Amy Schumer has reportedly exited Sony's Barbie film due to scheduling conflicts[According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Trainwreck star will no longer play the title role in Sony's upcoming film based on the popular Mattel doll and will no longer write the screenplay. "Sadly, I'm no longer able to commit to Barbie due to scheduling conflicts," Schumer said in a statement. "The film has so much promise, and Sony and Mattel have been great partners. I'm bummed, but look forward to seeing Barbie on the big screen. " Schumer had signed on to the project in December, with Deadline reporting that Sony chief Tom Rothman personally pitched the script to the actress. Schumer had reportedly completed a rewrite of the script before her exit. "We respect and support Amy's decision," a Sony spokesperson said in a statement. "We look forward to bringing Barbie to the world and sharing updates on casting and filmmakers soon. " Sony is hoping to release Barbie on June 29, 2018, though the film does not currently have a director. The Hollywood Reporter also reported Thursday that Schumer had signed on to star in the dramedy She Came to Me alongside Steve Carell and Nicole Kidman from Rebecca Miller and OddLot Entertainment. The actress — perhaps best known for her Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer — is set to appear next in Snatched, a comedy Goldie Hawn due out for release May 12. Schumer made headlines this week when she took to Instagram to accuse Internet trolls of deliberately tanking the ratings of her Netflix comedy show, The Leather Special. The special was flooded with reviews shortly after its release. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum,


Kellyanne Conway, who serves as a senior adviser to Donald Trump, is a connoisseur of alternative facts. In other words, she lies so much she even believes herself. But don t call her a liar, or she ll freak out. Conway is on the offensive today after the president of her alma mater called her out for repeatedly trying to sell falsehoods to the American people as truth.Trinity Washington University President Patricia McGuire blasted Conway for her lies in a blog titled On lies and the truth we must tell. She said Conway was part of a team that thinks nothing of shaping and spreading a skein of lies as a means to secure power. Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trinity Class of 1989, has played a large role in facilitating the manipulation of facts and encouraging the grave injustice being perpetrated by the Trump Administration s war on immigrants among many other issues. She is one of President Trump s primary spokespersons, an almost daily figure on cable news shows, McGuire wrote. Some people admire her staunch advocacy for her client s positions, and others applaud the fact that she was the first woman to manage a successful presidential campaign. But in fact, as is true of many of President Trump s statements, her advocacy on his behalf is often at variance with the truth. Ms. Conway invented the now-infamous phrase alternative fact, to defend Trump s claims about the size of crowds at his inauguration, a thinly-veiled autocratic scheme to try to claim that the Trump inauguration drew the biggest crowd in history when, in fact, it was on the smaller side, she continued. Ms. Conway has been part of a team that thinks nothing of shaping and spreading a skein of lies as a means to secure power. Perhaps the Bowling Green Massacre comment was truly a mistake, as she claims, but she repeated that canard on three different occasions as an explanation for why the travel ban, an executive order that clearly discriminates against Muslims, was necessary. When the Washington Post informed Conway of McGuire s comments, she didn t take it well at all. True to form, she lashed out and slammed not only McGuire s wise words, but also her fellow alumni. Because why not? It s a disappointment to have the president of the university lift up other Trinity graduates who have a casual relationship with the truth, Conway said. She then whined that McGuire didn t even have the courtesy of calling or emailing me to ask what I meant on any given occasion. Without addressing the fact that she has been running around making up the truth as she goes along, including the Bowling Green massacre that never happened, Conway added that she has given the school lots of money over the years. My money was good, she noted. Apparently, writing a check means that no one is allowed to call you out for spouting lies to defend a demagogue. Sounds totally legit.


The FBI's October surprise has thrown the 2016 election into November chaos. But an examination of the trigger mechanism behind this event reveals a deeper layer of manipulation by the media and financial interests behind the election. This is the GRTV Backgrounder with your host James Corbett. This report also includes an Interview with Prof. Michel Chossudovsky. Visit GlobalResearch.ca  Visit CorbettReport.com Delivered by The Daily Sheeple  We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).  Contributed by Activist Post of www.activistpost.com .


« Previous - Next » The First Space Photo Of Earth - Shot From A Third Reich Rocket In 1946  Prior to 1946, the highest pictures that had ever been taken of the Earth were from the Explorer II balloon in 1935. At 13.7 miles up, the photos were understandably vague. At this point, our view of Earth was largely based on science, with a bit of support from the Explorer II photos. However, nothing was clear enough to be confirmed.  In October of 1946, the ideas of many scientists were confirmed, as new heights were reached. Something astonishing occurred at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Using a V2 rocket that had been captured from Nazis and brought to White Sands in 300 rail cars after the war, a camera was shot into space. The first rocket reached what is now a measly height of 65 miles. At nearly five times the height of previous photos, researchers now had their first view from space. While the camera was destroyed, plummeting back to earth at nearly 500 feet per second, the film had been protected by a steel case, completely untouched .  Fred Rulli recalls after the recovery of the film, "when they first projected them onto the screen, the scientists just went nuts", speaking of the photos in 1946. He speaks of his friend, who realized the importance of the day, saying "Do you realize what's going on here?" Many may not have. They had no idea that in the years following that spectacular day, the V2 rockets would reach even greater heights, traveling over 100 miles up. Hundreds of photos were taken and researchers were ecstatic at what they had discovered.  Today, when millions of people watch pictures of the Earth from cameras in outer space every day, it seems a perfectly natural thing. Since the V2 rockets, photos have been taken from the moon during the Apollo 8 mission, from space beyond Neptune in 1990 from the Voyager 1, and more recently from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. It seems as though there is not much left to discover when it comes to the surface of the Earth and the photos we have captured of it. However, there will always be something greater. There will always be something new to be found, always a new way to capture beautiful, more technological photos of the surface of our Earth.  This article (The First Space Photo Of Earth - Shot From A Third Reich Rocket In 1946) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with full attribution and a link to the original source on Disclose.tv Related Articles


Billionaire investor Carl Icahn ended his role as a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday after facing criticism that policy recommendations he offered could help his own investments. Some Democratic lawmakers and biofuels advocates argued that Icahn's guidance to the Republican administration created a conflict of interest with his businesses, including oil refining company CVR Energy Inc. Icahn has denied any conflict of interest. Icahn's departure followed a flurry of changes at the White House. Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, two days after disbanding two high-profile business advisory groups. "I chose to end this arrangement (with your blessing) because I did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration," Icahn wrote in a letter to Trump released on his website. The White House declined to comment. A call to Icahn's office was not immediately returned. The activist investor, who leads Icahn Enterprises LP, was an early and close ally of Trump who was often praised by the Republican for his business acumen. One of Icahn's first tasks was to vet the future Securities and Exchange Commission chairman and a number of candidates met with the octogenarian investor in his Fifth Avenue office just a few blocks north of Trump Tower in Manhattan. While Icahn stopped managing money for clients years ago, he still has large stakes in companies like Herbalife Ltd , CVR and American International Group Inc , which have faced regulatory issues. Icahn was so sure Trump's election last year would give a boost to stocks that he left the campaign's victory party to make a $1 billion bet on the market, he told Reuters last year. The day after the election, stocks leapt. In his letter to Trump, Icahn downplayed his role as an adviser on regulatory matters, saying "I never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position." Trump, who came to office promising to roll back regulation, reform the tax code and boost infrastructure spending, never put Icahn on the payroll. But Icahn's involvement was considerable. He interviewed Scott Pruitt, now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the very agency that would determine regulations about requiring refiners to blend biofuels. His web of financial interests became a lightning rod. "If he was not willing to admit he was a de facto special government employee, and follow the rules, then he had no place serving in government," said Norman Eisen, co-founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who served as the chief ethics lawyer for former President Barack Obama. "His short tenure, marred by serious conflicts allegations, was yet another black eye for an administration that has become notorious for violations of ethics and the rule of law." Icahn has been one of the loudest critics of the federal biofuels program, and he was working at price-crushing reforms of the program at the same time he was betting that credits at the center of the program would fall. Biofuels regulations require refiners either to blend biofuels into gasoline or - in the case of companies like CVR that have no blending facilities - to buy credits from competitors. The regulation, the Renewable Fuel Standard, also allows companies to delay those credit purchases by a year. As an adviser to Trump, Icahn urged the president in February to alter the policy to lift the blending burden from refiners. Yet environmental regulators are preparing to formally reject that proposal, sources told Reuters. Investors have built up a large short position in CVR in the past three months, according to Reuters data, as evidence mounts that the company's gamble on the biofuels market is going sour.


Earlier this week, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, long may he reign, praise be his name, holy is he, we bow down before him, subtly denounced racist, xenophobic hatemonger, Donald Trump, during a keynote speech at the company s annual F8 conference. While he never mentioned Trump by name, the tech god had plenty to say about Trump s nature. As I look around the world, I m starting to see people and nations turning inward, against the idea of a connected world and a global community, Zuckerberg told the crowd. But then he targeted his verbal beatdown to Trump: I hear fearful voices talking about building walls It takes courage to choose hope over fear. Instead of building walls we can help build bridges. Instead of dividing people we can connect people. We do it one person at a time, one connection at time. That s why I think the work we re doing together is more important than it has ever been before. Trump, and his moronic horde of jaded, hateful Teanuts, have all said these things, and worse. It takes courage to choose hope over fear, Zuckerberg added. People will always call you naive but it s this hope and optimism that s behind every important step forward. Zuckerberg s powerful words obviously struck a chord with employees, who voted to ask their CEO a very important question in a recent weekly Q+A: Do they have a moral obligation to stop Trump from rising to power? Gizmodo reports:Every week, Facebook employees vote in an internal poll on what they want to ask Zuckerberg in an upcoming Q&A session. A question from the March 4 poll was: What responsibility does Facebook have to help prevent President Trump in 2017? A screenshot of the poll, given to Gizmodo, shows the question as the fifth most popular.It s not particularly surprising the question was asked, or that some Facebook employees are anti-Trump. The question and Zuckerberg s statements on Tuesday align with the consensus politics of Silicon Valley: pro-immigration, pro-trade, pro-expansion of the internet.This question could mean many things, depending on the level and nature of help. In the 2010 congressional elections, Facebook used its considerable influence to convince voters to show up at the polls. An estimated 340,000 extra people vote (unfortunately, not many of them were Democrats, who largely stayed home rather than perform their civic duty. Hint, hint, guys) thanks to an aggressive, one-day campaign that strong-armed users into getting off the couch to head to the polls. Could Facebook wage a similar war on Trump by utilizing a similar strategy to inform conservatives that he s the only man in recent history who chances being unfavorably compared to Hitler one day? Would such a thing be ethical, no matter the motivating reason?In 2014, the social media giant experimented with manipulating users emotions. In a move that was widely decried by everyone the company removed either all positive or all negative posts from a good number of its users news feeds in an effort to see how it would affect their emotions. Technically, we have all agreed to this sort of thing when we agreed to the data use policy, but no one was warned that they were part of the experiment, either. The result was as one would expect: more negative posts caused people to produce more negative posts. More positive led to more positive posts from users, and so on.Could the same be done with posts about Trump? Would showing people more negative Trump posts cause the overall sentiment even among the most vapid who reside in Stupidville toward Trump to shift? Could they use this method to influence voters? Once again, would it be ethical, even if it would accomplish something good? Gizmodo notes:What s exceedingly important about this question being raised and Zuckerberg s answer, if there is one is how Facebook now treats the powerful place it holds in the world. It s unprecedented. More than 1.04 billion people use Facebook. It s where we get our news, share our political views, and interact with politicians. It s also where those politicians are spending a greater share of their budgets.And Facebook has no legal responsibility to give an unfiltered view of what s happening on their network. Facebook can promote or block any material that it wants, UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh told the publication. Facebook has the same First Amendment right as the New York Times. They can completely block Trump if they want. They block him or promote him. Volokh says that the only way Facebook could legally overstep would be to collude with any candidate. If they were to choose to stamp out positive Trump posts, to create a blackout, they would have every legal right. If they were working with Sanders or Clinton, however, it would be a different issue: If Facebook was actively coordinating with the Sanders or Clinton campaign, and suppressing Donald Trump news, it would turn an independent expenditure (protected by the First Amendment) into a campaign contribution because it would be coordinated and that could be restricted.But if they re just saying, We don t want Trump material on our site, they have every right to do that. It s protected by the First Amendment. It is very clear that Facebook could take a number of actions to ensure that Trump stays as far from the White House as his fans are from reality. But, what if Zuckerberg decides the company does have a moral obligation? Unfortunately, given the secretive nature of the news feed (and their history of manipulating users), we likely won t know what, if anything, he would decide to do at least not until after it has happened.


RT October 26, 2016  Around 300 civilians were killed in eleven airstrikes conducted by the US-led coalition in Syria, which Amnesty International investigated for its latest report. Amnesty says the US must come clean about the civilian toll of its fight against Islamic State.  Amnesty suspects that US Central Command (CENTCOM), which directs coalition airstrikes in Syria, "may have… carried out unlawful attacks" in Syria, failing to take necessary measures to prevent civilian killings.  "We fear the US-led coalition is significantly underestimating the harm caused to civilians in its operations in Syria," said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office.  "It's high time the US authorities came clean about the full extent of the civilian damage caused by coalition attacks in Syria. Independent and impartial investigations must be carried out into any potential violations of international humanitarian law and the findings should be made public."  Amnesty investigated evidence, including eyewitness accounts, reports by human rights organizations and the media, photographs and video footage as well as satellite imagery, related to 11 suspected coalition attacks in Syria. The group estimates that the attacks have claimed as many as 300 civilian lives. So far none of these deaths has been acknowledged by CENTCOM.  The report published on Wednesday added that the total civilian death toll from coalition action "could be as high as 600 or more than 1,000" since the operation against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) started in Syria in 2014.  One of the strikes investigated by Amnesty took place in the early hours of December 7, 2015. The attacks hit two houses in the village of Ayn al-Khan, near al-Hawl in al-Hasakah governorate in northern Syria, killing 40 civilians, including 19 children, and injuring at least 30 others, the report said. A d v e r t i s e m e n t  According to an eyewitness account, an initial night strike was followed by a second attack from a helicopter gunship, which hit first responders trying to dig out survivors.  "At this point I had a two-month-old baby boy in my arms whom I had rescued. The hit caused me to fall and drop him… I fell into the hole made by the air strike. That was what saved me… My mother, aunt, wife and children – a daughter who was four years old and a son who was two and a half were all killed. The woman and her son who I'd rescued were killed. Everyone but me was killed," the survivor said.  The strike is believed to have targeted IS fighters. But local Kurdish militia reportedly warned the coalition that there were civilians in the area.  Amnesty said CENTCOM's failure to acknowledge civilian deaths in Syria, as well as the poor record of investigating such incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq, poses grave concerns over the toll which the civilian population of Mosul, Iraq is likely to face from the ongoing operation to take the city from IS. The US-led coalition is providing air support for the offensive.  "Given the likely increase in air strikes by the US-led Coalition as part of the Iraqi offensive to recapture Mosul, it is even more pressing that CENTCOM be fully transparent about the impact of their military actions on civilians. And it is crucial that they adhere scrupulously to international humanitarian law, including by taking all feasible precautions to spare civilians and to minimize harm to civilian homes and infrastructure," said Maalouf.  A similar operation to capture Manbij, Syria, which is far smaller than Mosul, killed more than 200 civilians, Amnesty estimated.  Last week, Amnesty International blasted Russia for civilian deaths in Aleppo. The Syrian city is divided between government forces and various armed groups, including the Al-Qaeda offshoot Al-Nusra Front. Russia says that the militants use civilians as human shields and would not allow them to leave the city, derailing several attempts by Russia to open humanitarian corridors out of the city. This article was posted: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 6:20 am Share this article


While Donald the Trump is busy making the rounds decrying immigration, Hillary Clinton decided to make a surprise appearance in New York City for Pride. She joined NYC mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo on the parade route near the Stonewall Inn an especially fitting show of solidarity and support following the Orlando massacre.Hillary has worked hard on reaching out to the LGBT community, and right now, they need it more than ever. The entire community was rocked to its core by the Orlando massacre, and how they feel right now is evident in Pride celebrations that are more subdued than usual.Some have avoided Pride altogether out of fear. Others have refused to engage anybody that might show the slightest hint that they re bigoted towards the LGBT community. Make no mistake, Orlando was a direct attack on their community and they have every reason to be terrified right now.Where are the Republicans who decried Orlando? Oh, right, twiddling their thumbs, shaking their heads, and making empty gestures so they don t piss off their evangelical base. Paul Ryan said that authorities knew Omar Mateen had specifically targeted the LGBT community. Then he gave the LGBT community a big fuck you when he introduced a rule that the House wouldn t vote on any measure giving workplace protections to LGBT employees of federal contractors.Marco Rubio pretended to mourn the massacre while saying that it can make people think harder about where they can best serve their countries. It s not likely he s talking about military service, and that was a ridiculous way of saying he ll continue to work on behalf of the hate-filled evangelicals from which the horror of Orlando came.And then there s good ol Ted Cruz. He tried to use Orlando to convince people that it s really the Democrats who are responsible for the deaths of millions of LGBT people all over the world. So why isn t he marching in Pride parades, then? He should if he really wants to make the point that it s not his side of things that caused this.Trump himself once thanked the LGBT community and claimed nobody would be better for them than him, because he ll allegedly fight for their freedoms while Hillary wants to take them away. However, he s also said he d never appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would support marriage equality, and wants people who would give serious thought to overturning Obergefell v. Hodge. Since when is taking a right away from a specific group of people the same as fighting for their freedom?Hillary supports full equality and isn t afraid to say so. She s also unafraid to show up at a major Pride event to show her support. She didn t let the organizers know about her plans because monkey wrenches of all sorts had already been thrown into the works for so many Pride celebrations, thanks to Orlando, so it wasn t totally a surprise. However, some of her campaign volunteers said that she had been planning this for weeks. She would have appeared to show support and solidarity even if Orlando hadn t happened. The GOP? We hear crickets from them, if not outright discriminatory statements.Featured image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images


President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he was willing to work with Republican Speaker Paul Ryan on reforms to address poverty, such as expanding the earned income tax cut (EITC). "I'd welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids," Obama said, according to prepared remarks for his State of the Union address.


Abby Martin Exposes What Hillary Clinton Really Represents ‹ › Since 2011, VNN has operated as part of the Veterans Today Network ; a group that operates over 50 plus media, information and service online sites for U.S. Military Veterans. 65 US 'journalists' at a private dinner with Hillary Clinton's team and John Podesta By VNN on October 26, 2016 We wanted to make sure everyone on this email had the latest information on the two upcoming dinners with reporters. Both are off-the-record.  Hang The Bankers  Several top journalists and TV news anchors RSVPed "yes" to attend a private, off-the-record gathering at the New York home of Joel Benenson, the chief campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton, two days before she announced her candidacy in 2015, according to emails Wikileaks has published from John Podesta 's purported accounts.  The guest list for an earlier event at the home of John Podesta was limited to reporters who were expected to cover Clinton on the campaign trail.  The email thread starts with Jesse Ferguson, the campaign's Deputy National Press Secretary and Senior Spokesman, describing the venues and target audience of each gathering:  We wanted to make sure everyone on this email had the latest information on the two upcoming dinners with reporters. Both are off-the-record.  1) Thursday night, April 9th at 7:00p.m. Dinner at the Home of John Podesta… This will be with about 20 reporters who will closely cover the campaign (aka the bus).  2) Friday night, April 10th at 6:30p.m. Cocktails and Hors D'oeuvre at the Home of Joel Benenson… This is with a broader universe of New York reporters.  The "broader universe of New York reporters" includes several top news anchors for network and cable channels, many of whom are listed as a "yes" for the appearance:  From ABC: Cecilia Vega, David Muir, Diane Sawyer (who could only stay for 30 minutes), and George Stephanopoulos.  From CBS News: Norah O'Donnell.  From CNN: Brianna Keilar, Gloria Borger, John Berman, and Kate Bolduan.  From MSNBC: Alex Wagner and Rachel Maddow ("TRYING").  From NBC: Savannah Guthrie.  "Yes" respondent George Stephanopoulos worked for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and was a Senior Adviser to the President during Clinton's first White House term. Stephanopoulos does not disclose this fact when reporting on the 2016 Clinton campaign for ABC News.  The nascent Clinton campaign invited Jeff Zucker and Phil Griffin, the presidents of CNN and MSNBC, respectively. Zucker declined while Griffin RSVPed "yes." CNBC's John Harwood  Wikileaks' release of emails from the Democratic National Committee showed then-DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz scheduled or attempted to schedule private meetings with both executives.Other "yes" RSVPs come from journalists who have been sighted in the Wikileaks Podesta emails, outing them as friendly or fawning towards Hillary's campaign.  CNBC's John Harwood, who was also a moderator for a 2015 presidential debate, emailed Podesta frequently , practically begging for approval and access . Politico's Glenn Thrush  Politico's Glenn Thrush also emailed Podesta periodically. On Monday, a newly-released email revealed a particularly humiliating incident where Thrush sent Podesta a passage from an upcoming article for his personal approval.  "Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to u," Thrush wrote. "Please don't share or tell anyone I did this… Tell me if I fucked up anything."  Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, Washington Bureau Chief at PEOPLE magazine, boasted two days after this confab that stories on Clinton's campaign were generating "absolutely off the charts" traffic and asked for "color you can whisper on background" about what Hillary was up to. Joel Benenson – Clinton Chief Strategist  The full RSVP list for Benenson's gathering is shown in an attachment on a separate email :  This is an off-the-record cocktails with the key national reporters, especially (though not exclusively) those that are based in New York. Much of the group includes influential reporters, anchors and editors.  The goals of the dinner include: (1) Give reporters their first thoughts from team HRC in advance of the announcement (2) Setting expectations for the announcement and launch period (3) Framing the HRC message and framing the race (4) Enjoy a Friday night drink before working more  TIME/DATE: As a reminder, this is called for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 10th .  There are several attendees – including Diane Sawyer – who will be there promptly at 6:30 p.m. but have to leave by 7 p.m.  …  FOOD: This will include cocktails and passed hours devours.  REPORTER RSVPs


President Donald Trump's choice for deputy secretary of commerce, Todd Ricketts, has withdrawn his nomination, a source close to Ricketts said on Wednesday. Ricketts, a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, pulled his name from consideration due to difficulties untangling his financial holdings to the satisfaction of the government ethics watchdog, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. "I hope there are other opportunities to contribute to his administration in the future," Ricketts said in a statement.


They preyed on the poor in Latin America. They promised them an education, but the real goal was about turning a profit. No, we re not talking about the Democrat party, we re talking about the sleazy Clinton Crime Syndicate, headed up by a serial sexual abuser and his habitual liar wife. You may have heard of her, she s the Democrat party s frontrunner in the upcoming presidential race With her campaign sinking in the polls, Hillary Clinton has launched a desperate attack against Trump University to deflect attention away from her deep involvement with a controversial for-profit college that made the Clintons millions, even as the school faced serious legal scrutiny and criminal investigations. In April 2015, Bill Clinton was forced to abruptly resign from his lucrative perch as honorary chancellor of Laureate Education, a for-profit college company. The reason for Clinton s immediate departure: Clinton Cash revealed, and Bloomberg confirmed, that Laureate funneled Bill Clinton $16.46 million over five years while Hillary Clinton s State Dept. pumped at least $55 million to a group run by Laureate s founder and chairman, Douglas Becker, a man with strong ties to the Clinton Global Initiative. Laureate has donated between $1 million and $5 million (donations are reported in ranges, not exact amounts) to the Clinton Foundation. Progressive billionaire George Soros is also a Laureate financial backer.As the Washington Post reports, Laureate has stirred controversy throughout Latin America, where it derives two-thirds of its revenue. During Bill Clinton s tenure as Laureate s chancellor, the school spent over $200 million a year on aggressive telemarketing, flashy Internet banner ads, and billboards designed to lure often unprepared students from impoverished countries to enroll in its for-profit classes. The goal: get as many students, regardless of skill level, signed up and paying tuition. I meet people all the time who transfer here when they flunk out elsewhere, agronomy student Arturo Bisono, 25, told the Post. This has become the place you go when no one else will accept you. Others, like Rio state legislator Robson Leite who led a probe into Bill Clinton s embattled for-profit education scheme, say the company is all about extracting cash, not educating students. They have turned education into a commodity that focuses more on profit than knowledge, said Leite.Progressives have long excoriated for-profit education companies for placing profits over quality pedagogy. Still, for five years, Bill Clinton allowed his face and name to be plastered all over Laureate s marketing materials. As Clinton Cash reported, pictures of Bill Clinton even lined the walkways at campuses like Laureate s Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey. That Laureate has campuses in Turkey is odd, given that for-profit colleges are illegal there, as well as in Mexico and Chile where Laureate also operates.Shortly after Bill Clinton s lucrative 2010 Laureate appointment, Hillary Clinton s State Dept. began pumping millions of its USAID dollars to a sister nonprofit, International Youth Foundation (IYF), which is run by Laureate s founder and chairman, Douglas Becker. Indeed, State Dept. funding skyrocketed once Bill Clinton got on the Laureate payroll, according to Bloomberg:A Bloomberg examination of IYF s public filings show that in 2009, the year before Bill Clinton joined Laureate, the nonprofit received 11 grants worth $9 million from the State Department or the affiliated USAID. In 2010, the group received 14 grants worth $15.1 million. In 2011, 13 grants added up to $14.6 million. The following year, those numbers jumped: IYF received 21 grants worth $25.5 million, including a direct grant from the State Department.


Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton is thundering against the House Republican effort to dismantle the Office of Congressional Ethics. [In a strongly worded statement, Fitton says: "It is shameful that House Republicans are trying to destroy the Office of Congressional Ethics, the most significant ethics reform in Congress when it was established nearly a decade ago. " Judicial Watch focuses on the transparency, accountability and integrity in government and politics and remained a thorn in the side of the Obama administration, the Clintons, and Democrats for many years. "This effort to eliminate the Office of Congressional Ethics, which provides appropriate independence and transparency to the House ethics process, is a poor way for the Republican majority to begin 'draining the swamp,'" Fitton says. Although the office was created under then Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2008, Judicial Watch worked with her to create an investigative body with independent power. "The American people will see this latest push to undermine congressional ethics enforcement as shady and corrupt," Fitton said. "The full House should seriously consider whether it wants to bear the brunt of public outrage and go through with the rule change this afternoon. " Although House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly opposed the rule changes, they allowed the vote to take place.


Charles Hugh Smith  There are many sources of rage: injustice, the destruction of truth, powerlessness. But if we had to identify the one key source of non-elite rage that cuts across all age, ethnicity, gender and regional boundaries, it is this: The Ruling Elite is protected from the destructive consequences of its predatory dominance.  We see this reality across the entire political, social and economic landscape.  If I had to pick one chart that illustrates the widening divide between the Ruling Elite and the non-elites, it is this chart of wages as a share of the nation's output (GDP): 46 years of relentless decline, interrupted by gushing fountains of credit and asset bubbles that enriched the few while leaving the economic landscape of the many in ruins.  The Ruling Elite once had an obligation to uphold the social contract as a responsibility that came with their vast privilege, power and wealth (i.e. noblesse oblige ).  America's Ruling Elite has transmogrified into an incestuous self-serving few unapologetically plundering the many. In their hubris-soaked arrogance, their right to rule is unquestioningly based on their moral and intellectual superiority to "the little people" they loot with abandon.  Rather than feel a responsibility to the nation, America's Elite views the status quo as a free pass to self-aggrandizement.  Much has changed in America in the past 46 years. Not only have wages and salaries declined as a share of "economic growth," but the wealth that has been generated has flowed to the top of the wealth/power pyramid (see chart below).  Social mobility has also declined drastically: Restoring America's Economic Mobility , as has trust in government and key institutions.  As Frank Buckley, the author of The Way Back: Restoring the Promise of America observed:  "In a corrupt country, trust is a rare commodity. That's America today. Only 19 percent of Americans say they trust the government most of the time, down from 73 percent in 1958 according to the Pew Research Center."  The top .01% has seen its share of the household wealth triple from 7% to 22% in the past four decades, while the share of the nation's wealth owned by the bottom 90% has plummeted from 36% to 23%.  As I described in America's Ruling Elite Has Failed and Deserves to Be Fired and Now That the Presidential-Election Side Show Is Finally Ending…. , the economy is rapidly undergoing structural changes that tend to reward the top 5% class of technocrats and managers and the top .1% with millions in mobile capital, while leaving the bottom 95% in the dust.  Rather than address this rising inequality directly and honestly, the Ruling Elite has parroted propaganda and policies that protect their gains while obfuscating the reality that most American households have been losing ground for decades, a decline that has been masked by replacing real income with rising debt.  The ceaseless parroting of the Ruling Elite and the Mainstream Media that prosperity has been rising for everyone is nothing less than the destruction of truth. This propaganda has one purpose: to mask the inequality and injustice built into the American status quo.  The rapid concentration of wealth has also concentrated political power in the hands of a few who seamlessly combine public and private modes of power.  This wealth and power protects the Ruling Elite from the perverse consequences of their dominance. Their precious offspring rarely serve at the point of the American military's spear, they never lose their jobs or income when corporations shift production (and R&D, etc.) overseas, and they are never replaced with illegal immigrants paid under the table.  Rather, the Ruling Elite is pleased to pay immigrants a pittance to care for their children, clean their luxe homes, walk their dogs, etc.  This is why we're enraged: we bear the consequences of the Ruling Elite's dominance. The system is rigged to benefit the few, who use their wealth and power to protect themselves from the destructive consequences of their self-serving dominance.  This rage is as yet inchoate, sensed but not yet understood as the inevitable result of a broken system and a predatory Elite that exploits the system to maximize their private gain by any means available .  ELECTION NOTE: As I write this Tuesday evening, it appears Donald Trump may win the presidency. For those who cannot understand how anyone could possibly vote for Trump, please read the above essay again and ponder what people were voting against by voting for Trump .  They may well have been voting against the corrupt, self-serving status quo rather than voting for the individual Donald Trump.  There are very few opportunities for powerless non-elites to register their disapproval of the nation's Ruling Elite and the corrupt status quo. Voting for an outsider in a national election is one such rare opportunity.  As I noted in October, The Ruling Elite Has Lost the Consent of the Governed (October 20, 2016).  If you still don't understand how Trump could win, please read the above essay as many times as is necessary for you to get it: the status quo of corrupt self-serving insiders generates injustice and inequality as its only possible output.


Nordstrom cancelled the Ivanka Trump line after a liberal organization called Grab Your Wallet flooded them with complaints. Shame on Nordstrom!The Trump family has had to sacrifice so much to do what they re doing for America. It s a shame that even though Nordstrom had said they wouldn t cancel Ivanka s product line LEFTISTS CALL FOR Ivanka Trump Brand Boycott This Huge Retailer Is Sticking With Her they caved to the pressure from the left!PLEASE CONTACT NORDSTROM AND COMPLAIN : NORDSTROM FEEDBACKDaily Mail reported:Nordstrom denied partisanship in the decision to drop Trump s brand, insisting the move was made as a result of poor sales months after it was hit by a grassroots boycott started by a marketing specialist and a grandmother.The move from Nordstrom comes after several other retailers have already stopped selling her merchandise due to the Grab Your Wallet campaign, which calls for shoppers to boycott retailers that carry her brand or her father s goods.The Grab Your Wallet campaign was launched on October 11 by Shannon Coulter and Sue Atencio after they simultaneously realized they could no longer in good conscience shop at retailers that do business with the Trump family .The campaign compiled a list of businesses that sell Trump family goods. The extensive list also includes companies that advertise on Celebrity Apprentice or executives that have raised money for President Donald Trump.


It all started with a rumor: the Mungiki, a dreaded Kikuyu tribal militia, had infiltrated Nairobi s Kawangware slum. Within minutes, local men already fired up by Kenya s divisive election had grabbed machetes and sticks to defend their turf. By the end of Friday night s confrontation, a man had been beaten to death and rows of shops and homes set alight, a worrying taste of how quickly ethnic violence can erupt in the Kenyan capital s volatile slums. Almost all the 50 deaths since August s presidential vote have been in clashes between protesters and police. The deeper fear of Kenyans is that the months of political strife, exacerbated by the courts annulling the August vote, eat away at deep tribal divisions and ignite a wave of inter-ethnic violence, as happened after a disputed 2007 vote when 1,200 people were killed. The Kawangware fighting was sparked by rumors that Kikuyu, the tribe of President Uhuru Kenyatta, had drafted in members of the Mungiki to protect them from opposition supporters. On Friday, a Reuters witness saw a group of men armed with machetes, known locally as pangas, on the streets of Kawangware. Their identity was unclear, although several residents said they were Mungiki, brought in after opposition loyalists burnt down a prominent Kikuyu-owned business the previous night. The Mungiki, notorious for castrating and decapitating victims, were blamed for hundreds of deaths in the 2007 clashes. Their relative quiet since has not diminished their reputation. They were more than a hundred, and they were carrying all new pangas, Vitalis Aloyi, a Kawangware resident, said. Another man said residents had to act to defend themselves. We had to teach them not to bring Mungiki here. If they bring Mungiki, we will destroy their property and their lives, said Kennedy Ochieng, an ethnic Luo, like opposition leader Raila Odinga. As the pro-Odinga vigilantes, also armed with clubs and machetes, swept down the muddy street they set fire to Kikuyu businesses suspected of hiding Mungiki militiamen, Ochieng said. One man was killed, and his body burned, leaving a charred spot on the road. Some Odinga supporters denounced him as Mungiki, but no one could explain how they knew. The next day, with smoke still rising from the twisted wreckage of homes and shops, the remaining traders in Kawangware began loading their wares of pipes, popcorn machines and meat onto trucks. All the other tribes are against the Kikuyu here because of the voting, said Stephen Kamau, whose fruit stall was burned down. These people will come back and burn more. Others in the district, long home to mixed communities, said the truth was more nuanced. As political tensions rose, some businesses had hired local youths for protection, said Rhoda Kungu, a market trader. She insisted the vigilantes were not Mungiki. We are all brothers and sisters. We just want to live in peace, she said. Another trader, Brian Njenga, said it may merely have been pro-Odinga youths spotting a chance to enrich themselves, demanding protection money or looting businesses before they burned them. Some people are just using this situation to get personal benefit, Njenga said to somber nods from a crowd of youths around him. Many have not worked for a long time because the economy is very down. A few hundred meters down the rubbish-strewn road, hundreds of young men milled around on street corners. Teargas from the night before lingered in the air. We want to kill Mungiki. They must know this is our territory, one man shouted. Don t think because it is quiet now that we are at peace. We are just waiting for something!


Days after testifying in front of Congress and after requesting more resources for the Russian investigation, FBI Director James Comey was fired on Tuesday night, effective immediately.The Trump administration is blaming Comey s handling of the Hillary Clinton emails, which makes no sense whatsoever because Trump loved Comey s handling of the emails in October. Trump tried to make the case that he fired Comey for being mean to Hillary Clinton, but even the most rabid Trump supporters have to acknowledge that his Lock Her Up, slogan is completely incompatible with Trump s given rationale.It doesn t take a tin foil conspiracy theorist to imagine that the real reason for the Comey firing is that he was getting too close to the truth in investigating Trump s Russia connections. NPR imagines even more scenarios, like the fact that Comey was becoming too big and was stepping on poor little Donnie s ego. It s becoming more and more likely though, that there were just two reasons Comey was fired and both of them should scare the hell out of you.According to two sources that CNN is calling close to Comey, the two reasons Comey was fired were:#2 confirms everything we ve been assuming since the news broke Tuesday night. #1, though, while not at all surprising, is almost more frightening. Trump had to have approached Comey at some point, demanding his loyalty. That s third-rate Banana Republic dictator crap. It makes one wonder just how many people have had to make an oath of loyalty, not to the Constitution, but to Trump. Maybe it s just the people who might have damaging goods on the administration or maybe it s every single person in his administration, which could explain why hundreds of jobs still remain unfilled within the Executive Branch.Loyalty oaths or no loyalty oaths, the Trump administration s charade when it comes to the handling is quickly coming unraveled. It likely won t be long before Comey, and not just sources close to him, are speaking out and perhaps speaking to Congress.


The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday said it would conduct another comprehensive review of Raytheon Co's long-delayed ground control system for next generation GPS satellites in about three months, following Tuesday's "deep dive review." "We will conduct another comprehensive review in approximately three months to assess progress against the plan," said Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright. He said additional information would be released as it became available. Pentagon chief arms buyer Frank Kendall, Air Force Secretary Deborah James and other officials met with Raytheon Chief Executive Tom Kennedy in Colorado on Tuesday to review progress on the $3.6 billion program after years of schedule delays and technical challenges.


President-elect Donald Trump's drive to rebuild U.S. roads, bridges, ports and other public works projects with a $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan would come as the country faces a shortage of skilled laborers. Before any dirt can be moved, Trump would have to get approval from Congress. But with Democratic support and a push from business groups, there is some optimism that Trump could win over skeptical Republicans who control Congress, if the plan does not add significantly to federal debt. More than two-thirds of U.S. roads are in less than good condition and nearly 143,000 bridges need repair or improvement, the Transportation Department estimates. At the same time, construction contractors have reported tight labor conditions in the South, Midwest and Southwest, causing project delays, the Federal Reserve noted last month. Earlier this year, the National Association of Home Builders estimated there were around 200,000 unfilled construction jobs in the United States, an 81 percent increase in the last two years. Infrastructure projects need highly trained workers, such as heavy equipment operators and iron specialists. But as a result of the 2007-2008 recession, which caused an estimated 25 percent of construction jobs to vanish, their ranks have thinned. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2h9paJX) Many of these workers went back to school, joined the military or got lower-paying jobs in retail, services and other sectors. Some just got too old for the rigors of construction. "They wandered off into other careers," said Leonard Toenjes, president of Associated General Contractors of Missouri, which represents contractors in the state. Undocumented immigrants, who otherwise might help replenish those ranks, are unlikely candidates however, since companies do not want to invest in training people with an uncertain status, especially given Trump's anti-immigrant bent. The labor shortage is driving up construction costs, according to government and industry experts, which could cut into the scope of any new Washington investment scheme. In response to the construction "skills gap," the U.S. Department of Labor and Federal Highway Administration are aiming to expand help to localities training workers for road and bridge building, according to a FHWA spokesman. Even if the scope of work is not as grandiose as Trump originally envisioned, it would benefit a range of businesses, from steel maker Nucor Corp and concrete firm US Concrete Inc to construction machinery companies such as Caterpillar Inc. More infrastructure spending would boost trade unions, too, which appeals to Democrats. "We will build new roads, tunnels, bridges, railroads, airports, schools and hospitals," Trump boasted in a Dec. 1 speech in Cincinnati. A Trump transition representative, who asked not to be named because the topic was still under discussion, said that enactment of "infrastructure funding legislation" is one of the top priorities for the first 100 days of the new administration. A Trump website refers to taking steps that would fill a $1 trillion gap in infrastructure investments over 10 years. Like many Trump campaign proposals, his infrastructure plan is thin on details. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters earlier this month: "What I hope we will clearly avoid, and I'm confident we will, is a trillion-dollar stimulus." In a departure from past fiscal policies, Trump has proposed slashing taxes and expanding infrastructure investment at a time of economic stability. Historically, such steps have been used by the government to provide economic stimulus in recessions. Trump has discussed investor tax credits for infrastructure projects. Democrats have attacked this as a boon to Wall Street that would spark too few projects and create too few jobs. House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters last week infrastructure is something her party could collaborate on with Republicans. But she said Democrats would reject anything "disguised as infrastructure. It has to be a real infrastructure bill that grows the paychecks of American workers." If Congress balks at writing a big check, there is talk of a mix of alternatives. One could involve new corporate income tax revenue from bringing foreign profits into the country. Others could be an infrastructure revolving fund, raising the gasoline tax or a new surface freight fee, experts said. These could help marquee projects move forward: a Hudson River rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey; a deeper port in Charleston, South Carolina; expanded rail service in southern California; fixing the crumbling I-70 freeway in Missouri; replacing a key bridge linking Ohio and Kentucky. Harry Holzer, professor of public policy at Georgetown University, said fixing roads and bridges would boost U.S. productivity and, depending on how it is structured, generate good-paying jobs for those without college educations. Given shortages of high-skilled construction labor, he said government ought to ramp up the projects carefully to allow time to train a new generation of skilled workers. "I'm not sure anyone has thought that through," he said. (Click here for graphics on 'U.S. construction employment, spending' here)


Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the two leaders decisively condemned North Korean weapons tests. We decisively condemned North Korea s launch of a medium-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan s territory on August 28, as well as the new nuclear tests conducted on September 3, Putin said in a statement. Putin reiterated that the crisis around North Korea should be resolved only by political means, and that it posed a threat to peace and stability in the region. He called for it to be resolved through a road map proposed by Moscow and Beijing. Putin also said he and Abe discussed the prospect of joint economic activities by their countries on the disputed Kurile islands. The islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, were seized by Soviet forces at the end of World War Two, when 17,000 Japanese residents were forced to flee. Putin said he and Abe discussed the prospect of a peace treaty officially ending World War Two hostilities, which has never been signed because of the territorial dispute. Putin did not say how close the two countries were to such an agreement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said there could not be a timeframe for concluding a treaty. This is a very complicated and sensitive issue, he said. Russia and Japan are steadily building up mutual trust, mutually beneficial cooperation, which cannot but promote the creation of a favorable atmosphere for finding a solution for the peace treaty.


Russia said it will retaliate tit-for-tat over a new Canadian law that will impose sanctions on officials from Russia and other nations considered guilty of human rights violations. The bill, expected to be approved by Canada s parliament later on Wednesday, was inspired by the case of Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who died in 2009 after a year in a Russian jail. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Wednesday that any anti-Russian actions by the Canadian authorities will not be left without an adequate response. Canada already has cool ties with Russia. It has repeatedly condemned Moscow over Russia s 2014 annexation of Crimea and has imposed sanctions against Russia along with other Western nations. We warn again that in case the pressure of the sanctions put on us increases ... we will widen likewise the list of Canadian officials banned from entering Russia, Zakharova said, according to Interfax. To a large extent, it (the bill) simply copies the odious American Magnitsky Act and is set to further undermine Russian-Canadian relations. The United States adopted a law in 2012 freezing any U.S. assets of Russian investigators and prosecutors said to have been involved in the detention of Magnitsky. In retaliation, Moscow barred Americans from adopting Russian children. The Canadian parliament s lower house approved adoption of the Law on Victims of Corrupt Foreign Governments on Monday and submitted the bill to the Senate for approval. The law, which was proposed by an opposition legislator and is backed by the government, will come into force once it is signed by Canada s governor-general. The Russian embassy in Canada, in a statement posted on its Twitter page, blamed the Magnitsky bill on failed policies, pressed by Russophobic elements .


The head of Thailand s immigration police chief said he believed former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra remained in the country after a Supreme Court judge raised suspicion that she had fled after she failed to show up on Friday for the verdict in a negligence case. Yingluck, whose government was ousted in a 2014 coup, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Up until this point we have no information showing that Yingluck has exited via any of Thailand s border check points, Immigration police chief Nanthathorn Prousoontorn told Reuters. I believe she is still in Thailand. If she is found she will be arrested, he said. A lawyer for Yingluck said on Friday he did not know her wherabouts. The Supreme Court set a new date of Sept. 27 for the verdict but said it would also seek an arrest warrant for Yingluck. The court said Yingluck gave an ear problem as the reason she could not come to court to hear the verdict.


Meanwhile, as President Trump continues to meet resistance from blue states in his effort to clean up voter fraud, one of his most vocal opponents is none other than the Democrat governor of New York, the same state where the board of elections made the mistake of changing Kushner s identity to a female AFTER he registered as a male . It seems like this may be just the high-profile screw-up the White House has been waiting for in order to revisit the legitimacy of voter rolls in New York.NY refuses to perpetuate the myth voter fraud played a role in our election. We will not comply with this request.https://t.co/eQC6ORV0v1 Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 30, 2017Kushner, President Trump s son-in-law, and senior adviser did in fact list himself as a male in his New York voter registration but an elections database error led to him getting listed as a female.Kushner s supposed registration as a woman, which made headlines Wednesday, is actually a data entry error that the New York Board of Elections corrected only after it became public.A Wired story first reported that Kushner whose father-in-law has been waging a fact-challenged war on voter fraud was registered as a woman on his publicly accessible New York State voter information. NYDaily NewsThe Wired story that was written by Ashley Feinberg suggests one of the reasons Kushner registered to vote as a female may be attributed to him committing voter fraud, which according to Feinberg, would, of course, would be interesting, considering that Trump s White House has been fixated on allegations that rampant voter fraud took place during the 2016 election. The Huffington Post used the fake news story to prove that Jared Kushner is not capable of brokering peace in the Middle East. Here is their headline for an article written by Amanda Terkel:From the Huffington Post article:If people weren t already skeptical that Kushner a man who inherited his father s real estate empire and has no policy experience in the Middle East or elsewhere could achieve the impossible, recent developments may give further pause.He registered to vote as a woman.Radical leftist and (sometimes) comedian Jimmy Kimmel did an entire skit on Jared Kushner registering to vote as a female. We ll wait for his apology #VeryFakeNewsCNN quickly jumped on the story without verifying why Jared Kushner was registered as a female. Given the incompetence of our government agencies, one would think CNN would give Kushner the benefit of the doubt, but alas, giving anyone close to President Donald J. Trump the benefit of the doubt would be counter-productive to the Trump-hating network who only has one goal, and that is to destroy Donald Trump and anyone who dares to stand with him. CNN has changed the story that was originally attached to this tweet to reflect their update, but their headline that attempts to paint Kushner as either a liar or a cheat stands on Twitter.Jared Kushner is registered to vote as a female https://t.co/MtWq9uHTC7 pic.twitter.com/1ub2dS6OFM CNN (@CNN) September 27, 2017Another loudmouth liberal who goes by the name of Ring of Fire on Youtube and has over 130K followers, has completely embarrassed himself by using Kushner s inability to fill out a simple form or who is so careless, or reckless, or downright stupid that he cannot fill out a form .


Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Friday said she respected the United Kingdom's vote on leaving the European Union and was committed to maintaining America's relationships with both Britain and European countries. "Our first task has to be to make sure that the economic uncertainty created by these events does not hurt working families here in America," she said in a statement.


Shortly after 7 a.m. on Wednesday, the police say, James T. Hodgkinson, of Belleville, Ill., opened fire on a baseball field in Alexandria, Va., just steps from the Y.M.C.A., spraying bullets at members of the Republican congressional team practicing there.Four people were shot in the assault, including Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority whip and third-ranking Republican in the House. An ensuing firefight with the police took Mr. Hodgkinson s life.The suspect s brother said Mr. Hodgkinson was a critic of Mr. Trump, upset over last fall s election and intent on bringing his protest to Washington. But his more immediate motive for the attack remained unclear late Wednesday, even as investigators surrounded Mr. Hodgkinson s home on the outskirts of Belleville, a town of 40,000 across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. I know he wasn t happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff, his brother, Michael Hodgkinson, said in a phone interview after he received the news on Wednesday. NYTRepresentative Steve Scalise (R-LA), a husband and father of 2 young children is still listed in critical condition, simply because his political views didn t align with those of the radical Democrat Party to which the shooter belonged.Brave members of the GOP were determined not to allow what happened to stop them from playing in tonight s game. They took a knee before the game and prayed for their friend and colleague Steve Scalise:The congressional players who witnessed the shootings by the liberal Democrat terrorist yesterday, got a surprise visit from Ivanka Trump at the game tonight. Watch MI Republican Rep. Mike Bishop (#8) who was on the field when Rep. Steve Scalise was shot, pose for a picture with Ivanka Trump:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/875493467471962112President Trump also took time to address the players and to send his love, thoughts and prayers to Steve Scalise and his family:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/875507877535993861President Trump and First Lady Melania visited Steve Scalise in the hospital last night:


Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is leaning on new sources of cash as he prepares for a long primary fight against front-runner Donald Trump, with new campaign finance filings showing the expense of competing against a billionaire adept at grabbing headlines. Cruz's more traditional campaign has struggled to compete with Trump. The U.S. senator from Texas poured money into advertising, staff and calls to voters, spending $5.6 million more in February than he raised as he tried to outmaneuver Trump, according to campaign finance records made public on Sunday. But the effort had a limited impact as Trump took a commanding lead in the delegate count for the Republican nomination while spending a little more than half what Cruz did. The real estate mogul has loaned his campaign more than $24 million since he entered the race for the White House. Now, with establishment Republican rivals Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio out of the race, Cruz is trying to win votes and rake in money by arguing the party should unite behind him if it hopes to defeat Trump. It's a tough proposition for a conservative candidate who has long rankled the establishment wing of his party, including by leading a fight over President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law that led to a 16-day shutdown of the federal government. Cruz now hopes to convince his party that he, not Ohio Governor John Kasich, the other Republican remaining in the race, is best poised to defeat Trump and go on to the Nov. 8 presidential election. In a sign of Cruz's warming ties with establishment Republicans, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been a vocal critic of Cruz, plans on Monday to hold a fundraiser for the senator from Texas. Charles Foster, a Houston immigration attorney who backed Bush until he left the race in February, said Friday he is urging establishment Republicans to line up behind Cruz. "My pitch to them simplistically is that Trump is an existential threat. He'd be a total disaster," Foster said. "The only person that has a real chance," he added, "particularly within the Republican primary base, which is conservative, far more conservative than Kasich, is Ted." Trump has a substantial lead in the Republican White House race, though he remains far short of the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. It is unclear whether he will hit that number before the July convention in Cleveland, but it would also be difficult for either Cruz or Kasich to catch him. Cruz could pick up delegates in Utah, which holds its caucus on Tuesday, and all of the candidates are expected to compete hard in Wisconsin on April 5. But so far, efforts to stop the Trump juggernaut have made little impression on voters. In February, Cruz raised $11.9 million and spent $17.5 million, leaving his campaign with $8 million when he woke up on Super Tuesday. And despite the heavy spending, Cruz won just one state that voted in February and three on the March 1 Super Tuesday primaries. In addition to self-funding his campaign, Trump has the advantage of running an operation that leans heavily on free media exposure. In February, Trump, raised $9.2 million, including a $6.9 million loan he gave his own campaign, and spent $9.5 million. Kasich raised $3.4 million in February and spent $3.6 million. About half of Cruz's spending, or more than $8.7 million, was on advertising. Cruz also allotted $2.6 million to traditional campaign tactics like printing mailers, postage stamps and phone calls to voters. Cruz did spend a bit less than Trump on staff, recording $342,525 in payroll costs in February to Trump's $370,973. Jeff Roe, Cruz's campaign manager, said on Twitter on Sunday the campaign has enough cash to continue competing through June 7, the last Republican primary day when hundreds of delegates are up for grabs.


Someone is going to empty lots and cordoned off buildings around the country and putting signs on the fences around them. These aren t ordinary signs, either. They literally say, Lot reserved for: Future Internment Camp. They carry the presidential seal and Donald Trump s signature.Signs Designating Future Internment Camp Go Up At Construction Lots https://t.co/p56nREy5mR pic.twitter.com/gBfUFPnL1j LAist (@LAist) March 6, 2017Prank Signs Advertising Future Internment Camp Pop Up At Chicago Sites https://t.co/tIO9Xfmhgw pic.twitter.com/rMxHF08K7m Chicagoist (@Chicagoist) March 7, 2017Street art hits Boston https://t.co/ZutU678Wao Erin Tiernan (@ErinTiernan) March 8, 2017 Future Internment Camp Signs Appear Across America A Conversation with the #Artist Behind Themhttps://t.co/4gFDgapHsA SATIRISTAS! (@Satiristas) March 6, 2017Future Internment camp signs across the USA. A selection from ten US cities. #immigration #immigrant #humanrights #racism #donaldtrump pic.twitter.com/FiT5TBjpMy Plastic Jesus (@plasticjesusart) March 6, 2017They aren t real (yet), but they are a frightening reminder of just who we elected to the White House and what it is that Trump is trying to do. They re the work of a street artist known as Plastic Jesus, who s previously focused most of his work on the entertainment industry. According to LAist, though, these signs are something different, and not just because they re political: We re seeing detention of travelers to the U.S. They have all the proper credentials, but they re being detained for the country they re coming from, as well as their race. I have a friend who was detained because her name was Lebanese. She was detained for a couple hours and was questioned. This was someone who has a visa. Lebanon isn t on Trump s list. It s normal for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to briefly question foreign nationals from everywhere before granting them admission to the country, and it s true that we don t know all the specific circumstances surrounding these detentions. However, the amount of hours-long detention for people who seem to otherwise check out (are traveling on the proper visa, have the rest of their travel documents and itineraries in order, etc.) is alarming.Not only are people being unnecessarily, and even wrongly, delayed prior to entering the U.S., but Trump is working to ramp up deportation, including increasing funding for detention beds, for immigrants awaiting deportation. To ramp up the deportation process the way Trump wants could eventually require camps, since detention centers aren t big enough, probably won t be made big enough, and deporting someone isn t as simple as picking them up and driving them across the border.The signs reference Executive Order 9066, which is the order FDR signed to create the Japanese internment camps we had during WWII. The idea of camps for immigrants, people who are prohibited from entering the U.S. due to Trump s new travel ban but can t be turned around immediately, and possibly more, is eerily evocative of that.There s some backlash, but when art gets political like this, there will always be backlash. The idea is to stir people up and make them take notice of the events unfolding around them.Featured image by John Moore via Getty Images


The leaders of the House intelligence committee are giving the NSA, FBI, and the CIA until Friday to reveal how many Americans' private conversations were improperly 'unmasked' amid legal surveillance activities in the last six months, which they believe happened to President Donald Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. [The demand comes as the committee is trying to figure out who revealed Flynn's identity during his phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December and who illegally leaked the classified contents of those calls to the news media. "Masking" refers to the protection of identities of Americans who are inadvertently caught up in surveillance — for example, of foreign individuals in the U. S. — and is referred to as a "minimization" procedure. Chairman Devin Nunes ( ) and Ranking Member Adam Schiff ( ) made the request in a letter dated Mar. 15 addressed to Director of the National Security Agency Adm. Michael Rogers, FBI Director James Comey, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. "As you know, the Committee has been very concerned regarding the purported unauthorized disclosures of classified information, particularly when they pertain to intelligence collection on, or related to, U. S. persons (USP). To take a prominent example, a January 12, 2017 article in a major newspaper was the first to claim that 'Retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, [then ] Trump's choice for national security adviser … . phoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak several times on Dec. 29. " "Such stories would appear to contain the unauthorized disclosure of USP identities. This potential misuse is a key reason why the Intelligence Community (IC) has developed robust 'minimization procedures' for the protection of USP information, including requiring the 'masking' of USP identities in most circumstances," they wrote. "However, as recent news stories seem to illustrate, individuals talking to the media would appear to have wantonly disregarded these procedures," they added. Thus, the leaders have requested all policies procedures each agency uses to determine when to unmask and disseminate the identity of an American and the number of individuals who can approve an unmasking. They are also asking for the total number of times any unmasked American identity was disseminated between June 2016 and January 2017. They are also asking for the names of those unmasked Americans who had their identities disseminated in response to requests from intelligence community agencies, law enforcement, or any senior Executive Branch officials during that timeframe, in relation to either Trump or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They also want to know who requested any unmasking and dissemination of individuals related to Trump or Clinton and why. If those answers are not produced by Friday, Nunes and Schiff will issue a subpoena for them, they said. The committee is scheduled to question Rogers and Comey at a public hearing on Monday.


Does anyone else get the sense Biden was picked to be the VP just to make Obama look smart?Vice President Joe Biden remarked at a Hillary Clinton campaign event Thursday that it s OK sometimes to be an uninformed guy who has no idea what the hell he s talking about. Biden, however, was referring to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. I don t believe the guy s a bad guy. I just think he is thoroughly, totally, completely uninformed, Biden said. He has no idea what the hell he s talking about. And guess what? That s OK sometimes. That s OK sometimes. Biden went on to point out for the rally audience, for the second time in less than a month, the military aide who travels with him and holds the nuclear launch codes in case something happens to the president. WFB


Remember that cute scene in the movie Love Actually when The Walking Dead s Andrew Lincoln declares his love for Keira Knightley using a series of clever cue cards? Well, SNL just upped that scene with a very clever one of their own that we are sure Donald Trump will hate as much as he hates the cold opener.Cecily Strong, appearing as an elector in the scene, answers a knock at her door to find Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton standing there holding a stack of cue cards, attempting to sway her to vote for ANYONE but Donald Trump even John Kasich. I know that you re an elector And on December 19th, you re supposed to vote for Donald Trump But bish, he cray. The cards go on to read: Look, I know I lost the election And we may never know why **cough** Russia, You don t even have to vote for me Just vote literally for anyone else Like John Kasich Tom Hanks The Rock A rock. That advice is very convincing, but it gets better!Watch the full sketch here:


Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the state of Indiana, saying a new state law restricting abortion was unconstitutional. The law, which was signed last month by Indiana Governor Mike Pence and goes into effect on July 1, prohibits abortion in the early stages of a pregnancy based on genetic abnormalities and mandates a fetus be buried or cremated, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. Planned Parenthood asked for an injunction on the law, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the nonprofit organization's Indiana chapter. "The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly stressed that a woman, not the state, is to determine whether or not to obtain an abortion," Ken Falk, legal director for ACLU of Indiana, said in a statement. "The state of Indiana's attempt to invade a woman's privacy and to control her decision in this regard is unprecedented and unconstitutional." The lawsuit named the Indiana State Department of Health, prosecutors of several counties and the state medical licensing board. A spokeswoman for the health department referred all questions to the attorney general's office, where no one could be reached for comment. A spokesman for the medical licensing board declined to comment about the lawsuit. Pence's press secretary, Kara Brooks, said the governor is confident the law is constitutional. "We will work with the attorney general to defend the law that enhances information expectant mothers receive and enhances protection for the unborn," she said. Indiana was the second U.S. state to prohibit abortions based on a prenatal diagnosis of disabilities such as Down syndrome, following North Dakota. Planned Parenthood does not ask patients to disclose why they are obtaining an abortion, but under the new law, doctors would be mandated to report if a fetal anomaly was present before the abortion. The new Indiana law would put physicians at risk for legal woes, and require additional costs for a fetus to be buried or cremated, according to the lawsuit. "Gov. Mike Pence isn't a woman and he isn't a doctor. He needs to get out and stay out of our doctors' offices," Betty Cockrum, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, said in a statement.


Rep. Paul Ryan must step down as Speaker of the House. America rejected his big government, open borders globalism. Paul Ryan rejected Trump all year long. And now the majority are calling on Wisconsin lawmaker to step down. Americans deserve a Republican Speaker who will support President Trump. A bridge, not a wall. Sean Hannity spoke tonight on FOX after Donald Trump won the election for President of the United States. He noted that he spoke with Trump three times throughout the night after he said the following: And on every objective measure, you know thank God the American people this is about one thing. They see that Washington is broken and by the way Republicans are just as guilty. Paul Ryan is not going to be the Speaker off the House in January. I was going to save that for my program tomorrow. He's not going to be the Speaker. His state went for Donald Trump tonight. I mean it's an amazing turn of events because the establishment on both sides Republican and Democrat have lost touch with the real lives of real Americans that are really suffering and Donald Trump has now opened the door and said we're going to fix it and we're going to turn that table over and you know what, I wish him all the best cause it's not going to be easy because it's all the same people that opposed him in the lead up to tonight are going to be opposing him tomorrow. Source


More than 21,000 people from all regions of the world participated in the Best Countries survey, in which they assessed how closely they associated 80 countries with specific characteristics. Four of these economically stable, good job market, income equality and is a place I would live were included in the Best Countries to Be an Immigrant ranking.Countries also were scored in relation to others on the share of migrants in their population; the amount of remittances the migrants they host sent home; and graded on a United Nations assessment of integration measures provided for immigrants, such as language training and transfers of job certifications, and the rationale behind current integration policies. [LOL! NOT assimilation! ed]Note how important remittances are! Those are dollars sent out of the host economy and I will bet a buck that any economic study that seeks to justify migration benefits to a country, NEVER factors in how much of the migrants earnings (or their welfare payments!) are sent OUT of the country (and thus lost to the host country s economy!). Ann Corcoran Refugee Resettlement Watch1. Sweden (this, coincidentally, is the country I have for a long time ranked as #1 to fall to the Islamists!)2. Canada (just be sure our northern border is fortified!)3. Switzerland4. Australia5. Germany6. Norway7. US8. Netherlands9. Finland10.DenmarkNotice that Arab (mostly Muslim) countries are not a desired destination. Gee, why is that?


Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump gave victory speeches Tuesday night in New Hampshire after winning their parties vote in the state's primary. Each took the top spot after second-place finishes in the Iowa caucuses. It's a boost for their standing in a highly competive election season.   Trump's first victory of the 2016 White House race means he's no longer a political rookie but the front-runner for his party's presidential nomination. CBN News' David Brody will share his insights on the outcome of the New Hampshire primary on Wednesday's The 700 Club. Trump started out his speech by thanking his wife, family and other supporters. "We are going to make America great again, but we're going to do it the old-fashioned way," Trump said. "The world is going to respect us again, believe me." "We're going to make the deals for the American people," he said. Trump went on to talk about repealing Obamacare, making trade deals, rebuilding military, creating jobs and protecting the borders. Dr. Paul Bonicelli, professor of government at Regent University, breaks down the numbers from last night's New Hampshire primary. Watch below: "We are going to make our country strong again. We are going to start winning again. We are going to make America so great again. Maybe greater than ever before." John Kasich grabbed the second spot, with 16 percent of the vote. "There's something that's going on, that I'm not sure that anyone can quite understand. There's magic in the air with this campaign," Kasich told supporters. "We see it as an opportunity for all of us, and I mean all of us, to be involved with something that is bigger than our lives." Cruz, Bush and Rubio had a tight outcome, with Cruz narrowly winning third place. The overcrowded GOP party shrank after the Iowa caucus, and more candidates could end their campaign following the evening's results. Ben Carson, bringing in only 2 percent of the votes, is already on his way to South Carolina to prepare for the next round, his campaign team reiterating that he has not dropped out of the race. Chris Christie won't reveal whether his campaign will continue. When asked what place he needs to come in at a minimum to continue he responded, "I don't get into that stuff. Next!" he said, calling on the next reporter.   And the win for Sanders completes his rise from presidential long shot to legitimate challenger for the Democratic nomination against Hillary Clinton. "When we stand together, we win. Thank you, New Hampshire!" Sanders celebrated on Twitter. "Nine months ago we began our campaign here in New Hampshire," he said. "And tonight, what appears to be a record-breaking turnout, because of a huge voter turnout - we won!" Sanders encouraged his supporters to maintain their excitement and commitment for the November election. Hillary Clinton used her concession speech to rally her supporters. She referenced equal pay for women, racism, LGBTQ rights, and poverty. "When people anywhere in America are held back by injustice that demands action," she said, admitting she has work to do to win the millennial vote. "Even if they are not supporting me, I support them." It was a higher turnout than in 2008, and one thing voters on both sides agreed on in exit polls was they feel betrayed by the government and their parties.


The powerful Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Saturday that an Iraqi Kurdish independence vote marked a first step toward the partition of the Middle East, warning that this would lead to internal wars and must be opposed. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed group, said events in northern Iraq, where Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence on Monday, were a threat to the whole region and not just Iraq and neighboring states with Kurdish populations. It will open the door to partition, partition, partition, Nasrallah said. He added that partition means taking the region to internal wars whose end and time frame is known only to God . Nasrallah noted that his group s arch enemy Israel had come out in support of Kurdish statehood and described the referendum as part of a U.S.-Israeli plot to carve up the region. The United States came out in opposition to the vote, along with major European states and neighboring countries Turkey and Iran. The government of Syria, where Kurdish groups have established autonomous regions, also opposed the referendum. Nasrallah was speaking to supporters on the eve of Ashura, when Shi ites commemorate the slaying of the Prophet Mohammad s grandson, Imam Hussein, at Kerbala in 680 AD. Hezbollah, a political and military movement, is a major player in the Syrian conflict, where it has deployed thousands of fighters in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah fighters are currently fighting along with other Iran-backed militias and the Syrian army against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria. Daesh is at its end. It is a matter of time in Iraq and Syria, Nasrallah said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. He said counter attacks mounted by Islamic State in eastern Syria in the last two days were expected as the group was besieged, adding that it was incapable of recovering ground .


It shouldn t be surprising to anyone that Trump is attacking recount efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. However, many people assume that he s doing so because he s afraid of the recounts proving he didn t actually win the election. That s only partly true. Evan McMullin, who ran for President as an independent, has a different hypothesis that s much worse than such a fear:It should not go unrecognized that @realDonaldTrump s effort to inflate his election performance without cause is typical of autocrats. https://t.co/rY4e5jmWxZ Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 27, 2016They do it increase the perception of their political legitimacy, while undermining popular opposition to them. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 27, 2016Whoa. Interesting idea, and it does fit with what we know of Trump s personality. So it s not a stretch to believe that fear of losing face, and anger at having his legitimacy questioned at all, is at the root of Trump s attacks. It s not just the possibility that he could be proven a loser here.But there s something even more insidious than showing Trump has autocratic tendencies. We already know he has strong autocratic tendencies. But he also undermined our democracy by repeatedly calling the election rigged. His attempts to undermine opposition in this manner expands his attack on democracy. McMullin points out that both of these tactics help to solidify an autocrat s power:And, in the process, they do enormous damage to democratic institutions, which is a larger objective they share. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 27, 2016Because it is those institutions and supporting norms that present the most significant check on an authoritarian s power. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 27, 2016When confidence in those institutions and norms has been sufficiently eroded, the authoritarian has a freer hand with which to wield power. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 27, 2016Trump s claims during his campaign that only he could fix our country, and fuck using our democratic system to try and do it because it s all rigged anyway, demonstrated his dictatorial nature. By throwing Twitter tantrums over possible recounts, and claiming there was massive voter fraud even though he won, Trump is trying to put us all in our places while reinforcing his image as a strong political leader who is beloved by everyone.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images


The influential Catalan business lobby Cercle d Economia said on Wednesday it was extremely worried by the prospect of Catalonia declaring independence from Spain and called for leaders from both sides to start talks. Such a declaration would plunge the country into an extraordinarily complex situation with unknown, but very serious consequences, the lobby said in a statement. The lobby also condemned violence on Sunday, saying Catalan-Spanish relationships had deteriorated as a consequence, after Spanish riot police were seen beating Catalans attempting to cast a ballot in a vote the government had said was illegal.


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


The man who sued Seattle Mayor Ed Murray accusing him of paying him for sex when he was a teenager has dropped the lawsuit, his attorney said on Wednesday, and Murray said he felt vindicated and would consider options for getting back into the race for reelection. In Twitter messages, Lincoln Beauregard, a lawyer for accuser Delvonn Heckard, wrote that his client was "delaying" his lawsuit until the mayor was out of power. Beauregard did not reply to a request for comment beyond the tweets, but emailed a copy of the motion to dismiss the lawsuit. A copy of a court order by a Superior Court judge in King County granting the dismissal was posted online by the Seattle Times newspaper. In April, Heckard, 46, accused Murray in the lawsuit of paying him for sex when Heckard was a homeless, drug-addicted teenager. The allegations caused Murray, whose mayoral term will expire at the end of 2017, to abandon his campaign for re-election. "I believe the withdrawal of this lawsuit vindicates me," Murray told a press conference. "This lawsuit was filed just as people were just getting ready to run, and it's withdrawn about 30 days after I move out of the race," he said. Murray, 62, said he was considering his options regarding launching re-entry into the crowded mayoral race. Murray is Seattle's first openly gay mayor. As a senator in the Washington state legislature, he was an advocate for gay rights and legalizing same-sex marriage.


Saturday during her Fox News Channel "Justice" opening statement, Judge Jeanine Pirro reacted to University of California at Berkeley disinviting author Ann Coulter from speaking on campus, saying the shutting down of free speech on college campuses is pushing the country to a fascist and totalitarian society. "America is in trouble," Pirro began. "They are trying to silence you. A monstrous and pervasive movement is putting the First Amendment and your free speech, the most basic and fundamental tenets of our nation at risk and in danger of extinction. And whether you are on the left or right, free speech is essential to our democracy, the reason the country was found, the reason people risk so much, even die to come here. Yet, as you sit there, you are watching a silencing in . Where people are not allowed to express their opinion if it does not align with the thinking of others. " "It's putting us on the course where we are in danger of becoming a fascist totalitarian society where there is only one accepted point of view no other will be tolerated, and it's time to fight back," she added. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent


The conversations U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had last year with Russia's ambassador were not related to his role advising the Trump campaign but solely to his work as a U.S. senator, the White House said on Thursday. "He was clearly conducting himself as a United States senator," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters aboard Air Force One. "This is what senators do."