While working on an article on civilian massacres by the Nigerian military, the photographer Ashley Gilbertson and I heard reports that soldiers were burning villages. The militant group Boko Haram, too, has been accused of setting fire to homes, but residents told us the military had now adopted the tactic as a way to clear the countryside so it could freely carry out operations against the insurgents. We saw the charred remains of villages when we flew over the area, but it was unclear who was responsible. In some places like this one, patches of farmland were burned. The military not long ago opened several main highways from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, leading to the rest of northeastern Nigeria, saying the area was now cleared of insurgents. Farmers who are living in squalid camps for displaced people in Maiduguri are anxious about the state of their fields. Because they have not been allowed back for years, they have no idea what awaits them on their farms. From the sky, Borno State, the region where Boko Haram is most active, is a patchwork of fallow farmland, swaths of desert and a few swampy areas. conditions are raging in the area, a region with a rich history of agriculture. Boko Haram has chased off all the farmers, and the militants themselves have fallen victim to food shortages. We spotted only a handful of vehicles on the roads as we passed overhead. The area is mostly a ghost town. Every shade of beige is visible in this part of Nigeria. We think these are animal tracks, probably from cattle. Boko Haram is notorious for stealing cows to feed their group and to trade as a means of financial support. Most farmers who have livestock have cleared out, but nomadic herders pass through this part of Nigeria. Maybe the tracks are from motorbikes, which officials in Maiduguri banned after insurgents used them to begin attacks and carry out suicide bombings. Now, anyone spotted riding a motorbike is presumed to be a member of Boko Haram. This is part of a camp for displaced people in a community called Monguno. The town itself was once destroyed by Boko Haram, but military advances helped clear out insurgents, and now tens of thousands of people have poured in, looking for a safe place to wait out the yearslong insurgency. They live in ragged huts in a camp that is low on food supplies. More people arrive daily — 350 villagers came the day before we visited. Several recent arrivals told us the military had ordered them to leave their homes. One woman sent an envoy back to check on her house and received word that it had been burned to the ground. Lake Chad is not far from this area of Nigeria, and swamps emerge in a few spots, right next to farms. Besides farmers, fishermen have also fallen on hard times during the crisis. The military has largely banned the fish trade, fearing Boko Haram was profiting from it. We met one fisherman in the Monguno camp who had been sneaking back to a small lake to fish, then stuffing his catch in his pants in hopes of passing undetected on his way home. The military has a big garrison in Monguno, and soldiers keep watch in their vehicles on the outskirts of town. A berm has been constructed around the edges of the camp, which houses about 26, 000 displaced people. Mobile phone networks in Monguno have been cut and fuel stations are closed. Most farms are inoperable around here. Famine was declared in pockets of Borno State last year. Many communities are sealed off from safety as insurgents scatter from in the forest, pushed out by recent military operations. Humanitarian groups face huge logistical challenges getting food and other supplies to people in need. Even roads the military says are safe now have been attacked by insurgents.


Last week, the mostly female audience of The View watched the panel of hypocritical, rabidly anti-Republican hosts attack Alabama s GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore for unproven sexual assault allegations. Only one year ago, however, The View s co-host Joy Behar, attacked the disgraced the mulitple sexual assault victims of former President Bill Clinton, calling them tramps who slept with him . Are the mostly female viewers really okay with the co-hosts of The View (who are completely devoid of any intellectual thought) dismissing the multiple allegations of sexual assault, including rape, by the impeached Democrat President Bill Clinton? Is it really okay with their viewers that Whoopi Goldberg would refer to the wife of the alleged rapist, Hillary Clinton (who threatened his victims to remain silent about her husbands sex crimes, or pay serious consequences) a victim ? When do the women who watch The View say, Enough with the hypocrisy! ? The female hosts of The View discussed the second debate the following day on their show. During the discussion, host Joy Behar called the women who allegedly slept with Bill Clinton tramps .Prior to the debate, Trump highlighted three women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault or harassment. The View host Sunny Hostin suggested that Hillary Clinton may have missed an opportunity to address the controversy during the second presidential debate. This is the thing though if a woman sleeps with your husband, you re not going to necessarily embrace them That s why when he brought up these allegations, I wonder if she missed the opportunity to address it in a way that the public would understand Hostin mused.Behar disagreed, joking that there wasn t much Hillary Clinton could say to the women.Behar suggested the Democratic nominee could say: I would like to apologize to those tramps that have slept with my husband. Maybe she could have said that. Fox News.@WhoopiGoldberg reacts to Donald Trump inviting Bill Clinton s accusers to last night's #debate. https://t.co/wxW54okAF5 The View (@TheView) October 10, 2016Only today, The View hags attempted to defend Democrat Senator Al Franken s sexual assault accusations, suggesting that he shouldn t step down, while simultaneously suggesting that GOP Senate candidate, Roy Moore, should drop out of the Senate race in Alabama.Watch:SHOULD SEN. FRANKEN RESIGN? After a second woman accuses Sen. Al Franken of inappropriate touching, co-hosts discuss what should come next. pic.twitter.com/NoerTvzzCd The View (@TheView) November 20, 2017


www.youtube.com 0  Hypothesis: There are Major Bombings that have been printed on the U.S. Currency many years BEFORE the events actually happened.  There is a common denominator between all the images and how they were spiritually discerned by what was recorded in the prophets of Isaiah spoken 2,700 years ago.  There are multiple layers of ink and watermarks printed on the bills when magnify appear to produce animations. Tags


Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Monday sought to quash speculation that he might emerge as the vice presidential running mate for Republican candidate Donald Trump, saying he still has deep reservations about the billionaire. "He will be best served by a running mate and by surrogates who fully embrace his campaign. As such, I have never sought, will not seek and do not want to be considered for vice president," Rubio said in a statement. Rubio, a former Republican presidential candidate himself, and Trump clashed repeatedly in the weeks leading up to the bitterly contested primary vote in Rubio's home state of Florida in March. Trump had dismissed Rubio as "little Marco" and won the state handily, dealing a death blow to Rubio's campaign. Rubio had blasted Trump as a con artist who is not a conservative. "While Republican voters have chosen Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee, my previously stated reservations about his campaign and concerns with many of his policies remain unchanged," Rubio said. GOP, short for Grand Old Party, is an acronym for the Republican Party. A former Trump campaign rival, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, is leading Trump's search for a vice presidential running mate. Trump has said he is considering a variety of his former rivals for the nomination, but some have ruled themselves out or declared they will not support him. Rubio said he plans to focus his attention in the run-up to the Nov. 8 helping Republicans hang on to control of the Senate and "electing principled conservatives across the country."


An Oklahoma state legislator has apologized after saying in the legislature last week that Native Americans are pre-disposed to alcohol abuse, officials said on Thursday. State Representative Todd Russ, a Republican, made the apology in a statement issued by his office this week, his office said on Thursday. During floor debate last week on a measure to amend Oklahoma's liquor laws, Russ said: "The white man took advantage of the Native American people at the rim of an alcohol bottle. "We see the effects of that today in society because they are predisposed physically. Scientifically we know the truth that they cannot process that like other people," he said. Russ, whose western Oklahoma district includes a portion of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes' jurisdictional area, urged members of the legislature's Native American Caucus to vote against the bill, which would allow supermarkets and convenience stores to sell beer and wine. Instead, he received a rebuke for his comments. "He may not have intentionally done this, but disparaging Native Americans is an uncalled for, inappropriate comment on the House floor," Representative Dan Kirby, a Republican and a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation said during the debate. In his apology, Russ offered contrition "for the unintended pain I have caused Native Americans by my statement that was based upon outdated information."


Several thousand people on Saturday joined the last protest to take place before Britain formally begins the process of leaving the European Union. [The United for Europe March called for Britain to stay in the EU despite the result of last June's referendum, with protesters marching just days before Prime Minister Theresa May formally triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The demonstrators marched along Piccadilly, Pall Mall and Whitehall, waving European flags and banners, before listening to speeches outside Parliament. The march comes just days after the Westminster terror attack, resulting in a heavier police presence than usual. Some of the protesters brought along yellow flowers to lay at the memorial to the victims. The organisers said in a statement: "We will not be intimidated. We will stand in unity and solidarity. We will march on the heart of our democracy and reclaim our streets in honour and respect of those that fell. "We will be observing a minute of silence and remembrance at the start of the rally. We would encourage all attendees to bring with them some symbol of respect and to act in the appropriate fashion on the day. " Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron addressed the crowd, saying: "Our job is to win hearts and minds over these coming months, to win support for a referendum on the deal, to change the direction of the debate and to change the direction of our country. "


The United States has lost trust in South Sudan's government for fueling the country's civil war and it must bring peace or risk losing support from Washington, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the nation's President Salva Kiir. Haley was the first senior member of President Donald Trump's administration to visit South Sudan, which spiraled into civil war in 2013, just two years after gaining independence from Sudan. She met one on one with Kiir for some 45 minutes. "I let him know that the United States was at a crossroads and that every decision going forward was going to be based on his actions," Haley told reporters after the meeting in the capital Juba. The United Nations has warned that the violence in South Sudan, which has forced some 4 million people to flee their homes, was providing "fertile ground" for a genocide. Kiir's government has denied U.N. allegations of ethnic cleansing. Haley had to cut short a visit to a camp for South Sudanese displaced by the violence amid rowdy anti-Kiir protests. "He understood that Americans were disappointed in his leadership in South Sudan, I made that very clear. And he understood that all the aid or help that he hopes will go forward is not a given," she said. Haley did not elaborate on what further action Washington could take, but said that Kiir "got what I was trying to say." On Monday she said Washington was considering how to pressure Kiir into peace, though noted that withdrawing aid may not work. The Trump administration last month imposed sanctions on two senior South Sudanese officials and the former army chief. "We have lost trust in the government and we now need to regain that trust and the only way to regain that trust is through the actions of taking care of all of the people," Haley told South Sudan's Eye Radio. She demanded that Kiir allow full and consistent humanitarian aid access and bring peace and stability to the country. She said she pushed a timeline for Kiir to act, but declined to elaborate. Nhial Deng Nihal, a senior adviser to Kiir, said the president told Haley his government and a U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan had established "mechanisms that work jointly to improve and address the humanitarian problems." He also told reporters that Kiir said government troops "will also be observing a cessation of hostilities in order to create an atmosphere for dialogue." The civil war was sparked by a feud between Kiir, a Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer. It has plunged parts of the world's youngest nation into famine. A fragile peace deal broke down last year and Machar fled the country. He is being held in South Africa to stop him stirring up trouble, sources told Reuters in December. Haley had to cut short a visit to a camp in Juba, where U.N. peacekeepers are protecting some 30,000 displaced people, after hundreds of rowdy pro-Machar protesters blocked nearby roads, yelling "Salva Kiir is a killer" and "Welcome USA." Protesters held a large sign that read "South Sudan IDPs (internally displaced people) and refugees love President Trump, the peacemaker and supporter of human rights." A spokeswoman for the U.N. mission said the protest "started to gain momentum after (Haley) left, IDPs became upset that she was not able to meet with them." Haley was meeting with a displaced family when she had to leave early due to security concerns. The previous U.S. administrations of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama were heavily involved in the birth of South Sudan, which signed a peace accord with Sudan in 2005 and gained independence in 2011.


Turkey told Iraq it would deal only with the Iraqi government on crude oil exports, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday. In a phone call with Abadi, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the support of his country to all decisions taken or sought by the Iraqi government after the independence referendum held in Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday, Abadi s office said in a statement. Among these measures, the statement mentioned restricting oil export (operations) to the Iraqi government. It didn t give more details or say how Ankara would deal with current crude exports from Iraqi Kurdistan.


Maxine Waters told a TMZ reporter that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson should put threats aside and appease North Korea by giving them the things that they re asking for . She responded as she was leaving an upscale steakhouse in Beverly Hills. She told the reporter that we can t afford to go to war. Pretty rich for a person who wants to spend unlimited amounts on everything else BUT what s MOST important to the U.S DEFENSE! I want us to be very careful, very alert to what is happening and to avoid war. I think we can do this with some diplomacy, but we have got to have Tillerson, who is our secretary of state, get those positions filled for deputy, for assistant, so that we can engage with North Korea. I think there s some things that they want from us, and we have to find out whether or not we can work with them on the things that they re asking for. This is exactly what Obama did for 8 years! It s exactly why we re in this position today!


(Before It's News) News and Adventure from Glacier National Park After surprising and then being charged by a grizzly bear, a couple fishing along the Lamar River effectively deployed their bear spray and saved themselves from injury on Saturday, October 22. John and Lisa Vandenbos from Bozeman, MT, parked at a pullout near the Specimen Ridge trailhead in the Lamar Valley, east of Tower Junction. They walked cross-country to the Lamar River and, while scouting for fishing spots, surprised an adult grizzly bear who was feeding on a partially consumed carcass. The bear immediately charged the couple and came within nine feet when both individuals quickly discharged their bear spray. The bear initially left. When attempting to charge the couple again, it ran into the original cloud of bear spray. Upon making contact with the cloud, the bear retreated all the way back across the river and up the adjacent hillside "as fast as it could go". The couple did not sustain injuries and bear spray stopped the charging bear. The couple left the area immediately and returned to their vehicle. They then reported the incident to a park ranger. Park rangers do not intend to search for the bear since this incident was a surprise encounter with a bear defending its carcass. All of Yellowstone National Park is bear country. Reduce your risk of a bear encounter by carrying bear spray. Studies show that bear spray is more than 90 percent effective in stopping an aggressive bear. In fact, it is the most effective deterrent when used in combination with regular safety recommendations – be alert, make noise, hike in groups of three or more, do not run if you encounter a bear and stand your ground if charged by a bear. "Yellowstone visitors care deeply about preserving bears and observing them in the wild," says Kerry Gunther, the park's Bear Management Specialist. "Carrying bear spray is the best way for visitors to participate in bear conservation because reducing potential conflicts protects both people and bears." Help the park increase the number of visitors who carry bear spray and know how to use it. Visit A Bear Doesn't Care Campaign for more information. Jeff HikinginGlacier.com TetonHikingTrails.com RockyMountainHikingTrails.com HikingintheSmokys.com


Growing numbers of U.S. states are seeking to ensure that women have continued access to free birth control in case the insurance benefit is dropped as part of President-elect Donald Trump's vow to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The 2010 law, popularly called Obamacare, requires most health insurance plans to provide coverage for birth control without a patient co-payment, which can be as much as $50 per month for birth control pills or $1,000 for long-acting contraceptives such as intrauterine devices. California, Maryland, Vermont and Illinois since 2014 have enacted statutes codifying the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate in state law and expanding on the federal law's requirements. Democratic lawmakers in New York, Minnesota, Colorado and Massachusetts said they are pursuing similar measures this year, with Obamacare under mortal threat in Washington. New York's Democratic attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, on Wednesday introduced such a measure in his state's legislature that would expand on the Obamacare contraception mandate. "Women across New York are very concerned that Republican efforts to repeal the ACA will mean the loss of the contraception on which they rely," Schneiderman said. "I won't hesitate to act to protect New Yorkers' rights - including the right to choose, and the right to birth control - no matter what a Trump administration does," Schneiderman added, referring to abortion rights. Trump, who succeeds Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20, and his fellow Republicans in Congress have made dismantling Obamacare their "first order of business," as Vice President-elect Mike Pence put it on Jan. 4. [nL1N1EU0RW] Republicans in Congress have not presented a detailed proposal for repealing and replacing the law but many Republicans and religious conservatives have opposed the Obamacare contraception mandate. [nL1N1EU0RW] Twenty-eight of the 50 states currently have laws requiring private insurers to provide coverage for birth control. But not all the laws affect all insurance plans, and only a few mandate cost-free birth control. OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES The Obamacare contraception mandate has applied since 2012 to most new insurance plans including employer-provided coverage. In 2013, for example, the mandate saved U.S. women more than $1.4 billion in out-of-pocket expenses for birth control pills, according to a report by University of Pennsylvania researchers. Almost 6.9 million privately insured U.S. women used the pill that year. The legislative move by some states, most of them Democratic governed, is designed to clear up uncertainty for some of the 55 million women who now have access to free contraceptives and related treatments under the Affordable Care Act. Conservatives also have chipped away at the Obamacare mandate in court. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that forcing family-owned businesses to pay for employee insurance coverage for birth control ran afoul of another federal law safeguarding religious freedom. The Supreme Court last May sent another legal challenge by nonprofit Christian employers back to lower courts to reconsider the matter after tossing out their rulings favoring the Obama administration. [nL2N18D0PL] "I think it is even more important now," said Colorado state Representative Susan Lontine, who last year co-sponsored a contraception coverage bill in her state's legislature that did not get passed but she expects to be resurrected in 2017. "We don't know what will happen on the federal level." California in 2014 became the first state to pass a contraception mandate that went further than the Obamacare language. Maryland, Vermont and Illinois last year passed laws that also eliminated co-pays for vasectomies and allowed women to fill a birth control prescription for at least six months rather than one to three. The New York legislation would allow women to fill multiple months of a birth control prescription, prohibit private insurers from "medical management" reviews that could limit or delay contraception coverage, and provide coverage for vasectomies without a co-pay. Within a matter of months, the Trump administration even without congressional action could drop contraception from Obamacare's list of preventive services that health insurance plans must cover without out-of-pocket costs, said Laurie Sobel, senior policy analyst at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. If repealed, some employers might choose to maintain the coverage without a co-pay because it is a relatively inexpensive benefit popular with employees. The proportion of privately insured women who paid nothing out of pocket for birth control pills increased from 15 percent in the fall of 2012 to 67 percent in the spring of 2014 during the time when the coverage went into wide effect, according to the Guttmacher Institute research organization. The no-cost contraceptives coverage also spurred women to switch to long-acting methods such as the IUD, which is offered in the United States by Bayer, Teva, Allergan and Medicines360, studies have found. More than 77 percent of women and 64 percent of men support the no-cost contraceptives coverage, according to a 2015 Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation survey.


Just days before the start of a new school term, ITT Educational Services, one of the nation's largest educational companies, closed nearly all its campuses on Tuesday. The company cited the Education Department's recent decision to bar the chain of colleges from using federal financial aid to enroll new students as the reason for the sudden shutdown. Except for a small school that operates under a different name, the move puts an end to an operation that has been accused of widespread fraud and abuse, leaving roughly 35, 000 students and 8, 000 employees in the lurch. ITT Educational Services, whose recruitment, lending practices and educational quality have been under scrutiny by federal regulators and state prosecutors for years, said in a news release that it had "exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a nonprofit or public institution. " It denounced the Education Department's decision to restrict the use of federal funds, calling it "inappropriate and unconstitutional" and "taken without proving a single allegation. " Nicole Elam, an ITT spokeswoman, declined to make any further comment. Ted Mitchell, the under secretary for the Education Department, denied assertions that ITT was being targeted for political reasons, saying that the issues surrounding its educational programs and financial stability gave the federal government little choice. "The risk presented by ITT to both students and taxpayers made it irresponsible for us to allow them to enroll new students and not have additional oversight," Mr. Mitchell said. He also noted ITT's independent accreditor had concluded that the schools were unlikely to be able to comply with the accreditor's standards. Current ITT students and those who withdrew in the last 120 days essentially have two options, neither of them particularly appealing, Mr. Mitchell said. Students can try to transfer their credits to another school in a bid to finish their education. Few quality schools may be willing to accept those credits, but Mr. Mitchell said education officials were encouraging community colleges to reach out to former ITT students and to be flexible in transferring credits. Students who are successful in continuing their studies would still be obligated to pay off their student loans. The other alternative would be for students to apply for a loan discharge. That would essentially wipe out their federal student debt, but also deny the students any of their educational credits. If everyone at ITT who was eligible took that route, the cost could run as high as $500 million, Mr. Mitchell said, though about $90 million of the final bill to taxpayers is expected to be defrayed by a surety bond ITT had to post with the government. Any borrowers who believe they have been defrauded can also apply under a separate loan forgiveness program. Chris Blank, a former Marine who used the G. I. Bill to complete three years of a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at ITT's Vista campus in California, said he did not know what he was going to do. "I'm still trying to take it all in," said Mr. Blank, who attended school at night while working full time as an engineering aide at an aeronautical company. "I can't get promoted until I get my bachelor's degree. " He worried not only about the lost time and possibly useless credits, but also the potential exhaustion of his veteran's educational benefits. "This is something I worked so hard on, and it's basically all gone," Mr. Blank said. The department has set up a website, studentaid. and a telephone number, ( ) for ITT students to obtain more information. After Corinthian Colleges, a giant educational company accused of widespread fraud, was suspended from the federal student aid program in 2014, education officials helped broker the sale of dozens of its campuses and online programs to the Zenith Education Group, a nonprofit. Corinthian later filed for bankruptcy. Since then, Zenith has lost money, students and staff members. Mr. Mitchell said that the circumstances surrounding ITT were different. Despite informal conversations with company officials and potential buyers, he said, the Education Department "never saw a path forward. " The actions against Corinthian and ITT are part of a wider push by education officials to hold the education industry more accountable after growing complaints about unwieldy student debt, deceptive advertising and feeble graduation and job placement rates. The Obama administration has adopted a series of regulations aimed at protecting students as well as taxpayers, who will end up being stuck with the bill for unpaid student loans. The crackdown has elicited protests from the industry and its supporters, who say the government has overreached. Last week, the owner of a chain of colleges, the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, filed a lawsuit in federal court, accusing the Education Department of pursuing a political agenda and trying to put the chain of formerly colleges out of business. Student and consumer advocates said they were encouraged by the end of ITT Technical Institutes. (Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire, also owned by the ITT parent company, is still open and enrolling students, according to a receptionist who answered the phone there. The college's president did not respond to repeated messages.) At the same time, critics of the industry expressed concern that some unscrupulous colleges would be working hard to persuade former ITT students to enroll, enlarging their student debt and offering poor training. "There's nothing to celebrate," Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said of the closings. "It's a good thing in the sense that it was a real terrible performer and it won't be around to victimize others," Mr. Nassirian said. But he noted that many faculty members and employees were going to lose their jobs and many former students were stuck with unmanageable debts. "It would have been better to have better oversight and decent gatekeeping," he said, "so that we don't reach the point where you have to wish for an operation to go under. "


Police in Malaysia have arrested seven youths in connection with a fire at an Islamic boarding school in Kuala Lumpur that killed at least 23 people, mostly teenagers. The seven, aged 11 to 18, were brought to court and remanded for seven days, Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh told reporters at a news conference on Saturday. I can assure you now that the case is solved with the arrest of the seven of them, Singh said. It was the most deadly incident of its kind in Malaysia in two decades, and has outraged the public, some of whom have called for greater safety and tougher regulation at such religious schools. The arrested include students from the surrounding neighborhood, and some have tested positive for consuming marijuana. The police are treating the case as one of murder and mischief by fire. The blaze erupted early on Thursday in a top-floor dormitory at the three-storey boarding school where most of the students were sleeping in bunk beds, with many of the windows covered by metal grilles. Asked if the suspects had planned to kill the victims, Singh said: Intention was to burn, but it could be because of their age or because of their maturity levels, perhaps they may not have known that it would cause deaths. Two gas cylinders were brought up from the kitchen to the second floor, he said.


French university academics have made an extraordinary intervention in the French election, emailing students and urging them to back establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron. [The president of the University of Angers in Western France, Christian Roblédo, claimed in an email to students that, "as a university professor" it was his "duty to denounce the harmful ideology that [Marine Le Pen] conveys". He characterised this ideology as "withdrawal into oneself, intolerance, fear of the other [and] refusal of differences" in opposition to "humanism, openness, pluralism and freedom of expression" — the values which, in Roblédo's estimation, "constitute the very essence of higher education and research in France". "Already in 2002, we were placed before such a choice," he said, recalling the second round showdown between Jacques Chirac and Marine Le Pen's father, . Mr. Le Pen was expelled from the Front National by his daughter as she reformed it into a moderate, populist movement. "[In 2002] a Republican front had come together to make the Front National score as low as possible," wrote Roblédo. "[Again] we have to vote massively so that [Marine Le Pen] does not win the presidential election. " Anticipating criticism of his intervention as an abuse of his public position, the professor concluded by saying that "[Sometimes] the values of a man's life take precedence over all other considerations. In addressing you as president of the University, the duty of reserve is obliterated by the threats to the institutional foundations on which our University is based. " WATCH | @MLP_officiel to @EmmanuelMacron: "France will be led by a woman, either me or Angela Merkel!" 👏🇷😂 pic. twitter. — LEAVE. EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) May 3, 2017, Colleague Manuel Tunon de Lara, president of the University of Bordeaux, was equally unabashed, writing of his "responsibility to call on the academic community to vote next Sunday to block … the accession of Marine Le Pen to the presidency of the French Republic. " He claimed that the "Marine Le Pen programme" was incompatible "with the academic values we have hitherto defended". "How to defend openness in a country that would close its borders?" he asked. "My position is not an isolated position," he declared. "It is associated with that advocated by the Conference of University Presidents, which called for 'voting against the extremism of the candidature of Marine Le Pen'. "


The blood is on DeBlasio s hands! Career criminals are walking the streets with a violent history and sealed arrest records. THAT IS PROOF that the administration is NOT doing what is best for the civilian population. Is he an ILLEGAL being protected by politicians who support sanctuary cities?THIS MOTHER OF 5 DESERVES ANSWERS: The body of FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo being carried into the Medical Examiner s Office by fellow FDNY EMT s:The body of FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo being carried into the medical examiner Office by fellow FDNY EMT s. pic.twitter.com/HWXgu2MVt0 BMR Breaking News (@BMRBreakingNews) March 17, 2017 The NYPD identified Jose Gonzalez, 25, as the suspect who was operating the emergency vehicle and slammed into 14-year FDNY EMT veteran Yadira Arroyo and her partner Thursday night. Arroyo, a mother of five, later succumbed to her injuries and died at Jacobi Medical Center.Gonzalez, who has an extensive arrest history, faces murder, grand larceny and operating a motor vehicle impaired by drugs charges, police said. Moments before, Jose Gonzalez was going door to door begging for money:Moments before he s alleged to have run over a @FDNY EMT, Jose Gonzalez was going door to door begging for money https://t.co/eJAJaTQGxi pic.twitter.com/fx9pWzE5Wz Myles Miller (@MylesMill) March 17, 2017


U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that if China doesn t follow the United Nations sanctions approved on North Korea, he will seek new financial sanctions on Beijing to cut off access to the U.S. financial system. Mnuchin told a conference broadcast on CNBC that China agreed to historic sanctions on North Korea on Monday in a UN Security Council vote. If China doesn t follow these sanctions, we will put additional sanctions on them and prevent them from accessing the U.S. and international dollar system, and that s quite meaningful, Mnuchin said.


A new report reveals how churches nationwide are harboring illegal immigrants, helping them evade federal immigration orders for deportation. [In a 60 Minutes special report, more than 800 churches are acting as jurisdictions to hide illegal immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. ICE has a policy in which agents do not detain illegal immigrants at churches, making the facilities an ideal spot to avoid deportation orders. In a Buffalo, New York, church profiled, parish staff confirmed that they recently harbored an illegal alien family of four from Honduras. Since January, the church officials said it protected more than 40 migrants. Rev. Robin Hynicka of Philadelphia's Arch Street Methodist Church explained how he believes enforcing federal immigration laws are oppressive to illegal immigrants who remain in the U. S. "It's injustice and oppression, all of which is evil," Hynicka said. "Yeah, when a human being's human rights are denied, when they can't stay with their family, when they can't work, when they can't participate in the community in which they have deep roots, all of those apply. " In one specific case, Hynicka's church has been harboring Javier Flores Garcia, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who came to the U. S. in 1997. Garcia was arrested and convicted for drunk driving, and despite an immigration judge ordering him be deported, he remains hiding out in Arch Street Methodist Church. ICE's Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale did not back down to his agency's responsibility to enforce federal immigration law and protect Americans, despite questioning from 60 Minute's Scott Pelley. Scott Pelley: How much concern do you have about separating families in deportations? Daniel Ragsdale: As a human being, I know it is traumatic for folks. But I will also say that the Rule of Law is something that America is built on. But this seems to be the one area where the narrative about separating families, you know, sort of gets a little bit ratcheted up. Scott Pelley: Well, you can understand why. Daniel Ragsdale: Well, I can. But I would suggest that every person who has, you know, come to the United States illegally, just like if I went somewhere and, you know, resided in violation of law, I could expect at some point that sovereign country to want to remove me. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a letter to 10 sanctuary cities, demanding they stop obstructing federal immigration agents from being able to deport criminal illegal immigrants. Sessions said that if sanctuary cities do not eventually comply with federal law, they could see a loss in federal grant money. John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.


South Korea s foreign ministry stressed the Pyeongchang Olympics will be safe from North Korean provocations in a briefing to diplomats and executives at foreign companies in the country on Friday, as concerns persist over tensions with the North. Officials and executives from around 120 embassies and companies in South Korea were hosted by the ministry to explain the government s efforts for a safe Olympic Games scheduled for Feb. 9-25 next year, officials told Reuters. We will consider it our top priority to ensure the safety and security of each and every national team, the Olympic family, and all the spectators visiting Pyeongchang during the Games, said Park Enna, a foreign ministry official, in opening remarks at the meeting. (We) will thoroughly prepare the Pyeongchang Olympics so that it may be regarded as the safest Olympics in history. Briefing topics included current events regarding North Korea and the Korean peninsula as well as preparations in general for the Pyeongchang Olympics, she added. Officials from the United States, Japan, Russia and China, as well as members of chambers of commerce for Japan, China and Europe were to attend, according to the ministry. An official at the Japanese chamber of commerce in South Korea told Reuters ahead of the meeting they were not specifically aware which companies were planning to attend as the ministry appears to have contacted businesses separately. Park said the UN Olympic Truce Resolution, which has been adopted every two years since 1993 to cease all conflicts during the period of the Truce, will be adopted at the UN General Assembly on Nov. 13 for the Pyeongchang Games. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen in recent months as North Korea s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged threats and insults over the North s nuclear and missile development program. Concerns over safety grew in tandem as the Games will take place just 80 km (50 miles) from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, the world s most-heavily armed border. France s Sports Minister Laura Flessel said last month that if the crisis in the region deepened and athletes security could not be guaranteed then they would not travel to the Games. Members of France s Winter Olympics team, however, have remained optimistic the country will not boycott. Park said governments reportedly hesitant on participating in the Games have stated their position to partake in and support the coming Olympics. Rattled by rising tensions with North Korea, South Korea has been taking extra measures to try to ensure the safety of the 2018 Winter Games, including setting up a crack cyber defense team and doubling the number of troops, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters. North and South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict with a truce and not a peace treaty.


Print  The bombshells about this criminal are now breaking daily. It's not a question of Trump, it is an imperative that Hillary be defeated. If the people choose Hillary, then they must and will be punished.  "Wikileaks: Bill Clinton Boasts of Hillary's 'Working Relationship' with Muslim Brotherhood," By John Hayward , Breitbart, October 26, 2016:  In a speech Bill Clinton gave at the home of Mehul and Hema Sanghani in October 2015, revealed to the public for the first time by WikiLeaks, former President Bill Clinton touted Hillary Clinton's "working relationship" with the Muslim Brotherhood 's Mohamed Morsi in Egypt as an example of her diplomatic skills.President Clinton also gave his wife a lot of credit for negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, in a passage that began with the standard Democrat "stuff happens" shrugging defense for foreign policy failures:  Finally, we live in a world, as I said, that's full of good news and bad news. The United States cannot control it all, but we need a president who's most likely to make as many good things happen as possible, and most likely to prevent big, bad things from happening. You can't keep every bad thing from happening; who's most likely to be able to get people involved in a positive way. Even the people who don't like the Iran nuclear agreement concede it never would have happened if it hadn't been for the sanctions. Hillary negotiated those sanctions and got China and Russia to sign off – something I thought she'd never be able to do. I confess. I'm never surprised by anything she does, but that surprised me. I didn't think she could do it. The Chinese and the Russians to see past their short-term self-interest to their long-term interest and not sparking another nuclear arms race.  And when the Muslim Brotherhood took over in Egypt, in spite of the fact that we were (inaudible), she developed a working relationship with the then-president and went there and brokered a ceasefire to stop a full-scale shooting war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which on top of what was going on in Syria and the (inaudible) Jordan would have been a calamity for the world.  And when we were trying to reset our relations with Russia under President Medvedev, she and her team negotiated a New START Treaty, which limits warheads and missiles. And she lobbied it through the Senate. She had to get 67 votes, which means a lot of these Republicans who say that they don't like her now are just kidding for election season. They trusted her, and she got it passed. You can't get 67 votes in the Senate without a lot of Republican support. And I don't know about you, but with all this tension and Mr. Putin trying to affect the outcome of the conflict in Syria, I think it's a very good thing that we're in a lower risk of any kind of accidental nuclear conflict with the Russians. She did that.  You'll rarely find a more tortured political framing of the Iran debacle than Bill Clinton boasting that the sanctions Barack Obama lifted were super-awesome, as even those who don't think those sanctions should have been lifted agree.  Mr. Clinton's version of the Iran sanctions leaves out a few details , such as Russia's keen financial interest in keeping Iranian energy out of the European market, and China's desire to use Iran sanctions as a geopolitical bargaining chip.  But the part about the Muslim Brotherhood is most interesting. If anything, he is selling Hillary Clinton's "working relationship" with Egyptian Islamists short, because she used American diplomatic leverage for Morsi's benefit even before he got elected, warning Egyptians about "backtracking" to a military regime at a key moment of the post-Mubarak campaign, when Morsi was running against a former member of Hosni Mubarak's military. There have long been rumors that more subtle forms of U.S. " pressure " were used to secure Morsi's office, as well.  Then again, in public pronouncements, Clinton called Hosni Mubarak's tottering regime "stable" and cautioned her Obama Administration colleagues against "pushing a longtime partner out the door."  A few days ago, declassified State Department documents revealed Clinton's talking points for a 2012 meeting with Morsi hailed his election as a "milestone in Egypt's transition to democracy," and stated that she was to offer the Muslim Brotherhood leader "technical expertise and assistance from both the U.S. government and private sector to support his economic and social programs."  Clinton was also supposed to privately offer Morsi assistance with his police and security forces, which would be conducted "quite discreetly."  After Morsi was gone, she declared herself exasperated with Egyptian political culture and declared herself a cynical "realist." That is pretty much the opposite of what everyone in the Obama Administration was saying while the "Arab Spring" was in the midst of springing its little surprises on autocratic but America-aligned (or at least America-fearing) regimes, which we were all supposed to feel guilty about selfishly supporting for so long.  As for Clinton's superb working relationship with Morsi, that eventually ended with Morsi's wife railing against Clinton for supposedly dismissing him as "a simpleton who was unfit for the presidency," and threatening to publish letters from Clinton to Morsi that would damage the former U.S. Secretary of State. Meanwhile, Mohammed Morsi is developing a solid working relationship with the Egyptian penitentiary system .  Egypt has one of those icky military governments again, and while it won't have fond memories of Hillary Clinton's support for the Muslim Brotherhood regime, it will most likely work with whoever wins the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Therefore, a prospective President Hillary Clinton probably won't suffer too much from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's appalling lapses in judgment.  Article reposted with permission from PamelaGeller.com


Senate Democrats on Monday secured the votes necessary to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, presaging a bitter confrontation this week that threatens to further unravel a chamber where bipartisanship and decorum have eroded for years. The show of solidarity from the minority came as Republicans advanced Judge Gorsuch's nomination in the Judiciary Committee, clearing the way for his consideration on the Senate floor. Republicans vowed Monday to confirm him by the end of the week. The implication was not subtle: If they must change longstanding rules to bypass the filibuster, elevating President Trump's selection on a simple majority vote, they will not hesitate. "We have no alternative," Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the Republican in the Senate, said alongside his Judiciary Committee colleagues after a vote, 11 to 9. It was the beginning of what both parties consider a seminal week on Capitol Hill, likely to fundamentally reshape the way the Senate conducts its business. Though lawmakers have long deployed the filibuster — a procedural device that allows for continued debate to block or delay a vote — to suit their circumstances, Supreme Court confirmations have been viewed as another matter, insulated at least somewhat from the body's most partisan passions. Under current rules, Republicans cannot break the filibuster if fewer than 60 senators vote to move the nomination to an Senate vote. That would require eight Democrats to join the Republican majority. As of Monday evening, only four Democrats had announced support for an vote. Judge Gorsuch's fate will depend on whether Republicans follow through on plans for the nuclear option, as Mr. Trump has urged, to circumvent the filibuster for a Supreme Court pick. "The Republicans are free actors," Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said Monday, urging a withdrawal of the nomination if Judge Gorsuch cannot earn 60 votes. "They can choose to go nuclear or they can sit down with Democrats and find a way forward that preserves the grand traditions of this body. " Such was the theme of Monday's proceedings: a series of meditations on grand traditions, a resignation to their imminent demise and an insistence that the other side was to blame. During the committee vote, senators took turns lamenting the state of the institution they serve, although none pledged to buck their own party on either the Democratic filibuster or the Republican push for a rule change. What comes next, it appears, is a dismantling of senatorial standards and practice, scheduled for demolition over several days. "This is a new low," Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican majority leader, said of the likely filibuster, "but not entirely surprising. " Of course, Democrats identify Mr. McConnell as the chief purveyor of new lows. From the beginning, the Gorsuch nomination has been shadowed, in large measure, by Judge Merrick B. Garland, whom President Barack Obama nominated in March 2016 after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia the month before. Mr. McConnell led Republicans in refusing to even consider the nomination during a presidential election year. But Democrats insist that their opposition to Judge Gorsuch is not about payback. They have cited his record on workers' rights and his degree of independence from Mr. Trump and conservative groups like the Federalist Society, among other concerns. Perhaps no member sounded as pained on Monday as Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the Senate's member. He first argued that the treatment of Judge Garland had convinced Judge Gorsuch that "this committee is nothing more than a partisan rubber stamp," allowing the nominee to evade straightforward questions during his hearings. Mr. Leahy suggested that Mr. McConnell had no qualms about "forever damaging the United States Senate. " And he wondered aloud how the Capitol had become so unrecognizable to him, after 42 years. "I cannot vote solely to protect an institution when the rights of Americans are at risk," Mr. Leahy said. "Because I fear that the Senate I would be defending no longer exists. " Republicans have in turn faulted Democrats for what they call two escalations of hostilities: a series of filibusters against judicial nominees under President George W. Bush and a vote in 2013, when Democrats controlled the Senate, to bar filibusters for the president's appeals court and executive branch nominees. That shift left the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations untouched. Supporters of Judge Gorsuch have appeared incredulous that the Senate — whose members approved Justice Scalia unanimously and did not use a filibuster for even some fiercely contested nominees like Justice Clarence Thomas — could come undone over a judge they view as plainly qualified and uncontroversial. "It's pathetic," Mr. Hatch said, "that they're so stupid that they picked somebody of his quality and ability" to oppose. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the committee's chairman, accused Democrats of searching in vain for credible reasons to vote against "a judge's judge. " Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, pressed the case that Judge Gorsuch's nomination carried a "superlegitimacy" because voters last year knew that the next president would get to fill the seat. (Before the election, he had suggested trying to leave the seat open indefinitely if Hillary Clinton won.) Yet even some Republicans who planned to support a rule change if necessary said they worried about what would come of it. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, predicted that a threshold for Supreme Court confirmations would lead to the elevation of future judges who are "more ideological, not less. " Every Senate race, he added, would effectively become a referendum on the Supreme Court. "This is going to haunt the Senate, it's going to change the judiciary, and it's so unnecessary," Mr. Graham said after the vote. Though some Democrats have expressed concerns, in public and private, about pushing ahead with a filibuster, they are also aware of their political hand: The party's progressive base has called on lawmakers to oppose Mr. Trump at every turn, reminding them of the extraordinary dynamics at play. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, linked his vote opposing Judge Gorsuch, at least in part, to the current investigations into connections between Mr. Trump's orbit and Russia. "It is about the constitutional crisis that may well be looming," he said, arguing that Judge Gorsuch had not demonstrated sufficient independence from Mr. Trump. Mr. Blumenthal added that the prospect of the Supreme Court needing to enforce a subpoena against the president was "far from idle speculation. " Even lighter fare on Monday could not coax consensus from committee members. At one point, Mr. Grassley asked the senators how they would like to manage their lunch schedule: a break for everyone or an uninterrupted hearing with senators peeling off one by one to eat. The room appeared split. "Could the majority cater this lunch?" asked Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota. A few Republicans raised their hands to convey a desire to keep going. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee's top Democrat, smiled slightly, her hands clasped. The committee, she said quietly, could not even agree on lunch.


In another attempt to stifle freedom of expression, President Trump and his administration have dismantled the White House switchboard comment operating system. Instead, callers will be told to take their complaints and comments to Facebook and other White House social media platforms.When called, the White House switchboard states: Thank you for calling the White House comments line. The comment line is currently closed but your comment is important to the President and we urge you to send us a comment online at www.WhiteHouse.gov/contact or send us a message through Facebook messenger. Trump really is becoming the social-media president.Since the end of the transition, when the lines were apparently shut off, the Trump administration has been purging the White House website off all things that generally resemble the Obama White House and thus anything that has to do with equality and inclusion. So this is just another instance of curtailing the openness of the people s house.It seems that the 15 percent of American households without internet will not be able to have Trump hear their concerns, who promised to be a champion of all people and listen to their needs.There is no indication yet from the White House whether this is permanent or temporary, as the incoming administration settles into their positions.Still, there was no downtime for this crucial line of democracy when the Obama administration took over in 2009.Given the Trump administration s penchant for lying and ignoring the people, this should come as no surprise. However, it should worry the public if no future action is taken to address this. The people s house should be readily available at all times, in all fashions.It s only day three, and Donald Trump and his team are showing a brazen disregard for the little things that make us great. When studying authoritarians, one must look at how the littlest of things change before their eyes.This might be one of them a White House that doesn t want to be bombarded with calls from an outraged public.Featured image by Ron Sachs via Getty Images


Only five Zimbabwe cabinet ministers and the attorney general turned up for a meeting called by President Robert Mugabe as 17 others opted to attend a meeting to plan the 93-year-old leader s impeachment, sources said on Tuesday. The cabinet meeting is the first called by Mugabe since a military takeover last Wednesday. Mugabe faced the start of an impeachment process later in the day as his party sought to end his nearly four decades in power.


Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said on Tuesday he will tell his U.S. counterpart that the New York trial of a Turkish banker, charged with helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, is not legal and should be ended. Gul told Turkish broadcaster 24 TV in an interview that it would be impossible to accept a verdict contrary to Turkey s interests in the case, which has strained ties between the NATO allies.


Troy Ave, the Brooklyn rapper charged with attempted murder after a May shooting at a concert at a Manhattan club, was shot twice on Sunday, the police said. The rapper, whose real name is Roland Collins, was driving a red Maserati around 4:20 p. m. in Brooklyn when an unidentified man approached the vehicle, which was stopped at an intersection at East 91st Street and Linden Boulevard. The gunman fired multiple rounds, the police said. Mr. Collins was struck twice, taking a gunshot wound to the arm and a graze wound to his head. He then crashed his vehicle into a parked car. Mr. Collins went to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he was hospitalized in fair condition. The police are investigating the shooting, though they said they had no description of the gunman. No arrests had been made as of Sunday night. In June, Mr. Collins pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other counts in connection with the shooting at the Irving Plaza concert hall in Manhattan. In August, he sued the club and the concert promoter Live Nation, which oversees the club, accusing it of lax security. The shooting occurred at a May 25 show that was to feature the rapper T. I. Before he was able to perform, however, shots were fired in a green room, killing Mr. Collins's bodyguard Ronald McPhatter, 33, and wounding Mr. Collins and two other people. Security footage showed Mr. Collins firing one shot amid the scuffle. He had been scheduled to appear as a guest of T. I. that night and had entered through a V. I. P. entrance, according to the lawsuit.


Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is a fierce campaigner against racial inequality whose hostility to big business has rattled investors in South Africa. She is also one of two front runners to be the country s next president. The 68-year-old is vying to succeed her ex-husband, President Jacob Zuma, as leader of the ruling African National Congress at a party vote this weekend, an outcome that would make her favourite for the presidency after a parliamentary election due in 2019. A medical doctor and former chair of the Commission of the African Union, a pan-continental grouping, Dlamini-Zuma has pledged during her campaign to radically tackle the racial inequality that persists in South Africa 23 years after the end of white minority rule. Backers of her main rival, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, say she is peddling populist rhetoric and would rule in the mould of her former husband, whose decade in power has been plagued by corruption scandals. Dlamini-Zuma declined to be interviewed for this story. The choice between Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa will influence South Africa s economic policy trajectory, as well the country s role in Africa and beyond. Investors are worried by Dlamini-Zuma s hostility towards international companies, which she says form part of a white monopoly capital cabal dominating South Africa s wealth. A Dlamini-Zuma victory would signal a sharp rhetorical shift towards more leftist economic policy, said John Ashbourne, an Africa-focused economist at Capital Economics. A further credit ratings downgrade would be almost inevitable. Yet Dlamini-Zuma s supporters point to a commitment to changing the lives of South Africa s black majority. Lynne Jones, a psychiatrist and author who lived with Dlamini-Zuma when they were students together in the English city of Bristol in the 1970s, says her determination to fight injustice is rooted in her own personal story. Jones remembers a day four decades ago when Dlamini-Zuma lay on her bed and wept after being forced to miss her brother s funeral because the apartheid-era security services had hounded her out of South Africa. She was fiercely intelligent and determined, said Jones. Here was someone who had put their whole life on the line and given up home and family for what they believed. It was eye-opening. The race between Ramaphosa, a unionist-turned-millionaire businessman, and Dlamini-Zuma is too close to call, political analysts say. Her campaign team told Reuters in written comments it was confident she would be elected ANC leader. Ramaphosa, who is popular among swathes of the ANC disillusioned with Zuma, is promising to end corruption, boost a flatlining economy and deliver jobs to the poor in a country where more than a quarter of the population is unemployed. Dlamini-Zuma, by contrast, is an African nationalist and has the support of the influential ANC youth and women s leagues, which both tend to support socialist policies. Known for her fierce temper and hostility towards the West, she was described in one 2001 U.S. diplomatic cable on WikiLeaks as a truculent and petulant foreign minister . Another cable to Washington suggested she could be charming. Belying her reputation as fierce and formidable, the Minister was soft spoken and smiling in this meeting - articulate but gentle, candid but warm, Donald Gips, then U.S. ambassador to South Africa, wrote in 2010. The most common criticism of Dlamini-Zuma is that she is beholden to Zuma and his powerful patronage network. Zuma has publicly endorsed her. She is bold and you can t fool her. She is someone you can trust, Zuma told a rally recently. The couple met in Swaziland in the 1980s, when they were both in the ANC underground. They were married for more than a decade and have four children together. In a rare interview last month, Dlamini-Zuma challenged her opponents to find any evidence of corruption in her long political career. I don t loot government coffers. I ve never done so, and I will not do so, she told ANN7 television. But for some senior figures in the ANC, she has not done enough to distance herself from the corruption scandals that have dogged President Zuma. She has not said anything on state capture , ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu told Reuters, using a South African term to describe private interests unduly controlling government funds. Dlamini-Zuma says accusations that she is piggy-backing off Zuma are insulting given her career, first as a doctor to ANC leaders fighting apartheid and then as a cabinet minister under every South African president since 1994. As health minister in Nelson Mandela s cabinet, she laid the foundations for free public healthcare for the poor, took a hard line on smoking and made medicines more accessible. As foreign minister she fostered friendships with African countries and emerging economies like China, even when this angered the West. But she also made errors of judgment. In 1996, Dlamini-Zuma awarded a contract for more than $3 million to a friend for a play, Sarafina II, to raise awareness about AIDS and was later found to have ignored tender rules. Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said that paled in comparison to recent government malpractice. He said: 14 million rand in the Sarafina scandal now seems like peanuts when compared with the looting under Zuma. (For a graphic on 'ANC election in South Africa' click here) (For a graphic on 'South African economy' click here)


New Yorkers fight to overturn ballot selfie ban New Yorkers fight to overturn ballot selfie ban By 0 119  New York voters are suing the state, arguing it is unconstitutional to ban them from showing their completed ballots to others via social media. The ballot selfie ban is becoming a hot topic this election, affecting even celebrities like Justin Timberlake.  The three New Yorkers – Eve Silber, Rebecca White, and Michael Emperor – filed the federal lawsuit in on Wednesday, seeking a judge to declare the election law banning "ballot selfies" unconstitutional, according to the attorney representing the group.  "Taking a photograph of a filled out ballot is a powerful political statement that demonstrates the importance of voting. Without the photograph, the message loses its power," says the lawsuit, filed by lawyer Leo Glickman in Manhattan Federal Court, according to the New York Daily News.  Under the current state law, showing a marked ballot to another voter is considered a misdemeanor which can result in prison time and a hefty $1,000 fine, according to court papers.  Glickman is seeking a court injunction to stop officials from enforcing the law before the November 8 election.  Similar laws against "ballot selfies" have been struck down in Michigan, Indiana and New Hamsphire as a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of the freedom of speech.  Selfies are being allowed at the polls in Connecticut, but officials will be watching for whether the practice becomes disruptive for voters.  In New Jersey, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji is pushing for a bill that would protect voters' right to take selfies at the ballot box, CBS radio reported.  Singer-actor Justin Timberlake got into some trouble this week after posting a photo of himself voting in Tennessee on his Instagram page. The picture prompted a reminder of the law from state officials that such photography is against the law.  Timberlake addressed the controversy during an appearance on 'The Tonight Show' Wednesday, telling host Jimmy Fallon he thought he was inspiring people with the picture and "had no idea" it was illegal.  Taking photos inside a voting booth is illegal in Tennessee under a 2015 state law, as it is in 17 other states, according to a review of laws banning ballot selfies conducted by the Associated Press.  Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.


■ The Senate Judiciary Committee, in a vote, sent the nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch for the Supreme Court to the full Senate for consideration. ■ Democrats now seem to have the votes to filibuster Judge Gorsuch's nomination. ■ But Republicans will most likely vote to change Senate practices later in the week so that Judge Gorsuch could be approved with a simple majority vote. ■ The tenor of the Judiciary Committee strongly suggests that the full Senate debate on Judge Gorsuch will be even more contentious. With an announcement from Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, during the Judiciary Committee's hearing to vote on Judge Gorsuch's nomination, Democrats found their 41st vote in support of a filibuster, sending the body hurtling toward a bitter partisan confrontation this week. Read more » As senators began revealing their votes on Monday, partisan acrimony predominated. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the committee's chairman, accused Democrats of searching in vain for credible reasons to vote against Judge Gorsuch. "This nominee that we're voting on today is a judge's judge," he said. "He's a picture of the kind of justice we should have on the Supreme Court. " Mr. Grassley suggested that some attacks in recent weeks from Democrats, which have included criticisms of the spending push from outside groups supporting Judge Gorsuch, defied the country's values. "This is America," he said, "where people can spend their money where they want to spend it. " Taking her turn next, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee's top Democrat, criticized Judge Gorsuch's record on workers' rights and his reluctance to answer questions. She did thank Mr. Grassley for overseeing the hearings fairly. Ms. Feinstein also reminded the public about the treatment last year of Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee for the seat left by Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. Republicans refused to even consider Judge Garland during a presidential election year. "In my view, this is not a routine nomination," she said at the top of her remarks. In his own comments, Mr. Grassley expressed no regrets. "I believe then and I believe now that we took the right course for the Senate and for the court," he said. From the hearing's opening moments, lawmakers took turns lamenting the state of the Senate, holding forth on the present divisions but appearing resigned to the institutional upheaval that awaits this week. Few sounded as aggrieved as Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the body's member. He first suggested that Republicans' treatment of Judge Garland last year had convinced Judge Gorsuch that "this committee is nothing more than a partisan rubber stamp," allowing the nominee to evade straightforward questions during his hearings. He said that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican majority leader, had "promised to use whatever tactic is necessary to get his way, to make sure that Donald Trump's nominee is confirmed, even if that means forever damaging the United States Senate. " "Now, I respect this institution as much as anyone. I never expected to be here long enough to become the dean of the Senate," Mr. Leahy said. "I've devoted myself to the good the Senate can accomplish. But I cannot vote solely to protect an institution when the rights of Americans are at risk. Because I fear that the Senate I would be defending no longer exists. " As the committee continued debating Judge Gorsuch's nomination, Republicans received a modest lift outside the hearing room: Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado said he would not join fellow Democrats in filibustering the nomination. He urged Republicans against the nuclear option, changing the rules to allow Judge Gorsuch to be approved on a simple majority vote instead of the 60 votes now required. "Neither Republicans nor Democrats are blameless for where things stand in our politics and on this nomination," Mr. Bennet said in a statement, which did not reveal his voting intentions on Judge Gorsuch's nomination itself. "But at some point, we need to take the long view and stand up for our institutions. " What happens next will most likely be up to Republicans. And their intentions seem clear. "What I can tell you is that Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week," Mr. McConnell told Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet the Press. " Practically, this will almost certainly require Republicans to change Senate practice and elevate Judge Gorsuch on a simple majority vote. The strain has already compelled leaders from both parties to adopt the tone of hostage negotiators — and the senatorial tic of leavening criticism by calling opponents "friends. " "Our Republican friends are acting like, you know, they're a cat on the top of a tree and they have to jump off, with all the damage that entails," Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, told "Meet the Press," urging Mr. Trump to submit a new judge. "Come back off the tree, sit down and work with us. " Mr. McConnell chose to forgo analogies. Judge Gorsuch will get his new robes, he suggested, and "how that happens really depends on our Democratic friends. "


Qatar is open to dialogue in resolving a dispute that has seen the Gulf state isolated from its Arab neighbors, its emir said during a visit to Indonesia on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of financing terrorism and maintaining too close of ties to their arch-rival Iran. Doha denies the charges. Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said he discussed the issue with President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, which has the world s largest population of Muslims and has close ties to the Arab world. We conveyed...that Qatar is ready to conduct a dialogue to solve the problem as we already know that no one will win, Thani told reporters after meeting with Widodo at the state palace in Bogor, outside the capital of Jakarta. We are all brothers and suffering because of this crisis, he added. President Widodo did not publicly address the dispute. The leader of the world s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas also visited Malaysia - another Muslim-majority nation - and Singapore this week. Saudi and other Arab nations have made a list of 13 wide-ranging demands of Qatar, including closing down the Al Jazeera television network and curbing ties with Iran. Kuwait and top United States officials have attempted to mediate between the parties, but there is little sign that the crisis will be resolved soon.


The Iraqi government has dismissed a call from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for Iranian-backed paramilitary units that helped Baghdad defeat Islamic State to end operations in Iraq. Speaking after a meeting on Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Saudi Arabia s King Salman, Tillerson said it was time for the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation forces and their Iranian advisers to go home . Washington, which backed Baghdad against Islamic State, is concerned Iran will use its expanded presence in Iraq and in Syria to expand its influence in the region. But Abadi showed unwillingness to meet Tillerson s demand. No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters, the statement from his office read. It did not cite the prime minister himself but a source close to him. Trained and armed by Iran, the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation forces often supported Iraqi government units in the fight against the militants who were effectively defeated in July when a U.S.-backed offensive captured their stronghold Mosul. They are paid by the Iraqi government and officially report to the prime minister, but some Arab Sunni and Kurdish politicians describe these militias as a de facto branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp. Iraq s Sunni neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, share Washington s concerns over Shi ite power Iran s influence in Iraq, where the population is also predominantly Shi ite. But the office of Abadi, himself a Shi ite, said the forces were under the authority of the Iraqi government. Popular Mobilisation are Iraqi patriots, it said in the statement. The United States trained tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers in the course of rebuilding the Iraqi armed forces and has over 5,000 troops deployed in the country, providing key air and ground support to the offensive on Islamic State.


On a recent afternoon in Montevideo, a young couple approached the counter at Futuro Refuerzos, a snug sandwich shop that features artisanal breads, spreads and locally sourced meats. The woman was wearing a felt halt and carried a vintage leather handbag the man sported tousled curls, forearm tattoos and skinny jeans. There was nothing remarkable about this scene — stylish ordering gourmet sandwiches in a rustic space — except that it unfolded in a destination that has seemed immune to hipsterdom. Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is almost invariably described as and . But in the past few years, an energetic cadre of entrepreneurs with social media proficiency and a keen awareness of global trends has begun to breathe fresh life into this traditionally sleepy South American city. Most are design and millennials who are opening up restaurants and boutiques, organizing street festivals and supper clubs, and daring to stand out in a society that has typically rewarded modesty. "Thanks in part to social media, young Uruguayans have a global and are very motivated," said Mónica Zanocchi, the founder of a popular fashion and lifestyle blog called Couture. "There are a lot of creative professionals entering the work force, and since established companies can't absorb all of this new talent, they end up becoming entrepreneurs. " Futuro Refuerzos is led by Fermín Solana, a food writer and rock musician who grew frustrated with the lack of options in Montevideo. "There was nowhere to eat a decent sandwich beyond the old places that make chivitos," he said, referring to the traditional steak sandwiches that are offered in neighborhood joints or local chains. "I looked at Santiago and Lima, where the sandwiches are incredible, and decided to take a risk. " Soon after opening in late 2015, Futuro Refuerzos had garnered a following thanks to creations like "gol," handmade pita filled with spiced meatballs, sweet blood sausage and red cabbage. Mr. Solana is part of a group of young restaurateurs and chefs fueling the city's small but growing foodie circuit, which right now includes over a dozen restaurants, cafes and specialty stores (until recently, Montevidean epicures spoke of living in a culinary wasteland, so this is a noticeable improvement). There is Estrecho, a tiny restaurant in the historic district with simple décor belying a sophisticated lunchtime menu prepared by Cali Diemarch, a chef trained in the United States who invents his daily dishes on the fly, such as a deconstructed chivito made with filet mignon, poached egg, caramelized pancetta and fried onions. La Pasionaria, a concept store and restaurant on a quiet nearby street, recently welcomed a new young chef, Luciana Fia, who makes pasta, ice cream and other food by hand, using fresh, local ingredients. At Sucré Salé Bistro, a casual spot near downtown, on the back patio of the Alliance Française de Montevideo, Florencia Ibarra often sneaks refined dishes like rabbit in mustard sauce with boulangère potatoes into her unfussy menu. Leading the pack is the and Jacinto, headed by Lucía Soria, an alumna of the famed Argentine chef Francis Mallmann. Ms. Soria frequently appears on television, participates in food festivals like Degusto and headlines as the top guest chef in supper clubs like Mesabrava. "Finally, we have good places to eat, good live music and a generation of people who are breaking away from the old molds," Mr. Solana said. "I think the city's lighting up. " Montevideo's new vibe is closely linked to fashion and interior design, as seen in a surge of shops selling locally made clothes, accessories and home accents. Last year, one of the most dynamic new labels, Rotunda, unveiled a sleek multistory boutique in the Punta Carretas neighborhood, complete with its own photography studio, where the owners, Kevin Jakter and Sofía Dominguez, showcase their expanding line of minimalist women's clothing, eyewear, shoes, and jewelry. Ten blocks away in the residential and commercial district of Pocitos, a trendy multibrand store, Tienda, sells labels like Pastiche, which specializes in denim, and Mutma, a maker of leather shoes and handbags. Casa Baném, a home décor store set in a villa in upscale Carraco, also stocks a variety of homegrown brands like Don Baez, known for its throws and pillows made with Uruguayan merino wool, and Home Touch, which makes lighting. This design boom can be gauged at MoWeek, the local fashion week held in April and October, which began in 2010 with six showrooms and now includes more than 60. "They're all independent brands started by a new generation, which is impressive," Ms. Zanocchi of Couture said. "Montevideo is still quiet, but there are some very interesting alternative scenes that are seeping into the mainstream. "


The following are highlights of the maiden policy address of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Wednesday as she laid out a blueprint of her government s priorities in the coming five years. National security - Say no to any attempt to threaten country s (China s) sovereignty, security and development interests Infrastructure - Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area development will bring enormous opportunities for Hong Kong s economy Economy - The government last went into deficit in 2003-04 and now fiscal reserves are in excess of HK$1,000 billion. - Hong Kong grew by 4.0 percent in real terms year-on-year in the first two quarters, with unemployment dropping to 3.1 percent in recent months, the lowest level in two decades - Overall economic growth in 2017 is expected to be higher than 3.5 percent Innovation and Technology - The government will step up efforts in research and development, expanding talent pool, venture capital, legislation reviews, and I&T development - The government has set a goal to double the Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product from the current 0.73 percent to 1.5 percent within the current-term government s five-year tenure Taxation - On the two-tier profits tax system, the profits tax rate for the first HK$2 million of profits of enterprises will be lowered to 8.25 percent, or half of the standard profits tax rate - Profits above that amount will continue to be subject to the standard tax rate of 16.5 percent Housing - To step up efforts to increase the supply of housing units - Seek to shorten the waiting time for public rental housing and increase supply of flats under the home ownership scheme. - Proposes to introduce affordable Starter Homes for middle-class families in Hong Kong - Land for Starter Homes to come from sites already owned by private developers or to be bought from the government - Provisions in land leases to require developers to pursue mixed developments, to build and offer for sale a specified number of Starter Homes units in addition to private housing units to target buyers who meet the eligibility criteria Education and talents - Increase education expenditure by HK$5 billion a year - Appoint more young people to government committees, with the aim of increasing the overall ratio of youth members to 15 percent within the current-term government - Recruit young people in policy research units so that the voices of young people can be heard at senior levels of the government


He called it. Many times.  Michael Moore, the controversial documentary filmmaker, is a staunch Democrat and Clinton supporter, but has been saying all along that Trump was going to win.  On Real Time with Bill Maher in July, Moore cried out, "Get out of your bubble, people!" He listed five reasons why Trump was going to be the next president and he was creepy correct.  For example, his first reason 'The Rust Belt/Brexit Strategy' played out before our eyes last night:  "Mitt Romney lost by 64 electoral votes. The total votes of [Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania ]… 64. All he (Trump) has to do is win those four states."  You can check out the whole list, explained in detail, here .  And during a talk posted on Youtube on October 24 th , Moore also explained why Trump was gonna win.  But the ever-optimistic Moore is not wasting his time saying, "I told you so." Instead, he has put out a call for action. On his Facebook page, he posted a to-do list and it looks like this time people are listening. The posting has gone viral, with 218K reactions, 10K comments and almost 100K shares on Facebook alone.  So, without further ado… Michael Moore's Morning After To-Do List: Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably Fire all pundits, predictors, pollsters and anyone else in the media who had a narrative they wouldn't let go of and refused to listen to or acknowledge what was really going on. Those same bloviators will now tell us we must "heal the divide" and "come together." They will pull more hooey like that out of their ass in the days to come. Turn them off. Any Democratic member of Congress who didn't wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that's about to begin. Everyone must stop saying they are "stunned" and "shocked." What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren't paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all "You're fired!" Trump's victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that. You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: "HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!" The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don't. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he's president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we'll continue to have presidents we didn't elect and didn't want. You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there's climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don't want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the "liberal" position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen (see: #1 above). Let's try to get this all done by noon today.  — Michael Moore  You can read the original post on Michael Moore's Facebook page .


Donald Trump tried out a new minion on Sunday in what resulted in an embarrassing and terrifying appearance on all the networks.Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who helped write Trump s apocalyptic and negative inaugural address and the executive order that banned travelers from seven countries from entering the United States, appeared on the Sunday shows to press the same theme over and over again.Miller claimed that the judicial branch has no authority to stand in the way of Trump s national security agenda and that Trump is always 100 percent correct. We do not have judicial supremacy in this country, Miller said on Fox News Sunday. We have three co-equal branches of government. It s true that we have three branches of government, but the Constitution clearly made the judicial branch responsible for interpreting the laws and deciding what is and what is not constitutional.Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled against reinstating Trump s executive order, a blistering defeat for his administration.The ruling caused Republicans to make a bill splitting the Ninth Circuit Court a top priority as punishment. And now Trump and his team are trying to undermine the power of the judiciary in retaliation.And that why Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski expressed horror on Monday morning.The Morning Joe hosts could not believe how anti-Constitution Miller was and that Trump actually praised him for it. It s so much worse than I ever thought, Scarborough said after both reacted to Miller s performance by saying, Oh my God. Scarborough then proceeded to inform Miller that courts have every right to question what Trump does and gave him a quick lesson about the Constitution. They will be questioned by the court it s called judicial review. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison wrote about it in the Federalist Papers, it was enshrined in Madison s Constitution. Indeed, Article 3 of the Constitution has been the bedrock of our nation s judiciary since America s founding.Article 3 states:The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more states; between a state and citizens of another state; between citizens of different states; between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.In short, the courts have the final say about what is constitutional and what is not. Trying to undermine the power of the judiciary is a violation of the Constitution.That was the worst performance out of anybody, Scarborough continued. That was horrendous, an embarrassment. Go back and read the constitution. The White House has got to stop embarrassing themselves by putting this guy out there. Scarborough concluded that if Trump keeps trying to undermine the judiciary he ll be impeached.Here s the video via Twitter..@JoeNBC on Stephen Miller s weekend performance: That was horrendous and an embarrassment https://t.co/rE5Fxo8AF3 Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) February 13, 2017Donald Trump continues to get more dangerous to our democracy and Constitution every day. He needs to be ousted before we wake up one day and no longer have rights.


Home › POLICE STATE | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | US NEWS › DETROIT AIRPORT USING NEW HIGH-TECH SYSTEM: TAKES FINGERPRINTS, IRIS SCAN, HIGH-RES PHOTO OF FACE DETROIT AIRPORT USING NEW HIGH-TECH SYSTEM: TAKES FINGERPRINTS, IRIS SCAN, HIGH-RES PHOTO OF FACE 0 SHARES  [10/27/16] Metro Detroit Airport now has a new way to allow people to move seamlessly through airport security .  It's called CLEAR and it's now in operation at the airport's McNamara Terminal. Certified as a "qualified anti-terrorism technology" by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CLEAR has been used more than five million times to move travelers quickly through airport security lines at 16 other airports.  "They validate their identity using a knowledge-based quiz, they use a government identification that's validated using technology, and then we link it to their bio-metrics — we take 10 fingerprints with a digital reader, we take a scan of their iris, and we take a high-res photo of their face," said CLEAR spokesperson David Cohen.  Cohen said the initial sign-up process takes about five minutes and after that, getting through security lines should be a breeze. He said there are special lines for CLEAR customers that can be a great time-saver for travelers, who will still have to pass through X-Rays and body scans. Post navigation


The United States is suspending food and fuel aid for most of Somalia s armed forces over corruption concerns, a blow to the military as African peacekeepers start to withdraw this month. African Union (AU) troops landed in Mogadishu a decade ago to fight al Shabaab Islamist militants and Somali forces are supposed to eventually take over their duties. But the United States, which also funds the 22,000-strong peacekeeping force, has grown frustrated that successive governments have failed to build a viable national army. Diplomats worry that without strong Somali forces, al Shabaab could be reinvigorated, destabilize the region and offer a safe haven to other al Qaeda-linked militants or Islamic State fighters. The U.S. suspension of aid came after the Somali military repeatedly failed to account for food and fuel, according to private correspondence between the U.S. and Somali governments seen by Reuters. During recent discussions between the United States and the Federal Government of Somalia, both sides agreed that the Somali National Army had failed to meet the standards for accountability for U.S. assistance, a State Department official told Reuters last week, on condition of anonymity. We are adjusting U.S. assistance to SNA units, with the exception of units receiving some form of mentorship, to ensure that U.S. assistance is being used effectively and for its intended purpose, the official said. The U.S. suspension comes at a sensitive time. The AU force - with troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda - is scheduled to leave by 2020. The first 1,000 soldiers will go by the end of 2017. The State Department official said Washington would continue to support small, Somali special forces units mentored by U.S. personnel and would work with the Somali government to agree criteria that could restore support to other units. It is true that some concerns have been raised on how support was utilized and distributed. The federal government is working to address these, Somali Minister of Defence Mohamed Mursal told Reuters. Documents sent from the U.S. Mission to Somalia to the Somali government show U.S. officials are increasingly frustrated that the military is unable to account for its aid. The documents paint a stark picture of a military hollowed out by corruption, unable to feed, pay or arm its soldiers - despite hundreds of millions of dollars of support. Between May and June, a team of U.S. and Somali officials visited nine army bases to assess whether the men were receiving food the United States provides for 5,000 soldiers. We did not find the expected large quantities of food at any location ... there was no evidence of consumption (except at two bases), the U.S. team wrote to the Somali government. At one base, less than a fifth of the soldiers listed by Somali commanders were present. The best-staffed base had 160 soldiers out of 550. Only 60 had weapons. Many appeared to be wearing brand new uniforms. This implied they were assembled merely to improve appearances, the letter, seen by Reuters, said. An ongoing assessment of the Somali military this year by the Somali government, African Union and United Nations drew similar conclusions. The joint report seen by Reuters said many soldiers lacked guns, uniforms, food, vehicles or tents. Troops relied on support from AU forces or local militias to survive. The SNA is a fragile force with extremely weak command and control, the report said. They are incapable of conducting effective operations or sustaining themselves. Most units don t have radios, leaving soldiers to rely on runners to get help when mobile networks go down, the report said. Troops lacked paper to write reports, toilets, boots and medical equipment such as tourniquets. Many slept under trees. SNA units were at 62 percent of their authorized strength on average. Only 70 percent of them had weapons, the report said. Although the report was deeply critical, diplomats praised the government for trying to quantify the scope of the problem. The government deserves massive praise for doing it and being willing to talk about it, Michael Keating, the U.N. s top official in Somalia, told Reuters. The United States also suspended a program paying soldiers $100 monthly stipends in June after the federal government refused to share responsibility for receiving the payments with regional forces fighting al Shabaab. Washington has spent $66 million on stipends over the past seven years but has halted the program several times, concerned the money was not going to frontline soldiers. One Somali document seen by Reuters showed members of a 259-strong ceremonial brass band were receiving stipends this year meant for soldiers fighting militants. The State Department s watchdog said in a report published in October there were insufficient checks on the program and U.S. stipends could fund forces that commit abuses - or even support insurgents. Officially, Somalia s military is 26,000 strong, but the payroll is stuffed with ghost soldiers, pensioners and the dead, whose families may be receiving their payments, diplomats say. Intermittent payments from the government have forced many active soldiers to sell their weapons, ammunition or seek other work - practices the U.S. stipends were designed to curb. Washington has whittled down the number of troops it pays to 8,000 from over 10,000 but there is still no reliable payroll, said a Mogadishu-based security expert. Defence Minister Mursal said the United Nations is creating a biometric database and plans to help the Somali government make cash payments directly to soldiers via mobile phones. The new government will also set up a separate system for widows, orphans, and the wounded so the payroll would adequately represent military strength, he said. The weakness of Somali forces has deadly consequences. The insurgency is striking with ever larger and more deadly attacks in the capital Mogadishu and major towns. A truck bomb killed more than 500 people in October and a suicide bomber killed at least 18 at a police academy on Thursday. Yusuf, a 35-year-old Somali soldier stationed near the Indian Ocean port of Kismayu, knows what it s like to depend on local militias and AU forces to stay alive. On Sept. 26, insurgents attacked his base at Bula Gadud, killing 15 colleagues and wounding scores more before the local Jubaland militia and AU peacekeepers saved them. We lost several key members in that battle especially my close friend, he told Reuters. We tried to retreat ... after using all the ammunition we had. A senior Somali security source said when the attack happened, the battalion of more than 1,000 soldiers had only been issued 300 guns. Defence Minister Mursal said the Somali troops at Bulagadud have since been sent more weapons. Somalia s national security plan calls for a military of 18,000 soldiers, funded by the central government and operating country-wide. Getting there will be hard. Security experts say the military is dominated by a powerful clan, the Hawiye, which would be reluctant to lose control of the lucrative security assistance revenue stream. Many regional governments within Somalia already see the Hawiye-dominated federal forces as rivals rather than allies. The government s ability to push reforms depends on balancing demands from federal member states, lawmakers, clan leaders and international partners, the U.N. s Keating said. It s going to take a long time and its going to run into massive clan resistance, he said. Some clans are very dominant in the security forces. Somalia s partners also need to get serious and coordinate better, said Matt Bryden of the think-tank Sahan Research. According to Sahan, donors - including the EU, AU, Turkey and Uganda - have trained more than 80,000 Somali soldiers since 2004. Bryden said records are so poor it was not clear if many had taken multiple courses, or just quit afterwards. It s like sand through your fingers where are they all?