencing, she worked her way up as a career prosecutor in Atlanta under political appointees from both parties. A native Georgian, she led prosecutions against some of the highest profile defendants in Atlanta, including former Mayor Bill Campbell, a Democrat who was accused of racketeering and tax fraud, and Eric Robert Rudolph, who set bombs at a park during the 1996 Olympic Games, a gay nightclub and two Southern abortion clinics. She also took on the leaders of an Atlanta suburb who refused to allow construction of a mosque. The Justice Department sued, and the city reversed itself. “Religious freedom requires that local government decisions impacting the exercise of that freedom be free of discrimination,” Ms. Yates said at the time. When Ms. Yates, who declined to comment on Tuesday, became deputy attorney general in 2015, she told colleagues that she had no intention of merely being a caretaker. “We’re going to run through the tape,” she often said. In Washington, her outgoing personality made her a counterpoint to her more reserved boss, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. At times that made Ms. Yates the face of the Justice Department in ways that caused tension with Ms. Lynch’s staff. Ms. Yates was regarded as professionally ambitious, though she has told friends that she has no interest in running for political office. Last year, Ms. Yates and Ms. Lynch earned the ire of Democrats — including many in the department — for not intervening to prohibit the F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, from sending a letter to Congress in the final days of the presidential campaign. The letter raised the prospect of new and potentially damaging evidence against Hillary Clinton related to an investigation that had been closed. Nothing came of the new evidence, and Mrs. Clinton’s team says the letter cost her the presidency. Her supporters argued that Justice Department leaders were too timid to stand up to Mr. Comey. Mr. Trump’s executive order prompted a new challenge for Ms. Yates, who was serving until the Senate confirmed a new attorney general. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel had reviewed and signed off on the order, but Ms. Yates believed that the department had to also consider the president’s intent, which she said appeared aimed at singling out people based on religion. Mr. Trump had promised to do as much. His campaign website still calls for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. ” After the decision was announced, one of his advisers, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said in an interview that Mr. Trump had wanted a Muslim ban but needed “the right way to do it legally. ” Mr. Trump then said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network that Christian refugees would be given priority for entry visas to the United States. In meetings on Monday, some in the department said it should defend the order, as it normally does. Others disagreed. Prominent lawyers echoed that debate on Tuesday. Some former Justice Department officials, like Martin Lederman, praised Ms. Yates’s decision. Ms. Lynch said “her courageous leadership embodies the highest traditions of the Department of Justice. ” But others, like Jack Goldsmith, said she should have either defended the president’s order or resigned. George J. Terwilliger III, a former deputy attorney general who, like Ms. Yates, served briefly as acting attorney general, said that Ms. Yates had made herself and the Justice Department “look blatantly political. ” Ms. Yates considered resigning, four current and former Justice Department officials said, but she concluded that doing so would only defer a difficult decision to a temporary successor. That dilemma was foreshadowed two years ago in her confirmation hearing, when Senator Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who is poised to become the next attorney general, questioned whether Ms. Yates had the independent streak needed to be the Justice Department’s second in command. “If the views the president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or the deputy attorney general say no?” Mr. Sessions asked. “I believe the attorney general or deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and Constitution and give their independent legal advice to the president,” Ms. Yates replied. Shortly after 9 p. m. on Monday, roughly three hours after she ordered department lawyers not to defend the president’s position, a White House courier arrived with a copy of her dismissal letter. “Dear Deputy Attorney General Yates,” said the letter, which was signed by John DeStefano, an assistant to Mr. Trump. “I am informing you that the president has removed you from the office of Deputy Attorney General of the United States. ”

North Korea, Citing Kim Jong-nam Dispute, Blocks Malaysians From Exiting - The New York Times

Richard C. Paddock

BANGKOK — North Korea said Tuesday that it was barring all Malaysians from leaving the country until there was a “fair settlement” of a dispute over the assassination in Kuala Lumpur of Kim the half brother of North Korea’s leader. Malaysia responded in kind, with Prime Minister Najib Razak instructing the police to prevent all North Koreans from leaving Malaysia until he was assured of the safety of Malaysians in North Korea. The developments were a drastic escalation in the diplomatic dispute over Mr. Kim’s killing. The Malaysian police have said that several North Koreans are suspects. “This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms,” Mr. Najib said of North Korea’s action. Mr. Najib convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council in the evening. In its statement on Tuesday, North Korea said it would “temporarily ban the exit of Malaysian citizens” until the safety of North Korean diplomats and citizens in Malaysia is “fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case that occurred in Malaysia,” the Korean Central News Agency reported. It was unclear what resolution to the Kim case North Korea was seeking. But it has rejected the findings of the Malaysian police that Mr. Kim was poisoned by VX nerve agent at the Malaysian capital’s international airport on Feb. 13, and it has demanded that his body be handed over to the North Korean Embassy. The Malaysian police want to question several North Koreans in the case, including a diplomat. Malaysian officials said there were 11 Malaysians in the North who could be affected by the North Korean ban, including embassy staff members, their family and two workers for the United Nations. After the security council meeting, Mr. Najib posted on his Twitter account: “I know that the family and friends of our fellow Malaysians detained in North Korea are anxiously anticipating news of their loved ones. ” He added in a second posting: “You can rest assured that we are doing our very best to secure their safe return. ” About 1, 000 North Koreans are believed to live and work in Malaysia until Monday, they had been allowed to enter the country without a visa. “As a nation, Malaysia is committed to maintaining friendly relations with all countries,” Mr. Najib said on Tuesday. “However, protecting our citizens is my first priority, and we will not hesitate to take all measures necessary when they are threatened. ” Mr. Kim, the elder half brother of the North Korean leader, Kim was killed when two women rubbed poison on his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Malaysian police said. The women, one from Vietnam and one from Indonesia, have been arrested and charged with murder. The Malaysian police, who conducted an autopsy of Mr. Kim’s body over North Korea’s objections, concluded that he had been poisoned by VX nerve agent, a banned chemical weapon known to be in North Korea’s arsenal. North Korea has suggested that he died of heart failure and accused Malaysia of working with other countries to defame North Korea. “Once it denied responsibility for the assassination, North Korea had no option but to push back in a escalation,” Kim a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea, said on Tuesday. “Offense is the best defense for the North. ” Preventing the Malaysians from leaving North Korea would also give the government continuing leverage over Malaysia. If the Malaysians had been free to leave, Malaysia could have broken off diplomatic relations without any significant political cost. That would have led to the closing of the North Korean Embassy, with at least one suspect who has taken refuge there no longer safe from arrest. The suspect, Kim an employee of the North Korean airline, Air Koryo, could be arrested if the embassy were closed. A second suspect who the police say may be hiding at the embassy, Ri also known as James, would also be subject to arrest. A third suspect, Hyon a second secretary at the embassy, has diplomatic immunity and could not be arrested. “If we break diplomatic ties, then all the embassy staff have to leave Malaysia, but the staff with diplomatic immunity at the time of the offense is still safe and must be allowed to leave,” said Sivananthan Nithyanantham, a Malaysian lawyer who has served as counsel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. “The airline worker then loses his sanctuary and will be liable to arrest. ” The police are seeking seven North Korean men in connection with Mr. Kim’s killing. The other four are believed to have returned to North Korea. Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysia’s top police official, confirmed at a news conference on Tuesday that at least two suspects had taken refuge at the North Korean Embassy and that North Korea had refused a request to hand them over. “The North Korean authorities are not cooperating with us in this investigation,” he said. He said the police would wait as long as necessary to arrest Mr. Kim, the airline employee, and Mr. Ri, if he is there. “If it takes five years, we will wait outside,” he said. “Definitely somebody will come out. ” North Korea has denied responsibility for the killing and has not acknowledged that the victim was Kim . Lim Kit Siang, a leader of Malaysia’s opposition Democratic Action Party, called on Parliament to adopt an emergency motion condemning what he called North Korea’s “hostage terrorism” and urging the North Koreans to let the Malaysians leave. North Korea’s statement on Tuesday described the exit ban as temporary. But the North Korean government has been accused of playing hostage politics before, partly to complicate negotiations over its nuclear arms and missile development. In 2014, North Korea said it would reopen an investigation into Japanese citizens it was accused of abducting during the Cold War, but it halted that inquiry last year in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Japan over a rocket launch. Duyeon Kim, a nonresident fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, said on Tuesday that North Korea was “playing dirty and not diplomatically, apparently hoping this might force Malaysia to reverse its findings” about Mr. Kim’s killing. Malaysia, however, showed every intention of pressing ahead with its contention that VX nerve agent had been used in the Kim assassination. On Tuesday, the Malaysians presented their formal report about their findings to the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the group based in The Hague that monitors compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Malaysia has signed. In a statement to the executive council, Malaysia noted that it did not “produce, stockpile, import, export or use” VX or any other such chemical weapon. “Malaysia strongly condemns the use of such a chemical by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances,” the statement said. “Its use at a public place could have endangered the general public. ” North Korea, which has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, is believed to have a large stockpile of VX despite its denials. Tuesday’s developments follow the expulsion of ambassadors between the two countries. Kang Chol, North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia, was expelled on Monday over what Malaysia considered to be insulting comments. North Korea responded by formally expelling Malaysia’s ambassador, Mohamad Nizan Mohamad, though he had already been recalled to Malaysia for consultations.

Must See Documentary on the July 2016 Turkish Coup (VIDEO)

Jafe Arnoldski (noreply@blogger.com)

October 28, 2016 - Katehon - In this unique documentary prepared exclusively by Tsargrad and Katehon Analytical Center , top Russian experts, including those present in Turkey during the whirlwind events of July 2016, discuss the geopolitical intrigues and dynamics of the coup attempt against Erdogan. The documentary breaks down the situation in the Middle East and run up to and unfolding of the coup before turning to discuss the geopolitical consequences of the failed coup attempt for the Middle East and Eurasia. This breakthrough analytical work, adorned with breathtaking footage, aims to unveil the truth behind the coup d'etat attempt in Turkey and expose the people who stood behind it... Follow us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! Donate!

Fed, With 3 Officials in Dissent, Stands Firm on Interest Rates While Noting Improving Economy - The New York Times

Binyamin Appelbaum

WASHINGTON — A divided Federal Reserve, struggling to decide how soon to prune its economic stimulus campaign, said on Wednesday that it would wait at least a little longer. The Fed left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after a meeting of its committee, although most of its officials said they expected to raise rates by the end of the year. Janet L. Yellen, the Fed’s chairwoman, said she saw no reason to rush. The economy keeps bubbling along without boiling over. “We’re generally pleased with how the economy is doing,” she said at a news conference. “The economy has a little more room to run than might have previously been thought. That’s good news. ” But concern is growing among some Fed officials that the central bank is waiting too long to resume moving borrowing costs back toward normal levels. The decision to wait passed by a vote of 7 to 3, the narrowest margin in almost two years. Ms. Yellen said Fed officials had “struggled” to reach a consensus, though she said the disagreement was mostly about a narrow question of timing. The Fed’s latest round of economic projections reflected a broad consensus 14 of the 17 Fed officials surveyed anticipated at least one rate increase this year. “The committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened but decided, for the time being, to wait for further evidence,” the Fed said in its postmeeting statement. The Fed’s next meeting is in November, concluding six days before the presidential election, but the Fed is widely expected to defer any decisions until its final meeting of the year in . Ms. Yellen said on Wednesday that the Fed would not consider politics in making its decision, but that line, often repeated by Fed officials, is regarded as tactful rather than truthful. Fed officials cited the uncertain consequences of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union as a reason they did not want to raise rates in June. They are unlikely to act on the eve of a presidential election that could have larger economic consequences. “The Fed will not want to be seen as influencing political outcomes,” said Rick Rieder, chief investment officer for global at BlackRock. Even the decision to wait, however, exposes the Fed to continued attack by Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who has repeatedly charged that Ms. Yellen is delaying necessary action to help Democrats. Ms. Yellen was pressed repeatedly about the Fed’s motives Wednesday. “I can say emphatically that partisan politics plays no role in our decisions about the appropriate stance of monetary policy,” she said. “We do not discuss politics at our meetings, and we do not take politics into account in our decisions. ” The Fed decided to wait despite an upturn in economic conditions after a weak start to the year. “Growth of economic activity has picked up from the modest pace seen in the first half of the year,” its statement said. It noted consumer spending remained relatively strong, while business investment remained relatively weak, a pattern that continues to defy easy explanation. The Fed also said it now saw the chances of faster growth as “roughly balanced” against the risks of economic disruption, an improvement over its bleaker outlook in recent years. “Our decision does not reflect a lack of confidence in the economy,” Ms. Yellen said. (Ms. Yellen, however, indicated the Fed did not include the presidential election in this assessment. Asked, for example, about the economic consequences of Mr. Trump’s proposal to impose higher tariffs on imports, she declined to answer, calling that a “political issue. ”) So why did the Fed decide to wait? Ms. Yellen said that the growth of the labor market had exceeded the Fed’s expectations while inflation remained sluggish, suggesting the economy had room to grow. One sign of progress is the continuing rebound in the share of American adults in their prime working years, between the ages of 25 and 54, who are working or looking for work. “More people, presumably in response to better employment opportunities and higher wages, have started actively seeking and finding jobs,” Ms. Yellen said. “This is a very welcome development both for the individuals involved and for the nation as a whole. ” The three dissenters, all of whom voted in favor of raising interest rates by a in September, were Esther L. George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Loretta J. Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The statement did not explain their votes, but all three described their concerns in the weeks before the meeting. Mr. Rosengren, a longtime proponent of the Fed’s stimulus campaign, has become increasingly concerned that the Fed, by waiting too long to raise rates, will need to move more sharply, a pattern that often ends in a recession. The last time three Fed officials dissented from a policy decision was nearly two years ago. Two reserve bank presidents wanted Ms. Yellen to move more quickly to tighten policy, while one dissented in favor of moving more slowly. Notwithstanding the debate about when to take the next step, Fed officials are increasingly agreed that they will not be raising rates for very long. As recently as last September, Fed officials predicted the Fed’s benchmark rate would rise to 3. 4 percent by the end of 2018. On Wednesday they predicted it would reach just 1. 9 percent by that time, and that it would top out at 2. 9 percent. Fed officials are increasingly reconciled to the reality of a downturn in global interest rates that has dampened the force of the Fed’s stimulus campaign even as the Fed stands still. The central bank stimulates the economy by pushing borrowing costs below normal levels. The decline in market borrowing costs means that the normal level has been falling toward the Fed’s rate. The Fed remains in a better position to raise rates than other major central banks, which are struggling to drive up inflation in the face of even lower interest rates and weaker growth. The Bank of Japan tried earlier on Wednesday to reinvigorate its own struggling campaign to bolster inflation, announcing for the first time that it would try to drive inflation above its current 2 percent target. Whether it will succeed is an open question: Despite an aggressive stimulus campaign, now in its fourth year, prices in Japan fell by 0. 5 percent during the most recent period. The European Central Bank cut its growth and inflation forecasts at its most recent meeting but, like the Bank of Japan, did not increase its stimulus campaign, judging it was doing what it could. Officials at all three banks have suggested that too much is being asked of monetary policy. They argue that fiscal policy makers must embrace some combination of fiscal stimulus and structural reforms to increase growth, a view shared by a wide range of independent economists.

Latest poll shows Trump with 4-point lead in Florida

Howard Portnoy

Print Donald J. Trump has slowly but surely improved his standing in state and national polls since the final presidential debate. A New York Times Upshot/Siena poll released Sunday is consistent with that trend: It gives Mr. Trump a four-point lead in Florida, 46 percent to 42 percent, in a four-way race. In our first poll of Florida a month ago, Mr. Trump trailed Hillary Clinton by a percentage point. The survey is Mr. Trump’s best recent poll in Florida, and it should be interpreted with caution. In general, it is best to look at an average of polls. Mrs. Clinton still leads in an average of recent Florida surveys by nearly three points. But the poll is not the only one to show Mr. Trump in the lead. A Bloomberg/Selzer poll , which is methodologically similar to the New York Times Upshot/Siena poll, showed Mr. Trump with a two-point edge last week.