Former Fox News "talent" Megyn Kelly revealed in interviews before the debut of her new NBC show that she has always felt that she was "born" to be a mainstream media personality. "I understand what that show is. That show is a show I was born to do," she told the New York Times while promoting her Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly show, which could not even beat a 60 Minutes rerun in its debut. Kelly made similar comments at NBC's upfront presentations last month. She bluntly told Politico during her round of interviews, "I was not born to be a political news anchor. " "The audience enjoyed the show and I'm grateful for it," she said of her Fox News primetime show. "But it wasn't who I was and it isn't who I am. " Kelly told the Daily Beast that cable news offers "no time for wining and dining you gotta get right to it. " Her new show, though, will allow her time for more nuance and relationship building with her guests. Her show, she says, has "allowed me to open up more and show more of who I am" and "show a range of emotion and personality and sides of me that wasn't possible when I was in cable news. " Like many others who used their positions at outlets to get adoration from the mainstream press to eventually land a mainstream media gig, Kelly got the requisite pats on the head from The Opposition Party's members during the 2016 presidential campaign. Using the prominent platform she somehow got on Fox News, Kelly attacked and attempted to kneecap Trump, most egregiously during a GOP presidential debate when she took Trump's comments out of context in order to paint him as a sexist pig. The mainstream media howled their approval. And in hindsight, it seems as if Kelly, who conservatives always suspected was more liberal than she let on, was auditioning for them. As for Trump, Kelly told the Daily Beast that she "wouldn't say no to a sit down" with him but "it's not something I am pursuing right now. " "It's just nice to not be at the pointy point of the spear for every news story he generated," she told the Times. But Kelly said she was excited to do what she feels she was "born to do. " She told the Daily Beast that she has learned it was "extremely hard to be a mother. " "I was driving the housekeeper crazy. Poor Carla. Nobody was as happy as Carla was when I went back to work," she said. When news of NBC's hiring of Kelly broke, one executive reportedly told CNN that "the degree of difficulty" would be "extremely high" for Kelly and if she does not succeed, "she could end up fading into obscurity. " Kelly's first two programs have failed to beat reruns of 60 Minutes. Her last even lost to a rerun of America's Funniest Home Videos. NBC News is reportedly "freaking out" over the "ratings disaster" that is Kelly.


Punishment Is Violent And Counterproductive By Robert J Burrowes  Punishment is a popular pastime for humans. Parents punish children. Teachers punish students. Employers punish workers. Courts punish lawbreakers. People punish each other. Governments punish 'enemies'. And, according to some, God punishes evildoers. What is 'punishment'? Punishment is the infliction of violence as revenge on a person who is judged to have behaved inappropriately. It is a key word we use when we want to obscure from ourselves that we are being violent. The violence inflicted as punishment can take many forms, depending on the context. It might involve inflicting physical injury and/or pain, withdrawal of approval or love, confinement/imprisonment, a financial penalty, dismissal, withdrawal of rights/privileges, denial of promised rewards, an order to perform a service, banishment, torture or death, among others. Given the human preoccupation with punishment, it is perhaps surprising that this behaviour is not subjected to more widespread scrutiny. Mind you, I can think of many human behaviours that get less scrutiny than would be useful. Anyway, because I am committed to facilitating functional human behaviour, I want to explain why using violence to 'punish' people is highly dysfunctional and virtually guarantees an outcome opposite to that intended. Punishment is usually inflicted by someone who makes a judgment that another person has behaved 'badly' or 'wrongly'. At its most basic, disobedience (that is, failure to comply with elite imposed norms) is often judged in this way, whether by parents, teachers, religious figures, lawmakers or national governments. But is obedience functional or even appropriate? Consider this. In order to behave optimally, the human organism requires that all mental functions – feelings, thoughts, memory, conscience, sensory perception (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste), truth register, intuition – must be developed and readily involved, without interference, in our life. If this happens, then all of these individual functions will play an integrated role in determining our behaviour in any given circumstance. This is a very sophisticated mental apparatus that has evolved over billions of years and if it was allowed to function without interference in each individual, human beings would indeed be highly functional. So where does obedience fit into all of this? It doesn't. A child is genetically programmed to seek to meet their own needs, not obey the will of another. And they will behave functionally in endeavouring to meet these needs unless terrorized out of doing so. Moreover, they will learn to meet their own needs, by acting individually in some circumstances and by cooperating with others when appropriate, if their social environment models this. However, if a child is terrorized into being obedient – including by being punished when they are not – then the child will have no choice but to suppress their awareness of the innate mental capacities that evolved over billions of years to guide their behaviour until they have 'learned' what they must do to avoid being punished. For a fuller explanation of this, see 'Why Violence?' http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence and 'Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice'. http://anitamckone.wordpress.com/articles-2/fearless-and-fearful-psychology/ Unfortunately, as you can probably readily perceive, this process of terrorizing a child into suppressing their awareness of what they want to do so that they do what someone else directs is highly problematical. And it leads to a virtually infinite variety of dysfunctional behaviours, even for those who appear to have been successfully 'socialized' into performing effectively in their society. This is readily illustrated. Perhaps the central problem of terrorizing individuals into obedience of conventions, commands, rules and the law is that once the individual has been so terrorized, it is virtually impossible for them to change their behaviour because they are now terrified of doing so. If the obedient behaviours were functional in the circumstances then, apart from the obviously enormous damage suffered by the individual, there would be no other adverse social or environmental consequences. Unfortunately, when all humans have been terrorized into behaving dysfunctionally on a routine basis (in the Western context, for example, by engaging in over-consumption) then changing their behaviour, even in the direction of functionality, is now unconsciously associated with the fear of violence (in the form of punishment) and so desirable behavioural change (in the direction of reduced consumption, for example) is much more difficult. It is not just that many Western humans are reluctant to reduce their consumption in line with environmental (including climatic) imperatives, they are unconsciously terrified of doing so. By now you might be able to see the wider ramifications of using violence and threats of violence to force children into being obedient. Apart from terrorizing each child into suppressing their awareness of their innate mental capacities, we create individuals whose entire (unconscious) 'understanding' of human existence is limited to the notion that violence, mislabeled 'punishment', drives socialization and society. As just one result, for example, most people consider punishment to be appropriate in the context of the legal system: they expect courts to inflict legally-sanctioned violence on those 'guilty' of disobeying the law. As in the case of the punishment of children, how many people ask 'Does violence restore functional behaviour? Or does it simply inflict violence as revenge? What do we really want to achieve? And how will we achieve that?' Fundamentally, the flaw with violence as punishment is that violence terrifies people. And you cannot terrorize someone into behaving functionally. At very best, you can terrorize someone into changing their behaviour in an extremely limited context and/or for an extremely limited period of time. But if you want functional and lasting change in an individual's behaviour, then considerable emotional healing will be necessary. This will allow the suppressed fear, anger, sadness and other feelings resulting from childhood terrorization to safely resurface and be expressed so that the individual can perceive their own needs and identify ways of fulfilling them (which does not mean that they will be obedient). For an explanation of what is required, see 'Nisteling: The Art of Deep Listening' which is referenced in 'My Promise to Children'. https://nonviolentstrategy.wordpress.com/strategywheel/constructive-program/my-promise-to-children/ So next time you hear a political leader or corporate executive advocating or using violence (such as war, the curtailment of civil liberties, an economically exploitative and/or ecologically destructive initiative), remember that you are observing a highly dysfunctionalized individual. Moreover, this dysfunctional individual is a logical product of our society's unrelenting use of violence, much of it in the form of what is euphemistically called 'punishment', against our children in the delusional belief that it will give us obedience and hence social control. Or next time you hear a public official, judge, terrorist or police officer promising 'justice' (that is, retribution), remember that you are listening to an emotionally damaged individual who suffered enormous violence as a child and internalized the delusional message that 'punishment works'. You might also ponder how bad it could be if we didn't require obedience and use punishment to get it, but loved and nurtured children, by listening to them deeply, to become the unique, enormously loving and powerful individuals for which evolution genetically programmed them. I am well aware that what I am suggesting will take an enormous amount of societal rethinking and a profound reallocation of resources away from violent and highly profitable police, legal, prison and military systems. But, as I wrote above, I am committed to facilitating functional human behaviour. I can also think of some useful ways that we could allocate the resources if we didn't waste them on violence. If you share this commitment and working towards this world appeals to you too, then you are welcome to consider participating in the fifteen-year strategy outlined in 'The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth' http://tinyurl.com/flametree and to consider signing the online pledge of 'The People's Charter to Create a Nonviolent World'. http://thepeoplesnonviolencecharter.wordpress.com Punishment can sometimes appear to get you the outcome you want in the short term. The cost is that it always moves you further away from any desirable outcome in the long run. Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of 'Why Violence?' http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is at http://robertjburrowes.wordpress.com


LOL! Remember When Obama Told Trump He'd Never Be President? (VIDEO) shares  Just a few weeks ago on Jimmy Kimmel's show, Obama mocked Donald Trump saying he'd never be president. The audience laughed and cheered. Everyone was so sure Obama was right.  The Daily Beast reported:  Obama Fires Back at Trump's Mean Tweets on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'  For the second time in two years, Obama read some "mean tweets" about himself on Jimmy Kimmel Live, including one that called him "the Nickelback of presidents" and another that compared him to Sharknado: "Loud, stupid and over-hyped!"  But the inevitable kicker came when Obama read one from Donald Trump. "President Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States!" Trump once wrote of the president. "Really? Well, @realDonaldTrump, at least I will go down as a president," Obama replied.  Here's the video:  Things look a little different now, don't they? shares


Donald Trump finally signed the Countering America s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act on Wednesday. This bill strengthens and expands sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The legislation also blocks Trump from easing those sanctions for his good buddy Vladimir Putin.Some questioned if Trump would try to use his veto power even though the bill had passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming support. Such an effort would have been futile, as there was clearly enough support to override the veto. But still, it was a possibility since nothing is ever off the table with this administration. And as time drug on (the bill landed on Trump s desk Friday morning), we all began to wonder if Trump was actually going to sign it.When he finally did, Senator John McCain had a brutal response that was absolutely perfect. He started by explaining what this legislation would accomplish. I welcome President Trump s decision to sign legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The enactment of this legislation, which enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, sends a strong message to friend and foe alike that the United States will hold nations accountable for aggressive and destabilizing behavior that threatens our national interests and those of our allies and partners, McCain wrote. The concerns expressed in the President s signing statement are hardly surprising, though misplaced. The Framers of our Constitution made the Congress and the President coequal branches of government. This bill has already proven the wisdom of that choice. Then McCain called Trump out for his continued hypocritical support of Russia. While the American people surely hope for better relations with Russia, what this legislation truly represents is their insistence that Vladimir Putin and his regime must pay a real price for attacking our democracy, violating human rights, occupying Crimea, and destabilizing Ukraine. On this critical issue of national security policy, it was the Congress that acted in the spirit of national unity to carry out the will of the American people. And that is why it is critical that the President comply with the letter and spirit of this legislation and fully implement all of its provisions. Going forward, I hope the President will be as vocal about Russia s aggressive behavior as he was about his concerns with this legislation. Boom!Sorry McCain, but I wouldn t count on Trump to stand up to Putin any time soon. Our president has proven time and time again that he will happily choose Russia over the United States and the American people. Trump s admiration for the Russian dictator and his murderous rule is as obvious as it is nauseating. Personally, I don t think that is likely to change. Trump is in so deep with Putin that he couldn t get out even if he wanted to.


Russian TV personality Ksenia Sobchak said on Wednesday she planned to run in next year s presidential election, offering liberal voters unhappy with President Vladimir Putin s rule someone to back, though she has little prospect of winning. Opinion polls show Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for nearly two decades, will comfortably win re-election if, as most observers expect, he decides to seek what would be his fourth term in March. However, a significant minority of voters accuse the Kremlin chief of overseeing a corrupt system that has isolated Russia from the outside world, and many of them have taken part in mass protests organized by Putin critic Alexei Navalny. Russian officials say Navalny is ineligible to run for president due to a criminal conviction he says was fabricated. Sobchak, who has been described by Vogue magazine as the Russian version of U.S. socialite Paris Hilton and is the daughter of Putin s former mentor, said she had decided to run because she was tired of the same politicians, including Putin, running year after year. In a video clip posted online on Wednesday evening, Sobchak, 35, said she had the right to run for Russia s top political job under the country s constitution, which stipulates that all candidates must be 35 or older. I decided to exercise that right because I am against all of those (candidates) who usually exercise that right, she said. When I was 18 and was studying in university, Vladimir Putin became president of Russia. Children who were born that year will go and vote themselves this year. Just think about that. But some Russian liberals fear Sobchak s participation will play into the Kremlin s hands by splitting the opposition vote. LIBERAL LAUGHING-STOCK Last month, commenting on rumors that Sobchak would run, Navalny complained that she was being used by the Kremlin as a safe lightning conductor for voters dissatisfaction. She was being drawn into this fairly loathsome Kremlin game that goes by the title of: Let s put a liberal laughing-stock up for the elections in order to distract attention, said Navalny. Sobchak told the opposition-leaning TV broadcaster Rain she had told Putin in advance of her intention to run, adding it had seemed to her that he had not liked her decision. The Kremlin has said she is eligible to run in the election. Sobchak is the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, the reformist former mayor of St Petersburg who hired Putin as an official in City Hall in the 1990s. Sobchak, who died in 2000, became a mentor to Putin. Sobchak s mother, Lyudmila Narusova, sits in the upper house of the Russian parliament. Ksenia Sobchak s Instagram account, often featuring photographs of her dressed in designer outfits and appearing at glitzy society events, has 5.2 million followers. After graduating from the prestigious MGIMO university in Moscow, she became a nationwide celebrity when she hosted a Russian reality TV show called Dom 2. She became active in opposition politics around the time that Putin, in 2012, was re-elected to the presidency after stepping down for four years to comply with constitutional term limits. She appeared at opposition rallies, spoke out against the Kremlin on social media, and recast herself as a news anchor for the Rain broadcaster.


I m Not Ashamed To Say I m Voting For Donald Trump Black Trump supporter Brandon Tatum delivers a powerful and brave message to Black Lives Matter rioters on his YouTube channel. The excerpt from his video was posted on Twitter and can be seen here:https://twitter.com/AlysiaStern/status/779129805816094720The entire video can be seen here. We promise it s worth watching. Enjoy:


Posted on October 30, 2016 by Pamela Geller  This criminal gang must be thrown out of power on November 8. "Congress: Attorney General Lynch 'Pleads Fifth' on Secret Iran 'Ransom' Payments," by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon , October 28, 2016:  Attorney General Loretta Lynch is declining to comply with an investigation by leading members of Congress about the Obama administration's secret efforts to send Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year, prompting accusations that Lynch has "pleaded the Fifth" Amendment to avoid incriminating herself over these payments, according to lawmakers and communications exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon .  Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) initially presented Lynch in October with a series of questions about how the cash payment to Iran was approved and delivered.  In an Oct. 24 response , Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik responded on Lynch's behalf, refusing to answer the questions and informing the lawmakers that they are barred from publicly disclosing any details about the cash payment, which was bound up in a ransom deal aimed at freeing several American hostages from Iran.  The response from the attorney general's office is "unacceptable" and provides evidence that Lynch has chosen to "essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries regarding [her] role in providing cash to the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism," Rubio and Pompeo wrote on Friday in a follow-up letter to Lynch, according to a copy obtained by the Free Beacon .  The inquiry launched by the lawmakers is just one of several concurrent ongoing congressional probes aimed at unearthing a full accounting of the administration's secret negotiations with Iran.  "It is frankly unacceptable that your department refuses to answer straightforward questions from the people's elected representatives in Congress about an important national security issue," the lawmakers wrote. "Your staff failed to address any of our questions, and instead provided a copy of public testimony and a lecture about the sensitivity of information associated with this issue."  "As the United States' chief law enforcement officer, it is outrageous that you would essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries," they stated. "The actions of your department come at time when Iran continues to hold Americans hostage and unjustly sentence them to prison."  The lawmakers included a copy of their previous 13 questions and are requesting that Lynch provide answers by Nov. 4.  When asked about Lynch's efforts to avoid answering questions about the cash payment, Pompeo told the Free Beacon that the Obama administration has blocked Congress at every turn as lawmakers attempt to investigate the payments to Iran.  "Who knew that simple questions regarding Attorney General Lynch's approval of billions of dollars in payments to Iran could be so controversial that she would refuse to answer them?" Pompeo said. "This has become the Obama administration's coping mechanism for anything related to the Islamic Republic of Iran—hide information, obfuscate details, and deny answers to Congress and the American people."  "They know this isn't a sustainable strategy, however, and I trust they will start to take their professional, and moral, obligations seriously," the lawmaker added….  Courtesy of Pamela Geller


21st Century Wire says It s called Tykables. A disturbing number of stories have been emerging of late documenting what can only be seen as our complete cultural and societal collapse A top feminist author has described the rise of transgender mania as a symptom of cultural collapse, a robotics professor has warned that sex robots will stop people forming relationships with normal people , and now we bring you news of a daycare opening in Chicago that is specifically for adults to attend who want to wear diapers and act like babies.The need for such a daycare is evidence of both the growing infantilization of adults and the widespread prevalence of severe psychological problems in Western populations.Instead of politically fighting against the ever increasing encroachment on our freedoms and constant drive to new wars, adults are spending their time cheering on sports teams and literally sitting around in diapers.Here is a somewhat disturbing promotional video from Tykables: MORE ON WESTERN CULTURE : 21st Century Wire Culture Files


David Duke Slams the NFL and Black Lives Matter in Monday NIght Football Game Senate Campaign Ads –NFL Bosses cringe. November 7, 2016 at 8:40 pm  "David Duke Slams the NFL and Black Lives Matter in Monday NIght Football Game Senate Campaign Ads. NFL Bosses cringe."  During the middle of Monday Night Football, Senate candidate Slams NFL for their salute to Black Panthers and Black Lives Matter in Superbowl which incited Black racist shootings in Dallas and our own Baton Rouge.  Thank God, under campaign rules, there is still some freedom of speech in America!  Don't you love it!


What the heck! Hillary and Bill really are the grifters I ve always said they were. Here s proof:Hillary Clinton bristled during Saturday s Democratic debate when she was asked about her role as First Lady, which put her in charge of the Clinton administration s White House floral and dining arrangements.But perhaps this Christmas season Clinton could actually return some of the items that she and her husband walked off with during their departure in 2001.As the White House s keyboards were losing their W buttons, so too was the First Lady making off with an historic haul in the form of gifts and presents from friends. Some actual White House artifacts ended up being part of the loot, according to Sally Bedell Smith, author of the 2007 book, For Love Of Politics. [The Clintons ] financial-disclosure forms revealed that they walked away with $190,027 worth of furniture, china, flatware, art, and other gifts, nearly half of it acquired in their final year. It also turned out that they took some property that actually belonged to the permanent White House collection. How did Clinton obtain these gifts, despite the fact that she was legally banned, as a United States Senator, from taking gifts over $50?She took advantage of her status as First Lady to get around the rules, and claimed that she got the gifts at White House during Christmas time, days before she was sworn in to the Senate.The Associated Press reported in 2001 that as A Senator, Mrs. Clinton Is Prohibited From Accepting Most Gifts Worth More Than $50. But Since The Presents Arrived While She Still Was First Lady, No Such Limit Applied.


THE END GAME closes in on the Clintons as the deep state turns... massive collection of criminally damning evidence about to be revealed that will bring down the Clinton crime family forever  Wednesday, November 02, 2016 Tags: deep state , Clinton cartel , damning evidence (NaturalNews) My fellow Americans, we are watching history unfold before us with such sound and fury that we are likely to never witness comparable events again in our lifetime. As of today, I am now convinced that the deep state has turned on Hillary Clinton and will unveil damning evidence in the next few days that will end the Clintons' reign of terror over America and collapse her bid for the presidency.The mainstream media, of course, will never report this news for the simple reason that they are the propaganda arm of the criminal Clinton cartel. As such, they will lie to the public to the bitter end, even as the Clinton Titanic sinks with all of them on board (in deep, frigid waters, no less, with no more lifeboats to be found).The so-called "deep state" -- the powerful insiders who really run the intelligence services and inner layers of untouchable bureaucracy -- has decided Hillary Clinton is too damaged to defend any longer . Even if she were to win by stealing the election, she would be so mired in criminal investigations and political illegitimacy that she would rip the nation to shreds while fighting for her own political survival.It has now been decided, I believe, that Hillary Clinton will be taken out of power by releasing criminally damaging emails which have long been held by the NSA and FBI. This will likely happen before the coming weekend. Once that is accomplished, the next goal will be to wait for President Trump to take office, then destroy the U.S. economy through a controlled, global debt collapse so that Trump can be blamed for the near collapse of western economies. (Remember: The deep state isn't pro-Trump. They're still all about defending the establishment. But Hillary is one bridge too far for even the statists to stomach...)Instead of allowing Hillary Clinton to take power and destroy America from the top, in other words, deep state power brokers have reverted to "Plan B" which is to let Trump take the White House, then destroy America through the controlled demolition of its currency and economy. This is simpler than it sounds. Bringing down the debt pyramid of a nation carrying nearly $20 trillion in national debt isn't exactly rocket science. All they have to do is stand back and stop manipulating the markets and stop printing new money for a few months while raising interest rates. Monetary gravity will do the rest...In the mean time, Hillary Clinton and a long list of her co-conspirators are going to find themselves charged with obstruction of justice , lying under oath, destruction of evidence, conspiracy, corruption and other serious charges that will lead to serious prison time for many.The criminal racket of the Clintons is about to implode. The participants will be charged under the RICO Act for "racketeering" activities, for which ample evidence already exists. A new video from Steve Pieczenik describes some of this In this video, intelligence insider Steve Pieczenik lays out how high-level intelligence insiders are now working in concert to "reverse the Clinton coup" that's attempting to take over America and destroy it from within.Even if you don't believe Pieczenik -- and I fully realize he's controversial in his own way -- this short video is a very important "must watch" explanation to know what people in the intelligence community are doing... "we've initiated a counter-coup..." The Clintons are going to go "full murder" in a last ditch, desperate effort to save themselves Beware of what may yet unfold in the coming days. Like a cornered wild animal, the Clintons are extremely dangerous when they realize they have nothing to lose by going "full murder" in an attempt to save themselves.I will not be surprised the least bit if bodies of people in high places start piling up over the next week. Watch for news reports of mysterious car crashes, swimming pool accidents or "natural" deaths involving people like James Comey, who'd better have armed security personnel around him at all times.Look for desperate measures such as the Clintons attempting to blackmail Obama, Comey or anyone who they think might serve as leverage to save their own skins. We might also see desperate false flag attacks unfold in the next few days, although that's increasingly unlikely since it seems the Clintons are now on their own (they would need the assistance of Obama to pull off another Sandy Hook, you see). A deal has already been struck with Obama Most likely, deep state operatives have already struck a deal with Obama to avoid prosecuting him for his own serious crimes as long as he stays out of the way as Hillary Clinton's head is served up on a platter. This likely explains why Obama is now publicly saying he trusts Comey (and refuses to go to bat for Hillary). There's no love lost between Obama and the Clintons (remember 2008?).As all this is going down, the propaganda ministry of the Clinton regime -- CNN, NYT, Washington Post, etc. -- is going to explode into an all-out "bat-s##t crazy" conspiracy theory phase where they blame the Russians, extraterrestrials, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster for everything that's imploding around the Clintons. Mainstream media news reports are going to increasingly sound like sociopathic babble from crazy people grasping at whatever outlandish theories they can invoke. Maybe crop circles were created by the Russians as a secret code to Wikileaks and Donald Trump, eh?Meanwhile, conspiratorial operatives like George Stephanopoulos fully realize they are probably going to jail for collusion and sedition , so they have nothing left to lose by desperately trying to put Hillary in the White House via any means at their disposal, including totally faking negative news against Donald Trump (which is, of course, the entire news mission of CNN at this point, a disgraced propaganda network run by anti-American traitors). If the vote is stolen for Hillary Clinton, all hell breaks loose Should the globalist Soros operators manage to steal the vote, bribe the electoral voters or rig the black box voting machines sufficiently to place Hillary Clinton in the White House, all Hell breaks loose across America :• The FBI goes into full indictment mode to push criminal charges for the Clinton criminal regime.• Donald Trump launches a massive legal challenge to the election outcome, dispatching an army of lawyers to level a vast assortment of charges involving coordinated voter fraud, the rigging of voting machines, the attempted bribery of Electoral voters and so on.• The U.S. military revs up its plans for an armed military coup to depose Clinton and restore democracy. This one should be especially entertaining to watch unfold if it gets activated... (and yes, YOU will beg for a short-term military dictatorship as long as they promise to depose Clinton and restore open, fair and free elections).• Armed U.S. citizens prepare for a massive march on Washington to take back their democracy and restore a lawful society where the political elite don't get away with corruption, fraud and murder. Expect this march to be joined by police officers and federal law enforcement officials of all kinds.• The NSA likely goes into "full dump" mode to unleash every scrap of damning criminal evidence against Hillary Clinton. This will likely be joined by CIA assets who already have the goods on the Clintons and their "Lolita Express" pedo joy rides.• Wikileaks, Anonymous and every former NSA analyst goes into "destroy the Clintons" mode and begins to hack and expose every last shred of email evidence ever possessed by the Clintons and anyone close to them. Anonymous alone has enough technical clout to accomplish this with little or no outside help. (I expect Kim Dotcom to be aiding this entire effort as well, as he rightly holds extreme hatred toward Hillary Clinton... as do we all, come to think of it.)• The establishment Republicans in the U.S. Congress will, as usual, meekly surrender to the democrats, pulls down their britches and bend over to prepare to take it in the rear because that's what they do best when the going gets tough. Totally useless politicrats like John McCain can't get their pants around their ankles quickly enough when democrats start accusing them of something. These useless heaps of human baggage will be tossed out of Washington as the revolution unfolds, replaced with individuals who actually honor the U.S. Constitution (like Rep. Louie Gohmert). I root for all groups working to save America and expose the criminal politicians Bring out the marshmallows and weiners, folks: This is going to be the most bizarre campfire front row seat to U.S. history that anyone has witnessed in over 200 years. Try not to trip and "face plant" into the flames as all this unfolds. It might be a smart idea to have some preparedness supplies at the ready, since no one really knows just how nasty this is all going to get. (And thank God Hillary doesn't have her fingers on the nuclear launch codes, or she'd probably launch them just to change the narrative...)As for me, I'm with anybody who's trying to save America , restore democracy and throw the establishment criminals in prison. Like almost everybody else, I've had enough of the lies, the corruption, the media deceptions and the incessant blood sucking parasites in Washington D.C. who are too arrogant and stupid to realize just how much they're universally despised. The revolution is ON. Anonymous, Wikileaks, Project Veritas, the FBI and the NSA have all been activated. There's no stopping them now, and all the details of all the crimes of the Clintons are about to spill onto the stage of history, dirty deeds and all.Be warned, you are probably not psychologically prepared for the truth about what the Clintons really are. You will probably vomit. Health Ranger Approved AquaTru Water Filter Back in Stock  I've secured 500 units of the amazing AquaTru at $100 off for Natural News readers (while supplies last).  Breakthrough filter removes nearly 100% of hundreds of contaminants. No plumbing needed. SHIPS TODAY .


Sunday night at the Route 91 Harvest Festival 2017, two unknown shooters began gunning down police officers and at least one bodyguard from what appeared to be the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.The country music festival was just concluding for the weekend, with the last performer, Jason Aldean, wrapping up his performance for a sold-out crowd of 12,000 people.Twitter was the first place information began to emerge on the shooters and what was happening: pic.twitter.com/4ZhhGiqeDL kenny terhune jr (@kenny_terhune) October 2, 2017My sister in law just texted me this. They are staying at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Vegas where there was just an active shooter. pic.twitter.com/ldkWUo1NdJ Brittany Michelle (@britmgarcia) October 2, 2017Per police scanner: Multiple casualties, officer shot in neck possibly another officer dead. #MandalayBay jordan ghoul ? ? (@JordanUhl) October 2, 2017There was footage from nearby:Shooting in Las Vegas. People fleeing (video from the Mandalay Bay hotel) pic.twitter.com/hs98J5uK6T Eiki Hrafnsson (@EirikurH) October 2, 2017And it appears the police scanner was confirming that at least one officer had been hit:?Active shooter?Shots fired at Mandalay Bay Reports one officer has been shot#LasVegas#MandalayBayShooting pic.twitter.com/TUHeekdn7t DeDeKim (@ZDeDeKim) October 2, 2017The following video clip contains audio of what is clearly an automatic weapon, so sensitive readers please be warned.Active shooter Las Vegas strip I'm ok locked in my room lights off windows closed. Shooter is directly across the street. Shots heard on vid pic.twitter.com/Z4mz3E3bmE Bryan Heifner (@HBryanBHHS) October 2, 2017News 3 Las Vegas has a crew on the way to the scene and we are awaiting further information. We will update as it becomes available.UPDATE, 12:24 AM PSTPolice are now confirming that 2 are dead, 24 injured, 12 in critical condition.One shooter is down according to Las Vegas PoliceConfirming that one suspect is down. This is an active investigation. Again, please do not head down to the Strip at this time. LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017The identity of the shooter who is down has not been released.Reports are also coming in of a suspicious device nearby as well.UPDATE, 12:34 AM PSTUniversity Medical Center is the Level One response center for this situation; it appears to be full at this time. Sunset Medical Center is the Level Two. Flights in and out of McCarran Airport have been grounded, and Interstate 15 is locked down. All guests in every hotel on the Las Vegas strip are being instructed to shelter in place.UPDATE, 12:44 AM PSTAt this time we do not believe there are any more shooters. More information to come shortly from @Sheriff_LVMPD. LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017We will update with any new information from LVMPD.UPDATE, 1:59 AM PSTThe Las Vegas Sheriff has just given a press conference to news crews on the scene. Information so far indicates a sole actor who is a local resident.Police confirmed the shooter was on the 32nd floor of the hotel. He is now dead. The shooter was a local resident of the Las Vegas area, and police are searching for another person of interest. She is an Asian woman, 4 -11 , 111 lbs, named Marilou Danley, also a local resident.Police are searching for two vehicles, both of unknown color: A Hyundai Tucson, license plate 114-B40, and a Chrysler Pacifica Touring, license plate 19D401.The Sheriff indicated that over 100 people are injured, and more than 20 people have now died.There are no known ties to terrorism at this time.Several off-duty police officers from nearby Bakersfield, California were in attendance at the concert, at least one of whom was shot.The woman being searched for has allegedly been identified on Twitter:.@LVMPD are searching for the shooters companion, please share? pic.twitter.com/EZXuSrCS0l Rogue CPI (@RogueCPI) October 2, 2017The LV Sheriff has confirmed via Twitter that the image is of her, which makes this her Facebook page. Any new information will be updated in the morning.UPDATE, 7:07 AM PSTThe now-deceased shooter has been identified as 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada. Paddock took his own life before police could reach him. Still no known ties to terrorist groups. The following picture was recovered from Marilou Danley s Facebook page:At least 50 people were killed and more than 400 wounded. This is the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Police found 10 or more weapons inside Paddock s hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino.Gun laws in Nevada are among the most relaxed in the nation. Open carry is legal without a permit, silencers are legal, there is no waiting period to purchase a firearm, private gun sales are unregulated, it is legal to carry an assault rifle, and there is no magazine capacity limit.Paddock s brother, Eric, told NBC News that the family was dumbfounded by the act.We will continue to update with any pertinent information.


Donald Trump is practically a mirror image of the Fox News psyche. Most of his speeches consist of repackaged stupidities plucked right out of the conservative mediascape. It's kind of brilliant, really. Trump knows his audience, and he beams back at them every idiotic thing they want to hear. Which, of course, is exactly what Fox News does. The wonderful irony of all this is that the conservative media have ruined conservative politics, far more than liberals ever did. And the results speak for themselves. It's true that Fox News has promoted the conservative brand and very likely energized grass-roots conservatism in some sense, but at what cost? The GOP, increasingly, is no longer a national party – it's confined more and more to the South and to pockets of rural America. The Republicans have had their share of electoral successes in recent years, and Fox News surely aided in that, but if you look closely you'll see that the political success of conservatives have not led to policy successes. On the contrary, liberalism is winning. Obama, for instance, has been one of the most consequential presidents in modern American history. Both politically and culturally, the country is more liberal today than it was a decade ago. And this has happened in spite of the triumph of Fox News and conservative media. Conservatism, as a practical political philosophy, is dead in this country. Sure, there are intelligent conservative voices in the whirlwind, but they've been overwhelmed by the xenophobic hysteria peddled by the likes of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. These are the people who define conservatism today. These are the people who've poisoned the conservative brand, made it synonymous with backwardness and cultural isolation. And Fox News has been their most significant stage, the ultimate echo chamber. As a consequence, conservatives (on the whole) are now dumber, angrier and more divorced from the facts. To the extent that Fox News has nurtured the idiocy Trump represents, they're responsible for his political life – they made it possible. The bile spewed by Trump might as well be Fox News talking points; it's the kind of garbage you hear every day on their programs. And because so many conservatives get their news from Fox, Republican policymakers are forced to parrot those arguments to voters. This plays well with the base, but it alienates most of the country – as it should. It will be fascinating to watch how Fox News handles Trump, particularly as we move along in the process. It will be a delicate balancing act. The longer Trump hangs around, the more ridiculous the Republicans look. At the same time, Trump is a boon for ratings; the delightful dolts on Fox and Friends can't get enough of him. Which makes perfect sense. The right-wing media machine – led by Fox News – has created a demand for his insane ramblings. As the chief supplier, Fox News has an interest in covering Trump, in extending his ruse for as long as possible. Promoting Trump is a disaster for the GOP, though. His bombast, left unchecked, will undermine the Republican primaries and jeopardize their shot at the White House. How Fox News manages Trump's ascendance will therefore tell you all you need to know (if you didn't already) about where their loyalties lie. I suspect we'll discover what most observers have long known: Fox News cares about conservatism about as much as it cares about the news.


Michiganders in Flint may be literally dying thanks to the GOP s horrific cost-saving measures, but people in nearby Houghton Lake got to enjoy the lowest gas prices in more than a decade on Sunday. Prices at two businesses dropped below a half-dollar per gallon, while another nearby station was pumping out fuel for less than a dollar a gallon. There have been long lines at the stations for most of the weekend, according to the three stations, with police officers directing traffic in the area due to the congestion, CNBC reports. Prices at a Marathon station hit 46 cents per gallon, while the Beacon & Bridge gas station was as low as 47 cents. The third station dropped its prices to 95 cents a gallon.These drops were the result of a price war between the three stations, but thanks to the President s hard work with the Iran deal, fuel prices are reaching record lows. The Huffington Post reports that oil prices dipped down past a 2003 low of $28 per barrel on Monday as Iran prepares to flood the market after the lifting of sanctions over the weekend:Worries about Iran s return to an already oversupplied oil market drove down Brent crude LCOc1 to $27.67 a barrel early on Monday, its lowest since 2003. The benchmark was down 12 cents at $28.82 by 1537 GMT.U.S. crude CLc1 was down 27 cents at $29.15 a barrel, not far from a 2003 low of $28.36 hit earlier in the session. Iran s return to the oil market has been on the agenda for some time and therefore does not really come as any great surprise, Commerzbank senior analyst Carsten Fritsch said of the situation. Nonetheless, prices were bound to react negatively in the short term in view of the negative market sentiment. It is expected that Iran will increase oil on the market by an extra 500,000 barrels per day in the short term, but Tehran says it will add 1 million barrels per day to its current output by the end of the year.While some, particularly investors in the oil market, may cringe at this new reality in the oil market, average Americans will enjoy not having to mortgage their homes to drive to work. Normally, it would be uncouth to blame a President for high gas prices (or credit one with low prices) but Republicans have repeatedly reminded us that President Barack Hussein Soetoro Obama, socialist dictator, owns the Iran deal.Watch a report on these historic prices below:


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday the choice offered to voters in the U.S. presidential election was between "bad and worse" and that harsh exchanges in the debates pointed to a lack of morality in America, Tehran's arch adversary. "America claims it has more than 200 years of democracy, and they have had 50 presidential elections, but there is no morality in that country," Rouhani said in a speech, carried live by state television. "You saw the presidential debates, how they talk..., how they accuse and mock (each other)," Rouhani told a crowd gathered at a stadium during his visit to the central city of Arak. Rouhani said a head of state had asked him during his visit to the United Nations in September about who he preferred between Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. "I said should I prefer bad over worse or worse over bad?," said Rouhani, a pragmatist politician and cleric who may run for reelection in Iran's presidential polls in May 2017. He did not say to which candidate his descriptions referred.


This is not how Ted Cruz must have envisioned his campaign would end up heading into the nation s very first caucus in Iowa on Monday. His Cruzin to Victory tour bus wasn t exactly the epitome of its name, either. While he visited the Johnson County Fairgrounds earlier, it needed to be towed after getting stuck in the mud.This is very ironic, indeed. Just a bit over a week ago Ted Cruz was quoted as saying, I m not going into the mud with personal insults and attacks (on Donald Trump). Well, Senator, you just went into the mud, quite literally.Pic via InstagramAccording to a report by Phillip Elliott from Time magazine, Cruz had to hitch a ride with aides to his next tour stop while his bus was towed. That s not the kind of image you want to project just before the voters of Iowa nominate the next future President of The United States. It certainly can t be good public relations; draw as many analogies as you must.Pic via Twitter.Cruz needs every bit of good press he can get right now. Virtually every poll shows Donald Trump having a huge lead on him. And Cruz can t afford that. Whoever wins Iowa would get a must needed head start in the race. With Trump up in practically every state, Iowa is the momentum Cruz has been desperately seeking. Unfortunately, the only momentum Cruz is getting right now is coming from the back of tow truck.You d think the Cruz campaign would, at least, try to play damage control and be the first to report it, instead of being outed by the media. It s possible they could have made a joke out of it but they didn t. They didn t even mention it. That s no way to run a campaign. Featured image from Facebook.


The technician who helped manage Hillary Clinton's private email server for her work as secretary of state has given security logs to investigators that he said show no signs of foreign hacking, the New York Times reported on Thursday. Bryan Pagliano is cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's criminal inquiry into the email setup in exchange for limited immunity by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Times, citing unnamed people who know about the investigation. With limited immunity, his testimony cannot be used in a prosecution against him, the Times said. The investigation has overshadowed Hillary Clinton's campaign to become the Democratic Party's candidate in the November presidential election. Clinton has apologized for the arrangement but says she did nothing wrong and that she believes the government will vindicate her. Pagliano, who helped set up and run the email system in Clinton's New York home, told investigators that the logs he handed over indicated that no intrusion occurred, the Times said. The security logs show who accessed the server and when, though they may not capture more sophisticated hacking, the Times said. Pagliano was still working at the State Department's Bureau of Information Resource Management as recently as last September, but has since left, a department spokesman said on Monday. The spokesman declined to say when he left or why. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is doing its own analysis of whether the server was attacked, according to media reports. FBI agents plan to seek interviews with Clinton's aides in coming weeks and would like to interview Clinton herself as their investigation enters a new phase, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the inquiry. The interviews would look into how the server was set up and used and what precautions were taken to protect sensitive data, according to the people, who described the matter on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, Bloomberg News said. Investigators were almost finished examining computers and other physical evidence as part of the inquiry, which is focused on whether Clinton's use of private email while serving as the nation's top diplomat led to the improper handling of classified information, according to the people. Pagliano previously worked on Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign, and ended up joining her at the State Department in 2009 as a political appointee, working as a technology specialist and maintaining Clinton's email server. His employment ended with Clinton in February 2013, but he stayed on as a contractor. More than 2,000 of Clinton's emails contain classified information that could harm national security if leaked, according to the State Department. The government forbids sending or storing such information outside secure, government-controlled channels, and has prosecuted people for breaches. The FBI and the Justice Department have declined to comment on their investigation, including who might be its target, beyond confirming its existence. Pagliano's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. A Clinton spokesman said the campaign is pleased that Pagliano is cooperating, but declined to respond to questions. For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, "Tales from the Trail" (here). (Reporting by Jonathan Allen, additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by David Gregorio and Andrew Hay) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.


Youths who were brought to the United States illegally and gained protection under the Obama administration should not worry about their immigration status during the next six months before the program ends, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday. "For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about - No action!" Trump said in a post on Twitter, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.


More than 4 million homes and businesses have lost power in Florida, major utilities said on Sunday, as Hurricane Irma pummeled the state. Most outages were in Florida Power & Light s service area in the southern and eastern parts of the state. FPL, the state s biggest power company, said more than 3.3 million of its customers were without service. As the storm moved up the coast, Duke Energy s outages steadily climbed. Irma hit Florida on Sunday morning as a dangerous Category 4 storm, the second highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. It weakened as it moved up the state s west coast and by late evening, it was a Category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (169 kph). FPL is a unit of NextEra Energy Inc (NEE.N). Other big power utilities in Florida are units of Duke Energy Corp (DUK.N), Southern Co (SO.N) and Emera Inc (EMA.TO).


Chinese authorities on Monday arrested a Japanese citizen suspected of spying, local state media said. The arrest was made in the port city of Dalian in the northeastern Liaoning province, which borders North Korea, the official Dalian Daily s online report said. The report said Ken Higuchi was being investigated by the Dalian City National Security Bureau on suspicion of spying against China, and that prosecutors had approved his arrest. The character given for Higuchi s first name could also be the names Takeshi or Takeru. It was unclear from the report, however, whether Higuchi was a new case or whether he had been detained earlier, and the latest development was his formal arrest. China detained six Japanese nationals in March on suspicion of illegal activities. Four of the six returned to Japan in July, three of whom were there doing geological research into hotsprings, according to their employer. China s foreign ministry also in July said that a single Japanese citizen was being investigated on suspicion of harming China s national security. Reuters was unable to contact Japan s foreign ministry by telephone. Monday was a national holiday in Japan. China s relationship with Japan has been strained for decades over the legacy of Japan s wartime aggression, while a maritime territorial dispute over small islands in the East China Sea has in recent years added to the suspicion between the two sides. In 2010, four Japanese nationals were detained in China on suspicion of entering a military zone and taking photographs without permission. At least two Japanese citizens were arrested on suspicion of espionage in 2015. Last year, China said it was investigating a Japanese citizen on suspicion of endangering national security.


Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson has arrived in the United States to meet close advisers to President-elect Donald Trump and senior Congressional leaders to discuss ties between the countries. Last June's vote to leave the European Union has left Britain facing some of the most complicated negotiations since World War Two, with the country keen to deepen ties with the United States and other nations to show that Brexit will not diminish its standing in the world. Johnson's visit, which was not flagged in advance, is part of Prime Minister Theresa May's strategy to improve relations with Trump's team after the president-elect irritated the government by saying that outspoken anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage would be a good choice for Britain's ambassador to Washington. May's two most senior aides made a secret trip to the United States last month. "Following the successful meeting last month between the Prime Minister's chiefs of staff and President-elect Donald Trump's team, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is undertaking a short visit to the U.S. for meetings with close advisers to the president-elect and senior Congressional leaders," a spokesman for Britain's foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. "The discussions will be focused on UK-U.S. relations and other foreign policy matters." May had told Sky News earlier in the day that she was sure that Britain and the United States would build on their close ties and that their "special relationship" would endure despite describing some of his comments about women as "unacceptable".


European Union states will this month debate increasing pressure on Poland to uphold the rule of law, sources said, as the next stage in a process that could see its government formally denounced as anti-democratic. The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government in Warsaw has pushed through reforms to the judiciary and media that critics within the EU say have weakened the democratic order. PiS rejects the criticism, accuses Brussels of overstepping its mandate and says it has broad backing for its reforms within Poland, a country of 38 million and formerly communist eastern Europe s dominant economy. After more than a year of growing pressure from the European Commission, the executive on Wednesday asked the bloc s 28 EU affairs ministers to discuss its concerns on Sept. 25, the day after national elections in Germany. The Commission s deputy head Frans Timmermans will brief the ministers on his so far futile efforts to persuade Warsaw to shift its position, the sources said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined the growing chorus of those calling for firmer action on Poland and discussed the matter with the Commission s chief, Jean-Claude Juncker. Should Warsaw remain adamant, it eventually risks losing generous EU handouts if it continues to upset its wealthier peers that chip in for the funds, a debate gradually heating up in the bloc. For now, the EU has limited firepower at its disposal. But it could trigger Article 7 proceedings under which it would ask the other 27 EU states to formally state that the rule of law was under threat in Poland - an action unprecedented in EU history. Timmermans has set a clear red line by saying that Article 7 would be opened should Warsaw start to fire the country s Supreme Court judges under the judicial overhaul. The dispute highlights Warsaw s growing isolation in the EU since the eurosceptic PiS won power there in 2015, but also a growing east-west divide within the bloc. Launching Article 7 would be a major embarrassment for Poland, but its regional ally Hungary - whose leader Viktor Orban also has a track record of crossing swords with Brussels - has made clear it would block any sanctions against it under the punitive procedure. In the west, increasingly frustrated with multiplying feuds with Warsaw that also touch on migration and environmental issues, some express renewed doubts about the 2004 EU enlargement that added eight ex-communist countries to the bloc. In Poland, opposition parties sound alarm that PiS is reneging on fundamental EU values and could eventually risk sabotaging Poland s EU membership, which gave the country billions of euros and anchored it in the western world after decades of the Moscow-imposed communism after World War Two. But PiS has largely been successful in rallying its supporters around what it presents as standing up for Poland s national interests against the EU dictate, just as Orban has portrayed his own feuds with the bloc to his voters. The more immediate effect is that Warsaw is hemorrhaging political influence in the EU and has less capacity to shape the bloc s policies despite being the sixth largest state by population, and the fifth one after Britain leaves.


We re paying so much attention to Donald Trump, Comedian Margaret Cho told Addicting Info in a phone interview. Ms. Cho has openly endorsed Bernie Sanders, but has applauded Hillary Clinton s political efforts as well. What he has done to politics is a travesty. It s a real embarrassment to the nature of politics in America. This was a dignified profession. There is a circus element to him. It s almost like we re looking at Nero. Nero is infamously known as the most tyrannical and insane emperor s Rome ever had. After taking the throne at the age of 17, Nero had his mother killed, was known for overt self-indulging and had anyone who dissented against him killed. For leisure, Nero would wander the streets of Rome and murder people at random. After a fire burned most of Rome to the ground, Nero pointed the finger at Christians, which began a reign of persecuting and torturing anyone associated with the religion, similar to the rhetoric from Donald Trump against Muslims. A few years later, Rome finally rebelled against Nero s tyrannical rule, and Nero committed suicide, leaving no heir to the throne and a free for all among Rome s military generals to seize power.The rise of Donald Trump has invoked similar fears that such a tyrannical ruler could become President of the United States. Although, it is incredibly unlikely Donald Trump would ever reach the extent Nero did, with the support of a GOP majority in Congress, Donald Trump would likely reverse decades of progressive reforms Democrats have worked endlessly to push into legislation. The Supreme Court could possibly receive a judge incredibly unfit to be serving in such a capacity. Groups such as those who identify with the Muslim religion would be in even greater danger of their rights being taken away as Donald Trump has made proposals similar to those enacted by Adolf Hitler preceding the Holocaust during World War II. The comparisons to Hitler are not that far off, added Ms. Cho. It s a very dangerous time. Senator Ted Cruz doesn t offer any better of an option for Republicans, who may face a brokered convention as many leaders in the party don t want Donald Trump or Ted Cruz as their nominee either.


Conway: Called Delusional on "The View" November 03, 2016 Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway for U.S.... Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway for U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the media at Trump Tower in the...  The women of "The View" called Donald Trump's campaign manager "delusional", but barely let her speak.  Kellyanne Conway appeared on ABC's "The View" Wednesday only to be called "delusional" when she attempted to answer a question about Donald Trump's and nuclear weapons. Joy Behar commented that Trump's "rhetoric about nuclear weapons is reckless", but when Conway tried to respond she was interrupted repeatedly and eventually called "delusional". The back and forth banter was more like an aggressive approach to dumb down Conway's answers and of course limit any negative talk about the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who is under intense legal scrutiny just days before election. The women also stated that they did not care if Donald Trump "ever came back on the show". Remains to be seen if they will say the same thing if he wins the nomination.


The funeral of Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as Archbishop of Boston 15 years ago after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests, was held in the Vatican on Thursday without a mention of what led to his downfall. About 200 people attended the funeral Mass in a chapel in the apse of St. Peter s Basilica and presided over by a senior cardinal, Angelo Sodano. The wooden coffin lay on the floor with an open book of the gospels resting on it. Pope Francis entered the chapel for a few minutes after the Mass to bless the coffin and conduct a brief service known as the Final Commendation and Farewell - which he does for all cardinals who die in Rome. He dedicated his whole life to the Church, Sodano said in his homily in praise of Law, who died on Wednesday. Sodano listed the stages of Law s clerical life and said the late Pope John Paul had called him to Rome to be archpriest of a Rome basilica. But Sodano made no mention of the reason why he left Boston. Unfortunately, each of us can sometimes be lacking in our mission, Sodano said. The pope read out a Latin prayer, part of which reads: May he be given a merciful judgement . About 15 cardinals attended, though not Law s successor in Boston, Cardinal Sean O Malley. O Malley said on Wednesday that Law served at a time when the Church failed seriously in its responsibilities ... Law was Archbishop of Boston for 18 years when he resigned on Dec. 13, 2002, climaxing a tumultuous year that sparked the greatest crisis in the history of the American Catholic Church. A succession of devastating news stories by Boston Globe reporters showed how priests who sexually abused children had been moved from parish to parish for years under Law s tenure without parishioners or law authorities being informed. Victims groups have expressed outrage that Law s funeral was being in St. Peter s and that he would be buried in a crypt in a chapel of the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he served as archpriest. Survivors of child sexual assault in Boston, who were first betrayed by Law s cover-up of sex crimes and then doubly betrayed by his subsequent promotion to Rome, were those most hurt, SNAP, a victim s group, said in a statement on Wednesday. After Pope Francis left Thursday s funeral, two nuns in brown robes knelt by the coffin and arched over it to pray. After the funeral, Cardinal Franc Rode of Slovenia praised Law as a good man with good intentions . All these provisions about paedophilia were not as severe as they are now so one can t say that he made that many mistakes, Rode told Reuters Television, saying it was another era . He did not elaborate. About a half dozen ambassadors attended. The United States official representative was Louis Bono, the current chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican. U.S. Ambassador-designate Callista Gingrich and her husband Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives, attended in a private capacity. Callista Gingrich officially becomes ambassador on Friday.


21st Century Wire says It appears that Putin has had enough with being accused of tampering with the US election process this year. The Russian President s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, pointed out that it was indecent of the US to accuse Russia of tampering with its election. Remember: On Thursday evening CNN reported that Barack Obama vowed to retaliate against Russia for the hack that has not been verified by any independent sources nor has it provided a shred of evidence to support the claim Tyler Durden Zero HedgePutin has had enough of the relentless barrage of US accusations that he, personally, hacked the US presidential election. The Russian president s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday that the US must either stop accusing Russia of meddling in its elections or prove it. Peskov said it was indecent of the United States to groundlessly accuse Russia of intervention in its elections. You need to either stop talking about it, or finally show some kind of proof. Otherwise it just looks very indecent , Peskov told Reporters in Tokyo where Putin is meeting with Japan PM Abe, responding to the latest accusations that Russia was responsible for hacker attacks.Peskov also warned that Obama s threat to retaliate to the alleged Russian hack is against both American and international law , hinting at open-ended escalation should Obama take the podium today at 2:15pm to officially launch cyberwar against Russia.Previously, on Thursday, Peskov told the AP the report was laughable nonsense , while Russian foreign ministry spox Maria Zakharova accused Western media of being a shill and a mouthpiece of various power groups , and added that it s not the general public who s being manipulated, Zakharova said. the general public nowadays can distinguish the truth. It s the mass media that is manipulating themselves. Meanwhile, on Friday Sergei Lavrov, Russia s foreign minister told state television network, Russia 24, he was dumbstruck by the NBC report which alleges that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in an election hack.The report cited U.S. intelligence officials that now believe with a high level of confidence that Putin became personally involved in a secret campaign to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. I think this is just silly, and the futility of the attempt to convince somebody of this is absolutely obvious, Lavrov added, according to the news outlet.As a reminder, last night Obama vowed retaliatory action against Russia for its meddling in the US presidential election last month. I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action and we will at a time and place of our own choosing, Obama told National Public Radio.US intelligence agencies in October pinned blame on Russia for election-related hacking. At the time, the White House vowed a proportional response to the cyberactivity, though declined to preview what that response might entail. Meanwhile, both President-elect Donald Trump, the FBI,and the ODNI have dismissed the CIA s intelligence community s assessment, for the the same reason Putin finally lashed out at Obama: there is no proof.That, however, has never stopped the US from escalating a geopolitical conflict to the point of war, or beyond, so pay close attention to what Obama says this afternoon.According to an NBC report, a team of analysts at Eurasia Group said in a note on Friday that they believe the outgoing administration is likely to take action which could result in a significant barrier for Trump s team once he takes office in January. It is unlikely that U.S. intelligence reports will change Trump s intention to initiate a rapprochement with Moscow, but the congressional response following its own investigations could obstruct the new administration s effort, Eurasia Group analysts added.Continue the story at Zero HedgeREAD MORE MSM LIES AT: 21st Century Wire MSM Watch Files


The White House has eliminated nearly 60 requirements for agencies to submit paperwork that it has deemed out of date or unnecessary in a bid to begin making the federal government operate more efficiently, U.S. budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Thursday. The Office of Management and Budget, which Mulvaney heads, has directed agencies to come up with plans to streamline their operations. As a part of this push, the budget office reviewed 253 of its guidance and policy documents and found that 59 were no longer needed. President Donald Trump has pledged to reorganize the federal government and to do away with onerous rules and policies that slow down administration priorities and increase the cost of governing. Some of the paperwork that the budget office deemed unnecessary included old requirements for submitting plans for Y2K, the effort to get computer systems up to date for the year 2000. Another scrapped requirement was that agencies develop 10 to 15 page business plans for contracts over $50 million. Under a new process, agencies will use a three-page template. The White House has directed agencies outside of OMB to conduct reviews of their own paperwork obligations to see what can be removed. Mulvaney also said the White House would begin assessing the various government reports to Congress that are required by statutes to develop a list of those that lawmakers should consider rescinding.


When two Libyans hijacked a passenger jetliner on Friday and forced it to land in Malta, they claimed to be acting in the name of the country's former ruler, Col. Muammar . They were ripping a page from history as they did it: During his 42 years in power, Colonel Qaddafi sponsored numerous acts of international airline terrorism, including hijackings and the bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie in 1988 that killed 270 people. Yet unlike most airline dramas, this one was resolved easily. Within hours of landing in Malta, the two hijackers had released the other 115 people aboard and had surrendered peacefully to the Maltese authorities. Their weapons — a pistol and a grenade — turned out to be replicas. Libyan officials said the two men had asked for visas to Europe. But the hijacking, and its stated inspiration, did point to the enduring chaos of Libya, a country with three rival governments that, despite United peace efforts, remains fragile and deeply unstable five years after Colonel Qaddafi's death. After forcing the plane to land in Malta, one of the hijackers emerged with a flag in the green that symbolized Colonel Qaddafi's rule, and claimed to have established a new political party honoring the autocrat. The episode started early Friday when an Airbus A320 operated by the Libyan state airline, Afriqiyah Airways, took off from the desert town of Sabha, heading north to the capital, Tripoli. Before it could land, the hijackers, whom officials identified as Subah Mussa and Ahmed Ali, seized control of the plane and diverted it to Malta, about 200 miles off the Libyan coast. They had initially demanded to be taken to Rome, but the pilot said there was only enough fuel to reach Malta. The hijackers threatened to detonate a grenade if their demands were not met. Aboard the plane were 109 passengers and six crew members. (Maltese officials initially said there was seven crew members.) The hijackers claimed to represent a new political party called Al Fateh Al Jadeed — a reference to the 1969 military coup in Libya that brought Colonel Qaddafi to power. "We did this to announce and publicize our new party," one of the men said in a telephone interview with a Libyan news outlet. Libyan officials, though, believed the hijackers had more personal goals. A senior official with Afriqiyah, Capt. Abdelatif Ali Kablan, said they had demanded Schengen visas to travel in Europe. They did not seem to be linked to any of the radical Islamist groups, like Islamic State, that operate in Libya, he added. "We feared they might be some of those ideological people, but that seems not to be the case," Captain Kablan said by phone from Libya. Throughout the crisis, Malta's prime minister, Joseph Muscat, used Twitter to provide a running feed of information about the security operation, the orderly release of the passengers in batches of 25 and the eventual surrender of the two hijackers. In a news conference later, Mr. Muscat said his security forces had found a pistol and a grenade on the hijackers, and discovered a second pistol in a subsequent search of the airplane, raising questions about security standards in Libyan airports. Later, though, Mr. Muscat posted that the weapons were replicas. It was the second hijacking this year of a passenger jet in the Mediterranean region. In March, an Egyptian man commandeered a domestic EgyptAir flight en route to Cairo and forced it to land in Cyprus, where he demanded the release of political prisoners in Egypt and a meeting with his estranged wife. The crisis ended hours later with the surrender of the hijacker, Seif Eldin Mustafa, who turned out to be wearing a fake explosive vest fashioned from mobile phone cases that had been taped together. Some news outlets later nicknamed him the "lovejacker. " In September, a court in Cyprus ordered the deportation of Mr. Mustafa to Egypt. His lawyers are resisting the order and seeking asylum for Mr. Mustafa, claiming that he could be tortured if sent home. As well as supporting the Pan Am bombing in 1988, Colonel Qaddafi was also linked to the bombing of a French aircraft over Niger in 1989 that left 170 dead and the hijacking of a Pan Am flight to New York from Karachi in 1986 by a Palestinian splinter group that ended with a deadly siege. Today, many senior officials from his government live in exile in Cairo, Tunis or Europe. There is no significant movement inside Libya, although the dominant military commander in the east, Gen. Khalifa Hifter, has often been said to harbor strongman ambitions similar to those of Colonel Qaddafi. Many Libyans, though, say in private that they yearn for the order and prosperity of the Qaddafi era. Rival militias and political factions have carved the country into zones of influence, causing a sharp decline in the country's oil production and a severe economic crisis that has caused hardship for most Libyans.


Macedonia hopes it has done enough to convince the European Union to start accession talks while a quarter-of-a-century-long row with neighbouring Greece rumbles on, its foreign minister said on Wednesday. Greece has vetoed the ex-Yugoslav republic s attempts to join both the EU and NATO because it says the name Macedonia implies a territorial claim over Greece s own northerly region of Macedonia. Macedonia s suggestion last month to use the name the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as it does at other international bodies was not immediately embraced by Greece, Macedonia s Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov told Reuters. The two sides are set to meet again later this month at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Whatever the outcome, Macedonia wants the EU to agree that accession talks - which could take years - can at least get under way. If we have enough in terms of reform at home, we hope we will reach that stage (to start EU accession talks) and deal with the name issue in parallel, Dimitrov said. The time it takes to go through the EU membership process might give Greece, which has previously insisted that Skopje use a compound name such as New or Upper Macedonia, enough comfort that process can be halted if needed. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave a boost to Macedonia s EU hopes, and those of Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Kosovo, saying on Wednesday: We must maintain a credible enlargement perspective for the Western Balkans. Joining NATO is more clear cut, meaning that for now there is unlikely to be much leeway from Greece. We cannot fight our way into the NATO alliance, we have to talk our way in, Dimitrov said. We need to be seen in Athens as an ally ... In the long run it is also in the Greek interest to have a law-governed neighbour to their northern border. Macedonia, a small ex-Yugoslav republic of about 2 million people, declared independence in 1991 and avoided the violence that accompanied much of the breakup of Yugoslavia. It was later rocked by an insurgency among its large ethnic Albanian minority that almost tore the country apart in 2001 and it has just emerged from two years of political turmoil after a wiretapping scandal brought down the previous ruling nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party bloc in 2015. Tensions boiled over again in April when protesters stormed parliament and assaulted the country s now prime minister after his party and ethnic Albanian allies voted to elect an Albanian as parliament speaker. Macedonia s position just above Greece meant it was also on the key Syrian refugee and north African migrant transit route to northern Europe until the EU and Turkey struck a deal to stem the flow. Turkey is due in the coming months to receive a tranche of the money that came with the deal and Dimitrov said it was important the arrangement remained firm. We think it is very important for Europe to continue to assist Turkey. I think closing the Balkan route and the Turkish-EU (financial) deal together helped both Europe and the refugees have a more organised approach to the problem so both are very important and we need both to stay in place. (This version of the story removes wrongly attributed acronym from paragraph 3)


U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in principle to scrap a warhead weight limit on South Korea s missiles in the wake of North Korea s sixth nuclear test, the White House said on Monday. During a call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump also gave conceptual approval for South Korea to buy billions of dollars of weapons from the United States, the White House said in a statement. Separately, South Korea s presidential office said the two leaders had agreed to scrap the weight limit and to apply the strongest sanctions and pressure on North Korea through the United Nations. In a separate phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin also on Monday, Moon said the U.N. Security Council should seek ways to sever North Korea s foreign currency income, including from its workers employed abroad and oil shipments, according to the South Korean statement. Under the existing missile pact between the United States and South Korea, Seoul s warheads currently face a cap of 500 kg (1100 lb). The agreement, last amended in 2012, was in the process of being changed in the wake of a series of missile tests by North Korea this year after Moon took office in May, including two intercontinental ballistic missile launches. North Korea said it tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, prompting global condemnation and a U.S. warning of a massive military response if it or its allies were threatened. An unlimited warhead weight allowance would enable the South to strike North Korea with greater force in the event of a military conflict. The missiles would still be bound by a flight range cap of 800 km. No changes to the flight range were mentioned in the Blue House statement. Most analysts and policymakers agree cutting off supplies of oil to North Korea would hurt its economy. It remains to be seen whether China, the North s biggest ally and trade partner, would cooperate. South Korea said earlier in the day it was talking to the United States about deploying aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula after signs North Korea might launch more missiles.


Republican infighting over the fate of immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children could be so vitriolic that the party loses control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year, Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, said in an interview airing on Sunday. Bannon, whose far-right views on immigration, climate and trade helped shape Trump's presidential campaign and his first months in office, was fired by the Republican president last month in a push to end factional fights within the White House. In an interview with the CBS program "60 Minutes," Bannon predicted Republicans could lose control in the House in the 2018 congressional elections because of a looming battle over what to do about 800,000 immigrants known as "Dreamers." Trump said last week he would scrap a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that allowed the young immigrants to live and work in America. Bannon supported ending the program, which had been put in place by Democratic former President Barack Obama. Trump gave the Republican-controlled Congress six months to come up with an alternative, saying he would "revisit this issue" if lawmakers could not agree. "I'm worried about losing the House now because of this," Bannon told CBS. "If this goes all the way down to its logical conclusion, in February and March it will be a civil war inside the Republican Party," he said. "And to me, doing that in the springboard of primary season for 2018 is extremely unwise." Republicans are divided over the Dreamers. Some believe they are illegal immigrants who are taking American jobs, while others say they contribute to the country and deserve compassion. Bannon, who said he left the White House on his own terms, lashed out against "establishment" Republicans who have at times grappled with Trump, a real estate celebrity who had never before held elected office. "The Republican establishment is trying to nullify the 2016 election," Bannon said, saying it was an "open secret on Capitol Hill" that many Republicans did not support Trump's agenda, and singling out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan for criticism. "They do not want Donald Trump's populist, economic nationalist agenda to be implemented," Bannon said. He called Republican national security officials who had served in the George W. Bush administration "idiots," including former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, and former Vice President Dick Cheney. "I hold these people in contempt, total and complete contempt," Bannon said, blaming them for U.S. trade problems with China and involvement in Iraq. "They're idiots, and they've gotten us in this situation, and they question a good man like Donald Trump," Bannon said.


Your forthcoming book, "Tears We Cannot Stop," is subtitled "A Sermon to White America. " Which part of white America do you envision reading it? I envision the audience to be that ocean of white folk I encounter who are deeply empathetic to the struggles of minorities — they are the ones who ask me, "What can I do, as a white person?" This is my attempt to address them in the most useful and, hopefully, edifying manner. What's your strategy for getting through to the white people who may not be particularly sympathetic? What I've seen under the wonderful presidency of Barack Obama is the tendency to not tell white people the truth, for obvious reasons — they don't vote for you. But I'm not a politician. I don't have that power or influence, but what I do wield is a different kind of bully pulpit. We have to have enough belief in white people to tell them the truth. They are grown! There are a lot of areas within race relations that seem like less of a conversation and more of an attempt to prove to white people that these issues — police brutality, for instance — are a real and present danger. I open this book with horror stories about my engagement with the police. These are the stories that have shaped me, that join me to the mass of people who, regardless of our station in life, regardless of educational attainment and achievement, have felt this. The president of the United States has these stories, the former attorney general has these stories and a prominent black intellectual like me has these stories. The reality is that this is part and parcel of what it means to be black in America, and I wanted to spend time talking and thinking about it from a number of different perspectives to show white brothers and sisters that we aren't making this up. This is not fabricated. I can't help but think that if the same levels of police brutality were happening to white people, we would just disband the police. Police brutality would not be seen as the price of keeping our society safe. Recently, I was outside of Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington at 3 a. m. and a young white kid is cursing the police, and I'm going, "Oh, my God, they're going to shoot him. " And then it occurred to me that they wouldn't — he's a white kid. And what did I hear the police say? "Now, son, you're clearly inebriated. You need to go home and sleep this off. " And I said to myself: "My God! This is what we want!" We can't even afford a display of anger that many white people have. At the end of your sermon, you do a "benediction" section, in which you talk about making reparations on the local and individual level: donating to groups like the United Negro College Fund or a scholarship program, but also, to cite your example from the book, paying "the black person who cuts your grass double what you might ordinarily pay. " That gave me pause! Good! I used to say in church, "If the sermon ain't making you a little bit uncomfortable, it ain't effective. " Look, if it doesn't cost you anything, you're not really engaging in change you're engaging in convenience. You're engaged in the overflow. I'm asking you to do stuff you wouldn't ordinarily do. I'm asking you to think more seriously and strategically about why you possess what you possess. I agree with reparations, but maybe this is my white privilege speaking: I can't imagine actually doing that. That is what I meant by an I. R. A.: an individual reparations account. You ain't got to ask the government, you don't have to ask your local politician — this is what you, an individual, conscientious, "woke" citizen can do. But charity can't be the end of it, right? The Koch brothers gave the United Negro College Fund $25 million, but I doubt you would consider them "woke. " No. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that charity is a poor substitute for justice. But I ain't turning $25 million down.


First lady Michelle Obama and representatives from nine former presidential families led a bipartisan gathering of politicians and celebrities in paying memorial tribute to Nancy Reagan, whose love for her late husband, Ronald Reagan, was hailed as a romance "for the ages." In an invitation-only funeral for about 1,000 guests to her husband's presidential library in Southern California, the onetime Hollywood actress turned first lady was remembered for the fierce devotion she accorded her spouse during their White House years and his long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. "Theirs was a love story for the ages," former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said of the couple, during a service that organizers say Nancy Reagan herself helped plan in advance. "They had style, they had grace and they had class." Former White House chief of staff James Baker called Nancy Reagan the "consummate political wife and first lady," and a figure whose support, encouragement and political savvy were indispensable to her husband's political success. After her husband's death at age 93 in 2004, she "dedicated herself to his memory and his place in history," Baker said. The funeral brought together prominent Republicans and Democrats alike in salute of a woman especially admired by political conservatives at a time when deep partisan rancor has reverberated through Washington and the 2016 presidential campaign. The list of VIPs attending the memorial was headed by President Barack Obama's wife, who sat beside former President George W. Bush and his spouse, Laura, and two fellow former first ladies - Jimmy Carter's wife, Rosalynn, and the Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton. Seated nearby were the Reagans' daughter Patti Davis and son Ron Jr., - both of whom eulogized their mother - along with Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John Kennedy, and children of his three immediate successors - Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Davis described her mother and father as "two halves of a circle, closed tight" while her brother, Ron, said that "as a couple, they were more than the sum of their parts." She was to the president, Baker recalled, "absolutely without a doubt his closest advisor," adding she was particularly adept at knowing who was truly loyal to her spouse and who was not. He credited Nancy Reagan with prodding her husband to open a dialogue with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a relationship that helped ease Cold War tensions. She could be "tough as a Marine drill sergeant ... when things weren't going well," Baker said, recounting he only saw Nancy Reagan lose her cool once - the day in March 1980 when her husband was wounded by gunfire from a would-be assassin. "She was devastated, and in fact, she fell apart," he said, adding that she returned with her husband to the White House after his discharge from the hospital "with a fierce determination to protect him in every way she possibly could." Rain began to fall over the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles, as the service ended and a military honor guard carried the flower-bedecked mahogany casket from the memorial gathering beneath a large white tent to a nearby grave site on the grounds. Nancy Reagan, who died on Sunday of congestive heart failure at age 94 [nL1N16E06K], was to be buried beside her husband later on Friday, though no family members planned to attend, having already "said their goodbyes," according to library spokeswoman Melissa Giller. Others dignitaries among the funeral guests were broadcast journalists Diane Sawyer and Tom Brokaw, California Governor Jerry Brown, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as well as such showbiz figures as Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston and singer Wayne Newton. Even the actor known as Mr. T, a well-known supporter of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign, was in attendance, wearing an American flag bandanna on his head.


Failure to ratify the U.S.-led sweeping trade pact TPP would hand China "the keys to the castle" on globalization and do nothing to solve the real problems underlying American anxiety over jobs, the top U.S. trade official said Thursday. The tariff-slashing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has turned into a hot-button topic in the run-up to the Nov. 8 U.S. election, threatening to dampen support from lawmakers needed to pass a deal critics condemn as a job-killer. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said he was still optimistic Congress would pass the 12-member TPP, in part because China has been moving ahead with a trade deal of its own, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), that would boost its exports and let it set labor and environmental standards in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region. "We're one vote away from either cementing our leadership in this region and in the global trading system or ceding it to China," Froman told reporters in Lima after attending the inauguration of Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. "At the end of the day I don't think Congress wants to be responsible for handing the keys to the castle to China." Froman's defense of the TPP follows weeks of heated attacks on the deal as anti-TPP chants and signs have peppered the Republican and Democratic conventions. Republican nominee Donald Trump has called the TPP a "death blow" for manufacturing jobs and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has firmed up her opposition to it in recent days. Froman declined to comment on the candidates but said the TPP had become a "scapegoat" for legitimate concerns over income inequality, stagnant wages and jobs lost to automation. "You don't get to vote on the next generation of robots," he said, "you get to vote on trade agreements". But the debate over TPP has also helped broaden support for domestic policies, such as infrastructure development and educational programs, to help Americans adapt to rapid economic change, Froman said. U.S. President Barack Obama wants the TPP passed this year. Froman ruled out renegotiating the "carefully balanced" text, but said issues were being solved by working on country implementation plans. He cited pork producers, dairy farmers and financial services as once-reluctant stakeholders that now back the TPP. "The last major issue outstanding has to do with biologics and intellectual property rights," Froman said. "We're having good constructive conversations" with members of Congress.


Is it possible that Bill s latest move could ve just sealed Hillary s fate? It actually makes perfect sense. Bill and Hillary Clinton have spent their entire lives trying to figure out how to game the system. Is it possible that Bill has actually one-upped Hillary this time, putting the kibosh on her political aspirations, leaving him with millions from her Wall Street speeches and their home in Chappaqua, New York; minus his cantankerous, scheming, lying, screeching and (according to former secret service agents) sometimes violent wife?Back in April, Slate s Michelle Goldberg offered the Hillary Clinton campaign some sage advice: Fire Bill Clinton. The Clinton campaign declined to take her suggestion, but perhaps they should give it another look.Bill Clinton is one of the most talented politicians of the past century, but his infallible skills continue to fail him when put in the service of someone other than himself.On Monday, Clinton was on a tarmac in Phoenix when he learned that the attorney general, Loretta Lynch, would soon be on the same tarmac. He delayed his flight so he could try to meet with her. He asked for a meeting, boarded her plane and chatted for about 30 minutes.On Friday, MSNBC s Jonathan Capehart asked Lynch if there was one important thing she wished former Attorney General Eric Holder had told her. Where the lock on the plane door was, Lynch deadpanned.(Meanwhile, Republicans are calling for an independent prosecutor, which is rich: there isn t enough time to confirm a Supreme Court justice, but plenty of time for Ken Starr to ride into town again.)On its face, it was wrong to do, and Democrats would be savaging Republicans if the situation were reversed. It raises one of two possibilities: Either Bill Clinton is an idiot or he wants his wife to lose. I wonder if there s a part of Bill Clinton that doesn t really want Hillary Clinton to become president, particularly if she has to distance herself from his legacy to do so, wondered Goldberg back in April, listing a bill of idiotic particulars. How else to explain why one of the world s most talented and agile politicians is so consistently flat-footed and destructive when advocating on his wife s behalf? The fallout from the meeting was predictable: Lynch has said she regrets sitting down with Clinton and wouldn t do it again, given a do-over. And she has said that she will not overrule career prosecutors if they recommend an indictment. Whatever decision the Justice Department ends up making is now clouded in (even more) suspicion.And perhaps the greatest damage was done to Lynch. It must be awfully difficult to turn down a meeting request from a former president, the spouse of the likely future president, especially for somebody who may have future political ambitions. Did Lynch have aspirations for the Supreme Court? If so, what Clinton just did casts a pall over whatever chance she had.