Implicated in five corruption scandals since the 1990s but never convicted, the speaker of Indonesia s parliament Setya Novanto is a political survivor. Last week Novanto was detained by anti-corruption investigators over the biggest graft scandal to hit Indonesia s legislature. The 62-year-old political powerbroker was defiant, denying any wrongdoing and urging parliament and the political party he leads not to unseat him. His lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, expressed confidence that Novanto would be cleared. In every court we always win, Yunadi told Reuters. But the latest allegations against Novanto have reinforced the perception among Indonesians that their parliament, long regarded as riddled with entrenched corruption, is a failing institution. Politicians and analysts say that is unlikely to change, whatever the outcome of the case. Before Setya Novanto, there were many, many MPs who were put in jail and it didn t have an effect, said Eva Sundari, a member of parliament from the PDI-P party, which sits in the ruling coalition alongside Novanto s Golkar. A Corruption Eradication Commission, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, was established in 2002 after the demise of authoritarian president Suharto. Fiercely independent and able to wiretap suspects without a warrant, it has been a thorn in the side of the country s establishment. But Bob Lowry, an Indonesia analyst at the Australian Institute of International Affairs, said that - the KPK aside - there has never been a systemic approach to tackling corruption that he says runs through all layers of government and politics. You are not dealing with individuals, you are dealing with an entire structure and culture. he said. Novanto is accused of orchestrating a scheme to plunder $173 million, or almost 40 percent of the entire budget for the project, from a government contract to introduce a national electronic identity card. Novanto denies any wrongdoing, writing a letter to other parliament leaders after he was detained asking them to give me an opportunity to prove that I wasn t involved . According to an indictment filed against Novanto s alleged bagman, businessman Andi Agustinus, they stood to be personally enriched to the tune of $42 million. Agustinus has not yet commented on the allegations or entered any plea. He is due to appear in court this week to answer the charges. The rest of the money was funneled to as many as 60 lawmakers, as well as officials, party chiefs, parliamentary staffers and tenderers, according to the KPK, which alleges some of the cash was brazenly divided up in parliamentary meeting rooms. In August a witness in the probe, a U.S.-based consultant to a company that won a contract to supply biometric technology for the identity cards - ironically aimed, in part, at curbing graft - shot himself after a stand-off with police in Los Angeles. Before his death, Johannes Marliem told KPK officers about meeting Novanto at his Jakarta home in 2011, according to a declaration to a court in Minnesota by a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent, at which the parliament speaker negotiated a discount under which he and Agustinus would get a 40 percent share of a contract worth more than $50 million. Marliem is also alleged to have said he had brought Novanto a $135,000 Richard Mille watch and showed the agent a photo of Novanto wearing it. A consummate political operator, Novanto is a key link between parliament and the government of President Joko Widodo, who is expected to seek re-election in 2019, said Hugo Brennan, Asia analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. He gained a measure of international prominence in September 2015 when Donald Trump, then a U.S. presidential candidate, hailed him as an amazing man at a news conference in Trump Tower in New York. Two months later he resigned from the speaker s post after a recording of a meeting emerged in which he was alleged to have attempted to extort $4 billion of shares from the U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan. The case got blanket media coverage and hearings were televised live. Within a year, however, Novanto was speaker again after the Constitutional Court ruled the recording inadmissible. Novanto s detention last week came after months of declining to answer summonses for questioning by the KPK. The allegations have once more gripped Indonesia, with newspaper front pages splashing the story and memes mocking Novanto trending on social media. Indonesia was ranked last year at 90 out of 176 countries on Transparency International s corruption perception index. The watchdog has singled out parliament as Indonesia s most corrupt institution, and in July called on President Widodo to protect the KPK against attempts by the legislature to weaken the commission s powers. Critics inside and outside the parliament say the root problem is money politics, which is underpinned by an open-ticket electoral system and campaign financing laws. These laws allow only tiny amounts of public funding, and do not require public disclosure of individual donors, which some lawmakers say perpetuates a system of funding from illicit sources and financial patronage for favors. The open-ticket voting system encourages candidates to spread largesse to voters and community leaders and then recoup the expenditure if they reach parliament, says the PDI-P s Sundari. Lawmaker Aryo Djojohadikusumo told Reuters that, with members of parliament holding the power to micromanage and approve the budgets of individual projects, the temptation to engage in pork-barrel politics is extremely high . However, he believes that parliament s reputation as corrupt has been magnified by the KPK s zeal in going after politicians, who make more headlines than low-level bureaucrats. Critics say many members of parliament are so focused on raising money for future campaigns and personal enrichment that the legislature is not doing its job. According to watchdog Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), lawmakers in Southeast Asia s biggest economy have ratified just five of 50 priority bills this year. If you want to see Indonesia free of corruption, Fahri Hamzah, one of parliament s vice speakers, told Reuters, you have to start tackling the political financing.


Joe Biden once again demonstrated why the American people love him so much.During her confirmation hearing, Betsy DeVos was grilled by the Senate. Her lack of qualifications and opposition to public education made it clear that she should not be the Secretary of Education. But her family has bought politicians over the years so it s surprise that she had enough Republicans in her pocket to narrowly get confirmed.One of the big questions DeVos refused to answer was about sexual assault on college campuses. Under the Obama Administration, Title IX was interpreted to also mean that colleges must work to stop sexual assault on campus. When asked about this, Devos balked. Senator, I know that there s a lot of conflicting ideas and opinions around that guidance and if confirmed I would look forward to working with you and your colleagues and understand the range of opinion and understand the issues from the higher-ed institutions that are charged with resolving these and addressing them and I would look forward to working together to find some resolutions, DeVos said.After being pressed to answer, DeVos replied, It would be premature for me to do that today. After being confirmed, she finally answered the question by revoking the guidance set up by President Obama and declared on the Department of Education website, This is an issue best solved at the state and local level. In other words, DeVos is perfectly happy to continue letting rape culture continue on college campuses. She won t lift a finger to help women.And that makes Joe Biden angry. It bothers me most if Secretary DeVos is going to really dumb down Title IX enforcement, Biden told Teen Vogue. The real message, the real frightening message you re going to send out is, our culture says it s OK. You know, the major reason why women drop out of college when they re a freshman is because of sexual assault. Not their grades, sexual assault. And so, it would be devastating. Biden went on to slam DeVos for enabling rapists and said parents should not have to worry about safety on college campuses.No father or mother should drop their kid off this late August, early September at their first day at college and drive away worried [if she is] going to be safe. Parents don t drive away saying, Is she going to do all right in school? Is she academically qualified? Will she show up for class? How well is she going to do? That s not the conversation going on. The conversation that s going on is, is she going to be safe? That is an obligation of the school, and Title IX is the vehicle, and when Secretary DeVos by her silence didn t affirm that rape and sexual assault are forms of sexual discrimination God, if anything is sexual discrimination, it s rape and assault. And that s why schools have an obligation under Title IX to prevent this from happening.Indeed, parents should only have to worry about how well their daughters will do in school, not about if some asshole is going to violate their bodies.By ignoring sexual assault on college campuses, Betsy DeVos is part of the problem. And when young women are raped and the rapists get away with it, DeVos should be held responsible. She is in a position of power to do something about this and if she won t do it she should be dragged into court alongside the rapist.Featured Image: Mark Wilson/Getty Images


A California federal judge on Friday strongly questioned the U.S. Justice Department over whether to suspend an order by President Donald Trump to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities for immigrants. U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick III questioned the purpose of the president's order as he heard arguments from two large California counties and the Justice Department in San Francisco federal court. Both counties have asked for a nationwide preliminary injunction to the order. As part of a larger plan to transform how the United States deals with immigration and national security, Trump in January signed an order targeting cities and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Sanctuary cities in general offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Sanctuary city is not an official designation. Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities, sued in February, saying Trump's plan to withhold federal funds is unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit. On Friday, the counties described the order as a "weapon to cancel all funding to jurisdictions," said John Keker, an attorney representing Santa Clara County. "All around the country, including here, people are having to deal with this right now." Santa Clara County receives roughly $1.7 billion in federal and federally dependent funds annually, about 35 percent of its total revenues. The county argued that every day it is owed millions of dollars of federal funding, and its budgetary planning process had been thrown into disarray by the order. The Justice Department said the counties had taken an overly broad interpretation of the president's order, which would impact only Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security funds, a fraction of the grant money received by the counties. The government also argued that there had been no enforcement action to date, and it was unclear what actions against the counties would entail. Judge Orrick asked the government what was the purpose of an executive order, if it only impacted a small amount of county funding. Attorneys for the government said the order had highlighted issues that the Trump Administration deeply cared about and a national policy priority. To win a nationwide injunction, local governments must demonstrate a high level of harm, the Justice Department noted in court filings last month.


A litany of celebrities braved temperatures to attend President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama's final party at the White House on Friday. [The crowd at the Obama's farewell bash included George and Amal Clooney, Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, Stevie Wonder, David Letterman, George Lucas, Paul McCartney, and many more. Cell phones were reportedly confiscated, forcing stars to snap and post photos and videos to their social media accounts from outside the White House. "Stumbling out of the White House at 4am after an incredible night celebrating 8 incredible years," wrote actress Olivia Wilde in a Twitter post in which she was posing next to her partner, actor Jason Sudeikis. Stumbling out of the White House at 4am after an incredible night celebrating 8 incredible years. 😭 A photo posted by Olivia Wilde (@oliviawilde) on Jan 7, 2017 at 2:10am PST, "The one party we'll wait in line to get into," wrote Dj Cassidy in an Instagram post featuring Singer John Legend and his wife, model Chrissy Teigen, and Jerry Seinfeld and his wife. The one party we'll wait in line to get into … @johnlegend @chrissyteigen @jerryseinfeld @jessseinfeld @mimisam28 #whitehouse, A photo posted by djcassidy (@djcassidy) on Jan 7, 2017 at 2:20am PST, Musicians Usher, Kelly Rowland, and Wale, who often collaborated with Michelle Obama on her high education initiative, posed for a photo alongside Saturday Night Live alum Jay Pharoah and TV personality La La Anthony. When the squad takes over The White House #squadgoals 💪🏽 A photo posted by LaLa (@lala) on Jan 7, 2017 at 9:22am PST, Bruce Springsteen, Bradley Cooper, J. J. Abrams, Oprah, Gloria Estefan, Tyler Perry, Robert De Niro, Jon Hamm, Ken Burns, Al Roker, Chris Rock, and Lena Dunham were also in attendance. Sports mogul Magic Johnson, fashion icon Anna Wintour, Hollywood super producer Harvey Weinstein, and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels also made an appearance at Friday night's bash, which lasted well into the night. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson.


The cockpit voice recorder from the EgyptAir flight that crashed in the Mediterranean last month has been recovered, according to a statement Thursday by Egyptian investigators. The recovery of the black box came a day after the Egyptian Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee announced that searchers had found wreckage from the doomed Flight 804 scattered along the seabed. The French Bureau of Investigations and Analyses at the civil aviation authority confirmed that the cockpit voice recorder had been found. All 66 people aboard the Airbus A320 jetliner bound for Cairo from Paris were killed in the crash on May 19, as the plane was near the end of its trip, in Egyptian airspace. The investigation committee said in a statement that the cockpit voice recorder had been found in a "damaged state. " A team aboard the search vessel John Lethbridge, owned by Deep Ocean Search, was able to recover parts of the recorder, including its memory card. The statement said that the device would be sent to prosecutors and investigators in Alexandria, Egypt, and then to the investigative committee's lab for analysis. Investigators are expected to spend the coming days removing, drying and testing the circuits of the voice recorder's flash memory chip before trying to download its contents for analysis. If the recordings are readable, investigators can begin transcribing the conversations of the crew and other cockpit sounds captured — roughly two hours of data, which could provide clues about what happened during the plane's descent. Air traffic controllers have said the crew did not communicate any emergency to the ground before radio contact was lost and the plane disappeared from their radar screens. Underwater search teams will also continue to scour the wreckage for the second black box, the flight data recorder, which tracks more than 1, 000 different data points, including the plane's position, speed, altitude and direction when it began to experience difficulties. Investigators located the cockpit voice recorder, along with several sections of aircraft wreckage, less than two weeks after search teams first detected signals from its underwater beacons, which emit a distinctive metronomic "ping. " Provided the second recorder is found undamaged, investigators can try to synchronize its data with the voice recorder's to make a timeline of what happened in the flight's final moments. Since the start of the underwater search, however, investigators have only been able to isolate the pings of a single recorder, suggesting that the beacon on the flight data recorder either may not be emitting a signal, or that something — perhaps a large piece of wreckage or rock formations on the seabed — is muting or obstructing its propagation. Egyptian investigators have said that the batteries powering the EgyptAir jet's beacons should last until around June 24. The chairman of EgyptAir, Safwat Musallam, said Thursday that "the search team has not picked up anything from the flight data recorder," but he welcomed the news of the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder. "Of course, thank God, they found something," Mr. Musallam said. "I was worried they wouldn't, but I just want quick results. I just want to know what caused this. " Mr. Musallam also said that he had been in touch regularly with the families of the passengers aboard Flight 804 and that after the discovery Thursday, they are "doing better after this, more or less. " Wagdy Gerges, a relative of one of the victims, said families were hoping that the information from the voice recorder would "settle things and help them process what happened. " "We want to know what will be heard," Mr. Gerges said. "Was it a bomb? The exact details don't matter to us because they are all gone. We just want to know the main cause. "


The plot thickens with the saga of the IT workers who worked for Democrats like Debbie Wasserman Schultz. They had access to congressional emails and were quite shady. They made millions just disappear. Is this a case of money laundering to fund terrorism?The Daily Caller s Luke Rosiak described it best with this tweet: Need to take $100k in Hezbollah-linked cash while you can read intelligence committee members emails, as their IT guy? Set up a used car dealership with fake staff, launder it from Iraq thru realtors commissions, and lie about it on House disclosures. Daily Caller reports:The used car dealership known as CIA never seemed like an ordinary car dealership, with inventory, staff and expenses.On its Facebook page, CIA s staff were fake personalities such as James Falls O Brien, whose photo was taken from a hairstyle model catalog, and Jade Julia, whose image came from a web page called Beautiful Girls Wallpaper. If a customer showed up looking to buy a car from Cars International A, often referred to as CIA, Abid Awan who was managing partner of the dealership while also earning $160,000 handling IT for House Democrats would frequently simply go across the street to longstanding dealership called AAA Motors and get one. If AAA borrows a car to Cars International and they have a customer, it was simply take the car across the street and sell it, and then later on give the profit back or not, Nasir Khattak, who ran the longstanding AAA dealership, testified in a lawsuit. There was no documentation which is write every transaction that takes place. If you go and try to dissect, you will not be able to make any sense out of them because there were many, dozens and dozens, of cars transferred between the two dealerships and between other people. Khattak did not explain why he would ruin his existing business to help the Awans. All of those transactions was to support Cars International A from AAA Motors, he testified. That s why I did not make any money from my dealership because my resources were supporting Cars International A. He said only Imran Awan knew what became of the money. It was Imram, [Abid] Awan s brother, who was running the business in full control, he said.Imran Awan and his family members were congressional IT aides who investigators said made unauthorized access to the House Democratic Caucus server thousands of times. At the same time as they worked for and could read all the emails of members of the House intelligence, homeland security and foreign affairs committees, they also ran a car dealership that took money from a Hezbollah-linked fugitive and whose financial books were indecipherable and business patterns bizarre, according to testimony in court records.While Imran and Abid Awan ran their car dealership in Falls Church, Va. in the early part of the decade, Drug Enforcement Agency officials a few miles away in Chantilly were learning that the Iranian-linked terrorist group frequently deployed used car dealerships in the US to launder money and fund terrorism, according to an explosive new Politico expose.The money that disappeared between the Awans dealership, some $7 million in congressional pay, the equipment suspected of disappearing from Congress under their watch, and their other side businesses all while they displayed few signs of wealth and frequently haggled in court over small amounts of money raise questions about whether the Awans might have been laundering money or sending it to a third party.


U.S. immigration officials have kicked off a new round of raids intended to deport hundreds of Central American mothers and children who have entered the country illegally, according to a legal group that works with the immigrants. Immigration enforcement officers as of Friday had arrested about 40 women and children encompassing at least 18 Central American family groups in Texas, North Carolina, South Dakota and possibly other states, said Laura Lichter, an immigration lawyer and a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Reuters reported on May 12 that the raids were planned for May and June and likely would be the largest deportation sweep targeting immigrant families by the administration of President Barack Obama this year after similar raids in which 121 people were arrested over two days in January. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea declined to confirm that the new round of raids had begun but defended the administration's deportation operations as a whole. "We stress that these operations are limited to those who were apprehended at the border after January 1, 2014, have been ordered removed by an immigration court, and have no pending appeal or pending claim for asylum," Elzea said. The immigrants arrested in the latest raids have been sent to two ICE detention centers in Texas, according to Belle Woods, a spokeswoman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The deportation operations are intended to deter illegal immigration from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and curb crossings of the U.S.-Mexican border by Central Americans, U.S. officials have said. Lichter said ICE was not following its own policy in the raids. "It's the same thing we saw in January. These people deserve asylum, but didn't get a proper chance to have their cases heard," Lichter said. The issue of illegal immigration has figured prominently in the U.S. presidential campaign, with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump promising to deport all roughly 11 million people who are in the United States illegally. The White House on May 13 defended its deportation policy after complaints from Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and congressional leaders that the sweep targeting Central American illegal immigrants is inhumane. "I'm against large-scale raids that tear families apart and sow fear in communities," Clinton said at the time.


When Johnathan Smith resigned from the U.S. Justice Department on Inauguration Day, he looked forward to spending time with his infant son, but that plan unraveled a week later when President Donald Trump unveiled his explosive foreign travel ban. Within two weeks, Smith had a new job as legal director of civil rights group Muslim Advocates and was drafting briefs for a successful court challenge to the ban, joining other former top Obama administration lawyers now fighting Trump. It is not surprising that Smith and some of his colleagues, political appointees of Democratic President Barack Obama, would leave the Justice Department now led by Republicans. What is unusual is how fast they have signed up to be Trump adversaries. Some Republican lawyers say they were less hasty in moving into oppositional roles post-election. George Terwilliger, a senior Justice Department official under President George H.W. Bush, described the Obama lawyers' actions as "unprecedented to my memory – and really bad form." One reason for the Obama lawyers' quick moves, some of them said, was Trump's aggressive use of executive authority from day one, which was guaranteed to attract court challenges. Obama faced legal fights over executive power and some of his challengers were formerly lawyers for President George W. Bush, over issues such as immigration and Obamacare. But those came later in Obama's presidency. Besides Smith, other lawyers who have jumped into the fray include former Attorney General Eric Holder, who is advising California's legislature on challenging Trump over immigration, environmental regulations and healthcare; and former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, who is helping Hawaii contest Trump's revised travel ban. Influential Manhattan prosecutor Preet Bharara and another 45 Obama-era U.S. attorneys are out of jobs after the Trump administration asked them to resign on Friday. Many of the Obama lawyers keep in touch, but reject the notion, proffered by some Republicans, that Obama is behind resistance efforts. Some of the lawyers credit their rapid transition to Trump's hardline positions on key issues and to ethical concerns about his presidency and business interests. "There's a unique threat to our democracy and Constitution that we see in the assault the president is mounting on the Muslim community," said Smith, who worked on religious discrimination issues at the Justice Department. Norman Eisen, who was Obama's top ethics lawyer and later ambassador to the Czech Republic, had expected to focus on his work at a think tank after Trump's election. But instead, he said, "the ethics emergency of constitutional dimensions has galvanized me back into my initial Obama role." Eisen is now also chairing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group he co-founded. The group has already sued Trump over alleged ethics violations. Other Obama appointees taking on Trump include former White House lawyer Ian Bassin who has founded United to Protect Democracy, a new group probing Trump over ethics; and James Cadogan, who worked with Smith at the Justice Department, and is now at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, a civil rights group already clashing with the new administration. Some career government lawyers, who are not political appointees and normally do not resign in power shifts, have also resigned to oppose Trump. One is Sharon McGowan, who worked on LGBT issues at the Justice Department. On Inauguration Day, she was offered a job as director of strategy at Lambda Legal, an LGBT advocacy group. McGowan said she decided to leave Justice when Trump named Jeff Sessions, a hardline conservative Alabama senator, to be attorney general. That was a "game-changer," she said. "I knew there would be no chance for me to preserve what I've been working on so hard."


Whales, elephants of the deep with fins the size of sheds and flukes prepared to consecrate nearby trollers.  Queen of clubs, thin, black hair razored at edges slinking hats and vests, Fells Point.  A hat, Napoleonic or Yellowbeard typhoon, skink darting palmettos, hummingbird at Roth's feeder hanging above the lake house deck just before, just before its earth curved beak injects ink into twilight, just before the tightly wound shatters the silence, just before wings crackle and refuel themselves, of Italian cabinet members misbehaving with washer women, just before a tumor threatened civilization as we know it, just before the curtain was made of iron, just before we found the bomb and the bomb found the money, or was it the other way around?  with new technology: tape recorders, answering machines and Pentagon Papers; governments took things for granted, until things got out of hand Most are regrouping, reincorporating, in hopes of positive returns on their investments.  You didn't think they were complete idiots, now, did you?


Austria s new coalition government of conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party will be sworn in on Monday at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT), President Alexander Van der Bellen s office said on Saturday.


What do you think? Do you agree with Rick Santorum, or should we allow illegal aliens to enjoy all of the same benefits as American citizens simply because they or their parents made it across our US border without getting caught?Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) can t speak to whether President-elect Donald Trump plans to deport undocumented immigrants en masse beginning next year, but he has made one thing clear: People who came to the U.S. illegally as children, also known as Dreamers, should just leave the U.S. if they re worried about their immigration status.Elizabeth Vilchis, a mechanical engineer who said she came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 7 years old, asked Santorum about Trump s immigration plans on Tuesday night during a town hall event with CNN s Van Jones. She asked Santorum how he would advise her to plan for her future.He began his reply by talking about his father, who left Mussolini s Italy to come to the U.S. when he was 7 years old even though, Santorum said, he wasn t allowed to come because of the immigration laws at the time. Then he began to address Vilchis specifically. What most people in America feel is that you ve been given a tremendous benefit by being here in this country, Santorum said, adding that he imagined she wouldn t have had to opportunities to accomplish what you have in her country of origin. My final point is that you have the ability to go to any other country right now and apply those wares, and be successful, and reapply to come back to America, Santorum added. Go and make the world a better place. CNN contributor Ana Navarro butted in. First of all, this is your country, she said. No matter what he says, no matter what anybody else says, this is your country. That s not what the law says, Santorum replied. As much as I m sympathetic to you, you should recognize the gift that America has given you and that you can give to the world. HP@Jorgesays @RickSantorum I'll chip in good money to send Santorum to another country. Any country. Cindy Hargest (@CindyHargest) December 7, 2016No decent country would take him. Lyle (@lyledal) December 7, 2016This broke my heart. "You got your education, now get out." This woman is as American as you Rick. Dave Harrell (@daveharrell16) December 7, 2016Send disgusting @RickSantorum back to Italy. iburl (@iburl) December 7, 2016


Share on Twitter  YouTube sensation Eugenia Cooney is being slammed by many of her near 900,000 fans for "negatively influencing" followers with her frail frame.  In fact, a Change.org petition was recently created to temporarily ban Cooney from YouTube due to her thinness "triggering her fan base."  The petition has garnered over 9,000 signatures and explains that it wasn't created to insult her, rather, people are hoping she takes a break from YouTube to get the help she needs.  It reads , in part:  "Eugenia Cooney has a serious medical condition and needs to seek help. She has been influencing her viewers by her serious underweight condition. She has not been getting better since the day she started YouTube, she's getting more and more sick each day. And it's honestly like she does this bodily harm to herself and shows young girls, such as her viewers on social media that it is 'okay', to be suffering from a medical condition such as Anorexia-Nervosa. It is physically & medically to be that skinny without denying treatment such as she does. She has not got any treatment. And is triggering her fan base.  She may not be intentionally influencing her viewers, but showing more than 50% of her body in her videos and pictures are not helping girls with Anorexia or any eating disorder." A photo posted by Eugenia Cooney (@eugeniacooney) on Sep 23, 2016 at 6:24pm PDT  What's more heartbreaking is the fact nearly all comments on her YouTube videos and social media pages are negative.  Here are just a few of the jabs made at Cooney on her most recent video, uploaded October 26th:  "I just realized she can't make her thighs touch no matter how hard she tries."  "She's so skinny her butt cheeks don't even touch each other."  "No...just, no. I'm sorry but I can't look at you anymore. You need help! You're actually scaring me!"  "Wow! That's the most realistic skeleton costume ever!"  Cooney responded to the negative comments last week in a video title, "I'm Sorry." She explained that she's used to getting a lot of hate on the Internet, but lately, it seems like she's upsetting a lot of people:  "It really sucks, a lot, to feel like a lot of the Internet really hates you." A photo posted by Eugenia Cooney (@eugeniacooney) on Oct 18, 2016 at 9:28am PDT  Cooney added in the description box the following statement:  "I just wanted to make this because I'm really sorry to everyone who is angry or upset with me and I'm really not trying to do anything wrong! I've never tried to influence anyone badly and I never encourage people to try to look like me or to look like anyone so that's why I'm making this video since some people are saying that about me which can be really upsetting.  I love you guys and everyone who does support me and who is nice on here, you guys mean so much to me! I just wish people would be less hateful and be more positive and everyone who is positive you guys are so great. Thank you to the people who care about me though, I definitely am fine and am not dead or anything like that! Haha I love you guys!"  According to the Change.org petition , her fan base consists of primarily 12- to 21-year-olds, who allegedly "thrive" on photos of her thin body. A photo posted by Eugenia Cooney (@eugeniacooney) on Aug 24, 2016 at 12:33pm PDT  Erin Hillard, program manager of the University of Notre Dame's Body Image and Eating Disorder Lab, told Yahoo Beauty that even if she's not intentionally "promoting" her lifestyle, her audience is likely seeking to emulate her look:  "We know that media images have the power to influence girls' eating behaviors and feelings about their body, and it does seem as though YouTube is more and more becoming another form of media that pushes products and lifestyles on young girls. I think it's reasonable to be concerned that viewing her channel could have a negative impact on girls who may already be struggling with body image issues. The life of a YouTube celebrity is often presented as very glamorous and fabulous, and young girls may look up to that and think that Eugenia's appearance is something they should be striving for to achieve her level of success." A photo posted by Eugenia Cooney (@eugeniacooney) on Oct 25, 2016 at 4:02pm PDT  Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health found eating disorders frequently occur during teenage years, with women 2.5 times more likely to suffer from eating disorders than their male counterparts.


A man died at an apartment party on early Saturday morning in Brooklyn after falling through a screen window on the building's fourth floor, the police said. It was the second falling death of the night in Brooklyn. Earlier, a boy died and another boy was injured after falling from the rooftop of a building nearby in Bushwick. The police said the two boys may have been trying to jump from one building to another. The man, Wyatt Tyler, had fallen after leaning against the screen window in an apartment on Metropolitan Avenue between Olive and Catherine Streets in the East Williamsburg neighborhood, officials said. He lived nearby on the same street. The police said they received a 911 call around 2:30 a. m. and arrived to find Mr. Tyler unconscious and unresponsive on the street. Emergency medical technicians took him to Woodhull Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The falling death involving the teenager happened around 5:30 p. m. on Friday at 57 Grove Street, a multistory building about two miles away near Bushwick Avenue, the police said. The boys were found in the back of the building. The police previously reported the episode happened around 4:30 p. m. The police said one of the teenagers was unconscious and had severe trauma to his head and body. The other was semiconscious and had injuries to his pelvis. The first boy was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital Center, and the other was conscious and alert, the police said. Their names were not immediately made available. In January last year, a girl died after she tried to jump from one rooftop to another in Midtown Manhattan and fell five stories, the police said.


U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to allow national monument designations to be rescinded or reduce the size of sites as the administration pushes to open up more federal land to drilling, mining and other development. Trump's order is part of an effort to reverse many of the environmental protections implemented by his predecessor, Democratic President Barack Obama that Trump said were hobbling economic growth. Trump's agenda is being cheered by industry but enraging conservationists. Legal challenges are expected because no president has ever rescinded a monument designation. In announcing the order on Wednesday Republican Trump said Obama's use of the 1906 Antiquities Act to create monuments was an "egregious abuse of federal power" that allowed the federal government to "lock up" millions of acres of land and water. The Antiquities Act gives a president the authority to create national monuments from federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features. "Today we're putting the states back in charge," Trump said, adding that they should decide which land is protected and which is open for development. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters late Tuesday the order requires him to review about 30 national monuments created over the past two decades, and recommend which designations should be lifted or altered. The monuments covered under the review will range from the Grand Staircase created by President Bill Clinton in 1996 to the Bears Ears created by Obama in December 2016, both in Utah. Zinke said he will seek local feedback before making recommendations, adding that reversing a monument designation could be tricky. "It is untested, as you know, whether the president can do that," Zinke said. President Woodrow Wilson reduced the size of Washington state's Mount Olympus National Monument in 1915, arguing there was an urgent need for timber at the time. Zinke said he will review the Bears Ears monument first and make a recommendation to the president in 45 days. He has 120 days to issue a full report on all monuments to the president. Bears Ears protects Native American cultural heritage and sacred sites. Obama created the Bears Ears monument in the final days of his administration. Utah's governor and the state's congressional delegation opposed the designation, saying it was done against the wishes of citizens eager for development. Utah Governor Gary Herbert, and Senators Mike Lee and Orin Hatch, all Republicans, stood beside Trump as he signed the order. Trump said the lawmakers lobbied him for the order. Bears Ears is near where Texas-based EOG Resources Inc has been approved to drill. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan praised the order. "I commend the Trump administration for stopping this cycle of executive abuse and beginning a review of past designations," he said. Conservation and tribal groups were critical. "With this review, the Trump Administration is walking into a legal, political and moral mine field," said Kate Kelly, public lands director for the Center for American Progress. Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, warned Zinke not to make an "ideological" decision. He said previous monuments were decided "after years of close federal consultation with multiple local stakeholders." The five Native American tribes that pushed to create the Bears Ears monument to protect ancestral land said they will fight to protect it. The Outdoor Industry Association, the trade group of the recreation industry, also attacked the order. The group has estimated the outdoor recreation economy generates over $887 billion in consumer spending and creates 7.6 million jobs. "Less than 24 hours after joining with our industry to celebrate the economic power of outdoor recreation, in a hypocritical move, the Trump administration took unprecedented steps that could result in the removal of protections for treasured public lands," said Rose Marcario, chief executive of outdoor gear retailer Patagonia. On Friday, before the close of Trump's first 100 days in office, he is expected to sign an executive order that would review offshore areas available for offshore oil and gas exploration that have been restricted by previous presidents. (This version of the story has been refiled to delete extraneous text in paragraph 17)


Newborn Baby Kidnapped from Alabama Hospital After Parents Decline Birth Certificate and SSN Christian and Danielle Holm – on a mountaintop in 2015. Photo source: Christian Holm's Facebook page .  by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff  Theirs was a spiritual journey of getting back to nature and rejecting the materialism that they felt held them in bondage. Christian and Danielle Holm began their journey together in early 2016 as itinerant missionaries, traveling across the country and speaking to churches as they sought to live simply and biblically.  The last thing that they expected was for Child Protective Services to seize their 1 day old baby literally off of his mother's breast in an Alabama hospital. What started out as an apparent case of mistaken identity has turned into a nightmare that the family cannot wake up from. They don't understand why their baby was taken from them, or why he still remains in state custody in foster care while social workers continue to challenge their religious beliefs.  According to a close family friend who contacted Health Impact News , the couple are grieving.  The most sacred thing to Danielle and Christian is the bond of male and female coming together and giving life with God. This bonding process in the beginning of a baby's life has been stolen from them.  There was never any reason for their baby to be taken from them to begin with, and even now, they have adequate housing and anything else that could ever be needed and they still don't have their baby back. Story Reported in Local Media  The Anniston Star first reported their story on October 13, 2016, just days after the couple's baby was born on Monday, October 10. Excerpt:  Just out of Regional Medical Center, Danielle has a belly still swollen from a pregnancy that ended Monday with the birth of a healthy baby boy.  Her arms, however, are empty. Her son was taken from her the day after he was born and is in the custody of the Cleburne County Department of Human Resources pending a hearing at Cleburne County Courthouse this morning.  "We told them that we were going to do whatever we could," she said as tears ran down her face. "I'm his mother. I'm supposed to be nourishing and bonding with him right now and I can't." Judge Issues Gag Order, Family Friend Contacts Health Impact News  Shortly after the story was reported, District Judge Melody Walker of the Cleburne County Circuit Court issued a gag order on the couple, forbidding them to speak about their case.  Since that time, Health Impact News was contacted by a close family friend who talked to us about the couple and their story. The source, who asked not to be named, made it clear that the information that she gave us was from conversations which occurred before the gag order was placed on Danielle and Christian Holm.  She communicated that the Holms want to cooperate with DHR to do everything that they can to get their baby back. They are heartbroken, and they are scared. The source is concerned that the couple may have unwittingly stumbled into a great deal of corruption, and their baby could be an innocent victim of some sort of trafficking ring. Couple Chooses to Leave Materialism Behind, Pursue Spirituality  Though their simple lifestyle of hiking and backpacking through state parks may suggest otherwise, the Holms come from a background of means and education. 32 year old Danielle holds a triple bachelor's degree in psychology, sociology, and biology. She has worked as a nurse, chiropractic assistant, child and adolescent mental health counselor, personal trainer, and was a group leader for Special Needs children at a youth center. Her husband Christian, 35, comes from a very well-off, politically connected family. He spent several years caring for his ailing grandparents before their deaths.  They met and fell in love after finding common ground online. They decided to make a life together in August of 2015 and moved to New Hampshire together. Both increasingly felt that possessions and materialism were holding them in bondage. After they married in February, they made the conscious decision to give away their possessions to charity and live simply, traveling as itinerant missionaries and getting closer to nature.  Excerpt from The Anniston Star :  The process of surrendering is difficult, though. It took them until May to start travelling, and even then they were driving, he said. They only recently left their car in a storage unit in Montgomery and started walking.  They found the journey amazing; people they met along the way would give them money, food and water to keep going, they said. On the way they stopped at probably 30 churches to talk with people and minister to them, Christian said.  They travelled about five miles a day and ended up camping at Cheaha State Park a few days ago, Christian said. Pulpit Rock at Cheaha State Park. Photo Source: Alabama State Parks They Wanted as Close to Natural Birth as Possible  The expectant couple reportedly sought prenatal care and preparation along the way from midwives, doulas, ob-gyns, and lactation consultants. They researched and read and asked questions.  They considered seeking a midwife in Alabama, since they expected to be in the state when the baby was born, but they found information that told them that midwifery is illegal in Alabama. However, the only reference in the Alabama code to non-nurse-midwifery is in the section governing nurse-midwives, Al Code 34-19-3 (b):  (b) Nothing in subsection (a) of this section shall be construed as to prevent lay midwives holding valid health department permits from engaging in the practice of lay midwifery as heretofore provided until such time as the permit may be revoked by the county board of health.  There is no definition of lay or other non-nurse midwives, such as traditional midwives, in the Alabama statutes. Because of conflicting information in the media and online, the Holms did not know that having a traditional midwife was an option open to them. Instead, they prepared for an unassisted, husband-coached, natural lotus birth, planning to birth as closely to nature as possible.  When Danielle went into labor, they had been camping for several days at Cheaha State Park in Cleburne County, Alabama. After 2 days of labor, they reportedly became concerned about some bleeding and decided to call an ambulance, which took them to Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center (RMC). Danielle gave birth to a baby boy the next morning, and he was "perfectly healthy" according to a family friend. Simple Lifestyle Conflicts with Standard Protocols  The couple wished to adhere to their religious beliefs and remain as natural as possible, declining any unnecessary hospital interventions. They agreed to allow eye ointment in their baby's eyes, but declined the other typical interventions, including the hospital security band on the baby's leg. They reasoned that, since there was never a need for the baby to be out of his parents' sight while he was at the hospital, there was no need for the hospital security band. Danielle chose to breastfeed her baby.  The couple were able to bask briefly in the beauty of their new son, but their joy was short-lived. Danielle with her new baby at the hospital. Photo source: Christian Holm's Facebook page .  The source close to the family reports that Danielle and Christian sensed that the hospital staff got a bit nervous when the parents declined a birth certificate and social security number for their baby.  There were 2 reasons for their declining the documents. Christian and Danielle felt that the naming of their baby is a spiritual experience. They wanted to wait to decide on a name for their baby until they first had time to bond with and get to know their baby to see what name would be the most appropriate. They also believed that the decision as to whether or not to have a social security number was one that should be left up to the child to make when he is older.  Because they sensed that the hospital staff was uncomfortable with their philosophy, which is rooted in their spiritual beliefs, the family friend states that Christian pro-actively decided to approach the hospital social worker "on his own terms," to ensure that there were no issues and that they would be in compliance with applicable laws.  Instead of answering, the social worker reportedly left to seek more information. A short time later, she returned to their room with an intern from DHR, the Department of Human Resources, Alabama's Child Protective Services. The DHR representative reportedly questioned the couple about their religious beliefs. The Holms reportedly stated that they wanted to "live as close to nature as possible, just like their native American ancestors."  When Christian asked, "What is the most simple way we can live without being harassed?" the DHR worker reportedly told him she had never been asked that before, and that she would consult her supervisor. Baby Snatched from Mother's Nursing Breast Danielle and Christian loved the simple life. This photo was taken atop Mt. Percival. Photo source: Christian Holm's Facebook page .  The family friend explained that Christian has a house in his name, but it is currently tied up in a family trust. Despite their journey of walking through nature, camping wherever they found themselves, the couple has been in process of trying to move into the house, but there have been complications, causing those plans to fall through. The friend reported that Christian had hoped to discuss this with the social worker, but he did not get the opportunity, because the hospital social worker and the DHR intern returned to the hospital room with 4 police officers, a detective from the sheriff's department, and a hospital security guard.  After Christian was escorted to another room, Danielle was shocked when the sheriff's detective allegedly reached down and pulled the baby literally off of his mother's breast where he was latched on.  As she cried out, asking, "Why?" and telling them she has done nothing wrong, the detective told her that they had reason to believe that they were not who they said they were. He reportedly told her that the baby was now in state custody. Case of Mistaken Identity Has Devastating Consequences  The detective reportedly began a barrage of questions aimed at the confused new mother, demanding "her real name." Danielle thought that the confusion could be from her previous married name. Her ex-husband was Holmes, and her current husband is Holm, so she simply deleted 2 letters from her last name. That was apparently not the source of the confusion.  The detective asked Danielle if she was really Daniella Ruiz, and asked her about her involvement in human and drug trafficking in Arizona. She asked if she had ever been arrested in Arizona, and when she had crossed the border into Mexico.  None of this reportedly made any sense to Danielle, who had spent a short amount of time in Arizona as she and Christian were on their journey, but she had never been to Mexico, never been arrested, and had never been in any trouble at all. The name Daniella Ruiz meant nothing to her.  They asked if Christian had ever gone by another name, which he had. His middle name is Clarke, and that is the name he went by growing up.  Both Danielle and Christian readily showed the detective their IDs. In addition to her New Hampshire drivers license, she showed her social security card and her passport, which did not show any trips to Mexico. Christian reportedly showed his New Hampshire drivers license, social security card, and a federal ID.  It was not enough. DHR took their baby into custody, and they were only able to see their baby once more before they left the hospital, and that visit was under the watchful eyes of a nurse and a police officer.  Christian Holm later posted an article on his Facebook page that he found about the criminals that the Cleburne County officials apparently thought they were. Though the comment has since been deleted, Christian had this to say:  So this is who the investigating officer said that my wife and I are after giving her three forms of identification from both of us showing that we are not these people. She was not satisfied with that and told me that these can be faked. They really need an oops button in these situations when an infant and or innocence is involved to give child back. Swallow the pride and stop destroying lives for your view on life. We are children of God being attacked by the ones influenced by the devil. They know not what they do.  The criminals arrested in Arizona were Daniella Ruiz of Tuscon, Arizona, and Richard Christian Holm of Nogales, Arizona. There are several news stories which appear to originate from the same source which simply describe 2 separate incidents in the same article, such as this article that Christian Clarke Holm found:  Though both people arrested have similar names to the couple traveling in Alabama, the Arizona duo do not appear to be connected even to each other. They were arrested on 2 different days in 2 separate incidents. Is Violation of the 4th Amendment Standard Practice in Alabama?  According to the Holms' friend, there was no court order or warrant to seize the baby, nor was there an emergency situation. This is consistent with what other Alabama parents have reported to Health Impact News . Earlier this year, Shelby County DHR social worker Ahzshaka Evans told a 14 year old rape victim:  There are two people who don't need a court order or a warrant: the Department of Human Resources and law enforcement. (See story .)  Shelby County police officer Edmunson told the Prince family in June that DHR didn't need a court order or warrant to take a child. All they needed was a pickup order from DHR.  Haly Boothe's 3 day old baby was taken in May from a Birmingham hospital without a court order or warrant. (See story .)  Several parents have reported being told that the state legislature has given authority to DHR to seize children with only a "DHR pickup order," which may apparently be merely verbal, not necessarily written. Parents are told that the court hearing within 72 hours meets the standard of search and seizure laws.  However, this practice stand in direct conflict with the 4th Amendment of the Constitution:  The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. New Mother Denied Basic Care After Baby Seized  In another disturbing similarity between the Holms' story and others of mothers whose newborn babies are taken from them at the hospital, basic medical care was reportedly withheld from Danielle after her baby was seized by DHR. She was given no discharge instructions. There was no counsel or handout given about what signs of infection to watch for or how to care for her stitches, even though she was a first-time mother.  Ordinarily, all patients checking out of hospitals are escorted out in a wheelchair. Not so with many mothers whose babies are taken from them by the state. Despite their pain and grief, they are singled out to walk out of the hospital on their own strength. Orders Given to Put Baby on Formula Against the Wish of Parents  The family member reports that Danielle is still pumping her milk for her baby, even though the Anniston Star reports that the Holms have no idea whether or not their baby is receiving the breastmilk, and that there were orders given at the hospital for the baby to be given formula.  This is especially hard for mothers to deal with who know the myriad of benefits of breastfeeding and the multitude of health risks that formula-feeding carries. Feeding their baby his mother's own milk in the natural way that God designed was a very important value to Danielle and Christian Holm, according to their friend, and knowing that their baby is being fed formula from the hands of a stranger is yet another tragic aspect of their baby's kidnapping.  The couple are also reportedly very concerned about the emotional and psychological well-being of their baby, because they understand that separation of mother and baby, especially in the early weeks and months, can have a devastating psychological impact on the growing baby. Danielle celebrated freedom on Mt. Washington. Where is that freedom now? Photo source: Christian Holm's Facebook page . Gag Order Issued  The Anniston Star reported that the Holms were issued a gag order after the publication brought the story to public attention. In their article dated October 18, some important considerations are raised. Gag order ensures privacy, but at a cost, experts say  Excerpts:  Courts can use gag orders to protect the interests of children or victims, but some attorneys say the instrument does so at the cost of other constitutional rights. Gag orders are not a black-and-white issue, though, and they can be challenged, said Andy Olree, professor of law at Faulkner Law in Montgomery. Gag orders can be an infringement on constitutional rights, Olree said.The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects citizens' right to express themselves and the public's right to hear discussions of issues of value to them, but that right is not absolute, Olree said.  See also: Family Court Judges' Unconstitutional Gag Orders On Parents  DHR has questioned the intelligence of ordinary citizens with regard to understanding the meaning of confidentiality. According to the Anniston Star :  All juvenile dependency cases, those in which a child's custody is decided, are confidential cases by state law, Cleburne County Judge Melody Walker said Monday. Tony Hamlin, attorney for the Department of Human Resources, said a judge could issue a gag order because lay people don't always understand what confidential means. Alabama Attorney – Confidentiality Laws Not Designed to Silence Parents Birmingham-area attorney Lisa Chasteen disagrees. She told Health Impact News that the Alabama law regarding confidentiality of juvenile cases is often misused by the system to tell parents that they cannot talk about their own cases, but that is not the way the law is written. Alabama Code § 12-15-133(g) states: Except for the purposes permitted and in the manner provided by this section, whoever discloses or makes use of or knowingly permits the use of information identifying a child, or the family of a child, who is or was under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, where this information is directly or indirectly derived from the records of the juvenile court or acquired in the course of official duties , [emphasis added] upon conviction thereof, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and also may be subject to civil sanctions. Provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or otherwise limit counsel from disclosing confidential information obtained from the juvenile court file of the child as needed to investigate the case of the client or prepare a defense for that client, provided that the disclosure is in furtherance of counsel's representation of the party.  Chasteen asserts that the confidentiality laws were designed to protect the family from the people working on their case disclosing information to the public. They do not apply to the families themselves talking about their case with friends, family, or the media.  Attorneys, GALs, social workers, or any other agent working for the state could "acquire" information about the case "in the course of official duties," and are thus bound by confidentiality laws, but the family members are not.  She cites KR v. LAUDERDALE COUNTY DEPT. OF HUMAN, 133 So. 3d 396 – Ala: Court of Civil Appeals 2013 , which clarifies that the information that law 12-15-133 refers to is that which is "derived from the records of the juvenile court." The findings of the Appeals Court further state that "§ 12-15-133 is intended to protect the identity of juveniles, not DHR employees, guardians ad litem, or juvenile-court judges…."  Though this law is often cited to parents simply as the "confidentiality law" and is often used in the attempt to bully and silence parents from discussing their case with the media, attorney Lisa Chasteen maintains that this was not the intent of the law at all. The family has the right to discuss their story with whomever they wish. She made these points in a meeting last year with other attorneys and DHR state commissioner Nancy Buckner, and reports that no one refuted her that day.  Law Professor Jenny Carroll notes issues of concern with gag orders, reports the Anniston Star :  An additional problem with a gag order in the Holmses' case is that the public has no information about what steps the state is taking to protect the child and if the parents' rights are being protected through the proceedings, said University of Alabama School of Law Professor Jenny Carroll. It is, she noted, the parental rights that are in question in the case.  "The public has a right to check if actions being taken in our names are in fact correct," Carroll said.  The courts are public forums, she said. If they are insulated to the point that the public is excluded it makes it very difficult to know that everyone involved is being treated fairly. That's not how our courts are supposed to work, she said. Land of the Free?  Because of the gag orders and threats about confidentiality, Danielle and Christian Holms are reportedly afraid to speak out about the injustices that their friend says are happening to them. The lifestyle they are leading appears to be similar to that of John the Baptist or some of the Old Testament prophets. Many of the patriarchs of the Judeo-Christian faiths, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lived relatively nomadic lifestyles. While Jesus told his disciples to "Follow Me," He also said:  Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. (Luke 9:58, NIV)  The Holms' friend doesn't understand how America, "the land of the free," can take someone's newborn baby away from them for choosing to follow their religious beliefs and living a life that is not like the mainstream. Yet, Danielle and Christian Holm are stuck in a state they were simply passing through, engaged in the fight of their lives for their baby. How You Can Help the Holms  Call Alabama Governor Robert Bentley's office at 334-242-7100. He may also be contacted here . He is also on Facebook .  Senator Gerald Dial is the Senator for Cleburne County. He may be reached at 334-242-7874, or contacted here .  Representative Richard Lindsay represents their district. He may be reached at 334-242-7713, or contacted here . According to the Alabama Family Rights Association , ALFRA: Alabama has a nine-member task force created to examine the work of the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR). If you have issues or concerns about DHR services, your best plan of action is to contact the following legislators/lawmakers and committee members: Connie Rowe, State Representative, has replaced Mac McCutcheon as the Task Force Chair / 334-242-7600/ email here . Chris England, State Representative / 334-242-7703 / 205-535-4859 / email here . Greg Reed, State Senator / 334-242-7894 / he is on Facebook . The complete list of committee Members can be found here: Executive Order Number 11 Comment on this article at MedicalKidnap.com. Support the cause of Medical Kidnapping by purchasing our new book! If you know people who are skeptical and cannot believe that medical kidnapping happens in the U.S. today, this is the book for them! Backed with solid references and real life examples, they will not be able to deny the plain evidence before them, and will become better educated on this topic that is destroying the American family. 1 Book – 228 pages


Happiness levels in Britain have inched up to reach their highest rate since measurements of wellbeing began in 2011, despite the political uncertainty since last year s Brexit vote, the statistics office said. The average level of happiness for the 12 months to March this year rose slightly among the roughly 150,000 people polled to 7.51 out of 10 after leveling off in the previous two years at slightly below 7.50. Today s figures may surprise some, showing a small increase in both reported happiness and life satisfaction during a period that has seen political change and uncertainty, ONS statistician Matthew Steel said. Higher employment rates and perceived improvement in personal finances could explain some of the rise, he added. A narrow majority of Britons who took part in the country s European Union membership referendum in June last year voted to leave the EU. Shortly afterwards, David Cameron resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Theresa May. Despite the political shock, Britain s economy held up in 2016 although it slowed sharply in the first six months of 2017. A monthly survey of consumer sentiment published by research firm GfK on Aug. 31 showed households were their most pessimistic in a year in July before a slight improvement in August.


The international community must do more to persuade the Syrian government to negotiate in U.N.-led talks, which were in great danger , the head of the opposition delegation said after an eighth round ended in failure in Geneva on Thursday. Opposition negotiator Nasr Hariri told a news conference that the government of President Bashar al-Assad hated the talks process and rejected all negotiations, and although there was pressure from its ally Russia, another state was putting obstacles in the path of the Geneva talks.


In case you haven t heard, Donald Trump is due in federal court next month just after he may be elected President to answer charges that he raped a 13-year-old girl in 1994 and threatened to harm her and her family if she told anyone about it.The victim, Jane Doe, is seeking $75,000 in damages. The lawsuit was originally filed in California but was thrown out because the original complaint did not state any specific civil rights violations. She refiled in New York in June, dropping some of the harder-to-prove claims and replacing them with two new witnesses. Both witnesses claim they worked as party planners for Trump s pedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein, who threw them some cash to attract adolescent women to the billionaire s mansion.One witness says she lured Jane Doe to a party by promising her cash and modeling contracts but instead the 13-year-old child was forced to have sex with Trump and Epstein, both of whom knew how young she was. I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop, Tiffany Doe says, adding that she also witnessed Doe and a 12-year-old girl named Maria being forced to perform oral sex on Trump, with the 2016 GOP nominee physically abusing both children afterward all of this as part of her job duties that required her to personally witness and supervise encounters between the underage girls that Mr. Epstein hired and his guests. Both Trump and Epstein threatened to hurt Doe if she told anyone about the horrific assaults, with Trump adding a very Trump-like threat: I personally witnessed Defendant Trump telling the Plaintiff that she shouldn t ever say anything if she didn t want to disappear like the 12-year-old female Maria, and that he was capable of having her whole family killed. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and served 13 months in prison but Trump went on to find himself one goose-step away from being the leader of the free world.While this might seem unbelievable, Trump hasn t exactly hidden his lust for children over the years, going on about how hot Paris Hilton was when she was 12, creeping on underage models in their dressing rooms, and repeatedly talking about how much he wants to have sex with his daughter, Ivanka.You can read the allegations below: Donald Trump & Jeffrey Epstein Rape Lawsuit and Affidavits by davidbix on Scribd


It's a topsy-turvy world when law-breakers — those who illegally enter and stay in the United States — are sacred cows, while those who criticize the law-breakers are ostracized and demonized.  On June 16, 2015, when Donald Trump announced that he's entering the crowded race to become the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, he made some remarks about illegal immigration which brought the wrath of the PC Left on his head. Trump said:  "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words."  For saying that, one business after another severed their ties with Trump. Univision and Comcast's NBCUniversal cancelled plans to broadcast Trump's Miss Universe beauty pageant. Mattress giant Serta said it will stop selling Trump-branded products. Department store giant Macy's also cut its ties with Trump.  Such righteous indignation! You would think Trump were a heinous mass murderer or a child-molester or serial rapist or bestialist!  But Macy's anti-Trump move has backfired.  TMZ reports, July 13, 2015:  Macy's is paying the price for sacking Donald Trump, because we've learned thousands of customers are cutting up their Macy's credit card in protest.  Sources connected to the department store tell TMZ, Macy's has received complaints from approximately 30,000 customers since ending its relationship with Trump nearly 2 weeks ago.  We're told the store has been "inundated with complaints" from customers who believe the department store is unfairly punishing Trump for his views on immigration.  Our sources say thousands of customers have vowed never to shop at Macy's again and many of them say they're cutting up their Macy's credit card to make a statement.  We're told the complaints have come in various ways, including phone, Facebook and email. A Macy's spokesperson would only say, "Our Facebook page is often times used by our customers to express their feelings or points of view. Many times it does not correlate to any action." Join the boycott against Macy's!


Kenya s opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Tuesday he wants an interim government to run the country for six months while the constitution is reviewed to curb the president s authority. Odinga told Reuters in an interview that he was open to talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta over a constitutional review aimed at lowering the risk of violence from minority groups who feel excluded from power. Kenyatta was re-elected with 98 percent of the vote on Oct. 26 after Odinga boycotted the election, saying it would not be fair. The repeat presidential vote followed an election in August, which Kenyatta also won but which was nullified by the Supreme Court on procedural grounds. Odinga s supporters have repeatedly protested against the results, and at least 51 people have been killed in the turmoil since August, generating an atmosphere of uncertainty in East Africa s richest economy. A pure presidential system enhances ethnicity because each community believes that they are not safe unless their man is at the top, Odinga said in the interview in his office. Three of Kenya s presidents since independence from Britain in 1963 have been from the Kikuyu ethnic group and one has been from the Kalenjin group, although there are 44 recognized ethnic groups in the nation. The current president is a Kikuyu and his deputy is a Kalenjin, and many of Odinga s supporters, who are largely drawn from other ethnic groups, say they feel excluded from power. The 2010 constitution devolved some power and money to Kenya s 47 counties, spreading the opportunities for power and political patronage. But most of the budget and the power is still in the hands of the central government, something Odinga wants to change. We had a new constitution that we enacted in 2010; we think that now it is time to revisit it, he said. A constitutional review could strengthen institutions like the election board and cut down the powers of the presidency, he said. We think that maybe six months will be required to carry out all these changes that we need in this country. Odinga served as prime minister in a coalition government that was crafted in 2008 after two months of violence following a disputed election killed 1,200 people. After the Oct. 26 election, Odinga s opposition alliance called for civil disobedience, including protests and a boycott of products and services by firms friendly to Kenyatta s government, to force reforms. The opposition did not challenge Kenyatta s Oct. 26 victory at the Supreme Court and there has been no protest action, but voter and rights activists lodged cases on Monday. The court has 14 days to review them.


U.S. President Donald Trump said the Justice Department will win an appeal filed late Saturday of a judge's order lifting a travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries. "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," he told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after the Justice Department filed a notice that it intends to appeal the order. Trump's personal attack on U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress. "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter early on Saturday. Trump has said "extreme vetting" of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks. Throughout the day, Trump continued to criticize the decision in tweets. Late Saturday, Trump showed no signs of backing down. "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" he tweeted. As the ban lifted, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trump's executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States. The Justice Department did not say when it would file its appeal with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the ruling made by Robart late on Friday that also lifted Trump's temporary ban imposed on refugee admissions. The judge appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush questioned the constitutionality of Trump's order. The three-judge panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes appointees of George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Trump's tweets criticizing the judge's decision could make it tougher for Justice Department attorneys as they seek to defend the executive order in Washington state and other courts, said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, adding that presidents are usually circumspect about commenting on government litigation. "It's hard for the president to demand that courts respect his inherent authority when he is disrespecting the inherent authority of the judiciary. That certainly tends to poison the well for litigation," Turley said. U.S. immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and International Refugee Assistance Project on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold. A U.S. State Department email reviewed by Reuters said the department is working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as Monday. It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress. Reached by email Saturday, Robart declined comment on Trump's tweets. Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement Saturday that Trump's "hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis." "Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee. In an interview with ABC scheduled to air on Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers. "I think the American people are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them," Pence said, according to an excerpt of the interview. The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. His order set off chaos last week at airports across the United States where travelers were stranded and thousands of people gathered to protest. Americans are divided over Trump's order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 49 percent favored it while 41 percent did not. Wes Parker, a retiree from Long Beach, California, held a sign saying "Trump is love" at the Los Angeles International Airport, and said he supported the tighter measures. "We just have to support the travel pause," said Parker, 62. "If you were a new president coming in, wouldn't you want what you feel safe with?" Rights groups, Democrats and U.S. allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests against the immigrant curb in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities. At the White House, hundreds of protesters chanted "Donald, Donald can't you see? You're not welcome in D.C." The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open. In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee. "I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Sharef, who was stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight last week. The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Justice Department would file for an emergency stay of the order "at the earliest possible time." Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. "I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, 60, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family. "We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone. Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States. Friday night's court decision sent refugee advocacy and resettlement agencies scrambling to help people in the pipeline. Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon that his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case. "It's in God's hands," he said.


Ted Cruz is so hated that even his home state newspapers will endorse anyone but him and what they had to say about him is absolutely embarrassing.Despite being the only presidential candidate from the Lone Star State, the three major newspapers in Texas refused to endorse the Tea Party Senator, citing his dangerous agenda.According to the San Antonio Express-News, The freshman senator has demonstrated a frightening willingness to push the American economy to the brink of disaster to pursue his ideological agenda even when he clearly does not have the votes to get his way The freshman senator s methodical run for the White House is obviously well-planned, but Cruz s self-centered approach has thoroughly alienated even his Republican Senate colleagues. And that is obviously a recipe for a weak, unsuccessful administration. He lacks the temperament to be president.Instead, the newspaper reluctantly endorsed Jeb Bush, writing that he s not the flashiest candidate in the crowded Republican presidential field. And he lacks the mischievous charm that his older brother, George W. Bush, used to navigate his way through campaign obstacles. That really sounds like a ringing endorsement, doesn t it?The Dallas Morning News also rejected Cruz, writing in their endorsement of crusty and irritable Ohio Governor John Kasich that, As much as we d like to see a Texan in the White House, we fear that Cruz s brand of politics is more about disruption than governing and threatens to take the Republican Party to a dark place. As we ve written before, continuing obstructionist paths might excite primary voters, but it won t benefit the nation or the conservative cause. The Houston Chronicle echoed their rival newspapers, piling on the criticism of Ted Cruz while joining the San Antonio Express-News by endorsing Bush as well. He may not be a great candidate, the Chronicle conceded, but he would be a great nominee and a capable president, the paper continued in an obviously desperate bid to endorse anyone but Cruz, whom they slammed as disastrous for the Republican Party, disastrous for the nation. Jeb Bush and John Kasich are currently polling in single digits nationally as Cruz and Trump continue to lead the field with their brand of conservative lunacy that appeals to a large swath of right-wing voters who just want to light a match and watch the country burn.But it s truly hilarious that even Texas newspapers don t have the stomach to endorse to Cruz. It should be embarrassing for him, but he hates the free press so he probably doesn t care. Hopefully voters will care enough to stop supporting him.Featured Image: Nation of Change


The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday that it supported the Republican healthcare bill that could come up for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Thursday. The chamber said it would consider how lawmakers vote on the bill in its annual "How They Voted Scorecard," which could put pressure on members of Congress to support the legislation.


U.S. President Donald Trump talked trade with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during a White House visit on Wednesday and welcomed the signing of business deals worth billions of dollars and the jobs they would create. The U.S. Commerce Department announced 13 new transactions with Vietnam worth $8 billion, including $3 billion worth of U.S.-produced content that would support more than 23,000 American jobs. These include deals for General Electric Co (GE.N) worth $5.58 billion for power generation, aircraft engines and services, its largest-ever combined sale in Vietnam. Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) and its dealer in Vietnam also agreed to provide generator management technology for more than 100 generators in Vietnam, the company said. "They (Vietnam) just made a very large order in the United States - and we appreciate that - for many billions of dollars, which means jobs for the United States and great, great equipment for Vietnam," Trump told reporters at the White House. The Commerce Department estimate of the deals was considerably less than the $15 billion figure given by Phuc during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, adding that most of the total involved the import of U.S. equipment. Communist Vietnam has gone from being a Cold War enemy to an important partner for the United States in the Asia-Pacific, where both countries share concerns about China's rising power. Phuc told Trump the relationship had undergone "significant upheavals in history" but that the two countries were now "comprehensive partners." Phuc's meeting with Trump makes him the first Southeast Asian leader to visit the White House under the new administration. However, while Hanoi and Washington have stepped up security cooperation in recent years, trade has become a potential irritant, with a deficit widening steadily in Vietnam's favor, reaching $32 billion last year, compared with $7 billion a decade earlier. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said it was important to shrink the U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam but noted that the southeast Asian country of 80 million people was the fastest-growing market for U.S. exports, rising 77 percent since 2014 to $4.4 billion. "The growth of the middle class and the increasing purchasing power in Vietnam are further incentives to strengthening our long-term trade and investment relationship," Ross said. Trump, who has had strong words for countries with large trade surpluses with the United States, said he would be discussing trade with Phuc, as well as North Korea. Washington has been seeking support to pressure North Korea to drop its nuclear and missile programs, which have become an increasing threat to the United States. Hanoi has said it shares concerns about North Korea. In his Heritage speech, Phuc welcomed Trump's plans to attend the November APEC summit in Hanoi. He called it a sign of U.S. commitment to the region and "an important occasion for the United States to assert its positive role." In a reference to somewhat warmer ties between Washington and Beijing under Trump, who has been courting China's support on North Korea, Phuc said Vietnam welcomed good relations between the two powers, but hoped these would serve the interest of other nations in the region too. He urged Washington and Beijing "to act with full transparency and in a responsible manner so as not to impact negatively the region and relations among other nations." Vietnam's government said on its website Trump and Phuc had agreed to promote defense ties and discussed the possibility of U.S. vessels, including aircraft carriers, visiting Vietnamese ports. It said they had expressed concern about the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei are involved in maritime disputes with China, which claims nearly all the strategic waterway. Taiwan also stakes a claim. "They emphasized that parties must not take actions accelerating tension such as the militarization of disputed structures," it said, an apparent reference to China's construction work. Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that while the Trump administration welcomed new business deals with Vietnam, its view was they were "nice, but not enough." "They want Vietnam to bring some ideas about how to tackle the surplus on an ongoing basis," he said. On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expressed concern about the rapid growth of the deficit with Vietnam. He said it was a new challenge for the two countries and he was looking to Phuc to help address it. The deficit is Washington's sixth largest and reflects growing imports of Vietnamese semiconductors and other electronics products in addition to more traditional sectors such as footwear, apparel and furniture. On Tuesday Vietnam's trade minister, Tran Tuan Anh, presented Lighthizer with suggestions to address some U.S. concerns, such as advertising on U.S. social media, electronic payment services and imports of information security and farm products, Vietnam's trade ministry said. Vietnam was disappointed when Trump ditched the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, of which Hanoi was expected to be one of the main beneficiaries, and focused U.S. trade policy on reducing deficits.


A few dozen Paul backers -- many of whom donned red "Stand With Rand" T-shirts -- quietly made their way down the middle aisle and out the door during Bush's speech. Once outside the main ballroom at the Gaylord National Convention Center, where Bush was speaking, they rowdily gathered and denounced the man many see as the Republican Party's leading candidate for president in 2016. "We're here at CPAC, and I almost think it's a joke having Jeb Bush here because he doesn't stand for conservative principles," said Timothy Simons, 21, the Connecticut chairman of Young Americans for Liberty and one of the Paul supporters who walked out. "I was part of the walkout, and I'll tell you why," said Allen Skillicorn, vice chairman of the Kane County Republican Party in Illinois. "If Jeb Bush is nominated, Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States. ... How is he any different?" "I barely know any Jeb Bush supporters that are our age," said Charlton, who was decked out in Paul gear. "No one our age is getting out there and saying, 'Jeb Bush is the one who will help us bring freedom back to America.'" Ben Levitt, 23, said he came to Washington all the way from Canada just to check out CPAC. He said he may live an hour from the U.S. border, but he has plenty of views about Jeb Bush and why he's no different than his brother and father. "More wars, more debt, more government," Levitt said of what the Bushes are about. "I mean, a fiscal conservative can't really say, 'Oh, I really love George W. Bush.' You just can't. I loved it for eight years. I loved the Iraq war and all that. I finally saw the light, so to speak, and got really into Ron Paul and that message." Inside the auditorium, Bush was well aware that many young conservatives were hostile to him, a fact that was underscored by the tough questions he got from moderator Sean Hannity. Bush refused to cede potential voters, however, saying of those who were booing, "I'm marking them down as neutral. I want to be your second choice." His session was dedicated almost entirely to domestic policy, a departure from many of the other speeches by would-be 2016 presidential candidates at CPAC. Bush touted Florida's economic growth under his leadership from 1999-2007, and gave examples of policies he had enacted that would please conservatives. On immigration, Bush stressed the importance of securing the U.S. border, and he emphasized that immigration policy should be focused on "economic-driven immigrants" who bring specialized skills. He also spoke frankly about the need to create a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants currently in the United States. "The simple fact is that there is no plan to deport 11 million people," Bush said. "We should give them a path to legal status where they work … and contribute to our society." Some in the crowd cheered, but there were plenty of boos, too.


Alex Jones breaks down the overwhelming evidence of election fraud as well as threats made by democratic operatives and what they plan to do if Donald Trump wins the election. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles Download on your mobile device now for free. Today on the Show Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars crew. From the store Featured Videos FEATURED VIDEOS Donald Trump Has Won The 2016 Presidential Election - See the rest on the Alex Jones YouTube channel . BREAKING: Michael Moore Admits Trump Is Right - See the rest on the Alex Jones YouTube channel . ILLUSTRATION How much will your healthcare premiums rise in 2017?


The breaking point is fast approaching in a divided America Obama couldn t have hoped for a better outcome in the final year of his failed presidency. Americans fighting Americans over race, religion and sexual orientation. Violence and threats are being used against anyone who disagrees with the Left, while Alinsky trained activists continue to be inspired by radicals like Obama and funded by radicals like Communist George Soros. The first meeting of Portland State University s Students for Trump group was loudly interrupted and shut down by anti-Trump protesters, who barged into the group s meeting on Thursday evening.A video released by the students shows Anti-Trump protesters causing a significant disruption at the meeting, which was a closed event for members of the club.Although the conversation was initially civil, it eventually progressed into name-calling and shouting. An Anti-Trump protester threatened a student that was filming the scene: Point that f**king camera at me Wait til that camera is not there do you want to get f**ked up by a f**king faggot? After a protester took to standing on top of a table to address the crowd, a pro-Trump student suggested that starting a Students Against Trump group would have been a more productive way to combat pro-Trump students at PSU. The only way to combat this shit is to join an organization that has an anti-racist, anti-capitalist stance, another protester claimed. You need to get out of the fucking way and let people of color let these people organize themselves. Despite the meeting being a closed event for the club, the protesters demanded the right to speak. When a few pro-Trump students tried to calm down a protester yelling from atop a table, another protester yelled, If you don t let her talk, I will f**k shit up. Although the disruption primarily led to shouting and name-calling, there were some productive discussions that happened amongst the chaos. One pro-Trump student explained that his own parents had gone through a lot to immigrate legally: My family are immigrants, they paid thousands and thousands of dollars, they waited years. I don t see why it s fair to let anyone we don t know who they are, they could be criminals, they could anything just waltz through the country with no repercussions. Although most listened respectfully as the student explained his support of Trump, one student responded that he was disappointed that a minority could support Trump: People of color Trump supporters make me so sad.


U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall to start within months and that planning is already underway, according to excerpts of an interview with ABC News released on Wednesday. Trump told the television network that while U.S. taxpayers would have to initially fund the wall, Mexico would ultimately pay for it, adding that negotiations for the reimbursement would start "relatively soon."


— Liars Never Win (@liars_never_win) October 28, 2016  It's hard not to think "frail old lady" when you think of Hillary Clinton, but today, she proved that she's still got a little spring in her step: Reporters seeking comment on the email investigation got only a quick wave from @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/0m87gIOY8c  — Colleen Nelson (@ColleenMNelson) October 28, 2016 Wow! Thats the fastest #Hillary has EVER moved! Avoiding questions about James Comey and The FBI reopening the email investigation… pic.twitter.com/arLj9G7yav  — Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) October 28, 2016  So, is that what it takes to get her movin'? @TimRunsHisMouth @anna12061 amazing how fast she can haul it when she's trying to avoid the press finally asking her relevant questions.  Just look at her go! @TimRunsHisMouth Suddenly got a rush of #STAMINA  — Sellrite Deals (@SellriteDeals) October 28, 2016 @TimRunsHisMouth AMAZING SHE WAS ALMOST RUNNING  — NOBODY HOME ON LI !! (@shadozmom) October 28, 2016 @TimRunsHisMouth The amazing part is that she was able to get in without help.  — Heeeere's Jonny (@jonsgardner) October 28, 2016  And look glamorous doing it. Thanks, apparently, to a photoshoot she'd wrapped up just moments earlier: It appears Clinton was doing an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot when the FBI news broke #2016 https://t.co/dofjBK6t9i  — Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 28, 2016  Oh, how fun! Clinton delay on tarmac wasn't about the FBI, it turns out. Pool report notes that Annie Leibovitz came off after, likely had a photo shoot. pic.twitter.com/xE5pm3ITRC  — Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) October 28, 2016 The American Empire in its twilight glow: https://t.co/jl0HSu38uG