Donald Trump did not seem to have the same reaction to tearing little kids away from their asylum-seeking parents as Republicans, the Catholic Church, and all of the first ladies. Instead, he doubled down and came out swinging. The man in the Oval Office apparently did not have a problem with little ones sobbing and crying for their mothers and fathers, but other Americans were infuriated and hit back.

Governors across the nation, both Republican and Democratic, have let their voters know that this was not acceptable under Americas set of values. They found Trumps actions morally indefensible and slugged the president right where it hurt the most.

Governor Ralph Northam (D) just sent out a statement recalling Virginia National Guard soldiers and a state-owned helicopter from the nations southwest border. It also said that he will not let them return until Trump ends his soulless zero-tolerance policy:

Virginia benefits from the important work of securing our border and we have a responsibility to contribute to that mission. However, we also have a responsibility to stand up to policies or actions that run afoul of the values that define us as Americans. Today I spoke with the Adjutant General of the Virginia National Guard and ordered him to withdraw four soldiers and one helicopter from Arizona until the federal government ends its enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy that separates children from their parents.

Governor Northam continued, saying that Trump misled him:

When Virginia deployed these resources to the border, we expected that they would play a role in preventing criminals, drug runners and other threats to our security from crossing into the United Statesnot supporting a policy of arresting families and separating children from their parents.

Then, the governor called the commander-in-chiefs policy inhumane:

Let me be clearwe are ready to return and contribute to the real work of keeping our nation safe. But as long as the Trump administration continues to enforce this inhumane policy, Virginia will not devote any resource to border enforcement actions that could actively or tacitly support it. I urge President Trump and leaders in Washington to turn away from this zero-tolerance policy and come to the table on the real immigration reform this nation needs.

Another Governor Calls Back National Guard Troops At Border After Trump Child Abuse


Jack Burkman, the Washington DC lobbyist offering a $130,000 reward for information on the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich, was shot twice and ran over by an SUV last week.

Burkman was attacked outside of his home by a masked man in January.

As reported by The Gateway Pundits Jim Hoft, 27 year-old Democratic staffer Seth Conrad Rich was murdered in Washington DC on July 10, 2016, roughly one block from his apartment. The suspects took nothing from Rich, leaving behind his wallet, watch and phone. The murder has gone unsolved to this day.

According to PR News  Burkman also created, paid for and erected billboards in the neighborhood where Rich lived and died; built the website WhoKilledSeth.com (www.whokilledseth.com) and canvassed the neighborhood with Seth Richs parents.

Burkman sued the Democratic National Committee for the release of the hacked DNC server he claimed will reveal key information in solving the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.

Lobbyist Jack Burkman, who began a private investigation into the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich last year, says he was nearly killed after a man who joined the investigation attempted to murder him last week, according to a report. Kevin Doherty, 46, shot Burkman multiple times and ran him over with an SUV, according to the Post... ...Tension reportedly developed between the two as Doherty began to think the profiling project was his and began speaking to reporters without Burkmans consent, Burkman told the Post. Burkman fired Doherty and sent him a cease-and-desist letter in July, according to the news outlet. I just figured the matter was closed, Burkman told the Post. But what happened is, I guess, he was simmering and simmering and simmering. A source who identified as a senior FBI official contacted Burkman and claimed to have internal documents relative to another case he was working on. The anonymous source planted envelopes of information under a traffic cone in the parking garage at the Key Bridge Marriott in Rosslyn, according to Burkman. As the lobbyist arrived to retrieve the documents, with his pet Dachshund in hand, he reached under the cone and was shot in the buttocks and thigh and run over by an SUV. Burkman spent three days in the hospital, and his dog was not harmed. Doherty was charged with use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and two counts of malicious wounding. He is currently jailed in the Arlington County Detention Facility.

Lobbyist Investigating Seth Rich Murder Is Shot Twice and Run Over by Car Suspect in Custody


Musician-slash-model Rafferty Law has a little magic about him  and its not just down to his father Jude Law.

His new band, Outer Stella Overdrive, sound great (Damon Albarns son Rudy is on drums). The singer, 22, has also modelled for labels from Dolce & Gabbana to Timberland. Heres listening to you, kid.

Joe Strummer. He had an organic voice which he didnt push too far.

In my old band our drummer got on my nerves by drinking too much and being late. Before a show I could see he wasnt concentrating, so I threw my guitar at him. It knocked him out.

The Box in Soho. Thats the closest to outer space that there is in London.

My baby kittens, Sid and Nancy. I feel like a worried parent when I go out.

The Ivy. I could eat a hundred of the truffle arancini balls in the Soho Brasserie every day.

Brad Pitt in Fight Club. I copied his mismatch of colourful shirts and tracksuits for months after I first watched it at 13.

Im at that age when the father-son element has gone with my dad. Hes more like a mate now.

The house in France we stayed in when I was younger was haunted. Doors would swing open and swing shut again. We never went back.

Id apparate to a beach in Mexico and chill out, magicking up cocktails for free.

Raff Law interview Judeaposs son aposonce threw a guitar at his drummerapos


Donald Trump made the worst mistake of his life Monday morning after he made statements in Helsinki that have cause a whirlwind of media coverage that the president is now fuming over. Trump, for some reason, thought it would go over well if he denounced his own intelligence community in support of Putins promise to him that he had nothing to do with Russia hacking Americas political system.

Trump made the following statement on Monday morning; all hell immediately broke loose:

They said they think its Russia. I have President Putin; he just said its not Russia. I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

Trump was torn apart in the press and on social media outlets instantly. Everyone from journalists to politicians to every day people had an opinion about what Trump did yesterday, and it was very hard to find anyone who thought it was clever.

NY Daily News responded to the instant backlash by releasing a new cover image so graphically true that it has literally set people off. Check out the image below and judge for yourself:

The responses to the new cover photo were out of this world, with most people finding it to be a completely accurate portrayal of what Trump is doing to American democracy and moral code. We saved the best reactions for you below:

GRAPHIC NY Daily News Releases New Cover Featuring Trump Blowing Uncle Sams Head Off


North Yorkshire Police has issued an apology and a revised appeal for information, after describing a man who masturbated in front of a woman in the street as having a small penis.

On Monday, the police force used its Facebook page to post a public appeal to help identify a man who performed a sex act on himself in front of a 20-year-old woman in a York street on Sunday afternoon.

In their post, police included a description of the man, which read: He has very little chest or pubic hair, no obvious tattoos or scars, and he has what was described as a small penis.

After receiving feedback from the public, North Yorkshire Police removed the post, admitting: We accept went into too much detail.

A more appropriately worded version [has been] posted on the force website, they added. We use social media every day to appeal for information, and to warn and inform members of the public.

As always, we thank all our followers for their support in sharing our appeals, it is very much appreciated.

North Yorkshire Police Apologise After Saying Sexual Harassment Suspect Has A Small Penis


### Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl

 EPA-EFE/GIUSEPPE LAMI

VIENNA, November 9. /TASS/. Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has
canceled her visit to Russia and summoned diplomats from the Russian embassy
to clarify the situation concerning a retired Austrian colonels suspected
involvement in espionage for Russia, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said
at an emergency press conference in Vienna on Friday.

"The foreign minister has responded to this, she has summoned Russian
diplomats to the Foreign Ministry and also canceled her visit to Russia," Kurz
said.

The Austrian top diplomat planned to make a visit to Russia on December 2-3 in
order to discuss the implementation of plans to create a Russian-Austrian
public platform dubbed the Sochi Dialogue. According to a TASS correspondent,
initially Kneissl was expected to visit Russia on November 9 but the visit was
postponed at Viennas request.

According to media reports, Austria has opened an investigation into a 70
-year-old retired colonel, suspected of working for Russian intelligence
agencies since the 1990s, providing Moscow with information about Austrias
air force, artillery and the migration crisis. If found guilty, the colonel
may face two years in prison. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Defense
Minister Mario Kunasek have confirmed the espionage investigation.

The Russian embassy in Austria has not yet commented on the situation.

In other media

Austrian top diplomat cancels visit to Russia over espionage incident


Uber drivers in London, Nottingham and Birmingham are staging a 24-hour strike, with a digital picket line that came into place at 1pm. However, on Tuesday afternoon it appeared to be having minimal impact on the service, as numerous cars still appeared to be operating in all three cities.  The action has been coordinated by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and comes as the company continues to appeal against a court ruling on employee rights. The striking drivers are calling for an increase in fares to 2 per mile (they are currently paid 1.25 in London), a 10% reduction in commissions paid by drivers, and for the company to implement rules that respect worker rights for drivers, including the payment of at least the minimum wage and paid holidays. By 2pm, crowds of drivers and their supporters had gathered outside the companys London offices:

Its unclear what impact the strike is having on services but at 2PM on Tuesday, users could still book Ubers in London, with multiple cars avaliable around transport hubs including Euston and Liverpool Street stations.  According to the app, there were also numerous cars avaliable near Birmingham New Street station and Nottinghams Motorpoint Arena.  Earlier in the day, a union spokesperson told HuffPost UK that they were expecting hundreds at the demos and thousands observing the strike. In an article for HuffPost UK, one Uber driver   who wishes to remain anonymous  said today marks the first time hes ever gone on strike. Uber says we drivers have amazing freedom and flexibility, but the reality is I am working 70 to 80 hours a week because that is what the economics of the job dictates, he writes, adding that he works on average 30 hours per week just to break even. Were tired of waiting for central government or the Mayor or the courts to come and help us, the driver says. In working with the IWGB union, we drivers are taking matters into our hands to take strike action. I have no illusions about how difficult it will be for us to force Uber to be fair to workers like me. Today is just the beginning.

James Farrar, Chair of the IWGBs United Private Hire Drivers branch, said: After years of watching take home pay plummet and with management bullying of workers on the rise, workers have been left with no choice but to take strike action. We ask the public to please support drivers by not crossing the digital picket line by not using the app during strike time. In response to the strike plans, an Uber spokesperson claimed the company is always looking to make improvements to ensure drivers have the best possible experience and can make the most of their time driving on the app. Thats why over the last few months weve introduced dozens of new features, including sickness, injury, maternity and paternity protections, they added. We continue to look at ways to help drivers increase their earnings and our door is always open if anyone wants to speak to us about any issues theyre having. At the end of the month, the IWGB will face Uber at the Court of Appeal, in a employment rights case. The company is appealing against a Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) judgement which ruled that drivers had the right be treated as workers - who have entitlements including holiday pay - instead of independent contractors, as they are now.

Uber Strike Drivers Walk Out For 24 Hours In London Birmingham And Nottingham


While taking questions from the media Friday afternoon, President Trump was asked if he should tone down his rhetoric after bombs were sent to top Democrats, but he refused to bow to PC culture.

I think I have been toned down, if you want to know the truth. I could really tone it up, because as you know the medias been extremely unfair to me and the Republicans, he responded.

Piers Morgan criticized Trumps response on Twitter, writing, This is not the time for anyone to be suggesting they tone up inflammatory rhetoric.

President Trump Doubles Down When Press Asks If His Rhetoric Caused Bombs


Scientists have found plastic microfibres in the faeces of fur seals living in a colony on a remote island northwest Chile.

They found tiny plastic fragments  smaller than one millimetre, in the waste of the seals  who live on Guafo Island, which is uninhabited by humans and used as a seal breeding ground.

The scientists, Diego Joaquin Perez-Venegas and Galban-Malagon from Andres Bello National University, told the website Live Science they scooped up faeces from the seals and investigated the samples in a lab to spot microplastics so tiny they are invisible to the naked eye.

Of the 51 samples they inspected, 67 per cent contained plastics.

Plastic Microfibres Found In Poop of Seals Living On Remote Chilean Island


The Hill, a left of center website in Washington DC, announced today it is dropping out of the White House Correspondents Dinner until changes are made.

The White House Correspondentss Dinner was held last night in Washington DC.

 President Trump skipped the event again this year and held a rally in Washington, Michigan instead.

The WHCD comedian came with an agenda this year to hurl vile insults at President Trump and his administration.

The worst part came when this comedian hurled tasteless insults at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the far left audience squealed in delight.

Michelle Wolf mocked Sarah Sanders as Aunt Lydia in the Handmaidens Tale, a bull-dyke gym teacher and attacked Sanders over her smoky eye look. Wolf concluded with the racist, sexist attack in which she called Sanders a traitor to white women.

Here is the far left entertainer abusing Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the delight of the far left mob.

 CBS called this awful abuse of the female official a jab.

Here is their full statement, via Mediaite:

We recall fondly how past dinners were tremendous spectacles of dignity that were enjoyed by all. Comedians headlining those dinners were sharp and made fun of both the media and the Commander-in-Chief in a way that could induce laughs while not being so offensive and vulgar that C-SPAN actually cut off its radio broadcast, as was the case this year for the first time ever. The kind of jokes told by this years headliner, Michelle Wolf, were out of line for an event thats supposed to be fun  and fair. Based on what Americans witnessed on national television at Saturday nights dinner, a once-fine evening celebrating the strong, free press the WHCA speaks of has turned into an angry display and ad-hominem attacks. A solid majority of journalists from the left and right have condemned this years comedian and rightly so. The association made apologies, albeit not to the press secretary, only after the pressure compelled it to happen. We hope the dinner can get back to talking about the importance of the Fourth Estate without the kind of ugly sideshow that completely overshadowed the event this year.

Nice Party You Got There Democrats The Hill Drops Out of Abusive Far Left White House Correspon


Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) retorted to President Donald Trumps tweet insulting his stance on the Iran nuclear deal, invoking the first ladys new anti-cyber bullying campaign.

Trump pulled out of the deal on Tuesday. Schumer reportedly said in a statement that while he still believes that the deal is flawed, staying in the pact is preferable to the turmoil that exiting it will likely cause.

Schumer Trolls Trump After Presidents Twitter Taunt BeBest


On Wednesday CNNs Jim Acosta was suspended from covering the White House over his disruptive and abusive conduct during the presidents press conference.

CNN said the video of Jim Acosta was doctored.

On Thursday morning White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp joined Stuart Varney on Varney and Co. to discuss the incident and more.

Mercedes Schlapp: Jim Acosta crossed the line when he physically touched the White House staffer... The video clearly shows did Acosta place his hand on the White House staffer or did he not. And the video clearly shows that he did.

Later in the interview Schlapp said the young woman was shaken up by Acostas behavior.

WH Communications Director Asked if Acosta Video Doctored Video Clearly Shows He Placed His Hand on


Scouting Irelands handling of a rape allegation was influenced by the accused male leaders connections to people in positions of power in the organisation, safeguarding expert Ian Elliott recently told Minister for Children Katherine Zappone.

In a letter in late September, Mr Elliott, who conducted a detailed review into the handling of the rape allegation, told Ms Zappone he suspected information about how the case was dealt with had been withheld from him.

The allegation was made to Scouting Ireland in 2016, where a female volunteer claimed she was raped by an adult male volunteer during a camping trip in 2009, when she was 18.

Earlier this year The Irish Times revealed Mr Elliotts confidential internal report had found the youth organisations response to the allegation had been deeply flawed.

In his recent letter to the Minister, Mr Elliott linked failings in how the allegation was dealt with to the accuseds connections to prominent figures in Scouting Ireland.

I believed that the relationships that the subject of the allegation had with other people in positions of power in the organisation, influenced what the response was to the allegation made by the young woman, he told Ms Zappone.

Mr Elliotts report highlighted several failings in how the allegation was dealt with, but it did not directly tie these shortcomings to the accuseds influence in the organisation.

The allegation was of a serious nature, but the way in which it was responded to by the organisation did not communicate to me any appreciation of this fact, he told Ms Zappone. The letter did not identify who Mr Elliott deemed the individuals in positions of power to be.

At the time of completing his report Mr Elliott said he was unsure how widespread problems identified were throughout the organisation. I have a fuller understanding now and I would hold concerns, he said.

The correspondence from September 26th was released to The Irish Times following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Following the review of the case, Mr Elliott advised Scouting Ireland to conduct an audit of past child protection cases. Last week, Scouting Ireland revealed that an ongoing review by Mr Elliott into past abuse had identified 108 alleged victims of child sex abuse, and 71 alleged abusers, who were primarily active between the 1960s and 1980s.

Mr Elliott said critical information on how the 2016 rape allegation was dealt with had been withheld from him during his review of the case, including a meeting former chief scout Christy McCann had with the man accused of rape, while the volunteer was under suspension. The meeting had been arranged by chief commissioner for youth programmes David Shalloo.

I could not be certain that all the conversations that had taken place in respect of how this case was responded to, were known to me, Mr Elliott said. I strongly suspected that there were others but that is speculation rather than known fact, he told Ms Zappone.

Mr Elliott was writing to Ms Zappone after the former board of Scouting Ireland voted to reinstate Mr McCann to chair an extraordinary general meeting on governance reform in September. Following the boards decision Ms Zappone suspended State funding to the organisation.

In his letter, Mr Elliott said there were several board members who had consistently sought to obstruct change and undermine efforts to reform the organisation.

Last month the organisations entire board resigned and was replaced, following which State funding was provisionally restored until April, pending continued progress on reforms.

Accused influenced Scouting Ireland response to rape claim


(Natural News) Deadly microplastics have been discovered in Alaskan seabirds in the Aleutian Islands, endangering both animals and the regions native American population, reported a News Deeply article.

The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) had been examining hundreds of Aleutian seabirds over the better part of a decade. The study found that one out of every five specimens had ingested microplastics and almost all of them tested positive for at least one type of highly toxic phthalate.

Phthalates are added to plastics for increased softness, flexibility, or durability. Theyre used in cosmetics, flooring, and medical devices. If ingested, they can disrupt reproduction functions due to their resemblance to natural hormones.

What it does say is these anthropogenic compounds are in the environment and that these birds are exposed to them in some way, which is meaningful when you consider the fact that theyre endocrine-disrupting compounds, said researcher Veronica Padula.

According to Dr. Doug Causey, a biology professor and adviser to Padula, the University of Alaska program wasnt looking for microplastics when it started in 2009. It was monitoring the drastic decline of seabird populations.

Everything changed in 2013 when Dr. Causey collected a tufted puffin on the island of Amchitka. The specimen turned out to have a shard of microplastic buried in its badly-scarred gut.

The UAA study quickly shifted to detecting microplastics and their deleterious effects on seabirds. Birds are good indicators of ecosystem health, so studying them was a good way to investigate microplastics loads in Alaskan waters.

Plastics have been popping up in Alaskan waters since the 1970s. But previous studies focused on larger pieces instead of microplastics, which required specialized detection tools.

The remoteness of the western and central Aleutians exclude the usual suspect of local human settlements as the cause of contamination, Padula explained. She theorized that the microplastics started out as much larger pieces across the ocean. As they made their uncertain way towards Alaska, the plastics were broken down by various oceanic forces until they became small enough to pass through the bodies of seabirds.

So for us, the question became, what happens in that time when the plastic is inside the birds stomach, she said. (Related: Plastic pollution is threatening fish populations and the fishing industry in Central America.)

The University of Alaska study discerned no significant geographic pattern for phthalate contamination among the Aleutian birds. But it did uncover a species-relevant pattern.

The highest levels of phthalate contamination were detected in crested auks, which ate at the lowest tropic level of a food pyramid.

These birds, which are plankton eaters, are targeting items that probably are plastic but look a lot like plankton, Padula theorized. So theyre getting confused by those items.

According to the researchers, the higher one ate at the tropic level, the lower the risk of contamination. So a bird that ate a fish that fed on contaminated plankton had lower phthlate levels than a bird that directly ate plankton.

The UAA is now looking for microplastics in other body parts of the seabirds. They confirmed the presence of phthalates in embryonic tissue inside 11 female specimens. They also learned by accident that plasticizers could contaminate eggs.

Back in 2015, Padula visited St. Paul Island and worked alongside the local Aleut community. Members of the tribe gifted her with six eggs from the thick-billed murre.

While partaking in the traditional Aleut diet, it occurred to the researcher to set aside some of the eggs for testing. To her dismay, the portions tested positive. I consumed subsistence foods that I later detected phthalates in, she grimaced.

Stay informed about microplastics and other forms of pollution by visiting Pollution.news.

Ocean pollution has covered the globe Seabirds as far away as Alaska are being threatened by microp


The important thing to understand about the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history is that the alleged killer did not merely hate us Jews for who we are. He hated us, judging by his social media postings, for what we believe  for the highest ideals of what the Jewish religion embodies.

Begin with the name of the synagogue in Pittsburgh he attacked, Tree of Life. This name is a metaphor for the Torah, Judaisms foundational document. Every Shabbat, as the Torah scroll is returned to the ark, the congregation sings these words, in Hebrew: It is a tree of life to all who hold fast to it . . . Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace. Help us turn to you, Lord, and we shall return.

How awful that a synagogue whose name evokes this yearning for Gods protection instead found itself the scene of such carnage and such evil. Among the murdered: A 97-year-old woman. A husband and wife in their 80s. Two brothers, 59 and 54.

And why? Because their religion teaches tolerance and, more than tolerance, the obligation to welcome and care for those most in need. At least 36 times, the Torah exhorts us to embrace the outsider, the immigrant. I chanted this passage from Leviticus at my daughters bat mitzvah: The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

That tolerance, it appears, incited Robert Bowers, the accused murderer. On Gab, the extremist haven social network, he attacked HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. The group was founded in 1881 to help Jews, like my grandparents and great-grandparents, fleeing the pogroms of Russia and Eastern Europe. But its mission has broadened to fulfilling the biblical injunction to care for the stranger. As HIAS president Mark Hetfield likes to say, HIAS was founded . . . to welcome refugees because they were Jewish. Today, HIAS welcomes refugees because we are Jewish.

Hence Bowerss rage. HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people, he wrote a few hours before the rampage. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in. A few weeks earlier, he posted a link about the groups National Refugee Shabbat, writing, Why hello there hias! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us? Another post he shared: Open you Eyes! Its the filthy EVIL jews Bringing the Filthy EVIL Muslims into the Country!!

Anti-Semitism is a disease without a cure and, seemingly, without end. It persists from generation to generation and society to society. People like Bowers have always been part of an ugly American fringe. Social media simply provides a powerful new mechanism for transmitting such long-standing venom and amplifying preexisting hatreds in an age of increasing tribalism.

Which brings us to our president. It looks definitely like its an anti-Semitic crime. That is something you wouldnt believe could still be going on, President Trump said Saturday in Indiana. You wouldnt? Only if you were willfully blind to what has been going on, from Nazi protesters in Charlottesville chanting Jews will not replace us to ugly memes of Jewish reporters with Stars of David being thrust into ovens.

Just the day before Saturdays massacre, Trump, at a White House event, attacked globalists  code-word alert  and chuckled as audience members called out George Soros!code-word alert  and shouted Lock him up about the Hungarian-born Jewish financier. If Trump is not deliberately flirting with anti-Semitism and anti-Semites, he is regrettably oblivious to their presence.

But his administrations animus toward refugees, exemplified by Trumps own incendiary rhetoric, seems most directly linked to Bowerss alarm about hostile invaders who kill our people. If there is not cause and effect between Trumps language and Bowerss alleged actions, there is moral culpability for creating this overheated climate of fear. From the supposed Mexican rapists of his campaign launch to his unsupported claims that the migrant caravan includes very tough criminal elements and unknown Middle Easterners, Trump has stoked the fears of the Bowerses among us.

To this, the only response can be to insist that what the Torah teaches about loving the stranger is true and right. And that this is not just Jewish wisdom  it is, Trump notwithstanding, an American value. Eleven Americans died for it Saturday. Do not forget them.

Trump Has Stoked the Fears of Bowerses Among Us


Liverpool wrapped up their preparations for the new season with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Torino at Anfield on Tuesday evening.

The Reds, who kickstart their 2018-19 campaign against West Ham United this weekend, made light work of their Italian opponents as they enjoyed the ideal warm-up for a season that promises so much.

Roberto Firmino opened the scoring in the first half after Fabinho's penalty miss, before Georginio Wijnaldum made it two to cap a 45-minute performance that could book his place in Sunday's starting XI.

And, though Andrea Belotti pulled one back for the Reds before the break with a powerful header, the hosts quickly reasserted their control and confirmed their victory through Daniel Sturridge's sixth goal of pre-season late on.

With the Premier League kick-off so close, Jurgen Klopp named something of a surprisingly strong starting XI upon his side's return home.

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Firmino all featured, while big-money summer signings Naby Keita, Fabinho and Alisson Becker were handed their home debuts.

It took little time for quality of the initial line-up to tell, with Salah going close to turning a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross before Mane's quick feet earned a somewhat soft penalty.

However, the referee's generosity mattered little when Fabinho stepped up and arrowed his first spot-kick for the club wide of the post.

That miss quickly proved to be inconsequential, too, with Firmino smashing home a deflected strike four minutes later as a result of Salah finding space for an assist courtesy of a fine touch and pass from Wijnaldum.

The Dutchman then turned goalscorer, timing a late run from deep to latch onto Firmino's through-pass and finishing coolly in the box.

Torino reduced the arrears on the half-hour mark, Belotti sending a bullet header beyond Alisson after Lorenzo Di Silvestri had escaped the attentions of Alberto Moreno to cross.

But the goal proved to be a brief respite from Liverpool pressure, with the impressive Wijnaldum denied by the outstretched foot of Salvatore Sirigu moments later following a speedy exchange with Salah.

And even seven changes at half-time did little to break the pattern of the game, with the hosts' new-found depth on show as they pressed for a third goal from the off.

Danny Ings was the recipient of the first two opportunities, but failed to get clean contact on a left-footed shot just inside the box before slipping at the vital moment when trying to give an Alexander-Arnold pick-out the finish it deserved.

Sturridge was less forgiving when he got on the end of Shaqiri's inch-perfect dink in behind four minutes from time, placing the deftest of headers into beyond Sirigu's despairing to dive to put the seal on the win.

Liverpool 3 Torino 1 Roberto Firmino strikes as Reds wrap up pre-season with a win on Alissonapos


In January, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke traveled to Las Vegas to mingle at the SHOT Show, an annual gathering of the shooting, hunting and outdoor trade industries. The people there were all great conservationists, really good people, dedicated to the outdoors, he said in an interview with NRA-TV.

An avid hunter and angler himself, Zinke has often said that the best stewards of wildlife are Americas sportsmen and -women. But after taking over the Department of the Interior in March 2017, he made quick work of angering some of those would-be supporters.

Earlier this month, he hosted a roundtable of more than two dozen outdoor sporting and conservation organizations to get their input on his planned reorganization of the department. He promised them a grand pivot away from energy development and toward species and habitat conservation, according to E&E News.

At the end of December, Zinke vowed to create a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt. As the chief steward of Americas natural resources, he is responsible for managing some 500 million acres of land, or one-fifth of the United States, as well as protecting endangered species and managing migratory birds.

The Interior Department made several pro-hunting announcements in the week after the conservation roundtable. It moved to scrap a 2015 rule that bans aggressive hunting tactics in national preserves in Alaska, including shooting bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens and swimming caribou from motorboats. It proposed expanding hunting and fishing opportunities on numerous wildlife refuges. And it named 17 members to a new panel, the Hunting and Shooting Sports Conservation Council, which will advise Zinke on wildlife and habitat conservation.

Whit Fosburgh, president of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, told HuffPost last July that it was troubling to watch Zinke work solely on the development of natural resources without even lip service to conservation. Fosburghs nonprofit advocates for access to public lands for hunting and fishing.

At the roundtable, he said, the secretary acknowledged that energy was the major push in 2017 and declared that the next few years would be about conservation, departmental reorganization and tackling the maintenance backlog at national parks.

Collin OMara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, also voiced newfound optimism after the meeting, telling E&E that his group is committed to working with Secretary Zinke more closely on priorities like increasing Americas wildlife populations, conserving wildlife corridors and expanding outdoor recreation opportunity. And Steve Moyer, vice president for government affairs at Trout Unlimited, told the publication he was glad to hear of a change of direction from Mr. Zinke.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife, told HuffPost that non-game and endangered species are still missing from the conservation conversation. Zinkes pivot, she added, seems largely geared toward rebuilding crumbling park infrastructure and reorganizing the agency.

In a statement after the roundtable, David ONeill, chief conservation officer of the National Audubon Society, said that while he appreciated the opportunity to join the discussion, the group continues to fundamentally disagree with the Department of the Interiors interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Ryan Zinke Looks To Reel Back Some Critics With Grand Pivot To Conservation


Although the main driver behind the high figures is thought to be obesity, other factors which could also play a part include a family history and ethnic background, the charity added.

Type 2 diabetes is more aggressive in young people as complications of the disease  which can include blindness, amputations, heart disease and kidney failure  can appear earlier.

Diabetes UK reported that 6,836 children and young adults have type 2 diabetes in England and Wales, according to data from GP surgeries.

Rising  obesity has led to almost 7,000 people under the age of 25 having type 2 diabetes   the highest its ever been for this age group, a charity has warned.

Diabetes UK warned that thousands more children and young people could be diagnosed with the condition over the coming years, as the latest figures on childhood obesity show that more than a third of children in England will be overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school.

It has called for better specialist support for youngsters with the condition to help manage their illness and reduce their risk of serious complications.

Meanwhile, the charity also backed proposals for a ban on junk food TV advertising aimed at children before 9pm, and to restrict supermarket price promotions for unhealthy foods.

To help shape a future where fewer children develop the condition, we need continued commitment across society to create an environment that reduces obesity, said Bridget Turner, director of policy and campaigns at Diabetes UK.

[Read more: Mcdonalds and Burger King ads banned for inappropriately targeting school bus stops]

Turner said we need to encourage healthy living by providing easy-to-understand nutritional information about products people are buying, and protect children from adverts for foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar. She added that people who already have the condition need better support so they do not develop severe complications.

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, added: For many children, the development of type 2 diabetes can be prevented with lifestyle changes, but this isnt easy  they need support.

In response to the figures, a Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: We are committed to halving child obesity by 2030 and will be launching consultations to restrict promotions in shops for sugary and fatty foods, as well as a 9pm watershed ban on advertising. The upcoming NHS long-term plan will have prevention at its core and build on our existing work to keep people healthy and well.

Almost 7000 Under 25s In England And Wales Have Type 2 Diabetes


Former FBI Director James Comey on Sunday derided the Republican House Intelligence Committees report on meddling by Russia in the 2016 election as a wreck, while reaffirming his distrust of President Donald Trump.

The committee report released on Friday that found no evidence of collusion between Trumps campaign and Moscow was slammed by Comey on NBCs Meet the Press as merely political and self-harming.

It wrecked the committee, and it damaged relationships with the [U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court], the intelligence communities, he told NBCs Chuck Todd of the assessment. Its just a wreck.

Comey, who led the investigation into possible collusion before his abrupt firing by Trump in May, said the report by the House committee, helmed by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), does not match what he knew before his ouster.

That is not my understanding of what the facts were before I left the FBI, and I think the most important piece of work is the one the special counsels doing now, Comey said.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, later disagreed with the wreck characterization of the panels report. But on CBS Face the Nation he also said that the probe is not as exhaustive as the one being conducted by the special counsel, which operates as part of the Department of Justice.

The witnesses we talked to  no one said that they had any evidence of collusion, Gowdy said, while acknowledging that executive branch investigations are just better than congressional ones because they get to use a grand jury and have investigative tools that we dont have.

Gowdy said he is awaiting the results of Muellers investigation. So we found no evidence of collusion, he said. Whether or not it exists or not, I cant speak to because I havent interviewed the full panoply of witnesses.

House Intelligence Committee rules that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump Campaign and Russia. As I have been saying all along, it is all a big Hoax by the Democrats based on payments and lies. There should never have been a Special Counsel appointed. Witch Hunt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2018

Comey in his Sunday comments repeated his distrust for Trump, saying he has serious doubts about the presidents credibility, including if he were to testify under oath as a witness.

I was concerned about the nature of his commitment to truth-telling, based on some of the things Id seen during the campaign, he said of his assessment of Trump before his inauguration.

After meeting him, he said he was further disturbed by Trumps expressed lack of concern about protecting the country as his top duty.

Comey Calls GOP-Led Probe On Russia A Wreck Slams Trumps Credibility


Emails traded between the legal team of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaughs second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, and a Republican Senate Judiciary Committee staffer reveal that the Republican aide stonewalled first steps to get Ramirezs testimony, according to a Friday New Yorker article.

In the emails, Ramirezs lawyer John Clune said that his client had evidence and witnesses pertaining to her claim of sexual misconduct, and that she may be willing to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee even without the FBI investigation she preferred. However, he wanted to have a call with the members of the committee to ensure her protection in the process before she released all of her information.

In response, Republican staffer Mike Davis refused to have a phone call to hammer out the logistics without more evidence than she had already provided in her original account in the New Yorker and an unequivocal agreement to testify to committee investigators no matter the terms.

A Democratic staffer on the email thread jumped in.

As youre aware, Ms. Ramirezs counsel have repeatedly requested to speak with the Committee, on a bipartisan basis, to determine how to proceed. You refused, staffer Heather Sawyer said, per the New Yorker. Ive never encountered an instance where the Committee has refused even to speak with an individual or counsel. I am perplexed as to why this is happening here, except that it seems designed to ensure that the Majority can falsely claim that Ms. Ramirez and her lawyers refused to cooperate. That simply is not true.

On Friday, during the Senate Judiciary Committees speeches preceding the vote on Kavanaugh, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) doubled down on his insistence that his staff had done all they could to reach Ramirez and get her testimony, but that they were stymied by her lack of cooperation.

Emails Show That GOP Staff Stonewalled Ramirezs Attempt To Testify


I am not sure it is going to work, but there is something admirable about the prime ministers sheer resilience. When the first part of the Brexit deal was agreed and published last week she took questions from MPs for three hours. Today, she did the same on the second part of the deal.

In between she has held a news conference, been on a radio phone-in, given interviews, taken questions yesterday, flown to Brussels and will be back there on Saturday. All the while being howled at by members of her own party, who disagree with her, and shouted at by members of the opposition, who broadly agree with her. The voices on her own benches in her support are few and not exactly whole-hearted.

Yet I think the general public is impressed by her. There is some hard evidence for this. YouGov for The Times yesterday recorded a 13-point swing from May should go to May should stay in a week. But I also hear people on radio phone-ins saying how much they respect her for working hard and resolutely in difficult circumstances.

There also seemed to be less hostility towards her plan in the House of Commons today than there was last week, when most Conservative MPs who spoke seemed genuinely shocked that she had gone ahead and secured the deal she said she wanted.

Today, she offered a peace offering to two of her hard-Brexit critics, thanking Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson, former cabinet ministers, for their ideas on how technology could solve the Irish border question in future. She refrained from pointing out that they might as well believe in UFOs.

But they were resistant to flattery and both asked her to get rid of the backstop  or, as I prefer to call it, the guarantee of an open border in Ireland.

She got absolutely nothing from the other hard Brexiters behind her either. They queued up to condemn the deal. Dominic Raab, recent Brexit secretary, said it was the regrettable but inescapable reality that this deal gives more control away. Boris Johnson had a pre-cooked soundbite: We should junk forthwith the backstop.. which makes a complete nonsense of Brexit.

Then the pro-EU wing of her party piled in from the other side, with Justine Greening and Dominic Grieve demanding that the decision be sent back to the people in a further referendum. And all the while the back to the people line was echoed from the opposition benches  except from the leader of the opposition himself.

Jeremy Corbyn delivered a well crafted speech. He is still getting better at this stuff, even if he did read out his speech with his head down most of the time. He had some good lines, but they were merely knockabout. Commenting on the emptiness of a lot of the non-binding rhetoric in the political declaration, he said: She says nothing is agreed until everything is agreed; indeed, nothing is agreed.

As the afternoon droned on, more Tory loyalists lined up to praise the prime ministers hard work and determination and to declare the deal the best that could be achieved.

It was not obvious in the House of Commons today how Theresa May could possibly win the crucial vote on this deal  the withdrawal agreement and political declaration together. The hard Brexiters on her side couldnt muster 48 letters to challenge her leadership, but they have many more votes than that against her Brexit deal.

She also loses votes from her pro-EU wing. And the opposition parties show no inclination to help her.

If she can win the vote, she seems to think she can do it through sheer persistence, persuading the public and through them their MPs by her sincere attempt to negotiate a deal that both respects the referendum and keeps us in a close economic relationship with the EU.

If the capacity to endure political pain could decide the vote, she would win.

 The Independent has launched its #FinalSay campaign to demand that voters are given a voice on the final Brexit deal.

 Sign our petition here

Theresa Mayaposs strategy for getting her Brexit deal through parliament Masochism


(Natural News) Researchers have just created yet another terrifying artificial intelligence (AI) tool to cause confusion and spread misinformation throughout mass media. In an article from The Register, experts in machine learning have devised a computer system that can change the movement of a persons face in a video.

It is far worse than Deepfakes when it comes to the potential for trouble. Deepfakes, of course, is an earlier AI-based image alteration technique that mapped the faces of well-known people onto the bodies of porn stars.

The new technology takes the face of its target and manipulates the image into following the movements and expressions of a different source. It can be used to make fake footage of people making statements that they never actually said in their entire lives  say, by taking the well-known face of Vladimir Putin and using the equally-distinct facial mannerisms of Barack Obama. The result is a video clip of Putin giving Obamas speech.

The paper describing the image-synthesizing neural program claimed to have achieved realistic results. This is troubling, to say the least.

While disgusting, videos altered by Deepfakes were also easy enough to recognize as fake. The eyebrows did not match the forehead, for one, and the movements were notably clumsy.

A similar image mapping project combined lip-syncing and an audio clip to create fake videos. Again, the movement of the lips did not match 100 percent of the time.

The new machine learning system is reputedly much more advanced than those two. It is the first such AI that can map the sources head position and rotation, the facial expressions, and the blinking and gaze of the eyes for transfer onto a portrait video of the target. (Related: Use of A.I. has revealed the most predictive factors of corruption.)

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.

According to their paper, the artificial neural network rebuilt a face based on certain striking parts. It could follow the head and facial movements, which allowed it to capture the facial expressions for every frame of the source and target videos.

A facial representation procedure was used to calculate the data of the face on both videos. The data from the source face was altered a little before being mapped onto the target face.

The artificial neural network  called a generative adversarial network  handled the rendering. It watched the tracked frames of the target video.

The AI could learn from just a minute of footage of the source. Given just 2,000 frames of reference, it would be able to create fake images based on the source frames that can pass for the real ones.

Right now, the AI is limited to altering the facial expressions of the target. It is unable to replicate the upper body of the target. Furthermore, it is confused by constantly-changing backgrounds.

Saner minds have previously called attention to the dangers of this technology. Fake videos made by the AI can be used to mislead people. It could also call political security into question.

The researchers glossed over these valid issues. They did mention in their paper that videos needed invisible watermarking and other means of verifying their authenticity.

Im aware of the ethical implications of those reenactment projects, claimed Justus Thies, a Technical University of Munich (TUM) researcher who served as one of the co-authors of the paper. That is also a reason why we published our results. I think it is important that the people get to know the possibilities of manipulation techniques.

Thies said facial reenactment has been used for a long time. The best-known examples are the dubbing and post-production processes of movies.

SCARY Machine-learning experts build neural network that manipulates facial movements to create fak


Making a meringue is a bit of cooking magic. You start with nothing more than a few egg whites, add in some sugar and with a bit of elbow grease (or an electric mixer) you get something glossy and fluffy.

Spoon them onto a baking parchment- lined pan as individual meringues or as a giant pavlova and youre sorted.

Best of all, you can make meringues ahead of time. In the summer, all you need to finish them off are some seasonal fruits.

Any of the stone fruits are ideal such as apricots, peaches or nectarines or a combination based on what looks and smells ripest. A strawberry sauce adds some colour and can be whipped up easily the day before.

The only step youll want to do at the last minute is to slice your stone fruits and toss with sugar.

You want to give them a quarter of an hour or so to macerate because if left too long they go soft. Any leftover meringues can be stored in an air tight container for a few days.

To really get ahead of the game, next time you have any leftover egg whites, store them in the freezer so youre ready to make meringues whenever you want.

500g stone fruit, apricots, peaches or nectarines

 1-2 tsp caster sugar

 Pinch of salt

 Mint leaves to garnish

To make the meringues, whip the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl until they form soft peaks. Continue whipping the eggs and add the sugar one spoonful at a time. Line a baking tray with a piece of baking parchment. Spoon the mixture into rounds on the tray, making 8 meringues. Take the spoon and gently create a bowl shape in the centre of each one to hold the fruit.

Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for around 1 12 hours or until the meringues are crisp on the outside. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

While the meringues are baking, make the strawberry sauce. Hull and slice the strawberries. Place in a small saucepan along with the sugar, pinch of salt and white balsamic vinegar.

Heat over medium heat until the strawberries are softened. Blitz with a stick blender or in a blender until smooth. Place in a clean jar and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Right before serving, slice the stone fruit and add in the sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir and taste. The riper the fruit, the less sugar youll need. Adjust as needed. Let sit for a few minutes for the flavours to marry.

To serve, spoon a bit of strawberry sauce into each meringue, top with some of the stone fruits and another drizzle of the sauce. Garnish with the mint leaves and serve.

How to make meringues with stone fruits and strawberry sauce


The third-highest ranking Justice Department official, Rachel Brand, is leaving her post, reports the New York Times.

Rachel L. Brand, the No. 3 official at the Justice Department, plans to step down after nine months on the job as the countrys top law enforcement agency has been under attack by President Trump, according to two people briefed on her decision. Ms. Brands profile had risen in part because she is next in the line of succession behind the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, who is overseeing the special counsels inquiry into Russian influence in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump, who has called the investigation a witch hunt, has considered firing Mr. Rosenstein. Such a move could have put her in charge of the special counsel and, by extension, left her in the cross hairs of the president. Ms. Brand, who became the associate attorney general in May 2017, is leaving for a job as general counsel in the private sector. She has held politically appointed positions at the Justice Department over the past three presidential administrations.

Who will replace Brand? According to an executive order on Justice Department succession, issued on March 31, 2017, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia gets first dibs. Second is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina and third is the Northern District of Texas.

Because Tracy Doherty-McCormick is only the acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, the official most likely to replace Brand is U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Robert Higdon.

Robert J. Higdon, Jr. was nominated to be the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina by President Donald Trump on August 2, 2017.  He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 28, 2017.   As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Higdon is the top-ranking federal law enforcement official in the Eastern District of North Carolina, which includes the 44 eastern most counties of North Carolina. He oversees a staff of 108 employees, including 51 attorneys and 57 non-attorney support personnel.  The office also partners with some 20 Special Assistant United States Attorneys from branches of the United States military, local District Attorneys offices and federal and state regulatory agencies.

In 2012, Higdon was the lead prosecutor in the campaign finance fraud case involving former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas noted the shakeup is a, very big deal.

Its Brand (or her successor) whos first in line to take over supervision of Muellers investigation if Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein is fired.

So far as I know, there isnt currently a confirmed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, so under the current Executive Order, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina is next in the line of succession, added Vladeck.

Vladeck then says in Attorney General Jeff Sessions own succession memo shows Solicitor General Noel Francisco, another Trump appointee, is next in line to replace Brand.

Noel John Francisco was sworn in as the 48th Solicitor General of the United States on September 19, 2017. Prior to joining the Justice Department, he was a partner in the Washington, DC office of Jones Day, where he was the chair of the Firms Government Regulation Practice.  While at Jones Day, he appeared several times before the Supreme Court, including in McDonnell v. United States, which involved the meaning of official act under federal bribery statutes; Zubik v. Burwell, which involved the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to regulations related to insurance coverage for contraception; and NLRB v. Noel Canning, which involved the Constitutions recess appointment power.  He has also argued numerous cases in the lower federal and state courts on a wide range of constitutional, civil, and criminal matters.

Brand joins a growing list of key officials leaving the FBI/DOJ cabal amid Inspector General Michael Horowitzs probe into the bureaus Clinton email investigation.

Former FBI special agent Josh Campbell recently quit the bureau to join CNN, citing increasing levels of criticism directed at the agency.

In what was a significant shakeup at the FBI, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe stepped down January 29th.

McCabe, who served a brief stint as acting director of the bureau, was already expected to leave. He will stay on terminal leave until he is eligible to retire with benefits in March, reported CNBC.

In late January, James Rybicki, a top FBI official who was once chief of staff to James Comey and current Bureau Director Christopher Wray, resigned as well.

This is a Very Big Deal Meet the Trump Appointees Who Could Replace Outgoing DOJ Official Rachel


MSM is attacking Jerome Corsi who is being punished for not going along with Muellers false narrative.

The Mainstream Media Seeks To Smear Jerome Corsi


Back in 2016 The Gateway Pundit was one of the VERY FEW major media publishers to predict a Donald J. Trump landslide victory.

We were right.

 The liberal and Never-Trump media were wrong.

As previously reported by The Gateway Pundit...

** FiveThirtyEights Nate Silver polling says Democrats have an 84.8% chance of taking the US House of Representatives.

** FiveThirtyEights Nate Silver also gave Hillary Clinton a 72% chance of winning the 2016 election.

We predicted in September during the Kavanaugh hearings that there will be a Red Wave in the midterm election.

 Today Republican early voting is off the charts. Republicans for THE FIRST TIME EVER are leading with early voting in Florida.

Now it looks like Nate Silver is hedging his bets.

Ruh-Roh FiveThirtyEights Nate Silver Hedges Bets Pulls Back from His Blue Wave Prediction


More school closures are likely on foot of structural assessments due to take place across 40 schools over the coming days, according to the Minister for Education Joe McHugh.

He said decisions on whether to close further schools will be based on the outcome of these safety checks.

In one school inspection, he said, officials concluded there was an 80 per cent chance of an external wall falling out and a 20 per cent chance of internal wall falling in during storm force winds.

The full list of 40 schools was published on Wednesday afternoon and officials now face a race against time to complete assessments before the end of the mid-term break on November 12th.

Mr McHugh said his departments priority is to ensure all school buildings are safe and that, in cases where there are concerns, to source alternative accommodation.

Not all cases, he said, will require closure. While some may not have strucrtural defects, others might be in a position to be made safe with interim solutions such as wall braces.

Tyrellstown Educate Together national school and St Lukes national school, which share a campus in west Dublin, were ordered to close following assessment inspections.

The schools, with a combined enrolment of 1,200 students, are among 40 schools built by Western Building Systems since 2008 which face structural checks over the next three weeks.

Last weekend, structural problems were discovered in Ardgillan Community College in Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Nearly 100 transition year students have been told to stay at home this week as a result.

Problems were identified during a fire safety audit when the walls in two classrooms were opened up. A structural engineer found ties fixing the exterior and interior walls were absent or inadequate in places.

Most concern focuses on schools built under a fast-track design and build programme, which ran from late 2007 to 2013. This resulted in some schools being built within just three months.

The Department of Education is in the process of informing all schools affected of when they will face inspections.

Officials are in a race against time to try to complete the inspection before the resumption of school following the mid-term break.

In the Dail on Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it was possible that some schools would have to be partially or entirely closed, while in others it might be possible to conclude temporary measures and complete the work over the summer holidays.

He also warned of potential legal action if it emerged there were further structural issues. It does certainly appear to me that corners were cut back in the Celtic Tiger period when it comes to the building of some of these schools which is truly disgraceful in my view, he said.

However a spokesman for Western Building Systems said its integrity has never been questioned until now.

Each of our Department of Education projects, both before and since the amendments to building regulations in 2014, were subjected to inspections during construction. Every time, each was certified as meeting compliance standards, the spokesman said.

More schools likely to close on foot of structural concerns


What led to your research on the link between Craigslist and sex work safety?

I did a survey in 2008 that found online platforms were helping sex workers screen clients through references and email correspondences. That research seemed to be extremely important for thinking about sex workers safety. Prostitutes have the highest homicide rates of any female occupation in the country. They have been targeted by serial killers, violent men, and they are viewed as disposable, as people nobody will miss.

How did Craigslist ads  specifically those posted in the now-defunct erotic services section  reduce the number of sex workers who are killed by such a drastic amount?

Craigslists Sex Work Ads Saved 2150 Womens Lives A Bill Could Make Such Posts Illegal


(Natural News) An event called We Need to Talk About Diversity was hosted by Portland State University on February 17, 2018. The event, moderated by philosophy professor Peter Boghossian, discussed viewpoint diversity. It included a panel of three professionals, including Evergreen State College biologist Heather E. Heying, writer Helen Pluckrose, and former Google engineer James DaMore who was ousted from Google in 2017 after penning a memo explaining the differences between men and women.

When the panel agreed on the simple fact that men and women are physiologically different, a band of liberal lunatics went berserk, throwing a fit in front of the audience and cutting off the sound system as they left. This is not the first time James DaMore had faced this kind of liberal lunacy. In fact, DaMore was fired in 2017 when he wrote a memo explaining the biological differences between men and women. Evergreen State biologist Heather Heying was no stranger to this kind of absurd liberal behavior either. She came under attack during the liberal-led mob attacks at Evergreen State, simply because she taught biological truths.

This is the kind of routine insanity portrayed by the left. If they cannot impose their ideas on you, they erupt in profanity and violence, marching out of the room, tone deaf to reality. If they dont get their way, they protest for your speech to be restricted. If they dont like to hear the truth, they will find any way to intimidate you into silence.

Who wouldve thought that simple biological truths about men and women would be thrown into question, that students would feel so upset about the physiological differences between male and female? Who wouldve thought that their rejection of reality would embolden their emotional immaturity?

Watch it for yourself:

The insanity begins around the 18:00 mark, with Pluckrose explaining what social constructivism means. After the explanation, Boghossian gives the floor to Heying, asking, What can we take from what Helen said to help us make sense of James memo (that got him fired from Google)?

Heying responded, James argues, accurately, that there are differences between men and women. This is a strange position to be in, to be arguing for something that is so universally and widely accepted within biology... Continuing on, she says, Lets look at differences between men and women that are explicitly anatomical and physiological; are men taller than women on average? Does anyone take offense at that fact? I would say you could be irritated by it; you could be irritated by the fact that women have to be the ones who gestate and lactate; you could be irritated by a lot of truths...

Thats when a green-haired protestor erupted from her seat and led her intolerant, liberal groupies out the door, shutting down sound equipment as they left.

Heying wasnt deterred. She calmly stated, But taking offense is a response that is a reflection of reality. So, men and women are different on height; theyre different on muscle mass; theyre different on where fat is deposited on our bodies. Our brains are also different. So there are some binaries

 As security was called in, one of the lunatics screamed Hes a piece of s***. That is not okay. Even the women in there have been brainwashed!

A young male yelled out ... should not listen to fascism. It should not be tolerated in civil society. Nazis are not welcome in civil society.

Yet another screamed aloud F*** the police! Power to the people!

The panel, now without sound, projected their voices  not to be intimidated by the emotionally immature bursts of liberal rage that had just left the building, exposing their own fragility. (For more liberal lunatic rage, visit CampusInsanity.com.)

Liberal lunatics Students go insane when panel agrees that men and women are different


Republican Josh Hawley now leads McCaskill by 8 points in the latest Missouri Rising Action poll in a state Donald Trump won by 20 points.

On Friday morning Josh Hawley joined Americas Newsroom to discuss the Senate cloture vote to advance Judge Kavanaugh to a final confirmation vote.

Josh Hawley blasted Senator McCaskill to voting with Democrats as she ALWAYS does when they need her. There is not one instance when Claire McCaskill did not join Democrats when they needed her vote.

Josh Hawley: Im looking forward to the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh. This is something the people of my state voted for Bill when they entrusted President Trump voting for him by 20 points because they trusted him to put pro-constitution judges on the bench. To see Senator McCaskill vote no this morning to advance the nomination is extremely disappointing but I have to say this is typical because shes been part of this smear campaign from the beginning.

Josh Hawley McCaskills Vote Against Kavanaugh Disappointing But Typical Shes Been Part of Smear


18-year-old Parkland school shooting activist and boycott bully David Hogg is once again targeting Fox News Channel prime time host Laura Ingraham with an advertiser boycott. Back in March, Hogg got his feelings hurt because Ingraham commented on his self-admitted difficulties getting admitted to elite California universities. Hogg led a partially successful boycott campaign which cost Ingraham several advertisers but also increased her audience as Fox and other advertisers stood by Ingraham.

In the four months since the Parkland school massacre, Hogg has led boycotts with mixed results against Publix grocery stores (pictured) FedEx, Florida tourism, NRA supporting companies and Laura Ingraham.

Now Hogg is going after Ingraham again. This time over her comment that illegal alien children being held for processing by the Trump administration while separated from their families and unaccompanied minors are kept in conditions akin to a summer camp.

Hogg became a nationally known gun control activist after a bullied former student attacked students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where Hogg was a senior, killing 17.

Hogg has led boycotts related to gun control and the NRA with mixed results. While Ingraham is a Second Amendment supporter, Hoggs boycotts of her have nothing to do with gun control and everything to do with Hoggs apparent impulse to smash a woman he cant control.

Hogg tweeted to Ingraham Tuesday morning in bullying comments. The haughty tone used by Hogg sounds like the kind used by psycho-stalkers who taunt women into submission.

So @IngrahamAngle we meet again. Who are you biggest advertisers now?

If we get these advertisers pulled maybe @Ingraham will have to become a camp counselor and learn how wrong she is. 1. @BeachesResorts & @SandalsResorts [email protected] 3. @CarfaxReports 4. @AceHardware 5. IAC (Angies List, Home Advisor, Match) 6. @Cabelas 7. @JohnDeere

Hogg retweeted a fellow Parkland student gun control activist, Matt Deitsch who posted about Ingraham advertiser Cabellas, Cabelas posted this on Fathers Day but supports @IngrahamAngle who claims that separating families and putting children in cages is just like summer camp. These kids are getting abused. You should be ashamed.

 Contact Cabelas here: 1-800-237-4444

Hogg also retweeted a liberal Miami activist and radio host, Grant Stern, who wrote, If you thought advertisers should #BoycottIngraham for insulting mass murder survivor @davidhogg111, then theres NO question, its time to bring back the boycott for this. Laura Ingraham should leave TV and send her kids to #TrumpConcentrationCamps if she loves them so much.

For the record, Ingraham has adopted three children according to Wikipedia, a girl from Guatemala whom she adopted in 2008; a boy she adopted at 13 months in 2009; and another boy she adopted in 2011. Both of the boys are from Russia.

Hogg is traveling the country for a voter registration drive to get young people to vote out pro-NRA politicians. He was in St. Louis this past weekend where he championed slain bully Mike Brown of Ferguson, Missouri who was killed in 2014 as he charged a police officer after attacking the officer in his vehicle.

Ingraham has not responded on Twitter to Hoggs renewed boycott.

Before Hogg targeted her again, Ingraham tweeted a San Diego Union Tribune article she referenced on her show that described a facility for migrant children, Many elements of Casa San Diego, an El Cajon facility for unaccompanied children who arrived at the southern border, seem like what one would expect from a boarding school...  and There are classrooms, a play area with soccer goals and a medical clinic with superheroes like Wonder Woman, Superman and the Hulk on the walls.

Teen Tyrant David Hogg Targets Laura Ingraham With New Boycott Over Illegal Alien Children Summer C


A hero air traffic controller died during the devastating Indonesia tsunami after staying behind to make sure a plane carrying hundreds of passengers took off.

Anthonius Gunawan Agung, 21, was working at Palu airport on the island of Sulawesi on Friday night, when it was struck by two earthquakes causing huge waves to batter the coastline.

With his colleagues running for their lives and the tremors growing in strength, he bravely remained in his control tower until the flight was safely in the air.

But the crumbling tower was collapsing around him, and he was forced to jump from a fourth floor window.

He was rushed to hospital with internal injuries and a broken leg, and was due to be taken by helicopter to another hospital on Saturday morning.

However, he died before the helicopter arrived.

Air Navigation Indonesia spokesman Yohannes Sirait said his decision had cost him his life, but hundreds of others may have been saved.

At least 384 people have been killed as a result of the second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, which triggered a huge tsunami on Friday afternoon.

Some 540 people have been injured, and 29 have been reported missing.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by damaged infrastructure as roads were blocked and bridges left out of action, while communications to some areas have been completely cut off.

Palu was one of the worst affected areas. Images from the city, which has a population of 380,000, show parts of it completely submerged in water with widespread damage to buildings.

However Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency BNPB, said casualties and the damage could be even greater in Donggala, located 190 miles north of Palu along the coastline and closer to the epicentre of the quake.

Some 300,000 people live in Donggala however disaster response units were struggling to get to the town and have been unable to make contact.

Indonesia tsunami Hero air traffic controller died in earthquake after staying to ensure plane took


OMSK, August 28. /TASS/. The expenses on the upcoming Vostok-2018 large-scale
military drills are justified to maintain Russias defense capability amid the
tense international situation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on
Tuesday.

"The social security network and the pension system are a constant element of
state policy and a very important component. But the countrys defense
capability in the current international situation, which is frequently quite
aggressive and unfriendly for our country, is justified, needed and has no
alternative," the Kremlin spokesman told journalists, thus replying to a
question about whether the spending on the Vostok-2018 large-scale strategic
drills were appropriate in the current economic conditions.

The Vostok-2018 drills will be held in August-September with the involvement
of the military personnel and military hardware of Russias Eastern and
Central Military Districts and the Northern Fleet. As Defense Minister Sergey
Shoigu said earlier on Tuesday, the drills will be unprecedented by their
scope and will involve about 300,000 troops and over 1,000 aircraft.

Chinas participation in Vostok-2018 drills suggests broader interaction with
Russia

Chinas participation in Russias Vostok-2018 strategic drills suggests the
two countries broader interaction in all the spheres, Kremlin Spokesman
Peskov said.

"This speaks about the expansion of interaction of the two allies in all the
spheres," Peskov said.

It was reported earlier that Chinese troops would take part in the Vostok-2018
strategic drills at the Tsugol training range in the Trans-Baikal Region in
East Siberia on September 11-15.

Chinas Defense Ministry noted that "the drills are aimed at strengthening
Russian-Chinese strategic military cooperation in the field of jointly
responding to various security threats and also maintaining peace, stability
and security in the region."

China will send about 3,200 troops, over 900 pieces of various military
hardware and also 30 helicopters and aircraft for the joint drills with
Russia.

In other media

Kremlin underlines need for military drills amid tense international situation


More than 70 business leaders have backed calls for a final say on the final terms of Britain's exit from the EU, warning that the UK faces either a blindfold or a destructive hard Brexit that would be bad for both firms and jobs.

Waterstones chief executive James Daunt, ex-Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King, Lastminute.com founder Martha Lane-Fox and Innocent Drinks co-founder Richard Reed are among signatories of a letter calling for a People's Vote on leaving the European Union.

The letter argues that both the Government's current plans for Brexit, and a no-deal Brexit, would leave the country worse off than being in the EU if the country left in March.

Other people who put their name to the letter include Cobra Beer founder Lord Bilimoria, former Marks and Spencer chairman and ex-Labour peer Lord Myners, Alex Chesterman, founder of the Zoopla property website, and Sir Simon Robertson, the ex-chairman of Rolls-Royce.

The signatories  all acting in personal capacities  come from various different areas of commerce, including finance, retail, and food and drink.

They are the latest group to call for a second referendum, with a rally demanding a fresh vote a fortnight ago seeing a crowd estimated at almost 700,000 people march through central London.

The letter states: The business community was promised that, if the country voted to leave, there would continue to be frictionless trade with the EU and the certainty about future relations that we need to invest for the long term.

"Despite the Prime Minister's best efforts, the proposals being discussed by the Government and the European Commission fall far short of this, and they are not nearly as good as the current deal we have inside the EU.

The uncertainty over the past two years has already led to a slump in investment, which will make our country poorer.

We are now facing either a blindfold or a destructive hard Brexit. Both these options will further depress investment. They will be bad for business and bad for working people.

Given that neither was on the ballot in 2016, we believe the ultimate choice should be handed back to the public with a People's Vote.

Lord Myners, who was appointed as city minister by Gordon Brown in 2008 but now sits as a crossbencher, said: Any deal will be made from a position of weakness where we have surrendered our principal negotiating cards.

It will be half-formed, casting a long shadow over business confidence, damaging investment and hurting both enterprises and their employees for years to come.

A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the European Union said: The people of the United Kingdom have already had their say in one of the biggest democratic exercises this country has ever seen and the Prime Minister has made it clear that there is not going to be a second referendum.

We remain confident we will agree a mutually advantageous deal with the EU, that works for business and the economy.

Brexit More than 70 business leaders back calls for final say referendum


(Natural News) The New York Times is on a mission: Get people to believe that at least 80 percent of them have normal vitamin D levels; that the nutrient is only important in the prevention of rickets in children and osteomalacia (a softening of the bones) in adults; that normal levels of vitamin D are anything above 20 nanograms per milliliter; and that one man  Dr. Michael Holick  has single-handedly convinced everybody that they need more of the hormone than they really do, all so that he can make lots of money.

Dr. Holick is a highly respected Boston University endocrinologist whose work has been published in multiple journals, including the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine. He was also responsible for overseeing the publication of a report published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism on behalf of the Endocrine Society, which is the group that produces the guidelines followed nationally by hospitals, doctors and commercial labs. Despite these credentials, The Times paints him as a quack on a mission to make money off scaremongering.

The Times quotes doctors and researchers who for their own reasons  no doubt linked to Big Pharma  insist that Dr. Holicks enthusiasm for vitamin D is extreme. Yet, The Times fails to note that since vitamin D is a hormone, it is the Endocrine Society, and its leaders like Dr. Holick, who are the experts in the field and should be consulted when determining the necessary levels of this hormone.

Why does it matter? Well, because only one group can be correct. Either a large proportion of the population is deficient in a hormone and is suffering the health consequences, or the problem has been overstated by people who are simply in it for the money. If Dr. Holick and his colleagues are correct  and the science certainly backs them up  it would go a long way towards explaining why diseases which have all but died out in recent years, including whooping cough, have been making a quiet comeback in recent years.

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Whooping cough  a bacterial infection which can be life-threatening, particularly in young children  virtually disappeared in the 1940s, but outbreaks have sprung up around the country since about 2012. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides more information about this illness:

Pertussis (whooping cough) can cause serious illness in babies, children, teens, and adults. Symptoms of pertussis usually develop within 5 to 10 days after you are exposed. Sometimes pertussis symptoms do not develop for as long as 3 weeks. ...

The disease usually starts with cold-like symptoms and maybe a mild cough or fever. In babies, the cough can be minimal or not even there. Babies may have a symptom known as apnea. Apnea is a pause in the childs breathing pattern. Pertussis is most dangerous for babies. About half of babies younger than 1 year who get the disease need care in the hospital. ...

Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until the air is gone from your lungs. When there is no more air in the lungs, you are forced to inhale with a loud whooping sound. This extreme coughing can cause you to throw up and be very tired. Although you are often exhausted after a coughing fit, you usually appear fairly well in-between. Coughing fits generally become more common and bad as the illness continues, and can occur more often at night. The coughing fits can go on for up to 10 weeks or more.

This is where it gets really interesting. Rigorous research has confirmed a link between low vitamin D levels and increased risk of respiratory infections, which are infections of the parts of the body involved in breathing, including the sinuses, throat, airway and lungs. It is important to note that this would include whooping cough.

Experts believe that waning efficacy of the pertussis vaccine lies at the heart of the increase in incidences of the disease, but insist that people should get the vaccine, anyway.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC), for example, inexplicably advises:

[E]ven though the effectiveness of vaccines may wane over time, experts say people should still make sure to get them.

The Vitamin D Council, on the other hand, makes the more logical argument that respiratory infections most often strike in winter, and particularly in people with lower levels of the hormone  levels which are at their lowest in winter because of reduced exposure to sunshine. They also note that research has confirmed that people with higher levels of vitamin D tend to get fewer respiratory infections, and even when they do get sick, tend to get less ill and for a shorter period of time than those with lower levels.

The Council makes the sensible suggestion, therefore, that supplementing with vitamin D could help reduce the risk of contracting respiratory illnesses  including whooping cough  without the serious risks posed by vaccines (which have proven ineffective, anyway). A note of caution is needed, however: It is important not to exceed 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day, and it is always advisable to talk to your naturopathic physician before taking any supplements.

As the New York Times attacks vitamin D whooping cough - easily prevented with the low-cost nutrien


Paul Pogba pledged to continue giving his best for fans, team-mates and "the people that trust me" in the wake of renewed speculation about his Manchester United future.

Two years after returning to Old Trafford from Juventus in a world-record deal, the 25-year-old is reported to be so unhappy that he has informed executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward of his desire to leave.

United have denied that happened and the same outlet said that Mino Raiola, the player's agent, had even struck a deal with Barcelona - the kind of interest that the club have vowed to reject.

A tense relationship with Jose Mourinho appears to be at the heart of it. Questions about their relationship were raised last term and the midfielder is said to have been annoyed by his manager's comments around the World Cup.

Pogba only returned to training at the start of the week after helping France to win the tournament but he was thrust into the starting line-up on Friday and given the captain's armband, when his penalty set United on course for a 2-1 win against Leicester.

"Of course it makes me proud, it makes me happy to wear this (armband) at a big club like Manchester United," he said.

"Like I always say, I always give my best for the fans, for my team-mates, for the people that trust me."

Put to Pogba that it looked like he was fully committed to United after a lot of things had been said about his position at the club over recent days, he added: "Well, like I said, I always give my best for the fans, for the team-mates and for the people that trust me."

Pogba's focus on trust seemed pointed, as did his post on Twitter shortly after the match.

"I'll always give my best to the fans and my teammates no matter what's going on," he wrote.

All does not appear well behind the scenes, despite Mourinho saying on the eve of the Leicester match that when the media "repeat 1,000 times that my relationship with my players is not good, it's a lie that (is) repeated 1,000 times".

But it is not just the manager's relationship with United's players that has come under inspection, considering he was irked by executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward failing to strengthen the squad before the transfer deadline.

Mourinho said "football is changing, and managers should be called head coaches" after beating Leicester, who he flagged as a side that should not be underestimated as they "invest more than us".

The comments from the Portuguese and Pogba are sure to see contentment behind the scenes come under bigger focus, but Friday's win was a welcome boost at a time of apparent discontent.

"It's three points, it's what we wanted," Pogba said. "Very happy.

"Of course the performance wasn't the best, but it's better to start like this and finish well than start very well and finish bad.

"We know the players, and myself as well, didn't have a lot of training and we played a game.

"We knew we were not going to be fit, 100 per cent, but the most important (thing) was to start well the Premier League."

Pogba's early penalty was followed by Luke Shaw - a player who had endured a testy relationship with Mourinho - scoring his first goal for the club, meaning Jamie Vardy's stoppage-time effort was little more than a consolation.

It was a decent start to the season considering the number of injury and fitness worries that United had to contend with, but Friday's skipper is not getting carried away.

"So, it's pretty early to speak about this now," Pogba said when asked of their chances of success this term.

"We started with Andreas Pereira and Fred, and they played very well today.

"With the players that we have...of course we're Manchester United, we have to look at the top of the league. That's obvious. I mean, Manchester United, we have to show on the pitch, we have to play well, we have to be focused and we need people to trust us."

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

Paul Pogba pledges future to Manchester United and targets title challenge after opening day victory


The Republican National Committee is catching heat on Twitter after it encouraged people to support Team USA at the Winter Olympics by buying this old beanie from President Donald Trumps website:

Many respondents accused the RNC of attempting to cash in on the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. They also asked how purchasing a Thank You Tour 2016 hat would help them gear up for Team USA.

Others questioned whether any of the money raised would benefit American athletes competing in South Korea. Heres a sampling of the responses:

Dear @GOP,

I think you are confused. @TeamUSA is currently in PyeongChangcompeting in the Olympics 2018.

Support #TeamUSA

Gear up for #TeamUSA

 https://t.co/qtw7AQimbX...  Marcus Philippus (@EPluribusMarcus) February 9, 2018

But... youre not team USA. Youre like, team 35% of the USA at most. And you dont seem to care about the other 65%...  Dan Andersxon (@dandersxon) February 10, 2018

This is undoubtedly the most insipid excuse at fund raising I have ever seen. For you to use our Olympic tam to benefit your crooked party is shameful! SHAMEFUL!  patricia ramsey (@ppr2103) February 9, 2018

I can't make a difference. Is this a comedy or a parody now? When you think it can't get more ridiculous they carry the bar down to basement.  Thierry Emanuel (@foodandfriend) February 10, 2018

Why does it say thank you tour?  Lucy Salva (@Voters4Kasich) February 9, 2018

@BitterMetsFan those hats say 2016.. is that why nothing gets done, you assclowns don't know what year it is? pic.twitter.com/ZiTUBbZxUy  Christopher Ludwig (@ChrisLudwig73) February 9, 2018

.How is this supporting the Olympic athletes? Do the athletes cut any of this money or does all to to @POTUS ?  DA (@DanAhern68) February 9, 2018

Grifters gotta grift, I suppose. Who signed off on this crap?  (((Susan Campbell))) (@campbellsl) February 9, 2018

Ewww. So gauche to hawk crummy merchandise. What a stain on the dignity of our government institutions.  Lori Ginsberg (@ltgins) February 10, 2018

Ummm That would be a NO! Really @GOP pushing Trump crap in the name of our olympians? Bar just keeps getting lower and lower. https://t.co/RvI6Yqja6A  David  FunKnGrvn (@d2drummer) February 10, 2018

The RNC Is Hawking Old Donald Trump Merch For The Olympics And Folks Arent Happy


MPs from the Democratic Unionist Party are expected to abstain for a second time on crucial Budget votes in the Commons in protest at Theresa May's Brexit deal.

It comes after Eurosceptics in the party faced questions over the apparent collapse of their efforts to trigger a no confidence in the prime minister.

At a press conference MPs from the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteer Conservatives were interrogated over their failure to persuade 48 colleagues to submit letters of no confidence in Ms May to the chair of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady

Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted "patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace" when pressed on whether the necessary 48 letters had been sent, as he warned his colleagues that now might be their only chance to remove Ms May ahead of the next general election.

Tory rebel organiser Steve Baker said it was "now or never" to oust Ms May and characterised the move as an "insurrection by a group of determined democrats" against the "might of the state".

It comes after Mr Rees-Mogg issued a rallying call to other Tory MPs to topple the prime minister last week, when he joined around 26 Conservative backbenchers in publicly submitting no-confidence letters to Sir Graham Brady, of the 1922 committee.

Asked why the threshold had not been met, he said: "Patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace. We will see what letters come in due time.

"Do 47 want to come with me or not? I may find that they don't or they don't do it today but when we get the meaningful vote. That's a decision for them."

This liveblog has now closed, but you can read about the events in Westminster today above

 The Independent has launched its #FinalSay campaign to demand that voters are given a voice on the final Brexit deal.

 Sign our petition here

DUP expected to abstain for second time on crucial Budget votes


Well-off students are better equipped to "take advantage" of the university clearing system, a leading university official has warned.

Speaking on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire prgramme, Middlesex University pro-vice chancellor and marketing director Kate Everest said students from wealthier backgrounds are better prepared for the clearing system.

Thousands of teenagers today received their grades after sitting reformed exams with no coursework or modules, and the introduction of final exams.

Clearing, run by admissions service Ucas, is the process by which universities and colleges fill any places they still have left on their degree courses.

Students who do not achieve their predicted grades are able to see which courses still have places remaining, and apply.

Ms Everest said universities have a "responsibility" to work in partnership with schools and colleges to ensure that all students have access to support before their results come out.

Discussing the clearing system, Victoria Derbyshire asked Ms Everest: "We hear a lot about more well off students being able to take advantage of the university clearing system because they are better prepared for the system. Is that fair, is that true?"

Ms Everest said: "I think that is often true. Universities have a responsibility to make sure they are reaching out into schools and colleges earlier than results day, and working in partnership with schools to make sure people are accessing the advice."

The pro-vice chancellor said Middlesex University has been running a call centre over the last six weeks "taking calls and listening to people" to offer support in advance of results day.

She added: "A lot of universities are geared towards that now because we need to make sure that people make the right choices.

"It's not just about getting them in the door, it's making sure that they have a degree that can help them get a good job."

Ms Everest also argued for making conditional offers in some cases, where students are interviewed and submit a portfolio of work.

She said: "It's important to emphasise that not all students have three A-levels or three predicted A-levels.

"Actually what we are seeing is students with work experience - who have come from different pathways.

"What you are doing is assessing people's potential to succeed, and that's not just about their grades."

The university official appeared on the BBC programme as students across the country received their A-level results on Thursday.

More than one in four A-levels were awarded an A or A* this year - the highest proportion for six years, national figures show.

But there has been a fall in the number of students accepted on degree courses at UK universities.

In total, 411,860 students - from the UK and overseas - have taken up places, down 1 per cent compared with the same point last year, according to initial data published by admissions service Ucas.

Meanwhile some 16.1 per cent of those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have been accepted - up 0.4 percentage points.

A level results day 2018 Well-off students are better able to apostake advantageapos of the cle