The White House is beginning to panic. At least that s the most logical conclusion from their latest jaw-dropping move. In an order that s pretty much unprecedented (wouldn t it be nice if we had just one day without something unprecedented coming from this White House?), the Trump White House has told various government departments that they are not to cooperate with Democrats period.Reportedly, this has been happening since Trump took office. They have formulated a policy that says that agencies are only allowed to respond to committee chairs. Republicans hold both houses of Congress, so every committee is chaired by a Republican.The declaration amounts to a new level of partisanship in Washington, where the president and his administration already feels besieged by media reports and attacks from Democrats. The idea, Republicans said, is to choke off the Democratic congressional minorities from gaining new information that could be used to attack the president. You have Republicans leading the House, the Senate and the White House, a White House official said. I don t think you d have the Democrats responding to every minority member request if they were in the same position. A White House spokeswoman said the policy of the administration is to accommodate the requests of chairmen, regardless of their political party. There are no Democratic chairmen, as Congress is controlled by Republicans.Source: PoliticoThe information blackout, at least according to White House officials, isn t toward every request from Democrats, just the requests from oversight committees. Whew, that should make us all feel so much better. It s only the agencies that are tagged with making sure laws are followed that are being hobbled.While Obama s White House didn t answer every request from Republicans (admittedly, many are meant to back the opposition into a corner), there was never an explicit policy.Now, of course, while the agencies are under the executive umbrella, they work for the office of the presidency, not for the president personally. For Trump, though, that seems to be far too nuanced a distinction. While agencies are legally free (and some would argue ethically obligated) to abide by oversight requests, even from the minority party, Trump has proven that he will fire anyone who steps out of line.This could certainly backfire, though. If Trump is still in office by the time midterms roll around, and if he keeps destroying the Republican Party, we could see a Democratic takeover of at least one house of Congress. That would give Democrats committee chairs. While the White House could still ignore Democrats requests, there would be no way around the word obstruction.


After the Chinese authorities blocked the Canadian beauty queen Anastasia Lin from attending the 65th annual Miss World pageant in China last year, the event's British organizers offered her a consolation prize, of sorts: They promised to allow her a chance to compete in the 2016 finals, which are currently underway in suburban Washington. What they did not tell her was that she could smile but not speak out publicly during the event, which is largely sponsored by Chinese companies. Over the past three weeks, as she and her fellow contestants have rehearsed for Tuesday's finale, Ms. Lin, 26 — an actress, classically trained pianist and outspoken critic of Chinese human rights abuses — has been barred from speaking to the news media, friends and relatives said. They said that officials with the pageant have also refused to allow Ms. Lin to attend the American premiere of a movie in which she appears. The film, "The Bleeding Edge," has angered Beijing with its dramatization of what human rights advocates describe as programs that harvest the organs of Chinese prisoners of conscience. And last week, when a State Department official requested a meeting with Ms. Lin, to discuss the continuing harassment of her father in China, pageant executives refused to let her go, a State Department official said. They relented only after Ms. Lin agreed to be accompanied by a pageant employee, who insisted on attending the meeting. The chaperone later turned down a State Department request to post a photo of the meeting on Twitter. Jacob Wallenberg, a friend who has spoken to Ms. Lin by phone, said pageant employees warned her that she would be ejected from the competition if she spoke to reporters. "They have specifically told her not to talk about human rights during the pageant, even though that is her official platform," he said. "She is very frustrated. " The Miss World organization declined to answer questions about the restrictions it has placed on Ms. Lin, but friends say they have little doubt about its motivations: Pageant officials, they said, are simply doing the bidding of the Chinese government, which has spent the past year trying to silence Ms. Lin, who was born in China but emigrated to Canada at 13. Since 2003, the Miss World pageant has been held six times in Sanya, a tropical city in southern China, and Chinese companies have become the main sponsors of the competition. The local government has spent $31 million to upgrade infrastructure for the competition, according to the Chinese media. Last year, after the Chinese authorities refused to issue Ms. Lin a visa to attend the finals, she flew to Hong Kong, hoping to obtain a visa at the border. She was turned away, and her photo disappeared from the pageant's official website. "Why is a powerful country like China so afraid of a beauty queen?" she said at the time. Beijing's efforts to silence Ms. Lin appear to have had the opposite effect. In the year since she was barred from the competition, she has been invited to speak at Oxford University, the National Press Club in Washington and the Oslo Freedom Forum. Ms. Lin has been especially outspoken on the repression of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that is banned in mainland China. Ms. Lin is a practitioner of Falun Gong, which the Chinese government has deemed "an evil cult. " Sophie Richardson, the China director of Human Rights Watch, said that Beijing's attempt to muzzle Ms. Lin highlighted its increasingly aggressive campaign to shape global public opinion about a government that takes a dim view of liberties. "Whether it's choosing what movies you get to see or what information can be censored online, Chinese authorities are increasingly trying to insist that the restrictions they impose at home become the norm abroad," she said. "That they deem it necessary to try to manipulate international beauty pageants would be puzzling or quirky if it weren't indicative of a far more serious pathology. " In Ms. Lin's case, the attempted manipulation has taken a sinister turn. In an earlier interview, she described how public security officials harassed her father, the owner of a medical supply company in China, and forced customers to withdraw their business, pushing him into bankruptcy. Family members said Chinese officials had also refused to allow him to travel to Washington for the finals. The Miss World Organization has been aggressive in its effort to prevent reporters from speaking to Ms. Lin. Two weeks ago, pageant officials interrupted an interview she was giving to Jeff Jacoby, a Boston Globe columnist, at a hotel. "Two of them hustled Lin from the lobby, angrily accusing her of breaching the rules and causing trouble," he wrote. "The third blocked me from talking to Lin, and assured me that my interview would be scheduled the next day. It wasn't, of course. " Such restrictions apparently do not apply to the Chinese media. Over the past few weeks, reporters from two Chinese media outlets have been given free rein to interview contestants. Marion Smith, the executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a organization that is sponsoring the premiere of Ms. Lin's film on Wednesday, said he felt deceived by Miss World officials, who he said had assured him they were relaying messages to her about the upcoming event. "Turns out Anastasia never got any of them," he said. Over the past year, Mr. Smith said he had become increasingly alarmed by the growing reach of the Chinese government. Cyberattacks that the F. B. I. say originated in China have repeatedly brought down the organization's website, he said, and in June a teleconference symposium on the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 was disrupted by hackers. "At this point, nothing should surprise us when it comes to China," he said, "but the fact that the Chinese Communist Party is so threatened by a Canadian beauty queen that they would subvert the operations of an international organization supposedly dedicated to greater global understanding and the free exchange of views is very disappointing. "


Most are familiar with the "Jaywalking" quizzes Jay Leno regularly did on the streets of Universal Studios. They often included American civics questions. The answers were often laughably pathetic. Unfortunately, they are representative of the general citizenry's knowledge. According to studies byAnnenberg Public Policy Center, only about a third (38 percent) of Americans can name the three branches of America's government (executive, legislative and judicial), much less explain what each does. Also surprisingly, only 32 percent of Americans could correctly identify the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land, according to the Xavier Center for the Study of the American Dream. According to this same study, only 32 percent of Americans knew how many U.S. Senators there were (100), and only 29 percent knew the length of a U.S. Senator's term in office (six years). Voter turnout for the 2014 national election was the lowest it has been since World War II according to the United States Election Project. In a country that is supposed to be thegold standard for democracy this is simply unacceptable. Why is this happening? One reason is the lack of emphasis put on civics education in our educational curricula. Voters don't vote because they don't understand the process or the power that comes from their votes. These jarring facts are why I have been actively involved in Utah's successful effort to pass the American Civics Education Initiative in Utah's recently concluded legislative session. If you don't know it takes four balls for a walk and three strikes for a strike out in baseball, it's not likely you're a baseball fan. If you don't know the basics in American civics, you're not likely to be interested in voting. The American Civics Education Initiative is simple in concept: Students must pass a test from the 100 basic facts of U.S. history and civics taken from the same test all potential citizens must master before becoming American citizens. This legislation, now enacted in Utah, as well as Arizona, Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota, allows students to take the test any time during their high school career and as many times as necessary to pass. By using this well-established test and the study materials that are already easily available online for free, this legislation has nearly no implementation costs. Some 91 percent of immigrants applying for citizenship pass the civics test on their first try. I recently attended a citizenship swearing-in ceremony at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City (an appropriately named place for this inspiring event). New citizens swore an oath of allegiance to our Republic dedicated to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I saw firsthand how excited these new citizens were to become Americans, as well as the sense of pride they had in having passed the test. They knewtheir stuff. Utah high school students will now be able to share in that satisfaction of accomplishment. As I travel around Utah to meet with students, I see how bright, enthusiastic and capable they are. I hope that they are also inspired to participate in our democracy. When leaving Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked, "Well, Doctor, what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it." The question is how do we keep it? Our republic depends on an informed, engaged citizenry. When so many of our fellow citizens don't know how our government works — and even fewer vote — power becomes concentrated in the hands of the few. We put the bedrock concept of "We the People" at risk. If our students don't know how our democracy works and who we are as a people, their participation ourgovernment will continue to wane. We can't risk that. As Representative Steve Eliason, one of the sponsors of Utah's law, aptly said during the legislative debate, "The American Civics Education Initiative is chicken soup for our ailing civic soul." Utah has taken an important first step in helping bolster American civics education. Legislators across the country need to follow suit and pass similar American civics education legislation in their own states. Only then will the phrase "We the People" live up to its original intent. Jonathan Johnson is the chairman of Overstock.com, Inc. and the co-chairman of the Civics Education Initiative in Utah.


Vice President Joe Biden, in Germany this weekend to help reach a diplomatic solution to Russian aggression in Ukraine, said Ukrainians "have a right to defend themselves" but did not address the possibility of the United States sending weapons to them. Biden is in Munich with Secretary of State John Kerry to back the German-French diplomatic effort, which he says is "very much worth the attempt." Biden said he and other U.S. leaders think they should "attempt an honorable peace" but that they also believe the Ukrainian people "have a right to defend themselves." He suggested that the impact of economic sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions will get worse if leaders refuses to accept a peaceful resolution and continue to escalate the conflict, the White House said Saturday. Russian military forces started taking control of parts of eastern Ukraine in late-February 2014, after protesters and other Ukrainian residents helped oust Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych. And within weeks, Russian began its ultimately successful effort to annex the eastern Ukraine region of Crimea. In response to recent calls in Washington and Kiev for the U.S. to give the outgunned Ukrainians such lethal weapons as anti-tank and anti-mortar systems to fight Russian-backed separatists, Moscow said earlier this week that such a move would be a threat to its national security. While in Munich, Biden also met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss the diplomatic efforts and to pledge U.S. support for the Ukraine economy as it pursues reforms, according to the White House. Still, Biden remains skeptical about whether Russian officials will comply with a diplomatic solution, saying they will be judged by their actions on the ground, "not by the paper they sign." German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande traveled to Kiev on Thursday and Moscow on Friday. They are trying to secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict based on the Sept. 24, 2014, Minsk agreements. Poroshenko is pushing for a quick cease-fire and insists that the conflict must be resolved, not frozen. "There is no temporary solution," he said at the Munich Security Conference, amid the flurry of international diplomacy to calm the Ukraine conflict. Poroshenko also renewed Kiev's call to be provided with defensive weapons, something that's opposed by European countries. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Trump s young administration is fraught with trouble, but we all knew that already. Most of us probably haven t thought of just how to frame Trump s behavior since assuming the White House, but an enterprising writer at the Washington Post just did. Eugene Robinson, an opinion writer for the Post, wrote an entire op-ed based around the following question: Does Trump know he s president? Well, does he? One of the things that Robinson points to as evidence that he doesn t, or, at least, doesn t know what he s doing at all, is the fact that we had a bunch of government executives tell Europe, tell Iraq, even tell the U.N., not to listen to what Trump says. For instance, he said we re going to take Iraq s oil. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the press in Baghdad that we were absolutely not there to do that.U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said that we absolutely support a two-state solution after Trump said we didn t. Mike Pence told NATO that we re fully devoted to them, after Trump has said repeatedly that NATO is obsolete and wants to cozy up to Russia.He said that rounding up undocumented immigrants is a military operation, which supposedly means a non-military operation, and he was just using military as an adjective, according to Sean Spicer.Not mentioned in Robinson s article is Trump s neverending Twitter temper tantrum, though he does mention Trump s feud with the press. There s also the fact that Trump loves hobnobbing with his rich buddies in Florida, to the point where he had a meeting on North Korea in plain view of his VIPs, who pay him a ton of money. He won t divest from his businesses, which is creating massive conflicts of interest and may even be in violation of the Constitution.He rushed out his Muslim ban and the courts promptly halted it, and we have to wonder if he even consulted with anyone knowledgeable about the law with that. The 9th Circuit just rejected the Justice Department s request to put that case on hold pending a new order.So when the Post has to ask if Trump even knows he s president, we have to wonder the same thing. We also have to assume that Trump will be pissed if he hears about this op-ed because it makes him look like the buffoon he is, and he already hates the Post. Not as much as The New York Times or CNN, but he hates them enough. The answer to Robinson s question is, No, he doesn t know he s president, especially not in the same way every other president we ve had knew they were president. Featured image by Aude Guerrucci via Getty Images


Talk show legend Montel Williams is a conservative, one who has expressed very critical opinions of Barack Obama in the past. But Williams says there s an area where he can t disagree with the President Obama s plan to use his executive powers to help alleviate a problem most of his fellow conservatives won t touch.On Tuesday, the President broke into tears as he discussed the problem of gun violence in America today specifically, the lives lost in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, which Obama calls the worst day in [his] presidency. Obama has pledged to close the gun show loophole, which has traditionally allowed pretty damn near everyone to circumvent the background check procedure and get themselves a shootin stick with minimal hassle. In addition, the President will be removing legal barriers preventing a doctor from reporting when someone is too crazy to have a gun, strengthening licensing requirements for sellers, and making dealers responsible for reporting guns that go missing.While many conservatives, including the veritable Brady Bunch of ignorance that is the GOP 2016 presidential field, view these common sense steps as an attack on the freedom of every single man, woman, and child, Williams applauds the President s approach to the problem of gun violence today. I PROUDLY own 14 guns RESPONSIBLY, Williams wrote on Facebook. Naturally, I listened closely to what President Obama said today on guns, and I ve read what was put out detailing his proposals. He explained that no truly responsible gun owner should oppose the President s plans to reform gun laws, nor should any of them develop the opinion that the President and his jack-booted thugs will be going door to door taking people s firearms from them. I m a proud, responsible gun owner and we ought to be the LOUDEST voices for universal background checks, for keeping guns away from criminals and the mentally ill, he says. That is how to be a proud steward of the # 2a right I and so many others hold dear. If I thought for a minute the goal was to take my guns, I d oppose it, Williams added in a comment. I m a law abiding American nothing to fear. I think the corollary to effective background checks is to make it EASIER and more streamlined for law abiding folks to get guns. In an op-ed for HuffPo, Williams says that as a proud, responsible, gun owner, he can t NOT support the President s proposal: I realize this may not make me popular with some gun owners, and I realize there is deep distrust of President Obama and his use of executive action. Simply put, I ve always believed in being a responsible ambassador for the Second Amendment, a right that I hold dear; and, thus, I believe responsible gun owners MUST be the loudest voices for universal background checks and addressing the mental health crisis we face in this country, which form the crux of the president s proposals. Williams says that he has formed his views largely through his work with students in the wake of school shootings over the years. Williams challenges anyone who disagrees that it is important to enact common sense gun legislation to spend time with children who have survived school shootings: They all have the same, haunted look in their eyes, one that frequently keeps me up at night. I would challenge anyone to listen to their stories, experience their pain and then go back the next year and the next, and see how profoundly they are affected and then do it all over again for the next school you ll feel the same way I do. Universal background checks should be a no-brainer. Guns should not change hands without a background check, he says. I cannot give my car to my children without filing a form with the DMV, and no one complains about that burden, nor do they suggest it s a veiled attempt to de-car America. Unfortunately, the NRA and its acolytes spread fear Obama wants your guns to all who will listen, and unfortunately too many listen. The NRA and its bought-and-paid-for politicians fight progress with regard to gun legislation every step of the way including, of course, background checks. Giving up even that much, in their eyes, would be giving up their guns.Williams suggests that we dispense with the meaningless rhetoric, cross the aisle, and work together to solve the problem of gun violence in this country the root of which, he says, is that it s dangerous allowing people to acquire guns without a background check. Williams says that both liberals and conservatives need to skip the divisiveness that plagues our country and focus on the fact that our children s lives are at stake. He asks his fellow gun owners not to buy into the extreme Right s propaganda that paints this as a gun-grabbing measure: This is common sense, and, ultimately, the best way to advance and protect the Second Amendment right we hold dear. Williams is right. No one is trying to take anyone s guns. In fact, President Obama is attempting to ensure that everyone who should be able to get a gun can get one. In the end, this would even accomplish some conservative goals: people would feel safer around armed individuals if they all passed a comprehensive background check and were mentally competent to handle the weapon, for instance. In that sense, the President s plan is a godsend for pro-Second Amendment people of all stripes. If conservatives want to end the stigma associated with gun ownership, the absolute best way is to support this opportunity to protect the integrity of the Second Amendment.


Carolyn B. Maloney, a congresswoman from the Upper East Side, was riding in a taxi on Friday when she heard the news: Emails discovered in an investigation into Anthony D. Weiner's sexting had revived the F. B. I. 's interest in the case of Hillary Clinton's private server. "I said: 'Oh, no, not this, not happening now,'" she said. And then Ms. Maloney's thoughts turned to Mr. Weiner. "I can't stand him — even before this," Ms. Maloney said. On the West Coast, John L. Burton, the chairman of the California Democratic Party, informed of Mr. Weiner's inadvertent intrusion into the election on Friday evening, let loose an emphatic expletive. "We're still talking about that guy during a presidential election?" Mr. Burton fumed, using a profane word instead of "guy. " Weiner — the name became almost a curse word among senior Democrats over the past two days, as the disgraced congressman unexpectedly surfaced in the final stretch of the presidential contest. The news resurrected memories of previous Weiner scandals. "He is like a recurring nightmare," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "It's like one of those 'Damien' movies — it's like every time you think he's dead, he keeps coming again. " The fury that many leading Democrats feel toward Mr. Weiner had been building for years. His sexting habits embarrassed them. His attempted political comeback in 2013 disgusted them. But their high regard for his wife, Huma Abedin, always kept them from going public. On Friday that was over. Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers and an influential Clinton supporter, said she had long held her tongue out of "enormous respect and love" for Ms. Abedin. But Ms. Weingarten said Mr. Weiner's treatment of women demanded forceful censure. "I don't care who it is, no one should be a sexual predator," Ms. Weingarten said. "I think we all have to take a stand about that, and I think what's happening now is that people are. " Mr. Weiner, who lost his seat in Congress and his mayoral hopes after repeated episodes in which he sent lewd messages to women, is now under federal investigation for allegedly sending sexual messages to a girl in North Carolina. In that inquiry, the F. B. I. this month seized a laptop that contained thousands of messages belonging to Ms. Abedin, a top aide to Mrs. Clinton. The F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, told Congress on Friday that investigators will now review those messages for possible relevance to the Clinton inquiry, news that rattled the Clinton campaign and stung her supporters. For some, the development touched off more worry than anger: former President Bill Clinton, who learned of the news en route to his last event of the day, in Pennsylvania, fretted that it would draw hostile attention to Ms. Abedin, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Around the country, former aides to Mr. Weiner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, traded emails and texts throughout the weekend, fuming at the "collateral damage" inflicted by their onetime boss. Mr. Weiner did not respond to an email seeking comment. Mrs. Clinton's campaign has largely ignored Mr. Weiner's connection so far, and has instructed campaign surrogates to avoid discussing his role. But amid fears that Mr. Weiner's behavior might undermine the party in a critical election, Democrats — especially in his native New York — said that perhaps they had given Mr. Weiner too many second chances over the years, and given him too much latitude out of deference to Ms. Abedin. Beyond New York, there was a sense of disbelief that one former lawmaker, whose memorable surname and lewd online habits made him a staple of comedy, could disrupt the election of an American president. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in an interview with CNN, blurted out, "Oh, God," at the mention of Mr. Weiner's name. He added, "I'm not a big fan. " But Mr. Weiner has been a figure of consternation in Democratic politics for years, in New York and nationally, regarded simultaneously as a sharp political mind and a man of striking immaturity and ambition. With a gift for combat on cable television, Mr. Weiner repeatedly forced himself to the fore of Democratic politics, despite being seen by many in the party as too clever by half, too boastful about his intelligence — and too hungry for attention from reporters and women. A 2001 story in Vanity Fair captured Mr. Weiner, then unmarried, leering at congressional interns while presenting himself as an salesman. When Mr. Weiner explored a campaign for mayor in 2009, aides to Michael R. Bloomberg, who was seeking a third term, highlighted media coverage of his support for legislation making it easier for foreign models to get approval for visas. "We had a sense of who he was," said Bradley Tusk, who was campaign manager for Mr. Bloomberg. "He knew exactly who he was. " Also before the same election, Senator Chuck Schumer, for whom Mr. Weiner once worked, privately expressed frustration that Mr. Weiner was insufficiently interested in substance, telling one aide: "It's all political ricochet. " The senator is said to have made his peace with Mr. Weiner's problems long ago. But Mr. Schumer is in line to lead Senate Democrats next year, and any damage from Mr. Weiner's latest scandal could impede the party's quest for a majority. Still, he won the lasting appreciation of Mrs. Clinton during the 2008 election, defending her in fashion during a difficult primary against Barack Obama. And Mr. Weiner's marriage to Ms. Abedin, in 2010, seemed to install him permanently among party elites — whatever their reservations about his company. So tied into the party's power brokers was he, by marriage, that when Mr. Weiner sought to resurrect his political career with a bid for mayor in 2013, numerous Democratic donors cut checks to his campaign at Ms. Abedin's urging. John P. Coale, a wealthy lawyer supportive of Mrs. Clinton, said many donors gave money to Mr. Weiner out of friendship with Ms. Abedin. But Mr. Coale said the 2013 race, which brought new revelations of more sexting, had been exasperating. "It was just too much for everybody," Mr. Coale said. "And now, it's out of the park. Come on. " Bill Hyers, a Democratic strategist who managed Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaign that year, said the party establishment had erred by allowing Mr. Weiner "a second breath of life. " "They knew he was a narcissist who was massively flawed," Mr. Hyers said. "And now we're all still stuck with him. " Among Democrats who shunned Mr. Weiner from the start, there was little joy at the apparent vindication of their judgment. Sarah Kovner, a major Democratic donor, said there was less concern that injuries might cost Mrs. Clinton the election, than sheer frustration that a known bad seed had created such endless tumult. "We basically never wanted to have anything to do with him," Ms. Kovner said of herself and her husband, Victor Kovner. " too wise for himself, too glib, too full of himself — that's how we felt about him. " While predicting Mr. Weiner's latest scandal would not doom Mrs. Clinton's presidential hopes, Ms. Kovner sighed: "It is more pain. "


U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian air base are unlikely to halt U.S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson's planned visit to Moscow next week, the head of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs committee said on Friday. "I don't think this will impact Tillerson's visit, we need to restore dialogue. We should welcome Tillerson, exchange views and try and talk sense into Washington," Leonid Slutsky told the Russia 24 television channel, Interfax reported. "That's much better than hiding behind walls." Tillerson is due to visit Russia for talks next week. The United States on Friday fired dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian air base from which it said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the action "aggression against a sovereign nation" on a "made-up pretext".


While there has never been a confirmed instance of transgender people as child predators, this year s Republican pearl clutching is directed toward transgender people and their rights to use bathrooms. States are even passing laws trying to ensure that somehow, people s bathroom habits match up to their birth certificates.Yes, it s absurd, and some retailers are telling their customers exactly that by opening their bathrooms to any shopper, regardless of genitalia. Target was the first major retailer to do that and now, Starbucks and Barnes & Noble are joining them.Starbucks, Hudson s Bay Co. parent company to Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue and Barnes & Noble have all come out in support of trans people s rights to use the bathrooms that best align with their gender identities. HBC respects and affirms each person s right to self-identify and access facilities that reflect their gender identity, said spokeswoman Tiffany Bourr .Starbucks spokeswoman Jaime Riley stated that the company is looking into additional opportunities to have more gender-neutral signage in our restrooms where jurisdictions allow it. As a company, Barnes & Noble treats all employees and customers with dignity and respect, spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said. For our transgender employees and customers, that means that they are allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. Source: NewNowNextOf course, whiny conservatives are, well, whining.Thanks to Starbucks s idiotic gender neutral bathrooms, I won t be going there anymore. Maggie Holmes (@magselizabeth15) May 1, 2016 Hey #BoycottTarget peeps, #barnesandnoble and @Starbucks have the SAME policy on bathrooms. That needs more attention. DJ (@formadeo) April 30, 2016@InGodIDoTrust / Target bathrooms are fast rivaling starbucks as a libtard safe haven CLAYVIS (@HAMnEGG_WILLIE) April 26, 2016For most Starbucks shops, this is little more than thumbing their noses at right-wing nut jobs. Most Starbucks bathrooms are single stall, so privacy is kind of a given.If you recall, it was just a few months ago when Starbucks was being boycotted by presumably some of the same people people who objected to the fact that their Christmas cup didn t have Jesusy images like snowmen and Christmas trees. It was just blank.Here s the video:And still, Republicans don t get it. They don t get the point of our government. Young Conservatives, for example, said this, which sums up much of the argument against gender neutral bathrooms.It is very strange how many large companies are willing to completely ignore the safety of their customers just to pander to less than 1% of the population.Ironically, this is the argument used every time liberals suggest equality for everyone. It s true that transgender people are a tiny minority, but that s why they need legal protections. We have never been a true democracy. We don t bow to the tyranny of the majority. When African-Americans were legally integrated into society, the majority of citizens were white and the mouth breathers objected to their little girls being in a stall next to a little African-American girl. Obviously, integrated bathrooms didn t cause problems then and they cause no problems now. They are just the latest desperate grab at an ugly past when the only people who counted were white, male, cigenders and Protestant.


It is not even 7 AM on the American east coast as of this writing, and Donald Trump is already up and tweeting. As per usual when we get these early morning, unhinged rants from Trump, he is on the attack this time with an old foe, The New York Times. As we all know, Trump has long had a frosty relationship with the media, and even invited them to Trump Tower only to rant at them about how he doesn t like how they covered him. Now, he has cancelled a meeting with the Times, the news organization that he had the most criticism for. Without further ado, here is all the craziness in its full glory:I cancelled today's meeting with the failing @nytimes when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016Perhaps a new meeting will be set up with the @nytimes. In the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016The failing @nytimes just announced that complaints about them are at a 15 year high. I can fully understand that but why announce? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016This man is literally nuts. Instead of planning his transition, he is scolding the media, picking fights with Saturday Night Live and Hamilton, and deliberately trying to undermine the free press, which is one of our most vital American institutions and is especially important when the person about to take office is an unhinged serial liar.Hopefully, the press resists the temptation to normalize Trump, and they call him out on every lie, every crazy, unAmerican idea, and every corrupt thing he does. If they don t, we can kiss our democracy goodbye, because we just elected a literal fascist. Remember, folks sowing distrust in institutions such as the free press is the first thing that happens when fascism begins to take hold. Trump is already neck-deep in that one. I shudder to think what s next.


John Podesta is the guardian of the Clintons just like Valerie Jarrett was for the Obamas. He was instrumental during the 2016 election as the Clinton campaign chair and was exposed when the Wikileaks hack happened. He was just interviewed by the House Intel Committee regarding the Russia scam and was asked about it in the heated debate below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9U5zxVyTqAJohn Podesta is not just the former chairman of the Hillary Clinton s presidential campaign, but also a central figure in the ongoing narrative of Russian meddling in the US election of 2016. His hacked emails were at the heart of what some have called a coordinated news campaign led by Wikileaks, and so he met with the House Intelligence panel yesterday behind closed doors.This morning he appeared on Fox Business to discuss the Russian interference, allegations of collusion with Trump campaign and more with host Maria Bartiromo in what became a testy debate that perfectly exemplifies the divided positions that so many Americans hold right now.Bartiromo showed skepticism over the Russia claims rightfully so!. And there may be no other individual that best embodies the Clinton s web of influence for good and bad than Mr. Podesta. He s the definition of a weasel.Bartiromo aggressively attacked Podesta and Democrats for what she said were deeper ties with Russia, specifically asking about Podesta s investment portfolio:THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF A DEEP TIE TO RUSSIA:Russia gave John Podesta 35 millions dollars (1 billion rubles) while he advised Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.Russia gave John Podesta 35 millions dollars (1 billion rubles) while he advised Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. pic.twitter.com/cf042XZLeU Based Vet (@BasedVet) March 28, 2017 Get your facts straight, the former Clinton campaign chair shot back, before dismissing the FBN hosts claims as coming from a dubious source like InfoWars. It went downhill from there.


Eureka! We figured out why Hillary won t let the press see her off: The campaign of Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has poured more than $2 million into the use of private jets this election cycle, according to a review of its expenditures.Federal Election Commission documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon found that Hillary for America made a total of 48 payments from June 1, 2015, to Jan. 29, 2016, to Executive Fliteways, a New York-based private jet company, running up a tab of $2,128,293 for the campaign.Executive Fliteways is considered one of the largest independently owned and operated charter companies in the country and boasts a fleet of private planes ranging from mid-size, which can seat seven or eight passengers, to heavy, which can carry 12 to 16 people.While it is not clear which jet Clinton prefers on the campaign trail, or if they routinely switch between the jets they use, Clinton has been pinned on Executive Fliteways Falcon 900B heavy jet in the past, according to a media reports. Hillary boarded the plane, which burns 347 gallons of fuel per hour, shortly after laying out her campaign s plan to combat global warming.ABC REPORTER Liz Kreutz TWEETED OUT THIS MESSAGE WITH A PHOTO: Clinton staff won t allow press to film HRC boarding her charter. We must get on our plane before she gets out of car The Falcon 900B heavy jet carries a price tag of $5,850 per hour and comfortably seats 12 passengers. The luxury accommodations includes a full service galley, executive workstation, onboard WiFi, a full-size private lavatory, and a flight attendant for the ultimate inflight experience, according to the company s website.


President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the standoff between North Korea and the United States was close to spilling into a large-scale conflict and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang into halting its nuclear missile program. Putin, due to attend a summit of the BRICS nations in China next week, said the only way to de-escalate tensions was via talks, and Sergei Lavrov, his foreign minister, said Washington not Pyongyang should take the initiative on that. It is essential to resolve the region s problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions (for such talks), Putin, whose country shares a border with North Korea, wrote on the Kremlin s web site. Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere. The Russian leader, whose nuclear-capable bombers recently overflew the Korean Peninsula in a show of force, said the situation had deteriorated so badly that it was now balanced on the verge of a large-scale conflict. Pyongyang has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and recently threatened to land missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. On Monday, North Korea, which sees joint war games between the United States and South Korea as preparations for invasion, raised the stakes by firing an intermediate-range missile over Japan. In Russia s opinion the calculation that it is possible to halt North Korea s nuclear missile programs exclusively by putting pressure on Pyongyang is erroneous and futile, Putin wrote. A road map formulated by Moscow and Beijing, which would involve North Korea halting its missile program in exchange for the United States and South Korea stopping large-scale war games, was a way to reduce tensions, wrote Putin. Lavrov, addressing students in Moscow, said he felt events were building towards a war which he said would cause large numbers of casualties in Japan and South Korea if it happened. If we want to avoid a war the first step must be taken by the side that is the more intelligent and stronger, said Lavrov, making clear he was referring to the United States. He said Russia was working behind the scenes and that Moscow knew that Washington had a back channel to Pyongyang which he said he hoped would allow the two sides to de-escalate.


Tucker takes on the co-director of Popular Resistance, and asks him whether he advocates violence, whether he would like political foes to show up at is house and threaten him? Political resistance advocates violence as a tactic to get their way much like a toddler has a temper tantrum. Tucker Carlson debates the leader of a group that thinks it s ok to go to the FCC Chairman s house to protest. Does this cross the line? We believe it does!The Chairman of the FCC is a Republican and is such a great choice! No matter who he is, we still believe it s wrong on a moral level to do what these people are doing. Shame on them!CURRENT FCC CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI STOOD UP TO THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS WHEN THEY WERE TOLD NOT TO RELEASE INFORMATION ON FRAUD IN THE LIFELINE PROGRAM:TYRANNY: Obamaphone Fraud Kept Under Wraps Until Vote To Expand ProgramFederal regulators were instructed to keep a massive fraud investigation under wraps until a day after a controversial vote to expand a program that was allegedly used to bilk taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars, one those regulators claims.The Federal Communications Commission on Friday announced that it would seek $51 million in damages from a cell phone company that allegedly defrauded the federal Lifeline program of nearly $10 million.The commission s five members unanimously backed the Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL), but Republican commissioner Ajit Pai parted from his colleagues in a partial dissent. According to Pai, he and other commissioners were told not to reveal the details of its investigation until April 1, a day after the FCC voted to expand the Lifeline program. Commissioners were told that the Notice of Apparent Liability could not be released or publicly discussed until April 1, 2016, conveniently one day after the Commission was scheduled to expand the Lifeline program to broadband, Pai wrote. That s not right. Pai did not say who issued that directive. However, it had the effect of preventing public knowledge of widespread fraud in the Lifeline program ahead of a contentious vote on expanding it despite persisting concerns about a lack of internal safeguards.FCC spokesman Will Wiquist insisted that the timing was completely coincidental. The timing of the enforcement action was in no way related to the timing of the vote on the program modernization, he said in an email.IF YOU BELIEVE WIQUIST, WE HAVE SWAMPLAND IN FLORIDA TO SELL YOU!


A convoy is set to leave the Islamic State-held enclave of Syria s Raqqa city on Saturday under an arrangement brokered by local officials, the U.S-led coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said on Saturday. The arrangement is designed to minimize civilian casualties and purportedly excludes foreign (Islamic State) terrorists, the Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve said in an emailed statement. The statement said the coalition does not condone any arrangement that allows (Islamic State) terrorists to escape Raqqa without facing justice .


An ambitious Asia-Pacific trade pact linking the United States and 11 countries lay in tatters on Tuesday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would kill the deal on his first day in office on Jan. 20. Trump's statement appeared to open the way for China to assume the United States' leadership mantle on trade and diplomacy in Asia. The Republican termed the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) "a potential disaster for our country." China, Japan and South Korea are already in the initial stages of discussing a trilateral trade deal, and Beijing has been pushing its own limited Asian regional trade pact that excludes Washington for the past five years. Japan and Australia, Washington's closest allies in Asia, pledged after Trump's announcement to push ahead without the United States, although removing the largest market for goods and services would shrink it dramatically. "Pushing them forward is the idea that, if they don't act, it will look like China's very weak trade deals are the only game in town," said Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on Asian economies and trade. Trump has pledged to redraw trade deals to win back American jobs, and has threatened Mexico and China with punitive tariffs in a move that some economists have warned could spark a trade war that threatens to roll back decades of liberalization. Ending the TPP was a key election pledge of Trump's and was also the policy of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The deal died in Congress after Trump's Nov. 8 election victory. The Trans Pacific Partnership, a signature diplomatic initiative of Democratic President Barack Obama, was intended to lower tariff barriers in countries that accounted for 40 percent of the world economy, as well as providing a bulwark against China. A major trade deal between the United States and Europe is also now close to collapse after Britain's plans to withdraw from the European Union prompted Washington to demand better terms and opposition in France and Germany has also all but scuppered it. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said "the TPP would be meaningless without the United States," even as parliament continued debating ratification and his government vowed to lobby other members to approve it. "It (the pact) just continues in a state of not being in effect," said Shinpei Sasaki of the Cabinet Office's TPP headquarters. Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told reporters in Canberra that countries could push ahead with the TPP without the United States by amending the agreement and possibly adding new members. "We could look at, for example, if China or Indonesia or another country wanted to join, saying, 'Yes, we open the door for them signing up to the agreement as well.'" But Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said reopening negotiations would not be easy. "If you sign a fresh agreement, you have to go through it again. We haven't crossed that bridge yet. We'll cross it if and when we come to that." China has pushed its own Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which notably excludes the United States. It is a more traditional trade agreement, involving cutting tariffs rather than opening up economies and setting labor and environmental standards as TPP would. The RCEP was a focus of attention at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru over the weekend. Tan Jian, a senior member of China's delegation at the summit, said more countries are now seeking to join its 16-member bloc, including Peru and Chile, and current members want to reach a deal as soon as possible to counter rising protectionism. China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Beijing has an "open attitude" toward any arrangements that promote free trade in the region as long they don't become "fragmented and politicized." Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the RCEP was an initiative led by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which China has been promoting. "We are willing to keep pushing the (RCEP) talks process with all sides to achieve positive progress at an early date," he said. Vietnam last week shelved its own ratification of TPP, after Obama abandoned efforts to push it through a lame-duck Congress, while Malaysia has shifted its attention to the RCEP. At a U.S.-China agricultural trade seminar in Washington, senior Obama administration officials and their Chinese counterparts appeared to ignore the elephant in the room: the collapse of TPP and Trump's tough trade talk against China. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he was focused in a U.S.-China trade negotiators meeting in Washington this week on reducing China's regulatory and food safety barriers to American beef, poultry and genetically modified crops out of China. "There hasn't been a discussion about the future, there's really a focus on the present," Vilsack said when asked about what he was telling his Chinese counterparts about the risks posed by an incoming Trump administration. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang did not address Trump's trade rhetoric at the discussion in Washington, but warned that a closing of agricultural trade would be "unacceptable to our farmers." "China is one of the most important markets for agricultural exports, accounting for nearly a fifth of U.S. agricultural exports. ... On average, every U.S. farmer exports about $12,000 of agricultural products to China" every year, Wang said.


2016 presidential campaign by BAR executive editor Glen Ford  Tens of thousands have demonstrated against the election of Donald Trump. Some are activists, continuing the struggle. Others are Democrats that are just "mad." "The Black movement against police terror didn't need a Donald Trump waiting in the vestibule of the White House to get "mad." For those who fear Trump's "fascism," the threat level "depends on how he uses the arsenal of repressive tools bequeathed to him by the Obama administration." None of Them Have Ever Been My President by BAR executive editor Glen Ford  "You can't scare people with a specter if they have already been in combat with the real thing."  As a revolutionary Black nationalist whose socialism predates my facial hairs, I have no problem saying Donald Trump is not my president. Neither is the current occupant of the White House, nor were any of the Democrats, Republicans and Whigs that preceded him.  On a chilly November day in 2009 a newly-created coalition, of which I was a co-founder, marched on the White House to denounce and renounce Barack Obama as a tool of white supremacy and the imperial war machine. "Obama, Obama, you can't hide – We charge you with genocide," we shouted, indicting the First Black President for the crimes he was busily committing in service to his masters on Wall Street. The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations had been formed less than two months before, largely to demonstrate that not all Black people were bamboozled by the slick corporate politician from Chicago, elected one year earlier in the nation's first billion dollar presidential campaign. As the Coalition's founding press release stated :  "Black and Brown people continue to suffer the brunt of un/under-employment and predatory loan scandal crises. Military spending under Obama has increased as have the warfare this nation continues to export to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Venezuela and Colombia. Mass incarceration, police brutality and political imprisonment remain rampant..."  The Black is Back Coalition warned of the "traps set by Obama's so-called 'post-racial' politics that perpetuates the same oppressive militarist agenda well known during the Bush regime."  To paraphrase Fidel Castro, history has vindicated us.  "Obama joined George Bush and Bill Clinton in perpetuating the 20 year-long slaughter in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has claimed more than six million lives."  Obama mobilized NATO air forces and jihadist proxies to destroy Libya, which had previously enjoyed the highest living standard in Africa. He redeployed these same al Qaida terrorists to Syria, killing 400,000 people, displacing half the surviving population and bringing the U.S. to the very brink of nuclear war with Russia. This so-called "Son of Africa" has effectively occupied most of the continent through a U.S. Military Command (AFRICOM) that was less than a year old when Obama was sworn into office. The African Union provides diplomatic cover for the CIA-run "peace keeping" mission in Somalia, while U.S. conventional forces have infiltrated the militaries of all but two African nations. The holdouts, Eritrea and Zimbabwe, are under constant threat of regime change. Obama joined George Bush and Bill Clinton in perpetuating the 20 year-long slaughter in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has claimed more than six million lives, the worst genocide since World War Two ("Obama, Obama, you can't hide, We charge you with genocide!")  With the eager assistance of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama baldly abetted a Nazi-spearheaded coup against the elected government in Ukraine -- and then blamed Moscow when Russian-speaking Ukrainians resisted, provoking a "New Cold War" that could turn hot in an instant. At the same time, Obama "pivoted" to militarily confront China, whose economy is already, by some measures, larger than the U.S. The jihadist war in Syria should also be seen as a theater of imperialism's last ditch offensive to encircle "Eurasia" in hopes of preserving U.S.-based multinational corporate domination of a "rigged" system of dollar-based world trade.  Just as the Black is Back Coalition warned, Barack Obama was the Black face of imperialism -- a change of color without a difference. He tried to hand off the controls to Hillary Clinton, who got six million votes less than he did, and lost.  Back in 2007, when Obama and Clinton were pretending to be ideological opponents -- as cookie-cutter corporate Democrats often do -- we at Black Agenda Report wrote that " There's not a dime's worth of difference " between the two. Every decent, peace-loving person on Earth should be glad to be rid of both of them. Humanity would probably not survive another year of either one.  "Barack Obama was the Black face of imperialism -- a change of color without a difference."  Donald Trump is also a danger to humanity, like every other U.S. chief executive since Truman nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If words mean anything, Trump starts off posing less of a doomsday international menace, since he claims to want to establish talking, rather than shouting, threatening, nuke-rattling relations with Russia and China, while Clinton's version of "reset" was an armed confrontation with Russia over the skies of Syria. Of course, all that could quickly change. Trump may be a "party of one" among Republicans in Congress and even in his own cabinet.  For those who fear Trump's "fascism," the threat level depends on how he uses the arsenal of repressive tools bequeathed to him by the Obama administration. These legal, infrastructural and technological instruments of the national security state are fascist in their intent; they were made for the purpose of tracking, disorganizing, neutralizing and locking up dissidents, and disinforming the public at large. Thus, President Obama and his predecessors were fascist- minded , whether you call their administrations operatively fascist or not. The Obama administration would not have pushed a bill through Congress allowing the U.S. military to detain American citizens without trial or charge if he had not anticipating using it. He would not have feverishly upgraded an omnipresent national and global surveillance apparatus if he did not anticipate putting it to the task of martial rule. Fascist-minded is all that can be said of Trump, at this point, as well.  Black Lives Matter activists have been under FBI surveillance since day one. Ever since Ferguson, the federal government has taken the lead in over-charging "rioters" in rebellious cities. New York City cops have used social media surveillance as the basis for conspiracy charges against groups of more than 100 young Black people in separate sweeps in Manhattan and The Bronx. The "fascism" that correctly described Jim Crow rule in the pre-Civil Rights South lives on at the core of the mass Black incarceration regime put in place with the crushing of the Black Liberation Movement, two generations ago. The current movement against police terror, which ultimately demands Black community control of the police, put activists in direct confrontation with the coercive arm of the State. There is no retreat from this response to the demands of Black people "on the street," who bear the daily brunt of repression and are also among the most effective organizers.  "Obama would not have feverishly upgraded an omnipresent national and global surveillance apparatus if he did not anticipate putting it to the task of martial rule."  The Black movement against police terror didn't need a Donald Trump waiting in the vestibule of the White House to get "mad." The movement has already crossed the Rubicon of confrontation with the State. The moment occurred in the second term of the First Black President, when a new generation learned that liberation cannot be vicariously experienced. The 21 st century Black movement emerged with the knowledge that Black corporate Democrats are not their allies, nor are Black police chiefs, or Black preachers whose real loyalties are to the Democratic Party and its Wall Street patrons.  If the Black movement were afraid of the likes of Donald Trump, it never would have gone up against the militarized police that occupy Black communities. You can't scare people with a specter if they have already been in combat with the real thing.  To the extent that electoral activity is useful to the movement, it should be employed with special vigilance close at hand, against misleaders like the 32 members of the Congressional Black Caucus who failed to support the Grayson Amendment that would have halted Pentagon transfers of weapons and equipment to local police departments. These " Treasonous 32 ", comprising 80 percent of full-voting Black Democrats in the House, cast their shameful votes in June, 2014, just two months before Michael Brown was shot down in Ferguson, Missouri. (Rep. William "Lacy" Clay, representing Michael Brown's district, was among the 32.) If the movement is to have any special targets for electoral vengeance, it is these homegrown enemies, who turn Black people's votes against themselves.  Trump or no Trump, the Black movement must continue to press and refine its demands -- or Power will concede nothing. On November 6, after their annual march on the White House, the organizations of the Black is Back Coalition ratified a 19-point document that puts self-determination at the heart of the broadest range of issues confronting Black America: "Every central demand, every strategy of struggle, must be formulated with the goal of self-determination in mind. Otherwise, the movement will allow itself to be drowned in reformist schemes and projects that bind Black people even more tightly to structures of outside control." The points range from "Black Community Control of Police," to "Halting Gentrification," to "Nationalization of the Banks."  The points were compiled during Barack Obama's time in the White House, and they will remain relevant under a President Donald Trump.  We've been mad. Let's get organized, and get free. BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted


Health professionals have been speculating for months that Hillary s odd behavior and inability to stand or walk without help is likely related to Parkinson s disease. That would explain the videos where Hillary is seen having what appears to be having a seizure. Since seizures are triggered by flashes, it makes sense that the Secret Service would take phones away from the audience. Having a full-blown seizure on the debate stage would probably be a mistake at this point in the campaign after Hillary s been likely hiding a serious, debilitating disease Watch here:And here:https://youtu.be/11-EAzsGxgQLast night the Secret Service took attendees phones before going into the debate.now we know why REPORTER: This is why it was banned apparently because the Secret Service did not trust people to disable the flashes on their cameras and they were afraid it would inspire Hillary s seizure disorder. A reported admitted on Monday that the Secret Service told reporters not to use a flash because of Hillary Clinton s seizure disorder.Secret Service told reporters at the #debate not to use flash so that it won't trigger Hillary's seizure disorder. https://t.co/30zh3Y5cAb REGATED (@regated) October 10, 2016


By Jack Burns Wikileaks is helping President Obama keep his 2008 campaign promise — to be the most transparent administration in U.S. history — whether he likes it or not. And, once again, we're learning more about the inner sanctum of the administration and its communication practices. As FBI Director James Comey announced Friday, a new investigation into Hillary Clinton's email scandal has been launched, just days before the presidential election. Comey's move drew fire instantly from the Democrats who claim Comey is attempting to sway the election in Donald Trump's favor. While many are focused on Comey's actions and renewed investigation, Wikileaks has uncovered what may prove to be a systemic problem of executive branch accountability not merely limited to the former secretary of state's emails. According to former State Department official Tom Nides, in a 2015 email to John Podesta (Clinton campaign manager), everyone in Obama's cabinet and every White House staffer uses their personal email for government business. Nides should know as he worked under Hillary Clinton in the State Department from 2011 to 2013, according to one source . While keeping email hidden from the public may seem like no big deal to folks who simply don't care, ALL correspondence which is related to governmental business is the property of the federal government and is supposed to be accessible by anyone wishing to inquire within the archive of records. The Federal Records Act defines a record as anything, "regardless of whether it exists in physical, digital, or electronic form, is a record as defined in subsection (a) shall be binding on all Federal agencies." This includes all communication of state agents (like the POTUS) who work in the executive branch of government, as well. But the Obama administration, according to Nides, has long since avoided the Federal Records Act by using private Gmail accounts. Nides wrote Podesta and said, "There is only one thing that needs to be done on this email thing. (Which I am sure nobody wants to do). Get a state dept career lawyer to go through all the emails and pull the official ones." That admission seems to be on the level with what is expected for compliance with the Federal Records Act. But it was Nides' next admission which is the talk of many major media outlets. Nides wrote, "Btw you know as well as I every god damn cabinet officer and WH staff uses their [sic] gmail account!" The former Department of State employee revealed what many already suspected. The Obama administration is anything but transparent. Just ask Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. His organization routinely sues the Obama administration in federal court using the Freedom of Information Act as warrant for inquiry, and says the administration stonewalls his efforts at every turn. Fitton's organization gave the Obama administration a failing grade on transparency and says his administration is even less transparent than when Bush was president. Fitton wrote in 2015 , "There are about 18 lawsuits, 10 of which are active in federal court, and about 160 Judicial Watch FOIA requests that could be affected by Mrs. Clinton and her staff's use of secret email accounts to conduct official government business. In our various FOIA lawsuits, our lawyers have informed attorneys for the Obama administration that Hillary Clinton's account and any other secret accounts used by State employees should be secured, recovered and searched." JW actively seeks out those files through official methods, using FOIA and the Federal Records Act, but has been met with delay after delay from FOIA requests to the Obama administration. While the Obama administration is on its way out, groups like Judicial Watch aren't going anywhere, and presumably have all the time in the world to FOIA their way into digging up those deleted Clinton emails, as well as securing Gmail accounts from the Obama administration cabinet and staffers. This story is definitely a long way from being over. It's no wonder why so many free thinkers are now questioning the story lines they're being told. With the president and all his men (and women), hiding their communications within their Gmail accounts, the truth is never going to be told, at least not the real truth. And by the time organizations like Judicial Watch are successful in obtaining the electronic communications records that rightly belong to the people, it will be way too late to hold anyone accountable for breaking both the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Julian Assange, we salute you. Thank you for forcing the Obama administration to be transparent. Keep up the valiant work! Delivered by The Daily Sheeple  We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).  Contributed by The Free Thought Project of thefreethoughtproject.com .  The Free Thought Project is dedicated to holding those who claim authority over our lives accountable.


Like many home cooks, I gave up on steak a while ago. First, meat started showing up on every list of foods to avoid, whether for reasons of health, ethics, economics or ecology. Then, the grill jockeys who blossom in American backyards in the springtime made steak seem impossible in an ordinary kitchen at a minimum, hot and cooking areas, a dry rub and a spray bottle were required. So I never slowed to ogle the steak case until I started cooking for a family. The meat aisle seemed to narrow daily. Chicken gets boring quickly pork is dry ground beef grows depressing veal is for the 1 percent. I started tinkering with steak on the stovetop. I had a skillet and a memory of my mother sprinkling coarse salt into the pan, rather than on the meat. I'd heard rumors of a new method, a departure from the received wisdom that said to put the steak in the pan and leave it alone. After some grisly catastrophes, trying out different cuts, seasonings and heat levels, I had a new system. It turns out that you truly don't need a grill to cook a great steak: savory, salty, encased in a barklike crust. You don't need to marinate or . You don't have to know your way around a chart — with its bewildering eyes, rounds, chucks and clods — to buy a good one. And at dinner time, laying a few slices of steak next to the whole grains, the roasted vegetables and the leafy greens that (usually) fill most of our plates is an excellent strategy. The preparations are simple. Buy from a butcher, or directly from a producer, whose meat comes from cattle raised in a way that you feel comfortable with. Choose boneless cuts that are thinner (at one inch thick, they cook through evenly on top of the stove) dry them well (to maximize crust) then sear them in an insanely hot pan. Salt the pan instead of the meat, and turn over the steak every 30 seconds or so after the first minute of cooking. If you don't have a skillet, now is the time: nothing that gets as hot is also nonstick, and nothing else that is nonstick gets as hot. When and how to salt a steak has been endlessly debated. The salt in the pan clearly helped the crust develop. But when I also presalted the meat, whether for 2 days or 10 minutes, the finished steak was too salty beef has plenty of sodium on its own. I cheerfully abandoned the extra step of presalting. As long as the cooking surface is hot enough, all that turning will yield a magnificent crust and a interior: juicy and pink throughout, without the usual gray ring under the crust. According to the food scientist Harold McGee, this is because the juices keep flowing instead of collecting in the middle, which makes the interior cook evenly. Keep in mind that this is stovetop steak, not steakhouse steak it will not have the visual punch of a porterhouse. Grilling bloggers (and there are many) spend days attempting to replicate legendary cuts like the Playboy at Jess Jim's in Kansas City, Mo. or the Longbone Cowboy at Nick Sam's in Dallas. But steakhouses have equipment and exhaust systems. The broilers at Peter Luger in Brooklyn heat up to a rumored 1, 800 degrees. Some steaks at Carnevino in Las Vegas are for eight months. At the chef Michael Mina's Bourbon Steak restaurants, the steaks lounge in a bath of clarified butter before touching the grill. That sounds pleasant, but all you really need is a heavy skillet and the right cut of meat. The experts on steak are not chefs but butchers — particularly butchers who were raised by butchers and grew up on a steady diet of meat. Pat LaFrieda, a meat purveyor in Manhattan, would rather you didn't buy his sirloin steak. "Sirloin is one of my cuts," he said it's usually lean, making it difficult for home cooks to get just right. "It comes from the love handles of the animal on down," one place where the fat collects under the skin, instead of working its way into the muscles. And intramuscular fat makes cooking steak at home far easier. "If it's good quality steak, and you don't cook it for more than five minutes per inch, you really can't mess it up," said Richard Schatz of Schatzie the Butcher on the Upper West Side (his bloody lineage goes back five generations). "Steak is nothing to be scared of. " Buy steaks that are one inch thick for stovetop cooking they have just the right ratio of surface to interior. "Having the entire surface of the steak pressed against the entire surface of a pan is pretty much ideal," said Bruce Aidells, author of "The Great Meat Cookbook. " That contact between the meat and the hot surface of the pan forms the crust you want much more effectively than if you cooked it in the broiler, where you can't flip the steak or press down on it to sear it. Steak from beef can be dry or gamy, but so can beef. The thing to look for is marbling, the veins of creamy fat that make steak mouthfilling and juicy. Steaks that have the United States Department of Agriculture's highest grade, Prime, have this marbling. Choice grade is hit or miss, but usually a hit: It can have excellent taste and texture. The next step down is Select and then Standard, an unappetizing category that is rarely labeled. There is a long list of cuts that do just fine on the stovetop. Boneless New York or Kansas City strip, flat iron, and boneless are and tender. Outliers with long muscle fibers — cuts like skirt, flank and hanger — are less expensive and more flavorful. They are naturally chewy but can be tender when cooked rare and sliced across the grain. Mr. LaFrieda's favorite cut for home cooking, and now mine, is the "outside" skirt, a cut that's thicker than the flat "inside" skirt. "I wouldn't want to call it 'livery,' " he said. "From me that's a compliment, but some people want their meat very mild. " For cuts, a wedge of lemon alongside the steak can do wonders. "It won't do a lot for filet mignon," the chef Michael Psilakis said. "But for anything well marbled, anything with some age on it, the acid in the lemon juice just brightens up the taste. " Around the Mediterranean, meat is rarely served without lemon. After you have bought your steaks, keep them refrigerated until 30 minutes to an hour before cooking. (When they hit the pan, they should be cool, not cold.) Pat them dry with paper towels, then set aside on more paper towels, turning occasionally. Do not worry about "losing" the juices a dry surface helps build that strong crust. Fifteen minutes before dinner, turn the heat on high under your skillet and sprinkle its surface with salt. Do not oil the pan. When you think it's hot, let it heat some more. If it's not smoking, it's not ready. When the heat and the suspense become unbearable, lay your steak in the pan and prepare to flip. As you flip, move it around in the pan so it absorbs the salt. If you like black pepper (I do) add it only when the steak is almost cooked. It burns easily. The total cooking time for a steak is four to five minutes. The most accurate way to test it is with an thermometer. Insert it into the side of the steak, not through the top. The temperature will rise significantly after cooking, so 120 to 125 degrees is the range for meat. For those who don't want to fiddle around with microtechnology when getting dinner on the table, fingers provide the best intel. The feel of a rare steak quickly becomes different from that of a one. And if all else fails, remember this: "You're not cooking in a restaurant," Mr. Schatz said. "You can always just cut the thing in half and see what's going on. " Recipe: Steak


The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was looking into whether more civilians were killed in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen on the weekend, in the first operation authorized by President Donald Trump as commander in chief. U.S. Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens was killed in the raid on a branch of al Qaeda, also known as AQAP, in al Bayda province, which the Pentagon said also killed 14 militants. However, medics at the scene said about 30 people, including 10 women and children, were killed. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that an investigating team had "concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely killed" during Sunday's raid. It said children may have been among the casualties. Central Command said its assessment "seeks to determine if there were any still-undetected civilian casualties in the ferocious firefight." DON'T MISS Trump tightens Iran sanctions, Tehran hits back Business Watch - Panic in Silicon Valley Reuters TV - Inside a Mexican migrant shelter U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations. As a result, three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists. The Pentagon directed queries about the officials' characterization of the raid to U.S. Central Command, which pointed only to its statement on Wednesday. "CENTCOM asks for operations we believe have a good chance for success and when we ask for authorization we certainly believe there is a chance of successful operations based on our planning," CENTCOM spokesman Colonel John Thomas said. "Any operation where you are going to put operators on the ground has inherent risks," he said. The U.S. officials said the extremists' base had been identified as a target before the Obama administration left office on Jan. 20, but then-President Barack Obama held off approving a raid ahead of his departure. A White House official said the operation was thoroughly vetted by the previous administration and that the previous defense secretary had signed off on it in January. The raid was delayed for operational reasons, the White House official said. The military officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said "a brutal firefight" killed Owens and at least 15 Yemeni women and children. One of the dead was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant killed by a 2011 U.S. drone strike. Some of the women were firing at the U.S. force, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters. The American elite forces did not seize any militants or take any prisoners offsite, but White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday the raid yielded benefits. "Knowing that we killed an estimated 14 AQAP members and that we gathered an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil – is something that I think most service members understand, that that's why they joined the service," Spicer said. A senior leader in Yemen's al Qaeda branch, Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, and other militants were killed in the gunbattle, al Qaeda said. One of the three U.S. officials said on-the-ground surveillance of the compound was "minimal, at best." "The decision was made ... to leave it to the incoming administration, partly in the hope that more and better intelligence could be collected," that official said. As Sunday's firefight intensified, the raiders called in Marine helicopter gunships and Harrier jump jets, and then two MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to extract the SEALs. One of the two suffered engine failure, two of the officials said, and hit the ground so hard that two crew members were injured, and one of the Marine jets had to launch a precision-guided bomb to destroy it. Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday in an unexpected visit to meet the family of Owens, who had been a chief special warfare operator.


Donald Trump, Jr. went before Congress today to give yet another version of his reasons for meeting with a Russian lawyer in June of 2016. While he did actually confirm what he said in the email string he was dumb enough to post to Twitter that he met with Natalia Veselnitskaya because she claimed to have dirt on Hillary he gave a ridiculous reason for it. His reason was that he was trying to determine Hillary s fitness for office, because that s a totally innocent reason that makes it all okay.So that makes it all innocent, especially because he also claimed that he was just so overwhelmed with the campaign due to inexperience, but he did still evidently have the presence of mind to know he should talk to legal counsel about the propriety of the meeting and info, or so his claim goes.Some, however, on the Senate Judiciary Committee don t believe him, it seems. Sen. Chris Coons, who sits on that committee, sent out a memo to interested parties about Don the Con Jr. and his testimony today, complete with the statute regarding giving false testimony to Congress. And there s no ambiguity about it the top of the memo says: Below is a statute to keep in mind in regards to Donald Trump Jr. s testimony today. It quotes the full statute, which states that it s illegal to lie to Congress, and then Coons says: It is important to remember that anyone who testifies in front of a Senate committee is under the restrictions of the False Statements statute that says material false statements to Congress are criminal and punishable with fines or imprisonment or both. Read Coons full memo below:? After Don Jr. testimony to Senate Judiciary Cmte, Sen. Chris Coons office sends out statute on giving false statements to Congress pic.twitter.com/OUdKXMBfqm Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) September 7, 2017The many contradictions in Don Jr. s reasons for meeting with Veselnitskaya clearly raise doubts that his testimony today was the truth. He first claimed, months ago, that he didn t meet with any Russians, and then later claimed that meant he didn t meet with any known Russian officials. Then he claimed that he did meet with a Russian attorney, but it was about adoptions. After that, he said he did meet with her, but it was because he was told she had dirt on Hillary. He said the meeting was a fruitless endeavor.Now he says it s because he wanted to determine her fitness for the presidency, which he seems to think makes it all okay. Coons is right to be skeptical. It would be one thing if the junior Trump s story had never changed, and contradicting information had never come out. But it s impossible to trust the testimony of someone who s changed their story as many times as he has.


By Whitney Webb UNICEF found air pollution to be a major contributing factor in the deaths of nearly 600,000 under the age of five. Most recent environmental concerns regarding pollution have been...


President-elect Donald Trump is throwing a private New Year s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago Club that is expected to draw hundreds of guests, including Sylvester Stallone.


Israeli players have been denied visas to participate in a speed chess championship hosted by Saudi Arabia this week, a vice president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) said on Sunday. Seven Israeli players had requested visas for the tournament on Dec. 26-30. It would have marked the first time Saudi Arabia had publicly hosted Israelis as the Gulf state does not recognize Israel and there are no formal ties between them. Israel Gelfer, vice president of FIDE, whose Secretariat is based in Athens, told Reuters in an email that visas for the Israeli players have not been issued and will not be issued . He said the tournament would go ahead as planned. It was not immediately clear if other delegations had been excluded but players from Qatar had suggested they may have been rejected. Saudi Arabia s Center for International Communication said in a statement that more than 180 players would participate but did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel Chess Federation Spokesman Lior Aizenberg said efforts were still being made by various parties to ensure the Israeli players took part. The event is not a world championship if they prevent chess players from several countries from taking part, Aizenberg told Reuters. Every chess player should have the right to participate in an event on the basis of professional criteria, regardless of their passports, their place of issue or the stamps they bear. Aizenberg said FIDE should ensure Israeli players could compete in international events and that the Israeli federation was considering all options, including legal action and holding an international competition in Israel for players excluded from the Saudi match. FIDE had said in November it was undertaking a huge effort to ensure all players were granted visas. (This version of the story was refiled to clarify that FIDE secretariat in Athens, but unclear where Gelfer speaking from)


Obamacare tax penalty? I'll take it, millions say "Has not been large enough to motivate people to sign up for insurance' Published: 20 mins ago  (New York Times) The architects of the Affordable Care Act thought they had a blunt instrument to force people — even young and healthy ones — to buy insurance through the law's online marketplaces: a tax penalty for those who remain uninsured.  It has not worked all that well, and that is at least partly to blame for soaring premiums next year on some of the health law's insurance exchanges.  The full weight of the penalty will not be felt until April, when those who have avoided buying insurance will face penalties of around $700 a person or more. But even then that might not be enough: For the young and healthy who are badly needed to make the exchanges work, it is sometimes cheaper to pay the Internal Revenue Service than an insurance company charging large premiums, with huge deductibles.


The European Union wants Britain to end uncertainties over the terms of its exit from the bloc, the EU s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Thursday. Barnier told the Italian parliament he was looking forward in a constructive spirit to a speech by British Prime Minister Theresa May in Florence on Friday, when she is expected to flesh out her vision of Britain s future relationship with the EU. We expect clear commitments from Britain, said Barnier, adding that an agreement between the two sides needed to be found by November next year in order to allow time for it to be ratified by parliaments.


When I woke up on Thursday morning, the world was different (again). While I slept, nine people were murdered attending Wednesday night Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lee Lance, Rev. Daniel L. Simmons, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, and Susie Jackson lost their lives during a midweek service in which they welcomed a newcomer, Dylann Storm Roof, who would later turn a gun on them, careful to leave a living witness to recount the details of what happened. It does not escape me that it was witnessing — a term used to refer to an act of Christian discipleship where one shares their faith with nonbelievers — that likely resulted in Roof's invitation to join the weekly gathering, and it was the need for an (eye)witness that led him to intentionally spare the life of one of the victims. The racist and terrorist act was premeditated and deemed a hate crime, even though some media pundits insisted that it was motivated by antagonism towards Christianity, not black people. I believe it was both. The shooting was not only an assault on black humanity, it was an attack on black faith, which is one of the few things black folk have left in the face of so much loss, despair and ongoing oppression. For generations, black folk have turned to their religious faith and to the church for comfort during times of social injustice (as evidenced in the rich and storied history of Emanuel Church). Now, one of the few safe spaces that black folk can seek out for refuge has been turned into a crime scene. Roof's targeting of a place of worship is an attempt to compromise the safety and sanctity of the black church. Before Wednesday night, the black church seemed to be one of the few places left where black folk could assemble in public and feel seen, recognized, heard, loved and welcome. (We know from the not-so-distant past that those spaces are not the private communities in which we live, not store parking lots, not Walmart stores, not public parks, not street corners, not swimming pools, not even our homes.) And, truth be told, while traditional black churches are safe spaces from white supremacy, they have long been unsafe spaces for folk who are gender non-conforming, same-gender loving, or women. It is important, as we hold up the black church as a whole after this tragedy, that we also hold it up to scrutiny, so that as we do the work of making church spaces safe again, we make sure that they are safe for all of us, all of the time. I believe this moment is an opportunity for the black church to re-establish itself through the proven resiliency of black faith, and become a safe and welcome space for all believers. This is a moment to understand that in order to fight and resist white supremacy we must also dismantle and fight its co-conspirators: homophobia, transphobia, and sexism. Many times churchfolk and skinfolk are afraid of the wrong things. It is white supremacy, not nonheterosexuality, that threatens the lives and legacies of black folk in this country. It is white supremacy, not premarital sex or babies born out of wedlock, that jeopardizes our survival. It was white supremacy, not insanity, that caused Dylann Roof to walk into a black church intending to walk out with blood on his hands. We need healing that is corporate, collective, consistent and accountable. The victims of the shooting should not have to be martyrs, hashtags, or statistics to show, once again, that our country continues to fail at holding white supremacy accountable for the death it perpetuates. This is a moment of love but also of accountability. We can hold well-meaning white allies accountable for being speechless while we are being senselessly murdered, and being sensitive and offended when we express our outrage. We can hold our policymakers accountable, insisting that the Confederate flag, a symbol of anti-black hate, be removed from government spaces (to make them safe for people of color). We can hold our churches and places of worship accountable, requiring inclusivity over conservatism, and demonstrating agape love out in the open. We can hold ourselves and our loved ones accountable, in all the ways we need and all the ways we know, because, as Audre Lorde taught us, our silence will not protect us. We are living in a moment where being black is equally commodified and criminalized, where black people are fighting for dignity, security, humanity and the very right to blackness. This moment is a reminder that in a so-called post racially progressive world, being black remains simultaneously the most marketable, profitable, co-optable and dangerous identity marker one can hold. To be black is to be vulnerable no matter where you are and no matter where you go. To be black is to carry a marker on your skin that racists will use to identify you and in some cases kill you. Despite claims of colorblindness, or so-called transracialism, the black victims in church on Wednesday night could not claim whiteness to save themselves. It was, in fact, the pervasive lie of whiteness that cost them their life. If ever there was a place where black folk believe themselves to be free, it is within the walls of the church. There we dance, cry, pray, praise, shout, sing and testify. The doors are always open. Despite the personal challenges I have with the church, it has remained a beacon of hope, a place of healing and possibility, a refuge in times of trouble, and a safe space for lost souls and people in need, regardless of race. As a non-church-attending black woman who identifies as a Christian, I refuse to relinquish my faith to this tragedy. I refuse to allow Roof's hate to be the end of the story. I refuse to concede that we cannot, as a people, carve out spaces for each other and make room for one another (including difference) within and without the four walls of the church. This is for white girls who pretend to be black girls when white supremacy isn't enough. This is for black Christians who believe respectability will save our lives in the face of perpetual anti-black hetero-patriachal white supremacy, when evidence to the contrary is consistently given. This is for those of us seeking hope and holding on to faith but lacking patience. This is not enough, but it is a beginning.