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| What we’ve witnessed over the past several months coming from the Donald Trump campaign is something very reminiscent of a fascist regime that once tried to take over Europe. No one dare say anything bad about Trump, because if it doesn’t get you physically tossed from a rally, it will get you’verbally taunted in front of thousands of onlookers. Because of this behavior, his minions are following suit and feeling it is equally as okay to be both verbally and physically abusive.Recently, Trump even said if he were to be president, he wouldn’t allow the press to say negative things about him. Now, following through already with this proclamation, Trump’s Secret Service detail has just brutally choke slammed reporter Christopher Morris from TIME to the ground who was there covering the Radford University event in Radford, Virginia.Watch it all unfold here, as posted by Joe Perticone, a Congressional reporter for the Independent Journal: Secret Service agent choke slams reporter pic.twitter.com/jdsHOlylSB Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) February 29, 2016And an even more horrifying view:New video shows Secret Service agent brutally choke slamming a photographer at Trump rally https://t.co/OkvQdWfH8r pic.twitter.com/G6dArHxoKE Mashable (@mashable) February 29, 2016 With Trump’s vitriolic rhetoric getting worse by the day, more and more folks are showing up to protest his events, and rightfully so. According to Perticone, this most recent rally has been interrupted by protesters (who have been escorted out) 7 times this rally. Thats more than usual. People are sick and tired of Trump’s horrific language, and if you’dare try to protest it, you’re taken away. Now, if you’dare try to report on it in a way Trump doesn’t see fit, you get taken away.A Donald Trump America, everyone. First Amendment be damned.Featured image: screengrab |
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| While we’re so happy to hear that 3 innocent American prisoners hostages may be returned. We re just wondering who the Obama regime is willing to release from prison and how 3 American hostages for 19 Iranian prisoners is a fair deal? Iran will work to free three Americans from its prisons if the US releases jailed Iranians, the country s president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Sunday. If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set them free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the’swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well, said Rouhani, who is in New York for the United Nations general assembly.At least three Americans, all of them of Iranian heritage, are in jail in Iran including Jason Rezaian, a correspondent for the Washington Post who was arrested in July 2014 and accused of spying.The two other Americans are Amir Hekmati, a former US Marine who was charged with spying, and Saeed Abedini, a convert to Christianity who gathered a Bible study group.Much of Iran s judiciary is known for its closeness to hardliners, who are eager to scuttle the moderate Rouhani s efforts to reconcile with Western powers. Nothing would make me happier than movements to release prisoners, Rouhani said.The US has regularly demanded the unconditional release of the three prisoners.Secretary of state John Kerry, when asked by reporters about Rouhani s remarks, said he has yet to hear directly from Iran on the idea. We ve had some conversations but we ll wait and see where we are, he’said.For its part, Iran has sought the freedom of 19 of its citizens who are jailed in the US in connection with Washington s sanctions against the Islamic republic s nuclear program.Under Rouhani, Iran has reached an agreement with the US and five other powers to end suspicious nuclear activity in return for sanctions relief.While tensions have eased, Iran and the US have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, a year after the Islamic revolution toppled the Western-oriented shah.Another American, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, disappeared in Iran in 2007 but his whereabouts are unclear.Via: The Guardian |
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| UK Prime Minister Theresa May s conservative party is leading in polls for the first time since the June election, according to a YouGov poll for the Times. Theresa May s advantage over Labour party s Jeremy Corbyn has doubled, the newspaper said. The YouGov poll, conducted on Sunday and Monday among 1,680 adults, suggested that May s Brexit deal appears to have improved her public standing and pushed the Tories ahead on 42 per cent with Labour at 41 per cent of the vote. Liberal Democrats were at 7 per cent and the rest on 10 per cent, Times said. The public still does not think that the government is doing a good job on Brexit, but, Theresa May was the preferred choice for best prime minister with 37 percent of the votes. Only 28 percent voted for Jeremy Corbyn. The paper added that public did not shift its view on the referendum with 44 percent saying that Britain was right to vote to leave, and, 45 per cent said it was the wrong choice. |
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| Lebanese security forces arrested a former mayor of the town of Arsal near the Syrian border on Saturday in connection with the capture of Lebanese soldiers, security sources said. Ali al-Hujeiri also stands accused of collusion with the Nusra Front Islamist group, al Qaeda s former Syria branch, the sources said. Militants from the Nusra Front and Islamic State briefly overran Arsal in 2014 and captured a number of soldiers before they withdrew during clashes with the army. Nusra Front released 16 soldiers in 2015 in exchange for the release of jailed Islamists. Islamic State killed all nine soldiers it had captured. Both groups were driven from their last foothold at the Syria-Lebanon border in recent separate offensives by the army and Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah. It was not immediately clear which group of captured soldiers Hujeiri was being accused over. Lebanese President Michel Aoun said this week the army was investigating the circumstances that led to the capture of the soldiers killed by Islamic State. |
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered “an influence campaign” in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election with the goal of undermining the democratic process and denigrating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a new, declassified intelligence report said on Friday. “We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the report said. “We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him,” it said. |
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| Unreal! Is he that out of it? It would appear so |
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| Trump’s weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago and his nearby golf course have repeatedly been met with crowds of protesters. Just yesterday, protesters surprised Trump by showing up on his route to his golf course despite the fact that he had tried to keep the trip a secret. How d they know? Unfortunately for Trump, protesters correctly guessed that just 48 hours after he kickstarted a war in Syria he would probably be back on his golf course.Pool: Motorcade passed "group of about a dozen protesters w/ signs reading "Resign," "Loser," and "Impeach Trump" outside the golf course." Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 8, 2017Trump clearly doesn’t enjoy seeing reminders that his presidency is highly unpopular. This appears to be Trump’s solution:The newest addition to Mar a Lago a helipad and Trump chopper. pic.twitter.com/Hxb8QyR8Uu Vivian Salama (@vmsalama) April 9, 2017Trump’s administration claims the helipad was built to carry Trump from the airport to his resort without interrupting traffic. They also conceded that traffic will likely still be blocked off or otherwise disrupted near the resort each time he is in town roughly once a week. And like everything Trump does, the helipad comes at the expense of the average people unlucky enough to live nearby Trump’s resort.When the proposal was first drawn up, it faced criticism for its disruptions to the lives of those around the area:Jesse H. Diner, a Fort Lauderdale attorney representing Woodbridge Avenue resident Nancy deMoss, urged commissioners to hold off on approving the project until they consider alternatives to the location. These are big helicopters, they’re like flying tanks, Diner said.DeMoss requires around-the-clock health care that has been impacted by Trump’s weekend visits. Diner said she and her family is worried that the loud helicopters will be a nuisance, and she is uncomfortable with the U.S. Coast Guard boats sporting guns when Trump is in town.Trump went ahead with the plan anyway.Adding more absurdity, Trump’s personal helicopter appears to be using the helipad this weekend. The official Marine One, nor Trump, have used the helipad so far, but a giant helicopter with Trump’s name printed in red across the tail sat in its spot. Trump’s staff said it would be staged there until Sunday a shameless photo op attempt.It s also not clear whether Trump or taxpayers are paying for the helipad used exclusively to indulge Trump’s golf obsession. The helipad was registered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation suggesting Trump wants to treat his helipad as a site of national significance as if it s Mount Rushmore and not an excuse for Trump to take more vacations.If the cost of the helipad indeed comes out of the pockets of taxpayers it will be a stiff addition to the already $23 million Trump has spent taking vacations while president for just 11 weeks. At this rate, Trump is projected to eclipse Obama s entire cost of travel in just 10 months.It s for this reason that Trump appears desperate to rebrand his opulent resort as the Southern White House in order to deflect criticisms that he’s too often partying there instead of doing the job of president. It would be unsurprising to find that someday Trump renames the 18th hole at his Florida golf course after the Oval Office.Featured image via Twitter |
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| China said on Thursday it had the right to bar people from Hong Kong, a day after a British activist was denied entry to the former British colony, and that it had complained to Britain after it demanded an explanation. Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a one country, two systems formula that promises it a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland. But critics have accused the government of bending to the will of Communist Party leaders in Beijing and of a gradual watering down of the territory s freedoms, including freedom of speech and right to protest. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was very concerned that Benedict Rogers, a co-founder of the Conservative Party s Human Rights Commission, was denied entry to Hong Kong on Wednesday and demanded an urgent explanation from Hong Kong and China. It came a week before a sensitive Communist Party leadership meeting starts in Beijing. Johnson also said Hong Kong s high degree of autonomy, rights and freedoms were central to its way of life . Rogers has been a vocal critic of China-ruled Hong Kong s treatment of political activists, including that of jailed student leader Joshua Wong. He believes the decision to bar him was made by Chinese officials after the Chinese Embassy in London had warned him earlier, through a British member of parliament, that he wouldn t be allowed in. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the central government had a responsibility for foreign matters related to Hong Kong. The central Chinese government and the special administrative region government handle the relevant issue in accordance with the law, Hua said. Allowing or not allowing people in is China s sovereignty ... Hong Kong affairs are a purely internal matter for China. She said China had lodged a solemn representation with Britain, meaning an official complaint. When asked about the incident on a radio talk show, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam agreed. Ultimately, under the Basic Law (Hong Kong s mini-constitution), the central government is responsible for foreign affairs, Lam said. Asked if immigration controls fell under Hong Kong jurisdiction, Lam said: It has to be considered whether foreign affairs are involved during the process of immigration. If you say everything falls under Hong Kong s high degree of autonomy, this is not what the Basic Law says. Rogers, speaking to Reuters shortly after arriving in London, said Beijing s statement confirmed his assumption that the decision to boot him out was made not by Hong Kong but by Chinese authorities. He described the interference in Hong Kong s immigration controls as very alarming and a very serious threat to one country, two systems . China has now revealed its hand. The world ought to have woken up a long time ago, but I think now they really ought to wake up to what this means for one country, two systems , he said. I m very sad for what this means for Hong Kong. The former head of Hong Kong s civil service turned pro-democracy activist, Anson Chan, said the case was a serious breach of the Basic Law. Article 154 of the Basic Law says Hong Kong may apply immigration controls on entry of foreigners into Hong Kong. The Immigration Department must have sought instructions from on high, she told Reuters. They (Beijing) are sending a message that if you dare speak out on Hong Kong ... you will not be allowed in. Amnesty International s East Asia director, Nicholas Bequelin, suggested China s definition of what constitutes national security is creeping into Hong Kong. In China if you re critical of the political system, you re committing a national security crime and this is exactly the type of thing one country, two systems should protect against. In response to a Reuters request for comment on whether China was involved in Rogers denial of entry, Hong Kong s Immigration Department said it did not comment on individual cases. China has admitted asking a group of British MPs to cancel a visit to Hong Kong in 2014 during the massive pro-democracy protests, of which Joshua Wong was a leader, that paralyzed highways for 79 days. Hong Kong has, on occasion, barred entry to individuals including dissidents, such as former leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing and a Danish sculptor, Jens Galschiot, who made a Tiananmen sculpture. |
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| Donald Trump just threw a match on this tinder box of a nation when he decided to pardon former Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. This guy is a racist who was convicted in court of contempt for refusing to follow an order to stop racially profiling and detaining people. Arpaio terrorized that county for years with impunity and without consequence, and now it seems that he will be able to carry on being awful.Now, there is even more nefarious news out there regarding this. It seems that Trump tried to get Jeff Sessions Department of Justice to let Arpaio off the hook by dropping the case against him altogether. It seems that Sessions told Trump that such an action would not be the appropriate thing to do. Having no other choice, Trump waited until Arpaio was convicted, and THEN decided to wait for the perfect time to issue a pardon. One White House official says of Trump’s thinking on the Arpaio matter: We knew the president wanted to do this for some time now and had worked to prepare for whenever the moment may come. Of course, we mustn t forget that Arpaio and Trump have been political partners in crime ever since they started the birtherism nonsense, in which they promoted the racist lie that President Obama was not born in the United States. They both doggedly tried to prove that the nation s first Black President was not a legitimate Commander-in-Chief all because he’s Black.In short, they are two racist peas in a pod, so of course Trump wasn’t going to let his man go to jail, even though if there was ever someone who deserves to rot in jail, it s this racist, abusive former Sheriff.One good thing came out of this, though: It showed that when Trump is willing to do something truly egregious, the Department of Justice has maintained at least a little independence and is willing to push back. However, in this instance, said pushback had no real effect.Come on, Congress, Mueller, whomever please get rid of this lawless president while we still have a nation left.Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images |
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| Russia s communications regulator on Friday accused U.S. TV channel CNN International of violating Russian media law and said it had summoned the broadcaster s representatives in connection with the matter. The Russian foreign ministry accused Washington on Thursday of putting unwarranted pressure on the U.S operations of Kremlin-backed media outlet RT, and warned that Moscow could take tit-for-tat measures. President Vladimir Putin told a meeting of Russia s Security Council on Friday that Russian media outlets working abroad were facing growing and unacceptable pressure, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement on its website that it would look at warning CNN about the alleged violations, which it said also breached the terms of its broadcast license. It did not say what breaches of Russian laws the U.S. broadcaster had made, adding it would continue its systematic monitoring of foreign mass media outlets registered in Russia. Asked if the regulator s move was politically motivated, Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying: I don t work in a political agency. I work in a regulatory service. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday the U.S. authorities were demanding that Russian state-controlled broadcaster Russia Today (RT) be registered as a foreign agent in the United States. She said that move endangered the safety of the channel s staff, because it included an obligation to disclose their personal data. In the atmosphere of a witch hunt unfolding in the United States, this may present a real threat, she said. Putin, meeting permanent members of his Security Council, touched upon the issue of ongoing and at times growing pressure on Russian mass media outlets in some foreign countries , Peskov told a conference call with reporters. It was stressed that such pressure on Russian media is unacceptable, he added. He did not name the countries where the Kremlin was concerned Russian media were coming under pressure. The Foreign Ministry s Zakharova said any move made against Russian media working in the United States will get a tit-for-tat response . And who it falls on, this should be easy for Washington to work out. The clock is ticking, she said at a weekly briefing on Thursday. |
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| Tucker Carlson took on Yvette Felarca, a middle school teacher and national organizer for By Any Means Necessary, a militant left-wing activist group.Felarca, who helped organize the protests are UC-Berkeley is calling for similar protests at universities across the country when there are guest speakers she believes are fascists. https://youtu.be/uuWoQfZgW7MHere is how the NON-PROFIT organization uses violence to shut down free speech. Listen to middle school teacher and national BAMN organizer tell the reporter they have a right to use violence against anyone who has an opposing view: |
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| France said on Saturday it was extremely concerned by Iran s ballistic missile test and called on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to carry out a full report on the launch. France asks that Iran cease all destabilizing activity in the region, Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said in a statement. (France) will consider with its partners, notably European, the means to obtain from Iran the cessation of its destabilizing ballistic activities. Most U.N. sanctions were lifted 18 months ago under a deal Iran made with key world powers to curb its nuclear program. But Iran is still subject to an arms embargo and other restrictions, which are not technically part of the nuclear agreement. Guterres reports every six months to the U.N. Security Council on the implementation of the remaining sanctions and restrictions. Iran said on Saturday it had successfully tested a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) and would keep developing its arsenal, despite U.S. pressure to stop. |
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| Militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack outside the offices of the Yemeni finance ministry in the southern port city of Aden, the group s news agency Amaq said on Wednesday. Hospital officials said at least two people were killed in the explosion. |
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| Prime Minister Theresa May met with senior members of her ministerial team on Monday to discuss their response to European Union demands for more detail on how much Britain is willing to pay as part of its Brexit divorce package. The EU told May on Friday that there was more work to be done to unlock the Brexit talks, repeating its early December deadline for her to flesh out Britain s opening offer on the financial settlement thought to be worth around 20 billion euros ( 17.72 billion). May met with ministers amid expectations that she will offer the EU more than she committed to during a speech in Florence in September which failed to provide a meaningful breakthrough in the stalled negotiations. Despite growing pressure from businesses to show she can drive talks onto the subject of future trading relations with the EU, May s office gave little away as to the conclusions of Monday s meeting. It remains our position that nothing s agreed until everything s agreed in negotiations with the EU, a source from May s office said. As the Prime Minister said this morning, the UK and the EU should step forward together. Media reports said the ministers had agreed to make an offer which would increase the value of May s existing commitment but gave no specific details. The BBC reported that no specific amounts had been discussed during the meeting. May has repeatedly signalled that she will increase an initial offer that is thought to be worth about a third of what Brussels wants. But, wary of the need to keep the peace in her Conservative Party, which has a powerful faction insisting Britain should be paying the minimum possible to the EU and using the cash offer to leverage better exit terms, May has avoided publicly discussing any figure. Instead, she has said Britain will meet its financial obligations to the bloc a commitment which remains wide open to interpretation. Finance minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday that the government would submit its proposal to the EU before a Dec. 14-15 summit. He warned Britain would be prepared to negotiate hard over the bill, acknowledging differences of opinion with the EU on the value of liabilities, and whether Britain was even liable at all for some elements of the total amount mooted by Brussels. |
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| A U.S. congressional watchdog said on Tuesday it has formally added three agencies to its investigation into whether government regulators are too soft on the banks they are meant to police. In March, Reuters exclusively reported that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was preparing a probe of the U.S. Federal Reserve and other to-be-determined regulators, in response to a request by Democratic U.S. Representatives Maxine Waters and Al Green for it to look into “regulatory capture.” The review, requested last October, is the first by an outside agency into the perception that financial regulators are “captured” by and too deferential toward the bankers they supervise, so that Wall Street benefits at the public’s expense. Lawrance Evans, director of the GAO’s financial markets and community investment division, said in an email on Tuesday that the probe would include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The GAO will also look back at work by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which merged with the OCC in 2011, and regulates savings and loan institutions. Evans said the investigation is technically separate from the probe of the Fed, “but it is indeed part of the work we are doing in response to the Waters/Green request.” The FDIC declined to comment. Representatives from the OCC and NCUA were not immediately available to comment. Perceptions of regulatory capture have dogged the U.S. central bank and other regulators since they failed to head off the 2007-2009 financial crisis that sparked a global recession. |
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| Recently, Joe Scarborough has found himself the’subject of, shall we say, criticism because of his insanely pro-Trump bias something that bothers pretty much everyone at MSNBC. In fact, their relationship has traditionally been so strong that Scarborough bragged about giving The Donald debate tips. Recently Scarborough was busted revealing his pro-Trump bias in hot mic comments captured during a commercial break. The Morning Joe host can be heard steering Mika Brzezinski away from tougher topics like immigration in his effort to provide the billionaire with a softball interview.Following Trump’s repeated refusals to disavow the Ku Klux Klan something that would be easy for anyone who did not depend so heavily on them for support Scarborough expressed what can only be referred to as disgust during a segment of the’show on Monday: It s breathtaking. That is disqualifying right there. To say you’don’t know about the Ku Klux Klan? Scarborough said. You don’t know about David Duke? On Sunday, Trump acknowledged his heavy support from white supremacists, including former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, but said it would be unfair to renounce the White Power Rangers supporting him until he has more information. Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK? Trump told CNN s Jake Tapper. I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. I have to look at the group. I mean, I don’t know what group you’re talking about, he added despite Tapper s repeated clarifications that he was talking about the Ku Klux Klan. You wouldn’t want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I d have to look. Scarborough called this course of action stunning in that it isn’t buying him a single vote : I mean is he really so stupid that he thinks Southerners aren’t offended by the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke? Is he really so ignorant of Southern voters that he thinks this is the way to their heart to go neutral, to play Switzerland when you’re talking about the Klan? And to say he doesn’t know enough information about the Klan to condemn them exactly what does Donald Trump expect to learn in the next 24 hours about the Klan. Watch the’segment below:Featured image via screengrab |
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| Wilbur Ross spoke with WaPo about true tax reform He did a great job explaining his position on simplifying and cutting taxes. He said the W2 should be a one pager . He believes it takes entirely too long for the average employee to do taxes We say Amen to that!If Congress doesn’t get in the way, tax cuts and simplification are a possibility. Ross is such a great pick for President Trump. he’s another one who doesn’t need this job at all but is doing it for America. Pretty awesome!MORE ON WILBUR ROSS:WILBUR ROSS ON NEIL CAVUTO: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is one smart man when it comes to making an economic argument against the Paris Accord. He appeared on Neil Cavuto right before President Trump’spoke and brilliantly discussed why we need to get out of this boondoggle that will drain America of trillions of dollars. We re so lucky he’s our Commerce Secretary! He s apolitical and strictly looking at what s best for America financially.WILBUR ROSS TAKES ON MATT LAUER: Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, tells that President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord does not mean that the U.S. will do nothing to combat climate change. He says that President Trump is an environmentalist and that the decision will do nothing to damage America s national security. Yes, you can be an environmentalist and care about the planet BUT not be for this boondoggle! |
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| Germany s Greens said on Wednesday that any coalition government they join would have to agree to make carmakers introduce mechanical changes to engine and exhaust systems to cut toxic emissions. Transport is among the policy areas being thrashed out in talks taking place between Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens, who are aiming to form a coalition by Christmas. The parties are discussing all policy areas before launching detailed negotiations. While the atmosphere has improved in recent days, there have been few actual deals, with immigration and climate change among the biggest sticking points. The Greens demand on carmakers would go further than software fixes so far agreed between politicians and German car bosses to help repair the industry s badly damaged reputation. The future of Germany s mighty car industry, the country s biggest exporter and provider of some 800,000 jobs, is a tricky area as it tries to recover from the diesel emissions testing scandal which broke at Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) two years ago. Despite public concern and planned diesel bans in countries including France and Britain in coming decades, German lawmakers have not yet dared ask the same of its carmakers, such as BMW, VW, Daimler and Porsche who have invested heavily in diesel. In August, politicians and car bosses agreed to overhaul engine software on 5.3 million diesel cars to cut pollution and avoid bans on polluting vehicles but they stopped short of committing to more expensive hardware modifications. That may have to change if the Greens share power. We won t meet our targets of getting cleaner air in city centers with software upgrades alone, Cem Ozdemir, a leader of the Greens, said as he headed into the talks. There must also be hardware solutions. Ozdemir said the auto industry was going through the biggest transformation process in its history and the car had to be reinvented to make it emission-free and more automated. Public transport must also be expanded, he added. The conservative bloc, comprising Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and Bavaria s Christian Social Union (CSU), oppose any demand to ban the combustion engine from 2030. |
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| Bahrain will not attend December s summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council if Qatar does not change its policies and Qatar should have its membership in the six-nation group suspended, Bahrain s foreign minister said. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of financing terrorism. Doha denies the charges and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty and rein in its support for reform. If the situation remains as it is we won t attend this summit, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on Twitter, referring to the GCC meeting in Kuwait. The right step to preserve the GCC is to freeze Qatar s membership in the council, he said. Founded as a bulwark against neighbours Iraq and Iran, the Western-backed GCC is a loose association of the six Gulf Arab countries. Qatar has pursued policies aimed at the security of member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council ... Qatar has proved that it does not respect the charters, treaties and ties established by the GCC, Saudi state TV channel quoted Bahrain s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as saying on Monday. Bahrain believes Qatar is fomenting unrest in the island kingdom by supporting protests and even sporadic shooting and bombing attacks aimed at security forces. In an interview with U.S. broadcaster CBS News broadcast on Sunday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said he wanted an end to the dispute and warned against any military escalation. |
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| The information below is almost like a satire piece from The Onion. It s so funny that anyone could claim that ads are believed to have swayed the election.How about the fact that Clinton was a horrible candidate? How about the fact that the American people are 100% FED Up! with phony career politicians. The report from Facebook was turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller. What a joke! THIS PROVES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!A WHOPPING $100,000 ON ADS:Facebook has turned over all information about ads likely purchased by Russian operatives to special counsel Robert Mueller, according to a report.A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the’social media giant had sent the former FBI director data including copies of the ads and the identity of the buyers. That report followed news that an internal Facebook investigation found it is agents of the Kremlin may have spent $100,000 on ads with divisive messages between June 2015 and May 2017.A Facebook blog post published on Wednesday said the operation involved 3,000 separate ads over a two-year period and was likely to have been run out of Russia. In addition, Facebook found 470 affiliated fake accounts and pages.PRESIDENT TRUMP IS CORRECT IT S A WITCH HUNT :Mueller is investigating Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin. The investigation has dogged and frustrated President Donald Trump, who has called it a witch hunt and a hoax. According to Facebook, about $50,000 of the funds about 2,200 ads were potentially related to affecting U.S. politics. The majority of the ads did not reference the presidential election, voting or a specific candidate. However, the ads focused on divisive social and political messages about hot-button topics including LGBT rights, race, immigration and gun rights. Facebook has shared its findings with U.S. authorities.WHAAAAT? EVIDENCE OF WHAT EXACTLY?Facebook said in April that it found evidence some groups used its platform to sway the outcome of the election.It did not specify targets or who was behind the attack, but said its own findings did not contradict a U.S. Director of National Intelligence report in January about Russian efforts to influence the election.Via: CNBC |
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| A senior politician in Finland s euroskeptic Finns Party said on Tuesday he would step down from the leadership of the party, formerly part of a coalition government, after harassing a lawmaker in parliament. Finnish media quoted a female MP from another party as saying that Teuvo Hakkarainen, a deputy chairman of the nationalist Finns Party, last week grabbed her neck and kissed her in parliament caf despite her objections. I am very sorry for what happened, alcohol does not suit me ... I have hurt (her), Hakkarainen said in his Facebook page. I will step down from the position of the party s second deputy chairman. Finns Party s lawmakers issued a warning to Hakkarainen over the incident, saying any harassment was unacceptable. Hakkarainen will remain a member of the Finns Party parliamentary group. Hakkarainen was part of a new hard-line leadership nominated by the party in June, a development that led to it being kicked out of the government by Prime Minister Juha Sipila. More than half of its lawmakers subsequently left the party and formed a new group to keep their government seats. The Finns Party, formerly called True Finns , rose from obscurity during the euro zone debt crisis with an anti-EU platform, complicating the bloc s bailout talks with troubled states. Hakkarainen was fined earlier this year for a Facebook post calling for a Muslim-free Finland which a district court said amounted to agitation against an ethnic group. The party currently has polling support of about eight percent, down from 18 percent in 2015 general election. |
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| The number of Turks seeking asylum in Germany is up sharply this year and has been rising steadily since last year s failed military coup in Turkey, German government data showed on Monday. Germany got 4,408 asylum applications from Turkish citizens between January and August, compared with 2,836 in the same period of 2016, an increase of 55.4 percent, according the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). There is an increase in asylum applications by Turkish applicants. However, I can not give the reasons for that because we do not make statistical surveys of why people flee, a spokeswoman of the German Interior Ministry said. In April, the Interior Ministry said at least 262 Turkish diplomats and army personnel have applied for asylum in Germany since the failed coup on July 15 last year. Following the coup attempt, Turkey has arrested more than 40,000 people and sacked or suspended more than 100,000 in the military, civil service and private sector. Germany s mainstream parties have been outspoken critics of Turkey s crackdown Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik urged Germany in January to reject asylum applications from 40 mostly high-ranking former soldiers suspected by Ankara of having links to the coup. Less than a quarter of Turkish asylum seekers have been granted protection in Germany since the beginning of 2017, although that is almost triple last year s 8.2 percent. |
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| This is the’some stiff dancing Rick Perry does his best on Dancing With The Stars but it s just awkward |
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| Fox News Channel (FNC) has signed soon-to-be former Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) to a contributor role.He will offer political analysis across FNC and Fox Business Network s (FBN) daytime and primetime programming, starting on July 1st.Prior to joining FNC, Chaffetz represented Utah s Third Congressional District beginning in November 2008. In May, he announced that he would resign from Congress effective June 30th.During his time as congressman, he’served as the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee. He also served on the Homeland Security Committee.Chaffetz had an integral role in many government investigations, including the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, the Benghazi terrorist attack, the IRS targeting scandal and the Secret Service investigation.Watch Chaffetz s recent appearance on Sunday Morning Futures, during which he explained why Congress needs to be a watchdog over special counsel Robert Mueller as he conducts his Russia investigation. FOX Insider |
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| Ivanka Trump is a lot of things to her father someone he wants to have sex with (his words, not ours), a doting daughter he wants to bang, and she’serves as one of his advisors.During an interview with Fox News, she’said that in her capacity as an advisor to the President, I try to stay out of politics. I don’t profess to be a political savant, said Trump’s daughter. I instead like to focus on areas where I can add positive value, where I can contribute to the agenda. Policies around workforce development, around ensuring that barriers are removed from around the working family. Policies that enable that family to survive, she’said. Focusing on how we can help our veterans and how we can really deliver them the care that they so need. Focusing on issues related to the really devastating opioid problem we have in this country. I m more interested in being for something than against something, she’says which is convenient because she certainly hasn’t been against much that Trump has done.This includes his numerous attempts to ban Muslims from entering the United States, his decisions to undo workforce protections for the LGBTQ community and others nor has she’stood against any of the bazillion other horrible things he has done.She also doesn’t stand for much, being a person whose clothing line is made by Chinese workers slaving away in abysmal conditions for $62 a week. Investigators looking into the horrific abuses have been arrested or outright disappeared. Ivanka has yet been silent about their plight.How can Ivanka both stay out of politics and promote her father s agenda? She can’t. It s that simple.Watch the interview below:Featured image via screengrab |
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| So much for the US refusing to work with countries who are guilty of some of the worst human rights violations in the world From Human Rights Watch: Vietnam s human rights record remains dire in all key areas. A one-party communist state suppresses virtually all forms of political dissent, using a broad array of repressive measures. Freedom of expression, association and assembly are tightly controlled. The police routinely use torture and beatings to extract confessions and punish detainees. Religious minorities and activists are harassed, intimidated and imprisoned. The criminal justice system lacks independence and operates under the direction of the government and party. State-run drug rehabilitation centers exploit detainees as forced laborers making goods for local markets and export. Despite the pressure, increasing numbers of courageous bloggers and activists are vocal in calling for democracy and greater freedoms.A coalition of 14 human rights groups strongly condemns the Feb. 2014 decision by an appeals court upholding a 30-month prison sentence for Vietnamese human rights lawyer and blogger Le Quoc Quan. Mr. Quan has been detained since December 2012.The groups believe Mr. Quan s detention is politically motivated and a reaction to his blog, where he frequently exposes human rights violations by the Vietnamese government. Mr. Quan is a victim of a coordinated government crackdown on bloggers, citizen journalists and pro-democracy activists.Meanwhile President Barack Obama met Tuesday with Vietnamese communist party leader Nguy n Ph Tr ng in the hopes of strengthening ties between the two nations. The President also welcomes the opportunity to discuss other issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, human rights, and bilateral defense cooperation, the White House said in a statement.The meeting came nearly four decades after the Vietnam War. Since that time, the two countries have made efforts to improve diplomatic relations. In just the past two years, Obama has met with Vietnam s President Tr ng T n Sang and Prime Minister Nguy n T n D ng. Like in any relations between two countries in the world, Vietnam and the U.S. have differences on a number of issues, such as perception on democracy, human rights and trade, Tr ng wrote, according to NPR. To resolve differences, I believe the most effective way would be open and constructive dialogues. Via: Daily Caller |
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| 21st Century Wire says In the wake of the Charlottesville m l e, reactionary social justice flash mobs and assorted vigilantes have begun a campaign of attacking and destroying statues and monuments all over the country. The irrational rationale of these activists is that these historic monuments represent oppression and slavery, and therefore they must marked for ceremonial destruction. Watch this scene in Durham, North Carolina this week where, bizarrely, the hysterical mob of liberal progressive protesters lines up to take turns kicking the inanimate bronze statue on the ground, after it was pulled down in an impromptu ceremony. This is an emotive crowd, clearly carried away by the political hysteria: Question: Should a small violent, reactionary mob be allowed bypass any sensible public discussion or forum thereby litigating and dictating history for the rest of the community and country?So this is really happening. George Orwell was a prophet. #Durham #Confederate #Monuments #WrongThink pic.twitter.com/7seUcanqyD Mark (@markantro) August 17, 2017In many ways, are rapidly heading towards a 1984-style thought police environment now. Viewed from a police state perspective, this contrived disorder is designed to further breakdown social cohesion in American in effect, finishing the job which Barack Obama started in 2008. This is an invitation for the federal state to then move in with more emergency powers to restore order . For the populace at large, less rights of expression will be the outcome. While the New Left in American appoints itself as policeman of history, its ranks seem to be more ignorant than ever of it. They fail to note Mao s purge, and other such examples in history. After Charlottesville the Culture Wars have begun.What happened to this judge in Georgia may be a taste of things to come. The culture war has arrived RT International news reports The nut cases tearing down monuments are equivalent to ISIS destroying history, Judge Jim Hinkle wrote on Facebook Tuesday, the’same day protesters in Durham, North Carolina toppled a statue honoring Confederate soldiers.Judge Jim Hinkle suspended: The nut cases tearing down monuments are equivalent to ISIS destroying history." https://t.co/xVPslLurWJ pic.twitter.com/BIQcy5bnZ8 Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) August 16, 2017On Saturday, Hinkle had written that protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia were snowflakes with no concept of history, as they came to counter a rally of white nationalists who gathered to oppose the planned relocation of a statue to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. In Charlottesville everyone is upset over Robert E. Lee statue, Hinkle s post said. It looks like all of the’snowflakes have no concept of history. It is what it is. Get over it and move on. Leave history alone those who ignore history are deemed (sic) to repeat the mistake of the past. That post was written approximately an hour before a car crashed into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing a woman and injuring 19 other people. Police have charged the driver, who reportedly took part in the white nationalist rally, with second-degree murder. I have suspended Judge Hinkle effective immediately while I consider the appropriate final action, Gwinnett County Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) Tuesday.Hinkle told the AJC he didn’t see anything controversial about the posts. But you know, with the way things are going in the world today, I guess everything s controversial, he told the outlet Full text of Chief Judge s statement about suspending Judge James Hinkle: pic.twitter.com/WcSe2wQhFg Tony Thomas (@TonyThomasWSB) August 15, 2017Continue this report at RTREAD MORE CULTURAL MARXISM NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Cultural Marxism FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV |
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| Indonesian police are hunting for a U.S. citizen who escaped on Monday from an overcrowded prison on the holiday island of Bali by cutting through steel bars in a ceiling, the jail s second breakout of foreign inmates this year. The Kerobokan prison, about 10 km (six miles) from the main tourist beaches in the Kuta area, often holds foreigners facing drug-related charges. Cristian Beasley, who was a suspect in crimes related to narcotics but had not been sentenced, escaped at 4.10 a.m. (2010 GMT Sunday), said Badung Police chief Yudith Satria Hananta. It is thought that the prisoner escaped ... by cutting through the steel bars above the ceiling, he said in a statement, without giving details of how Beasley escaped without being detected. Beasley, 32, from California, is believed to have then used a rope to climb down a wall before getting over a perimeter wall in an area being refurbished. Police had questioned witnesses and guards and were hunting for Beasley, Hananta said. Another American, Paul Anthony Hoffman, 57, was captured while also trying to escape, Hananta said. Representatives of Beasley and Hoffman could not immediately be reached for comment. In June, an Australian, a Bulgarian, an Indian and a Malaysian tunneled to freedom about 12 meters (13 yards) under the prison s walls. The Indian and the Bulgarian were caught soon after in neighboring East Timor, but Australian Shaun Edward Davidson and Malaysian Tee Kok King remain at large. Davidson has taunted authorities by saying he was enjoying life in various parts of the world, in purported posts on Facebook. Kerobokan has housed a number of well-known foreign drug convicts, including Australian Schappelle Corby, whose 12-1/2-year sentence for marijuana smuggling got huge media attention. Indonesia has executed several foreign drug convicts in recent years. Indonesian prisons are often overcrowded, partly because a war on drugs led by the government of President Joko Widodo has led to a surge in the number of people locked up. As of June, Kerobokan housed 1,378 inmates, more than four times its planned capacity of 323, government data show. Prison escapes are fairly common in Indonesia, which launched an investigation this year after about 350 inmates broke out of a prison on the island of Sumatra. |
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| DENNIS MILLER IS HAS A FANTASTIC WAY OF DRILLING DOWN A TOPIC TO GEWT TO THE HEART OF IT WITH A COMEDIC TWIST Now Actor-comedian Dennis Miller is going after the #NeverTrumpers:Don t kid yourself. At this point, any vote for anyone that is not Donald Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton. Also, both Presidential boxes left blank is a vote for Hillary Clinton because as mindless as Liberals can be even they’don’t enter into suicide pacts with that petulant, whiny part of themselves. As that is your wont, fine do it! But don’t bullshit yourself. You re electing Hillary Clinton because you want to elect Hillary Clinton. |
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| Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham praised President Donald Trump’s new travel ban on Monday and said he expected it would survive scrutiny by the courts. “I believe the new order will withstand legal challenges as it’s drafted in a fashion as to not be a religious ban, but a ban on individuals coming from compromised governments and failed states. This Executive Order will help achieve President Trump’s goal of making us safer,” Graham, who has criticized some of Trump’s policies, said in a statement. |
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| Senator Bob Corker, unleashing one of the most pointed attacks from a Republican official on President Donald Trump, said on Thursday the president had not yet shown the “stability and competence” the United States needs, nor an understanding of the nation’s character. “The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence, that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,” Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations, told reporters after an event in Tennessee. “He also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation,” Corker said. A video of his remarks was posted on Facebook by a Tennessee-based reporter. |
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| Thailand s defense technology agency plans to set up a joint center with China to produce and maintain military equipment in the latest sign of the strengthening security relationship since a 2014 coup. The plans to establish the facility - and discussions on a Chinese naval center to serve submarines Thailand ordered this year - point to a growing Chinese security presence in the oldest U.S. ally in the region as elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The Thai government s Defence Technology Institute (DTI) will set up Thailand s first commercial joint defense facility with China in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen in July, a defense ministry spokesman said. It will be responsible for assembly, production and maintenance of Chinese land weapon systems for the Thai army. All our production will be for domestic official usage, defense ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich told Reuters, adding that it could become an assembly and maintenance center for all states in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Specific details, he said, were subject to further discussions between the ministry and China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) - which makes tanks and weapons among other heavy equipment. NORINCO did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment. Its website describes it as a pioneer and leader of Chinese military trade, and an important team to implement China s Going Global strategy . Kongcheep said the Chinese would provide training and technology transfer, but details of any Chinese personnel in Khon Kaen were among things being discussed. The Chinese Defense Ministry did not respond when contacted by Reuters for comment. China has become an increasingly important source of weapons for Thailand, particularly since the United States and Western countries downgraded ties after the army seized power in 2014. Major purchases since 2015 include orders for 49 Chinese tanks and 34 armored vehicles worth over $320 million - much more than the army has bought from other countries, although it also ordered helicopters from both Russia and the United States. The biggest Chinese purchase is the Royal Thai Navy s order for three submarines at a cost of over $1 billion. Thai and Chinese armies and air forces have begun joint exercises, complementing Thailand s continuing drills with the U.S. forces. On the civilian front, Thailand and China plan development of a high-speed rail link as part of Beijing s Belt and Road initiative. Relations with the United States are warming again too, however, particularly since new U.S. President Donald Trump hosted junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha at the White House. The joint weapons manufacturing center in Khon Kaen - apparently similar to one in Pakistan - could complement China s growing military presence in neighboring Cambodia, said Paul Chambers, who has researched Thai military and regional security. It opens the door for the potential of growing Chinese military influence in mainland Southeast Asia, said Chambers, of Naresuan University in the northern Thai province of Phitsanulok. New legislation taking effect next year will allow Thailand s Defence Technology Institute to operate on a commercial basis, but it will remain entirely under government ownership. Thailand s Defence Ministry said the government was also holding preliminary discussions with Ukraine, Russia and South Africa about joint defense manufacturing facilities, similar to the deal with China. |
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| The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said at least 10 civilians may have been killed by an air strike in the northern city of Kunduz last week, despite a U.S. military investigation that found no civilian deaths. In a series of messages on Twitter, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said interviews with multiple survivors, medics, elders and others gave it strong reason to believe that civilians were among the victims of Saturday s attack. Credible reports that at least 10 civilians killed in Kunduz Afghanistan air strike 4 Nov, UNAMA initial findings show, it said. The statement contradicts comments from some local and Afghan military officials as well as a U.S. statement on Tuesday which said that an investigation had found no evidence of civilian deaths. The episode underlines the lack of clarity over reports of civilian casualties, an issue which is likely to become increasingly prominent as the United States steps up air strikes against the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Captain Tom Gresback, a spokesman for the U.S. military, said the Pentagon still stood by its previous statement that found no civilian deaths. But he added: U.S. Forces Afghanistan will examine and consider any credible evidence when allegations of civilian casualties are presented. We take all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously and take necessary steps to ensure that we mitigate the loss of civilian life. On a visit to Kabul in September, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that commanders would be given greater freedom to use American firepower against the Taliban but that everything humanly possible would be done to avoid civilian casualties. Former President Hamid Karzai, who clashed bitterly with the United States over the issue in past years, condemned the air strikes but the government of President Ashraf Ghani has so far made no public comment. Accounts from some local officials and residents indicated that as many as 13 people were killed in air strikes in Chahardara district outside Kunduz city. Some Afghan media have reported much higher figures, without independent confirmation. Afghan special forces and the local provincial governor say 48 militants were killed but deny any civilians were killed. In its most recent report, the United Nations said there had been a 52 percent increase in civilian casualties from air strikes in the first nine months of the year to 205 killed and 261 wounded. The issue has particular resonance in Kunduz because it was there that 42 civilians were killed in a U.S. air strike on a hospital run by medical aid group Medecins sans Frontieres during fighting to regain the city from the Taliban in 2015. |
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| U.S. First Lady Melania Trump praised the “empowerment of women” at a General Electric all-female service center in the Saudi capital on Sunday, saying the women should work together and educate their children well. She is accompanying U.S. President Donald Trump on his first international visit since taking office in January, and told 200 female employees she tried to find balance between her role of First Lady and mother. “It is about finding the balance,” she told the women, who took pictures of her with their smartphones. Later on Twitter, she wrote “Enjoyed talking to the incredible women working hard @GE_Saudi service center. Great strides being made towards the empowerment of women.” Dressed in a tan knee-length dress, Melania shared a photo of herself with seven women dressed in abayas, the loose-fitting, full-length robes local women are required to wear in public in Saudi Arabia. She earlier visited the American International School of Riyadh and gave out books. The school, unlike most others in the conservative kingdom, has both male and female students of different nationalities. Saudi Arabia is well known as the world’s most gender-segregated nation, where women live under the supervision of a male guardian and need his permission to travel, study and get some health treatments. Since the late King Abdullah declared in 2011 that women could join the government advisory Shura Council, the situation for women has gradually started to change in line with moves to diversify the economy, employ more women and cut reliance on oil. |
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| A large Saudi public university announced it would dismiss employees suspected of ties to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, adding to concerns that the government is clamping down on its critics in academia and beyond. Activists and rights groups say security forces have rounded up some 30 clerics, intellectuals and others in the past 10 days, in what Human Rights Watch has described as a coordinated crackdown on dissent . Authorities have not explicitly acknowledged the detentions, which come amid widespread speculation - denied by officials - that King Salman will abdicate in favor of his son as well as deepening tensions with neighboring Qatar, which is accused by Riyadh of supporting Islamists, including the Brotherhood. The governing council of Al-Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh advised against renewing contracts for employees it said were influenced by the ideology of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization . The statement, posted online on Tuesday, did not name the employees or specify their number, but said they included Saudis and foreigners. The employees removal aims to protect the minds of students and university employees from those deviant, partisan ideas and dangerous, destructive trends , it added. Saudi Arabia designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2014. Hardline groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State are also blacklisted. The ruling Al Saud family has always regarded Islamist groups as a major internal threat to its rule over a country in which appeals to religious sentiment resonate deeply and an al Qaeda campaign a decade ago killed hundreds. Since the kingdom s founding, the Al Saud have enjoyed a close alliance with clerics of the ultra-conservative Wahhabi school of Islam who have espoused a political philosophy that demands obedience to the ruler. By contrast the Brotherhood advances an active political doctrine urging revolutionary action, which flies in the face of Wahhabi teaching. A political Islamist organization founded in Egypt nearly a century ago, it says it is committed to peaceful activism and reform through elections, and its adherents span the region, holding elected office in Arab countries from Tunisia to Jordan. Brotherhood members fleeing repression in Egypt, Syria and Iraq half a century ago took shelter in Saudi Arabia, some taking up roles in the kingdom s education system and helping to establish the Sahwa or Awakening movement which agitated in the 1990s for democracy. The Sahwa mostly fizzled, with some activists arrested and others coaxed into conformity, though admirers and its appeal lingered. |
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| It s okay he was probably just a racist white kid with Republican parents On a positive note, this is the last time America will see these two racist community organizers at a White House halloween party Barack has probably already forgotten the humiliation he caused every American when he took this infamous selfie with a few friends at Nelson Mandela s funeral |
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| South Africa and Morocco will resume diplomatic ties more than a decade after Morocco withdrew its ambassador from Pretoria, South African President Jacob Zuma said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday. Morocco recalled its ambassador from South Africa in 2004 after former South African president Thabo Mbeki recognized a breakaway region in the Western Sahara which Morocco claims as part of its territory. Morocco is an African nation and we need to have relations with them, Zuma told City Press in the interview. We never had problems with them anyway; they were the first to withdraw diplomatic relations. Zuma met Morocco s King Mohammed last week on the sidelines of an African Union-European Union summit. They felt that even if we differ on the Western Sahara issues, the two countries should have a relationship, Zuma said about Moroccan officials position at the meeting. South Africa s official government position - as re-affirmed by Zuma in one of his state of the nation addresses - is to support self determination and decolonization for the Western Sahara . The decision to re-establish ties with Morocco is likely to go down badly with some members of South Africa s ruling African National Congress (ANC), of which Zuma is leader. The ANC - as one of Africa s oldest liberation movements - has long backed those seeking independence in the Western Sahara and has accused Morocco of occupying the region. The ruling party said in a statement it had unequivocal support for Western Sahara but that this did not mean it harbored enmity toward Morocco. There is also no ANC policy that says South Africa should isolate Morocco, the statement said. A spokesman for South Africa s foreign ministry could not be reached for comment on Sunday. Morocco has controlled most of the Western Sahara, which is rich in phosphates and has seen some initial oil exploration efforts, since 1975. A ceasefire in 1991 called for a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara, but the vote has never taken place. |
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| Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along Andy Nowicki, Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East and FunkSoul & Miles of Truth (21WIRE & ACR contributors), for the hundred and sixteenth episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the’social reject club.This week on the’show we’re discussing the past week of fake news, mainstream lies, polititricks and psyops to certainly include the reaction of CNN to President Trump retweeting a GIF that seems to have triggered the leftist top outlet for fake news. We also dug into an article by Miles of Truth centering on Afghanistan, the new influx of troops expected to be heading there, the effect on the black market drug trade, tribal warlords being supported by the military & intelligence agencies and more. Tonight we hit 2 million listens on the ACR spreaker channel which we’re celebrating also! Here s to the next million listens! Cheers and thanks to all the Boiler Room and ACR listeners out there.Direct Download Episode #116Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research: |
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| The report exposed in an email shared by Wikileaks shows the results of a review that was completed in 2011, by Jennifer Reynoso, a New York lawyer. The report states that the Clinton Foundation is missing several policies/procedures that are required by law (e.g.,record retention policy). The report goes on to give the following recommendation:In addition to pointing out that employees of the Clinton Foundation are underpaid as compared to comparable positions in other companies, the email also states that the overall morale of the company is low and the’staff would like to see more structure. STAFF MORALE IS LOW AND STAFF IS HUNGRY FOR MORE STRUCTUREIronically, the’staff complained about a policy not being made available for an employee to blow the whistle on potential wrongdoings within the non-profit. Given Bill Clinton s history as a sexual predator and his role in the Clinton Foundation, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there isn’t a strong Sexual Harassment policy in place. |
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| 21st Century Wire says The field is now clear for Trump to become the GOP presidential nominee.Watch a video of this report here:Ted Cruz and John Kasich have both now bowed out of the presidential race, leaving Donald Trump as the last Republican candidate standing.The two failing candidates made their decision after Trump’swept to victory in Indiana last night.Dr. Inderjeet Parmar, Head of the Department of International Politics at City University London, says that, it has exposed a deeply divided Republican party whose leadership has lost all credibility and whose conservative philosophy, which it has held dear since 1980, is in tatters. It is, indeed, the elite leadership of both political parties that appears to have provoked this realignment in US politics towards outsiders and those not embroiled in what many see as a corrupt and broken system.Bernie Sanders, the Democratic outsider, also shocked the world with a victory over Hillary Clinton last night.Just two weeks ago Cruz and Kasich were publicising that they had made a deal to stop Trump, yet even their combined efforts were useless.Yesterday, a Rasmussen poll emerged showing that Donald Trump can indeed beat Hillary Clinton at the general election, and that scenario is looking ever more likely with the political establishment in such dramatic retreat.It is possible that Bernie voters will not support Hillary in the general election, and in many ways their anti-establishment position gels much better with the politics of Trump than it does with Wall Street insider Clinton.Immediately after Kasich s announcement today, #DropOutHillary began trending on Twitter. At the time of writing it is the number two trending hashtag in the US with 102,000 tweets.With such an immediate response taking aim at another establishment figure, the chances of Trump, or perhaps even Sanders, taking the presidency seem higher than ever.GET THE FULL STORY ON THE ELECTION: 21st Century Wire 2016 Election Files |
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| Turkey s foreign ministry on Monday summoned the U.S. embassy undersecretary and called for an end to a dispute between the two countries, Turkish foreign ministry sources said, after the NATO allies suspended visa services. The sources said the undersecretary was told the visa suspension move caused unnecessary tensions and should be reversed. They said Turkey s foreign ministry undersecretary also spoke by phone with the U.S. ambassador on Sunday. In a move signaling a sharp deterioration in relations between the two NATO allies, the U.S. mission in Turkey and the Turkish mission in Washington mutually scaled back visa services after a U.S. consulate employee was arrested in Turkey. |
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| Mexican authorities said on Friday they had found the body of young woman who went missing after using ride-hailing service Cabify, and had arrested the driver on suspicion of her murder. State prosecutors in the central state of Puebla said the body of Mara Fernanda Castilla, 19, was found near a motel in the state capital, which is also called Puebla. In a statement, prosecutors said they believe the driver, identified only as Ricardo N., killed her at the motel after she had hailed a car with the service a week ago, and that they would be charging the man for Castilla s murder. State governor Tony Gali said on Twitter the suspect had been detained. A spokeswoman for Cabify, a Madrid-based company that competes with Uber for ride-hailing business, declined to comment on the case. In a statement, Cabify expressed its condolences about Castilla s death. There have been few reports of violent crimes involving ride-hailing services in Mexico. Last year authorities arrested a driver for Uber on suspicion of raping a passenger. |
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| Donald Trump has repeatedly shown that he has zero respect for the independent judiciary. Every time a judge rules in a way he dislikes, he attacks the judge, the court system, and claims that he is the victim of some kind of political witch hunt. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that he has flat-out refused to hand over a key memo, drawn up by mega Trump fan and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.We all remember how Giuliani went on Fox News and admitted that Trump had asked him to find a way to keep the oft-touted campaign promise of banning Muslims but, of course, to make sure whatever order they came up with to do that passed Constitutional muster. Given these damning words, it s no surprise that Trump doesn’t want a judge to see the memo that Giuliani drew up for him. The American Civil Liberties Union is taking Trump’s lawlessness on, though. Miriam Aukerman, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, says of the’situation: If, as the administration claims, the Executive Order is not a Muslim Ban, then why is the administration refusing to turn over the Giuliani memo? What is in that document that the government doesn’t want the court to see? The ACLU, along with several state Attorneys General and other civil rights organizations have sued Trump and his government over the obvious discrimination, and it is pretty clear that they are not done fighting.Trump was supposed to have that memo to a judge in Detroit by May 19, and it has yet to materialize. We all know why Trump’s Executive Order is most definitely a Muslim ban, and that memo will show it. Hell, I don’t know who they think they are fooling here. Giuliani himself admitted that this is what Trump had asked him to do. We also, of course, have Trump’s own words to prove exactly what the intent is here as well.Trump is quickly learning that no one is above the law in this nation not even the’so-called president. Featured image via Michael Reynolds/Getty Images |
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| Kellyanne Conway tried to baffle George Stephanopoulos with bullshit on Monday morning and got her ass handed to her with facts.Donald Trump’s Muslim ban has caused worldwide chaos as airports across the country are detaining and blocking people traveling from seven countries, including green card holders who are permanent American citizens, children, and the elderly. For some reason, Trump and his team think these people are terrorism threats.But the ban not only violates constitutional rights, it is absolutely wrong about the’seven countries listed because none of them are responsible for any deaths on American soil.And during an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Conway took a beating after she claimed that protesters against Trump’s ban don’t know the facts. I see all these protesters, Conway whined. I think if you actually surveyed them, they would probably get the facts wrong. They re being misinformed. Stephanopoulos then unleashed devastating facts, pointing out that Saudia Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates were left off the list even though those countries were home to the 9/11 hijackers. Trump mentioned 9/11 as a reason for the executive order. None of the deadly terror attacks in this country since 9/11 have been carried out by anyone from those seven countries. Eighteen of the 19 9/11 attackers came from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates there is no ban from that country. Those countries also happen to be countries where President Trump has significant business interests. So why weren’t those countries included? Conway responded by blaming President Obama, claiming that Obama banned Iraqi refugees for six months.But that s a lie because it appears there was only a delay in processing visa applications of Iraqi refugees in response to an actual threat. But there was no ban like Conway claims. Stephanopoulos even pointed out the inaccurate claim and informed Conway that there was a lot of media coverage at the time.Conway then whined about not getting bipartisan cooperation, which is quite hypocritical to expect since Republicans refused to work with President Obama for eight years. She also demanded that Democrats and Republicans collaborate with Trump on his tyrannical agenda, which she called an extraordinary accomplishment. I mean, Donald Trump has been on the job for, what, eight, nine, ten days. Barack Obama was here for eight years. The extraordinary accomplishments in just the first week truly are breathtaking. No reductive curating reporting, in my view, is helpful to the American public to understand. We re being very collaborative and very open. We would just like the’same in return. Here s the video via Twitter.WATCH: @GStephanopoulos interviews @KellyannePolls about Pres. Trump’s immigration ban, countries not included and comments from Republicans pic.twitter.com/uzCFvtUNEV Good Morning America (@GMA) January 30, 2017Is it wrong to wonder when a house is going to fall on this witch?Featured image via screenshot |
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| Socialism doesn’t work but I guess Venezuela didn’t get the memo. No toilet paper? No food? Yes, it s come to that in this socialist hellhole Venezuela s product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday . It s an extreme situation, says Xinia Camacho, owner of a 20-room boutique hotel in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada national park. For over a year we haven’t had toilet paper, soap, any kind of milk, coffee or sugar. So we have to tell our guests to come prepared. Montilla says bigger hotels can circumvent product shortages by buying toilet paper and other basic supplies from black market smugglers who charge up to 6-times the regular price. But smaller, family-run hotels can’t always afford to pay such steep prices, which means that sometimes they have to make do without. Camacho says she refuses to buy toilet paper from the black market on principle. In the black market you have to pay 110 bolivares [$0.50] for a roll of toilet paper that usually costs 17 bolivares [$ 0.08] in the’supermarket, Camacho told Fusion. We don’t want to participate in the corruption of the black market, and I don’t have four hours a day to line up for toilet paper at a supermarket . Recently, Venezuelan officials have been stopping people from transporting essential goods across the country in an effort to stem the flow of contraband. So now Camacho s guests could potentially have their toilet paper confiscated before they even make it to the hotel. Shortages, queues, black markets, and official theft. And blaming the CIA. Yes, Venezuela has truly achieved socialism.But what I never understood is this: Why toilet paper? How hard is it to make toilet paper? I can understand a socialist economy having trouble producing decent cars or computers. But toilet paper? And soap? And matches?Sure, it s been said that if you tried communism in the Sahara, you’d get a shortage of sand. Still, a shortage of paper seems like a real achievement.Read more: CATO |
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| Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST every Wednesday. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Jay Dyer and Jamie Hanshaw joining from the’studio of Jays Analysis, Daniel Spaulding from Soul of the East, 21Wire contributor Randy J and Boiler Room Presidential Candidate select: Stewart Howe. In this broadcast listeners will be hearing us go around the BOILER ROOM on a veritable feast of topics including mind control aspects, revelation of the method and social engineering encapsulated in topics like Cloppers or Clopsexuals, MK Ultra: it s history and role in popular film and television, some breaking news on the Oregon standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and Daniel Spaulding joins late in the’show for some clowning of the reality TV style that is presented via the mainstream media as US presidential election process. If you want to participate, bring something interesting to throw into the boiler Join us in the ALTERNATE CURRENT RADIO chat room.BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! ACR player below Show goes live at 6 PM PST Reference Links: |
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| Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would dissolve parliament s lower house on Thursday for a snap election, seeking a mandate to stick to his tough stance toward a volatile North Korea and rebalance the social security system. Abe, in power for five years, had been expected to call the election for next month to take advantage of improved support and disarray in the opposition camp. I ll demonstrate strong leadership and stand at the forefront to face a national crisis, Abe told reporters, mentioning Japan s fast-ageing population and North Korea. This is my responsibility as leader and my mission as prime minister. Natsuo Yamaguchi, the head of Abe s junior coalition partner the Komeito party, said he understood the election would be on Oct. 22. Abe said he would redirect some revenue from a planned sales tax hike in 2019 to child care and education rather than paying back public debt, although he added he would not abandon fiscal reform. Rebalancing the spending would offset the potential negative effect on consumption from the tax rise, he said. We will turn Japan s social security system into one that responds to all generations by boldly diverting policy resources to resolve the two major concerns - child rearing and (elderly) nursing care that working generations confront, he said. Abe rejected criticism that holding an election would create a political vacuum at a time of rising tension over North Korea s missile and nuclear arms program. Pyongyang has fired ballistic missiles over Japan twice in the last month and conducted its sixth and biggest nuclear test on Sept. 3 We must not give in to North Korea s threats. By gaining a mandate from the people with this election, I will forge ahead with strong diplomacy, Abe said, adding that now was the time to put more pressure on Pyongyang, not open dialogue. Abe, whose ratings have risen to around 50 percent from around 30 percent in July, is gambling his ruling bloc can keep its lower house majority even if it loses the two-thirds super majority needed to achieve his long-held goal of revising the post-war pacifist constitution to clarify the military s role. He said his goal was for his coalition to retain a majority in the chamber. A weekend survey by the Nikkei business daily showed 44 percent of voters planned to vote for Abe s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) versus 8 percent for the main opposition Democratic Party and another 8 percent for a new party launched by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. The Nikkei poll was more positive for Abe s prospects than a Kyodo news agency survey that showed his LDP garnering 27.7 percent support, with 42.2 percent undecided. Abe s image as a strong leader has bolstered his ratings amid the North Korea crisis and overshadowed opposition criticism of the premier for suspected cronyism scandals that eroded his support earlier this year. Given the results seen in other major developed countries, however, some political analysts are not ruling out the unexpected. Abe s big gamble could yield a big surprise, veteran independent political analyst Minoru Morita said. The prime minister had been expected to face a grilling over the cronyism scandals during a session of parliament from Thursday and opposition party officials saw the move as a ploy to avoid difficult questions. Abe on Monday asked his cabinet to compile a 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) economic package by year-end to focus on child care, education and encouraging corporate investment. He told public broadcaster NHK that diverting sales tax revenue would make it impossible to meet the government s target of balancing Japan s budget - excluding debt servicing costs and bond sales - by the year beginning April 2020. But we are absolutely not lowering the flag of fiscal consolidation, he said. He said he believed it was necessary to revise the constitution s pacifist article 9 to clarify the military s status but said the wording of a proposed change was up to his party. The main opposition Democratic Party is struggling with single-digit ratings and much depends on whether it can cooperate with liberal opposition groups. On Monday, just hours before Abe s election announcement, Tokyo Governor Koike said she would lead a new conservative, reform-minded Party of Hope to offer voters an alternative to the LDP. Our ideal is to proceed free of special interests, Koike, a former LDP member, told a news conference. An LDP internal survey showed seats held by the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito could fall to 280 from the 323 they now hold, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. Reforms adopted last year will cut the number of lower house seats to 465 from 475. |
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| In a city that has more registered Democrats than Republicans, one has to wonder if the’sizes of the’signs are a problem, or if the excessive number of complaints from Hillary voters is really the issue A 75-year old Maine woman is saying that she would rather go to jail than take down her signs in support of President Trump.Susan Reitman of Rockland, Maine, is displaying two signs in her hometown that read I Love Trump and He Won, Get over it, according to New England Cable News.But the’signs are in violation of local law because they are larger than allowed by the town, meaning she could face fines of $100 or more every day they’re up.Assistant code officer Bill Butler told NECN that another resident had complained about the’signs and that they are not allowed to be displayed without a permit.Signs in the town can be no larger than two square feet, while Reitman s come in at more than three feet by two feet.Reitman is pushing back, saying her right to free speech is more important than the law and has no plans to remove the’signs or pay any fines. If I have to sit in jail for the rest of eternity, that s my choice, Reitman said. I guess I m being stubborn but I m not going to back down from what I believe. The Hill |
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| The North Korean nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart during a meeting at the United Nations, China s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The United States and South Korea, and separately Russia together with China, started military drills on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, which has repeatedly defied the United Nations to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Wang said in a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday that China would strictly implement U.N. Security council sanctions and stressed that parties directly involved must also take action and responsibility. The current deepening vicious cycle must be broken. Resuming peace talks is an equally important step in implementing security council resolutions, Wang said, according to a statement on the foreign ministry website. Russia has supported China s suspension-for-suspension proposal, where the United States and South Korea would agree to halt joint military drills while North Korea halted missile and nuclear tests. Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about keeping pressure on North Korea using economic sanctions imposed through the United Nations, the White House said on Monday. Trump and Xi spoke on the phone days after Trump and his aides publicly discussed potential military action against North Korea. Trump said on Friday he was more confident than ever that our options in addressing this threat are both effective and overwhelming . Pyongyang carried out the latest in a rapid series of missile launches by firing another mid-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday, soon after its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, in defiance of United Nations sanctions and other international pressure. |
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| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had a very special guest on to celebrate MLK Day Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson. Nothing could be more appropriate, and the two sat down and talked about something about 70% of white people refuse to talk about: Race.The conversation began with Colbert s telling McKesson of the reaction to his wearing a Black Lives Matter bracelet on the air. He says that with the way his white counterparts acted, you would have thought I d slapped a baby. McKesson s frank response was, of course, spot-on: I think that people are uncomfortable talking about the racist history of this country and what we need to do to undo the impact of racism. People would just like to act like we don’t have a legacy of racism here. I think people get really uncomfortable with it, but we know that we can’t change it unless we address it, right? He went on to remind Colbert and the audience what most of us have known all along: that the All Lives Matter crowd just want to distract from speaking about the real issues surrounding race. If All Lives Matter was true, we wouldn’t have to be out in the’streets. The police have killed 26 people just in 2016. Indeed. McKesson then addressed the blue code of silence, which everyone is aware of. Cops don’t squeal on cops even if it means covering up murder. Across the country it has been so similar, we know that it s not just isolated events. It is actually a systemic problem. He also reminded everyone of the responsibility that comes with the power of policing, especially the power to kill: That means they have a different responsibility and accountability that is not present right now. So true. They have a responsibility to serve first, and be rational, rather than militant and trigger happy.McKesson was them asked about Dr. King: People misremember King today. They remember, like, the’safe King they’don’t remember, like, the radical revolutionary King. He talked about redistribution of wealth and economic justice he was more aggressive than the dream that people remember. McKesson, who rose to fame through Twitter, then pointed out how social media is important to today s activist, though, at the root of it all,, nothing has really changed: The issues are the’same. We didn’t invent resistance, we didn’t discover injustice, but technology has allowed us to amplify these issues in ways that we couldn’t before and has accelerated the pace of organizing in ways that are really powerful. After speaking about the Democratic candidates and his experiences with them, the conversation turned to the issue that is at the root of all of this: White privilege. Unfortunately, that is something most white people will never want to speak about. However, Colbert is definitely not afraid, and he asked McKesson how to understand his own privileges from being white. McKesson responded: It s about role, and it s about access and what you can do is extend that privilege so that you can dismantle it, right? You can create opportunity for people, you can amplify issues in ways that other people can’t and you can use your resources to create space for people. Colbert then made the ultimate confession, which is that privilege also comes with fear. I can’t speak for other white people, (but) I feel guilty for anyone who does not have the things I have. That includes black people or anyone, because I am so blessed I think there s always a fear that it will be taken from me. And that is the very essence of why so many white people fear the breaking down of the’system of white supremacy. They fear that their wealth and societal position will be taken if black people get so much as a crumb of the pie, much less a slice. But, they should fear not, for giving other people rights is not their oppression.Such a basic concept that so few understand.Watch the absolutely perfect video below:Featured image via screen capture from Raw Story |
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| After suffering debilitating losses in five northeastern states Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania and his alliance with John Kasich crumbling after only two days, Ted Cruz needed to find a way to stop GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.And he found the way at least he thinks he does.The Cruz campaign announced Wednesday afternoon that failed CEO, failed Senate candidate, failed presidential candidate and largely disliked Carly Fiorina will be the Texas Senator s VP running mate.Simply put, this is Ted Cruz sad, pathetic attempt at a hail Mary to pander to female GOP voters (who loath Trump). And what s even sadder is Cruz only picked Fiorina out of sheer logistics not because he necessarily likes her or thinks she would be a good Vice President. According to Politico:The hope within the campaign is that Fiorina will help Cruz in California, which will award 172 delegates on June 7. Fiorina is scheduled to give the keynote address at this weekend s California Republican Party convention, speaking hours after Cruz takes the’stage.The move comes at a time of growing desperation within Cruz circles. Some in the campaign worry that the Texas senator will lose Indiana on Tuesday and lose other key states in May, paving the way for a Trump nomination.Yes, the women who helped dent Silicon Valley and lost a statewide election to Barbara Boxer by 10 percent is the perfect choice for Cruz s California comeback. As it becomes increasingly clear that Trump’s negative image will spell certain doom for the GOP in November, Cruz has literally taken it upon himself to pull a John McCain circa 2008. Only this time America knows who Fiorina is, and they’don’t like her very much.Fiorina suspended her campaign after poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire and subsequently endorsed Cruz, traveling he country as a surrogate for his campaign.The decision was two weeks in the making as reports surfaced the Cruz campaign was heavily vetting the former CEO, and placed her at the top of a serious contender list for V.P. Never before has a losing candidate pulled such a desperate maneuver to save their campaign. Hopefully this comes back to bite them both in the behind. The GOP is tired of panderers.Featured image via Gerardo Mora/Getty Images |
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| Share this with every offended snowflake in America clamoring for a safe space |
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| A banner reading “Build bridges not walls” was draped across London’s Tower Bridge as part of several protests in Europe and Asia on Friday against the inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president. Soon after sunrise, activists on the bridge, with its two Gothic-style towers, held up pink letters reading “Act now!” while others beside parliament unfurled banners saying “Migrants welcome here”. There were also demonstrations in Japan, the Philippines and Belgium, where hundreds of people held a minute’s silence, lighting candles in Friday evening’s bitter cold and holding signs defending women’s rights. In the Scottish capital, banners on Edinburgh’s North Bridge read “Women rise up” and “There is no Planet B” - a reference to Trump’s perceived lack of interest in combating climate change. Later, after the inauguration ceremony, several hundred people gathered outside the U.S. embassy in London, chanting and singing protest songs. “I’m deeply, deeply saddened and embarrassed,” said one of them, Kim Grey, 40, from Texas. “I’m here because I think the majority of Americans who didn’t vote for him need to see the solidarity around the world ... that he’s unfit, he’s unacceptable.” Trump opponents were angered by his comments during last year’s election campaign about women, illegal immigrants and Muslims, and his pledges to build a wall on the Mexican border. In Tokyo, several hundred people, most of them expatriate Americans, marched along a downtown street holding electric candles or placards reading “Love Trumps Hate” and “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights”. In the Philippines, about 200 demonstrators from a Philippine nationalist group rallied for about an hour outside the U.S. embassy in Manila. Some held up signs demanding U.S. troops leave the Philippines while others set fire to a paper U.S. flag bearing a picture of Trump’s face. At the rally in Brussels, people held up signs saying “Proud to be a Pussy” and “We will fight Like a Girl”. “I have a wife and three daughters; I have a vested interest in the equality of women,” said Protestant pastor Murray Frick, 62. “I am afraid of a big step backwards in terms of dehumanizing groups of people ... about my home country losing its moral compass.” Julie Chasin, a 42-year-old teacher originally from New York who has lived in London for a decade, joined the Tower Bridge protest. “Yes Donald Trump is President, but he still needs to protect everybody’s rights,” said Chasin, a Democrat. “It’s scary. I hope he’s kept in check. I hope everyone who is telling me not to worry, and saying that we have a strong system of checks and balances, I hope that it’s true”. Trump’s supporters, who admire his experience in business and see him as an outsider who will take a fresh approach to politics, were also marking his inauguration in London. Some 200 of them gathered under the gaze of a life-sized cardboard figure of Trump to celebrate at an exclusive club near the Ritz hotel. As he completed the oath, the room broke into a standing ovation complete with high-five celebrations. “I was expecting him to win,” said businessman David Pattinson. “It was the same with Brexit in how the polls got it wrong.” In Moscow, Russians hoping Trump will usher in a new era of detente welcomed his inauguration. Russian nationalists held an all-night party at what used to be the main Soviet-era post office in Moscow. Sellers of traditional matryoshka nesting dolls have added Trump dolls to their popular line-up of items carved in the likeness of President Vladimir Putin, Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, ex-President Mikhail Gorbachev and Josef Stalin. And craftsmen in the city of Zlatoust, east of Moscow, have released a limited series of silver and gold commemorative coins, engraved with “In Trump We Trust” - an allusion to the phrase on U.S. banknotes “In God We Trust”. In Nigeria, more than a thousand supporters of a southern secessionist movement took to the streets to welcome Trump, hoping he will end what they see as the “Islamization” of the West African nation. |
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| European Union leaders sought to minimize Spain s crisis with Catalonia on Thursday and avoid encouraging separatists across the bloc, describing Barcelona s secession bid as a domestic issue and declining a mediation role. Leaders did not hold a discussion of Catalonia s bid to break away from Spain and judged they had nothing to gain by angering Madrid, diplomats said. It is not on our agenda, European Council President Donald Tusk told reporters during the EU summit. All of us have our own emotions, opinions, assessments but formally speaking there is no space for an EU intervention. The approach contrasted with EU strategies on almost every other major issue over the past decade, including Greece s financial crash and mass migration flows from Syria. On countless occasions, EU leaders have used late-night summits to press for a common decision or joint policy statement. It s an internal Spanish matter, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters, a position echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who held a private meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on the sidelines of the summit. He (Macron) has complete confidence in Rajoy to resolve the situation, a French diplomat told Reuters. Spain s government is set to suspend Catalonia s autonomy and impose direct rule after the region s leader threatened to go ahead with a formal declaration of independence if Madrid refused to hold talks. Rajoy kept a low profile at the summit while his fellow leaders held news conferences on Thursday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped there were solutions on the grounds of the Spanish constitution. Despite some disquiet over the way Rajoy handled a Catalan independence referendum on Oct. 1, which Madrid said was illegal and sent in police to disrupt voting, countries fear making any remarks that could embolden separatists at home. From Scotland to Flanders and Lombardy, the 2007-09 financial crisis, unemployment and migration have allowed separatists, anti-EU and populist parties to feed off discontent with political elites and reopen regional divisions. As Britain negotiates its exit from the EU, few leaders want to wade into another highly complex negotiation bringing new economic uncertainty and legal disruption. Smaller EU countries such as Slovenia that emerged as sovereign states after the end of the Cold War are equally uncomfortable about inspiring secessionists across the bloc. They rely on Spain, a large euro zone economy, for investment. Even in Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the European Union, there is a reluctance to fuel calls for regional autonomy at home. Spain is one of five EU countries that has yet to recognize Kosovo s independence. There is not much to gain from backing Barcelona and a lot to lose from angering Madrid, said a senior EU diplomat at the EU summit. |
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| U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he wanted to help lawmakers pass legislation aimed at helping to protect youth brought to the United States illegally, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said. Speaking in remarks on the Senate floor, Schumer said he had spoken with Trump in a telephone call earlier Thursday during which the president offered to help with the proposal known as the Dream Act. The White House earlier on Thursday said Trump had spoken with Schumer as well as his House counterpart Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. |
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| Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, for decades one of the state’s most powerful politicians, was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for collecting millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks. U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan federal court said she hoped the penalty would cause “the next corrupt politician to hesitate” before accepting a bribe. The prison term could amount to a life sentence for the 72-year-old Silver, who fought prostate cancer last year. The sentencing capped a stunning fall from power for Silver, a Democrat who represented Manhattan’s Lower East Side and served as speaker of the state Assembly from 1994 to 2015. Silver’s counterpart in the state Senate, former Majority Leader Dean Skelos, was also found guilty of corruption just 10 days after a jury convicted Silver of seven counts in December. The legislative leaders were two of the “three men in a room,” along with the governor, who control virtually all legislation in the state capital of Albany. Their convictions represented the biggest wins in a broad anti-corruption campaign by Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, who has charged numerous politicians with graft. “Today’s stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver’s long career of corruption,” Bharara said in a statement following the hearing. More than 30 legislators have been forced from office for criminal or ethical issues since 2000, according to the nonprofit watchdog Citizens Union. Prosecutors said Silver awarded $500,000 in secret state grant money to a cancer researcher who, in exchange, funneled patients to Silver’s law firm, allowing the lawmaker to collect millions of dollars in referral fees. He was also accused of steering real estate developers to another law firm in exchange for kickbacks and then throwing his support to rent-control legislation favored by the developers. Silver offered an apology during the hearing, saying: “I’ve let down my family, I’ve let down my colleagues, I’ve let down my constituents, and I am truly, truly sorry for that.” Minutes later, he appeared to have no reaction when Caproni announced the sentence. His lawyers said they plan to appeal his conviction. Steven Molo, one of Silver’s lawyers, had asked Caproni for a “sentence that tempers justice with mercy,” citing Silver’s age, health and what he described as a lifetime of good works for the people of New York. But prosecutors said Silver deserved a sentence longer than that of any other convicted New York public official, given his leadership position and the sheer scope of his misconduct. Caproni agreed, telling Silver that corruption “attacks the very heart of our system of government” before offering a blunt assessment of his behavior. “Mr. Silver, those are not the actions of a basically honest person,” she said after listing some of his crimes. “Those are the actions of a scheming, corrupt politician.” The judge also ordered Silver to pay a fine of $1.75 million and forfeit more than $5 million in ill-gotten gains. He is scheduled to report to prison on July 1. |
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| Germany s Angela Merkel began the tough task of trying to build a coalition government on Monday after securing a fourth term as chancellor in an election which saw her support slide and the far right making significant gains. With the Social Democrats insisting they will go into opposition and all parties shunning the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), parliamentary arithmetic favors a Jamaica coalition of her conservatives (black), the pro-business Free Democrats (yellow), and the Greens - so named because their party colors reflect the Jamaican flag. Merkel s party remains the biggest parliamentary bloc and she has said she is sure a coalition can be agreed by Christmas. But patching together a coalition deal with three wildly differing parties of the right, left and center, will be no easy task, and some investors are unsettled by the prospect of a weaker Merkel at the head of a potentially unstable coalition. The following is a list of areas in which the three parties are at odds with each other. Merkel s conservatives (CDU/CSU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) agree on the primacy of fiscal discipline, but may diverge on the details. The FDP s ambition for a working middle class tax cut of 30 billion euros may clash with the CDU s pledge to prioritize investment, though investment in higher education is a shared priority. The conservatives and FDU may accept the Greens ambition to shutter polluting coal-fired plants and promote green energy, but at a slower pace. However, the Greens hostility to the terms of major trade deals will be a much more serious sticking point. The FDP s tougher line on immigration is likely to be more of a sticking point for the Greens than for the CDU. The pro-business FDP wants immigration to serve the needs of the economy but, like the other two parties, is committed to the right to asylum for war refugees. The FDP will likely be able to sign up to the CDU s plan to remove the right to remain from those who fail to integrate or break the law. Both parties, traditionally stricter on citizenship policy, are likely to resist the Greens wish to let anyone born in Germany become a citizen. However, the liberals and the Greens may be able to make common cause on civil liberties: the FDP opposes widespread data retention for security agencies, while the Greens want a security policy that is more responsive to civil rights concerns and opposes mass surveillance. The FDP will be resistant to CDU plans to deepen the euro zone. A coalition incorporating the FDP would also ramp up the pressure on Merkel to agree to a suspension of Turkey s EU accession talks, a key policy demand of the liberals that Merkel has always resisted. The Greens, who traditionally enjoy strong support from Germans of Turkish ethnic background but are sharply critical of the government of President Tayyip Erdogan, are likely to side with Merkel in her attempts to avoid a serious rupture with Turkey. The Greens share the CDU s belief in deepening the EU, but also favor the kind of intra-EU transfers of funds and financial solidarity that raise hackles in the fiscally conservative CDU and FDP. The Greens favor maintaining a tough line against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. FDP officials have expressed divergent views on the issue, but several key members of the party distanced themselves from a call by FDP leader Christian Lindner to set aside the issue of Crimea. There are fissures within the conservative bloc on the issue, with Bavaria s CSU - sister party of Merkel s CDU - more concerned about maintaining economic ties with Russia and probably more open to some easing of sanctions. Ultimately much will depend on whether the foreign ministry post goes to the FDP or the Greens. Regardless of how a coalition is formed, the German government has a longstanding interest in implementing the Minsk ceasefire accord and is looking carefully at a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to put U.N. peacekeepers into Ukraine, a stance facing opposition from the United States and Kiev. The Greens oppose large increases in military spending, but may find a compromise that allows small increases paired with increases in development spending. Merkel has said she intends to fulfill a promise to increase military spending to 2 percent of GDP from around 1.2 percent now, in line with a pledge to NATO, but experts and government insiders say Germany will come nowhere near the 2 percent mark over the next four years, so the new coalition government could defer conflicts about the issue. The CDU and the Greens share a belief in investing in housing: the CDU wants financial aid to boost home ownership, while the Greens want to build a million new affordable homes. But the FDP, one of whose slogans is people can do great things if you let them , is generally opposed to state intervention in the free market. That view could also be a stumbling block when it comes to the CDU s plan to help Germany s automotive sector shift toward electric cars and to support other strategic sectors such as microelectronics. The FDP may also resist the Greens goal of introducing quotas for woman managers at senior levels in the private sector. The Greens and the FDP are both strong supporters of education reform and investment in digital technologies, such as by building fiber optic networks. |
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| North Korea violated an armistice agreement with South Korea this month when North Korean soldiers shot and wounded a North Korean soldier as he defected across their border and it must not do so again, South Korea s defense minister said on Monday. The defector, a North Korean soldier identified only by his surname, Oh, was critically wounded but has been recovering in hospital in South Korea. The incident comes at a time of heightened tension between North Korea and the international community over its nuclear weapons program, but the North has not publicly responded to the defection at the sensitive border. South Korean Minister of Defence Song Young-moo issued his warning to the North while on a visit to the border where he commended South Korean soldiers at a Joint Security Area (JSA), in the so-called Truce Village of Panmunjom, in the demilitarized zone, for rescuing the defector. A North Korean border guard briefly crossed the border with the South in the chase for the defector on Nov. 13 - a video released by the U.N. Command (UNC) in Seoul showed - a violation of the ceasefire accord between North and South at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Shooting towards the South at a defecting person, that s a violation of the armistice agreement, Song said. Crossing the military demarcation line, a violation. Carrying automatic rifles (in the JSA), another violation, he added as he stood near where South Korean soldiers had found Oh, collapsed and bleeding from his wounds. North Korea should be informed this sort of thing should never occur again. Since the defection, North Korea has reportedly replaced guards stationed there. Soldiers have fortified a section of the area seen aimed at blocking any more defections by digging a trench and planting trees. As Song was speaking 10 meters away from the trees North Korean soldiers planted, four North Korean soldiers were spotted listening closely. South Korean military officials pointed out two bullet holes in a metal wall on a South Korean building, from North Korean shots fired at Oh as he ran. Oh has undergone several operations in hospital to remove bullets. His lead surgeon, Lee Cook-jong, told Reuters his patient has suffers from nightmares about being returned to the North. In South Korea, six soldiers, three South Korean and three American, were given awards by the U.S. Forces Korea last week in recognition for their efforts in rescuing the defector. After inspecting the site on Monday, Song met troops stationed there for lunch and praised them for acting promptly and appropriately . South Korea has been broadcasting news of the soldier s defection towards North Korea via loudspeakers, according to the South s Yonhap news agency. South Korean military officials have declined to confirm that. |
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| Donald Trump is scheduled to make his first state visit to Britain later this year. Since the United Kingdom is one of America s closest and oldest allies, the utmost diplomacy and courtesy is usually afforded when either leader visits the other. That will not be the case during the Trump era, though, if UK House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has anything to say about it. Citing Trump’s racism and sexism, Bercow says that he is against allowing Trump to address the UK s Members of Parliament (MP s).Bercow says that speaking before the distinguished body is not an automatic right, it is an earned honour. Many MP s were elated at Bercow s move, while others were irritated and worried that he might be straining relations with an ally that the UK needs in his proposed treatment of Trump. Bercow said of his decision: After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall. I would not wish to issue an invitation to President Trump. Bercow then added passionately: I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons. Labour Party MP Stephen Daughtry offered high praise for Bercow s extraordinary statement: I am delighted that the Speaker has listened to members from across the house regarding our deep concerns that Donald Trump not be honoured with an address in Westminster Hall or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster, after his comments and actions on women, torture, refugees and the judiciary. Another Labour Party MP, Yvette Cooper, said that Trump has been continuing his assault on the democratic values that the British Parliament holds dear. This really should come as no surprise, because during the election cycle, the entire British Parliament spent more than three hours excoriating Trump. He was called crazy, a buffoon, a fool, bonkers, dangerous, and more. Regardless of party, the entire House of Commons were in agreement in their contempt for then-candidate Trump. Here is a highlight reel, courtesy of the Washington Post, on that debate:All in all, Trump is ruining relationships for America, likely for years to come, just because of his repugnant personal characteristics. Good on House Speaker Bercow for putting principle above niceties. Hopefully, people continue to support this move. In the meantime, let’s hope our allies don’t judge all Americans by the actions of one unhinged, illegitimate leader.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images |
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| Congressional Republicans are ramping up discussions on overhauling the U.S. tax code that a prominent Republican anti-tax advocate said on Wednesday will produce a bill by September with a hefty corporate tax cut. Grover Norquist, head of the anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform and a lobbyist close to Republican leaders, said a “Big Six” group of Republican tax decision-makers was targeting the end of this month for producing a basic framework for a bill to be introduced in September. “The House, the White House and the Senate have been meeting for a couple months. They’ll have a package in September,” said Norquist, a conservative tax and small-government activist who has met with Big Six members. The group met on Wednesday evening and two members who emerged 45 minutes later said they were united on tax principles but offered no comment on whether they had agreed to a framework. “We’re all on one page, on one unified page,” White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady also told reporters there was unity and to expect a statement in coming days. Central to the discussion is the 35 percent corporate income tax rate, how much it can be cut and whether a cut can be made permanent. The White House wants to slash the rate to 15 percent for seven years, while congressional Republicans are trying to settle on a permanent rate that does not increase the deficit. President Donald Trump and his representatives on the Big Six - Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - are “really excited about the 15 percent rate” for corporations, Norquist said. The congressional Big Six members are Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch. Norquist has played a key role in tax negotiations in Washington for years. Trump is insisting on lowering the tax rate for pass-through businesses, now taxed at the top individual tax code rate, to 15 percent, Norquist said. The Big Six agree that Trump’s 15 percent corporate rate cannot be achieved on a permanent basis without adding to the federal deficit, administration officials said. Such a steep tax rate cut would mean a revenue loss of more than $2 trillion over a decade, independent analysts say. To solve the deficit issue, the White House is open to making the 15 percent rate temporary, with an expiration in seven years, Norquist said. That would conflict with Republicans in Congress who want a permanent tax overhaul, but it would ensure rates would not have to be renewed during Trump’s presidency. Mnuchin said on Wednesday morning that the administration would be “sensitive to increasing the debt.” “We are very close to releasing a detailed plan and I can assure you that we believe that detailed plan will be responsible on the impact on the economy and the cost to the debt,” he said. Under current law, companies adhere to complex depreciation schedules for how long it takes for equipment to wear out and lose value. Business groups have called for “100 percent expensing,” a policy that would let companies write off the entire price of equipment in the year of purchase. Former President Barack Obama pushed for temporary 100 percent expensing as a economic stimulus to help reverse the recession when he took office. The White House is considering a three-year window to allow 100 percent expensing, Norquist said. After the three years, the rate would return to 50 percent, which is the current law. |
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| Former soccer star George Weah was set to win the first round of a presidential election in Liberia after the elections commission said on Sunday he was leading with 39 percent of votes and less than 5 percent of precincts still to be counted. He will face Vice President Joseph Boakai, who was in second place with 29.1 percent, in a second round poll next month. Boakai was more than 280,000 votes ahead of the third placed candidate, lawyer Charles Brumskine, on 9.8 percent. The final certified results from Tuesday s poll must be announced by Oct. 25. But with more than 1.5 million votes counted so far and 95.6 percent of polling stations having reported, it was mathematically impossible that Brumskine could move into second place. Turnout based on votes counted so far was nearly 75 percent. A total of 20 candidates competed in last week s poll seeking to succeed Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in what would be Liberia s first democratic transfer of power in more than 70 years. Weah and Boakai had both predicted outright victory in the first round. Supporters at Weah s headquarters in the capital Monrovia crowded around cars listening to the results broadcast on the radio and voiced frustration as it became clear that a second round of voting was unavoidable. We need to be calm. But we are worried that they are going to cheat us. We feel disenchanted from 2005 and 2011. People say no second round because of the desire they have, Weah supporter Luke Harris, 31, said. Weah, a national hero in Liberia, became the first non-European to win European soccer s player of the year award in 1995, the same year he picked up the African and world player of the year awards. He finished runner-up to Johnson Sirleaf in a 2005 election that helped draw a line under years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. He was the vice-presidential candidate on a ticket with Winston Tubman, who lost to her six years later. Officials from both Weah and Boakai s campaigns said they would accept the result. We are disappointed that there is going to be a run off. We had anticipated that we would win in the first round. But we will accept it and go with it, said Mohammed Ali, spokesman for Boakai s ruling Unity Party. Even before Sunday s results announcement, both campaigns had already begun courting other candidates, seeking their support in the run-off. Ali confirmed that Boakai s campaign had met with fourth placed candidate Alexander Cummings and ex-warlord-turned-senator Prince Johnson, who was in fifth place. Johnson said he had also been contacted by Weah. Brumskine has denounced the vote, claiming it was plagued by fraud and called for a new election though international observers gave the poll a clean bill of health. The vote will be re-run in two polling places in Nimba County on Tuesday, however, due to irregularities, although that measure only concerns a few thousand votes. |
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| I wish I could say I was shocked, but the’sad truth is pro-abortion voters are the major reason America has been crippled by Obama for 8 years, and potentially looking at a continuation of his radical policies with a Hillary presidency. To hell with our nation, the abortion industry must be kept alive, no matter the cost Maybe you’ve seen those awards given to local businesses for having a certain number of accident free days or hitting certain regional or area sales quotas. here s an award that will take your breath away for a terribly and horrific reason.Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains gave its Aurua abortion clinic an award for increasing the number of babies killed in abortions. The award coincides with the abortion quotes the Planned Parenthood abortion business is implementing on all o its affiliates:From a blog post by Abby Johnson on the award:Ever since I left Planned Parenthood, I have been talking about the abortion quotas that are established inside abortion facilities. Many abortion supporters refused to believe it, citing that surely Planned Parenthood wants abortion to be safe, legal and RARE. If they want something to be RARE, they certainly wouldn’t have quotas, right?We recently had a clinic worker leave the affiliate, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. This affiliate runs the 2nd largest Planned Parenthood facility in the U.S. At this clinic in Denver, they give out various awards to their satellite clinics and post these awards on a bulletin board for everyone to see.When our former worker saw this award on public display, it really started to change her thinking about Planned Parenthood s motivation. This award was given to their Aurora clinic for exceeding abortion visits first half of fiscal year 2012 compared to first half of fiscal year 2013. This means that the Aurora Planned Parenthood exceeded the abortion quota that was imposed on them. And THAT is award worthy according to Planned Parenthood.Via: LifeNews |
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| 21st Century Wire says President Trump is drifting further into Neoconservative land, and very soon there will be no turning back.Although you wouldn’t know it from the US media blackout the US has quietly deployed upwards of 4,000 combat troops in Syria in total violation of both US and international law.Upon closer examination, however, Trump’s foreign policy is fast resembling Israel s foreign policy.This is exactly what candidate Trump promised he wouldn’t do Doug Bandow The National InterestCandidate Donald Trump offered a sharp break from his predecessors. He was particularly critical of neoconservatives, who seemed to back war at every turn.Indeed, he promised not to include in his administration those who have perfect resumes but very little to brag about except responsibility for a long history of failed policies and continued losses at war. And he’s generally kept that commitment, for instance rejecting as deputy secretary of state Elliot Abrams, who said Trump was unfit to be president.Substantively candidate Trump appeared to offer not so much a philosophy as an inclination. Practical if not exactly realist, he cared more for consequences than his three immediate predecessors, who had treated wars as moral crusades in Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. In contrast, Trump promised: unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. Yet so far the Trump administration is shaping up as a disappointment for those who hoped for a break from the liberal interventionist/neoconservative synthesis.The first problem is staffing. In Washington people are policy. The president can speak and tweet, but he needs others to turn ideas into reality and implement his directives. It doesn’t appear that he has any foreign policy realists around him, or anyone with a restrained view of America s international responsibilities.Rex Tillerson, James Mattis and H. R. McMaster are all serious and talented, and none are neocons. But all seem inclined toward traditional foreign policy approaches and committed to moderating their boss s unconventional thoughts. Most of the names mentioned for deputy secretary of state have been reliably hawkish, or some combination of hawk and centrist Abrams, John Bolton, the rewired Jon Huntsman Continue this story at The National InterestREAD MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV |
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| Let s hope this angry leftist mayor doesn’t prevent individual donors from contributing to help the people of San Juan who may not agree with her hateful attacks on our President, who is bending over backward to get the help to the victims of the hurricane.Is anyone else sick and tired of hearing this mayor whine about everything America is NOT doing for her? San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who has refused to participate in any FEMA meetings regarding aid to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, has continually accused the Trump administration of not helping out in Puerto Rico s time of need, going so far as to claim the federal government is killing Puerto Ricans.Fox News Geraldo Rivera went down to Puerto Rico and actually confronted Cruz about her statement that people are dying because of the Trump administration s inefficiency and bureaucracy. But are people dying? I ve been traveling around, I don’t see people dying, Rivera challenging Cruz said. I spoke to the doctors, they say they saw 53 patients and they had a person who was septic, but nobody dying. Dying is a continuum, Cruz said in response. If you’don’t get fed for seven, eight days and you’re a child, you are dying. If you have 11 people like we took out of a nursing home, severely dehydrated, you are dying. Of course dying is a continuum. Everyone eventually dies. It s an unfortunate part of life. But, when it comes to Puerto Ricans dying from neglect and a lack of supplies, Rivera wasn’t buying it. The death count was 16 a week ago. It remains 16 today, Rivera said. People are not dying. Here s the video of Rivera s interview with Cruz:Backing up Rivera s claims, an article released on Sunday by the Daily Mail said that a Puerto Rican woman claiming to be a police officer alleged that Cruz and Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello have been holding back supplies in order to make for better photo opportunities. The woman even went so far as to say that U.S. armed forces need to come in and distribute the aid. Via: MRCTV |
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| Scotland, Wales and London should all benefit from any special deal given to Northern Ireland to smooth access to European Union markets after Brexit, the three regions most senior politicians said on Monday. Most Scots and Londoners voted to stay in the EU in June 2016 s referendum, unlike their compatriots in the rest of the United Kingdom. Politicians in Scotland, Wales and the British capital have campaigned for Britain as a whole to stay in the EU s single market to smooth trade relations. Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled that out so far, saying Britain needed the freedom to make its own rules and trade deals. But the three regions rallied to the cause again after Irish government sources said on Monday that the British government had agreed to maintain EU regulatory alignment for Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK but shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. May said there had been no overall agreement on Monday. Keeping regulations in Northern Ireland similar to those in the rest of the EU make it less likely that the bloc would insist on border checks after Brexit. But making an exception of Northern Ireland could make it difficult for May to argue that others cannot have the same. So far, she has argued that Brexit should follow a one-size-fits-all pattern for the whole of the United Kingdom. If one part of the United Kingdom can retain regulatory alignment with the European Union and effectively stay in the single market ... there is surely no good practical reason why others can t, Nicola Sturgeon, the head of Scotland s devolved pro-independence government, said on Twitter. Sturgeon welcomed the outline of a deal that meant no return to a hard border in Ireland, but argued that such an agreement meant something similar for Scotland was even more vital. For Scotland to find itself outside the single market, while Northern Ireland effectively stays in would place us at a double disadvantage when it comes to jobs and investment. A large majority of voters in Scotland, one of the UK s four nations with around 5 million people, voted to stay in the EU, as did Northern Ireland. Wales and England, the most populous nation, voted to leave, straining the structure of the UK and complicating negotiations to unwind four decades of political and trading links with the EU. Huge ramifications for London if Theresa May has conceded that it s possible for part of the UK to remain within the single market and customs union after Brexit, Sadiq Khan, London s mayor, said on Twitter. Britain s capital, with a population of 8.8 million, voted by a margin of 59.9 percent to remain within the EU. Turnout was high by local standards at nearly 70 percent and Khan, from Britain s main opposition Labour Party, campaigned to stay in the EU. Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones called for Wales to be allowed to continue to participate in the single market if other parts of the UK could. May s government has up to now ruled out any special deal for Scotland, although the Scottish government published a year ago a plan for the northernmost part of the UK to remain in the single market even if Britain as a whole leaves. Its plan was, however, rejected as unworkable by the UK government. |
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| Myanmar and Bangladesh on Tuesday agreed to cooperate on the repatriation of Rohingya refugees and took steps to boost border security as relations between the neighbors have been strained by the continuing flow of refugees into Bangladesh. Over 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgent attacks sparked a ferocious military response by the Myanmar army that the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing. At a meeting in Myanmar s capital Naypyitaw, attended by Myanmar s home affairs minister lieutenant general Kyaw Swe and his Bangladeshi counterpart Asaduzzaman Khan, the countries signed two agreements covering security and border cooperation. The two sides have also agreed to to halt the outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh, and to form a joint working group, Tin Myint, permanent secretary from Myanmar s home affairs ministry told reporters after the meetings. After joint working group, the verification, (the) two countries have agreed to arrange different steps so that these people can return to their homeland safely and honourably and in secure conditions, said Mostafa Kamal Uddin, secretary from Bangladeshi home affairs ministry. The officials did not elaborate on the specific steps the authorities would take for the repatriation, adding that the bulk of discussions was dedicated to border and security cooperation agreements which have been long in the making. Tin Myint said the two countries agreed to restore normalcy in Rakhine to enable displaced Myanmar residents to return from Bangladesh at the earliest opportunity. He also said Myanmar had sent a list of suspects who had fled to Bangladesh and requested the authorities there to investigate and return them to Myanmar. Thousands of refugees have continued to arrived cross the Naf river separating Myanmar s western Rakhine state and Bangladesh in recent days, even though Myanmar says military operations ceased on Sept. 5. The United States said on Monday it was considering a range of further actions over Myanmar s treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority. While on Tuesday the officials said the talks were friendly, tensions are still high between the two countries. Bangladesh last month accused Myanmar of repeatedly violating its air space and warned that any more provocative acts could have unwarranted consequences . On border and security, the two sides decided to establish border liaison offices, carry out regular meetings between two security forces, jointly combat drug trafficking across the border and set up a mechanism to communicate directly. Bangladesh has for decades faced influxes of Rohingya fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where the Rohingya are seen as illegal migrants. It was already home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya before the latest crisis. Though Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are denied citizenship and access to basic civil rights such as freedom of movement, decent education and healthcare. Hundreds in Rakhine on Sunday protested to urge Myanmar s government not to repatriate the Rohingya. |
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| U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday an investigation is the right thing to do to determine the facts after President Donald Trump said he would seek an investigation into what he believes was voter fraud in the November election. “I’m sure there is some fraud,” Ryan told MSNBC in an interview. “If he believes that there is a problem to be looked at, the right thing is to get an investigation to get the facts.” Ryan added that he had not seen evidence of “this kind of widespread numbers that we have been hearing about.” |
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| U.S President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he intends to dissolve his charitable foundation, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which has been under investigation by the New York attorney general. Trump gave no timeline for winding down the foundation, but said in a statement that he wanted “to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President.” He directed his counsel to take the necessary steps for the dissolution. With less than four weeks to his Jan. 20 inauguration, the New York real estate magnate is under increasing pressure to reduce potential conflicts of interest ranging from his vast global business operations to his family’s philanthropic work. This week, Trump said his son Eric would stop raising money for his own foundation over concerns that donors could be seen as buying access to the Trump family. The president-elect said it was a “ridiculous shame” that his son’s foundation would stop raising money. Before Trump’s surprising election victory on Nov. 8, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in October directed the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop taking donations, saying the foundation violated state law requiring charitable organizations that solicit outside donations to register with a state office. Schneiderman’s order followed a series of reports in The Washington Post that suggested improprieties by the foundation, including using its funds to settle legal disputes involving Trump businesses. A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said on Saturday that Trump cannot shutter the foundation while the investigation is ongoing. “The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,” spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said. She would not comment on expected timing for completing the investigation. Trump said he was “very proud” of the money raised by the foundation and said it had operated at “essentially no cost for decades.” “But because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world,” he added in his statement, “I don’t want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest.” The Trump Foundation, which was established in 1988, runs no programs of its own. Instead, it donates to other nonprofit groups such as the Police Athletic League for youths. Scrutiny of the Trump family’s philanthropic activities heightened in recent weeks following reports of access to the family for potential donors. Eric Trump faced criticism for an online auction sponsored by his foundation, which raises money to help terminally ill children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, offering the highest bidder a chance to have coffee with his sister Ivanka. After the announcement that Eric would not be allowed to raise money for his foundation, Trump tweeted: “He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!” Trump’s critics, however, remembered how the president-elect had attacked his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, over their family foundation. In August, Trump urged the Justice Department to investigate the Clinton Foundation, which he called a “pay-to-play” operation that rewarded big donors with favors from the State Department while Clinton was secretary of state. Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. also came under fire this week for their role in a post-inauguration charity event that offered a private reception with their father in exchange for a $1 million donation. The brothers were listed on a draft invitation as honorary co-chairmen of the fundraiser for conservation charities, dubbed “Opening Day,” set to be held in Washington the day after the Jan. 20 inauguration. On Tuesday, the Trump transition team said Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were not involved with the fundraiser and a subsequent invitation dropped references to donors meeting with any members of the Trump family. |
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| Saudi Arabia will host what it called an expanded conference for the Syrian opposition this month, aiming to unify its position ahead of United Nations-backed peace talks, the state news agency SPA reported on Monday. Saudi Arabia backs a grouping of opposition figures called the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) led by Riyad Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister under Assad. The HNC has represented the Syrian opposition at previous Geneva talks. A number of other political opposition groups and figures backed by other countries including Russia and Egypt also exist. It was not clear from SPA s statement which Syrian opposition members would participate in the conference. The kingdom, a leading backer of Syrian rebels, supports an international agreement on the future of Syria but maintains that President Bashar al-Assad should have no role in any transition to bring the war there to an end. Assad, whose Syrian army forces have been backed by Saudi arch-foes Iran and Hezbollah, has made major gains against opposition forces and Islamic State militants. Based on the policy of the Kingdom in support of the efforts to establish peace and counter terrorism, and in response to the request of the Syrian opposition, an expanded meeting will be held in the city of Riyadh, SPA said. Talks set for November 22-24 aim to bring its parties and platforms closer together and unite its negotiating delegation to resume direct negotiations in Geneva under the auspices of the U.N. Several rounds of U.N. talks in Geneva between the Damascus government and the opposition have made little progress. |
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| British police made a new arrest on Monday in their investigation into a bomb attack on a London underground train earlier this month. The man, 20, was detained at a house in the Welsh capital Cardiff by counter-terrorism officers, London police said. He is the seventh man to have been arrested over the attack at Parsons Green station in London on Sept. 15 which injured 30 people. It was Britain s fifth major militant attack so far this year. Last Friday, teenager Ahmed Hassan appeared in court charged with attempting to murder passengers on board the train heading to central London from the southwest suburb of Wimbledon and causing an explosion likely to endanger life using the highly volatile triacetone triperoxide (TATP) - known as the mother of Satan - or another explosive substance. The 18-year-old, from Sunbury-on-Thames, a town to the southwest of London, was remanded in custody until Oct. 13. The home-made bomb engulfed a carriage in flames, but apparently failed to fully explode. Two other men are still being questioned by police while three others have since been released by detectives and face no further action. Searches are still ongoing at one address in Surrey, south of London, and in Cardiff. |
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| Evil hiding under the banner of religion in our own backyard A 32-year-old woman was harassed and intimidated last week when she tried to pick up her four children from the fundamentalist Mormon sect she bravely left to escape an abusive husband.Sabrina Broadbent Tetzner, 32, fled the’sect headed by convicted rapist Warren Jeffs eight years ago and finally gained full custody of her children (ages 8 to 13) last week.But when she tried to pick up her children from the Colorado City, Utah community where they have been living, she was physically stopped by hundreds of cult members hell bent on keeping the kids. Lots of members from the community started showing up. They surrounded her vehicle, the home, fences and the yard. They were kicking the van. They even tried to put a cow and chickens into her vehicle, ex-cult member Flora Jessop, who helped Tetzner through her legal battle, told KSL.Cell phone footage shows swarms of polygamists surrounding Tetzner s van, the women dressed in conservative floor-length dresses in varying pastel colors. A Mohave County judge ordered the’sect to turn over the children at 5pm Thursday, but Tetzner says that when she got to the compound at the arranged time her kids were nowhere to be seen. FOX 10 News | fox10phoenix.comIt was only at midnight that they’returned, and were quickly shepherded into their aunt Samantha Holm s house where several dozen fundamentalists kept them from seeing her mother.Tetzner spent the night in her van, fearing the vehicle would be torn apart if she left it unattended. When even about 600 cult members surrounded her vehicle in the morning, and kept her from reaching the home where her children were staying, Tetzner called police to intervene on her children s behalf. Sheriff s deputies had to take out a search warrant to pry the children from the house and into their mother s waiting arms.Allegedly, the children were not so happy to leave, since cult members had scared them into believing their mother was taking them to hell. Deputies escorted Tetzner and her children all the way back to their home in northern Utah, and reportedly FLDS members tailed them the whole way there.Since leaving the’sect, she has remarried a man named Chase Tetzner and the two appear to have a toddler son together. A photo posted to her Facebook in August 2012, shows her in a half-white, half-camouflage wedding dress.Defenders of Children, a non-profit group that has been aiding Tetzner through her custody battle, said they fear for her safety and are raising money to pay for a security system and new clothes for the woman s children. Tetzner left the FLDS church eight years ago, about a year after the cult s leader Warren Jeffs was arrested for organizing marriages between men in his cult and underage girls. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison, but continues to head the church from behind bars.Custodial interference charges are pending against Samantha Holm, the aunt who initially wouldn’t hand over Tetzner s children.Via: UK Daily Mail |
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| That dreadful night in Benghazi, Libya in September of 2012 when the lives of four Americans were lost will be one that we shall never forget. We shall never forget it for two reasons: because of the tragedy that occurred and the loss of life, and because Republicans and Fox News insist that there was some sort of wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton in her reaction to events that took place.Clarifying one of the longest held myths by Fox News and conservatives, Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta spoke to MSNBC s Andrea Mitchell. Not only did he debunk the myth of a stand down order so many on the right like to claim was said in an effort to prove Hillary as uncaring and incompetent, but he also explained how everything that could have been done, was done.Mitchell first asks Panetta about some existing circulating theories about that dreadful night in Benghazi:Now you’re here in Washington because you’re going to be testifying to the Benghazi Select Committee tomorrow. You have already testified to other committees, but to this committee, and there s a new movie coming out, 13 Hours, and it s about to be released. It is accusing the CIA operatives on the ground of being ordered to stand down and not go to the rescue in time. And the’suggestion is that, if not for that order to stand down, that Chris Stevens and the others might have been saved. First of all, you were at the Pentagon at the time, I believe. Was there any order to stand down that you know of?Panetta responds:Absolutely not. You know, I m sure there are going to be movies and books and there will be all kinds of theories that will be presented, but from my experience, and from the role that I played as secretary of defense, there was never any order to stand down. On the contrary, the whole effort was to do everything possible to try to save lives.Delving further into if there were any sort of Hillary Clinton misstep, Mitchell asks if there were any sort of stand down order:There s also a report, several reports, that the Pentagon made an offer of a rescue effort, military effort to the State Department, and that someone, the’suggestion is Hillary Clinton, said, no thanks, we don’t need the help or stand down or stand back. Was there any effort by the Pentagon to intervene that the State Department rejected and would she have even been in the role?Panetta offers an answer that many right-wingers are not going to like whatsoever, the truth:I m not aware of any such effort at all. As a matter of fact, after meeting with the president, I immediately went back and we made decisions to deploy forces, to put them in place to be able to go in and provide help to those involved, and we in fact put forces in place. The problem was that [the] attack ended quickly and because of time and distance we never had a chance to get there. This is a tragic event. It s tragic in a number of ways. But most importantly, it s tragic because it s now become a political football that unfortunately, I think, doesn’t do service to all of those that were committed to trying to protect lives.Panetta is exactly right. This tragedy has become even more tragic by how it has been wrongfully perpetuated by conservatives to try to score political points against Hillary Clinton. We need to learn from what happened in Benghazi and make sure it never happens again. We also need to, once and for all, put the myth to bed that Hillary was incompetent. She, of all people, is quite aware of the loss that happened that day. She’s also one of the best qualified to make sure it never happens again. Video/Featured image: MMFA |
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| Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute warns that Obama s manufacturing of regulations is not over. With the amount of time left in the year, the current pace of rule passage could bring many thousands of more pages. This is astonishing and should be of great concern, and intolerable, to policymakers. Said Wayne Crews. It is remarkable enough that the all-time record has been passed before Thanksgiving. Read more: ZH This is either the beginning of a midnight uptick in regulation or an otherwise busy week for federal regulators, Sam Batkins, the director of regulatory policy at the right-leaning American Action Forum, wrote in a report.Batkins, an expert on federal regulations, found federal agencies finalized 19 new regulations last week totaling $2.4 billion in costs, but only $623 million in benefits. Batkins also pointed to another two recently-finalized rules costing businesses $2.3 billion.The White House is increasing the number of rules it pushes out every week as federal agencies rush to finish regulations before President Barack Obama leaves office in January. The Obama administration s latest Unified Agenda had 1,019 final rules ready to be put on the books.Read more: Daily Caller |
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| Being transgender in a society that does not understand you, and often actively discriminates against you is already more difficult than any cisgender person could imagine. Perhaps the worst part of it is that correcting gender dysphoria meaning taking the necessary steps to make sure one s outward gender presentation lines up with the gender identity is a lengthy and expensive medical process. Here in America we are a long way from having most insurance companies even consider covering gender reassignment procedures. However, as usual, Canada is way ahead of us.Canada s Health Minister, Victor Boudreau, has just confirmed that New Brunswick will become the final Canadian province whose healthcare coverage will include coverage of necessary transition procedures for transgender people. Boudreau says: Transgender persons living in New Brunswick are facing challenges in life and in the health-care system. Gender dysphoria is a recognized medical condition that, left untreated, can result in high levels of anxiety and depression, which can lead to suicidal thoughts. This, and so much more, is true of the many difficulties that transgender people face. They are also much more likely to be murdered than their cisgender counterparts, and this is especially true for transgender women of color.Michelle Leard, who is affiliated with the New Brunswick Transgender Health Network and UBU Atlantic, released a statement regarding the necessity of this form of healthcare: Gender-affirming surgery is a crucial part of a successful transition for many transgender people. Today s announcement will change the lives of transgender New Brunswickers who are presently facing challenging health, mental health and social situations. In addition to the new coverage, Canada s laws regarding birth certificate changes will be modified to allow changes to affirm the gender identities of transgender people.This is an absolutely amazing move on the part of Canada. Too bad America is nowhere near having such provisions.Featured image via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Free speech is under attack in America like never before. Any views that are in opposition to views on the left are considered out of bounds and will be dealt with SEE Ben Shapiro s AWESOME speech BELOW.Breitbart News editor Ben Shapiro delivered a speech to the Young America s Foundation at California State University Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, despite initial efforts by the university to shut down the event.Students were prevented from entering by approximately 150 demonstrators standing outside the front entrance.However, attendees managed to slip into the auditorium through the back entrance, prompting Shapiro to observe that in today s America, conservatives were forced to exercise their First Amendment rights by the back door. Ben Shapiro s response to protestors:Facts don't care about your feelings. Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 5, 2016Some demonstrators entered the building and began chanting slogans, such as Racists go home! and No hate speech! Watch Free Speech Terrorists work together to attack and shut down opposing views, by using threat of violence against anyone who disagrees with them:This is how the "tolerant" Left reacts when ONE conservative comes to campus. Scary situation at CSULA.https://t.co/4oB4wz08NP YAF (@yaf) February 26, 2016Earlier, demonstrators from the Black Student Union had assaulted Breitbart News reporter Adelle Nazarian.WATCH HERE:And then there was this desperate act to silence an opposing view:.@yaf liberal protester pulls fire alarm during Ben #shapiro speech Ben says "you are not going to stop us." Adam Shapiro (@Ajshaps) February 25, 2016Initially, administrators at the taxpayer-funded public university tried to force the postponement of the event in favor of a later event where Shapiro would have to appear alongside speakers who disagreed with him. Shapiro vowed to speak at the original time scheduled, and the university backed down, releasing a statement Thursday:Author Ben Shapiro was invited to speak this afternoon at Cal State LA by the Young Americans for Freedom, which is a registered student organization. The event, When Diversity Becomes a Problem, was funded by the Associated Students, Inc., the’student government..@yaf #Shapiro "the’safe spaces of the people outside (protesters) are just fascist spaces cleared of all ideas that could hurt feelings" Adam Shapiro (@Ajshaps) February 25, 2016Leading up to the event, there were a number of emails and social media posts that caused concern for the campus community. Given threats and expressions of fear, President William A. Covino proposed a rescheduled event that would be civil and inclusive, and in which Mr. Shapiro and speakers with other viewpoints could offer their perspectives in an organized forum. My decision was made in the interest of safety and security, Covino said. I am disappointed that Mr. Shapiro has not accepted my invitation to speak in such a forum. He has indicated that he will come to Cal State LA to speak today at the University-Student Union Theatre, where he was originally scheduled to deliver his talk, Covino told the University community Thursday morning.Covino added: I strongly disagree with Mr. Shapiro s views. But if Mr. Shapiro does appear, the University will allow him to speak. We will make every effort to ensure a climate of safety and security. In his remarks, Shapiro blasted Covino and other faculty members who tried to stop the event from taking place, and who had threatened violence against Shapiro, including professors Robert Weide and Melina Abdullah.He called them disgusting and described Covino as a totalitarian and an idiot whose behavior exemplified an insane society created by the American left who says that anybody that disagrees with them must be silenced. He explained that there are three kinds of diversity: diversity of color, diversity of values, and diversity of ideas. Only the last kind, he’said, was valuable to society and could create stable and healthy communities. Via: Breitbart NewsHERE IS BEN SHAPIRO S AWESOME SPEECH: |
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| 21st Century Wire says Is Donald Trump the answer? Is anyone the answer?Here s an interesting conversation in New York City, with author David Icke and Luke Rudkowski from We Are Change, talking about the adoption of Donald Trump and Islamophobia by popular, well-financed alternative media outlets, and the challenges of remaining truly independent. Watch: |
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| The U.S. Republican Party on Monday approved a new policy platform that calls for reinstating the 1933 Glass-Steagall law requiring the separation of commercial and investment banking, an addition White House hopeful Donald Trump’s campaign said it backed. Trump, who will formally accept the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland this week, has vowed to dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that was passed under President Barack Obama following the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The language in the Republican platform offered further details on Trump’s regulatory policies. Trump, who has sought to cast himself as a populist, has accused presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton of being too close to Wall Street. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed the legislation that repealed Glass-Steagall in 1999. “The Obama-Clinton years have passed legislation that has been favorable to the big banks, which is why you see all the Wall Street money going to her,” Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, told reporters on Monday. “They know she’s their champion, and they are supporting her fully.” Some U.S. lawmakers in both parties support a modern Glass-Steagall to keep banks from becoming “too big to fail,” or so big their collapse would destabilize the financial system. The Democratic Party’s 2016 platform, which has not been approved, calls for an updated version. Republicans universally despise Dodd-Frank, which their platform calls “Democrats’ legislative Godzilla.” But senior congressional Republicans back other alternatives. “Glass-Steagall is dumb politics and dumb economics,” said Tony Fratto, who worked in the administration of Republican President George W. Bush. “Returning to Glass-Steagall would be destructive and unworkable.” Clinton has said she would break up banks based on risk, not size, and frequently focuses on the risks posed by non-bank institutions. Manafort listed the Glass-Steagall language among platform points he said “reflect the issues that Mr. Trump has raised during the course of the campaign,” including building a wall at the border with Mexico and calling for tougher trade deals. The platform also calls for control of national parks and other lands to be handed over to states, an effort by the party’s conservative wing that got national attention during a 2014 standoff involving a Nevada cattle rancher. |
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| The United States wants to exhaust every diplomatic option on North Korea s nuclear and missile programs, and to see loopholes in the North Korean sanctions regime closed, U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said on Friday. Sanctions have not had a real opportunity to bite as hard as we would like them to bite, and that comes from the fact that they have not been fully implemented, Wood told a news conference in Geneva. North Korea fired a second missile over Japan far out into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, deepening tension after Pyongyang s recent test of its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb. Washington has in the past accused China, North Korea s main trading partner, of failing to apply enough economic pressure to its neighbor. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that if China failed to implement the latest U.N. sanctions on North Korea, he would seek new financial sanctions against Beijing. Wood, formally U.S. ambassador to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, said North Korea had exploited gaping holes in the sanctions regime to secretly acquire equipment for its ballistic missile and nuclear weapon programs: We want to close those loopholes. Asked if war or a U.S. military strike was possible, Wood said: We are not taking any options off the table but ... we are pursuing the diplomatic track right now. That s where we are. We want to exhaust all diplomatic options. The United States wanted to see North Korea further isolated, with more countries breaking off or downgrading relations and cutting off trade. He said China had the same interest as the United States in seeking the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and had helped to apply pressure on North Korea by supporting two U.N. Security Council resolutions. But he said there was much more that China could do, and suggested that Beijing s unique leverage was only just coming into play. We re at a real inflection point with regard to China, Wood said. In a wide-ranging briefing on U.S. disarmament interests, Wood also reiterated President Donald Trump s view that Iran was not fulfilling the spirit of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 deal that allowed Iran sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear program. If you look at what Iran is doing with regard to ballistic missile activity ... when you look at the support it is giving to the Assad regime in Syria, to Hezbollah, to Hamas, their funding and support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen ... Iran is not in any way, we think, fulfilling the aspirations of the JCPOA. He cited the preface of the JCPOA, which says the signatories anticipate that the agreement will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security . Trump must decide next month whether Iran is complying with the deal. |
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| Li Qiang, an ally of Chinese President Xi Jinping, has been named the top Communist Party official in Shanghai, replacing Han Zheng who last week joined the elite Politburo Standing Committee, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday. Xi on Wednesday unveiled a new senior leadership at the end of the twice-a-decade congress, with new members appointed to the three elite party bodies that run China. Over the next few weeks and months, a series of other reshuffles will take place as the party moves people into new party and government positions and as others retire. Xinhua said in a brief notice that Li, 58, would take up the party secretary post in Shanghai and no longer serve in the top spot in Jiangsu province, according to a decision of the Central Committee , which at 204 members is the largest of the party s ruling bodies. The move puts Xi allies in China s four major municipalities - Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing - power centers on par administratively to provinces. A native of the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, Li was secretary general of the provincial party committee under Xi when the latter was Zhejiang party boss from 2002 to 2007. Li was appointed to the 25-member Politburo, which is under the Standing Committee, on Wednesday, and Reuters sources had tipped him to take on the Shanghai job. [nL4N1N3052] He is seen as a strong contender to be further promoted to the Standing Committee at the next congress in 2022. Xinhua also said that another known Xi ally, Lou Qinjian, replaced Li as Jiangsu party secretary, stepping down as party boss in Xi s home province of Shaanxi, a post in turn filled by Hu Heping. |
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| Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will travel to the United States this week to meet with local leaders and beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the ministry said on Monday. Videgaray will travel to Sacramento and Los Angeles on Sept. 11-12 and then to Washington D.C. on Sept. 13, the ministry said in a statement. Videgaray will meet with California Gov. Jerry Brown as well as other officials, the statement said. |
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| House Speaker Paul Ryan may have been hoping to be re-elected come January, but thanks to his fellow conservatives it looks like he doesn’t have a chance. In fact, House GOPers are actively conspiring against Ryan to make sure that he doesn’t succeed.Although these anti-Ryan conservatives don’t have enough votes to oust their current Speaker of the House, they are plotting a coup movement to stop him from being elected again a move that could’very well have an even bigger impact on his political career further down the line. As a conservative member explained to The Huffington Post: If he loses the’speaker election, he’s not going to be president. In a nutshell, Ryan s fellow conservatives are trying to kick him out of his position because he’s not being the kind of conservative they want him to be. Republicans really know how to stick together in a time when they need unity to save them from Donald Trump’s circus.Of course, this would be completely humiliating for Ryan and even if his conservative haters couldn’t indefinitely prevent Ryan from getting on the ballot for re-election, they might use this leverage to get certain changes made for their own benefit. The Huffington Post explained that these GOPers are looking for increasing caucus representation on committees, bulking up subcommittee staff with hard-liners who could be groomed for election, allowing the GOP House campaign arm to collect contributions for the Freedom Caucus that could be directed to conservative candidates, and clarifying rules-suspension votes. And some of these House conservatives are just plain furious that the GOP has taken on more moderate candidates and they’re taking their frustration out on Ryan. One member explained this by using an extremely inappropriate, strange analogy: How can you have a gang, and have one in your gang get stabbed, and do nothing? You got to stab somebody, or else what s the point of having a gang? Ryan has been House Speaker for less than a year, and his party is already going public with plans to oust him. This just shows what a mess the GOP is right now. Their Republican nominee is the worst thing to happen to the party, and this is further proof that the GOP as we know it is dividing and falling apart.Featured image via Win McNamee / Getty Images |
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| The media would like voters to believe that Trump is losing supporters, while Hillary is gaining momentum. The only thing Hillary is gaining on is more evidence of her crooked dealings. Hillary is so unpopular and unlikeable that her campaign is now telling her when to smile. What?THIS IS INSANE!Despite the constant media attacks and lies CLEARLY Their is ONE CANDIDATE This year who has stolen the hearts of everyday Americans.Trump’supporters park their cars and WALK A MILE to get into a Trump rally that was sold out! GP(Video) Trump Rally In Ocala FL: They Are Still Coming!!! Thousands Still Park Mile Away With Hopes Of Getting In. Time 11:15, Starts Noon pic.twitter.com/SKoGEY3LHr Trump is Patriot (@TrumpisPatriot) October 12, 2016Here s a look at Trump’s the massive support from his (unpaid) fans:Incredible attendance today! #Ocala #TrumpTrain #MAGA #AmericaFirst pic.twitter.com/M7t6UzU8Ya HAIL TRUMP (@BarronTrump2072) October 12, 2016Hillary is so unlikeable and has absolutely no natural ability to connect with her voters, while Trump is naturally connecting with voters from every walk of life. It s clear that Trump actually enjoys meeting people from every walk of life, while Hillary s campaign says she hates the everyday Americans she claims to be a champion of:https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/785545441979011072 |
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| Donald Trump has once again used images of non-American military in a campaign appeal. This time the former reality TV star used images of Communist soldiers in a web ad advertising his support of veteran s issues.The men were clearly Communists, as the detail on their medals read CCCP, the Russian initials for USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.Interesting choice for a photo of veterans in this @realDonaldTrump video: https://t.co/NdxdwpvMDD pic.twitter.com/PiagKGTP8H Josh Perry (@MrJoshPerry) January 22, 2016After he was called out for posting the Communist soldiers as Americans, the Trump campaign pulled the video. But here it is.The incident is not the first time Team Trump has tried to pass off foreign soldiers as Americans. In July, Trump tweeted out a photo of himself embedded on the American flag with a photo of soldiers. The problem is, that photo was a picture of German Nazi soldiers. As in the photo of the Communist soldiers, a cursory glance at the picture would have revealed the SS eagle logo on the’side of their uniforms.As he often has done during the campaign, Trump blamed the photo on a young intern and pulled the picture.It was the’same excuse he used on Friday when he re-posted a complimentary Twitter image from an account called White Genocide, who turned out to be a Trump’supporter who also is a backer of the white supremacist movement.Trump’s campaign is a cult of personality, built of toadies who appear to have risen in the ranks based on how much they suck up to the former reality TV star. Actual competence doesn’t seem to matter at all. Even more damning, it doesn’t seem to matter to Republican voters, who appear quite fine with giving their support to Trump, even as he can’t show the basic respect that is due to members of the U.S. armed services.But then again, that seems to be the mindset of most of the Republican establishment, so perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising or jarring.Featured image via Flickr |
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| An Istanbul prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for the parents of a former police investigator who gave evidence at the trial of a Turkish banker in the United States last week, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Wednesday. Turkey has called for the arrest of Huseyin Korkmaz after he testified at the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former executive of state-lender Halkbank who is accused of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions. The Istanbul prosecutor s office was not immediately available for comment. U.S. prosecutors have accused Atilla of working with Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab and others to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions through fraudulent gold and food transactions. The case has strained relations between Turkey and the United States, which are NATO allies. Atilla has pleaded not guilty and Halkbank has denied involvement with any illegal transactions. But Zarrab has pleaded guilty and testified for U.S. prosecutors. Korkmaz said he fled Turkey in 2016 fearing retaliation from the government after leading an investigation in 2013 into Zarrab which implicated high-ranking officials. Hurriyet said the Istanbul prosecutor s order to arrest Korkmaz s parents came after his testimony in the U.S. case in which he said he gave documents related to the 2013 investigation to his mother to keep. Last week, Turkish police summoned a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official over statements made by Korkmaz in the U.S. court, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. |
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| British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday she would continue to govern in the interests of all Northern Ireland and uphold the agreement that ended decades of sectarian violence in the province. The statement comes as an impasse over the future of the Irish border once Britain leaves the European Union looked to have been resolved. This Government will continue to govern in the interests of the whole community in Northern Ireland and uphold the Agreements that have underpinned the huge progress that has been made over the past two decades, a statement published on the government s website said. |
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| Besides Nancy Pelosi, there really isn’t a dumber person in Congress than Sheila Jackson-Lee(D-TX). Watch her blame leaked emails on Wikipedia, the online source for information. Uhhh perhaps when you’re criticizing someone on TV, you should know who you’re criticizing:https://twitter.com/WDFx2EU7/status/789491508781035521Believe it or not, this is not one of the’stupidest things she has ever said. Here are a few of Jackson-Lee s greatest hits:Here s Jackson -Lee telling fellow members of Congress that our Constitution is 400 years old:Sheila Jackson-Lee is not only one of the’stupidest people in DC, she is also one of the most racist. Here she is blaming Congress for not wanting to raise the debt limit because their racists :Here is black billionaire Herman Cain s response to dingbat, racist Sheila Jackson-Lee s ignorant comments:Here s Jackson-Lee telling congressional colleagues how much money Americans have to squander. Watch her call for martial law over the non-support of Obamacare by Americans: |
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| Half a year ago, the political stars seemed perfectly aligned for a deep reform of the European Union and its euro currency. Emmanuel Macron had won the French presidency on a promise to relaunch Europe. And Angela Merkel, on track to win a fourth term as German chancellor, looked ready to embrace his bold vision, telling an audience in Bavaria that it was time for Europe to take its fate into its own hands. Following the collapse of German coalition talks, however, the prospects for a meaningful leap forward in European cooperation, driven by newly minted governments in Berlin and Paris, look dimmer than ever. Political uncertainty has crossed the Rhine, said Jean Pisani-Ferry, an economist and academic who helped write Macron s election program. Europe has gotten used to having a strong German government with clear positions. That is something we may not have for some time. Germany now faces months of political limbo which will narrow an already tight window for agreeing reforms of euro zone governance and EU defense and asylum policies. Should Germany be forced to hold new elections, its partners may have to wait until next summer for a government to take form. By then, Europe will be entering crunch time in its Brexit negotiations with Britain, preparing for sensitive discussions on a long-term EU budget and gearing up for the election of a new European Parliament. Euro zone leaders were due to begin a six-month discussion on closer integration of their 19-nation currency bloc next month at a special summit in Brussels. Now that debate seems likely to be delayed and officials say the chances of reaching any conclusions by June 2018, as proposed by European Council President Donald Tusk, are slim. Things will go on hold until there is a formal acting German government, one euro zone official said. At this stage I don t see what steps the leaders could take in December or June for deepening euro zone integration when there is a German government without a mandate. Another casualty could be the completion of an EU pact on closer defense cooperation, known as PESCO. Berlin and Paris had hoped to sign it into law at a regular EU summit next month. Now diplomats involved in EU foreign policy say that may be overly ambitious. Germany has also been a driving force behind EU efforts to reform its asylum policies in the wake of the 2015 refugee crisis. Those discussions, pitting countries like Italy and Greece against Poland and Hungary, were already bogged down. Without a new government in Berlin, there is next to no hope of a breakthrough. We have so many things we need to do urgently that slowing us down is not good for Europe as a whole, Frans Timmermans, a former Dutch foreign minister who is deputy head of the European Commission, told CNN. He played down the risks, however, saying: It might slow us down a little bit but I don t think it would take Europe off course, whatever happens. Perhaps the only pressing issue which will not be significantly affected by the political uncertainty in Germany is Brexit, where there is a broad political consensus among German parties. That means that Merkel, who will remain in place in a caretaker capacity until a new coalition is formed, should have sufficient room to maneuver in talks that, in any case, are being led by the European Commission and its chief negotiator Michel Barnier. Still, hopes that the two political earthquakes of 2016 Britain s decision to leave the EU and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump might shock European capitals into bold reforms, once elections in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Austria were out of the way, are fading. Even before the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) walked out of coalition negotiations with Merkel s conservatives and the Greens in the early hours of Monday, doubts were rising about whether she would have the flexibility to meet Macron halfway as head of an awkward three-way Jamaica alliance. Now that those talks have collapsed, she would appear to have three options: convince the Social Democrats (SPD) to enter another right-left grand coalition ; form a minority government with the Greens or the FDP; or take the risk of new elections. So far the SPD leadership has shown no signs that it will go back on its pledge to go into opposition. On Monday, Merkel appeared to rule out a minority government. So unless something changes, a new election could be the only way forward. That would probably not take place before March or April, around the same time that Italy is due to hold elections which could also result in a hung parliament. Crucially, polls suggest that a new German election would not give Merkel more coalition options than she had coming out of the Sept. 24 vote. Indeed, if voters blamed her conservatives for failing to form a government the first time around, she could emerge even weaker than she is now. That would be a further blow to German political stability and to Macron s European ambitions. |
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| U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Sunday she was reviewing self-driving vehicle guidance issued by the Obama administration and urged companies to explain the benefits of automated vehicles to a skeptical public. The guidelines, which were issued in September, call on automakers to voluntarily submit details of self-driving vehicle systems to regulators in a 15-point “safety assessment” and urge states to defer to the federal government on most vehicle regulations. Automakers have raised numerous concerns about the guidance, including that it requires them to turn over significant data, could delay testing by months and lead to states making the voluntary guidelines mandatory. In November, major automakers urged the then-incoming Trump administration to re-evaluate the guidelines and some have called for significant changes. Automakers called on Congress earlier this month to make legislative changes to speed self-driving cars to U.S. roads. Chao, in her first major public remarks since taking office last month, told the National Governors Association: “This administration is evaluating this guidance and will consult with you and other stakeholders as we update it and amend it, to ensure that it strikes the right balance.” She said self-driving cars could dramatically improve safety. In 2015, 35,092 people died in U.S. traffic crashes, up 7 percent and the highest full-year increase since 1966. In the first nine months of 2016, fatalities were up 8 percent. Chao, noting research that 94 percent of traffic crashes were due to human error, said: “There’s a lot at stake in getting this technology right.” She said the Trump administration wanted to ensure it “is a catalyst for safe, efficient technologies, not an impediment. In particular, I want to challenge Silicon Valley, Detroit, and all other auto industry hubs to step up and help educate a skeptical public about the benefits of automated technology.” Companies including Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car Waymo unit, General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co, Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL], Tesla Inc and other are aggressively pursuing automated vehicle technologies. Chao said she was “very concerned” about the potential impact of automated vehicles on employment. There are 3.5 million U.S. truck drivers alone and millions of others employed in driving-related occupations. She also said she would seek input from states as regulators develops rules on drones. “We will ask for your input as the (Federal Aviation Administration) develops standards and regulations to ensure that drones can be safely integrated into our country’s airspace,” she said. |
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| Yet another responsible gun owner caused her child to nearly die after she left her kids in the car with a loaded and unsecured handgun on Thursday. This Mom of the Year candidate decided that it was not only appropriate to leave her children alone in the car while she went shopping at the Village Market in Birmingham, Alabama, but didn’t think to remove her firearms from the vehicle a mistake far too many gun enthusiast parents make.According to Birmingham police spokesman Sgt. Bryan Shelton, the children did what all children do when left unsupervised they found something to keep themselves occupied. The older of the unnamed woman s children found her mother s gun, picked it up, and the firearm discharged. The bullet grazed the woman s four-year-old son s head, but did not enter the’skull. Fortunately, the child was transported to a nearby children s hospital where he is in stable condition. If you choose to own a gun you have to be safety minded and exercise a higher standard of care, Shelton said. We re glad he’s OK. While this was obviously a horrific and preventable incident caused solely by the arrogance and stupidity of one of the NRA s Chosen, commenters on the’story at AL.com spoke up in her defense. After all, it s not as bad as abortion, right? Earlier this month, Florida Second Amendment advocate Jamie Gilt who previously ran a pro-gun Facebook page was shot in the back after her four-year-old son found her loaded handgun near his car seat. Before the’shooting, Gilt bragged that her 4-year-old gets jacked up to shoot guns with her, something she learned when she allowed him to have access to a gun through sheer negligence.Unlike the Alabama woman, Gilt ran afoul of a state law that makes it a crime only a misdemeanor, but still a crime to store a loaded firearm in such a manner that it is likely a child will gain access to the weapon. She faces up to 120 days in prison far too little time, but still more than we usually see after this sort of incident.Until these responsible gun owners start spending real time in prison, this sort of thing will continue to be commonplace, and the NRA will continue to convince its followers this was a horrible accident that could happen to anyone, never mentioning that anyone only includes people who view themselves as good guys with guns. Featured imge via AL.com |
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| Are you paying attention America? Yesterday, the UK voted to leave the European Union. On referendum day, Lord Ashcroft surveyed 12,369 people after they had voted to help explain’the result who voted for which outcome, and what lay behind their decision.Lord Ashcroft polls 70% of Muslims voted to remain in the UE. This provides additional refutation of the claim made by our rulers that immigration doesn’t change anything. In the Scottish referendum, a majority of people born in Scotland voted for independence; it was the votes of (first-generation) immigrants that swayed the result in favour of maintaining the United Kingdom. Now, in this second referendum, the British people as a whole might well have lost their independence because of the votes of African and Asian colonists who only arrived in their country within the last few decades. In the end, this was narrowly averted. But it shows the extent to which the demographic window is closing on the hopes for European survival.White voters voted to leave the EU by 53% to 47%. Two thirds (67%) of those describing themselves as Asian voted to remain, as did three quarters (73%) of black voters. Nearly six in ten (58%) of those describing themselves as Christian voted to leave; seven in ten Muslims voted to remain.A majority of those who backed the Conservative in 2015 voted to leave the EU (58%), as did more than 19 out of 20 UKIP supporters. Nearly two thirds of Labour and SNP voters (63% and 64%), seven in ten Liberal Democrats and three quarters of Greens, voted to remain.Nearly half (49%) of leave voters said the biggest single reason for wanting to leave the EU was the principle that decisions about the UK should be taken in the UK . One third (33%) said the main reason was that leaving offered the best chance for the UK to regain control over immigration and its own borders. Just over one in eight (13%) said remaining would mean having no choice about how the EU expanded its membership or its powers in the years ahead. Only just over one in twenty (6%) said their main reason was that when it comes to trade and the economy, the UK would benefit more from being outside the EU than from being part of it. A small majority of those who voted to remain’think that for most children growing up today, life will be better than it was for their parents; leavers think the opposite by 61% to 39%. Leavers see more threats than opportunities to their standard of living from the way the economy and society are changing, by 71% to 29% more than twice the margin among remainers.Nearly three quarters (73%) of remainers think life in Britain is better today than it was 30 years ago; a majority (58%) of those who voted to leave say it is worse. |
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| Emotions around the nation are raw due to the rash of violence that we have experienced in the past week. First, there were back to back shootings of black men at the hands of police, first Alton Sterling in Louisiana, and then Philando Castile in Minnesota. Of course, the world is watching in both cases. To top it all off, a deranged individual with military training and an ax to grind decided to target police during a peaceful protest in Dallas, Texas. Therefore, it is important that visitors to these tense areas treat the’situation with sensitivity. However, that doesn’t seem to be the order of the day for one Fox reporter.A video was taken of a protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, where it seems a Fox reporter is attempting to bait protesters. The video is little more than a hit piece, with a reporter who clearly does not care about the protesters or why they are there. Understandably, the protesters tell the reporter to leave, but he refuses. The confrontation becomes more and more heated as he’shoves the microphone into the protester s face. Here is the footage. (WARNING: NSFW language):As if that weren’t bad enough, particularly the fact that the video is clearly cut to be a total hit piece, the comments are even worse. Many even call for the deaths of black people. Again, these images are NSFW and contain offensive language:This is beyond despicable. These people are testament to just how racist the opposition to #BlackLivesMatter really is. These are people who are literally protesting for lost lives, and here these imbeciles are calling for more deaths. We have a lot of work to do when it comes to racism in America, no matter how much so-called evidence there is from the right wing that racism is over.Featured image via video screen capture |
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| Donald Trump thanked his poorly educated supporters for helping him win Nevada earlier this week, thus opening himself up to the mocking he received from Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday night.Trump proudly declared during his victory speech after capturing the Nevada caucus: We won with poorly educated! I love the poorly educated! Trump destroyed his GOP rivals by a landslide, taking just another step closer toward becoming the Republican nominee.But Jimmy Kimmel saw an opportunity to not only mock Trump, but to accurately depict his supporters at the’same time.And that s why he presented a hilarious campaign ad by Poorly-Educated Americans for Trump.After playing a clip of Trump declaring his love of the poorly educated, Kimmel quipped, They feel the’same way about you. In fact, they love Trump’so much that they made this ad just for him, Kimmel continued.The ad began with Trump riding an escalator down to the podium to give his announcement that he is running for president. And as he does so, the narrator says, In dangerous times, Americans need a leader But on the’screen the word is misspelled as LEEDER, reminiscent of the misspelled signs that Tea Party supporters have carried during rallies.The ad goes on to misspell other words as well, including terists. The ad then states that we need a president who will lock down the border to keep immigrants from coming from Mexico, which the poorly educated think is located where Canada is on the map.In addition, the ad praises Trump for standing up to Lil Kim, in North Korea, Voldemort Putin in Russia, and President XI (pronounced eleven in the ad) in China while honoring the principles outlined in the US Constipation and the’second commandment in which God says Thou shalt have guns. The video concludes by identifying who paid for the ad, a Tea Party supporter with a sign that says, Get a brain MORANS! Here s the video via YouTube.Once again, Jimmy Kimmel finds the perfect way to mock a Republican candidate. Clearly they are making it just too easy for him.Featured image via video screen capture |
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| We reported earlier about Dallas cop killer, Micah X. Johnson and his affiliation with the New Black Panther group, as well as Obama s past history with them. These acts leading up the GOP convention are no accident. We are living in dangerous times, and the most evil man to ever occupy our White House has been working in conjunction with BLM leaders to make sure this divisive movement succeeds The FBI issued an alert to Louisiana law enforcement agencies warning of violence against officers and planned riots in the aftermath of this week s high-profile fatal shooting of a black man by Baton Rouge Police. Judicial Watch obtained a copy of the’situational information report, which was distributed to police and sheriff departments in Bossier, Caddo Parish and east Baton Rouge as well as Louisiana State Police.Titled Violence Against Law Enforcement Officers and Riots Planned for 8-10 July 2016, the alert warns that multiple groups are calling for or planning riots and/or violence against law enforcement in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, Louisiana beginning Friday July 8 2016 and continuing through at least July 10, 2016. The document is labeled FOUO (For Official Use Only), a term the government uses to mark sensitive information that s not classified. It was issued by the New Orleans division of the FBI. The agency did not respond to multiple calls from Judicial Watch for comment.A spokesman for the Louisiana State Police Department, Lieutenant JB Slaton, referred Judicial Watch to the FBI and would not confirm or deny that his agency received it even though it appears on the list of recipients. That s an FBI bulletin, they would need to address it, Slaton told Judicial Watch after being provided with a copy of the FBI alert. When asked if his agency got the FBI alert Slaton continued to be evasive, responding that it s an FBI bulletin. The alert is dated July 7 and includes disturbing images from social media, including one depicting a restrained uniformed police officer getting his throat slashed by a masked individual. Other social media images call for purging and killing all cops in Baton Rouge on July 9 and starting a riot by the courthouse in Shreveport that will tear shi_ _ down without killing our own black people. Calling for unity in the violent protests, one social media post says it don’t matter what color you are. Another says must kill every police!!!! Judicial WatchMeanwhile The New Black Panther Party, a militant racial group, announced that they will be arriving in Baton Rouge to protest outside of the Baton Rouge Police Department after Alton Sterling was shot during an altercation with a local officer, calling the headquarters the pig department. On the group s social media, they called the police department the Baton Rouge Pig Department, a term that is often used by militants against police officers across the country, in an exclusive Hayride report.Check out the invitation to the protest, which is supposed to take place tomorrow and where sources tell the Hayride that out-of-towners are expected to show up in order to wreak havoc on the city. Via: InfoWars |
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| Catalonia s former leader challenged Spain and the European Union to respect the result of Catalan regional elections in December, saying Madrid would have to end direct rule if separatists win. Speaking from Belgium where he fled earlier this month, Carles Puigdemont said the vote was the most important in Catalonia s history. Will you accept the results of December 21 if the pro-independence camp wins?, he asked after supporters chanted Puigdemont, our president during a speech to unveil his list of candidates for the vote. Do you commit to ending (direct rule) if that is the result? said Puigdemont, the public face of the move for independence who is wanted in Spain for rebellion and sedition. After dissolving Catalonia s parliament and sacking theregional government in response to the region declaring itself independent on Oct. 27, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoysaid a new election would be held in Catalonia and called onPuigdemont to take part. Pro-Catalonia independence parties are expected to win next month although they may fall short of a majority of seats in parliament needed to revive the secession campaign, polls show. On December 21 we must tell Madrid, the EU and the tripartite support for direct rule that democracy in Catalonia must not be undermined. Never again in Catalonia! Puigdemont said from the town of Oostkamp near Bruges, part of Belgium s Flemish region that has its own separatist aspirations. EU leaders are extremely wary of Catalonia s search for independence because it has stirred separatist feelings far beyond Spanish borders. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker this month in Madrid called on Europe to reject what he called separatist poison. A Belgian court has granted Puigdemont conditional release but he is barred from leaving Belgium without a judge s consent. |
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| Of course, Mateen s Muslim father vehemently denies his son was gay. ISIS isn’t gonna like this new little development, especially after they claimed responsibility for the actions of the gay terrorist A former classmate of Omar Mateen s 2006 police academy class said he believed Mateen was gay, saying Mateen once asked him out.Officials say Mateen shot and killed 49 people and injured 53 others at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning.The classmate said that he, Mateen and other classmates would hang out, sometimes going to gay nightclubs, after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy. He said Mateen asked him out romantically. We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer, the former classmate said. He asked that his name not be used.He believed Mateen was gay, but not open about it. Mateen was awkward, and for a while the classmate and the rest in the group of friends felt sorry for him. He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him, he’said. He was always socially awkward. In Orlando, the Los Angeles Times reported that Mateen attended the Pulse nightclub possibly as many as a dozen times before the rampage. Kevin West said he had messaged Mateen back and forth over a year s time on the gay dating app Jack d but never met him until he’saw Mateen crossing the’street about 1 a.m. Sunday. He walked directly past me. I said, Hey, and he turned and said, Hey, and nodded his head, West said. I could tell by the eyes. At least four regular customers of Pulse, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender nightclub where the massacre took place, told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that they believed they had seen Mateen there before. Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent, said Ty Smith, who also uses the name Aries.He saw Mateen at the club at least a dozen times, he told the Sentinel. We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times, Smith said. He told us he had a wife and child. The Canadian Press reported Monday that Mateen had been seen there over three years.Chris Callen recalled the eventual killer being escorted drunk from the Pulse bar on multiple occasions, including one incident where he pointed a knife at a friend. Said Callen, who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, He s been going to this bar for at least three years. Mateen s father emphatically told The Post Monday that his son was not gay. If he was gay, why would he do something like this? Seddique Mateen asked.For entire story: Palm Beach Post |
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| U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday to discuss border security and other issues, the U.S. Department of State said in a statement. The two will meet in Ottawa to discuss U.S.-Canadian coordination on a range of global and regional topics, the statement said. A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson and Freeland will confer on North Korea, Ukraine and Venezuela among other issues. Canada and the United States plan to co-host an international meeting on North Korea in Vancouver in January. Pyongyang has continued to test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The meeting is designed to produce better ideas to ease tensions over North Korea s tests, Canadian officials have said. The two ministers also are likely to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump s demand for revisions to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico. |
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| France said on Thursday that Russian steps to push Syrian peace talks should be within the framework of United Nations efforts, which Paris said were the only appropriate forum to discuss a political solution to the civil war. Having intervened decisively in the Syrian war in 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia now hopes to build on the collapse of Islamic State to launch a political process to end the six-year-old conflict. On Tuesday, it invited 33 Syrian groups and political parties to attend what it called a Syrian Congress on National Dialogue which it is organizing in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 18. The Geneva process is the only appropriate and internationally-agreed forum to discuss political aspects of the Syrian crisis, especially for an election process and a new constitution, French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters in a daily briefing. She urged all players, including Russia, to abide by U.N. resolution 2254, which lays the foundations for a future peaceful resolution of the conflict. International efforts, including those by Russia, must be within this framework, she added. France, a key backer of the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), has struggled to set up its own peace initiative that would see the permanent members of the Security Council come to an agreement on how to move stalled peace talks forward. |
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| People have long speculated about Donald Trump’s mental state. While it was once seen as unseemly to suggest that a public figure may be crazy, Trump’s alarming behavior warrants an exception especially since he has the nuclear codes. Well, it s not our imagination and that s not just because we can see with every wild statement and unhinged Twitter rant that something is wrong with Trump. It s because, according to former Republican Congressman and current host of MSNBC s Morning Joe reported on Thursday that several of Trump’s allies confided to him that Trump has dementia.Then, Scarborough went all in, and called for the use of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, and in doing so, decided to list many of Trump’s infamous incidences of con artistry in the process: If this is not what the 25th Amendment was drafted for, I would like the Cabinet members serving America not the president you serve America, and you know it. You know you’don’t serve Donald J. Trump. Scam developer, scam Trump University proprietor, reality TV show host. You don’t represent him. You represent 320 million people whose lives are literally in your hands, and we are facing a showdown with a nuclear power. You have somebody inside the White House that the New York Daily News says is mentally unfit. That people close to him say is mentally unfit, that people close to him during the campaign told me had early stages of dementia. This is astounding. Joe Scarborough is no liberal. I disagree with a lot of what he’says, but he’s definitely putting his country before his party, and doing the right thing. It s time for Republicans to stop being cowards and remove Trump.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images |