Ayn Rands novel Atlas Shrugged depicts a world where freedom and free markets are crushed by not-so-well-meaning politicians and bureaucrats.

The story is a blueprint for the creation of a command economy where prices, wages, and production are dictated by bureaucratic apparatchiks. Like all regimes seeking autocratic power, the outcome, as she chillingly reveals, is cronyism, corruption, economic depression, and the rise of dictatorship.

The lesson of the book is that prosperity is driven by entrepreneurs and capital. And, you need freedom and free markets to achieve it. This system is called free market capitalism. Rands plot twist: what would happen if all the entrepreneurs, the drivers of a dynamic economy, went on strike. She takes the ideals of socialism, where business is dictated by government mandate for the benefit of workers and the people, to its logical, destructive end. The strike accelerates the collapse of society and the strikers re-emerge to rebuild society. It was a story that Rand knew well, being a Russian emigre fleeing Bolshevik terror.

Unfortunately, the book has become disturbingly prophetic.

One of the scenes in Rands book is the story of Twentieth Century Motors, a leading automobile manufacturer until the company was reorganized to be under control of the workers and operated for their benefit. Among other things, worker pay was not based on individual productivity but on fairness to accommodate workers needs. That noble idea drove the company into bankruptcy and failure. While this is fiction, history is awash with real world examples of this.

Enter Senator Elizabeth Warren and her proposed Accountable Capitalism Act . It is straight out of Atlas Shrugged. She proposes to regulate corporations with gross revenues of $1 billion or more, requiring them to obtain a federal corporate charter as a United States corporation. They would be regulated by a bureaucracy under the Office of United States Corporations. These corporations must be operated to create a general public benefit and must consider how its profit making activities affect not only their shareholders, but their employees, suppliers, community and societal factors, and the local and global environment. At least 40% of its board of directors must be elected by its workers. If they wish to support a political candidate, they must have approval of 75% of the board.

This is a proposed takeover of corporations by the government. Its a power grab. It is the socialist path to hell. I say this based on the tenets, economics, and history of socialism.

You can imagine what the outcome would be. Vast new regulations would be drafted by the Office of United States Corporations defining in great detail what is the public benefit. The Offices Director would be a czar with immense power over these corporations. Bureaucratic departments would be created to monitor corporate activity; an office of the Assistant Director for Public Benefit would inquire into and prohibit activities it deemed detrimental to society. These corporations would have to file annual compliance reports demonstrating their conformity to the regulations. A quasi-judicial hearing board would hear appeals from rulings by the Office. Lawyers specializing in the minutiae of Office canon would proliferate. Profit, the signal to companies that they are doing something right, would become less and less important as the public benefit would become the overriding concern. Unions, true to their nature, would demand more pay for their workers not based on worker productivity.

Senator Warrens justifications for this law are based on economic fables that only Democratic Socialists and Progressives could naively and uncritically believe. She crafts a rationale that isnt based on the historical record or current empirical data. But it does square with Progressive mythology.

Senator Warren has a fantasy of a corporate Golden Age where businesses were run not just for profit (a word always used in the pejorative by Progressives) but for the benefit of their workers and their communities and where income was distributed more fairly and not to just to line the pockets of their greedy executives and shareholders. That utopia never existed. Companies then and now operate to make a profit. The effect of profit then and now is that workers have good paying jobs and companies successes, payrolls, and taxes benefit their communities. We all benefit, just not in the ways Senator Warren wants.

There is another arc to the Atlas Shrugged plot that is about the cronyism and corruption surrounding the regime. In order to prop up failed economic policies, more and harsher regulations are imposed on businesses making it almost impossible to operate. The country sinks into economic depression. But, some regime-favored companies thrive because they bribed bureaucrats to get exemptions from regulations. Smoke-filled back-room deals are made to keep the regime and its cronies in power. Its a who-ya-know kind of business. Rand describes the types of people on both sides of these transactions, people who could not normally succeed in life without the corrupt power to give and receive special favors.

The Trump Administration has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and also on certain goods imported from China . In both cases, the Administration announced a process whereby importers of these goods can obtain exemptions from these tariffs. And, anyone can file an objection to an application for an exemption.

The procedures for exemptions basically revolve around the issue of whether or not the same goods can be acquired from U.S. manufacturers, regardless of the cost. So, if your businesss financial structure is based on cheaper imported products, you must buy the more expensive American-made product even if you cant afford it .

When the steel and aluminum tariffs were implemented, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative which handles these exemption requests received 20,000 applications. So far they have granted only 42 exemptionsrequested by seven companies. American companies making more expensive products have vigorously opposed exemption requests to keep out cheaper foreign competition. For example, Bekaert, a manufacturer of steel wire, applied for an exemption. According to the New York Times ,

Nucor, an American steel company that has supported the tariffs, argued against Bekaerts request for an exclusion for wire rod that it uses to produce cord that goes in tires. Nucor said Bekaert had access to enough of the rod without requiring an exclusion.

There was no consideration of what the cost to Bekaert would be, but obviously Nucors wire rod will be more expensive. What that means is that American tire manufacturers will have to pay more for wire cord thus increasing the cost of tires which in turn will be passed on to consumers. This will result in consumers having less money to spend on other things. Or, American tire manufacturers might lose business to cheaper imported tires resulting in layoffs. Or, Bekaert eats the tariffs, becoming less profitable resulting in layoffs. We all lose. Except Nucor, of course. There are 320 million of us and 25,000 of them. So much for fairness. It should be noted that John Ferriola, the president of Nucor , was sitting on President Trumps right when the steel tariffs were announced. Perhaps he should have told the president about his plant in Mexico.

It seems that the Trump Administration has spawned the Wesley Mouches and Orren Boyles of Rands fabled novel. Whether its pull or pleading, the guys with the most clout with the Administration will win favors. And that is wrong.

The story Rand tells in Atlas Shrugged is not just fiction, it is played out every day in countries flirting withsocialism and it is being played out here. American history has always been a delicate balance between the simplistic appeal of socialist utopia and the individualism of free market capitalism. We came to a tipping point with Franklin Roosevelts New Deal, but pulled back from that brink, thanks mainly to Constitutional protections of private property. We seem to be testing that balance again. One would think we would learn from history and economics, but we dont.

Atlas Mugged Elizabeth Warrens Plan to Nationalize Corporations


While Democrats face an uphill climb defending seats held by a handful of incumbent senators in states Donald Trump won overwhelmingly, they are hoping to flip the script in Tennessee.

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen appears to be waging a strong campaign against Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Bob Corker. In a sign of how competitive the contest has become, President Trump traveled to Nashville on Tuesday to host a fundraiser for the congresswoman and rally supporters who Republicans hope will turn out down the ballot in November.

"We need Marsha in the Senate to continue the amazing progress and work we've done in the last year and a half," Trump told the crowd. "Marsha's very liberal Democrat opponent, Phil Bredesen -- who is he? He is an absolute and total tool of Chuck Schumer, and of course, the MS-13 lover Nancy Pelosi."

Republicans are keeping Democrats on their toes in North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, Montana and Missouri, all of which the president carried by high double digits in 2016 and where he remains popular. The Senate landscape thus provides ample pickup opportunities for a GOP aiming to expand its slim majority in the upper chamber, in stark contrast to a House map that puts many blue state Republican incumbents in peril. Democrats see opportunities to neutralize any Senate losses by picking off Republican seats in presidential battlegrounds like Arizona and Nevada.

But flipping Tennessee, a state Trump won by 26 points, could be more consequential to their fortunes. And it presents Democrats with the rare opportunity in a Senate race to run as the Washington outsider.

A few polls so far show a close race, with Bredesen leading Blackburn in the RealClearPolitics average by five percentage points. A Vanderbilt University poll earlier this month found that 67 percent of respondents approved of Bredesen while 49 percent approved of Blackburn. Bredesen leads his opponent in approval among independents, 69 percent to 44 percent. And he demonstrated some crossover appeal, receiving a 52 percent favorability rating among Republicans while Blackburn received just 23 percent favorability from Democrats.

Her challenge is clearly going to be making sure our base sticks together, says Josh Thomas, a Memphis-based Republican strategist. It will be all hands on deck.

Strategists in the state say Trump will be effective in that regard. At the Nashville rally, Blackburn stressed that "Tennessee needs a senator who is going to support President Donald Trump."

Trump is huge asset in Tennessee, says Thomas, noting that the president won all but three of the states 95 counties. Voters there not only like him but they embrace his policies. To the extent that the midterms tend to be reflective of the incumbent president, thats great news for Republicans in Tennessee.

Blackburn has been running as a Trump ally from the start. In launching her campaign last October, the eight-term lawmaker highlighted her tendency to be politically incorrect, said Republicans in the Senate act like Democrats, or worse, and pledged to fight alongside Trump every step of the way to build that wall."

Blackburn has carved out an outsized profile on Capitol Hill and beyond as a regular pundit on cable news programs. And she has outraised Bredesen, who loaned his campaign $1 million of his own money.  (Bredesen is a former health care executive.) Blackburn has raised $5 million compared to her opponents $3.7 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

And while Bredesen has a proven ability to win statewide, his re-election as governor in 2006 was the last time a Democrat has done so. Tennessee's conservative shift was crystalized after hometown Democratic Sen. Al Gore lost the presidential contest there in 2000, and it has been trending even redder since Bredesen left office. When Trump won the state in 2016, he outperformed Mitt Romney by six points and John McCain by 11. Of the 11 members of the congressional delegation from Tennessee, only two are Democrats. And while Corker won narrowly in his first election to the Senate in 2006, a banner year for Democrats, he was easily re-elected in 2012.

"The question is, are there enough Democratic votes left to win a statewide race and is there a political center left in Tennessee?" says Kent Syler, who managed former Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon's campaigns and served as his chief of staff for over two decades.

Bredesen's path to victory entails high Democratic turnout while winning independents and picking off moderate Republican voters, Syler says. "Hes not attacking Donald Trump, because he understands hes got all the anti-Trump vote, and he is going to have to get some pro-Trump vote while trying to avoid being linked to the [Democratic] national brand."

Such a strategy is on display in his ads. In his first television spot, Bredesen touted his bipartisan approach as governor. "Right now, we need a dose of that in the Senate  less partisan squabbling, more solutions," he says. "I'm not running against Donald Trump," he says in another spot. "Theres a lot of things I dont personally like about Donald Trump, but hes the president of the United States, and if he has an idea and is pushing some things that I think are good for the people of Tennessee, Im going to be for it."

Republicans are tying Bredesen to the national Democratic Party while undercutting his record as governor. In an opposition research file on him circulated ahead Trump's visit to Nashville, Republicans highlighted an increased state unemployment rate when the Democrat left office, his support for some gun control measures, and for issuing driver licenses to undocumented immigrants.

While Republicans in the state have mostly coalesced around Blackburn, Bredesen's credentials have been boosted by an unlikely source: Corker himself. "He was a very good [Nashville] mayor, a very good governor, a very good business person," Corker told reporters last month. "And look, I'm not going to campaign against someone who I've been a friend with and worked with, so that's the way it's going to be." Later, in an interview with CNN, Corker refused to say Blackburn's name: I'm supporting the [GOP] nominee. I have worked with the nominee for some time. And I don't know what else to say."

The remarks irked national and state Republicans, prompting Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to admonish Corker, according to the Washington Post. (At Tuesdays rally, Corker was booed when the president mentioned him.) After the comments, Trump quickly endorsed Blackburn. Corker has said he donated to her campaign and would support her. Still, his comments appeared to fuel Blackburn supporters in the state, and raised questions about Corker's currency among Republican base voters.

Corkers comments represent the kind of sentiment Bredesen will need to garner from moderate Republicans and independents in the state. "Thats what this race is likely to turn on: whether Tennesseans want a moderate or a partisan," says Ken Blake, director of the poll at Middle Tennessee State University. "The question is, how are the moderate Republicans going to go?" A MTSU survey in early April found Bredesen leading Blackburn, 45 percent to 35 percent. But 17 percent of respondents said they weren't sure who they would vote for in November.

Trump Visit Spotlights Competitive Tennessee Senate Race


SANTA FE, N.M.  U.S. Senate candidate Gary Johnson of New Mexico has disclosed personal financial interests in the cannabis sector that include stock holdings, a profit sharing agreement and recent capital gains on investment sales, according to filings reviewed by The Associated Press.

Johnson in Senate filings this week said that he owns stock worth more than $250,000 in the Nevada cannabis company Kush and has a profit sharing agreement as the adviser to the cannabis-sector investment fund CB1 Capital.

The former New Mexico governor and two-time Libertarian candidate for president also reported capital gains of at least $100,000 from stock in the company Cannabis Sativa, where he previously served as CEO.

A longtime advocate for legalizing marijuana, Johnson announced in August his run for Senate on the Libertarian ticket against incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich, who recently embraced the decriminalization of marijuana at the federal level. The Republican contender, construction contractor Mick Rich, opposes legalization.

Johnson said Friday he sees no conflict of interest between his political advocacy for legalizing marijuana and personal investments in the sector because his political message has not changed in nearly two decades.

This was a career ending move on my part in 1999, said Johnson of his initial support as governor for legalization when the stance was unpopular. The last thing that I ever dreamed of happening is that somehow I would make money off this.

New Mexico regulates the production and distribution of medical marijuana for a long list of maladies, but has not legalized recreational use. Federal law still considers marijuana an illegal substance.

Johnsons financial ties to the cannabis industry were outlined in a personal financial disclosure statement required of candidates for Senate.

Johnson also received an advance payment last year on a book deal from Florida-based Creative Management Partners. He has investments and some debt obligations tied to hotels in Tempe, Arizona; Napa, California; Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Johnson served as CEO of Cannabis Sativa  a holding company for marijuana and hemp ventures  in between campaigns for president in 2012 and 2016.

Kush, a former subsidiary of Cannabis Sativa, is planning an initial public stock offering sometime this fall, Johnson said.

Johnson said he and his daughter are investors in the cannabis-specific hedge fund CB1 Capital, whose chief investment officer, Todd Harrison, is a frequent guest commentator on television finance shows.

The cannabis business and politics are colliding as never before as more states move toward legalization.

Former politicians who have taken on roles in the cannabis business include former Republican U.S. House Speaker John Boehner. He and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld  Johnsons 2016 vice presidential running mate  joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a multistate cannabis company, earlier this year.

The current CEO of Cannabis Sativa is former Democratic U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska.

His contacts as a prior U.S. senator is important to the company, Cannabis Sativa said of Gravel in an annual report to investors.

Johnson originally made his fortune with a construction company he founded while still a student at the University of New Mexico.

The firm grew and became a major contractor for Intels computer-chip factory in Albuquerque.

Johnson, now 65, has begun drawing a state pension. He has advocated for raising the Social Security retirement age to 72 as a matter of fiscal responsibility for the federal government.

Libertarian Senate candidate discloses cannabis investments


After concerns arose surrounding the growing tensions between the United States and Russia regarding the possibility of an American-led military strike in Syria, many expected and feared retaliation from the Kremlin when the attack was carried out Friday night. Fortunately, however, Putins claims that he would shoot down any missiles headed towards Syria were ultimately unfounded, as the Pentagon announced the next morning that the operation to destroy three of Bashar Al-Assads weapons facilities was successful.

In the aftermath of the joint operation that was carried out by the United States, France, and Great Britain, attention started focusing on the bigger picture at hand, and what the Trump administrations policy toward Syria would become following the strike. Roughly a week before the attack, Trump had stated his intentions to bring home all remaining U.S. troops still stationed in Syria, and cease all military engagement in the country. However, new reports now claim that French President Emmanuel Macron has persuaded Trump to keep troops in Syria for the long-haul, convincing him that the U.S. military presence is necessary to ensure solution to the Syria problem.

President Trump has yet to respond directly to the claims made by Macron that U.S. troops would remain in Syria until the end of the conflict, stirring further confusion as to the administrations policy toward Syria moving forward, and whether or not they even have a clear strategy.

The joint military strike that took place on Friday was an attempt to send a clear message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after reports emerged that he had again conducted a chemical weapons attack against his own people in the town of Douma. This was not the first time Assad had used chemical weapons, as numerous accounts of such heinous attacks have been noted since the start of the Syrian conflict.

Although only time will tell whether Assads chemical weapons were fully destroyed, dependent on Syrias capacity to carry out the attacks in the future, it is nevertheless a clear message that the international community will no longer tolerate these apparent crimes against humanity to be carried out without confrontation.

French President Releases TrumpSyria Statement That Has Americans Scratching Their Heads


While millions of Americans were spending their weekends honoring the sacrifices of military veterans, some Hollywood celebrities decided that the most important thing to was attack President Donald Trump.

On the day we honor our veterans American patriots are sickened by a President who narcissistically turns his back on the fallen and warmly embraces an Autocrat who attacks Democracy. Our long national nightmare continues, director Rob Reiner declared.

Bette Midler responded to President Trump saying that he would not forgive former President Obama for not funding the military enough by simply calling Trump a fucking asshole.

Some celebs criticized President Trump for deciding not to visit a military cemetery due to rain.

Trump you fucking pussy. Too entitled to serve our country when called, too afraid of your stupid hair getting wet to honor those braver than you. You FUCK. (Dont @ me w/ he couldnt fly- it was a 90 minute drive). Sarah Silverman declared.

Hollywood Uses Veterans Day to Attack Trump


Kelsey Grammar has addressed rumours that Frasier will be given the reboot treatment.

The actor, who spearheaded the Cheers spinoff as Dr Frasier Crane from 1993 to 2004, appeared at the 2018 Television Critics Association (TCA) telling reporters: It's in the early stages.

Rumours surrounding a potential reboot of the hit sitcom has circulated for some time now, peaking with last week's Deadline report, however, Grammar has now stated he'd only return should the material warrant it.

[They] just have to make sure it's going to be a great show, he said, adding: If we dont hear a pitch that really hits it out of the park, it probably wont happen."

At its height, the series attracted 25 million viewers in the USA and has grown a huge following across the world thanks to re-runs. Created by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, the comedy was widely celebrated over its eleven seasons during its run winning 37 Emmys. The sitcom ended with the titular character leaving Seattle for Chicago.

In an interview with The Guardian, he confirmed he was deliberating "what relationship could anchor the show following the death of his on-screen father, John Mahoney.

Crane first appeared in beloved Boston-set sitcom Cheers which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1993. Grammar acknowledged that a reboot of that series had also crossed people's minds.

Grammar - who currently stars in TV show Proven Innocent - also shared some words on the lessons he's learned throughout his life, stating: Slow down. Dont worry about it so much. Trust in God. Those are some of the chief ones.

The actor, whose sister was murdered in 1975 at the age of 18, said: I lost my faith when my sister died, and went through a bit of a difficult time after that. But always in the back of my mind, an old buddy of mine used to say, I fell to my knees, and I cried out to the God of my childhood, and there was answer.

Grammar's big-screen credits include Hollywood sequels such as X-Men: The Last Stand, The Expendables 3 and Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Kelsey Grammar confirms Frasier reboot is in aposearly stagesapos


A key part of Madonnas wide-ranging career has been her eye-catching, conversation-sparking music videos, which have been as impactful and memorable as the hit songs themselves. A master of reinvention, these videos serve as a reminder of her famous array of looks, always referencing the latest trends while staying true to central themes of sex, religion and female empowerment.

The first example of the kind of strong imagery Madonna could present in her videos came with Like A Virgin. The clip cuts between her dancing on a Venetian gondola in her original punk-style look  already being copied at that point by young girls across America  and a more demure scene where she dons a full wedding dress (albeit a more demure choice than the one she would sport on the album cover). Her ambition is on full display. As the camera cuts between her eyes and those of a lion, its hard to tell who looks hungrier.

Best bit: 2.26  A handful of tourists watching her pass under the bridge unwittingly earn a cameo in one of pops most famous music videos.

Madonna began a recurring theme of Marilyn Monroe tributes with this full-blown homage to her performance of Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. At the dawn of the 1980s, Madonnas career was born alongside the arrival of MTV, and this marked the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship which set the bar for her contemporaries. She delivered the goods, and MTV broadcast it on heavy rotation around the world. It was on the set of this video that Madonna met Sean Penn, whom she married later that year.

Best bit: 3.55  When she throws herself backwards onto the army of adoring, suited backing dancers.

Tackling the subject of an unplanned pregnancy, this video was heavy on storyline, and set Madonna out as an artist who could do serious as well as sexy and fun. It is a testament to her stardom at this point that the video brought much excitement simply because she had dyed her hair blonde. The look she cultivated here paid equal tribute to her Italian roots, and the girl groups of the 1950s. She showed her marketing savvy by threading it through the entire True Blue album campaign.

Best bit: 1.07  When she catches sight of her love interest while wearing the Italians Do It Better t-shirt.

Most people remember this controversial video for Madonnas steamy kiss with a black Jesus  but he was in fact supposed to be Martin de Porres, the patron saint of mixed-race people. This was fitting as race was a major theme explored in the video alongside sex and religion, all climaxing in a blistering scene where she dances in a field of burning crosses. The video angered the Vatican, and more importantly Pepsi, who immediately pulled a major $5 million ad campaign with Madonna which was to feature the song. Her response? I do what I want.

Best Bit: 2.15  Surely the first and last appearance of stigmata in a pop video?

At the time of release, this was the most expensive music video ever made, with its $5 million budget being spent on an extensive homage to the influential 1927 silent film Metropolis. In another theme she has explored widely through her career, Madonna presents herself simultaneously as feminine and masculine, appearing as a sex symbol to factory workers before donning a mans suit and appearing to exert power over them. Her then-boyfriend Warren Beatty turned down the offer to play her love interest in the video.

Best bit: 1.58  A brilliant solo dance routine with just a hint of Michael Jackson.

Arguably her most iconic moment, Madonna took the Vogue dance that emerged in the African-American LGBT community in 1980s New York, packaged it up, and made it a worldwide phenomenon in the summer of 1990. From the famous dance routine to the appearance of that cone bra, it is laden with memorable moments. Shot in black and white by acclaimed Fight Club director David Fincher, it pays homage to the classic era of Hollywood but in turn its own imagery is now firmly embedded in pop culture history.

Best Bit: 0.34  That very first Strike a pose will never get old.

If Marilyn Monroe had ever starred in some French noir porn, it might have looked something like this. Madonna sparked perhaps her biggest controversy with this steamy video in which she visits a hotel corridor filled with half-naked women, cross-dressers, BDSM participants and a gimp, before quite naturally getting stuck in for a bit of fun herself. Outright banned by her friends at MTV, Madonna responded by releasing it on VHS as the first ever video single, turning it into a major commercial success. Still NSFW to this day.

Best bit: 4.43  She runs off down the hallway, giggling at what shes just been up to  but its almost anticipating the scandal of the video itself too.

One of her most beautifully shot videos, Madonna appears as the neglected lover of a matador, with traditional themes of religion and female sexuality being explored. Cinematic bullfighting scenes and stunning close-ups complement the orchestrated track by Babyface. At this time, Madonna was lobbying for the title role in Evita and wanted a Spanish themed, period style video that would portray her in the correct fashion. She sent a copy of the video to director Alan Parker as part of her campaign to win the role  and it worked.

Best bit: 1.55  When the door to the arena opens up revealing Madonna on one side and the gathered crowd on the other.

A major comeback moment for Madonna, Ray of Light presented the new mum with a Mother Earth look, as she approached her 40th birthday. The album presented a mature style, with a contemporary 90s sound that reaffirmed her relevance, and the video once again got her on heavy TV rotation. Shot in Los Angeles, New York, London, Las Vegas and Stockholm by Swedish director Jonas Akerlund, it was a major technical feat. The time lapse effect was the result of weeks of meticulous filming, taking half an hour to get just five seconds of footage.

Best bit: 3.16  When the breakdown ends and she throws her head at the camera: And I feel!

Arguably the last Madonna video that had everyone talking, this enjoyed its own prime-time premiere slot on Channel 4. Serving up a glorious mixture of Saturday Night Fever imagery with contemporary street dancing and freerunning, the video was as instantly attention-grabbing as the ABBA sample that pulsed through the song. Filmed just two months after she broke three ribs and a collarbone in a horse riding accident, theres no sign of the pain as she demonstrates her famous flexibility. And who could forget that pink leotard?

Best Bit: 1.50  Her entire solo routine in the ballet studio is brilliant but this impressive high kick is a highlight.

To enjoy more Madonna tracks, listen to our Spotify playlist of her 60 greatest songs.

Madonna at 60 The ten best music videos from the Queen of Pop


Here's our ad man Simon English on the story:

DON Draper is not dead  just  limiting himself to one Martini at lunchtime, says M&C Saatchi chief executive David Kershaw, who adds the Mad Men are having to reinvent themselves to stay alive.

Kershaws famed ad agency made profits for the year of nearly 17 million, a jump of 26%. Kershaw was keen to contrast that with large groups trying to reconfigure themselves  a clear reference to giant rival WPP, where the changing face of marketing and the fallout with Sir Martin Sorrell are hitting returns.

He said M&C isnt lost trying to deal with hundreds of firms we have bought. An organic model with very hungry entrepreneurs is better than people who are just waiting for an earn-out, he said. In the UK, profits are up 10%. The dividend is raised 15% to 2.45p.

Kershaw says M&C will continue to start new businesses.

He said the face of advertising has changed radically. Clients want a much more integrated communications programme, he said.

That pitch you used to do where youd say Here is your 60-second TV commercial, goodnight is over. Digital blurs everything.

Small-cap spotlight Tasty shares tank as it looks to close restaurants


On Monday evening, Project Veritas released an undercover video of endangered Missouri Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill admitting to being deceptive about her stance on firearms and immigration policies.

McCaskill is a red-state Democrat Senator so she has to appear pro 2nd Amendment to her constituents because Missourians love their guns.

Senator McCaskills staffers admitted she is pro-DACA, pro-DREAMERS and against the border wall even though she runs ads to the contrary claiming she is strong on border security.

 The Project Veritas Video has been viewed over 267,000 times so far!

On Tuesday morning Claire McCaskill responded to the stunning revelations.

McCaskill went on Ozarks First to try to dig herself out of this deep hole.

Claire lied some more, blamed Josh Hawley for the undercover video.

Senator McCaskill: Ive been very up front about all my positions. I remember this person was trying to get me to say something different than what my positions are... It is startling that Josh Hawley would be part of fraudulently embedding something in my campaign.

WOW Claire McCaskill Speaks Out After Project Veritas Reveals Shes a Complete Fraud Lies and Bla


Eden Hazard says he would be happy to finish his career at Chelsea.

The 27-year-old Belgium playmaker has spoken of his daily quandary over his future, whether to extend his Chelsea contract which expires in June 2020, or seek a "dream" move to Real Madrid.

And his sparkling form helping Belgium finish third at the World Cup and in starting the Premier League season with seven goals in eight starts and two substitute appearances has highlighted the issue of his future.

"I can finish with Chelsea," Hazard told Sky Sports ahead of the weekend meeting with Manchester United. "No problem at all. I am very happy with this club, with the team, my family is happy here.

"So If I don't go to Spain, it is not a problem. I love the fans - I think the fans love me.

"What happens in the future, I will be happy, so that's it."

Hazard joined Chelsea from Lille in June 2012 and signed his current contract in February 2015.

He has appeared to rule out a January switch to Madrid in one of many public pronouncements on the situation in the October international break, comments which were perhaps designed to gauge whether Real's reported interest is genuine.

If no contract extension is agreed by the end of this season, Chelsea could risk Hazard leaving on a free transfer the following summer so could look to cash in on him.

Follow the Independent Sport on Instagram here, for all of the best images, videos and stories from around the sporting world.

Chelsea transfer news Eden Hazard would be happy to miss out on Real Madrid move


The economy is the second most important issue for registered voters as the midterm election nears, a new Gallup Poll says.

And there was very good economic news on Friday, as the Labor Departments Bureau of Labor Statistics rolled out the October employment report  the final one before next weeks midterm election.

The number of employed Americans has never been higher. The 156,562,000 Americans employed in October is the twefth record set under President Donald Trump.

The unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent, the same as last month and the lowest its been in decades  since the end of 1969. And the Hispanic unemployment rate, 4.4 percent,  has never been lower.

The unemployment rate for African-Americans, 6.2 percent, remained near the all-time low of 5.9 percent set in May.

156562000 Record Employment for 12th Time Under Trump


KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 11. /TASS/. Renowned Serbian director and
musician Emir Kusturica has dedicated a song to Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu as a person who initiated the International Army Games. He
performed it at the closing ceremony of the competitions, a TASS correspondent
reported.

"I saw people shooting many times in my life and saw people being killed.
Thanks to my friend Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, an Olympiad appeared where
people shoot and no one is killed. The song called Comandante is dedicated to
my friend Sergei Shoigu," Kusturica said in Russian. After that, he performed
the composition accompanied by his band The No Smoking Orchestra.

The official closing ceremony of the Games began in Patriot Park outside
Moscow. The competitions kicked off on July 28. A total of 189 teams from 32
countries, including Serbian military servicemen, took part in 28 events.

In other media

Prominent Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica dedicates song to Sergei Shoigu


Feminist protesters have begun vandalising the new open-air street urinals in Paris, labelling them sexist and discriminatory.

Several of the eco-friendly urinals have been placed in public spots in recent months as an experiment to counter Pariss problem of urine-soaked pavements.

But protesters in recent days targeted two on the Ile Saint-Louis and near Gare de Lyon station  plastering them with stained sanitary towels and tampons, then blocking them with concrete.

Notes left behind attacked Pariss authorities for encouraging men to unzip and relieve themselves without cover in open public spaces  even though public breastfeeding still elicits scorn in the city.

Police are investigating the vandalism. No group has claimed responsibility, but the feminist protest group Femen denied involvement.

Equality campaigners and womens groups, along with local residents and parents, have complained that the open-air urinals are sexist and discriminatory.

Without stalls or cover, the five experimental sites carry prominent signs showing a man proudly relieving himself in public. But no extra facilities are provided for women.

Feminists warned that authorities were sending the message that men owned the streets and could freely expose themselves in public  something at odds with debate in the wake of the #MeToo anti-harassment movement over how public spaces should allow women the right to feel at ease in the street.

Gwendoline Coipeault of the feminist organisation Femmes Solidaires said: It is not just men who occupy the public space, but also women and children, who might not want to see men publicly urinate.

These urinals are designed to comfort men and reinforce the idea that women arent welcome in the public space. It is discrimination and reinforces the stereotypical, sexist idea that men cant control themselves in any way, including their bladders.

She added: I dont know a single woman who regularly goes to Paris who hasnt witnessed a man urinating in public  openly on streets, in the metro  which reinforces a feeling of insecurity.

Ms Coipeault said there were already hundreds of covered public toilets in Paris and men should instead be encouraged to use them, as women do, rather than being invited to unzip outside.

Chris Blache, a feminist and urban anthropologist, wasnt surprised by protests against the urinals. Frankly, these urinals are a provocation to women, she said. Its not about prudishness, its about gender equality in the public space.

Ms Blache, who has advised the Paris authorities on gender equality in town planning, said she was not attacking the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, but rather the institutional sexism of technical teams who had not thought through the message they were sending.

In recent days, some male commentators suggested women should simply use the open-air urinals standing up with the aid of a funnel. Blache dismissed this. If a woman did that, it would be seen as a provocation and certainly not as the simple need to publicly relieve yourself after drinking too much beer, as it is seen for men.

Police handed out 5,000 fines to people caught urinating against walls or on pavements in Paris in the first half of 2018  almost all of them to men. But with 450 self-cleaning public toilets across the city, many open 24 hours a day, feminists are arguing that the extra public facilities specifically for men are sexist and unnecessary.  Guardian

Cest la pee Protesters sabotage open-air urinals in Paris


A Chicago man has been arrested in Wisconsin for stealing a Crucifix from a church and using it to attack the digital sign outside the local Fox 11 studios.

Brendan McSweeney, 29, allegedly stole the Crucifix from the Nativity of Our Lord Parish in Wausau, Wisconsin, around 8:45 a.m. on Friday. He had entered the church with his face covered by a scarf before sitting down to play piano.

When asked to leave, McSweeney claimed he was Jesus Christ and that he was going to take care of this.

I had this horrible feeling that next he might be pulling a gun or something like that, a Nativity parishioner who did not want to be identified told Fox 11. You see so many things on television and it was pretty terrifying.

Upon leaving the church, the man walked over to the Fox 11 station where he began to attack the sign.

McSweeney bashed the sign until being chased off by a Fox 11 employee.

Hours later, around 6:00 p.m., McSweeney went to a pizza restaurant and began eating another customers food. After getting into a scuffle with employees and being removed from the establishment, the unhinged man began to throw objects at their windows.

When police arrived at the scene, the man began aggressively screaming at them demanding to know if they believe in Jesus Christ. Eventually, he was tasered and taken into custody  but it was not until Monday that he was connected to the crimes at the church and the news station.

McSweeneys uncle told the police that his nephew has a mental illness and has been off his medication.

In Marathon County where the pizza place is, McSweeney is charged with two counts of disorderly conduct, resisting or obstructing an officer and criminal damage to property.

In Brown County where the church and Fox 11 studios are, he has been charged with felony counts of theft, criminal damage to personal property and criminal damage to property; and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.

VIDEO Man Steals Crucifix From Church Uses it to Attack Fox News Sign


The majority of Canadians want the federal government to do more to protect Canadas dairy industry in the ongoing renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a new poll has found, with many of the respondents warning concessions will likely come with a political price.

Polling firm Iposos said Wednesday 75 per cent of the polls respondents believe the Canadian dairy sector should be defended and that the federal government should make more effort to do so at the NAFTA negotiating table. The poll was conducted at the request of Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Failing to defend the sector, the poll found, could come with a political cost. Six out of ten respondents said that the extent to which the federal government will protect the interests of Canadas dairy industry will have an impact on their vote in the upcoming election.

Twenty-five per cent of respondents stated that it will affect their vote a lot.

The Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada and the NDP all support this countrys supply management system  that regulates the production of dairy, eggs, and poultry  in their respective party platforms.

The polls findings come as Canada, Mexico and the United States continues to renegotiate the decades-old NAFTA trade agreement. The United States has demanded Canada eliminate its entire supply management system within a decade and reform its dairy classification system  how milk and milk products are priced   so that it is more in line with the American system.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Canada unfair dairy practices despite the fact the United States currently has a large dairy surplus with its northern neighbour.

Canadian officials have rejected that demand out right. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland have said repeatedly Canada will defend its supply management system at the negotiating table.

On Thursday, Ipsos found nine out of ten Canadians surveyed believed U.S dairy products should be subject to the same standards as Canadian products and that this should be part of the terms of the new NAFTA agreement.

Ministers from all three NAFTA countries are set to meet in Washington, D.C. on Monday for another round of negotiations. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said he wants the talks to wrap up by the end of the month.

Canadian officials have said they will only sign an agreement that is in the best interest of Canada.

The online poll of 1,000 adult Canadians was conducted April 26 and 27. It has a margin of error for a comparable sample of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Do more to defend dairy farmers at NAFTA table poll


SINGAPORE, November 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken
briefly with US Vice President Mike Pence and White House National Security
Adviser John Bolton before the beginning of the plenary session of the East
Asia Summit in Singapore.

Before taking part in the joint photo op session, Putin talked to Pence, who
leads the US delegation, for a couple of minutes "on the go" in the presence
of an interpreter. Bolton took part in the conversation as well.

Prior to that, Putin also spoke briefly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. The meeting was attended by Russias top diplomat Sergey Lavrov.

The East Asia Summit is an authoritative platform for cooperation between
countries in the Asia Pacific on a wide range of political and economic
issues. Traditional agenda includes ensuring peace and stability in the Asia-
Pacific region, improving regional security architecture, cooperation in the
spheres of energy, ecology, healthcare, education, financial issues, food
security and others.

This annual international forum has been held since 2005 in connection with
summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The forum
brings together 18 countries - ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Vietnam,
Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and the
Philippines) and dialogue partners (Russia, US, Japan, South Korea, India,
China, Australia, New Zealand).

This year, Russia is represented at the event at the top level for the first
time. In 2005, Putin attended the first East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, as a guest of honor.

Putin talks to Pence Bolton before East Asia Summit


Up to 11 per cent of serving gardai may meet the clinical criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, while one quarter are showing symptoms of trauma at levels that are a cause of concern.

That is according to a study from Trinity College Dublin psychologists Dr Sean OMeara and Dr Tim Trimble, which will be presented at the Psychological Society of Ireland annual conference in Wexford on Thursday.

The study, The Impact of Traumatic Experience in Operational Gardai, surveyed 200 active members of An Garda Siochana who identified the top five traumatic stressors in their lives.

These included being called to the scene of a sudden violent or accidental death, witnessing or being the victim of a serious physical assault and being called out to, or being involved in, a transportation incident.

Dr OMeara said the experience of stress caused the release of hormones in the body that contain adrenaline, which have longer-term consequences for biological as well as mental health. Symptoms, which are common to other chronic stress difficulties, include stomach ulcers, heart disease, irritability, lack of sleep and even flashbacks.

Dr OMeara said the research under the supervision of junior dean Mr Trimble found 25 per cent of participants had at least clinically significant levels of distress. This was made up of 11 per cent experiencing clinically significant symptoms levels, 5.5 per cent of responses suggesting probable PTSD, and 8.5 per cent showing a reaction to trauma sufficient to impact on immune system functioning. Dr OMeara said the impact on the immune system could lead to greater susceptibility to infections such as stomach ulcers.

Those with PTSD would typically display avoidance, a need to avoid certain situations which in extreme cases could be to the point of being unable to get out of bed. They might also suffer intrusions where memories of the trauma come unbidden to mind. Those affected may also experience hyperarousal in which they are constantly on edge in the expectation of danger. They may also experience an exaggerated startle reflex in situations where there is a similarity to the traumatic event.

The research also showed officers repeatedly called out to traumatic events do not get more used to it, but in fact a heightened frequency of high-risk callouts doubles the risk of a traumatisation.

A highly significant relationship was found between frequency of exposure and hyperarousal and intrusion symptoms.

Additional years of service resulted in modest increases in the odds of symptom exacerbation where moderate traumatisation was present, said Dr OMeara. This study demonstrates that levels of traumatisation in An Garda Siochana are comparable to rates found in other jurisdictions and are a cause for concern. At a time of cultural change in this organisation, officer welfare is critical, he said.

Gardai place stress of life-threatening illness below job stress


They are the advance line of the migrant caravan that Donald Trump has said is attempting an invasion of the US.

But, as a 400-strong group of asylum-seeking Central Americans arrived in the Mexican border town of Tijuana on Saturday, they appeared more concerned with love than war.

The splinter caravan  which is made up of dozens of LGBTQ+ people  was in celebratory mood as two of its members, 23-year-old Erick Dubon and Pedro Nehemias, 22, got married.

The couple  originally from Honduras where same-sex unions are banned  tied the knot ahead of applying for asylum in the US.

And the moment they said I do  and kissed  went viral after journalist Sarah Kinosian, who has travelled with the caravan, posted it online.

"They totally look like they're about to invade," noted one Twitter wit in response.

The wedding is the latest news from the 5,000-strong caravan which has made its way north across Central America. The group has already trekked hundreds of miles in a bid to escape poverty, violence and discrimination in their home countries and start new lives in the US.

The 400-strong advance group  which is said to include seven LGBTQ+ couples  broke off from the main body upon reaching Mexico City to complete the journey by bus.

We were discriminated against, even in the caravan, Erick told the Washington Post. People wouldnt let us into trucks, they made us get in the back of the line for showers, they would call us ugly names.

But if the pairs wedding marked a high point, the hardest part of their journey may still be ahead. US border authorities have said they are now hardening the crossing into San Diego.

The country's Customs and Border Protection said in a statement it will be closing four lanes of the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa border crossings and that US troops have been installing concertina wire, barricades and fencing along the stretch.

It added that asylum seekers will have to stay in Mexico while their application is processed.

Gay couple from migrant caravan marry as they arrive in Mexico-US border town


Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, began his day not with updates on hurricane coverage or acting as a calm voice of reason for panicked Americans terrified they may face losing their homes, businesses, and even their lives, but by denying that 3,000 American lives were lost in Puerto Rico since those deaths make him look bad.

Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, took that very personally, and she had a right to do so.

Trumps assertions that only 6-18 people had died when he was there after the storm had already ended, so there were no other deaths afterward, is just more proof that he doesnt comprehend more complex arguments. If a person died during a hurricane but roads to get to them and discover their bodies were impassable a few days after Trumps visits, as the vast majority of roads were for many months in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, that death is the result of a hurricane but has not yet been counted when Trump was there.

If a person died in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria of a disease for which they were unable to receive medications to treat it, that death may be counted as a result of the hurricane. If a person died of a heart attack because EMTs were unable to reach them in time due to impassable roads or an influx of emergency calls to respond to, that person probably wont be counted as the result of the hurricane, even though it clearly was.

Just a warning to everyone on the East Coast: if you or your family member dies during Hurricane Florence and that death makes the president look bad, hell deny it ever happened.

Twitter responded with outrage and condolences. See some of their comments below:

Ocasio-Cortez Reacts To Trump Puerto Rico Tweet After Grandfather Died In Storms Wake


A father shot and killed a masked gunman who opened fire inside a McDonalds in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday night.

A store employee had opened the door for the father and his two sons to leave when a man wearing a mask walked in and began shooting, according to WBRC-TV. At that point, the father turned around and began firing at the shooter with his pistol.

Both men were shot, the gunman later dying from his wounds and the father suffering non-life threatening injuries. One of his sons was also hit, but he is also not facing life-threatening injuries.

Armed Father Kills Masked Shooter Who Opened Fire At Alabama McDonalds


MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. Moscow is concerned that the civil conflict may
engulf the whole of Ukraine following the declaration of martial law, Russian
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.

"The Ukrainian military has been granted exclusive powers, including the
extrajudicial use of force, which poses a serious danger, as the civil
conflict may engulf the entire country," she said, commenting on the
declaration of martial law in some of Ukraines regions.

According to the Russian diplomat, the law, which declared martial law citing
the need to deter "Russias aggression," stipulates restrictions on basic
human rights and freedoms, including freedoms of speech, assembly and
movement. "The Kiev authorities can now seize anything they want from the
countrys people, from private property to identification documents,"
Zakharova pointed out.

On November 26, Ukraines Verkhovna Rada (parliament) approved President Pyotr
Poroshenkos decree declaring a 30-say martial law in the Vinnitsa, Lugansk,
Nikolayevsk, Odessa, Sumy, Kharkov, Chernigov, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson
regions, as well as in Ukraines territorial waters in the Sea of Azov,
starting from November 28.

A Sunday incident in the Kerch Strait was used as an excuse for the move. On
November 25, three Ukrainian navy ships illegally crossed Russias border and
tried to carry out some illegal actions in Russian territorial waters on
Sunday night. They ignored legitimate demands to stop issued by vessels
belonging to the FSB Border Service and the Black Sea Fleet and continued
maneuvering dangerously. In order to stop the Ukrainian ships, weapons had to
be used. The three vessels were detained in Russian territorial waters. Three
Ukrainian military servicemen suffered light wounds and were provided with
medical assistance.

A criminal investigation has been opened into the border incident. The 24
Ukrainian crew members have been arrested for two months for violating the
Russian state border. If found guilty, they may face up to six years in
prison.

Moscow cautions Kievs martial law move may stoke conflict engulfing all of Ukraine


The UK woke to thundery downpours but the rain cleared in London for this years Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph.

The Queen and other members of the royal family attended the Armistice centenary service in Whitehall but the downpours that battered the capital on Saturday evening and Sunday morning cleared in time.

The Met Office has said that Sunday should start bright and breezy with some sunny spells later in the afternoon in the capital. Temperatures in the capital should reach around 14C with a slight chance of rain in the evening.

But in other parts of the UK, Remembrance Sunday could be a washout.

The Met Office confirmed that there will be area of showers moving northeastwards across much of Wales, England and Scotland with another area of showers affecting Northern Ireland later on in the day.

A yellow weather warning is still in place for parts of Wales with the Met Office warning that flooding is likely with delays to train and bus services likely.

Events are taking place across the country to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice.

Prince Charles laid a wreath on behalf of his mother the Queen, while she watched the service from the balcony of the nearby Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Beaches across the UK are taking part in filmmaker Danny Boyles Pages of the Sea in which a portrait of an individual from World War One will emerge from the sand. The tide will then wash away the images over time.

Heading into the week, the weather in London will improve on Monday with temperatures reaching a maximum of 15C.

However the south west of England will face heavy showers with a risk of thunder.

UK weather forecast Rain clears for Remembrance Sunday services in London but parts of UK face wash


(Natural News) A Republican running for office in Californias 37th congressional district is sounding the alarm about some shocking information he recently uncovered concerning the gross misuse of taxpayer dollars by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Ron Bassilian, an information technology (IT) guru who specializes in Microsofts Exchange enterprise email solution software, has offered up solid proof that the CDC knowingly diverted at least $3 million in taxpayer funding to leftist groups that have nothing to do with science.

Back in 2014, Representative Karen Bass, a Democratic congresswoman from California, was seen handing over a giant $3 million check to a local group known as the South Los Angeles Healthcare Organizing Project that claims to advocate for improving the health of the poor. And emblazoned on the check as the payer was none other than the CDC.

But what, exactly, is the South Los Angeles Healthcare Organizing Project, and is it really centered around improving public health? According to Bassilian, its actually a political advocacy group that functions as just another of many thinly-veiled Democratic campaign-pushing liberal causes  almost none of which have to do with public health.

Also known as the Community Coalition, this recipient of that infamous $3 million check from the CDC is not only not focused on improving the health of poor people as its primary agenda, but is actually pushing completely unrelated causes like gun control and racial divide throughout the United States.

Get more news like this without being censored: Get the Natural News app for your mobile devices. Enjoy uncensored news, lab test results, videos, podcasts and more. Bypass all the unfair censorship by Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Get your daily news and videos directly from the source! Download here.

As pointed out by Bassilian, the Community Coalition used some of the money it received from the CDC to send children to speak at March For Our Lives events, including the widely publicized rally that took place in Washington, D.C., back in March.

The Community Coalition also funds all sorts of other Democratic initiatives, including everything from the George Soros-backed Black Lives Matter movement to anti-gentrification initiatives  all of which are are listed on the groups CoCo In the News webpage.

Can someone please explain to me what any of these issues have to do with tackling health? asks Bassilian, noting that it was actually a friend of his who started Community Coalition, much to his surprise.

Shouldnt they be dealing with something like the homeless epidemic if public disease control was something they were concerned about? You know, that epidemic thats spreading because of the very hamstrung police this Community Coalition helped create?

Its just more crony politics by the Democratic Party, which for years has been hijacking various government agencies like the CDC  which has an extensive track record of corruption, by the way  and using them to fund its own agenda. This is how the Democrats stay in power in places like California, after all, where fairness and honesty is now a thing of the past.

Even in his own current race for a congressional seat in the Golden States 37th district, Bassilian sees that his Democratic opponent is receiving millions in diverted cash in order to defeat him. Its the continued curse of Obama-era politics, he says, and represents part of the swamp that President Donald Trump campaigned on defeating.

The Democratic Party isnt winning in California because their ideas are better, or theyre more compassionate than conservatives. Its because they monopolized the racket, says Bassilian.

Your tax money is only being used in a neverending [sic] racket to fund the rent-seeking, ever-growing state which just leeches off us. Until we break the political monopoly in this state, the swamp will snare us all like so many fossils in the La Brea Tarpits.

Read Corruption.news for more coverage of the deep corruption of government agencies.

BOMBSHELL Corrupt CDC diverted 3 million in taxpayer money to radical left-wing causes having NOTH


The Democrat media complex today blew a gasket today after President Trump praised Vladimir Putin at their Helsinki press conference.

The left lost their mind after the press conference.

.@realdonaldtrump lavished Putin with praise, proudly shook his hand, & said how great it is to be with him.

He blamed America for the poor relations we have with a country that hacked our democracy.

Then he congratulated Putin on the World Cup.

FLASHBACK 2012 Putin Praises Obama Hopes He Beats Romney- Would Be Easier to Work With Obama


American politicians and technocrats are selling the privacy of the people for a pretty penny, while establishing a system of total control.

Watch Live United Surveillance Of America Big Brother Is Watching


As the U.S. Supreme Court still cant figure out what to do about extreme partisan gerrymandering, the justices failure to act has already had a deep impact on laws and policies across America.

On Monday, the court passed on deciding the merits of a Wisconsin case that could have set limits on gerrymandering for political gain, instead sending the dispute back to a lower court on procedural grounds. The justices decision means that the GOP-friendly map for the Wisconsin state assembly will remain in place for now.

Thats frustrating for William Whitford, a Democrat and the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. The Supreme Court may yet one day strike down the Wisconsin map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, but more delay is essentially a victory for Wisconsin Republicans, helping them maintain their control of the state assembly. GOP lawmakers, who have been elected under the map since 2012, get even more time to pass laws that may not reflect the real wishes of state voters.

This case was filed in 2015. [At the time, wed] had two elections under what I think is a clearly unconstitutional apportionment already that I think gives the Democrats no chance of getting a majority, Whitford told reporters after the Supreme Courts ruling on Monday. He said the maps had many negative consequences in Wisconsin in terms of policy.

A political party gains considerable advantage when it gerrymanders district boundaries. To make a strong enough case that the gerrymandered map has entrenched one party in power, challengers often wait for the results from a few election cycles. Even when someone sues to overturn the map, lawmakers elected under it keep their seats.

There is little to no moral hazard when it comes to gerrymandering, McDonald said. A gerrymandering party is likely to run one or more elections under an unconstitutional map, the voters in the state will foot the legal bill, and rarely, if ever, are candidates held accountable at the ballot box.

At the Supreme Court, the fate of partisan gerrymandering likely depends on Justice Anthony Kennedy. In a 2004 case, the justices split on whether there was a workable standard to determine when partisan gerrymandering becomes unconstitutional. Kennedy wrote that such a judicial standard may exist, but that he hadnt seen it yet. Because of that opinion, he remains the crucial swing vote in any decision on partisan gerrymandering.

But while Kennedy has been pondering, Republicans in 2010 targeted legislative races in states where they saw an opportunity to manipulate the post-census redistricting process. With control of legislatures in Wisconsin and several other states, they were able to gerrymander new congressional and state district boundaries to their advantage, giving them the power to pass laws and shape policy over the next decade.

In an email to HuffPost, Whitford pointed to several measures passed since 2012 by Wisconsin lawmakers who were elected under those arguably unconstitutional maps. The measures include a 2015 right-to-work law and cuts to public education. The outcome might have been different, Whitford suggested, if state assembly districts had been drawn more fairly and legislators were under more pressure to compromise across the aisle.

Plaintiffs in North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan and Maryland are also seeking to strike down congressional districts, arguing that theyre the product of unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. But even as those cases have moved through the courts, legislators from those states have voted on health care, immigration, taxes and other important issues. Should the Supreme Court eventually restrict partisan gerrymandering, it still cant undo the policies those lawmakers enacted in the meantime.

Justin Levitt, a former top Justice Department official and current professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said Whitfords complaints help show why electoral disputes are different. In most other civil cases, he said, its possible either to block harm before it happens or to make the plaintiffs whole after the fact.

People elected under unfair rules and by unfair systems are sitting and making policy in the meantime. Policy doesnt stop, Levitt said. There is no way to make a plaintiff whole after an unconstitutional election happens. And all of the policy that results, sticks.

If the Supreme Court does someday set limits on partisan gerrymandering, the details of the new standard will affect how quickly challengers can move to strike down a map. Kathay Feng, national redistricting director at Common Cause, said the court could require challengers to wait a few elections to show that one party had obtained a durable advantage. Alternatively, the court could require challengers to show only that the party in power intentionally drew a map to put the other party at a disadvantage. A more aggressive standard like that, Feng said, would allow lawsuits to move forward sooner.

Some groups are already taking action to head off lengthy court battles over the next round of redistricting after the 2020 census. In Ohio, advocates got a measure on this years ballot designed to give both parties a voice in drawing the states congressional map. Citizen-led initiatives to create independent redistricting commissions will be on the ballot in other states this fall.

Lets Call The Supreme Courts Gerrymander Inaction What It Really Is A GOP Win


Police have begun digging at the former home of a woman in Australia whose disappearance 36 years ago has become the subject of a highly popular podcast.

Lynette Dawson, a mother of two, vanished without trace from her Sydney home in January 1982. Her husband, Christopher Dawson, reported her missing the following month, insisting she had left the family.

Two coroners inquests found she was killed by a known person, though a body was never recovered. Mr Dawson has denied killing his wife.

Detectives from the unsolved homicide unit launched a reinvestigation into Ms Dawsons disappearance in 2015, but the cold case garnered international attention with the launch of a podcast earlier this year by The Australian newspaper, titled The Teachers Pet.

On Wednesday, police said they had begun a five-day forensic search of the Dawsons former home in Bayview, a suburb of Sydney.

This is all about getting justice for Lyn, said Superintendent Scott Cook from New South Wales Police. He added they would pursue charges against Mr Dawson regardless of what was found during the search.

Supt Cook said officers would hand dig at the grounds of the property until we hit rock, according to Australian Associated Press.

Previously, when we conducted examinations here, there was a number of anomalies in the ground, he said. They were inspected previously. Well revisit them.

Four areas around the home and in the backyard are being examined with technology that was not previously available.

Ms Dawson was last heard from on 8 January 1982, when she spoke to her mother by phone while at home with her husband.

They made plans to have lunch together the following day, but Ms Dawson never showed up. Mr Dawson reported her missing more than a month later on 18 February.

A 2003 inquest found Mr Dawson, a former professional rugby player, had been involved in sexual relationships with teenage students.

One 16-year-old girl moved in with him days after his wifes disappearance.

Lyn Dawson Police begin digging at former home of mother-of-two after Teacheraposs Pet podcast hi


David Strettle will make his 'second debut' for Saracens in their season-opener against Newcastle on Sunday.

The 35-year-old, who last played for Sarries in the 2014/15 Premiership Final win before moving to Clermont in France, is named on the right wing ahead of Alex Lewington.

The side contains five changes from Mays Premiership Final, with Ben Spencer beating the vastly experienced Richard Wigglesworth to a place at scrum-half.

Will Skelton edges out Nick Isiekwe for a place alongside Maro Itoje in the the second row, where George Kruis was not deemed match ready. The same goes for Billy Vunipola, while Schalk Burger will play in the Premiership Shield on Monday evening.

Paul Gustard has continued calling his replacements game-changers for his first Premiership match in charge of Harlequins.

Chris Robshaw captains Quins, while Marcus Smith starts at No10. Kyle Sinckler also sits it out, but there are two eye-catching debutants in the backline: at inside centre Ben Tapuai and on the right wing Nathan Earle.

Saracens vs Harlequins team news David Strettle ready for second Sarries stint


When it comes to the midterms, Florida is a state the Republicans really need to hold. Luckily, Republican incumbent Carlos Cubelo is holding his own against Democrat challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

An independent poll shows Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo with a 1 point lead over Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powelland a contingent of undecided voters large enough to decide the election.

A poll conducted by Mason Dixon Strategies and Telemundo 51 from October 3 to October 9 with 625 registered voters who said they were likely to vote showed a race that is essentially a toss-up for Curbelos Miami to Key West congressional seat that President Donald Trump lost more than 16 percentage points two years ago. Curbelo captures 46 percent support while Mucarsel-Powell takes 45 percent. Nine percent of voters are undecided as both campaigns spend millions on TV advertising.

Curbelo once had a lead in the race but Mucarsel-Powell has closed the gap in recent weeks through increased TV spending.

Midterm 2018 FLORIDA House Carlos Cubelo R Leads Debbie Mucarsel-Powell D


More than 100 female politicians from around the world will gather in the House of Commons chamber on Thursday for a conference to celebrate the centenary of womens suffrage in the UK.

Female parliamentarians will come together to acknowledge the historical landmark in a bid to address some of the issues facing women around the globe.

The fundamental aim of the event, according to the minister for women and equalities, Penny Mordaunt, who will make a speech on the day, is to make womens empowerment a global priority.

The event, named the International Women MPs of the World, will gather prolific politicians from across the globe, including Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the first female speaker of the Bangladeshi parliament and Ya Kumba Jaiteh, who is a leader of the Gambias female lawyers association.

British MPs expected to be in attendance include the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, the leader of the Commons, Andrea Leadsom and Dawn Butler, the shadow equalities minister.

In her opening speech, Mourdant will highlight what needs to be done at a governmental level in order to achieve gender equality.

The day will then split into morning, mid-morning and afternoon sessions, the first of which will pay tribute to women who have helped shape the political agenda in recent years.

In the mid-morning session, participants will address different issues facing female politicians, such as bullying and harassment.

This will be followed by an afternoon policy session which will examine tackling gender inequality through promoting womens economic empowerment, ending violence against women and girls, championing access to voluntary family planning, and breaking the barriers to girls education.

The event almost wasnt allowed happen, after the Tory MP Christopher Chope shouted object when it was first mentioned in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Mims Davies in July, however, he was overruled after a spokesperson for Theresa May voiced support for the conference.

Chopes objection came just a few weeks after he sought to block a bill that would see upskirting - whereby someone takes an unsolicited photograph up a womans skirt - become a criminal offence.

After Chope was widely criticised by campaigners, the government announced it would be taking on the bill and its expected to pass through parliament soon.

But the International Women MPs of the World isn't the only parliamentary event celebrating women's suffrage this month.

On 21 November, an event named Ask Her To Stand, will see women across the UK flock to Westminster in a bid to inspire others to stand for elected office, marking 100 years since the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 was passed, which allowed women to be elected into the House of Commons.

The event will be co-hosted by Harriet Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham and Labours former deputy leader.

The trained solicitor has been a prolific campaigner for womens rights throughout her political career and is the longest-serving female MP.

It has been organised by a number of women's rights groups, including the Jo Cox Foundation, 50:50 Parliament, Fawcett Society and Centenary Action Group.

It will take the form of a conference with a full programme of events to discuss issues such as bullying, harassment and the need to empower female MPs.

One panel event, hosted by activist Helen Pankhurst, Conservative MP Vicky Ford and Labour MP Rosie Duffield, will give attendees the opportunity to meet female MPs and discuss how women are making a difference in Westminster.

Other sessions will examine topics such as family planning and ending violence against women.

Women can apply to attend as delegates by contacting their MP and asking for an invitation.

Parliament to mark womenaposs suffrage centenary with landmark event on Thursday


Andrew McCabe, James Comey and Loretta Lynch are all throwing each other under the bus as their corruption begins to bubble up to the surface.

James Comey threw McCabe under the bus on Thursday in an interview with CNNs Jake Tapper.

Comey told Tapper he could be a potential witness against McCabe.

When asked if he could be a witness, Comey responded, Sure, given that the IGs report reflects interactions that Andy McCabe had with me and other senior executives, I could well be a witness.

I think it is accountability mechanisms working, Comey added. It is not acceptable in the FBI or the Justice Department for people to lack candor. Its something we take really seriously.

The Office of Inspector General released a scathing report on McCabe last week claiming he lacked candor, (lied) including under oath several times.

On Thursday it was revealed Inspector General Michael Horowitz sent a criminal referral for former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the US Attorneys office about the FBIs investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

President Trump even took a swipe at the dueling dirty cops.

On Thursday, Trump tweeted: James Comey just threw Andrew McCabe under the bus. Inspector Generals Report on McCabe is a disaster for both of them! Getting a little (lot) of their own medicine?

On Friday, Fox News producer Jake Gibson reported McCabe was upset and disappointed over comments being made about him by Comey.

Jake Gibson: Fired FBI official Andrew McCabe is upset and disappointed over comments being made about him by his former boss James Comey, a lawyer for the former deputy said Friday, a day after it emerged McCabe was the subject of a criminal referral sent to US Atty in Washington.

Comey is also now under DOJ investigation over his classified memos.

HAH Andrew McCabe Upset After James Comey Throws Him Under the Bus


Democratic leaders like Broward County election supervisor Brenda Snipes and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz are clinging to office to dodge investigations and stay out of jail, warns Tim Canova, a Nova Southeastern University law professor who is challenging the disgraced former DNC chair for her congressional seat in 2018.

Canova won a significant legal victory Friday when a circuit judge determined Snipes broke federal law by improperly discarding thousands of ballots cast in the 2016 Democratic congressional primary, making an inspection of the results impossible.

In that election, Canova faced off against incumbent Wasserman Schultz, who has been embroiled in controversy after controversy since the 2016 elections.

The judge ruled that Snipes ignored and illegally obstructed Canovas request to copy and inspect the ballots. In fact, Snipes had signed a Sept. 1, 2017, document to destroy the ballots.

Federal laws stipulate ballots cast in a federal race are not supposed to be destroyed until 22 months after the election.

Corrupt politicians like Snipes and Wasserman Schultz dont care at all about the American taxpayer and only want to stay in office to evade justice, Canova told The Gateway Pundit Wednesday.

Wasserman Schultz, Snipes and other agent Democrats, maybe even some Republicans, cling to office because there is so much corruption in their background that theyre afraid that should they leave office it will be uncovered, he said. As long as they remain in office, they might be in a position to control, manipulate or prevent any investigations.

Wasserman Schultz resigned as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee following revelations that she and other Democratic party officials conspired to sabotage the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The former DNC chair is also the most forceful advocate and longtime employer of disgraced House information technology aide Imran Awan. She continued to employ and compensate Awan with taxpayer funds for several months after he was barred from the House computer system and under criminal investigation. In fact, Wasserman Schultz only fired Awan after he was arrested on bank fraud charges attempting to flee the country the morning of July 25, 2017.

Awan is currently on trial before a federal jury for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, false statements on a loan or credit application, unlawful monetary transactions,  engaging in unlawful monetary transactions and  allegedly stole data from an untold Democratic House members who hired him.

Wasserman Schultz doesnt care at all about the American people, she only wants to stay in office because shes a crook, Canova argued

I have hopes that Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be removed from office this year when we defeat her in November, and that even before that happens, some of the investigations will start catching up with her  this is the reason shes clinging for office so strongly, this is why shes trying to hold on to this office.

The Justice Department is remarkably apathetic to Democratic corruption, Canova lamented.

I dont know to what degree the FBI or Department of Justice have both been corrupted. Ive called the FBI twice myself personally earlier this year to report this crime  destroying the ballots. I have yet to get any kind of response from them, he said. What the supervisor did wasnt just to break state and federal law by destroying the ballots three months early, but she also destroyed evidence in an ongoing litigation. There are all forms of law that were broken by her.

The federal statue has criminal sanctions  up to a year in prison. I think the state law punishes this crime with even more than a year in prison. We havent been able to get any kind of investigation from the Department of Justice yet  the FBI  nobody, he continued. We knew that the supervisor of elections destroyed the ballots in violation of federal law all the way back in early November of 2017. We are trying to hold the officials accountable who are responsible for this. Wed like to see an investigation, including criminal investigation. A criminal investigation, perhaps, could uncover others involved.

Floridas Secretary of State plans to send an elections expert to Broward, the states second-largest county, during the upcoming elections to monitor the administration of upcoming elections in the county and ensure that all laws are followed.

Canova is urging Florida governor Rick Scott to move to immediately suspend Snipes and is calling for a federal, criminal investigation.

We are not easing up on this. We are organizing petitions, a protest and we are not going to let up at all, he said. Im a candidate again, this time as an independent, Ill be on the ballot in November, and the idea, the thought that Brenda Snipes, this supervisor of elections, could still be supervising my upcoming election with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is completely intolerable.

Canova compared Snipes ability to destroy ballots without legal repercussions to the DNC destroying its server, ignoring multiple requests by the FBI to surrender the server for forensic examination.

The FBI asked for those servers three times, and three times the DNC declined to cooperate. The FBI should have followed up by just seizing the servers  they have that authority in a criminal investigation. The idea that they would just rely upon CrowdStrike, a private internet security firm hired by Wasserman Schultz through the DNC, is ridiculous, he said. There has been absolutely no response from the criminal justice system to this violation of federal law.

This whole episode with the ballots has shown the kind of corruption that exists in our election system. Its also revealed a certain type of corruption in our criminal justice system. And the supervisors office continued to litigate for eight months, even after destroying the ballots.

Canova announced in April his decision to leave the Democratic Party and hopes to appear on the November ballot as a no party affiliation candidate against Wasserman Schultz.

Most Democrats are also fed up with corruption on the Democratic side, Canvoa argued.

I have a lot of friends who remain loyal Democrats  their loyalty is tested very often. There are an awful lot of people who remain Democrat, who are disgusted by the Democratic establishment. They just dont think that there is any other alternative and they are very frightened by the policy agenda of the Republicans and the Trump administration, he said. The party leadership in Broward county, and really all over the country, is very corrupted. They are corporate-funded and theyve allowed themselves to be corrupted.

EXCLUSIVE Democrat Tim Canova on Wasserman Schultz Corrupt Dems Cling to Office to Avoid Jail


Uninvited, more than one million Han Chinese people have reportedly moved into the homes of Uighur Muslim families to report on whether they display Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs.

Sent to homes in Xinjiang province by the Chinese government, American anthropologist Darren Byler said they were tasked with watching for signs that their hosts attachment to Islam might be extreme.

The informants, who describe themselves as relatives of the families they are staying with, are said to have received specific instructions on how to get them to let their guard down.

As devout Muslims would refuse cigarettes and alcohol. this is seen as one way of finding out whether they were extreme.

One Million Chinese People Move into Muslim Homes to Report on Islamic or Unpatriotic Beliefs


Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci blasted the Democratic Party on Friday for supporting MS-13, Hamas, and Kim Jong Un.

Appearing on Fox & Friends to discuss the canceled summit with Kim Jong Un and the spygate allegations, Scaramucci blasted the Dems for who they are willing to align with in order to bash President Donald Trump.

Its got to be enormously frustrating for the president, because hes a businessperson and a negotiator, and hes playing it very straight, and theyre spinning it that way. And if you look at the politicians that were just interviewed, its all the same sort of nonsense, Scaramucci began. So, at the end of the day, hes got a deal on the table that he will accept for the American people. If that does not work, then therell be no deal, its just really that simple. And that sort of bluntness and that steely backbone is something that these guys dont like, which I find very ironic. Its almost like theyre supporting  like [inaudible] said, they support MS-13, Hamas and now theyre supporting the Chairman Kim.

Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy responded that those who are against the president did not want him to make the deal.

No they dont, because they dont want him  Scaramucci began to reply.

To get a win, Doocy said, finishing the former communication directors thought.

Anthony Scaramucci Blasts Democrats for Supporting MS-13 Hamas and Chairman Kim


Guest post by Ted Malloch, author of The Plot to Destroy Trump

My family roots in Scotland and Holland and my entire education, faith and upbringing, while quintessentially Americanare deeply rooted in the European experience.

My faith is founded in the Protestant Reformation that shook Europe 500 years ago.

I spent formative summers teaching and touring throughout all of Europe while I was in graduate school and as a young professor. I still recall with wild enthusiasm my first trip to Europe in 1972 at age 19.

I studied and took degrees and have lectured at European universities. I was a Deutches Austauschendienst at Kiel Universitat and was made an honorary member of the Christian Democratic Party of the Netherlands as early as 1979. More recently I was a visiting professor at the ancient Tubingen University in Germany.

I was president of the four ancient Scottish Universities trust in the US. I wrote a doctoral dissertation largely about European ideasin politics, philosophy and economics.

I spent four years in Geneva, Switzerland in an ambassadorial post in the UN in the late eighties until 1992 when European history shifted and the cold war ended. I had a front row seat as a deputy executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

I was an executive board member of the World Economic Forum, which started as the European Management Forum for CEOs.

I was actually present at the Berlin Wall just days after it came down.  My friends in Eastern Europe, the radical economists, all became leading figuresministers, central bankers and prime ministers in their respective countries after the fall of the Soviet Union.

I was an advisor to the Polish government during its shock therapy and privatization. I speak several European languages, regularly read European books, magazines and newspapers and have been a firm supporter of the so-called Atlantic alliance my entire life.

More recently I have lived in the United Kingdom and taught at Oxford University and visited and spoken on the continent regularly.

So, it is with a deep sense of disappointment and true sadness that I have to say what I am about to say.

Europes churches are empty. Mass last Sunday, in a gothic cathedral, one of the largest in Europe, was virtually unattended. Not just sparsely filledit was, except for a handful of tourists, vacant. Mass was being conducted in a side chapel fit for the couple dozen worshipers, older women who showed up for it.

Europe is adrift without a soul and evolving rapidly away from its moorings.

I am sorry to report that this glorious, historic cathedral is hardly the exception. Most of Europes churches are unused these days, reduced to monuments for tourists and artists to admire.

And there is a reason for this neglect.

In his brilliant book, The Cube and the Cathedral, George Weigel describes a progressive European culture that has become not only increasingly secular but in many cases downright hostile to Christianity.

The cathedral in his title is Notre Dame, now overshadowed in cultural importance by the Arc de la Defense, the ultra modernist cube that dominates an office complex outside Paris. European man has convinced himself that in order to be modern and free, he must be radically secular, Weigel writes. That conviction and its public consequences are at the root of Europes contemporary crisis of civilizational morale.

It is true you will remind me that throngs of believers descended on Rome to bid farewell to Pope John Paul II. And yet even as Catholics mourned that popes passing, Socialists and Greens in France decried the French governments decision to fly the flag at half-mast in his honor. Officials were reduced to claiming, in response, that the honor was afforded to John Paul in his capacity as a head of state, not as a religious leader.

The incident that forms the centerpiece of my critique is the debate over whether Christianity should be explicitly acknowledged in the European Unions constitutional treaty. By the time the constitution was completed a grudging reference to the cultural, religious, and humanist inheritance of Europe had been shoehorned into the preambles first clause. Thats all.

This was about as much religion as Europe could stomach in a constitution that runs some 70,000 words.

Practicing Christianity in Europe today enjoys a status not dissimilar to smoking marijuana or engaging in unorthodox sexual activitiesfew people mind if you do so in private, but you are expected not to talk about it much or ask others whether they do it too.

Christianity is considered at best retrograde and atavistic in a self described progressive society devoted to obtaining the good material lifelong holidays, short work hours and generous government benefits.

What is the deeper source of European antipathy to religion?

For Weigel, the problem goes all the way back to the 14th century, when scholastics like William of Ockham argued for nominalism. According to their philosophy, universalsconcepts such as justice or freedom and qualities such as gooddo not exist in the abstract but are merely words that denote instances of what they describe. A current of thought was set into motion, Weigel among others believes, that pulled European man away from transcendent truths.

One casualty was any fixed idea of human nature.

If there is no such thing as human nature, then there are no universal moral principles that can be read from human nature. If there is no universal moral truth, then religion, positing them, is merely a form of oppression or myth, one from which Europes elites see themselves as now liberated.

And they look down on us, their American and third world cousins, who continue to believe in such irrational flights of fancy.

As Richard Weavers said in Ideas Have Consequences, The issue ultimately involved is whether there is a course of truth higher than, and independent of, man, Weaver explained a half-century ago, and the answer to the question is decisive for ones view of the nature and destiny of humankind.

I think the critics are on firm ground when they analyze Europes present condition, with its low birth rates, heavy government debts, Muslim immigration worries and tendency to carp from the sidelines when the fate of nations is at stake.

This is European progressivism  and it is coming to America.

In what is certainly the most attention-grabbing passage in an engagingly written book, Weigel sketches the worst-case scenariothe bitter endfor a Europe that is religiously bereft, demographically moribund and morally without a compass: The muezzin summons the faithful to prayer from the central loggia of St. Peters in Rome, while Notre-Dame has been transformed into Hagia Sophia on the Seinea great Christian church become an Islamic museum.

One need not find this scenario altogether plausible to feel persuaded by measured arguments about Europes atheistic progressive humanism and European Union generated globalisma cosmopolitanism severed from Europes past.

Without a religious dimension, a commitment to human freedom is likely to be attenuated, too weak to make sacrifices in its name.

Europes political elites especially, but its citizens as well, believe in freedom and democracy of course, but they are reluctant to put the good life on hold and put lives on the line when freedom is in need of a champion  in the Balkans, the Sudan, Darfur or, in the Middle East.

The good of human freedom, by European lights, must be weighed against the risk and cost of actually fighting for it.

It is no longer transcendent, absolute.

In such a world, governed by a narrow utilitarian calculus, sacrifice is rare, churches go unattended and over time the spiritual capital that brought forth all that we know as the West is at risk of being lost.

Let me name things that might turn the tables and perhaps, even begin to, if I was so bold to suggest, revive Europe.

First, coming to grips with its unique place in world history and renewing the importance and source of those original ideals.

Second, some comprehension that culture matters and Europes culture has been the most formative for Western-Christian civilization, what used to be termed, Christendom.

Third, accepting the social, political, economic and especially military responsibility of a great continent, now more and more united.

Fourth, realizing the too evident demographic realities and Islamization and stepping up to reverse them so as to avoid an eventual Eurabia.

And finally, and most critically in my estimation as a Christian, sparking the second great Reformation, spiritually such that there is a wider recognition of transcendence and a moving of the spirit of God across the whole continent from the western most shores of Portugal, Ireland and Britain to the eastern most steppes of Russia.

I pray every day for such transformation and reawakening.

Weigel suggests Europe is a society adrift, untied from the source of its greatness  the very cultural foundation which provided the values making Europe great is disintegrating, leaving Europe (and soon the entire West, including America) on sinking sand.

More specifically, as the past is erased, re-written, or ignored the rich Judeo-Christian history of Europe is being left behind.

And at what cost?

Why is European productivity dwindling to an all time low? Why is European politics rife with senselessness? Why does Sweden have a considerably higher level of its population living below the poverty line? Why is Europe undergoing the greatest sustained reduction in European population since the Black Death of the 14th century? Why are open borders changing the very definition of Europe?

Could the recent woes of Europe be tied to the ever-decreasing Christian minority on this now decidedly post-Christian progressive continent?

I am reminded of Orwells quote, We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.

We should restate the obvious, culture determines civilization.

And without its distinctly Christian history, Europe would not be what it is. Or perhaps, Europe would not have been what it was.

However, from the perspective of our American pilgrim tradition there is more to lament than the secondary effects of a decline in European productivity, living standards and art.

That is, merely reviving spirituality as an end in itself is not what Europe needs.

It demands rather a call back to its first love, to the God who blesses and rewards those who diligently seek and serve Him.

Malloch The New Dark Age of European Progressivism