Rogue Twitter feeds voicing employee concerns at more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have been launched in defiance of what they say are President Donald Trump's attempts to muzzle federal climate change research and other science. Representing scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other bureaus, either directly or through friends and supporters, the accounts protest restrictions they view as censorship since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Seizing on Trump's favorite mode of discourse, the feeds reflect concern that the new president, a climate change skeptic, is out to squelch federally backed research showing that emissions from fossil fuel combustion and other human activities are contributing to global warming. "Can't wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS," read one posting on the newly opened Twitter account @AltNatParkService. "You can take our official twitter, but you'll never take our free time!" Reuters could not verify that all the accounts, which borrow the names and logos of their respective agencies, were being run by current federal employees of those agencies. The alternate National Park Service Twitter feed said it had passed control of its account to individuals outside the government to protect colleagues at the agency. The introductory disclaimer borne by the @RogueNASA account was typical of many of the feeds, describing it as "The unofficial 'Resistance' team of NASA. Not an official NASA account." It beckoned readers to follow its feed "for science and climate news and facts. REAL NEWS, REAL FACTS." An administrator of an associated Rogue NASA Facebook page told Reuters the alternative site was being used as a platform by agency scientists and others who support them. In some instances, the alternate Twitter accounts were registered on behalf of employees by supporters, presumably to better safeguard their anonymity, as was the case for the unofficial Rocky Mountain National Park site. An individual contacted at the alternative Twitter feed for Mount Rainier National Park said: "It's not about the people running the accounts. It's about the movement it's generated. We may never disclose our identity due to the current political ecosystem." The swift proliferation of such sites followed internal directives several agencies involved in environmental issues have received since Trump's inauguration requiring them to curb their dissemination of information to the public. Last week, Interior Department staff were told to stop posting on Twitter after an employee re-tweeted posts about relatively low attendance at Trump's swearing-in, and about how material on climate change and civil rights had disappeared from the official White House website. Employees at the EPA and the departments of Interior, Agriculture and Health and Human Services have since confirmed seeing notices from the new administration either instructing them to remove web pages or limit how they communicate to the public, including through social media. The resistance movement gained steam on Tuesday when a series of climate change-related tweets were posted to the official Twitter account of Badlands National Park in South Dakota, administered under the Interior Department, but were soon deleted. A Park Service official later said those tweets came from a former employee no longer authorized to use the official account and that the agency was being encouraged to use Twitter to post public safety and park information only, and to avoid national policy issues. Within hours, unofficial resistance, or rogue, Twitter accounts began sprouting up, emblazoned with the logos of government agencies, the list growing to at least 14 such sites by Wednesday afternoon. An account dubbed @ungaggedEPA invited followers to visit its feeds of "ungagged news, links, tips and conversation that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is unable to tell you," adding that it was "Not directly affiliated with @EPA." "Civil servants have a job to do and part of that job is to interpret the national parks and history behind it," said a former official at the Interior Department, the parent agency of the National Park Service, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The former official said that while people outside the federal government could be involved in the rogue accounts, employees with whom the official communicated were supporting the feeds. "They bristle at any political involvement," the former official said. "They're taking that as an attack on their work. You have 75l,000 people feeling attacked. You're going to play whack-a-mole trying to stop them. I don't see this stopping." The phenomenon was not limited to U.S. environmental and natural resource employees. They were soon joined by similar alternative Twitter accounts for various science and health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Weather Service. Many of their messages carried Twitter hashtags #resist or #resistance.


San Francisco does not have enough places to live. Sonja Trauss, a local activist, thinks the city should tackle this problem by building more housing. This may not sound like a controversial idea. But this is San Francisco. Ms. Trauss is a anarchist and the head of the SF Bay Area Renters' Federation, an upstart political group that is pushing for more development. Its platform is simple: Members want San Francisco and its suburbs to build more of every kind of housing. More subsidized affordable housing, more rentals, more condominiums. Ms. Trauss supports all of it so long as it is built tall, and soon. "You have to support building, even when it's a type of building you hate," she said. "Is it ugly? Get over yourself. Is it housing? Get over yourself. Is it luxury housing? Get over yourself. We really need everything right now. " Her group consists of a mailing list and a few dozen members — most of them young professionals who work in the technology industry — who speak out at government meetings and protest against the protesters who fight new development. While only two years old, Ms. Trauss's Renters' Federation has blazed onto the political scene with youth and bombast and by employing guerrilla tactics that others are too polite to try. In January, for instance, she hired a lawyer to go around suing suburbs for not building enough. The organization also inflamed Sierra Club volunteers in San Francisco by trying to elect its own candidate to the environmental group's executive committee. That effort failed, and last week her candidate, Donald Dewsnup, was arrested and charged with voter fraud — a move that Ms. Trauss claims is political retaliation. "There's no other explanation for why the district attorney of a major city would investigate and charge one person for registering at an inaccurate address," she said. In an interview, Mr. Dewsnup said he was homeless and simply used an address near the place where he was sleeping at the time. Across the country, a reversal in urban flight has ignited debates over gentrification, wealth, generational change and the definition of the modern city. It's a familiar battle in suburbs, where homeowners are an American archetype. In San Francisco, though, things get weird. Here the tech boom is clashing with tough development laws and resentment from established residents who want to choke off growth to prevent further change. Ms. Trauss is the result: a new generation of activist whose bent is the opposite of the San Francisco stereotypes — the lefties, the aging hippies and tolerance all around. Ms. Trauss's cause, more or less, is to make life easier for real estate developers by rolling back zoning regulations and environmental rules. Her opponents are a generally older group of progressives who worry that an influx of corporate techies is turning a city that nurtured the Beat Generation into a gilded resort for the rich. Those groups oppose almost every new development except those reserved for subsidized affordable housing. But for many young professionals who are too rich to qualify for affordable housing, but not rich enough to afford $ rents, this is the problem. Adding to the strangeness is that the typical San Francisco progressive and the typical member of Ms. Trauss's group are likely to have identical positions on every liberal touchstone, like marriage and climate change, and yet they have become bitter enemies on one very big issue: housing. "We have liberal Democrats, and very liberal Democrats, and yet we are as polarized as the rest of the country," said Tim Colen, executive director of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition. Ms. Trauss is smart and energetic and unpolished. She called her group the Bay Area Renters' Federation because "federation" reminds her of "Star Trek" and because her roommate thought it would be funny if her group's acronym spelled "BARF. " Jennifer Fieber, policy director at the San Francisco Tenants Union, likened the group to the Tea Party, because it lacks nuance ("Just build! ") and can be rude. BARF's public message board does in fact veer into strident libertarianism and juvenile ribbings, like pictures that equate its opponents to Adolf Hitler. This might make it tempting to dismiss Ms. Trauss as just another colorful activist in a place where activism is a local sport. But the anger she has tapped into is real, reflecting a generational break that pits cranky homeowners and the San Francisco political establishment against a cast of newcomers who are demanding the region make room for them, too. To befriend a certain kind of techie on social media is to be bombarded with angry Facebook posts and retweeted news articles about how San Francisco doesn't build enough housing or how it is also the suburbs' fault and isn't Seattle great? Every few weeks, when a company like Zillow puts out a new price report, both sides hold up the numbers as an example of how San Francisco has failed the middle class. Zillow puts the city's median home price at $1. 1 million, neck and neck with Manhattan. The region's rent, at $3, 500 a month for an average apartment, is the highest in the nation. Today Ms. Trauss's group is one of several organizations (GrowSF and East Bay Forward are others) that represent a kind of "Yimby" party, built on the frustrations of young professionals who feel priced out of the Bay Area. BARF has won the backing of technology millionaires — Jeremy Stoppelman, and chief executive of Yelp, is the group's largest individual donor — and the encouragement of local politicians. "BARF is an important voice in this housing debate, and that is the voice of young people who are asking the question: 'What is my future in this city? '" said Scott Wiener, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. "And you can agree or disagree with them, but they have activated a new generation of activists. " The group's platform may be politically contentious, but economically speaking, it is anything but controversial. The Bay Area was expensive even before the tech boom. And the supply of new projects, while increasing, remains decades behind population growth. This extends from Silicon Valley suburbs like Palo Alto, whose ratio of jobs to housing units is triple the median level in the Bay Area, to San Francisco, which despite an increase in new housing has lagged behind job growth, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments. Much of San Francisco's progressive establishment feels the city is building too much housing. Some go so far as to argue that the appetite for real estate here is so high that rules don't really apply. To get prices down, "You'd have to, like, build another city on top of the city," said David Campos, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He thinks the city should focus the vast majority of future development on affordable housing limited to people making well below the city's median income. This thinking is at odds with a February report on housing prices from the California Legislative Analyst's Office, which said underdevelopment was the primary cause of the high prices that afflicted cities throughout the coastal part of the state, especially in the Bay Area. "Many housing programs — vouchers, rent control and inclusionary housing — attempt to make housing more affordable without increasing the overall supply," the report said. "This approach does very little to address the underlying cause of California's high housing costs: a housing shortage. " Ms. Trauss, 34, is a born activist from Philadelphia whose father is a lawyer who defends homeowners against foreclosure. She moved to the Bay Area in 2011, shortly after getting her master's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis, and taught math at local community colleges. She intended to live in San Francisco, but settled across the bay in Oakland. Like nearly everyone who moves to the Bay Area, Ms. Trauss spent an inordinate amount of time complaining about rent. In 2014, after reading a history of Bay Area housing politics written by Cutler, a reporter at the TechCrunch news site who has gone on to help found a called Roam, Ms. Trauss started writing letters to the San Francisco Planning Commission in support of any new project with more than 30 units. She graduated from writing letters to attending planning meetings, and, after registering the SFBARF website, started recruiting members by finding voices on sites like Reddit and the comments sections of local news articles. "People say testifying doesn't do anything — but guess what definitely doesn't do anything: giving a dumb speech to your friend at the bar," she said. Today BARF is her job, allowing her the financial wherewithal to become one of those strangely persistent people who speak regularly at City Hall. To an outside observer, this can feel like watching an obscure and sport. This is a town with an app for everything and where people get fussy when an Uber driver takes more than five minutes to arrive. City Hall, with its architecture and wait times, can feel like an anachronism. Ms. Trauss may be a millennial, but she loves it. "Even in this modern era of, whatever, the Internet and people like interacting in a place that's no place at all, City Hall is still a center," she said. One recent afternoon, she spent an hour on the hard wooden benches in the chamber of the Board of Supervisors. She was there to make a public comment in favor of a proposal to streamline the permitting process for some projects. Three days later she was back, this time to support a "density bonus" — a proposal to let developers build taller buildings in exchange for including more affordable housing as well. When she arrived, Mr. Campos, from the Board of Supervisors, was blasting the proposal from the City Hall steps, surrounded by 70 or so supporters. Ms. Trauss and another member of her group stood opposite and held up signs that said "Stop Affordable Housing. " This was meant to be ironic. Their point was that Mr. Campos was opposing legislation that would create more housing — but also more affordable housing. Nobody seemed to get it, so Ms. Trauss went inside City Hall to add her name to a list of people making public comments before the planning commission. Her chance to speak would be hours away, so she trekked around City Hall, past bronze busts and wedding parties, in search of a quiet place to take a lunch break. She was joined by a man whose legal name is Starchild. Starchild is the sort of Francisco character you end up making friends with if you spend enough time at City Hall. He works nights as an "erotic service provider. " Asked if this meant he was a prostitute, he said, "'Prostitute' is O. K. as long as it's said in a respectful way. " Starchild spends his days campaigning for libertarian causes and running doomed campaigns for office. The two ate on a marble ledge and discussed police brutality, pretrial detention and whether it was possible for an anarchist to be in favor of soda taxes. A short while later, Ms. Trauss headed back to a waiting room, where she took a selfie for the @SFyimby Twitter account and began a wait for a few more minutes at the microphone. "This is my life," she whispered. "It's ridiculous. " Many longtime San Franciscans view groups like BARF as yet another example of how the technology industry is robbing San Francisco of its San . Far from the hippies of the 1960s, many of today's migrants lean libertarian — drawn by dreams or to work for the likes of Google or Apple, two of the world's most valuable companies. They tend to share a belief, either idealistically or naïvely, depending on who is judging, that corporations can be a force for social good and change. But BARF members are so about housing that they can be hard to label politically. They view San Francisco progressives as, in fact, fundamentally conservative. That is because, to the group members at least, progressive positions on housing seem less about building the city and more about keeping people like them out. On a drizzly Sunday in December, Ms. Trauss hosted the SF YIMBYParty Congress, a gathering of groups held at a Market Street space full of touches like mismatched furniture, a foosball table and lots of white men. Toward the beginning, a debate broke out about whether they should call themselves moderates to distinguish themselves from progressives. Ms. Trauss joked that she liked moderate because you can shorten it to mod, and mod sounds cool. Mr. Wiener, the supervisor, disagreed, noting that in San Francisco, a moderate Democrat "might have a Bernie Sanders sticker on their car. " One man, who seemed exasperated by the discussion and the idea of using his Sunday to talk about politics, said, with more colorful language, that he did not give a hoot about progressives versus moderates — he just wanted some darn housing. The tech boom takes much of the blame for soaring housing prices. But the movement has less to do with tech as an industry, and everything to do with newcomers as a class. Brian Hanlon, a federation member who regularly attends Board of Supervisors meetings with Ms. Trauss, has a day job doing administrative work for the United States Forest Service. Two years ago, when he started worrying that his claim to an $ room in a apartment might be in jeopardy, he reacted in classic San Francisco fashion. He started marching in protests next to people beating drums and signs that said things like "Tech = Death. " But he quickly broke ranks. Many of his fellow protesters also opposed building new apartments — putting him at odds with them. "They want to be on the side of tenants, but they don't have any real plan for how do we become a welcoming metropolitan area for new people who don't have money," Mr. Hanlon said. "Their plans are only to allow current incumbent renters to stay in their place, presumably until they die and some rich person comes along. " The progressive movement has played a guiding role in creating the quirky and picturesque San Francisco that many people love today. Progressives battled plans to crisscross the city with freeways and opposed urban renewal programs that destroyed black neighborhoods. They have fought for, and won, protections and funding for affordable housing, along with various amenities that many newcomers take for granted. The question is how to handle a demographic reversal in which cities across the country have regained population following years of "white flight" to the suburbs. After losing population for two decades through the 1970s, San Francisco resumed growth in the '80s and has only accelerated from there. "There's that book, 'What's the Matter With Kansas? '" said Gabriel Metcalf, executive director of SPUR, an urban policy research organization. "What's the matter with San Francisco? Why is it that in a city that's renters we have adopted a housing policy that is horrible for renters?" The challenge for groups like BARF is that, politically speaking, they have a lot of persuading to do. The talk might sound great to a recent Stanford graduate, but San Francisco is in a moment when corporate buses are regarded as instruments of a tech invasion bent on turning people who can't code into a underclass. The idea that everything would be better if only the city threw up more tall buildings is a hard sell. Of the 11 propositions on San Francisco's ballot in November, seven were either directly or indirectly related to high home prices and the influence of the technology industry. Michael Hankinson, a Harvard Ph. D. candidate who is studying and housing prices, surveyed voters for his dissertation and found renters skeptical that new development would do anything other than raise prices. For instance, a recent proposal to temporarily stop development in the city's Mission District, a gentrifying neighborhood popular with technology workers, failed citywide. But Mr. Hankinson found that a majority of renters favored it because they did not think that new development would do anything for them — and feared that it might, somehow, get them evicted. "BARF has to convince renters that neighborhood change will benefit them in the long run," he said. Today, when eviction is a hot party topic, most renters are unwilling to take that gamble. So Ms. Trauss is taking her campaign to the courts. In December she sued the city of Lafayette, Calif. an East Bay bedroom community, after it took a parcel that had been set aside for apartments and office buildings and rezoned it for homes instead. She wrote the petition herself, saying the move violated the California Housing Accountability Act, a 1980s law and " " statute that limits cities' ability to downsize housing developments. Recently, she hired a lawyer to litigate the case. Asked about Ms. Trauss's lawsuit, Steven Falk, Lafayette's city manager, said the city actually faced another lawsuit over the same development. The second group is suing, he said, because they think it is too big.


An Indian court on Thursday acquitted a former telecoms minister, politicians and business executives of graft and money laundering charges in the grant of telecoms licenses due to lack of evidence in one of the country s biggest corruption scandals. The case relates to alleged below-market-price sale of lucrative telecoms permits bundled with airwaves in 2008, which a federal auditor said may have cost the government as much as $28 billion in lost revenue. A special court convened by the federal investigator was called to give its verdict on the accused, including former telecoms minister A. Raja. The prosecution has miserably failed to prove its charge, defense lawyer Vijay Aggarwal told reporters, citing the judge s ruling. Shares of companies affected by the case rose after the verdict, with Reliance Communications Ltd gaining as much as 13.3 percent, DB Realty jumping nearly 20 percent and SUN TV Networks Ltd rising as much as 6.8 percent. The scandal dented the fortunes of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government, which oversaw the sale of the licenses at below-market prices, and triggered street protests. It was one of the several scandals that emerged during Singh s second term, hobbling policymaking and diverting the government s attention away from pushing forward crucial economic reforms. The uncertainty hurt business sentiment in Asia s third-biggest economy, and led to questions about the government s efforts to crack down on corruption. In 2012, the Supreme Court ordered 122 licenses held by eight operators to be revoked, declaring the licenses illegal and the process wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest .


U.S. President Donald Trump faces an uphill battle to overcome a federal judge's temporary hold on his travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries, but the outcome of a ruling on the executive order's ultimate legality is less certain. Any appeals of decisions by U.S. District Court Judge James Robart in Seattle face a regional court dominated by liberal-leaning judges who might not be sympathetic to Trump's rationale for the ban, and a currently shorthanded Supreme Court split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives. The temporary restraining order Robart issued on Friday in Seattle, which applies nationwide, gives him time to consider the case in more detail, but also sends a signal that he is likely to impose a more permanent injunction. The Trump administration has appealed that order. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said late on Saturday that it would not decide whether to lift the judge's ruling, as requested by the U.S. government, until it receives briefs from both sides, with the administration's filing due on Monday. Appeals courts are generally leery of upending the status quo, which in this case - for now - is the suspension of the ban. The upheaval prompted by the new Republican administration's initial announcement of the ban on Jan. 27, with travelers detained at airports upon entering the country, would potentially be kickstarted again if Robart's stay was lifted. The appeals court might also take into account the fact that there are several other cases around the country challenging the ban. If it were to overturn the district court's decision, another judge somewhere else in the United States could impose a new order, setting off a new cascade of court filings. If the appeals court upholds the order, the administration could immediately ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. But the high court is generally reluctant to get involved in cases at a preliminary stage, legal experts said. The high court is short one justice, as it has been for a year, leaving it split between liberals and conservatives. Any emergency request by the administration would need five votes to be granted, meaning at least one of the liberals would have to vote in favor. "I think the court's going to feel every reason to stay on the sidelines as long as possible," said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. Trump last week nominated a conservative appeals court judge, Neil Gorsuch, to fill the vacancy, but he will not be sitting on the Supreme Court for at least two months. Gorsuch's vote, if he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, could come into play if the case were to reach the court at a later stage of the litigation. Once the case proceeds past the injunction stage of the litigation and onto the merits of whether the order is legally sound, legal experts differ over how strong the government's case would be. Richard Primus, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Michigan Law School, said the administration could struggle to convince courts that the ban was justified by national security concerns. The Supreme Court has previously rejected the idea that the government does not need to offer a basis for its actions in the national security context, including the landmark 1971 Pentagon Papers case, in which the administration of President Richard Nixon tried unsuccessfully to prevent the press from publishing information about United States policy toward Vietnam. "The government's argument so far in support of the order is pretty weak," Primus said. Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, said the administration has legal precedent on its side, with the courts generally deferential to executive action on immigration. However, he said it is unusual for the courts to be asked to endorse "a policy that appears to have been adopted in as kind of haphazard and arbitrary way as this one appears to have been."


In her first international trip in her role as U. S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley toured a Jordanian refugee camp Sunday — and defended the Trump administration's policy on the Syrian refugee crisis in the face of its many critics in the UN. [Visiting the Zaatari refugee camp, Haley met with Syrian refugees displaced by the Syrian civil war and reminded reporters of the work the U. S. is doing in the region — a role that has been widely ignored as critics instead focus on Trump's executive order restricting refugees into the country. "We're the No. 1 donor here through this crisis, that's not going to stop," Haley said in an interview after UN officials briefed her on the camp, according to The Wall Street Journal. Haley visited vocational classes and a supermarket where are used to charge accounts as a way to cut down on fraud. Outside the camp, she also visited a U. S. school where Syrian and Jordanian girls can get an education and a border crossing between Jordan and Syria. One of the reasons we traveled to Jordan is to see firsthand how the Syrian crisis is affecting children. pic. twitter. — Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 22, 2017, pic. twitter. — Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 21, 2017, During the trip, Haley will also visit parts of Turkey and will meet with government and UN officials, as well as heads of NGOs. The trip will focus on the Syrian refugee crisis both countries are on the front line of the crisis and share borders with the imperiled country. The Trump administration has eyed deep cuts to funding for the controversial UN, but Haley sought to combat the narrative that those cuts would hurt those most in need. According to McClatchey, Haley told reporters that the U. S. was "not pulling back" from the crisis and was in fact "engaging more. " The Trump administration's policy on the crisis, particularly President Trump's executive order on immigration, has attracted the criticism of members of foreign governments, including figures in the United Nations. In an address to the League of Arab States in March, UN Antonio Guterres said it "breaks my heart to see developed countries closing their borders to refugees fleeing this region, and worse, sometimes invoking religion as a reason to keep them out. " But Haley has already gained a reputation for standing up to the UN. On multiple occasions, she has blasted the body's bias. In March, she demanded a UN report calling Israel an "apartheid state" be withdrawn — which it was. In April, when Bolivia requested a session of the UN Security Council in the wake of a chemical weapons attack in Syria, Haley denied the request. "Any country that chooses to defend the atrocities of the Syrian regime will have to do so in full public view, for all the world to hear," she said, also blasting the "empty words" of other members of the council. Haley foreshadowed her defense of the U. S. policy in an last week for The Wall Street Journal. In it, Haley defended the U. S. saying "The U. S. is doing more than anyone. " Talking about how she was heckled at an international women's conference in April, she argued that "those who accuse the U. S. of heartlessness in the face of this crisis are wrong. " "No country has invested more in protecting, housing, feeding and caring for Syrian refugees than the U. S. We have provided nearly $6. 5 billion in emergency assistance for Syria since the start of the crisis. Inside Syria, some four million people benefit from U. S. assistance for essentials like food and shelter every month," Haley wrote. Haley said she would bring attention to U. S. food programs on her trip to Turkey and Jordan, including programs that deliver aid to Syrians still trapped in the country. "With American help, Syria's neighbors have made the difference between life and death for millions of Syrians. The U. S. and the UN will continue to do a great deal of heavy lifting for these desperate people," she wrote. Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.


Turkish authorities summoned a U.S. consulate worker to testify on Monday over his relatives' alleged links to last year's failed coup attempt, state-run Anadolu news agency said, days after the arrest of another consulate employee. Anadolu said the suspect was wanted for questioning after his wife and daughter were detained in the Black Sea city of Amasya. It did not say whether he had complied with the summons. The man's wife and daughter were detained over alleged links to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, Anadolu said, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the abortive putsch. The two were later brought to Istanbul for legal procedures, it said. "U.S. consulate worker N.M.C., husband and father of the suspects in question, has no diplomatic immunity and has been called to the prosecutor's office to testify," Anadolu quoted a statement from the Istanbul prosecutor's office as saying. On Sunday, the U.S. mission in Turkey and the Turkish mission in Washington cut back visa services after Metin Topuz, a U.S. consulate employee, was arrested in Turkey last week. Washington said the charges linking him to Gulen were baseless. The prosecutor's office said that testimony from Topuz pointed to the two suspects detained in Amasya being high-ranking members of Gulen's network. Gulen has denied any role in the failed coup.


Copyright Mark Taliano, Global Research, Montreal 2016.  Note to Readers: Remember to bookmark this page for future reference. Please Forward Syria's War for Humanity, by Mark Taliano far and wide. Post it on Facebook. Scroll down for I-BOOK Table of Contents "Syria's War for Humanity" by Mark Taliano is part of Global Research's Online Interactive I-Book Series which brings together, in the form of chapters, a collection of Global Research feature articles, including debate and analysis, on a broad theme or subject matter. To consult our Online Interactive I-Book Reader Series, click here. Preface We bring to the attention of our readers Mark Taliano's I-Book entitled Syria's War for Humanity . In contrast to most geopolitical analysts of the Middle East, Mark Taliano focusses on what unites humanity with the people of Syria in their struggle against foreign aggression. Author: Mark Taliano Taliano talks and listens to the people of Syria. He reveals the courage and resilience of a Nation and its people in their day to day lives, after more than five years of US-NATO sponsored terrorism and more than two years of US "peacemaking" airstrikes which have largely targeted Syria's civilian infrastructure. Everybody in Syria knows that Washington is behind the terrorists, that they are financed by the US (at tax payers expense) and its allies, trained and recruited by America's Middle East partner. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, have been financing and training the ISIS-Daesh, al Nusra terrorists on behalf of the United States. Israel is harboring the terrorists out of the occupied Golan Heights, NATO in liaison with the Turkish high command has since March 2011 been involved in coordinating the recruitment of the jihadist fighters dispatched to Syria. Moreover, the ISIS-Daesh brigades in both Syria and Iraq are integrated by Western special forces and military advisers. While all this is known to the Syrian people, Western public opinion is led to believe that the US is leading a "counter-terrorism campaign" in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State (ISIS-Daesh), an entity created and supported by US intelligence. Image: Damascus National Museum, M Chossudovsky, 2011 "Everything that we saw in Syria speaks of humanity's common heritage", says Mark Taliano. Syria is the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia, the Land of Two Rivers, where the early civilizations of the fertile crescent took their roots. This is what the Washington Neocons want to destroy. But to reach their objective they need to wage a dirty propaganda campaign which conveys the illusion that America is involved in a "humanitarian" "peace-making" undertaking. The Syrian people know who the real terrorists are. "The Western assault on this country is an assault on our common humanity, and an assault on Syria's progressive and forward-looking future", says Taliano. Mark Taliano focusses on the truth as an instrument for building peace and counter-propaganda: "S hould the West's "regime change" operations succeed, the secular, pluralist government of President Assad will be replaced by its opposite: a barbaric, sectarian regime, and chaos. Yet Western politicians are seemingly propagandized by their own lies. Or perhaps they see no choice but to cravenly follow diktats from above. Humanity's better nature, however, demands that we all open our eyes, that we learn from history, and that we embrace the rule of international law rather than the diktats of a criminal Empire. Syria and Syrians must be saved, not destroyed." Currently, my interests lie in digging for political truths in a world that is rushing headlong into war and barbarism, on a bedrock of lies. When I find such truths, their trajectories invariably lead to peace rather than war. So now, my "crusade' is to help share the truth, to make it broad-based, and to make a positive difference. The dirty war on Syria is such a blatant example of the supremacy of war, deception — and evil — over civilization, and our common humanity, that my current research interests are defined by what does or does not happen there. If Syria wins, we all win. Right now, she is winning." Mark Taliano refutes the mainstream media. The causes and consequences of the US-led war on Syria, not to mention the extensive war crimes and atrocities committed by the terrorists on behalf the Western military alliance are routinely obfuscated by the media. Taliano is committed to reversing the tide of media disinformation, by reaching out to Western public opinion on behalf of the Syrian people. "Syria's stand against the Western agencies of death and destruction is a stand for all of humanity against the dark forces that fester beneath our politicians' empty words and the courtesan media's toxic lies."  These twenty-seven chapters of Mark Taliano's Syria's War for Humanity provide an overview of life in Syria, the day to day struggle of the Syrian people to protect and sustain their national sovereignty.  Michel Chossudovsky, October 30, 2016 * * * Introduction by Mark Taliano I recently traveled to war- torn Syria because I sensed years ago that the official narratives being fed to North Americans across TV screens, in newsprint, and on the internet, were false. The invasion of Libya was based on lies; so was the Iraq war; likewise for Ukraine. All of the 9/11 wars were sold to Western audiences through a sophisticated network of interlocking governing agencies that propagandize both domestic and foreign audiences. But the dirty war on Syria is different. The degree of war propaganda leveled at Syria, and contaminating humanity at this moment, is likely unprecedented. I had already studied and written about Syria for years, so I wasn't entirely surprised by what I saw. But what I felt was a different story.  First Impressions When I awoke on the first morning of my visit, and sat at a table on the polished marble floor beside the fountain, it was still and quiet. The walls of the hotel courtyard surrounded me — rows of hard, dark basalt stone block and intricately carved soft brown stone were woven together with alcoves and archways, all radiating ancient artistry. High vaulted windows overlooked the palazzo, with plants flowing from balconies and the railings of the narrow corridors leading to rooms. Above was the pale blue cloudless morning sky. A pigeon lumbered in and perched inside, sheltered by the ancient walls. A native bird, bluish white, swift and silent, swooped in towards the pigeon, and they were both gone, swept away into the Damascene morning. The quiet returned and the pale blue sky became darker and deeper. Syria will find peace again when this is all over. Syria is an ancient land with a proud and forward looking people. To this ancient and holy land we sent mercenaries, and hatred, and bloodshed, and destruction. We sent strange notions of "exceptionalism", and waves upon waves of lies. As a visitor I felt shame, but Syrians welcomed me as one of them. This is their story. And these are their voices.  Testimonies from Syrians  In this video , Dr. Joseph Saddeh, standing in front of desecrated Christian icons in the ancient and holy city of Maaloula, where Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken, explains that what happened in Syria was not a "revolution", and that the terrorists want to destroy everything that is good, and that "they want to make us like them or they will kill us."  The terrorists did invade this ancient and holy place, they did destroy religious icons, and they did kill many people. Terrorist-damaged religious iconography at Maaloula, Syria Former al Nusra Front Headquarters, Maaloula, Syria Syrian soldier Dr. Ali Salem – a veterinarian during times of peace – explained that terrorists include "imports" from about 80 countries, street people, thieves, smugglers (diesel fuel and drugs), and those who were forced to fight under the threat of death or the death of family members.  He said that by now people must understand the truth about what is happening, despite the propaganda that demonizes the Syrian government and its people. The army is the people, he explained, and the government is not a "regime". When this is over, he said, young people will have to be taught the truth about what happened. Terrorist-destroyed Shrine of Saint Takla, Maaloula, Syria. Listen to the video here. Religious icons were either destroyed or burned. We met soft-spoken, accommodating, Dr. Ali Haidar at at his office. He had earlier explained to Jamal Daoud, leader of the Third International Tour of Peace to Syria , that in 2011, he was offered a large sum of money from Qatar to boycott a "consultation summit" with the government. When he refused the bribe, he received threats, and his son was murdered. The process of national reconciliation, headed by Dr. Haidar, is emblematic of Syrian decision-making processes. The externally-orchestrated war is being resolved internally – by Syrians, for Syrians — and the solutions are often the fruit of a genuine democratic processes, in contrast to the fake democratic processes masquerading as "democracy" in the West, where Western politicians and citizens are heavily propagandized.  All Syrians are paying a horrible price for the sins of the West. Ammar recounted this nightmare: "As everyday morning my sister was going to the university when a bloody Takfiri Salafi Wahhabi suicide bomber blew up bomb car at the bus stop which led to the martyrdom and injury of many civilians and university students who were going to their exams, after 10 minutes another suicide bomber blew up himself at the same place taking advantage of the gathering of people and ambulance teams, usually when a terror attack happens we call all family members and friends to make sure they all are ok but this time no one answered! Then we started looking for her in hospitals … the shock was in the bloody views there; many burned bodies and human body parts were on the ground , there i saw my sister a body without soul …"  Madj explained his sentiments:  " I am Syrian… living in Syria in the middle of everything. We have seen horrors. It was never a revolution nor a civil war. The terrorists are sent by your government. They are al Qaeda Jabhat al Nusra Wahhabi Salafists Talibans etc and the extremist jihadists sent by the West, the Saudis, Qatar and Turkey. Your Obama and whoever is behind him or above him are supporting al Qaeda and leading a proxy war on my country.  We thought you are against al Qaeda and now you support them.  The majority here loves Assad. He has never committed a crime against his own people… The chemical attack was staged by the terrorists helped by the USA and the UK, etc. Everyone knows that here.  American soldiers and people should not be supporting barbarian al Qaeda terrorists who are killing Christians, Muslims in my country and everyone.  Every massacre is committed by them. We were all happy in Syria: we had free school and university education available for everyone, free healthcare, no GMO, no fluoride, no chemtrails, no Rothschild IMF- controlled bank, state owned central bank which gives 11% interest, we are self-sufficient and have no foreign debt to any country or bank.  Life before the crisis was so beautiful here. Now it is hard and horrific in some regions.  I do not understand how the good and brave American people can accept to bomb my country which has never harmed them and therefore help the barbarian al Qaeda. These animals slit throats and behead for pleasure… they behead babies and rape young kids.  They are satanic. Our military helped by the millions of civilian militias are winning the battle against al Qaeda. But now the USA wants to bomb the shit out of us so that al Qaeda can get the upper hand.  Please help us American people. They are destroying the cradle of civilization. Stop your government.  Impeach that bankster puppet you have as president… support Ron Paul or Rand Paul (as Libertarians they have opposed foreign interventions—Editors) or anyone the like who are true American patriots. but be sure of one.thing…if they attack and I think they will….it will be hell.  Be sure that if it were to be a world war, many many will die. Syria can and will defend itself and will sink many US ships. Iran will go to war..Russia and China eventually if it escalates… and all this for what ? For the elites who created al Qaeda through the US government and use it to conduct proxy wars and destabilize countries which do not go along with their new world order agenda !!?  American people…you gotta regain control of your once admirable country. Now everyone hates you for the death you bring almost everywhere.  Ask the Iraqis…the Afghans…the Pakistanis…the Palestinians…the Syrians…the Macedonians and Serbs…the Libyans…the Somalis…the Yemenis ….all the ones you kill with drones everyday. Stop your wars. Enough wars. Use diplomacy…dialogue…help…not force." Jad also shared his tragedy. He told me that his brother was kidnapped last year, and that the terrorists tortured him and destroyed his knees. Now he can't walk. He also told me that his cousin, who was serving in the Syrian Arab Army, lost his leg when Wahhabi suicide bombers attacked his military vehicle, and that another cousin was kidnapped in 2012, and remains in captivity. The tragedies are legion, but all of the Syrians to whom I spoke assured me that they support the government of Bashar Al-Assad. They are unified in the battle against Western terrorists. The sanctions, the terrorists, the death and destruction, are not working. The alternative, a Western-installed Wahhabi stooge government, is not an attractive option. The ongoing dirty war on Syria is particularly odious because the elected President of Syria, Dr. Bashar Al-Assad, and his wife, represent the best of what Syria's future promises to be. The Assads are well-educated – like all of the Syrians whom I had the pleasure of meeting – and they are moving ancient, holy Syria into a better future than that promised by the uni-polar, "exceptional" imperialists who are trying to destroy Syria with their Wahhabi-inspired terrorists.  Syrians have seen the devastation of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Ukraine. They refuse to be the next domino. Syria's future will include the rule of international law, nation-state sovereignty, self-determination, pluralism, respect for all people, and multi-polar geo-political relationships. Syria has strong institutions, strong people, a strong military, strong allies, and a strong government; and she will not be pulled into the abyss of terrorism like the other aforementioned countries.  For this we should all be grateful.  We have just witnessed the pain and hardship that Syria and Syrians are enduring. The next question is, How did the West arrive at the point where otherwise intelligent and morally upright citizens support the illegality and barbarity of their nations' foreign policies? The simple answer is that the collective mindset of the public has been contaminated by an unprecedented and on-going propaganda campaign that engineers consent for unspeakable crimes that "benefit" transnational elites and impoverish the rest of us. [This is the longstanding nature of US foreign policy, dating back more than a century, even prior to the Civil War, when early imperialist and "Manifest Destiny" believer James Polk seized half of Mexico under trumped-up pretexts and false flags. Meanwhile, the American media have always supported these international crimes, as they do today.—Editors.] The dreadful reality is that the Global War on Terror is actually a global war for terror. The foreign policies of Western nations are increasing the reach of terrorism exponentially, because the West uses these terror brigades as foot soldiers for illegal wars of aggression. In its Syrian campaign, as with its previous Libyan campaign, the West is literally the air force for the terrorists on the ground. This is all well documented with Western sources. US-led NATO is aligned with the Gulf Monarchies, and Israel, to flood Syria with mercenary terrorists, to balkanize and destroy the country, and to remove President Assad, so that it can advance its agenda for a New World Order of conquest under the false banner of the Global War On Terror (GWOT). Through its actions and inactions, its sanctions, its arms dealings, and its pre-planned invasions, the West and the terrorists in Syria are one and the same. We support all the imaginary "moderates", and every other terrorist organization operating in Syria. Again, the evidence is ample, and well-documented using western sources. US-led NATO is aligned with the Gulf Monarchies, and Israel, to flood Syria with mercenary terrorists, to balkanize and destroy the country, and to remove President Assad, so that it can advance its agenda for a New World Order of conquest under the false banner of the Global War On Terror (GWOT). This on-going project necessarily entails death, destruction, and wide-spread poverty. Neo-con planners hope that the widespread destruction will enable them to control destroyed countries and open them up for predatory and parasitical economic programs — similar to domestic neoliberal economic models that are ravaging domestic economies beneath the lies and diversions. Despotic stooge puppet regimes are easier to control and manipulate than independent sovereign governments that represent the democratic will of their peoples and the rule of international law. Again, this favoured totalitarian style rule is mirrored at home, but more subtly. The notion that we live in democracies is absurd.  Tentacles of predatory neoliberal capitalism have yet to invade Syria's famous souks/markets Spices at the Souk F alse flag terrorism is part of the apparatus of deception which serves to advance policies that are contrary to the wishes of those who are deceived. There's nothing new about "synthetic terrorism'; it is military doctrine, and examples of its use are legion, but it is a taboo topic and a "conspiracy theory", so it works.  The Canada Day pressure-cooker bomber plot was a proven false flag (though not acknowledged as such by mainstream media), and it served the apparatus of deception as did other domestic terrorism cases.  Even if the Ottawa shooting crisis unfolded exactly as the official narratives described it, the conflation between the shooting and ISIS is surely unfounded, as noted by Senator Mobina Jaffer.  But the accumulated impact of these events, coupled with largely unquestioned official narratives, has the intended effect of creating a consensus of ignorance wherein otherwise intelligent people support illegal warfare, terrorism, and police state legislation.  Preeminent Constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati assesses Canada's C-51 legislation in these words :  It takes all our private information and shares it with all government agencies, including foreign government. For some citizens that becomes an eventuality of torture and/or death when travelling abroad.  It restricts arbitrarily who can travel.  Freedom of expression and political criticism with respect to "terrorism and the government's role" (becomes) a terrorist offence in itself. So words and thoughts become an act of terrorism under this bill.  It allows CSIS to disrupt covertly constitutionally-protected rights of association, expression, and protest.  It does all of this by taking away all and any transparent judicial oversight.  He says that "We've entered into the final fascist state."  Consequently, both domestically and abroad, we are living what author Naomi Wolf describes as a "fascist shift" , wherein we unwittingly embrace our own enslavement, global war, and poverty, all for the "benefit" of transnational oligarch classes, and the known catastrophic impacts for humanity.  Syria is standing strong against these Western cancers of ignorance and evil. She, and her allies, are swooping down on these globalist interlopers. Her victory will be our victory.  Outline of This Book T he purpose of this book is to shed some light on how the propaganda works, and to decode it and other events, so that we can arrive at a better understanding of what is really happening in Syria, and why. The degree of war propaganda leveled at Syria, and contaminating humanity at this moment is unprecedented.  I have yet to meet a single Syrian who would prefer a stooge, Wahhabi dictatorship to the current government. Every single Syrian opposition leader prefers the current government to an imperial -imposed government. The on-going campaign of lies directed at Syria is particularly odious because the elected President of Syria, Dr. Bashar Al-Assad, and his wife, represent the best of what Syria's future promises to be.  The Assads are well-educated – like all of the Syrians whom I had the pleasure of meeting – and they are moving ancient, holy Syria into a better future than that promised by the uni-polar, "exceptional" imperialists who are trying to destroy Syria with their Wahhabi-inspired terrorists.  Syrians have seen the devastation of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Ukraine. They refuse to be the next domino.  Syrians are unified. Their future will include the rule of international law, nation-state sovereignty, self-determination, pluralism, respect for all people, and multi-polar geo-political relationships. Syria has strong institutions, strong people, a strong military, strong allies, and a strong government; she will not be pulled into the abyss of terrorism like the other aforementioned countries.  For this we should all be grateful.  The compilation of articles in this book decode the propaganda apparatus which creates an engineered consensus that serves the covert agenda of expanding the parasitical economic model called "neoliberalism".  Neoliberalism impoverishes domestic and foreign populations, and enriches a transnational oligarch class. The transnational oligarch class — enriched by "deregulation", "privatization" schemes, and "free trade" agreements — contaminates the collective mindset of humanity with its foundations, its lobbying, and its undue influence, so its real nature, and its very existence, remains hidden. Rarely will a mainstream publication even use the word "neoliberalism", which is the economic foundation of the current class system.  Part One is the story of Syria as told by Syrians, unfiltered by mainstream media (MSM) propaganda. We see and hear the trauma lived by defiant, heroic Syrians, and we discover that this ancient, holy land will surely survive the current barbarian invasion, and will rise again as a beacon of civilization, hope, and dignity, in contrast to so many of those countries that seek to destroy it.  Voices from Syrian citizens are absent from mainstream media stories. Syrians are like you and me. This is what they have to say:  "We thought you are against al Qaeda and now you support them." I Am A Syrian Living in Syria: "It was Never a Revolution nor a Civil War. The Terrorists are sent by your Government"  The externally-orchestrated war is being resolved internally – by Syrians, for Syrians — and the solutions are often the fruit of a genuine democratic processes, in contrast to the fake democratic processes masquerading as "democracy" in the West, where Western politicians and citizens are heavily propagandized.  NATO et al. terrorists destroy everything that contradicts their deviant ideology. They seek a "blank slate" that denies and negates the real Syria.  Syria insists on being a sovereign nation; it refuses Empire's head-chopping criminality.  "Syria was prosperous, with a growing economy. It had food sovereignty, with a "strategic" stock of millions of tons of high quality wheat , not the "Franken-food" bio-tech variety; it had a strong central bank with no usurious IMF loans ; it had a popular, reformer President; it had a mostly well-educated, secular, pluralist, forward-looking population; and it was the fourth safest country in the world."  Part Two elaborates upon the real story about Syria, and the drivers behind the current dirty war, in which the U.S-led Empire is using terror proxies to advance its predatory reach, contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of Syrians.  The alternative to Syria's elected government is genocidal despotism and Sharia law. The (non-existent) "moderates" can't be separated from the "extremists", because all of the mercenary terrorists share the same goals and the same ideologies.  The predictable result of engineered deception is that domestic Western populations remain deceived and politically passive. The truth is inverted, and large swaths of the population remain deluded. Whereas the West and its allies support all the terrorists invading Syria, domestic populations think that we are fighting terrorism. This is the great fraud of the "Global War On Terror".  The West uses mercenary terrorist proxies to advance its predatory reach; to destroy foreign countries; and to increase global terrorism exponentially, all for the benefit of the oligarch classes. There is nothing new about this.  "The secular governments of Iraq, Libya, and Syria all — prior to Western invasions — opposed terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda." Dedication  This book is dedicated to the people of Syria, all of whom are on the front lines in the fight against international terrorism.  Your blood is being shed for our sins.  Acknowledgements  I can't begin to thank everyone who helped me with this book, but here's a start.  Thanks to Ken Stone, who inspired me to take the trip to Syria.  Thanks to Jamal Daoud, and the organizers of the Third International Tour of Peace To Syria, who made this trip possible, despite "external" barriers, thus giving us the chance to see and hear Syria for ourselves. Now we can better share the truth.  Thanks to my fellow travellers, who are my brothers and sisters in spirit.  Thanks to Prof. Michel Chossudovsky who helped me publish this book.  Thanks to Gerry DiSanto, at the Defensive Arts Training Centre (DATC), who encouraged me to write this book.  And last but not least, thanks to Victoria, who helped me along the way. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS


Home improvement retailers Home Depot Inc and Lowe s Inc said on Wednesday they have started shipping emergency material to Florida in anticipation of Hurricane Irma, even as they continue recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey in Texas. Irma, which hit the Caribbean island of St. Martin on Wednesday, is expected to make landfall in Florida during the weekend but its precise trajectory remained uncertain. Irma could become the second powerful storm to thrash the U.S. mainland after Harvey killed more than 60 people and caused as much as $180 billion in damage after hitting Texas late last month. This is unusual because we are now juggling two different storms in two different phases. One is approaching while the other market is in the recovery phase, Home Depot spokesman Matthew Harrigan told Reuters. Home Depot is following the same script preparing for Irma as it did for Harvey. The retailer s merchandising and supply chain teams have previously dealt with different weather-related disasters at once, Harrigan said without giving specific examples. Before Harvey hit Texas, the world s largest hardware and home improvement chain activated its disaster-response plan, asked managers to freeze prices in stores around the region and move storm related merchandise to the front of the store. It followed a plan honed over many hurricane seasons to minimize disruptions, deliver essential material to affected areas and capitalize on a surge in demand for products once repairs begin. Home Depot said it takes up to two months to open stores that are hit hard by a hurricane. Stores that are minimally impacted are usually opened within a few days. Both Home Depot and Lowe s had activated a hurricane command center during Harvey that is now continuing to monitor the path of Irma and mobilizing resources such as supplies. Home Depot said it has despatched 300 truckloads to Florida so far. Rival Lowe s said it has sent 400 truckloads of hurricane prep material including flashlights, batteries and weather radios to Florida. Analysts have said investments in logistics and supply chain by home improvement chains during a weather-related disaster typically brings about 10 to 15 times more in sales. Shares of both Home Depot and Lowe s traded up nearly 2 percent on Wednesday morning.


This recent midterm election was my first real setback since I became a committed liberal (after years on the other side), and what I don't understand is why so many well-meaning liberals refuse to fight dirty. Sure, some Democratic politicians "sling mud," but the "professional left" (as they are often derisively called) spend too much time debating the exactitude of certain issues and not enough time shutting down the bad ideas of the opposition. It might speak well to one's character, but it's an ineffective way to do battle. There is a place for self-examination, but it's not on the battlefield. Sometimes the proper reaction to cruelty or stupid ideas is disgust or even a well-timed insult. For many on the left this art is sadly as dead as the late hero of mine quoted above. I got married, dropped out of college, joined the military and became a father all before I was 21 years old, and I spent the next 20 years dealing with my early missteps. It was a painful climb, but one benefit of the circuitous route I took is that I understand the angry, white and rural right wing of America better than most. It's a group that grows ever more desperate and irrational no matter which way the electoral winds blow. As a member of the frothing right wing, I always spouted nonsense, even when I wasn't sure I believed it. Sometimes I would throw out really crazy stuff just to see how it fit the big picture and sometimes to get a rise from the opposition. Rhetorical bomb throwing is well respected on the right, and it's not always a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with trying out ideas, letting them roll off the tongue to see how they sound. I'm always playing with ideas, most of which get discarded before I let myself believe them or write them down. There is one caveat to this and that's the racist, hateful and homophobic rants that have become too common among the worst of the Tea Party. This ugly side of conservative rage is one of the major factors that drove me (and many others) away from right-wing politics. When I lived conservative values, I attended many events with like-minded people. Conservative movements foster a herd mentality. Even when someone stood up to "lead," he or she often regurgitated well-accepted talking points while crowds nodded in unison. Listen to talk radio or watch Fox News, and you can barely tally the number of times you hear, "yes, I think that's true." A perfect example of thoughtless regurgitation is when callers on talk radio mention "Saul Alinsky Democrats." Still others like to sling the insult of "Obama's Chicago political machine," with no context whatsoever. I'm going to make the obvious point that few if any of these callers have read one word of Alinsky, and fewer still have any direct, pointed or even third-hand knowledge of "Chicago politics." These goofy phrases have become totems of the insider, and like children, these listeners mindlessly repeat what someone else has said as if they had insight. Now that I've been in the liberal camp for a few years, I've noticed the complete opposite with the politically engaged left. They often identify as "contrarian." They question everything and have a hard time taking a firm stand, even when 70% of the public is with them (on minimum wage, for instance). In an ideological battle, the tendency toward inclusion and reflection can become a handicap. As a side effect of all this soul-searching, the left becomes ineffectual at fighting even the worst excesses on the right. I'm boiling this down to a false dichotomy to illustrate a point. Of course there is every gradation of political belief on the right and left; yet our system itself is incapable of nuance, because only one side has even heard of the word. Most people know that individuals will suffer because of the results of the latest midterm election. People won't get health care and some will lose food stamps. Discrimination will find a better foothold and the advance of science will lose ground. People I love, personally, will be vilified for being gay, because conservative voices of discrimination will feel empowered to act like jerks. Much of the latest loss stems from an inability to talk to regular people — especially working-class men — about liberal ideas. If Homer Simpson is America (he is), then liberals should learn to talk to him. Rich people have won over the white working class even though those same wealthy people don't do shit for the working class, ever. The wealthy have bought elections and government, wholesale. Working-class Americans are scared, battered and desperate. They are ready to listen to liberal messages, but not if we act like "wimps." The thing conservatives can't stand the most is what they charmingly call "pussy liberals." A white, conservative man would walk through hot coals or swallow shards of glass to prove to a stranger on the barstool next to him that he's not one. (My wife, a nuanced liberal, vehemently objects when I use the term. As a feminist I totally understand. It's offensive. But I didn't create this usage. I'm only pointing it out.) One of the reasons I became a liberal is not only because they have better ideas but also because they are willing to reconsider them, sometimes ad infinitum. The debates and discussion and endless self-examination appeal to me, because of who I am. Liberals do a lot less yelling and a whole lot more making everyone feel welcome. Yet the same strength in debating, self-awareness and the Socratic Method are the enemies of a good story. The retired guy in a modest home on a fixed income defends the rights of billionaires to exploit him, because he's been sold a narrative. The story matters, and Republicans spin a hell of yarn about America and "freedom," even though most of it is bullshit or a straight-out rewriting of history. They talk about Jefferson, Madison and Washington, men who would despise the science-hating, ignorant and reactive group the right has become. But it doesn't matter what or who you really stand for, it's just a matter of what you can sell. People with a billion dollars in the bank who benefit from low taxes and who exploit American labor could give two shits about patriotism, but they sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" as loud as possible while owning sprawling mansions in five countries. Alice Walton, Wal-Mart heiress and professional layabout, is hardly your relatable, average American. Certainly the left should be able to find an explanation for why her brand of capitalism is evil. If liberals want to win the war of ideas they can't be afraid to use the word "evil." If Ms. Walton is not an evil person, we should at least not be afraid to call the practices of Wal-Mart by that powerful and often factual label. Too harsh? Have you heard the dreck slung at immigrants lately? How about the word "traitor," so easily thrown at the president almost daily, every day for six years? If you think those on the right are reasonable, wish one "happy holidays." You might get your ass kicked. The worst part is that people do not prefer conservative ideas. In the last election they voted to increase the minimum wage in red states, to impose gun background checks and to legalize marijuana. The problem with all three of these issues is that Democrats refuse to stand up for them or do so only tepidly. They won't fight, argue and, if necessary, insult the increasingly unbalanced platform of the opposition. I call on my fellow liberals to embrace the rough stuff. Engage in battle with people who hate you and feel free to throw crazy right back, even if you only half believe it. Let it out and taste it on the way by. See if it flies. If it doesn't, screw it — just fix it up next time. Refer to your political opponent as "the honorable shithead from New Jersey." Use the words, images and for god's sake, the passion of the street. People who hate and fear you will always hate you unless they die out, change their minds or we can beat them in a heated contest of ideas. You're not playing checkers — and they're winning by giving zero shits about reality, so cut the crap and fight like you mean it.


President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Goldman Sachs partner and Hollywood financier Steven Mnuchin as his nominee for Treasury secretary and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to head the Commerce Department, the two men told CNBC on Wednesday. The following is a list of Republican Trump's selections for top jobs in his administration: Mnuchin, 53, is a relatively little-known but successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs (GS.N) before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California's largest bank. The bank came under fire for its foreclosure practices as housing advocacy groups accused it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Ross, 78, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross has helped shape the Trump campaign's views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which entered into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. Chao is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM PRICE Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House of Representatives' Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY Haley, a 44-year-old Republican, has been governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. [L1N1DO0KC] Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump's presidential bid and has been a close ally since. The son of a country-store owner, the senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN Flynn, 57, was an early supporter of Trump and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his U.S. Army career in 1981 and served deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama, but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama's foreign policy. Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government's sweeping collection of Americans' communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.


Protests against Trumpcare are ramping up now that the Congressional Budget Office has released their assessment of the bill. And not surprisingly, Republican senators are sinking to all-time lows to avoid the angry constituents begging for the GOP not to take away their health care. Last week they were dragging people out of wheelchairs to haul them off to jail and this week they re throwing priests behind bars.Six protesters were arrested on Monday for protesting the repeal of Obamacare at Sen. Shelley Moore Capito s office in Charleston, WV, who has yet to decide how she will vote on the bill. One of the protestors who ended up in handcuffs was Rev. Jim Lewis. For the party that claims to be all about Christian values, it sure is ironic that they having a man of God arrested because he asked them not to kill the poor and sick. Just saying.The Washington Journal reports:So, for six hours, several dozen West Virginians stood outside the office calling for their Junior Senator to protect their healthcare, while six went into Capito s office and staged a sit-in. At 5:30 pm, protesters inside were told that the office was closing and they would be arrested if they did not leave.The videos below, livestreamed on Facebook, show the protesters calmly and peacefully explaining their cause and the disaster they were committed to avoiding. Police officers seemingly with reluctance, if not sympathy told them they would be charged with trespassing and taken to jail if they did not leave.Committed to the moral imperative that is stopping Trumpcare, the protesters made clear that if the choice was between jail or backing down, the decision was easy.Gary Zuckett, executive director of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group which helped organize the event along with West Virginia Citizen Action Group, Rise Up West Virginia and Kanawha Valley Democratic Socialists of America, said they were there to try to get through to Capito just how many of her constituents will be hurt if this bill becomes law. The idea is, we need to send a message to Sen. Capito that this is not an acceptable direction for our country to be going, he said. It s going to hurt West Virginia, it s going to hurt our economy, it s going to put a lot of the rural health clinics at risk, it may close some rural hospitals. It s definitely going to harm her constituents when they lose their health care coverage, especially with the Medicaid expansion. You can watch video of a GOP senator having a priest arrested here:


Transcripts November 3, 2016 Obama: 'It's Because of You That a Marine Can Serve His Country Without Hiding the Husband He Loves'  Speaking at the University of North Carolina this afternoon, President Barack Obama told voters it was because of them that millions of people had health care who did not have it before and Marines could enter publicly into same-sex marriages.  "It is because of you that millions of people have health care today that didn't have it before," Obama said. "It is because of you that millions of young people are going to college that couldn't afford it before. It's because of you that a Marine can serve his country without hiding the husband he loves. It is because of you that more young immigrants came out of the shadows and are serving our country."


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s negotiating team is set to arrive in Geneva on Sunday to participate in peace talks, Syria s state news agency SANA reported on Thursday, quoting a foreign ministry source. The delegation, led by Bashar al-Ja afari, walked out last week and returned to Damascus. Negotiations resumed on Wednesday without the Syrian government delegation. The talks began last week and after a few days with little apparent progress, the U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said that the government delegation was returning to Damascus to consult and refresh . The government delegation blamed its departure on the opposition s uncompromising stance on Assad s future. Last month, the opposition drew up a statement in a meeting in Riyadh that rejected any future role for Assad in Syria. During last week s sessions, de Mistura shuttled between the representatives of the two warring sides, who did not meet face-to-face. He had planned to continue the round until Dec. 15. The opposition negotiating team arrived at the U.N. offices in Geneva on Wednesday morning to resume talks with de Mistura. France accused the Syrian government on Wednesday of obstructing the peace talks with its refusal to return to Geneva and called on Russia not to shrink its responsibilities to get Damascus to the negotiating table.


The White House said on Thursday it was focusing on getting the lowest corporate rate possible in tax reform legislation being considered on Capitol Hill. "Fifteen (percent) is better than 20, 20 is better than 22 and 22 is better than what we have," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.


Urged on by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers rushing to scrap Obamacare said this week they hoped to make some changes intended to stabilize the insurance market while they work at repealing and replacing the law. The beginnings of a framework outlining what a post-Obamacare world could look like came in the same week that Congress approved a resolution instructing key committees of both the House of Representatives and the Senate to draft Obamacare repeal legislation by a target date of Jan. 27. The fate of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, is a high-stakes political showdown between Republicans and Democrats that potentially jeopardizes medical coverage for millions of Americans and risks causing chaos in the health insurance marketplace. The seven-year-old law has enabled up to 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain health coverage and helped slow the rise in healthcare spending. But Republicans have called it federal government overreach. "If our general goal is to move decisions out of Washington back to the states, we should be able to make those decisions in the next several months," a key Republican senator working on the repeal, Lamar Alexander, told reporters outside the Senate this week. In a speech on the Senate floor, Alexander indicated Republicans are eyeing some moves insurers have said would help shore up the insurance plans offered on the Obamacare exchanges. The changes could be done by law or by regulation, Alexander said. Alexander said he favors continuing, at least temporarily, the cost-sharing subsidies that millions of Americans receive with their Obamacare exchange-based plans - a kind of financial assistance that helps keep down the cost of deductibles and co-pays. He advocates adjusting the special enrollment periods that insurers say are sometimes abused by people who wait until they are sick to sign up for insurance. Insurers have long sought changes that would fix this facet of Obamacare to weed out misuse. It would also help the transition to a new system, Alexander said, if individuals could use government premium subsidies to buy plans outside of the Obamacare marketplace. Alexander is chairman of the Senate health committee, one of the committees drafting the repeal legislation. He told reporters he had discussed his ideas with a number of senators and the process was evolving, but stressed it should be gradual, with some changes made by lawmakers and some by the secretary of Health and Human Services after he is confirmed. Trump has nominated Republican Representative Tom Price for the job. "Certainty is something the insurance industry needs so they don't abandon coverage," said Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, another Republican lawmaker who has been working on how to stabilize insurance markets. It was unclear whether lawmakers will reach the ambitious target date of Jan. 27 for drafting repeal legislation. But House Speaker Paul Ryan said on CNN on Thursday that Republicans are moving "as quickly as they can". The 2010 law, Democratic President Barack Obama's signature piece of domestic policy, touches almost all parts of the U.S. healthcare system, making its replacement likely to take effect over a number of years, even if lawmakers are trying to draft changes in weeks or months.


Lawmakers in Democrat-controlled California are already laying the groundwork to fight President-elect Donald Trump's conservative populist agenda. On Monday, leaders of both houses of the legislature introduced measures to protect undocumented immigrants in the state from efforts by a Trump administration to deport them once the billionaire businessman takes office Jan. 20. The bills followed closely on Democratic Governor Jerry Brown's nomination of U.S. Representative Xavier Becerra as attorney general, a high-ranking Democrat who challenged the incoming administration to "come at us" on such issues as climate change, immigration and worker protections. "Immigrants are a part of California's history, our culture, and our society," said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Democrat from Los Angeles, responding to Trump's calls to deport undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. "We are telling the next Administration and Congress: if you want to get to them, you have to go through us." California voted decisively for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election, choosing the former first lady over Trump by 28 percentage points. Democrats hold two-thirds majorities in both houses of the legislature, and every statewide office. The most populous U.S. state, California has more than 2.7 million undocumented immigrants - about 7 percent of its 39 million population. Brown's nomination of Becerra last week positions the state to fight back against efforts to weaken progressive policies with a reliably progressive attorney general steeped in the ways of Washington. On its first day back from recess on Monday the legislature passed resolutions urging Trump to abandon his deportation promise, and introduced two bills aimed at protecting immigrants. One measure would set up a fund to pay for lawyers for immigrants facing deportation. Another would train criminal defense attorneys in immigration law. At a news conference on Monday, Brown and Becerra avoided antagonistic language about Trump. But both men promised to protect the state's interests. "I don't think California is out there to pick fights," Becerrra said. "But we certainly will stand up for the rights that we do have." The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Republican leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley criticized the legislature's moves. "Democrats stole a page out of President-Elect Trump's campaign playbook and pushed a rhetorical, divisive agenda designed to inflame tensions many of us seek to soothe," Mayes said.


On April 26 an armed robbery suspect failed to successfully rack the slide of his pistol but pointed the jammed gun toward a cashier and demanded money anyway. [The incident occurred at a Kansas City Jimmy John's around 9:15 p. m. According to Fox 13, the robbery suspect was "wearing a baby blue sweatshirt and black hat. " He ordered food, then tried — unsuccessfully — to rack the slide on his pistol. Video of the incident shows a bullet ended up being jammed between the slide and the barrel's chamber, yet the suspect pointed the gun at the cashier and carried out the robbery anyway. The cashier remained extremely calm throughout the incident, even though the suspect placed the end of the barrel just inches from the cashier's head. In fact — once the robbery attempt was obvious — the cashier "simply takes his gloves off, takes the money out of the register and hands it to the suspect, without any change in his demeanor whatsoever. " The suspect took the money and fled the scene, but police reported that he was arrested on Friday. Police did not indicate whether the cashier knew the gun was jammed. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.


The U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) asked a San Francisco federal judge on April 7 to compel Google to provide detailed data regarding systemic gender pay discrimination. [With the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) making a preliminary determination that Google Inc. in its capacity as a federal contractor, has exhibited a pattern of pay discrimination against women, the DOL began a suit in front of a San Francisco Administrative Law Judge to compel Google to allow auditors to inspect and copy records and data about the company's compliance with federal laws governing equal opportunity. Google's labor lawyer attorney Lisa Barnett Sween from Jackson Lewis stated that Google had complied with initial requests. But she argued that the DOL's demand for employee names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses violated Google's Constitutional Fourth Amendment right of protection against unreasonable searches. Silicon Valley CEOs view the DOL's aggressive action against Google as the first salvo in President Obama's January 29, 2016 Executive Order that expanded the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) gender compensation audits. Obama's action came on the seventh anniversary of his signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. The Order directed the EEOC, in partnership with the DOL, to start collecting summary pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity from all private sector businesses with 100 or more employees. The White House stated that the audits would cover 63 million American workers and "focus public enforcement of our equal pay laws and provide better insight into discriminatory pay practices across industries and occupations. " President Obama protested that he was forced to issue an Executive Order because Congress had refused to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act that he claimed would "give women additional tools to fight pay discrimination. " Obama issued a report titled "The Gender Pay Gap on the Anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act," which claimed that the U. S. gender wage gap is now 2. 5 percentage points worse than the average for industrialized countries, after the world reduced the pay gap by 7 percentage points since 2000. DOL Regional Director Janette Wipper testified that the government had collected information to show that Google is violating federal EEOC laws on wages: "We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce. " Despite California being the eighth best state in the U. S. for gender equality, the DOL may have chosen to go after Google knowing the U. S. Ninth Circuit has a reputation as America's most liberal venue. The DOL filed discrimination lawsuits against Palantir in September for alleged systematic hiring discrimination against Asian job applicants and sued Oracle in January claiming that the company paid white men more than other racial groups. Both company deny the charges as "politically motivated. "


Convinced that previous snow plowing policies were "sexist," the city government of the Swedish capital of Stockholm recently implemented a "feminist" system for clearing it. It ended in disaster and the city came to an absolute standstill. For a start, four times as many people than usual were hospitalized for snow-related injuries. Nearly as importantly, countless workers, most of them men, were prevented from getting to work. It would appear that the patriarchy-backed snow won, as local politicians ended up apologizing for the havoc-causing changes. Havoc like this: Forgetting that motor vehicles are often more impeded by snow than pedestrians (and create a greater safety risk), municipal resources, which had already been increased, were diverted to clearing bicycle paths and sidewalks and away from main roads. Areas like schools were also prioritized, which again ignores the frequently greater ease of walking in snow than driving in it, plus the longer distances car commuters face compared to children, mothers and other women walking to places. The situation is quite plainly moronic for a further reason: non-main roads and other parts of a city take up much more space, meaning that the Swedish capital's snow removal teams were targeting a far larger, less densely used zone. To boot, this was all during a November already breaking records for snowfall . The saga in Stockholm reads like an microcosm of feminism itself: an over-educated (meaning under-educated) group of leftists come together, create "data" based on feelings, and produce a plan of action that screws up an entire community. Feminists in Stockholm had previously complained that the thoroughfares cleaned up first and most extensively by snowplows were the ones heavily used by men. How they came to this conclusion is unclear but, given the shutdown of the city that resulted from the feminist changes, it wasn't based on any solid reasoning. With private cars and public transport vehicles alike unable to move in many cases, the "female-friendly" snow-clearing ended up adversely impacting far more people, including women, than the old one. Well done, feminists and white knights. What this says about Sweden Is it really surprising that one of the people responsible for Stockholm's "female-friendly" snow plowing scandal, Mayor Karin Wanngård, is a feminist and career politician who first joined the council in her teens? Because Sweden is perhaps the most concentrated welfare state in the world, not having people at their jobs and instead stuck in snow is a very bad thing. How can a country continue to pay such a large bill for handouts with elected representatives of the caliber of Stockholm's trying to ruin things? Sweden is also home to a growing class of low-skilled migrant communities, including many tens of thousands from the most recent Mediterranean waves last year. Its recent migrant population is now essentially the same proportionally-speaking as states more typically associated with multiculturalism, such as Canada and Australia. And non-ethnic Swedes in Sweden tend to come from more troublesome cultures, compared to the more assimilation-friendly East Asians and Indians emigrating to Canada and Australia. How Sweden intends to deal with issues like this while balancing urgent economic needs remains to be seen, especially with brain-dead initiatives like the snow plow fiasco taking precedence. Add to the mix the recent creation of a "mansplaining" hotline by a Swedish labor union and you start to see the "real" problems Scandinavia's most basketcase society is trying to solve. So who was organizing the snow plowing–and actually doing it? Yup, you guessed it, it's a man driving. There's no doubt that the feminist snow plowing scheme was an unmitigated disaster. And it's also extremely likely that the vast majority of people tasked with clearing Stockholm's streets are men. Oh, the irony. Not only do feminist politicians try to preference women in the removal of snow, they expect men to do the work in achieving it. Just as sanitation workers and garbage collectors are invariably male, don't expect to catch too many female snowplow operators and other snow-clearing employees in Stockholm. Wake up, Sweden Swedish multiculturalism in action. Stockholm's snow removal catastrophe is emblematic of a country refusing to deal with its real malaise. While the men who built Sweden are categorized as would-be oppressors, Swedish society itself is close to breaking point. Even Stockholm's central train station is now terribly unsafe and various city police forces have long made it known that they do not have control of many suburbs. In particular, Malmö, Sweden's third city, and certain districts of Stockholm are notorious for ethnic ghettos, gang violence, rape, and other crime. But no, mansplaining hotlines and not removing snow in a new, feminist way are the clear and present dangers most Swedes should fear at night.


Europe Hopes for Clinton Win for More Deals With Iran November 01, 2016 Europe Hopes for Clinton Win for More Deals With Iran  After a year of disappointment, European businesses are hoping a victory for Hillary Clinton in the U.S. election next week may help break the logjam that has prevented large-scale Western investments in Iran since the opening of its economy. While no one in Europe is predicting a flurry of new deals should Clinton defeat her Republican rival Donald Trump on Nov. 8 A win for the Democrat would remove some of the political clouds hanging over last year's nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Business groups say this could help fuel a more aggressive push into the Iranian market in 2017, especially in the second half of the year, if a Clinton victory is followed by the re-election of moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani next May.  "If Clinton and Rouhani win, then we will have a political window of opportunity that is much bigger than we have now," said Matthieu Etourneau, who advises French firms on the Iranian market for MEDEF International, the French employers group.  "This is what the European banks and companies are waiting for," he said.  Back in January, when the United States and Europe lifted sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, the excitement in Europe's business community was palpable.  With a population of 78 million and annual output higher than that of Thailand, Iran was the biggest economy to rejoin the global trading and financial system since the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.  European politicians flocked to Tehran with dozens of corporate executives in tow. Rouhani, a pragmatist elected in 2013 on a platform to reduce Iran's isolation, traveled to Paris and Rome to promote his country to eager investors.  But within months the euphoria had vanished, replaced by frustration on both sides.  BIGGEST OBSTACLE TO IRAN DEAL: US LAWS  The biggest obstacle for European firms seeking to do business in Iran has been the reluctance of the continent's largest banks to finance deals out of fear they could run afoul of U.S. sanctions and incur massive penalties down the line.  The United States has taken steps to reassure the banks. Last month the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued new guidance to allay concerns about doing U.S. dollar transactions with Iran.  READ MORE: DONALD TRUMP SAYS THAT HILLARY CLINTON'S FOREIGN POLICY WILL LEAD TO WORLD WAR THREE  But Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged at a think-tank event in London this week that banks remained skittish. German officials raised their concerns about the hurdles during a recent visit by U.S. sanctions coordinator Daniel Fried.  This caution is likely to persist, regardless of who is sitting in the White House. Beyond the issue of sanctions, the poor state of Iranian banks after a decade outside the international financial system, the strong state role in the economy and a lack of clarity about the legal system are all deterrents to foreigners.  "Everyone knows now that this will be a long, step-by-step process to build up our economic ties," said Friedolin Strack, head of international markets at the Federation of German Industries (BDI).  Still, a Clinton victory would be a reassuring signal to Europe. Her close adviser Jake Sullivan was a key figure in the secret negotiations in Oman that paved the way for the landmark agreement that curbed Iran's disputed nuclear activity, and she has defended it during the election campaign.  Trump, by contrast, has called it "one of the worst deals ever made" and promised to renegotiate it if he is elected. Bankers say the risk of the deal unraveling under a Trump presidency has contributed to the reticence in Europe.  Recently however, there have been signs of movement.  Smaller German banks, pressed by their clients to support them in Iran, are beginning to offer limited financing and payment services.  "Medium-sized banks that finance the German Mittelstand have a great deal of interest in Iran business and are preparing the groundwork intensively," said Siegfried Utzig, acting head of economic policy and international affairs at the Association of German Banks (BvB). "We can see the light at the end of the tunnel but it's still quite far away." Article by Doc Burkhart , Vice-President, General Manager and co-host of TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles Got a news tip? Email us at Help support the ministry of TRUNEWS with your one-time or monthly gift of financial support. DONATE NOW ! DOWNLOAD THE TRUNEWS MOBILE APP! CLICK HERE! Donate Today! Support TRUNEWS to help build a global news network that provides a credible source for world news  We believe Christians need and deserve their own global news network to keep the worldwide Church informed, and to offer Christians a positive alternative to the anti-Christian bigotry of the mainstream news media Top Stories