- Advertisement -  Here's the thing:Today, October 27, 2016, I, like many of you, watched live feeds of the events going down at Standing Rock.I am at a loss to define my feelings. Anger, outrage, pity, fear  ...One phrase kept going through my mind, like a mantra- This is not my America. This is not my America. This is not my America. protests at DAPL License DMCA  And then in counter-point was the thought- But it is. But it is. But it is.Over one hundred heavily armed cops in riot gear, supported by military assault vehicles and helicopters forced peaceful, prayerful water protectors from their own land, ceded to them in the Treaty of 1851. The police are nothing more than a mercenary army protecting the interests of the owners of the DAPL. There was the wail of sound cannons aimed at the protectors, there was tear gas. There were rubber bullets being fired into the crowd.And in my mind- This is not my America (But it is) This is not my America (But it is) This is not my America (But it is) This is about water. There's no political ideology here. We cannot live without water. Decisions are being made that effect the future, and the lives of our children and our grandchildren.This effects all of us. It's not just happening "out there" in the Dakotas or in Iowa or in Texas or in New Mexico. It's everywhere. For god sake, there are already over 2.5 million miles pipeline already installed in the continental United States. Just the other day, mere miles from where I live a Sunoco pipeline leaked over 55,000 gallons of gasoline into the Susquehanna River, endangering the water for over 6 million people down river. Where I live, in northeastern Pennsylvania, there are fracking wells all over the place. And an average of 2.8 million of gallons of clean water were filled with known poisons and toxins and pumped under pressure into the aquifer beneath my feet. There are places within miles of where I live that people can set fire to their water.It's too late for anyone to avoid the destruction, here where I live. We have to deal with the aftermath. The after the fact poisoning of our water and the inevitable leaks and the illnesses and the pockets of strange cancers. This is a shameful day, for all of us. I am sick, in heart, mind and spirit, but I have hope.The battle hasn't even started. Now is when decisions must be made. Hard decisions that will impact on our own sense of comfort and will demand that we risk that comfort, or lose the future. To do nothing is to accept that our children,and our grandchildren will have no clean water to drink, no clean air to breathe, no clean land to live on.This is not overstating the things. It is not alarmist. It is the simplest of truths. - Advertisement -


CNN devoted not one, but two segments on how President Trump got two scoops of ice cream while his dinner guests only got one as the network tried to pass off a "scoop" about the president's eating habits as news.[ In a segment titled, "Two scoops for Trump," CNN's Jeanne Moos talks about Trump's "executive privilege" for receiving two scoops of ice cream while the three TIME magazine correspondents he had dinner with only got one. The TIME magazine correspondents made sure to take note of the disparity between the food given to the president and the food they were served in a profile called "Donald Trump After Hours," the profile the segment was based on. "At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate cream pie, instead of the single scoop for everyone else," TIME's Michael Scherer and Zeke Miller wrote. "With the salad course, Trump is served what appears to be Thousand Island dressing instead of the creamy vinaigrette for his guests," they added. But this was not the only segment CNN devoted to the subject. CNN also gave airtime to an interview between CNN's Brooke Baldwin and CNN political reporter and Chris Cillizza with the headline, "President Gets Two Scoops of Ice Cream, Everyone Else One. " "The President gets two scoops, you know, everyone around the table gets one, and no word if there were sprinkles," Baldwin commented. "Right, well, the broader point here is, the White House staff has adapted to Donald Trump's case," CNN political reporter and Chris Cillizza responded. "So, when everyone else gets water, he gets a diet coke. When everybody gets one scoop of ice cream, he gets two. " Fox News host Sean Hannity mocked CNN for its " coverage. " Thanks for the hard hitting news on your network @jaketapperhttps: . #Hannity, — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 11, 2017, "Thanks for the news on your network," Hannity wrote on Twitter. Others, however, thought Trump's ice cream habits were worth mentioning. @davidfrum a man unable to restrain his urges, — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 11, 2017, "This explains a lot," the Atlantic's David Frum wrote on Twitter, to which Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post responded saying that Trump is "a man unable to restrain his urges. "


From the mouths of moms or something like that Even Barbara Bush agrees with me.A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Aug 24, 2015 at 10:15am PDT


Here are a few facts explaining who the DACA recipients really are. The National UnDACAmented Research Project was compiled by Harvard University researcher Roberto G. Gonzales and published by the Center For Immigration Studies (CIS):In April 2016, the Washington Times reported that a massive anti-deportation infrastructure had emerged to try to protect illegal immigrants from President Trump s crackdown, with advocacy groups coaching potential deportees on how to massage encounters with police, and lawyers and judges working to shield them from charges that would make them priorities for deportation.A video released Monday by a coalition of advocates instructs illegal immigrants not to open the door to federal agents, what proof to demand if they are being arrested and what to say if accosted outside their homes.Meanwhile, attorneys are working to lower charges from some illegal immigrant criminals, hoping to blunt their crimes so they don t show up as high-priority deportation targets.The Washington Times reported on a recent case in California, where an immigrant from India was accused of abusing his wife. The Santa Clara prosecutor told The Daily Beast that he reduced a felony assault charge to a felony accessory after the fact charge in order to spare the man a sentence that would have made him a deportation risk.IJR- The same day that President Donald Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) held a joint press conference in which they reintroduced legislation that would see Congress tackling many of the issues that DACA comprises. What Senator Graham and I want to deliver is the message today, is that we need to do our job right here in the United States Senate, Durbin said. We need to pass, in this month of September, a DREAM Act, a permanent law in this country, that says that these young people will have their chance to become part of America s future. The DREAM Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act has been circling Congress for more than a decade, having first been introduced by Durbin and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 2001. The legislation has failed to pass each time it has been introduced.Durbin then took a moment to speak directly to the DREAMers, saying, Do not give up hope. If you are one of those DREAMers, Durbin continued, one of those protected by DACA, you need to be part of America in its future. We made a promise to you that if you gave this information to our government about you and your family, it wouldn t be used against you. I don t want that to ever happen. Durbin then turned over the podium to Graham, who said right out of the gate, speaking to the DACA participants, you have done nothing wrong. You ve demonstrated your ability to be beneficial to the country now and in the future, Graham said. The only thing that stands between you and certainty in your life is the Congress. That cannot be that reassuring. Congress is going to have to up its game, Graham opined.


Donald J. Trump's campaign released an open letter on Tuesday from about 90 retired generals and military officials endorsing his presidential campaign, urging a "long overdue course correction in our national security posture. " The letter in support of Mr. Trump, signed by 88 retired military figures, comes as the campaign prepares for a week focused on national security, with a forum hosted by NBC and MSNBC on Wednesday evening alongside Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. "The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy," the letter states. "As retired senior leaders of America's military, we believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world," the generals and admirals write. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump's candidacy to be our next commander in chief. " Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, is seeking to blunt an edge that Mrs. Clinton, a former secretary of state, has established either from retired military figures like Gen. John R. Allen, or from the tacit boost she could receive from Republican national security and foreign policy experts who have denounced Mr. Trump. And Mr. Trump's reorganized campaign is looking to craft an image of him as a palatable commander in chief, particularly ahead of his first debate with Mrs. Clinton on Sept. 26. The group of signatories was put together by Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow of the Army, a Holocaust survivor, and Rear Adm. Charles Williams of the Navy. "I think it more than trumps" the list of people backing Mrs. Clinton, said Keith Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who is advising Mr. Trump on national security. Describing the group as "national security professionals for Trump," Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, a retired Army officer who had been under consideration to be Mr. Trump's running mate, said it came together organically. "We had to stop accepting names because we were running out of time," he said. "These were people that have been passing us ideas from national security to education ideas. " Some of the people listed on the letter had supported Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 campaign, in the to Election Day. Some were among those who had urged Congress to reject the nuclear deal with Iran. Still others have been known for making controversial statements, like Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin of the Army, who was criticized by President George W. Bush for describing the battle against Islamist terrorists as a religious proxy fight between a "Christian nation" and the "idol" of Islam. For Mr. Trump, who has proposed a ban on Muslim immigrants to halt the spread of the Islamic State, such comments are in line with his own over the last year. Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney of the Air Force, who is also listed on the letter and is a Fox News military analyst, has previously submitted court documents challenging President Obama's eligibility to serve as president, accusing him of not having been born in the United States, an accusation Mr. Trump himself once raised. General Kellogg declined to evaluate past remarks from the military figures, saying they had served their country and had earned their right to speak. In the letter, the group expresses concern that the government will persist "in the practices that have brought us to this present pass" after a series of budget cuts. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump and his commitment to rebuild our military, to secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries and restore law and order domestically," they write. "We urge our fellow Americans to do the same. " Mr. Trump, who often mentions veterans in his campaign speeches, said in a statement, "I thank each of them for their service and their confidence in me to serve as commander in chief. Keeping our nation safe and leading our armed forces is the most important responsibility of the presidency. "


U.S. Senate Republicans unveiled a so-called skinny Obamacare repeal bill on Thursday, hours before an expected vote could determine whether their latest effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act succeeds. The eight-page measure appeared on the website of the Senate Budget Committee.


Dialing back the Volcker Rule that limits banks' ability to engage in speculative investments is a top priority for President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday. In written responses to questions posed by members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Mnuchin said he would use his role as head of the interagency Financial Stability Oversight Council to give the Volcker Rule a stricter definition of proprietary trading. In "prop trading" a financial firm uses its own money to invest in privately held companies, hedge funds and similar vehicles. The Volcker rule was designed to limit the type of risk-taking activities that helped land banks in trouble during the financial crisis. "As Chair of FSOC I would plan to address the issue of the definition of the Volcker Rule to make sure that banks can provide the necessary liquidity for customer markets and address the issues in the Fed report," Mnuchin wrote in the document, which also included senators' questions and was verified by a Senate aide. During his confirmation hearing with the Senate Finance Committee last week, Mnuchin cited a recent Federal Reserve report that found the rule, part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law, was limiting market liquidity. The committee has not yet scheduled a date to vote to send the nomination to the full chamber for approval. Regulators have applied proprietary trading prohibitions to too many activities, he said. The Fed report found that ambiguity and gray areas in the rule were pushing dealers to conservative strategies to ensure they did not cross the line on the prohibitions. In the responses Mnuchin also made it clear he believes the rule should only apply to "a bank that benefits from federal deposit insurance." The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guarantees retail deposits at about 6,000 banks, including the consumer banking arms of the country's largest investment banks. The law currently applies to banks that have access to the Federal Reserve's discount window or other government backstop. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat who serves on the Finance Committee, wrote that uninsured investment banks also pose risks that the rule, named for former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, was supposed to address. "As we saw during the financial crisis, when nonbanking affiliates of FDIC insured banks failed, they were rescued by their insured affiliates, which in turn were forced to be rescued by taxpayers," she wrote. "This was the case with State Street Bank, and your former employer, Goldman Sachs, which converted to a bank holding company in order to be eligible for federal bailout funds." Mnuchin reiterated that an updated version of the 1933 Glass-Steagall law that had long separated commercial and investment banking should be instated to reduce risks. The law was repealed in 1999. Mnuchin has not shared details of his "21st Century Glass-Steagall," but hinted it would be looser than the original. "A bright line between commercial and investment banking, although less complicated, may inhibit the necessary lending and capital markets activities to support a robust economy," he wrote.


Since he was captured on Monday, Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man accused of carrying out bombings last weekend in Manhattan and on the Jersey Shore, has been hospitalized in Newark, recovering from gunshot wounds he sustained in a confrontation with the police. From his bed at University Hospital, he has been charged by three different prosecutors: the United States attorneys in Manhattan and New Jersey, for his alleged role in the bombings and the Union County, N. J. prosecutor, for allegedly trying to kill police officers who tracked him down on Monday in the city of Linden. A New Jersey judge has ordered him held on $5. 2 million bail on the state charges. Yet despite the burst of legal proceedings and litany of charges made public this week, Mr. Rahami has not had a lawyer for almost the entire time he has been in custody, and even now, the question of his legal representation remains unsettled. On Thursday, Peter A. Liguori, a state public defender in Union County, sought to meet with Mr. Rahami but was prevented by a lawyer with the Union County prosecutor's office, according to a filing Mr. Liguori submitted to a judge in Superior Court in Elizabeth, the county seat. "I attempted to meet with or at least see Mr. Rahami to confirm his condition," Mr. Liguori wrote to the judge, Regina Caulfield. But, he said, a prosecutor, Ann Luvera, told him that Mr. Rahami was "unconscious and unable to speak," and she "would not give me permission to visit. " Earlier in the week, Mr. Liguori had said that neither Mr. Rahami nor his family had sought representation from the public defender. But since then, Mr. Rahami's father had asked the office to represent his son, who had been found to be eligible as an indigent defendant, Mr. Liguori said In the court filing, Mr. Liguori said he was formally entering his appearance in the case, the latest twist in a flurry of unusual activity to secure legal representation for Mr. Rahami. Usually when people are arrested on federal or state charges, they are taken to court promptly, informed of their rights and, if they cannot afford a lawyer, appointed one. But the delay in providing Mr. Rahami a lawyer has raised concerns among legal rights advocacy groups as well as lawyers who have been seeking to represent him. "It is outrageous that the prosecutor is refusing to give permission to the public defender to visit Mr. Rahami," said Udi Ofer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is not involved in the case. "It is vital that the public defender be given access to his client so that Mr. Rahami's medical condition may be verified and his rights are protected. " A spokesman for the Union County prosecutor's office could not be reached for comment late Friday afternoon after the public defender's filing was released by a court official. It could not be learned on Friday whether Judge Caulfield had acted on Mr. Liguori's request to represent Mr. Rahami. But much of the debate over the bombing suspect's legal representation has come amid great mystery about his medical condition. Law enforcement officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the continuing investigation, have said that Mr. Rahami was shot multiple times. He remained intubated as of Thursday. When was he taken to the hospital, a senior law enforcement official said, investigators questioned him briefly in the ambulance, asking for his name and whether he had any weapons, but gathered little useful information. The official said Mr. Rahami was not questioned under the public safety exception to the Miranda rules. Under the exception, investigators interrogate a suspect for intelligence purposes without advising the suspect of his rights, a tactic used in previous terrorism cases. A suspect is only then advised of his rights and questioned for law enforcement purposes. David E. Patton, the chief federal public defender in New York City, where Mr. Rahami is expected to be prosecuted first on the federal charges, wrote to a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday, asking that Mr. Rahami be brought there "at the earliest possible time" for a court appearance. If he was unable to travel because of his medical condition, Mr. Patton said, the office could meet with him in the hospital and represent him via videoconference. The office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, opposed the request, arguing that Mr. Rahami had not been arrested on federal charges and therefore the right to a speedy court appearance and to a lawyer had not been triggered. A magistrate judge, Gabriel W. Gorenstein, ruled for the government, agreeing that there had been no federal arrest. On Wednesday, Richard Coughlin, the federal public defender for New Jersey, made a similar request in the United States District Court in Newark. The office of Paul J. Fishman, the United States attorney for New Jersey, opposed that request, and it was denied on Friday by a magistrate judge, Mark Falk. Mr. Liguori, in his letter to Judge Caulfield, noted that but for Mr. Rahami's "apparent incapacity, he was due to be produced before the court for his original appearance" on Thursday. "Except for these extraordinary circumstances, I would have entered my appearance" at that proceeding, he wrote. Mr. Patton, the public defender in Manhattan, said the questions surrounding Mr. Rahami's representation were "starting to look like a game of monte. " "I don't care where his lawyer comes from," he added. "He just needs a lawyer. "


The Hungarian government has passed a new regulatory law on foreign organisations (NGOs) such as those funded by billionaire George Soros. The law means tougher rules to make the organisations more transparent. [The new legislation, passed by 130 votes to 44 in the Hungarian parliament, will see NGOs with an annual revenue of more than 7. 2 million Hungarian forints ($ £20, 000) be made to register as a " organisation. " The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) has expressed outrage at the new law and has already announced plans for civil disobedience the Budapest Business Journal reports. The spokesman for the Hungarian government Zoltan Kovacs defended the new law noting the government had gone to the European Commission for Democracy through Law, also known as the Venice Commission, who had seen no problems with it. The Venice Commission wrote a report on the new law saying it, "pursues a prima facie legitimate aim and can be considered to be necessary in a democratic society in the interest of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. " Kovacs also rejected accusations that the law was mimicking a similar law in Russia saying that the Hungarian law does not require NGOs to register as "foreign agents" and does not take away their public funding. The does, however, force NGOs to say where their funds are coming from and be more transparent. The law is largely seen by many as a continuation of the Hungarian government's crackdown on international NGOs financed by billionaire George Soros. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has slammed Soros in the past saying that he has agitated within Hungary through NGOs to open the borders for the mass migration of millions into Europe. In a speech at the European Parliament in April, Orban said, "George Soros and his NGOs want to transport one million migrants to the EU per year. He has personally, publicly announced this programme and provides a financial loan for it. You could read this yourselves. " The Hungarian government has also passed a law that some have charged as targeting the Central European University (CEU) which was founded by Soros. Orban said that it was unfair for the university to be able to issue U. S. degrees without having a campus in the U. S. as it gave it an advantage over all other Hungarian universities. Hungary joins a growing number of other Eastern European countries who have come out against Soros and his NGO network including establishment figures in Romania, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) have said they will plan civil disobedience in reaction to the NGO law saying it goes against the constitution of Hungary itself.


Once again, it seems as though someone associated with the Trump campaign will receive special treatment. According to reports, the billionaire s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, will not face the music for manhandling former Breitbart reporter (we use that term loosely, given the nature of the right-wing garbage dump), after roughly grabbing her during a campaign event after mistaking her for a member of the liberal media. Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg says that, despite the attack being caught on video, the billionaire s right-hand man will not be prosecuted for what is clearly a crime because reasons.After Fields asked Trump a question, Lewandowski grabbed her, apparently attempting to throw her to the ground. Fields says she was able to maintain her balance, but she was left with bruises after the attack.Lewandowski initially denied the allegations, but after video surfaced he had no choice but to admit to what he did. But, of course, he says it was OK to physically assault a woman because he thought she was a member of the mainstream media he hates so much. Prosecutor s office told me they would inform me of decision tomorrow. If reports true, guess they decided to leak to reporters first. Ugly, Fields tweeted after news of the decision leaked. For those asking, office of prosecutor asked 2 weeks ago if I d be ok with an apology from Corey. I said ya but haven t heard back about it. With evidence of the attack, an admission, and a video that clearly shows the assault, one must wonder why Aronberg would refuse to prosecute Lewandowski, who was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery last month.You can bet that if it was anyone else, that person would have had to face what he did.Watch the attack below:


If there is one thing going for the American people against Trump s assault on decency, liberties, and intelligence it s that he and his team are so incompetent that they can t even do the simplest things without humiliating themselves. An obvious example of that sheer stupidity comes at us from this pro-Trump ad, which he recently proudly posted to his Facebook page.Thanks to the crack team over at the White House, a simple spelling mistake turned Trump s coal fetish into a call to relax child labor laws. In boasting about his efforts to kill clean energy and bring back coal, he promised to put our minors back to work. The word he was looking for was miners. Apparently, nobody at Trump s White House noticed the typo. It s been six hours and nobody has bothered to fix it, either.This would be a funny gaffe if it weren t so depressingly common. Trump has issued statements misspelling the names and titles of foreign leaders. Trump has misspelled words as simple and varied as Denmark (Denmakr), honored (honered), among (amoung), and unprecedented (unpresidented).A White House statement bragging about Betsy DeVos spelled education wrong. She s the Secretary of Education.The Library of Congress gift shop had to pull a poster honoring Trump s inauguration when people noticed it, too, had an ridiculously simple typo.No joke: Purchasable copy of Trump's Inauguration Print, direct from the Library of Congress site. A 5th grader would've spotted this typo. pic.twitter.com/zomWsMojYV Jules Winnfield (@paulm4749) February 12, 2017Meanwhile, Trump s minor/miner gaffe has another unfortunate side effect for his administration reminding us that his good friend Newt Gingrich actually wants to repeal child labor laws. As writer Parker Molloy points out, Newt, a full-time moron who moonlights as a part-time shithead on evenings and weekends, once called child labor laws truly stupid and suggested poor kids be encouraged to become janitors at their schools, picking up the trash of their classmates to earn lunch money.Speaking at the John F. Kennedy school, Gingrich said that children in the poorest neighborhoods are trapped in child laws that prevent them from earning money. Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school, Gingrich said according to a CNN video.Trump hasn t gone that far. He s only hinted that he would prefer children work. During Obama s administration when he was eager to pretend the unemployment rate was sky high he would sometimes count children as part of his inflated unemployment figures.Instead of worrying about coal miners and school-aged minors, Trump, who was born rich and stayed that way, might want to invest in some additional schooling for himself. Basic grammar and spelling would be a good place to start.


Remember the blind Bulgarian mystic who predicted 9/11 and the rise of ISIS? Well, she's got some bad news for, dare I say it, Commander in Chief Donald Trump.  Via UsualRoutine  Baba Vanga, who's known to her followers as the 'Nostradamus of the Balkans', has claimed Obama is the last President of the United States of America. Vanga allegedly called the election of Barack Obama as well, predicting the 44th president of the United States would be an African American – also making the chilling claim that he would be the 'last U.S. president'. Usually, I'd be happy to dismiss the reaction to Vanga's prophetic prediction as the public clinging onto a ray of hope in today's new political climate, but actually, the blind mystic has a pretty great track record with her visions. The prophetess, who died aged 85 in 1996, is alleged to have made hundreds of predictions about the future with an 85 per cent accuracy rate, from her home in Petrich, Bulgaria. These prediction include climate change and the melting of the polar ice caps, which she allegedly foresaw back in the 1950s, saying: "cold regions will become warm … and volcanoes will awaken". Vanga's followers also say she predicted the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, warning a 'huge wave' would descend on a "big coast, covering people and towns and [causing] everything to disappear under the water". Back in 1989 she warned that the 'American brethren' will be attacked by 'two steel birds', a possible reference to the Twin Tower attacks in 2001. She also warned that a group of Muslim extremists would invade Europe by 2016, foreseeing a 'great Muslim war' that would be kick-started by the Arab Spring in 2010 and play out in Syria, eventually resulting in the establishment of a caliphate by 2043 with Rome at the center. According to The Mirror she claimed this '2016 invasion by Muslim extremists' across Europe would mean the continent would 'cease to exist' by the end of the year. She specifically said: "[Extremists] would use chemical warfare against Europeans." Vanga's political predictions take on a new poignancy posthumously; could her assertions about the elusive 45th President equate to predicting an assassination attempt, or simply that Donald Trump is, as previously expected, a cyborg? Baba Vanga for President? Anyone?


It won't be the old car or the thousands of tobacco leaves or even the leaping crocodile model that will greet visitors when they walk into "¡Cuba! ," the first major exhibition the American Museum of Natural History has ever organized about that island nation. Guests will be welcomed instead by photographs of Cubans from Cuba and New York, alongside quotations that display a variety of views and aspirations. Although this is not a political exhibition, the nature of Cuba's relationship to the United States means that politics cannot — and should not — be avoided, said Christopher J. Raxworthy, curator of the museum's department of herpetology and a curator of "¡Cuba!" "We wanted the exhibition to be very honest," he said, to allow the diversity of Cuba, both environmental and political, to come through. "¡Cuba! ," opening Nov. 21 and running through Aug. 13, 2017, will be one of the largest exhibitions on Cuba's biodiversity, natural resources and culture ever presented in the United States. It will also be the museum's first fully bilingual show. All the senses will be brought into play. The scent of tobacco leaves will waft through part of the exhibition. Videos of Cuban music — and perhaps even live performances — will play at the end of what looks like a typical Cuban street, with cafes (no food or drink, but guests can sit down and play a game of dominoes to the aroma of coffee). The timing is both serendipitous and not. It comes about 16 months after President Obama announced the of diplomatic ties, which were severed by the Cuban missile crisis more than 50 years ago. Legal commercial flights to Cuba began just this summer. But the museum's ties to Cuba go deep. "We have a relationship with Cuban scientists and paleontologists going back 100 years," Dr. Raxworthy said. While the museum had long had an interest in doing something on Cuba, "the normalization awakened people's interest," he said. The political shift also made it easier to invite Cuban colleagues to help and accelerated visas, said Ana Luz Porzecanski, director of the museum's center for biodiversity and conservation and a curator of the exhibition. While it takes a minimum of two years to create something of the complexity and size of "iCuba! ," this has been a little more rushed. "We have had just under two years," Dr. Raxworthy said. Nothing is being shipped from Cuba because of the tight controls on the movement of biological materials. In any case, Dr. Porzecanski said, it is common for the museum to make models the exhibition needs to be hardy enough to travel, as it might be shown in different museums over the next 10 years. So in the bowels of the museum, an entire kaleidoscope of Cuban life has been created. It took 25 volunteers and several staff members to make the 4, 000 tobacco leaves out of construction paper. They are with acrylic in varying shades of brown and green, complete with tiny holes mimicking insect damage. Stems made of hardened hot glue are attached. Then they are crinkled, bundled together and hung over drying poles. "It's taken from April to the end of August" to finish the leaves," said Andrea Raphael, a model maker for the museum. There's a shed for the leaves that will demonstrate the tradition of and a of a throne used for the spiritual tradition known as Santeria, with information on how both have shaped the island nation. Also displayed are 30 original posters created over the last decade, which show "the breadth and vitality of Cuban art," said Catharine Weese, director of exhibition graphic design. Michele Miyares Hollands, a Cuban artist who created some of the posters, was brought in to help develop that part of the show. An interactive exhibit allows museumgoers to explore the country's art, fashion and dance worlds. A 1955 Chevy will be on display as a tool to explain Cuban restrictions on imports and sales of American cars after 1959, as well as the ingenuity Cubans used in keeping their ancient automobiles running. But of course, the natural world is an important part of the exhibition, and that means an enormous amount of work has been done to recreate accurately everything from the prehistoric giant owl to the bee hummingbird, the tiniest bird in the world. Wetlands, rain forests and coral reefs all come to life. The plywood, foam and resin model of the Garden of the Queens coral reef alone took about six months to make, complete with a shark, which once lived in the museum's Ocean Life hall and had been banished to storage. "Cuba has some of the best sea corals in the Caribbean," Dr. Raxworthy said. The giant owl, which went extinct about 6, 000 years ago and might have been the largest flying bird, stands about three feet tall and was created by sculpturing epoxy, applied over foam and a steel armature form. Its piercing glass yellow eyes were flown over from Wales because no one in the United States had the right size in the right color, said Jason Broughan, a model maker who was working on the owl. "It was hard to flesh out the whole body — we had to do a lot of inference," he said. Rebecca Meah, who created the model of the endangered Cuban crocodile — known for leaping in the air to catch small animals hanging from tree branches — used the skull of a Cuban crocodile that lived in the Bronx Zoo for many years to shape its head. Working with clay over urethane foam, Ms. Meah said it was the details — such as recreating exactly how the skin lies on the bone — that make the animal seem real. "Otherwise, it looks like a stuffed animal," she said. The reuse of bits and pieces from other parts of the museum is typical. The fur of the Cuban solenodon — which looks like a shrew with a very long snout — was repurposed from a polar bear and painted rusty brown. And some live animals, including the Cuban tree frog and Cuban boa, will also be on view. The hope, Dr. Raxworthy said, is that visitors will "learn and have fun" And, he said, "for who haven't been back in a long time, it could be emotional. "


In a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump, a U.S. appeals court refused on Thursday to reinstate his travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority nations, calling it discriminatory and setting the stage for a showdown in the Supreme Court. The decision, written by Chief Judge Roger Gregory, described Trump's executive order in forceful terms, saying it uses "vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination." Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that the government, which says the temporary travel ban is needed to guard against terrorist attacks, would seek a review of the case at the Supreme Court. "These clearly are very dangerous times and we need every available tool at our disposal to prevent terrorists from entering the United States and committing acts of bloodshed and violence," said Michael Short, a White House spokesman. MORE FROM REUTERS * Kushner under FBI scrutiny in Russia probe: media reports * Ireland looks set to elect gay premier in social, generational shift * EXCLUSIVE: Kim Jong Un's 'rocket stars' He added that the White House was confident the order would ultimately be upheld by the judiciary. In its 10-3 ruling, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said those challenging the ban, including refugee groups and individuals, were likely to succeed on their claim that the order violates the U.S. Constitution's bar against favoring one religion over another. Gregory cited statements by Trump during the 2016 presidential election calling for a Muslim ban. During the race, Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslim's entering the United States" in a statement on his website. The judge wrote that a reasonable observer would likely conclude the order's "primary purpose is to exclude persons from the United States on the basis of their religious beliefs." The government had argued that the court should not take into account Trump's comments on the campaign trail since they occurred before he took office on Jan. 20. But the appeals court rejected that view, saying they provide a window into the motivations for Trump's action in government. The appeals court questioned a government argument that the president has wide authority to halt the entry of people to the United States. "Congress granted the President broad power to deny entry to aliens, but that power is not absolute. It cannot go unchecked when, as here, the President wields it through an executive edict that stands to cause irreparable harm to individuals across this nation," the majority opinion said. The Virginia-based appeals court was reviewing a March ruling by Maryland-based federal judge Theodore Chuang that blocked part of Trump's March 6 executive order barring people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days while the government put in place stricter visa screening. A similar ruling against Trump's policy from a Hawaii-based federal judge is still in place. That ruling went farther than Chuang's order, blocking a section of the travel ban that also suspended refugee admissions for four months. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is still reviewing that decision. Trump has lashed out at the judges and courts that have ruled against him, saying the 9th Circuit has a "terrible" record and calling its rulings on his policies "ridiculous." The March ban was Trump's second effort to implement travel restrictions through an executive order. The first, issued on Jan. 27, led to chaos and protests at airports before it was blocked by courts. The second order was intended to overcome the legal issues posed by the original ban, but it was blocked by judges before it could go into effect on March 16. In an opinion that concurred with the majority on Thursday, Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote that the administration did nothing to distance itself from the first order, describing the revised ban as "the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing." Chief Judge Gregory, who wrote the majority opinion, was first installed in a recess appointment by Democratic President Bill Clinton and then nominated to the same post by Republican former president George W. Bush. Nine other judges appointed by Democrats agreed to block the travel ban, while three Republican-appointed judges dissented. "This to us is a complete win and overwhelming in terms of the votes," said Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project, who argued the case in the 4th Circuit. The dissenting judges said the executive order was constitutional and a valid exercise of presidential authority, and that Trump's campaign statements should not have come into play. The order itself "contains no reference to religion whatsoever," Judge Paul Niemeyer wrote. The White House also pointed to a dissent by Judge Dennis Shedd that said "the real losers in this case are the millions of individual Americans whose security is threatened on a daily basis by those who seek to do us harm." Two other 4th Circuit judges, both appointed by Republicans, were recused from the case.


Tucker Carlson interviews Jose Antonio Vargas, CEO of Define America He gave Vargas a reality check!Vargas takes offense to the way Carlson is framing this? It s difficult for this illegal to face reality.He says, I was an undocumented immigrant in this country yet he doesn t think he s illegal.Vargas: My protest yesterday was as an undocumented immigrant, one of 11 million who are viewed as criminals, let s pause here for a moment . . . that is one illegal immigrant too many and you ARE criminals . . . now we ll continue, my own way of protesting was just actually very quietly and respectfully thinking about what it means to be an immigrant in the Trump era, right? So that, that, that was my way, he stutters on smugly.Tucker replied, Okay, well thank you for not breaking anything . . . I m not accusing you of setting fires, I m merely saying: where are people who agree with these folks standing up and saying you re not allowed to do this, you can t block traffic, you can t break things, you can t set fires , it pretty simple. Vargas replies, This issue is not just quote-un-quote political, it s personal we re talking about millions of people who are related to undocumented people that you call criminal illegals everyday, right? Tucker aptly jumps in and asks of Vargas, What should I call people who are here illegally? Should I pretend they re not here illegally? Vargas, in a flustered state, tries to belittle Tucker, You ask me to come on your show, pretty much once a week, and I come here as an undocumented person . . . Tucker interrupts Vargas: You may be overstating it a little bit, I think this is the third time but here s the point, Tucker begins before Vargas cuts him off, Here s the point, I am here illegally . . . But I, as a person, am not illegal. Tucker jumps in with a perfect line, But I robbed a liquor store yesterday, which is illegal, but I m not illegal . . . I don t even know what the point you re making is, I m not saying you re a bad person, I m saying your status is in violation of the law. The way your framing it Carlson then says, actually I was just playing video from yesterday TRUTH! Spare me the nonsense! Tucker Carlson


The Trump administration will unveil a tax reform plan very soon and expects it will be approved by Congress this year whether a healthcare overhaul happens or not, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday. "It will be soon, very soon," Mnuchin told a conference on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. Mnuchin said the Treasury was working on tax reform options "day and night" but he gave few specifics. "It will be sweeping, it will be significant and it will create a lot of economic growth," he said. President Donald Trump campaigned on promises to lower taxes and boost economic growth. Trump, who took office in January, suffered a setback last month when the Republican-controlled Congress pulled a proposal to overhaul health care rules that would have generated savings for public coffers. Trump has since said the administration will continue trying to replace health care legislation enacted by his predecessor, Barack Obama, though Mnuchin said tax reform will move forward even if health laws stay the same. "Whether health care gets done or health care doesn't get done, we're going to get tax reform done," he said, Trump's tax plan would lower rates but most of the revenue lost under that plank of the reform would be gained back by boosting economic growth, Mnuchin said. "The plan will pay for itself with growth."


21st Century Wire says Failing US magazine Newsweek once again finds itself on the ropes.For the last year, US mainstream media outlets have given themselves license to freely spray any and all slanderous accusations regarding Russia into the public domain, and about Russian-based media outlets in particular. One of the primary motivations for this festival of defamation is of course political. Early on in the general election the Russian conspiracy theory was promulgated by the White House and the Clinton campaign and the mainstream media in order to damage Trump s credibility. After Clinton s epic loss, legions of Democratic Party affiliated journalists and Hillary Clinton supporters in the media are still angry and upset about their election loss and do not accept Donald Trump as their President. As a result, many journalists are still using their positions in media to act out in public, and mostly with the full backing of their like-minded editors and media executives.While most of the endless scapegoating and lies about Russia and Trump continue as annoying background noise, some of the US liberal establishment s fake news and libelous claims, like stories made-up by CNN are beginning to be challenged in the courts which is causing a panic on many mainstream editorial news desks across America.This latest challenge to Newsweek and its shamed staff writer Kurt Eichenwald follows on the current blow-back trend line RT International reports Sputnik and RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan commented on the removal by Newsweek of false stories about Trump conspiring with Russia, saying it deleted the lies about us, fearing court proceedings. We ll continue explaining to various newsweeks that lying is bad, Simonyan told Sputnik.Her comments come after Newsweek was forced to take down two erroneous articles by journalist Kurt Eichenwald, claiming that US President Donald Trump had conspired with Russia, as well as smearing former Sputnik editor William Moran.On Friday, Moran said that a settlement had been reached, but did not provide any further details, saying that the deal was confidential between the two sides.In October, Moran mistakenly attributed an article by Eichenwald to Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and, realizing his mistake, deleted the article 20 minutes later. However, while the piece was online, Eichenwald saw it and imagined collusion between the Trump campaign, Sputnik, and Wikileaks.At the time, numerous media outlets (some usually quite critical of Russia) spoke out against Eichenwald. The Washington Post said that Eichenwald is at best misleading, while BuzzFeed proved that Trump and Moran quoted the same erroneous tweet, which was widespread online.Moran then contacted Eichenwald, attempting to clarify the situation and expecting Eichenwald to retract the story.That, however, did not happen. Instead, Eichenwald asked him to stay silent in exchange for a job as political reporter with The New Republic, and warned him about the potential consequences if the young journalist refused. Moran turned down the offer and went public with his version of events.Moran has left the field of journalism and is currently pursuing a law degree, Sputnik news agency said. Newsweek is an established brand of 80 years and yet it is not even in Sputnik s league in terms of global web traffic and performance, Patrick Henningsen, geopolitical analyst and executive editor at 21stCenturyWire.com, said. News outlets like RT and Sputnik are winning in the ratings battle with many US and UK English language media platforms, he said, and explained why this is happening. It is simply because the Russia-based English language outlets are filling a demand for real international news and edgy opinion. They are simply feeding a massive audience out there which has been intentionally neglected for decades by Western establishment media conglomerates who have always enjoyed a monopoly on the global English language market. A network like RT, and a website like Sputnik, are only filling a demand which was always there. READ MORE ABOUT MSM DISINFORMATION AT: 21st Century Wire Media Cog FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV


November 7, 2016 'We never denied Israel's right to Jerusalem, Temple Mount'  Levy quizzed him about those controversial issues as well as his support for Syrian President Basher Assad and charges that his country had intervened in the US elections.  How does Russia explain its support of the UNESCO vote "to disregard the historic connection between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem," Levy asked Medvedev.  The issue had been blown out of proportion, he responded speaking in Russian, with a Hebrew translation by Channel 2.  There have been some ten votes by UNESCO Boards and Committees on such Jerusalem resolutions, Medvedev said.  "There is nothing new here," he said, as he dismissed the significance of UNESCO texts that refer to the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of Al Haram Al Sharif.  "Our country has never denied the rights of Israel or the Jewish people to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount or the Western Wall," Medvedev said.  "Therefore there is no need to politicize this decision," Medvedev said, adding that such resolutions, were "not directed against Israel."  Similarly, he said, there was nothing contradictory in Russia's sale and shipment of the advanced S-300 advanced surface to air missile defense system to Iran.


Is it any wonder veterans are getting behind Donald J. Trump in huge numbers? Isn t it about time we took care of our veterans the way they deserve to be taken care of? The VA under the Obama administration has never been more dysfunctional and corrupt. Hillary is nothing more than Obama in a pants suit. Our veterans deserver better than 4 more years of the most disrespectful Commander In Chief our nation has ever known. This corrupt VA has to be completely overhauled. Every American should demand nothing less!Hundreds of veterans have died while waiting to get care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, all while the department spent millions of taxpayer dollars on high-end art.According to an investigation by COX Media Washington, D.C. and American Transparency, the VA has spent $20 million on high-end art over the last 10 years, $16 million of that spent during President Obama s tenure.The investigation found one particularly egregious example: $670,000 combined spent on two sculptures at a VA center for the blind.Other examples include $21,000 spent on an artificial Christmas tree, $610,000 spent over five years for a new facility in Puerto Rico and more than a million dollars combined on three art projects in Palo Alto, Calif. Instead of hiring doctors to help triage backlogged veterans, the VA s bonus-happy bureaucracy spent millions of dollars on art, Andrew Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, writes in Forbes. Washington Examiner


Sometimes you get the feeling that Paul Ryan has forgotten exactly who he works for. Despite the fact that while campaigning, Donald Trump had his supporters chant Lock her up! in reference to Hillary Clinton using a private email server, Ryan believes that Republicans wouldn t call for the impeachment of a Democratic president accused of actions similar President Trump s.While James Comey confirmed in his hearing before a senate committee that he has no doubt that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and that Trump tried to influence a criminal investigation, in response to a question from a reporter at his weekly Capitol press conference as to whether Republicans would be in favor of impeachment at this point, Ryan s answer was one of simple denial. No. I don t think we would, actually. I don t think that s at all the case, Ryan said, despite belonging to a party that impeached a president over oral sex.Ryan admitted on MSNBC the previous night that it was obviously inappropriate to ask for the then-FBI director s loyalty, but claimed during the Capitol press conference that he felt sympathy toward Trump when it came to the topic of James Comey telling the president that he personally wasn t under investigation. What I got out of that testimony is, we now know why he was so frustrated when the FBI director told him three times there s no investigation of him, yet that speculation was allowed to continue, said Ryan.Maybe if the president wasn t so self-centered and perhaps a little smarter he would ve reworded his question, because Comey made the point clear during his testimony The FBI has no individual file on Donald Trump, thus Trump himself wasn t personally under investigation. His campaign, on the other hand, is and that consists of more people than just Donald Trump. And if Trump became a person of interest and was directly under investigation, it would create a duty to publicly correct the record.But since when has Donald Trump ever really thought about anybody besides Donald Trump?


Two U.S. senators are seeking details from Goldman Sachs Group Inc's (GS.N) chief executive on the extent to which the bank's employees were involved in drafting of the recent executive orders on banking and fiduciary regulations. In a letter to CEO Lloyd Blankfein dated Feb. 9 and made public on Friday, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin asked for details on "lobbying" activities in the bank related to review of the Dodd-Frank Act and the Obama-era fiduciary rule on financial advice. Blankfein was also asked to detail the profits Goldman would make if these reforms came into effect. "We've had no involvement in the drafting of any executive orders," a Goldman spokesman said on Friday. In December, Trump appointed Gary Cohn, former Goldman president and chief operating officer, to head the White House National Economic Council, a group that coordinates economic policy across agencies. Trump last week ordered reviews of major banking rules that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, drawing fire from Democrats who said his order lacked substance and squarely aligned him with Wall Street bankers. "The executive orders released by President Trump on Friday last week raise our concerns about the degree to which Cohn's advice to Trump is good for Wall Street, but bad for Americans," the senators wrote on Thursday. "Goldman Sachs would be a major beneficiary of these efforts to deregulate the financial industry," they added in the letter. Trump also named former Goldman partner Steven Mnuchin as his pick for Treasury secretary in December. The senators have asked for any communication between the bank's employees and Cohn, Mnuchin, nominee for the SEC chair Jay Clayton and chief strategist Steve Bannon.


President Donald Trump has concluded interviews with the five candidates he is considering to chair the Federal Reserve and could announce a decision as early as next week, a source familiar with the process said on Thursday. Trump met with current Fed chair Janet Yellen on Thursday. That meeting "went well," the source said, adding that Trump had not made up his mind one way or the other about his list. "I don't think he's leaning yet," the source said. Other contenders to lead the U.S. central bank are top Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn, Fed Board Governor Jerome Powell, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and Stanford University economics professor John Taylor. [nL2N1MS2D8] Powell, who is viewed as representing a continuation of Yellen's gradualist approach to raising interest rates, along with Warsh, are seen as the top contenders. Despite his time as Fed Governor under Chair Ben Bernanke, Warsh is seen as a less well-known nominee. He has criticized the Fed's bond-buying program and advocated changes in its inflation target. U.S. Treasury yields briefly renewed their drop late Thursday after Politico reported that Trump was leaning toward nominating Powell for the job. Trump leaves on Nov. 3 for a tour of Asia and is expected to announce his choice before that trip. The president told reporters on Tuesday that he likes all five candidates. "I'll make a decision over the next fairly short period of time," Trump said. Meanwhile, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives' Freedom Caucus mounted a campaign to kill any chance of a second term for Yellen, the latest sign conservative Republicans want a fresh face at the helm of the Fed, which sets U.S. monetary policy. Representative Warren Davidson, a Republican on the House Financial Services Committee's monetary policy panel, is among those who want a change. He is circulating a letter opposing Yellen's reappointment, the Ohio congressman's spokesman said. "Davidson is very passionate about this process," the spokesman said, adding that the lawmaker is particularly concerned about the impact Fed policy has had on the ability of small firms to raise operating funds. Members of the Freedom Caucus, the most conservative Republican grouping in Congress, have been critical of Yellen, with some accusing her of keeping monetary policy too loose. Key members of the House Financial Services Committee also have backed ideas proposed by contenders to replace Yellen. Taylor's research, for example, figured prominently in a House-passed bill requiring the Fed to explain its actions through a strict set of rules. The House, however, has no direct control over the appointment of a Fed chief. The Senate decides whether to confirm the president's nominee. Trump has criticized Yellen in the past and vowed to "drain the swamp" in Washington by naming new people to top jobs and embracing different ideas. But his economic agenda could benefit from the steady economic conditions fostered by Yellen's Fed. Cohn's chances of getting the job were thought to have dimmed after he publicly criticized the president's response to a white supremacist rally in Virginia. But the top White House economic adviser, who is helping to lead the administration's push for tax reform, has since gotten back into Trump's good graces.


As more and more women line up to tell their stories about sex with Bill Clinton both consensual and forced there is one who is unable to relive the details of her alleged affair.Penthouse Pet Judi Gibbs died in a mysterious house fire in 1986 amid rumors that she had pictures that proved she and the then-Governor of Arkansas had been regular sex partners.And even now, 30 years after she died alongside her much-older other lover, doubts remain about how and why Gibbs and her long-time beau Bill Puterbaugh met their grizzly deaths.But now DailyMail.com has pieced together the life and death of Judi Gibbs, telling for the first time how the auburn-haired woman from a pin-prick of an Arkansas town managed to bed the man who went on to be one of the most powerful men in the world.And the question remains unanswered: Was Judi Gibbs killed because Bill Clinton and his advisers feared the affair was about to become public? I have always been convinced that Bill Clinton was responsible for the fire, but I have no proof, Gibbs older sister Martha, who still lives in Sims, Arkansas, told DailyMail.com. And what would happen if I had proof you can t touch those people. At the time of her death, Gibbs was 32 and living with 57-year-old developer Puterbaugh in a large isolated home a quarter-mile drive opposite a tiny airport outside Fordyce, Arkansas.Their bodies were both found in the huge master bedroom. They died of smoke inhalation.Puterbaugh s son, Randy, who followed him into the real estate business, tells a similar story to Martha Gibbs, even though the two have not spoken since the days following the double death. There are so many pieces of the puzzle. Puterbaugh said. I believe it is a possibility that Bill Clinton was involved in their deaths. I know I wish I had hired my own private investigator but I didn t, so I guess I will never know. Judi Gibbs and Bill Puterbaugh died on January 3, 1986. According to a report in the local Fordyce News-Advocate, Gibbs called the fire department at 2.26 am wailing in her Marilyn Monroe-type voice: Bill Puterbaugh s house is on fire, hurry, you all, hurry. Puterbaugh s body was found by a window. Gibbs was still clutching the phone right next to the king-sized bed.Local fire chief Roy Wayne Moseley has no explanation as to why the lovers did not manage to get out of the house. The only reason I can think why they didn t is they were overrun with smoke so quick and so fast, he said. It was a real tragedy. As far as residential fires go, that was the worst we ve had, added Moseley, now 80 and still chief of the Fordyce Volunteer Fire Department a post he has held since 1960.Many people around the Clintons have died in unusual circumstances over the years, leading conspiracy theorists to claim they could be connected.As DailyMail.com reported earlier this year, five deaths in a six-week span between June 22 and August 2 this year had connections to the former first family. I m not saying the Clintons kill people. I m saying a lot of people around the Clintons turn up dead, Larry Nichols, who worked with the former First Family before turning against them, told DailyMail.com.And the names of Judi Gibbs and her lover Bill Puterbaugh could be added to that list.Gibbs was the sixth of seven children born to a hardscrabble family in Sims, a two-hour drive west of Little Rock.In her teens, she was lured into prostitution by her brother-in-law Dale Bliss, who is now 85 and 32 years into a life prison sentence for child rape. Daily Mail


U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is expected to announce a new probe into imported aluminum, CNBC reported on Wednesday. The probe will be similar to the one the White House launched last week regarding steel, CNBC reported, citing an administration official. (cnb.cx/2q8oDQl) Ross on Tuesday told the Wall Street Journal the Trump administration may undertake trade actions to protect the U.S. semiconductor, shipbuilding and aluminum industries, citing national security concerns.


President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement Thursday marked a decisive win for Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, as reported by the New York Times. [From the Times: advertisement


Videos 'We The People' Against Tyranny: Seven Principles For Free Government "As I look at America today, I am not afraid to say that I am afraid."— Former presidential adviser Bertram Gross | November 7, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! Dozens of protestors demonstrating against the expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline wade in cold creek waters confronting local police, as remnants of pepper spray waft over the crowd near Cannon Ball, N.D., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016.  As history teaches us, if the people have little or no knowledge of the basics of government and their rights, those who wield governmental power inevitably wield it excessively. After all, a citizenry can only hold its government accountable if it knows when the government oversteps its bounds.  Precisely because Americans are easily distracted—because, as study after study shows, they are clueless about their rights—because their elected officials no longer represent them—because Americans have been brainwashed into believing that their only duty as citizens is to vote—because the citizenry has failed to hold government officials accountable to abiding by the Constitution—because young people are no longer being taught the fundamentals of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, resulting in citizens who don't even know they have rights—and because Americans continue to place their trust in politics to fix what's wrong with this country—the American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer towards a pervasive authoritarianism.  This steady slide towards tyranny, meted out by militarized local and federal police and legalistic bureaucrats, has been carried forward by each successive president over the past fifty years regardless of their political affiliation.  Big government has grown bigger and the rights of the citizenry have grown smaller.  However, there are certain principles—principles that every American should know—which undergird the American system of government and form the basis for the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for.  The following seven principles are a good starting point for understanding what free government is really all about.  First, the maxim that power corrupts is an absolute truth. Realizing this, those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights held one principle sacrosanct: a distrust of all who hold governmental power. As James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, proclaimed, "All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." Moreover, in questions of power, Thomas Jefferson warned, "Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." As such, those who drafted our founding documents would see today's government as an out-of-control, unmanageable beast.  The second principle is that governments primarily exist to secure rights, an idea that is central to constitutionalism. In appointing the government as the guardian of the people's rights, the people give it only certain, enumerated powers, which are laid out in a written constitution. The idea of a written constitution actualizes the two great themes of the Declaration of Independence: consent and protection of equal rights. Thus, the purpose of constitutionalism is to limit governmental power and ensure that the government performs its basic function: to preserve and protect our rights, especially our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the government today has discarded this principle and now sees itself as our master, not our servant. The obvious next step, unless we act soon, is tyranny.  The third principle revolves around the belief that no one is above the law, not even those who make the law. This is termed rule of law. Richard Nixon's statement, "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal," would have been an anathema to the Framers of the Constitution. If all people possess equal rights, the people who live under the laws must be allowed to participate in making those laws. By that same token, those who make the laws must live under the laws they make. However, today government officials at all levels often act as if they are royalty with salaries and perks that none of the rest of us are afforded. This is an egregious affront to the citizenry.  Fourth, separation of powers ensures that no single authority is entrusted with all the powers of government. People are not perfect, whether they are in government or out of it. As history makes clear, those in power tend to abuse it. The government is thus divided into three co-equal branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Placing all three powers in the same branch of government was considered the very definition of tyranny. The fact that the president today has dictatorial powers would have been considered a curse by the Framers.  Fifth, a system of checks and balances, essential if a constitutional government is to succeed, strengthens the separation of powers and prevents legislative despotism. Such checks and balances include dividing Congress into two houses, with different constituencies, term lengths, sizes and functions; granting the president a limited veto power over congressional legislation; and appointing an independent judiciary capable of reviewing ordinary legislation in light of the written Constitution, which is referred to as "judicial review." The Framers feared that Congress could abuse its powers and potentially emerge as the tyrannous branch because it had the power to tax. But they did not anticipate the emergence of presidential powers as they have come to dominate modern government or the inordinate influence of corporate powers on governmental decision-making. Indeed, as recent academic studies now indicate, we are now ruled by a monied oligarchy that serves itself and not "we the people."  Sixth, representation allows the people to have a voice in government by sending elected representatives to do their bidding while avoiding the need of each and every citizen to vote on every issue considered by government. In a country as large as the United States, it is not feasible to have direct participation in governmental affairs. Hence, we have a representative government. If the people don't agree with how their representatives are conducting themselves, they can and should vote them out. However, as the citizenry has grown lazy and been distracted by the entertainment spectacles of modern society, government bureaucrats churn out numerous laws each year resulting in average citizens being rendered lawbreakers and jailed for what used to be considered normal behavior. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people's reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it. Without local institutions a nation may give itself a free government, but it has not got the spirit of liberty.  Unfortunately, we are now governed by top-heavy government emanating from Washington DC that has no respect for local institutions or traditions.  These seven vital principles have been largely forgotten in recent years, obscured by the haze of a centralized government, a citizenry that no longer thinks analytically, and schools that don't adequately teach our young people about their history and their rights.  Yet here's the rub: while Americans wander about in their brainwashed states, their "government of the people, by the people and for the people" has largely been taken away from them.  The answer: get un-brainwashed.  Stand up for the founding principles.  Make your voice and your vote count for more than just political posturing.  Never cease to vociferously protest the erosion of your freedoms at the local and national level.  Most of all, do these things today.  If we wait until the votes have all been counted or hang our hopes on our particular candidate to win and fix what's wrong with the country, "we the people" will continue to lose.  Whether we ever realize it not, the enemy is not across party lines, as they would have us believe. It has us surrounded on all sides.  Even so, we're not yet defeated.  We could still overcome our oppressors if we cared enough to join forces and launch a militant nonviolent revolution—a people's revolution that starts locally and trickles upwards—but that will take some doing.  It will mean turning our backs on the political jousting contests taking place at all levels of government and rejecting their appointed jesters as false prophets. It will mean not allowing ourselves to be corralled like cattle and branded with political labels that have no meaning anymore. It will mean recognizing that all the evils that surround us today—endless wars, drone strikes, invasive surveillance, militarized police, poverty, asset forfeiture schemes, overcriminalization, etc.—are not of our making but came about as a way to control and profit from us.  It will mean " voting with our feet " through sustained, mass civil disobedience.  As journalist Chris Hedges points out, "There were once radicals in America, people who held fast to moral imperatives. They fought for the oppressed because it was right , not because it was easy or practical. They were willing to accept the state persecution that comes with open defiance. They had the courage of their convictions. They were not afraid."  Ultimately, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People , it will mean refusing to be divided, one against each other, by politics and instead uniting behind the only distinction that has ever mattered: "we the people" against tyranny. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Mint Press News editorial policy. Be Sociable, Share!


Panama s government will send an immigration and security delegation to China, the country s president said on Tuesday, as part of the lifting of visa restrictions for Chinese visitors. Chinese visitors to Panama will now need an electronic visa stamped in a consulate instead of a restricted visa obtained through a lawyer to visit the country, part of measures the government hopes will promote tourism and investment. The security and migration delegation will travel to China for the opening of the Panamanian consulate, though there was no exact date yet, said President Juan Carlos Varela. In June, Panama established diplomatic ties with China, breaking with self-ruled Taiwan in a major victory for Beijing, the second most important customer of its key shipping canal.


October 29, 2016 Before: The tears of a 16-year-old Ethiopian waiting to be registered to leave for an asylum centre. After: The tears of an Ethiopian waiting to be registered to leave for an asylum centre.  In its weepy coverage of the dismantling of the Jungle invasion staging camp, the publicly-funded FranceInfo propaganda service realised it had gone a bit too far.


How Hillary Clinton Locked Up The Democratic Nomination In 10 Steps The primary season isn't quite wrapped yet (six states hold Democratic contests Tuesday), but Hillary Clinton has now secured the number of delegates needed (2,383) to become the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee. Speaking Monday night, Clinton said, "according to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment. But we still have work to do, don't we?" It wasn't easy for Clinton to emerge from this campaign season victorious — she got there by applying lessons from her failed 2008 bid and forming strong alliances with Democrats, President Obama and voters of color. And by surviving an epic 11-hour congressional hearing. Here's a look back at the Democratic primary and 10 steps Clinton took to climb to the nomination: On June 7, 2008, four days after the final votes were cast in the lengthy and contentious Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton gave quite possibly the best political speech of her career. She was bowing out of the race, conceding what news organizations had already called. Barack Obama had won more pledged delegates and had more so-called superdelegates lined up behind him. He was going to be the party's nominee. Depending on how you counted, Clinton had won the popular vote and could have taken the fight all the way to the convention. But instead, she brought her supporters together at the Building Museum in Washington, D.C., to mourn what could have been and look ahead. Gone (at least visibly) was the bitterness of the campaign, replaced with a message about all they had accomplished. "Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you it's got about 18 million cracks in it," Clinton said to the roaring crowd. "And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time." And seemingly, it has been a little easier for her this time. Clinton appears more comfortable nodding to her chance at making history than she was in 2008, usually with a joke about her hair or as a rebuttal to the idea that she's too establishment. Her supporters frequently talk about it, saying things like "it's time." In dozens of interviews with Clinton backers, excitement about having a woman make it to the White House is almost always preceded or followed by mention of Clinton as the "most qualified" or "experienced" candidate in the race. And whatever you do, don't suggest they're just voting for her because she's a woman. So-called superdelegates are a pretty good stand-in for the Democratic Party establishment. They are elected officials and party leaders, and they overwhelmingly support Hillary Clinton. Back in November, when NPR first looked at the declared allegiances of these superdelegates, Clinton had a 45 to 1 advantage over her most serious opponent, Bernie Sanders. Clinton had the endorsement of all but one Democratic woman in the Senate, and Sanders won the endorsement of only one of his Senate colleagues, Jeff Merkley. Endorsements don't necessarily sway voters, but they do indicate institutional support and in this case a coalescing behind a single candidate. Clinton's shadow loomed large over the Democratic field — so large that many big names in the party didn't even think about running in 2016. Elizabeth Warren didn't run. Joe Biden stayed out (though the death of his son likely had more to do with that than concern about taking on Clinton). The nation's most popular sitting Democratic governors sat out, too (Maryland's recently former Gov. Martin O'Malley did run, but his campaign never took off). That meant Clinton's biggest competition was a 74-year-old independent senator from Vermont who described himself as a Democratic socialist. The Democratic National Committee and its chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have never admitted it, but many looked at the Democratic debate schedule and saw an advantage for Clinton. There were initially only a handful of debates scheduled, and the first one wasn't until October, meaning lesser-known candidates like O'Malley and Sanders weren't able to get a nationally televised audience for their message until a big part of the campaign (and even some voter registration deadlines) had passed. Sanders was able to draw huge crowds, raise massive sums of money and win an impressive number of states. But the Democratic Party establishment never wavered in its support of Clinton. There was no love lost between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during the primary in 2008. But when it was over, Clinton endorsed her opponent and even called for the end of the roll call vote at the convention, moving that Obama win the nomination by acclamation. She worked hard to make sure that her supporters, even those known as PUMAs ("party unity my a**"), came around to supporting Obama. She and her husband, Bill, campaigned tirelessly for Obama through the fall. And then, when Obama asked, she agreed to join the Obama administration as secretary of state. She then worked tirelessly in that position, traveling to more than 100 countries promoting Obama's agenda. Why does this matter? Because her loyalty didn't go unnoticed by voters who supported and continue to support Obama. "She was a fighter, but she knew when to let go," said Paulette Roca, who saw Clinton speak at the National Action Network convention, organized by civil rights activist Al Sharpton. "And now? She's going to be OK now. She has respect. When black women respect you, you've got respect" (see No. 4 for more on this). In the primary, Clinton was able to ride Obama's coattails, while at times (Wall Street regulation, campaign cash) using him as a human shield against attacks from Sanders. Black women love Hillary Clinton. At least that's what exit polls from state after state will tell you. In Alabama, 93 percent of black women voted for her. In Virginia, it was 85 percent. And this is no small thing because in 2008 and 2012, African-American women were the most reliable Democratic voters. This support was a critical part of Clinton's firewall against Sanders in the early voting states of Nevada and South Carolina, and made a big difference for her in the March 1 Super Tuesday states and beyond. How did Clinton earn such overwhelming support? Years and years of relationships. One of Clinton's first jobs was working with Marian Wright Edelman at the Children's Defense Fund. And in more recent years, she has quietly reached out to the mothers of young African-Americans killed in gun violence or encounters with police. "When you're openly grieving and the secretary of state steps to you, you'd better endorse her, because she's already endorsed you," said Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland, a woman who died in her jail cell last year. Reed-Veal and other "mothers of the movement" were campaigning for Clinton. Clinton had no surrogates more powerful than those mothers. In 2008, Clinton was the candidate with town halls that were too big, infighting advisers, and an operation that didn't get into the nitty-gritty details of delegates and missed the political phenomenon about to overtake her. In 2016, Clinton's campaign purposely kept the events small and emphasized listening. She hired a no-drama campaign manager and brought on Obama's polling and delegate gurus. The campaign's mantra has been, "We're working for every vote and taking nothing for granted." Even if no one believed them at first, the 2016 Clinton campaign has always operated like it was expecting a tough primary (it got one from Sanders) and a challenging general election fight, too. Compared with Sanders' big rallies, her small town halls and coffee chats have seemed puny and low on energy. But for those who attend, there's a real connection. "I think she works the room like this like nobody can," said Adrienne Press, a supporter who attended a small Clinton rally in Manhattan. Afterward, Clinton worked the rope line for a long time, shaking hands and taking selfies. "You see the real Hillary in this situation, and that fires people up. It fires me up." The campaign has played to Clinton's strengths (her wonk flag flies at town hall-style events) and emphasized winning the most delegates possible in every contest, helping her build up a massive lead Sanders was never able to substantially dent. Clinton and her team knew from the start that economic populism was running strong through the Democratic electorate. In the very first remarks of her campaign, Clinton called for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision on campaign finance, and she decried the growing separation between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else. "I think it's fair to say that as you look across the country, the deck is still stacked in favor of those already at the top," Clinton said at a campaign stop in Iowa. "And there's something wrong with that." This didn't stop Sanders from getting into the race a month later. Now, more than a year later, she is pitching herself to Sanders supporters, saying their differences really aren't all that great. Clinton has a mountain of policy papers and more on the way. They cover everything from opioid addiction and mass incarceration to paid family leave and Alzheimer's. If there's an issue Clinton has heard about on the campaign trail, she likely has a plan to address it. It's something she says people mock her for (though it's not clear who). "Some people have commented like, 'Enough with the plans, Hillary. We don't want to hear anymore plans,' " she said with a smile at a rally in April. But she argued that the plans were a critical part of her campaign, of letting voters know what they are signing up for. "It is easy to diagnose the problems facing America," she said to cheers. "We need solutions that we work together to achieve." This praise of plans may not sound all that inspiring, but spend a little time talking to Clinton supporters, and it seems like each one cites a different plan as something that really hits home for them and motivated them to volunteer for the campaign. All those plans also allowed Clinton to deliver her message to people in places where they wouldn't necessarily find politics, like a Facebook group for families of children with autism. Sanders had been gaining steam throughout the summer, but the campaign hit a wall in October 2015. That's when Clinton turned in a strong debate performance and then a week later made it through an epic 11-hour hearing of the House special committee investigating the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans including the ambassador to Libya. The Benghazi attack was one of the darkest moments of Clinton's time as secretary of state and has been a weight on her ever since, through multiple congressional investigations and a raft of conspiracy theories about what really happened. The hearing also focused on Clinton's exclusive use of a private email server for official business while she was secretary of state. When the hearing was over, the reviews were nearly unanimous: Clinton had performed well under pressure, and the committee's Republicans failed to find any smoking guns. The committee has still not released its investigative report and has largely been quiet since the hearing. It was perhaps Sanders' most memorable line of the entire campaign. It came in the first Democratic debate of 2015, and it largely neutralized one of Clinton's largest liabilities, at least for the primary. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails," Sanders said to applause. Clinton responded saying: "Thank you. Me too, me too." She let out a big laugh. Sanders' larger point that the emails were a distraction from the important issues facing Americans was lost. He had just seemingly let her off the hook. Now, the email issue is far from over. The inspector general for the State Department recently released a highly critical report saying Clinton hadn't followed department protocol and that she and her team didn't cooperate with his investigation. And the FBI has an ongoing investigation into her use of a private server for official business. But, thanks in part to Sanders, Clinton's email problem was more of a nuisance than a deal breaker in the Democratic primary. There were the photo lines with volunteers before and after public events, the calls to superdelegates, the trips to states she had no chance of winning, with the hope of narrowing the margin and securing a few more delegates. That's what Clinton did. Her campaign's volunteers and staff held house parties, they knocked on doors in snowstorms (people are extra friendly then) and spent hours making phone calls. Organizing isn't glamorous. It's the grunt work of campaigning. But her campaign credits that hard work with her narrowest-of-margins win in the Iowa caucuses. The demographics of the state favored Sanders, but she was able to pull out a win. Barely. In short, Hillary Clinton and her campaign never took it easy.


Federal health officials on Monday urged pregnant women to stay away from a Miami neighborhood where they have discovered additional cases of Zika infection — apparently the first time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised people not to travel to a place in the continental United States. Florida officials said the number of Zika cases caused by local mosquitoes had risen to 14 from the four announced on Friday: 12 men and two women. They declined to say whether either woman was pregnant. All of the cases have been in one neighborhood. Health officials said they still did not expect the number of local cases to grow into anything comparable to the epidemic that has raged across Latin America in recent months. The 10 newly identified patients were most likely infected weeks ago, as early as the officials said. But the new information casts doubt over the effectiveness of weeks of intensive efforts in South Florida and raises questions about tourism in the state, which drew more than 100 million visitors last year. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the C. D. C. said that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the Zika virus, has proved to be a wily adversary in Wynwood, a crowded, urban neighborhood in north Miami where all the cases were found. The mosquito may be resistant to the insecticides being used or may be able to hide in standing water. "Aggressive mosquito control measures don't seem to be working as well as we would like," he said in a press briefing on Monday. The authorities had expected additional cases of Zika infection linked to the neighborhood, he said. But officials were particularly concerned by indications over the weekend that "moderately high" numbers of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and their larvae were still being found in a section in Wynwood, an area of warehouses, art galleries, restaurants, bars, apartments and condominiums. "We advise pregnant women to avoid travel to this area," Dr. Frieden said, "and pregnant women who live and work in this area and their partners to make every effort to avoid mosquito bites and practice safe sex. " Pregnant women who traveled to the neighborhood on or after June 15 should talk with their doctors about getting tested for possible infection, he said. In addition, said Dr. Denise J. Jamieson, a leader of the C. D. C. 's pregnancy and birth defects team, "we are recommending women who are considering pregnancy not get pregnant for up to eight weeks after returning from that area. " No mosquito found in the neighborhood has tested positive for the virus, but this species has a short life span. Health officials said the Florida mosquitoes carrying the virus had probably acquired it by biting an infected traveler from Latin America or the Caribbean. At the request of the state, the C. D. C. has dispatched an emergency response team of eight experts in fields including birth defects and mosquito control. Dr. Frieden said mosquitoes in the neighborhood would be tested for resistance to the insecticides being used, which he said were two different types of pyrethroids. In a sign that the Zika cases might affect tourism in Florida, Britain's health agency, saying the risk was moderate, advised pregnant women on Saturday to "consider postponing nonessential travel to affected areas until after the pregnancy. " Jack Ezon, the president of Ovation Vacations in New York, said that his agency received 22 reservation cancellations on Monday for trips to Florida over the next six months, and that about four times as many people called for information about the travel advisory. "Yesterday, the news was terrorism. Today, the news is Zika," he said. The airline JetBlue said in a statement that it would allow refunds for people with "concerns of traveling to areas confirmed by the C. D. C. " But Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines, which has a hub in Miami, said no refunds would be issued, even for pregnant women. "The C. D. C. advisory doesn't tell people they shouldn't travel to Miami," he said. Abraham Pizam, the dean of the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said that if the travel advisory had any effect on tourism, it would be only "for a very short period of time" and would not put a big dent in the diverse range of tourists who visit Florida. Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement that the Florida health authorities had tested people in three locations in and Broward Counties and ruled out transmission by local mosquitoes in two of those locations. Six of the 10 newly identified cases were asymptomatic and discovered through the testing. Dr. Frieden said 12 of the 14 cases were linked to a area around two workplaces where the initial two cases were identified in July. Since July 7, when Florida began investigating what turned out to be the first diagnosed local transmission, more than 200 people in and Broward Counties who live or work near the Wynwood neighborhood have been tested, Mr. Scott said. Mosquito experts said Aedes aegypti thrives in tiny pockets of water — a bottle cap, a storm drain — making for a notoriously elusive foe. "Very little historically has worked on Aedes aegypti, owing to its stealthy and domestic behavior," said Phil Lounibos, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida. Aerial spraying is largely ineffective in an urban setting like Wynwood. Instead, mosquito control employees have conducted 621 property inspections there, treated 21 properties for mosquito breeding and used portable sprayers against adult mosquitoes on 100 properties, said Gayle Love, the spokeswoman for the County Department of Solid Waste. Spray trucks were also sent to the neighborhood, but were legally allowed to spray only at night, while Aedes aegypti mosquitoes tend to bite during the day, said Michael S. Doyle, the executive director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. "Most of the chemicals that are available for mosquito control are not effective against Aedes aegypti — they are resistant," he said. On Monday, in Wynwood, there was little obvious concern. "I haven't seen any panic," said Virgil Cantú, 22, a bartender at the Bar Next Door. Melanie Hernandez, 20, who was working Monday at the Marine Layer clothing store in Wynwood, said she was worried, even though she did not plan to get pregnant anytime soon. "I looked up the symptoms online after I heard that Wynwood is ground zero for Zika," she said. "Obviously you're scared, because you never know. "


Some, but not all, foreign Islamic State fighters have left Syria s Raqqa city on Sunday as part of a withdrawal deal with U.S.-backed militias, a local official told Reuters on Sunday. Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council, would not say how many militants remain in the city, where the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have hemmed them into a small enclave. An SDF spokesman said earlier that a group of Syrian Islamic State fighters without foreign militants had evacuated Raqqa overnight, taking civilians with them as human shields.