Datasets:

daviddaubner

/

misinformation-detection

like 1

House Dem Aide: We Didn’t Even See Comey’s Letter Until Jason Chaffetz Tweeted It By Darrell Lucus on October 30, 2016 Subscribe Jason Chaffetz on the stump in American Fork, Utah ( image courtesy Michael Jolley, available under a Creative Commons-BY license) With apologies to Keith Olbermann, there is no doubt who the Worst Person in The World is this week–FBI Director James Comey. But according to a House Democratic aide, it looks like we also know who the second-worst person is as well. It turns out that when Comey sent his now-infamous letter announcing that the FBI was looking into emails that may be related to Hillary Clinton’s email server, the ranking Democrats on the relevant committees didn’t hear about it from Comey. They found out via a tweet from one of the Republican committee chairmen. As we now know, Comey notified the Republican chairmen and Democratic ranking members of the House Intelligence, Judiciary, and Oversight committees that his agency was reviewing emails it had recently discovered in order to see if they contained classified information. Not long after this letter went out, Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz set the political world ablaze with this tweet. FBI Dir just informed me, "The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation." Case reopened — Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) October 28, 2016 Of course, we now know that this was not the case . Comey was actually saying that it was reviewing the emails in light of “an unrelated case”–which we now know to be Anthony Weiner’s sexting with a teenager. But apparently such little things as facts didn’t matter to Chaffetz. The Utah Republican had already vowed to initiate a raft of investigations if Hillary wins–at least two years’ worth, and possibly an entire term’s worth of them. Apparently Chaffetz thought the FBI was already doing his work for him–resulting in a tweet that briefly roiled the nation before cooler heads realized it was a dud. But according to a senior House Democratic aide, misreading that letter may have been the least of Chaffetz’ sins. That aide told Shareblue that his boss and other Democrats didn’t even know about Comey’s letter at the time–and only found out when they checked Twitter. “Democratic Ranking Members on the relevant committees didn’t receive Comey’s letter until after the Republican Chairmen. In fact, the Democratic Ranking Members didn’ receive it until after the Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Jason Chaffetz, tweeted it out and made it public.” So let’s see if we’ve got this right. The FBI director tells Chaffetz and other GOP committee chairmen about a major development in a potentially politically explosive investigation, and neither Chaffetz nor his other colleagues had the courtesy to let their Democratic counterparts know about it. Instead, according to this aide, he made them find out about it on Twitter. There has already been talk on Daily Kos that Comey himself provided advance notice of this letter to Chaffetz and other Republicans, giving them time to turn on the spin machine. That may make for good theater, but there is nothing so far that even suggests this is the case. After all, there is nothing so far that suggests that Comey was anything other than grossly incompetent and tone-deaf. What it does suggest, however, is that Chaffetz is acting in a way that makes Dan Burton and Darrell Issa look like models of responsibility and bipartisanship. He didn’t even have the decency to notify ranking member Elijah Cummings about something this explosive. If that doesn’t trample on basic standards of fairness, I don’t know what does. Granted, it’s not likely that Chaffetz will have to answer for this. He sits in a ridiculously Republican district anchored in Provo and Orem; it has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+25, and gave Mitt Romney a punishing 78 percent of the vote in 2012. Moreover, the Republican House leadership has given its full support to Chaffetz’ planned fishing expedition. But that doesn’t mean we can’t turn the hot lights on him. After all, he is a textbook example of what the House has become under Republican control. And he is also the Second Worst Person in the World. About Darrell Lucus Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC . Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook . Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello. Connect

Ever get the feeling your life circles the roundabout rather than heads in a straight line toward the intended destination? [Hillary Clinton remains the big woman on campus in leafy, liberal Wellesley, Massachusetts. Everywhere else votes her most likely to don her inauguration dress for the remainder of her days the way Miss Havisham forever wore that wedding dress. Speaking of Great Expectations, Hillary Rodham overflowed with them 48 years ago when she first addressed a Wellesley graduating class. The president of the college informed those gathered in 1969 that the students needed “no debate so far as I could ascertain as to who their spokesman was to be” (kind of the like the Democratic primaries in 2016 minus the terms unknown then even at a Seven Sisters school). “I am very glad that Miss Adams made it clear that what I am speaking for today is all of us — the 400 of us,” Miss Rodham told her classmates. After appointing herself Edger Bergen to the Charlie McCarthys and Mortimer Snerds in attendance, the bespectacled in granny glasses (awarding her matronly wisdom — or at least John Lennon wisdom) took issue with the previous speaker. Despite becoming the first to win election to a seat in the U. S. Senate since Reconstruction, Edward Brooke came in for criticism for calling for “empathy” for the goals of protestors as he criticized tactics. Though Clinton in her senior thesis on Saul Alinsky lamented “Black Power demagogues” and “elitist arrogance and repressive intolerance” within the New Left, similar words coming out of a Republican necessitated a brief rebuttal. “Trust,” Rodham ironically observed in 1969, “this is one word that when I asked the class at our rehearsal what it was they wanted me to say for them, everyone came up to me and said ‘Talk about trust, talk about the lack of trust both for us and the way we feel about others. Talk about the trust bust.’ What can you say about it? What can you say about a feeling that permeates a generation and that perhaps is not even understood by those who are distrusted?” The “trust bust” certainly busted Clinton’s 2016 plans. She certainly did not even understand that people distrusted her. After Whitewater, Travelgate, the vast conspiracy, Benghazi, and the missing emails, Clinton found herself the distrusted voice on Friday. There was a load of compromising on the road to the broadening of her political horizons. And distrust from the American people — Trump edged her 48 percent to 38 percent on the question immediately prior to November’s election — stood as a major reason for the closing of those horizons. Clinton described her vanquisher and his supporters as embracing a “lie,” a “con,” “alternative facts,” and “a assault on truth and reason. ” She failed to explain why the American people chose his lies over her truth. “As the history majors among you here today know all too well, when people in power invent their own facts and attack those who question them, it can mark the beginning of the end of a free society,” she offered. “That is not hyperbole. ” Like so many people to emerge from the 1960s, Hillary Clinton embarked upon a long, strange trip. From high school Goldwater Girl and Wellesley College Republican president to Democratic politician, Clinton drank in the times and the place that gave her a degree. More significantly, she went from idealist to cynic, as a comparison of her two Wellesley commencement addresses show. Way back when, she lamented that “for too long our leaders have viewed politics as the art of the possible, and the challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible possible. ” Now, as the big woman on campus but the odd woman out of the White House, she wonders how her current station is even possible. “Why aren’t I 50 points ahead?” she asked in September. In May she asks why she isn’t president. The woman famously dubbed a “congenital liar” by Bill Safire concludes that lies did her in — theirs, mind you, not hers. Getting stood up on Election Day, like finding yourself the jilted bride on your wedding day, inspires dangerous delusions.

Videos 15 Civilians Killed In Single US Airstrike Have Been Identified The rate at which civilians are being killed by American airstrikes in Afghanistan is now higher than it was in 2014 when the US was engaged in active combat operations. Photo of Hellfire missiles being loaded onto a US military Reaper drone in Afghanistan by Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson/U.S. Air Force. The Bureau has been able to identify 15 civilians killed in a single US drone strike in Afghanistan last month – the biggest loss of civilian life in one strike since the attack on the Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital (MSF) last October. The US claimed it had conducted a “counter-terrorism” strike against Islamic State (IS) fighters when it hit Nangarhar province with missiles on September 28. But the next day the United Nations issued an unusually rapid and strong statement saying the strike had killed 15 civilians and injured 13 others who had gathered at a house to celebrate a tribal elder’s return from a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Bureau spoke to a man named Haji Rais who said he was the owner of the house that was targeted. He said 15 people were killed and 19 others injured, and provided their names (listed below). The Bureau was able to independently verify the identities of those who died. Rais’ son, a headmaster at a local school, was among them. Another man, Abdul Hakim, lost three of his sons in the attack. Rais said he had no involvement with IS and denied US claims that IS members had visited his house before the strike. He said: “I did not even speak to those sort of people on the phone let alone receiving them in my house.” The deaths amount to the biggest confirmed loss of civilian life in a single American strike in Afghanistan since the attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz last October, which killed at least 42 people. The Nangarhar strike was not the only US attack to kill civilians in September. The Bureau’s data indicates that as many as 45 civilians and allied soldiers were killed in four American strikes in Afghanistan and Somalia that month. On September 18 a pair of strikes killed eight Afghan policemen in Tarinkot, the capital of Urozgan provice. US jets reportedly hit a police checkpoint, killing one officer, before returning to target first responders. The use of this tactic – known as a “double-tap” strike – is controversial because they often hit civilian rescuers. The US told the Bureau it had conducted the strike against individuals firing on and posing a threat to Afghan forces. The email did not directly address the allegations of Afghan policemen being killed. At the end of the month in Somalia, citizens burnt US flags on the streets of the north-central city of Galcayo after it emerged a drone attack may have unintentionally killed 22 Somali soldiers and civilians. The strike occurred on the same day as the one in Nangarhar. In both the Somali and Afghan incidents, the US at first denied that any non-combatants had been killed. It is now investigating both the strikes in Nangarhar and Galcayo. The rate at which civilians are being killed by American airstrikes in Afghanistan is now higher than it was in 2014 when the US was engaged in active combat operations. Name

Print An Iranian woman has been sentenced to six years in prison after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard searched her home and found a notebook that contained a fictional story she’d written about a woman who was stoned to death, according to the Eurasia Review . Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, 35, is the wife of political prisoner Arash Sadeghi, 36, who is serving a 19-year prison sentence for being a human rights activist, the publication reported. “When the intelligence unit of the Revolutionary Guards came to arrest her husband, they raided their apartment – without a warrant – and found drafts of stories that Ebrahimi Iraee had written,” the article stated. “One of the confiscated drafts was a story about stoning women to death for adultery – never published, never presented to anyone,” the article stated. “The narrative followed the story of a protagonist that watched a movie about stoning of women under Islamic law for adultery.

In these trying times, Jackie Mason is the Voice of Reason. [In this week’s exclusive clip for Breitbart News, Jackie discusses the looming threat of North Korea, and explains how President Donald Trump could win the support of the Hollywood left if the U. S. needs to strike first. “If he decides to bomb them, the whole country will be behind him, because everybody will realize he had no choice and that was the only thing to do,” Jackie says. “Except the Hollywood left. They’ll get nauseous. ” “[Trump] could win the left over, they’ll fall in love with him in a minute. If he bombed them for a better reason,” Jackie explains. “Like if they have no transgender toilets. ” Jackie also says it’s no surprise that Hollywood celebrities didn’t support Trump’s strike on a Syrian airfield this month. “They were infuriated,” he says. “Because it might only save lives. That doesn’t mean anything to them. If it only saved the environment, or climate change! They’d be the happiest people in the world. ” Still, Jackie says he’s got nothing against Hollywood celebs. They’ve got a tough life in this country. Watch Jackie’s latest clip above. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

PARIS — France chose an idealistic, traditional candidate in Sunday’s primary to represent the Socialist and parties in the presidential election this spring. The candidate, Benoît Hamon, 49, who ran on the slogan that he would “make France’s heart beat,” bested Manuel Valls, the former prime minister, whose campaign has promoted more policies and who has a strong background. Mr. Hamon appeared to have won by a wide margin, with incomplete returns showing him with an estimated 58 percent of the vote to Mr. Valls’s 41 percent. “Tonight the left holds its head up high again it is looking to the future,” Mr. Hamon said, addressing his supporters. “Our country needs the left, but a modern, innovative left,” he said. Mr. Hamon’s victory was the clearest sign yet that voters on the left want a break with the policies of President François Hollande, who in December announced that he would not seek . However, Mr. Hamon’s strong showing is unlikely to change widespread assessments that candidates have little chance of making it into the second round of voting in the general election. The first round of the general election is set for April 23 and the runoff for May 7. The Socialist Party is deeply divided, and one measure of its lack of popular enthusiasm was the relatively low number of people voting. About two million people voted in the second round of the primary on Sunday, in contrast with about 2. 9 million in the second round of the last presidential primary on the left, in 2011. However, much of the conventional wisdom over how the elections will go has been thrown into question over the past week, because the leading candidate, François Fillon, who represents the main party, the Republicans, was accused of paying his wife large sums of money to work as his parliamentary aide. While nepotism is legal in the French political system, it is not clear that she actually did any work. Prosecutors who specialize in financial malfeasance are reviewing the case. France’s electoral system allows multiple candidates to run for president in the first round of voting, but only the top two go on to a second round. Mr. Hamon is entering a race that is already crowded on the left, with candidates who include Mélenchon on the far left, and Emmanuel Macron, an independent who served as economy minister in Mr. Hollande’s government and who embraces more policies. Unless he decides to withdraw, Mr. Fillon, the mainstream right candidate, will also run, as will the extreme right candidate Marine Le Pen. The two have been expected to go to the runoff. Mr. Hamon’s victory can be attributed at least in part to his image as an idealist and traditional leftist candidate who appeals to union voters as well as more environmentally concerned and socially liberal young people. Unlike Mr. Valls, he also clearly distanced himself from some of Mr. Hollande’s more unpopular policies, especially the economic ones. Thomas Kekenbosch, 22, a student and one of the leaders of the group the Youth With Benoît Hamon, said Mr. Hamon embodied a new hope for those on the left. “We have a perspective we have something to do, to build,” Mr. Kekenbosch said. Mr. Hollande had disappointed many young people because under him the party abandoned ideals, such as support for workers, that many voters believe in, according to Mr. Kekenbosch. Mr. Hollande’s government, under pressure from the European Union to meet budget restraints, struggled to pass labor code reforms to make the market more attractive to foreign investors and also to encourage French businesses to expand in France. The measures ultimately passed after weeks of strikes, but they were watered down and generated little concrete progress in improving France’s roughly 10 percent unemployment rate and its nearly 25 percent youth joblessness rate. Mr. Hamon strongly endorses a stimulus approach to improving the economy and has promised to phase in a universal income, which would especially help young people looking for work, but would also supplement the livelihood of French workers. The end goal would be to have everyone receive 750 euros per month (about $840). “We have someone that trusts us,” Mr. Kekenbosch said, “who says: ‘I give you enough to pay for your studies. You can have a scholarship which spares you from working at McDonald’s on provisional contracts for 4 years. ” Mr. Hamon advocates phasing out diesel fuel and encouraging drivers to replace vehicles that use petroleum products with electrical ones. His leftist pedigree began early. His father worked at an arsenal in Brest, a city in the far west of Brittany, and his mother worked off and on as a secretary. He was an early member of the Movement of Young Socialists, and he has continued to work closely with them through his political life. He also worked for Martine Aubry, now the mayor of Lille and a former Socialist Party leader.

Donald J. Trump is scheduled to make a highly anticipated visit to an church in Detroit on Saturday, the first such visit of his campaign. There, he will participate in a session conducted by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson of the church, Great Faith Ministries International. Given the importance of the visit, the Trump team went so far as to script Mr. Trump’s answers to Bishop Jackson’s questions, which were submitted in advance. After this article was published on Thursday night, a campaign official said that Mr. Trump would also speak to the church’s congregation and then tour some neighborhoods with Ben Carson, a former presidential candidate and Detroit native. Below are excerpts from a draft of the script that was obtained by The New York Times. _____ Mr. Trump there is racial divide in our country and it is evident that the tension is boiling over. Case and point Reverend Pinckney in South Carolina was gunned down when a white young man came into their Bible Study and slaughtered the Reverend and eight other individuals because he wanted to start a race war. What would your administration do to bring down the racial tension that is in our Country? In the Bible Jesus said that a house divided cannot stand. Our best hope for erasing racial tensions in America is to work toward a society. In business, we hire, retain and award based on merit. In society, however, we have divisions that can only be eliminated if we have equal opportunity and then equal access to programs and institutions that will lift all people in the country. We have to reform our tax system so that we can spur economic growth for the long haul. We have to have stronger enforcement of immigration laws. We have to renegotiate our trade deals so that we can bring advantage back to the American workforce. But perhaps most important is that we must provide equal opportunity for a quality education for all Americans. The higher the educational attainment, the greater the likelihood one can climb the economic ladder. We must bring school choice programs to our cities and we must get rid of Common Core. We must make sure that access, affordability and accountability are brought into our higher education system. Without a focus on educational outcomes for every American, we will perpetuate the permanent underclass that progressive policies have sustained. Republicans like me need to have the courage to speak the truth about where we are and what has to be done. We have to have the courage to go into communities and work with everyone there to make sure that our schools are good and that our children have access to the whatever educational situation they may need. This is not something one person can do, but it is something that we can do together. _____ Mr. Trump there is a perception that your administration is racist. With many of the African American voters their belief is that the Republican Party as a whole does not cater to African American needs. In 2008 and 2012 we had two Republican Candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney and neither one of them came to Detroit, or any urban area that I can remember to even address the concerns of our community. First I would like to commend you for coming to our community as a Republican Candidate. Second I need to know how would you change that perception in our community? The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. Coming into a community is meaningless unless we can offer an alternative to the horrible progressive agenda that has perpetuated a permanent underclass in America. We need to be true to our word and offer all Americans more opportunities so that each and every one of them can reach their full potential. This means economic policies that will bring jobs back to America and will raise wages for all. This means working hard to provide as many educational options as possible to our parents and children. This means cleaning up drugs and making our neighborhoods and communities safer. We need to get people off welfare and back to work. We need to make sure that anyone who qualifies can go into a bank, get a loan and then start a business. We need to reduce regulations and expand options for people who want to be independent of government. We need to make sure that people can worship how they want and where they want without worrying that some federal agency is going to threaten the religious liberties. Republicans have better options. We just need to have the courage to present them with conviction. _____ Mr. Trump what is your vision for America? And specifically Black America? If you repeal Obama care what is your plan to provide health care and medicine to those who can’t afford it, yet need it the most? As President, I must serve all Americans without regard to race, ethnicity or any other qualification. I must approach my task with the utmost wisdom and make sure that all Americans have opportunities to achieve to their potential. If we are to Make America Great Again, we must reduce, rather than highlight, issues of race in this country. I want to make race disappear as a factor in government and governance. Every individual, regardless of race or ethnicity, must have access to the full array of opportunities in America. My vision for America is that every citizen and legal resident of this nation will be able to stand side by side and be proud of the fact that they live in the greatest nation on earth. As for the Affordable Care Act, I will work to repeal the act and replace it with market driven solutions that will offer more access to healthcare at more affordable prices. Every American should be able to purchase health insurance across state lines, have health savings account that belong to them, have price transparency so they can shop for the best services at the best prices and know that they will not have to compete with those who are clogging the system simply because they are in this country illegally. We want to block grant Medicaid so that states can provide services closer to the people. We want to make sure that every American has great economic opportunity so that they can seek out their own health insurance and still be able to afford it. This approach will serve all Americans and will ensure that more Americans are covered by better insurance and healthcare options. _____ Mr. Trump I am a registered Democrat but I am an undecided voter in this election for 2016. It is not only myself but there has been a lot of Pastors and African Americans who have not made up their minds concerning who they are going to cast their vote for. The latest polls indicate that you have 1 percent of the African American vote. What can you say to undecided voters such as myself and others in the African American Community that will win our vote on November 8, 2016? And beyond winning, why is the African American vote important to you? All votes are important to me and my campaign. Your vote, your neighbor’s vote, the vote of every American is critical and I must do all I can to make sure you know that if you vote for me, you are voting for a stronger, more vibrant America. My policies offer you a clear choice. You can continue down the road of progressivism that has created a permanent underclass in this country that, unfortunately, includes far too many people of color. If you want a better America, you must break from the historical hold that Democrats have had on people of color and move to options that allow you to achieve your potential. This is all about opportunity — not outcomes and promises of things to come that never materialize. The progressives have worked tirelessly to bring all Americans down to one level rather than allowing as many as possible to rise as high as possible. Education, jobs, religious liberty and protection of civil rights are the promises that I will keep, not just utter to gain favor. If you are interested in a greater America with more opportunity, liberty and prosperity, you must take a chance and walk over to my side. If you want a strong partner in this journey, you will vote for me. I will never let you down. By the way, my support is now up to 8% and climbing.

A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort. At a time when Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny — with investigations by American intelligence agencies, the F. B. I. and Congress — some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into efforts behind the scenes. Mr. Trump has confounded Democrats and Republicans alike with his repeated praise for the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, and his desire to forge an alliance. While there is nothing illegal about such unofficial efforts, a proposal that seems to tip toward Russian interests may set off alarms. The amateur diplomats say their goal is simply to help settle a grueling, conflict that has cost 10, 000 lives. “Who doesn’t want to help bring about peace?” Mr. Cohen asked. But the proposal contains more than just a peace plan. Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, who sees himself as a leader of a future Ukraine, claims to have evidence — “names of companies, wire transfers” — showing corruption by the Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, that could help oust him. And Mr. Artemenko said he had received encouragement for his plans from top aides to Mr. Putin. “A lot of people will call me a Russian agent, a U. S. agent, a C. I. A. agent,” Mr. Artemenko said. “But how can you find a good solution between our countries if we do not talk?” Mr. Cohen and Mr. Sater said they had not spoken to Mr. Trump about the proposal, and have no experience in foreign policy. Mr. Cohen is one of several Trump associates under scrutiny in an F. B. I. counterintelligence examination of links with Russia, according to law enforcement officials he has denied any illicit connections. The two others involved in the effort have somewhat questionable pasts: Mr. Sater, 50, a pleaded guilty to a role in a stock manipulation scheme decades ago that involved the Mafia. Mr. Artemenko spent two and a half years in jail in Kiev in the early 2000s on embezzlement charges, later dropped, which he said had been politically motivated. While it is unclear if the White House will take the proposal seriously, the diplomatic freelancing has infuriated Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, said Mr. Artemenko “is not entitled to present any alternative peace plans on behalf of Ukraine to any foreign government, including the U. S. administration. ” At a security conference in Munich on Friday, Mr. Poroshenko warned the West against “appeasement” of Russia, and some American experts say offering Russia any alternative to a international agreement on Ukraine would be a mistake. The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about the conflict in Ukraine. But given Mr. Trump’s praise for Mr. Putin, John Herbst, a former American ambassador to Ukraine, said he feared the new president might be too eager to mend relations with Russia at Ukraine’s expense — potentially with a plan like Mr. Artemenko’s. It was late January when the three men associated with the proposed plan converged on the Loews Regency, a luxury hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan where business deals are made in a lobby furnished with leather couches, over martinis at the restaurant bar and in private conference rooms on upper floors. Mr. Cohen, 50, lives two blocks up the street, in Trump Park Avenue. A lawyer who joined the Trump Organization in 2007 as special counsel, he has worked on many deals, including a tower in the republic of Georgia and a mixed martial arts venture starring a Russian fighter. He is considered a loyal lieutenant whom Mr. Trump trusts to fix difficult problems. The F. B. I. is reviewing an unverified dossier, compiled by a former British intelligence agent and funded by Mr. Trump’s political opponents, that claims Mr. Cohen met with a Russian representative in Prague during the presidential campaign to discuss Russia’s hacking of Democratic targets. But the Russian official named in the report told The New York Times that he had never met Mr. Cohen. Mr. Cohen insists that he has never visited Prague and that the dossier’s assertions are fabrications. (Mr. Manafort is also under investigation by the F. B. I. for his connections to Russia and Ukraine.) Mr. Cohen has a personal connection to Ukraine: He is married to a Ukrainian woman and once worked with relatives there to establish an ethanol business. Mr. Artemenko, tall and burly, arrived at the Manhattan hotel between visits to Washington. (His wife, he said, met the first lady, Melania Trump, years ago during their modeling careers, but he did not try to meet Mr. Trump.) He had attended the inauguration and visited Congress, posting on Facebook his admiration for Mr. Trump and talking up his peace plan in meetings with American lawmakers. He entered Parliament in 2014, the year that the former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych fled to Moscow amid protests over his economic alignment with Russia and corruption. Mr. Manafort, who had been instrumental in getting Mr. Yanukovych elected, helped shape a political bloc that sprang up to oppose the new president, Mr. Poroshenko, a wealthy businessman who has taken a far tougher stance toward Russia and accused Mr. Putin of wanting to absorb Ukraine into a new Russian Empire. Mr. Artemenko, 48, emerged from the opposition that Mr. Manafort nurtured. (The two men have never met, Mr. Artemenko said.) Before entering politics, Mr. Artemenko had business ventures in the Middle East and real estate deals in the Miami area, and had worked as an agent representing top Ukrainian athletes. Some colleagues in Parliament describe him as corrupt, untrustworthy or simply insignificant, but he appears to have amassed considerable wealth. He has fashioned himself in the image of Mr. Trump, presenting himself as Ukraine’s answer to a rising class of nationalist leaders in the West. He even traveled to Cleveland last summer for the Republican National Convention, seizing on the chance to meet with members of Mr. Trump’s campaign. “It’s time for new leaders, new approaches to the governance of the country, new principles and new negotiators in international politics,” he wrote on Facebook on Jan. 27. “Our time has come!” Mr. Artemenko said he saw in Mr. Trump an opportunity to advocate a plan for peace in Ukraine — and help advance his own political career. Essentially, his plan would require the withdrawal of all Russian forces from eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian voters would decide in a referendum whether Crimea, the Ukrainian territory seized by Russia in 2014, would be leased to Russia for a term of 50 or 100 years. The Ukrainian ambassador, Mr. Chaly, rejected a lease of that kind. “It is a gross violation of the Constitution,” he said in written answers to questions from The Times. “Such ideas can be pitched or pushed through only by those openly or covertly representing Russian interests. ” The reaction suggested why Mr. Artemenko’s project also includes the dissemination of “kompromat,” or compromising material, purportedly showing that Mr. Poroshenko and his closest associates are corrupt. Only a new government, presumably one less hostile to Russia, might take up his plan. Mr. Sater, a longtime business associate of Mr. Trump’s with connections in Russia, was willing to help Mr. Artemenko’s proposal reach the White House. Mr. Trump has sought to distance himself from Mr. Sater in recent years. If Mr. Sater “were sitting in the room right now,” Mr. Trump said in a 2013 deposition, “I really wouldn’t know what he looked like. ” But Mr. Sater worked on real estate development deals with the Trump Organization on and off for at least a decade, even after his role in the stock manipulation scheme came to light. Mr. Sater, who was born in the Soviet Union and grew up in New York, served as an executive at a firm called Bayrock Group, two floors below the Trump Organization in Trump Tower, and was later a senior adviser to Mr. Trump. He said he had been working on a plan for a Trump Tower in Moscow with a Russian real estate developer as recently as the fall of 2015, one that he said had come to a halt because of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign. (Mr. Cohen said the Trump Organization had received a letter of intent for a project in Moscow from a Russian real estate developer at that time but determined that the project was not feasible.) Mr. Artemenko said a mutual friend had put him in touch with Mr. Sater. Helping to advance the proposal, Mr. Sater said, made sense. “I want to stop a war, number one,” he said. “Number two, I absolutely believe that the U. S. and Russia need to be allies, not enemies. If I could achieve both in one stroke, it would be a home run. ” After speaking with Mr. Sater and Mr. Artemenko in person, Mr. Cohen said he would deliver the plan to the White House. Mr. Cohen said he did not know who in the Russian government had offered encouragement on it, as Mr. Artemenko claims, but he understood there was a promise of proof of corruption by the Ukrainian president. “Fraud is never good, right?” Mr. Cohen said. He said Mr. Sater had given him the written proposal in a sealed envelope. When Mr. Cohen met with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office in early February, he said, he left the proposal in Mr. Flynn’s office. Mr. Cohen said he was waiting for a response when Mr. Flynn was forced from his post. Now Mr. Cohen, Mr. Sater and Mr. Artemenko are hoping a new national security adviser will take up their cause. On Friday the president wrote on Twitter that he had four new candidates for the job.

The BBC produced spoof on the “Real Housewives” TV programmes, which has a comedic Islamic State twist, has been criticised by Leftists and Muslims who claim the sketch is offensive. [The BBC released the trailer earlier this week and were immediately slammed by those on the left and Muslims who thought that making fun of the brides of members of the terror group was out of the bounds of conventional humour. The sketch is part of a new programme called “Revolting” written by Jolyon Rubinstein and Heydon Prowse which, according to the BBC, is “satirising the state of the nation. ” LOLOLOL pic. twitter. — Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) January 4, 2017, The BBC2 Facebook page was inundated with criticism. One user wrote, “I’m mortified that the BBC had produced such a programme. This is simply bad taste. The fact it is a comedy makes it even more worrying that humour should be associated with the actions of ISIS. Is this really what TV licenses are funding! ?” Others took a different point of view including a Muslim saying, “As a Muslim I find this HILARIOUS! Brilliant! The satire is on point highlighting the pathetic ideals of a pathetic group like ISIS. ” Not all Muslims agreed with the sentiment and users on Twitter expressed just as much outrage for the sketch. One man, a Bangladeshi, said “The BBC really made a satirical show called ‘The Real Housewives of ISIS’ while the real housewives of ISIS are being raped and abused daily. ” The BBC really made a satirical show called ”The Real Housewives of ISIS” while the real housewives of ISIS are being raped and abused daily, — Meraj. (@UncleMeraj) January 4, 2017, Another wrote, “‘Real Housewives of ISIS’ will make Hijabis feel more isolated n targeted by Islamophobes. Thanks @BBC for adding to the negative stereotype. ” ’Real Housewives of ISIS’ will make Hijabis feel more isolated n targeted by Islamophobes. Thanks @BBC for adding to the negative stereotype, — aѕн (@AshKaneSkittles) January 4, 2017, Leftists also articulated how offended they were that the public broadcaster would dare create such a sketch mocking Islamic State. Some questioned whether the use of taxpayer money via the TV license fee should go toward the funding of the programme. As if people’s TV license in this country is going towards funding the production of a programme called ”the real housewives of ISIS”. Wow, — Cameron Edgar (@CammyyyEdgar) January 4, 2017, The video itself has already been viewed millions of times on Facebook and other social media platforms. The clip shows several women in hijabs talking to each other in a house taking selfies and showing off their suicide belts to each other. One woman even mentions that she hadn’t come from Birmingham “to do this” as she scrubbed the floor of the home. Women joining Islamic State and travelling to Syria to become brides has become a real problem in European countries as the terror group promises young girls a more glamorous lifestyle. In 2014, eight schoolgirls from Bethnal Green travelled to Syria to become brides of Islamic State fighters, all of them under the age of 18.

Clinton Campaign Demands FBI Affirm Trump's Russia Ties With the 2016 election campaign winding down, the Clinton campaign is ratcheting up demands for the FBI to publicly confirm the campaign’s allegations that Republican nominee Donald Trump is secretly in league with Russia. Sen. Harry Reid (D – NV) went so far as to claim the FBI has secret “explosive” evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government that it is withholding. FBI officials familiar with their investigations into the allegations, which the Clinton campaign started publicizing around the Democratic National Convention, say they’ve turned up nothing to connect Trump and Russia , leading FBI Director James Comey to decide against making any statements to that effect. The Clinton campaign has been making the allegations so long that they have taken to claiming “everyone knows” that they are true, and appears unsettled by the FBI’s refusal to sign off on the claims simply because they haven’t been able to find real evidence corroborating the story. The Trump campaign has repeatedly denied ties to Russia, but that didn’t stop Clinton from calling Trump a “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the final presidential debate. The calls have grown since Friday’s FBI report to Congress about further Clinton emails being sought. With Clinton’s main campaign scandal growing in the waning weeks of the deal, some in her campaign have suggested that affirming Trump as secretly in league with the Russians would only be fair. Absent any evidence, however, it appears that won’t be happening.

Yes, There Are Paid Government Trolls On Social Media, Blogs, Forums And Websites February 26th, 2014 Do you want solid proof that paid government shills are targeting websites, blogs, forums and social media accounts? For years, many have suspected that government trolls have been systematically causing havoc all over the Internet, but proving it has been difficult. But now thanks to documents leaked by Edward Snowden and revealed by Glenn Greenwald, we finally have hard evidence that western governments have been doing this. As you will see below, a UK intelligence outfit known as the Government Communications Headquarters, through a previously secret unit known as the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group, has been systematically attempting “to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse”. This should be deeply disturbing to anyone that values free speech on the Internet. It isn’t just that the British government is trying to influence what people are thinking. The reality is that this is far bigger than a mere propaganda campaign. As Greenwald recently noted on his new website , the “integrity of the Internet itself” is at stake… By publishing these stories one by one, our NBC reporting highlighted some of the key, discrete revelations: the monitoring of YouTube and Blogger , the targeting of Anonymous with the very same DDoS attacks they accuse “hacktivists” of using, the use of “ honey traps ” (luring people into compromising situations using sex) and destructive viruses . But, here, I want to focus and elaborate on the overarching point revealed by all of these documents: namely, that these agencies are attempting to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse , and in doing so, are compromising the integrity of the internet itself. So what techniques are the British using to control and manipulate discourse on the Internet? According to Greenwald, the documents that Snowden has uncovered show that they are willing to sink to despicable lows in order to get the results that they desire… Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable. To see how extremist these programs are, just consider the tactics they boast of using to achieve those ends: “ false flag operations ” (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it to someone else), fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose reputation they want to destroy), and posting “ negative information ” on various forums. The following is a list of Internet infiltration techniques that were listed on one particular slide that Snowden leaked… – Infiltration Operation – Sting Operation You can check out this slide for yourself right here . There is also evidence that the Canadian government has been involved in this sort of thing as well. Natural News … You’ve probably run into them before — those seemingly random antagonizers who always end up diverting the conversation in an online chat room or article comment section away from the issue at hand, and towards a much different agenda. Hot-button issues like illegal immigration, the two-party political system, the “war on terror” and even alternative medicine are among the most common targets of such attackers, known as internet “trolls” or “shills,” who in many cases are nothing more than paid lackeys hired by the federal government and other international organizations to sway and ultimately control public opinion . Several years ago, Canada’s CTV News aired a short segment about how its own government had been exposed for hiring secret agents to monitor social media and track online conversations, as well as the activities of certain dissenting individuals. This report, which in obvious whitewashing language referred to such activities as the government simply “ weighing in and correcting ” allegedly false information posted online, basically admitted that the Canadian government had assumed the role of secret online police . You can see a video news report about this activity up in Canada right here . Are you disturbed yet? You should be. So what kind of people are the governments of the western world targeting online? Well, when it comes to the U.S. government, all you have to do is to look at their official documents to see who they consider the “problems” to be. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “ 72 Types Of Americans That Are Considered ‘Potential Terrorists’ In Official Government Documents “. Sadly, the reality of the matter is that the days of the free and open Internet are numbered. The governments of the world are increasing their control over the Internet with each passing day, and eventually a time will likely come when we will not be able to communicate openly like this any longer. Things have gotten so bad in the U.S. already that even Google is spooked … A recent court decision that endorsed a broad view of the Federal Communications Commission’s authority over the Internet has Google and other Web companies nervous. In closed-door meetings with regulators and Capitol Hill staff, Google’s lawyers have said they’re worried how the FCC may use its newfound powers, according to multiple people familiar with the meetings. The extent of the FCC’s authority over Google and other Web services remains unclear, and the current FCC has given no indication that it is interested in pushing aggressive new regulations. But the possibility that the commission could begin telling Google how to organize its search results or handle its users’ data is enough to spook the company’s army of Washington lobbyists. And this is just the beginning. If you think that the control freaks that are running things now are bad, just wait until you see the next generation of control freaks. For example, there is one prominent student writer at Harvard that apparently believes that free speech at her university should be abolished and that any professor that does not advocate for her politically-correct version of “justice” should be fired … A student writer at Harvard University is raising eyebrows after publishing her belief that free speech on campus should be abolished and professors with opposing views be fired. Sandra Korn, a senior who writes a column for the Harvard Crimson newspaper, thinks radical leftism is the only permissible political philosophy, and the First Amendment only hinders colleges from brainwashing students with her viewpoint. “Let’s give up on academic freedom in favor of justice,” states the subtitle of her Feb. 18 column , in which she insists Harvard stop guaranteeing students and professors the right to hold controversial views and conduct research putting liberalism in a negative light. “If our university community opposes racism, sexism, and heterosexism, why should we put up with research that counters our goals?” Korn asks. This is what control freaks always want. They always want to shut down those that are presenting opposing views. They don’t believe in free speech and a “marketplace of ideas”. Rather, they believe in shoving what they believe down the rest of our throats. And now we have solid proof that the governments of the western world are paying people to manipulate discourse on social media, blogs, forums and websites. So will there be great outrage over this, or will the apathetic public just roll over and ignore this like they have so many other times the past few years? My guess, most will just roll over and ignore this. People don’t care. Hammerstrike At least I know why people disagree with me other dem intrenets now, they are paid trolls! Paid by the governement to spread falsehoods and hurt muh feelins! seth datta Most of my comments get deleted by bankster paid control freaks if they don’t troll my comments. Banksters truly are the psychopaths destroying the world. K The amazing thing is, they are not that hard to spot. But since like so many other things, people will not face the truth. This information will only help a very few. For those of you still sitting on the fence. How much more evidence do you need? How many more ways does the Government have to mess with you? What will it finally take, to say enough? Rodster “Don’t confuse me with the facts. I already made up my mind.” SupernaturalCat “The amazing thing is, they are not that hard to spot. But since like so many other things, people will not face the truth.” Indeed. Never underestimate the power of denial. DJohn1 This is called doing anything for a paycheck. Otherwise known in the world as prostituting for money. Snowden probably has a few other “surprises” in the material he has not released yet. This also dates back to way before the internet was ever thought of. PR firms for the government have been making fun of anything that they truly want to hide. Such as any legitimate UFO reporting over the last 50 or so years. Anyone with a thorough knowledge of Solar System Astronomy was made to feel like a nut as far back as the 50s. One Russian Scientist came up with a fantastic theory of how Venus came to be where it is in the Solar System. In 1949 or 1950 scientists all over the planet wanted his books banned from publication and actually boycotted anyone that would pub his work. His theory said that Venus was extremely hot(800 degrees Fahrenheit). That the planet had a weird rotation. That it possibly came into the Solar System around the time of Joseph of Egypt and 400 years later caused the plagues of Egypt under Moses. That placed it in BIblical times. Well Venus does have a weird day. It is longer than its year. Venus is full of hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide. It has an atmosphere much thicker than the Earth’s. All of which sort of lend credit to the theory. It is volcanic and has a very hot surface. In 1950, astronomers were guessing that Venus was a twin to Earth with a slightly higher temperature. Possibly 150 at the equator and comfortable at the poles. Then the Russian Drones sent to Venus told an entirely different story and blew all of the astronomers out of the water. I hope I am embarrassing them for their efforts to ban the man from publication. He spent his years at Princeton University after leaving Russia. Two aspects of the theory should make us all sit up and listen. He claimed the Hydrocarbons rained oil over the surface of the Earth and that might be where a lot of Earth’s supply of oil came from. The Russians are acting on that theory to find new oil reserves. The second aspect is that Venus played a kind of bounce game as it came down through the Solar System and removed the second planet from the Sun in the process and dumped it out further in the Solar System. He thought that Mars was originally in the orbit where Venus is today. His theory was that mankind forgot what happened in a kind of national amnesia. IF what he says was true, then Mars could have had a thick enough atmosphere and water to support life! More important it might have had a thick magnetic layer that filtered out the Sun and kept the planet temperate at one time. All of which was ruined as Venus dragged it out of orbit. That might have happened in biblical times. The Earth might have been slightly closer to the Sun with a 360 day year instead of 365 and a quarter day year. This of course is all speculation until we go out there and find out the real truth of what is going on. My own guess is that if there is life on Mars it is in caves under the surface with a slightly heavier atmosphere and possibly seas in these huge caverns. If there is any surface life left, it is likely to be about the size of a dog or a racoon. If there is large life, I suspect it will be Sand Worms deep in the sands of Mars. I mention this because it is very easy to ridicule ideas. The one I just told you about actually happened in the 50s and was ridiculed coast to coast by actual scientists. We are in a universe with over 100 billion galaxies out there. The number of stars with life possible is at a fantastic number. If one in a million stars has life, that is still a whole lot of life out there. The only explanation that makes sense to me is we are far off the trade lanes between the stars. Otherwise we would have been contacted years ago. Or have we been? I suggest that when a civilization reaches the level of using Atomic Bombs then that civilization bares watching. We had a lot of UFO activity after World War II and the setting off of bombs all over the planet as governments tested these weapons. Governments all over the world that are big enough are probably hiding a lot of things from all of us. I think we might all be amazed at just exactly what has been withheld. NowAlive This is quite a postulation on the mere evidence that was correct, namely the temperature of Venus. The plagues of Egypt were localized. You had firstborns killed unless you used a passover lamb. Second, what about the oils raining down all over the Earth? I was quite young when Valdez crashed. The oil rig explosion in the Gulf is more recent. The hydrocarbon dumping would have killed off most life on the planet. Basically my point is that observational science shows that virtually none of what you just stated has been proven or even has any legitimate evidence. It’s wild speculation. I’m not an astrophysicist, but I doubt you are either. The governments hiding things is obvious. This in no way shows life on Mars or Venus dumping oil or switching orbital positions. It does not even slightly point to alien visitations or life. I’m not trying to offend you. I’m just trying to understand what you just said in a way that shows there is some evidence for it. DJohn1 You are quite right. It is wild speculation on my part. Except the temperature is not the only evidence. Venus rotates the wrong direction in its spin or day. It is the only planet in the entire solar system to do so. The day is 268 of our days long. The year is 222 of our days. That the temperatures are so high could just be the closeness to the Sun. The atmosphere is 15 times thicker than our planet’s atmosphere. That speaks to me that something unusual is going on. As for the oil, it is showing up in places that only a rain of oil might explain. The critical thing that we do not know is When it occurred or if it occurred at all. If I am right, there is a good possibility that the Moon will have some fairly large deposits of oil under the surface. There is a lot of unexplained discoloration on face of the Moon. If there is oil under the surface of the Moon, it might also mean that the Moon was a small planet at one time with an atmosphere and life. Again, I am speculating. The theory did not come from astrophysics. It came from examining a lot of stories all over the planet from the approximate time of Moses. That was Velinkovsky’s specialty, ancient languages and psychology of ancient cultures. Rastus A field of study that you may or may not have heard of is called “catastrophism”. Not without its critics and highly controversial among biblical scholars, you may find the subject a good scratch to your itch. A book by Donald Wesley Patten called “Catastrophism And The Old Testament” might be in accordance with your fancy. Johnny Are you speaking of Immanuel Velikovsky? He is the Author of Worlds in Collision. He points out the chaos of the universe. I found him interesting to read in 1958. DJohn1 Yes. He was not a specialist in astronomy. He simply pointed out what the beliefs of the ancient world were. He did upset the scientific world of his time. I think he was at least 50% right about things. We now know that Venus could not have come from Jupiter or Saturn. My own thought is that it had to come from the outer solar system or beyond. We have well over 100 moons around the planets. Most of which are around the gas giants. Most of which have a nickel/iron core. None of which could have come from the major gas giants in the Solar System. They had to come from something much more dense and much older. The man most likely to shake the core beliefs of astrophysics and astronomy is an accomplished astronomer, Dr. Mike Brown. What he is finding is there are a series of small, Pluto sized planets, some with small moons in the outer solar system. Scientists have been looking in the wrong place. Of the four new planets he has found, they seem to be 40-50 degrees off the orbits of the gas giants. Some are in extremely comet like orbits and at least one is on its way out of the Solar System. I am no scientist. A lot of what I read about it makes little sense with current theories. Unless there is something out there that is big enough to drag small planets and moons out of their original orbits around the Sun. Some think we have a brown dwarf about a light year out at the edge of the Sun’s influence(gravity). So far no one has found it. I think we are looking in the wrong places. IF there is a brown dwarf, it is quite small as stars go. IF it is in a comet-like orbit, then somewhere down the road it will return causing all kinds of changes in the Solar System. IF it has planets around it, then those planets might cause a lot of destruction as they come close to existing planets and moons in our solar system. Our planets as viewed from the North and top of the Solar System rotate around the Sun counter-clockwise. IF this brown dwarf is rotating clockwise around the Sun, that might complicate finding and plotting an orbit for it. IF it is way off the angle that most planets orbit the Sun, that might also keep it from being discovered. I do find it interesting that a lot of astronomy telescopes are moving towards the South Pole for observations. Known Brown Dwarf Stars do exist around stars in our stellar neighborhood and some are independent of any other stars all within about 12 light years of our Sun. A lot of what we do know is kept fairly low key and doesn’t really get a lot of news headlines. How many people know about Dr. Brown’s work in the outer solar system? How many know about the gap(hole) in the orbits of the ORB cloud? A gap big enough for something the size of Venus or much larger could have made in the outer asteroid belt. I think it is possible that an object possibly the size of a gas giant might be out there somewhere but so little light is coming from it that we will only discover it by accident. What is significant is we are still learning about new planets in our own solar system. The governments have spent enormous amounts of money in this area through NASA. So someone must think we have things out there we need to know. GrimReaperLady I found your reply facinating! There is no way we are the only planet with life. I think I am going to go read some scientific journals, any suggestions. jaxon64 Awesome distraction technique…you turned a discussion of govt media control and trolling into a lengthy discussion of planetary formation?…truly masterful. You deserve a raise. DJohn1 Thank you. Just for the record, I have no salary from the U.S. Government for trolling. The only funds from them I see is my monthly Social Security Check as someone that has retired. Not sure how long that lasts before they steal what they haven’t all ready spent out of the general fund. The true masters are the PR people hired to keep the sheep all sleeping peacefully while the government steals everything in sight. I started getting suspicious about 20 years ago, when the entire newspaper business stopped mud raking and went with bland stories handed out by the wire services. It appears stirring up things has legal penalties and newspapers do not want to get hung up in legal battles. So they run news from wire services and leave the real reporting to others. Making advertisers angry has financial penalties as well, so lord help the reporter that angers an advertiser. Everything is wrapped up in money motivations. That above anything else is what has destroyed the country’s estate that used to bring down the crooked politicians. The only way this related to planetary formation is that this media was used to go against this man by scientists that were angry at his claims. These scientists literally boycotted the publishers willing to pub his work. My own thought is that controling the scientific discovery press is just as bad. Jonathon von Tischner A good video on that is “Return of the Nephilim” by Chuck Missler. DJohn1 Immanuel Velikovsky wrote the book in question. Worlds in Collision was the title. He was wrong about a lot of things. For instance I do not think it is possible to have Venus come out of Jupiter. The elements are different. Venus has a heavy core vs Jupiter has a Hydrogen and Helium core. What he did get right was a lot of facts about what Venus actually consisted of. My own idea is Venus might have been a wondering planet not orbiting any Star. I mentioned this man because by coincidence he did get a lot of things right. His ideas should not have been debunked or censored in any way. How was Venus created? I think it might have come from Brown Dwarf that was coming apart at the seams. That would make it a whole lot older than Velinkovsky thought. The idea is Brown Dwarfs might have a lot of heavy materials on them than regular stars and gas planets. We have an entire solar system full of heavy objects like that. We also have at least 4 gas giants that consist mostly of hydrogen and helium. The question is where did all of those heavy material objects consisting of nickel/iron cores come from? That is a question that most astronomy scientists do not have a good answer yet. 2¢Wurth Wow, less than two sentences into the article and the icon of Gary2 started appearing on the left and right sides of the screen. I used to think of a troll as a small ugly creature, now I think of this perverted looking plastic muppet who barks out this “take from the rich, give to me” mantra. Must be very weird living in that world… Chris Yes the Purple colored Cookie Monster from Sesame Street! seth Half my comments get deleted or trolled outright. There is little to no freedom of speech in the West. Heck, other countries are the lands of the free, relatively speaking. blackciti_fo5 So they’re doing with the internet what has already been done to television basically? Great. Just great. Eric Blair Those who propose that only one perspective is viable and that all competing viewpoints should be abolished by decree are the worst trolls of all, no matter what ideals they hold up to justify their actions. America was founded on the idea of freedom, and primarily freedom of speech and ideas. Any who would seek to deter that freedom are as tumors on the political body of this country, and as such should be excised lest their disease continue to spread. Goebbels and Bernays would be proud of such people, but they have no place in a truly free country. Nicholas Mull yes brotherjohnf We have been telling people this for years as we have battled these trolls for more than a decade. People just refuse to believe it. Sad. Syrin Anyone reading my unrelenting attacks on GARY at Michael’s other web site knows that I believe without a doubt he is a paid disinformation gov’t agent. NO ONE can read the facts that Michael presents, and logically reach the conclusions he does when faced with pages of data and facts unless they are brain dead or have an agenda. He might have both. Guest LOL. I don’t think Gary is a disinformation agent. I think he’s just an angry man who feels that he’s owed something. But that’s just my opinion. jaxon64 agreed…now gay vet may actually be a troll. Gary at least discusses the issues,-albeit from his redundant and close-minded viewpoints which are inalterable by facts—yet gay vet and a few others are always trying to distract from the topic and turn any intelligent discourse in the comments section into a name calling and Repub vs Democrat discussion. His very name was probably chosen to distract from article content. Another tactic I see from some here consistently is that if anyone mentions any faith, or God or just finishes a post with “God help us”…then trolls who never post anything else will pounce in and start attacking God—I think the true motive is to turn the conversation toward one of atheism/religion/creation instead of the topic of the article… You see it from the same people over and over–then they disappear and someone new with a different moniker will take their place ( quite possibly the same shill but different name.) All said, they are very effective at distraction if one reads through the comments, they often take over an entire article and it never gets back on topic. Gay Veteran speak of trolls and jaxon64 pops up. “…yet gay vet and a few others are always trying to distract from the topic and turn any intelligent discourse in the comments section into a name calling and Repub vs Democrat discussion… hey Einstein, get a clue, there is no differences between the 2 parties …His very name was probably chosen to distract from article content….” I’ll choose my own name, j-hole. “…Another tactic I see from some here consistently is that if anyone mentions any faith, or God or just finishes a post with “God help us”…then trolls who never post anything else will pounce in and start attacking God…” OR you post something incredibly stoopid and get hammered for it FirstGarden You know a tree by its fruit. Veteranforpeace Some folks take pride in being prime slime. They’re so desperate for attention that any kind would be better than none. Veteranforpeace They’ll do it for buck too, Paid prime time slime. Facts seldom stand in the way of what someone wants to believe English Kev I think Gary has genitalia dimension disorder. Syrin Michael, I actually believe the gov’t push to take over the internet will HELP America. Why? because most Americans are fat, lazy brain dead zombies who let Jon Stewart do their thinking for them. They’re intellectual sloths and are 100% unaware of the noose being placed around their neck. HOWEVER, they are internet addicts, and take away an addicts fix, and he/she will react potentially violently. It might just shake enough people from their stupor to effect meaningful change. FirstGarden How dare you speak my mind? :-) Media-mesmerized couch potatoes. Derp So basically, what you’re saying is that the only way to save the internet (and all that it represents) is to destroy it? Apple Cider Your beliefs step on the rights of free citizens and we are not here to serve your needs. Please stick your head in a bucket of water and drown yourself. Gay Veteran you’ll get more truth from Jon Stewart than from the corporate media (including Fox) rkb100100 Public sector employee unions troll everything. FirstGarden The New “Free Speech”– no speech tolerated but their own. (If you disagree, you’re automatically a hater and a phobe.) The New “Diversity”– Everyone except veterans and white males in their 50s. The New “Constituency”– Left wing voting blocks (Formed by tax incentives to corporations for target hiring; promotion of welfare vs. workfare.) Rastus Their father is the “father of lies” FirstGarden Aye, but he is an equal-opportunity father, with children in many a camp. Derp Freedom of Speech means that you have the freedom to speak your mind. That doesn’t mean that what you say is automatically correct or true. FirstGarden You’re correct. Unfortunately, Statism does not tolerate free speech, dissent, nor true diversity. Joey D’Fixer I dont know why they even bother anyway. Its not like this garbage works and they are so easy to spot. For instance, on YT, they are always a dead give away, as for 95% of the time, they use a First and Last name, which from what i can tell, is autogenerated through some script they use. I had seen in a video, the FedBizOpps site putting out a contract for a system to make multiple IDs for use in some Social Media program. If i recall, it was the Air Force or something like that. Operation Earnest Voice was another one as well. But they basically log in through some front-end of sorts, and they dont actually use YT like we do. The profiles are ALWAYS empty: no dates, no vids, no likes, no uploads, no playlists, nothing on the ‘About’ section. Its all pure vapor. And Cass Sunstein was the one who recommended all this in his paper, calling it ‘cognitive infiltration’, and who is another Dr Goebbels wanna-be and who should be hung from a tree. And its not like they are ‘going to change our minds’ on anything. Troll or no troll, if i dont like what youre saying to me, i have 3 words for you ‘Go F yourself.’ This is what actually enrages me more than anything, that they feel everyone but themselves, are going to be that malleable, zombified and sloth-like, to just believe everything they spew. If its one thing i hate, its people with superiority complexes, they are just a total scourge on the planet and its mindset of every control-freak authoritarian out there, past, present and future. Randall Thrift The illusion of privacy is just that, AN ILLUSION. My granddaddy always taught me that once an idea, thought, or opinion leaves you mind it is no longer private and you no longer should have any expectations of privacy. In today’s world of the high tech social media this truth is more evident than ever. GrimReaperLady Wow that is scary, this my last post until I think this through. Captain Canuck Yeah if you guys are worried about Obama’s NSA, then you wouldn’t believe Prime Minister Harper. He’s diabolical. He’s managed to remove or control most press and cameras from Parlaiment Hill. This is huge, as media used to have access and reporters had a presence at the capital. He’s also managed to muzzle ANYONE who comes out and questions the Big Oil agenda. c p Corrupt governments hate free speech, and ours will be gone for good with the next major terrorist attack or natural disaster. Then the internet will be every bit as dumbed down as the broadcast media. Blitzkrieg Oh Gay Veteran… Paging Gay Veteran. Blitzkrieg …and Gary — if they’re not already the same person. Gay Veteran sorry junior but I detest our fascist government Charles Reece By the way, since Britain and America are BOTH English-speaking countries – and the closest of allies, along with France; that therefore, England is ALREADY “in league” with whatever almost EVERTHING that the U.S. does in the first place, AND therefore, given Edward Snowden’s revelations of the U.S. Government’s intelligence apparatus “spying” on its own citizens; that accordingly, why not EXPECT Britain to do the “same” – to not only their OWN people, but also ours as well, anyway. And besides, truly, during the 1960’s, the English-speaking countries; such as England itself, and Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have already been SHARING “signals-intelligence” information – or electronic “eavesdropping” information – with each other and with Uncle Sam; through the ECHELON electronic eavesdropping network; which was set up back in 1964. By each member nation of ECHELON electronically spying on each other’s respective private citizens – and passing on intelligence-gathered information to the OTHER member nations; that consequently, each member nation could actually CIRCUMVENT their own respective government’s laws PROHIBITING ECHELON from “spying” on its OWN country’s citizens. They’ve been doing this ever since ECHELON was “set up” back in ’64. But very few Americans have already known about what’s been “going on” all of these past five decades; that being, with ECHELON members permitting each other to electronically “spy” and “share” intelligence information dealing with each other’s country’s citizens. Thus, by ONE member nation allowing ANOTHER one to gather information on its own citizens – and sharing that same “information” with the others; that consequently, each member nation COULD NOT legally be “accused” of violating its own respective government’s laws prohibiting domestic spying. BART SIMPSONSON Hey, it’s just another means of getting the prog’s agitprop out there and countering any notion of Free Speech on the internet. In case you haven’t noticed they also pretty much have the non-Fox TV news networks, channels, and programs fellating them daily……. James It’s not really a surprise tho is it? And I don’t think it’s a Lib vs Dem thing, I imagine most governments do it. And it’s not just governments either. Big business is up to exactly the same thing. Big pharma, oil companies spreading disinformation about climate change. Sad times we live in really, difficult to know who to trust on the Internet these days. We all seek out the stories and opinions that support our view on the world. ButIDigress In any society, most people do nothing. It’s up to the minority to defend the naive majority. It’s how things are done. Bob G If I read the article correctly the government is targeting conservative thought. I always wondered why liberals would deliberately read conservative web sites and then harass the commentators. I certainly have no wish to read liberal web sites let alone comment on them. It all makes sense now. OGIS The DNC is behind a lot of this. False flag operations to make “conservative” posters sound ignorant, stupid and racist. (Not to say that there are not elements of that in many conservatives AND liberals, but these j@ck@sses ramp it up to 11.) Tami Chapman I almost posted this until you mentioned the Harvard Student’s article, which was taken totally out of context. Great article until the very end when you very sneakily try to place all of the blame on liberals when we all know the the real villains completely control both parties, especially the conservatives. It’s Independents like Sanders who will fight for our rights…people who are not bought by the power elite.

Guillermo Barros Schelotto was not the first Argentine player to set foot on a Major League Soccer field. Statistically speaking, he was the 28th when he made his debut for the Columbus Crew in 2007. But Schelotto’s phone still rings to this day, more than six years after he left the league, with calls from fellow Argentines looking for advice. Though Schelotto, 43, is currently the coach of Boca Juniors, the most decorated team in Argentina, most of the players who call him want to talk about other teams, about other countries, about a soccer world away from the environment of Buenos Aires. “Most of them like to talk about the cities,” Schelotto said. Many of them find a way to come. Argentines now make up the demographic in M. L. S. trailing only Americans. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, going into this season’s openers, 98 Argentine players had been featured in an M. L. S. game since the league’s inception. Sebastian Blanco, a new designated player for Portland, made his debut in an opener Friday and became No. 99. In a ranking by nationality, Argentines have the goal total, too. Twelve of the 22 teams in M. L. S. will start the season with at least one Argentine on their roster, a list that includes stars like Dallas’s Mauro Diaz and Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti and newcomers like Atlanta’s Hector Villalba and New York City F. C.’s Maxi Moralez. Why do they come? For some it’s the money, or at least the promise that it will be paid regularly. Others come for the lifestyle, the chance to fade into a comparative anonymity unavailable to them at home, or to live the “quiet, clean” life that Schelotto describes as he reminisces about his days in Ohio. The Portland Timbers playmaker Diego Valeri was one such player who called Schelotto, his former manager, and he eventually heeded his advice. But he said it was for an entirely different reason. A year before he signed with Portland, while under contract to his hometown club Lanus, Valeri had had a gun pressed to his throat when robbers attempted to steal his BMW with his wife, Florencia, and daughter, Connie, inside. “After that moment,” Valeri said with considerable understatement, “we thought about opportunities to play outside and know different places in the world. ” Within a year, Valeri, who had had loan spells in Portugal and Spain, was on his way to Portland. “Situations like that are very hard for the Argentinian people to change,” he said. The Valeri and his family are now settled in the Northwest, where he is playing arguably the best soccer of his career. He is a and in between was named the most valuable player when Portland won the 2015 M. L. S. Cup championship game. “I think they like the anonymity and the tranquillity here,” Caleb Porter, Valeri’s coach with the Timbers, said of his star and his countrymen. “They really relish the opportunity to be here and to live a lifestyle that’s different to how they lived in Argentina. They transition well into M. L. S. ” Since 2011, Portland has signed six Argentines, including its acquisition of Blanco, 28. Valeri has been a good ambassador — he speaks English and urges newcomers to try to learn it as soon as possible, to ease the transition. But Porter and the Timbers’ general manager and president of soccer, Gavin Wilkinson, believe there is another, more straightforward reason for Argentina’s outsize presence in M. L. S.: It simply produces the kind of technical player that the league desires. “Certain countries produce certain positions more,” Porter said. “Most teams are looking for that creative piece, and you know you can get one in Argentina. ” A large alumni directory and strong ties to agents and consultants in the region have made that kind of shopping easier for M. L. S. teams, and in the past the struggles of the Argentine economy also favored North American clubs, some said. But there also has been a change in the kind of individual looking to make the move north, and that has dovetailed with the league’s overall transfer policy. As the quality of M. L. S. has improved as it enters its third decade, its teams have looked less for marketability from its imports — which in the past had trended toward aging, often European stars — and more toward onfield impact and value. The latest class of Argentines reflects this shift, as they enter a league where the average age of designated players — the team’s stars — has fallen below 28, its lowest point in a decade. “They know that M. L. S. is different to 10 years ago,” said Schelotto, who was 34 when he moved to the league. “They can go, make good money, play with some pressure. They know they can make a career in the United States and then maybe move to Europe. “Ten years ago, it was impossible. Right now, you can. ” There are currently 24 Argentines playing in the league. Atlanta United and its Argentine coach, Tata Martino, brought in three ahead of its first season, each of them 25 or younger (Villalba is just 22). Buying young is now seen as more of a benefit to clubs than a risk, as players who continue to develop retain a value if they move on to brighter prospects in Europe. “People are coming here younger and younger, maybe to start their careers,” Ignacio Piatti, a playmaker for the Montreal Impact, said through an interpreter. “It’s what they are looking for at that age: being able to live a comfortable life off the field and focus on their games. ” Piatti, like Schelotto, has been happy to offer advice to the next wave of Argentine talents considering entering M. L. S. including players on both sides of the Hudson River. Gonzalo Veron, 27, of the Red Bulls, and Moralez, 30, who recently signed with New York City F. C. both acknowledged that they had turned to Piatti for advice before signing. At a community event in East Harlem last week, Moralez — who spent four years in Italy — reflected on his decision to move to the United States. He had never been to New York City before signing, he said, and after turning to the likes of Piatti and David Villa for advice about the league’s standard of play, he said he also sought assurances for his family, who are set to join him in New York shortly. “First off, I just want to enjoy football,” Moralez said. “But also to get to know the beauty of the city and the country. Not everybody gets the opportunity to come here. ”

A Caddo Nation tribal leader has just been freed after spending two days behind bars in North Dakota. Family members say she was simply an innocent bystander in a clash between police and protesters, and was not guilty of anything the police claimed. Via AlternativeNews Jessi Mitchell, of local News 9 reports that “family members of Caddo Nation chairwoman Tamara Francis-Fourkiller said an anonymous donor paid $2.5 million late Saturday afternoon to release everyone arrested on Thursday at the Dakota Access Pipeline site.” They added, however, that Francis-Fourkiller was never supposed to have been arrested in the first place. “An expert on sacred burial grounds , Francis-Fourkiller was one of the tribal leaders visiting the Sioux of Standing Rock to advise them during negotiations with the Dakota Access Pipeline construction team,” Mitchell continues. “Remains were being desecrated in this pipeline, so they had asked a bunch of people to come up there, so there’s a big conference,” Francis-Fourkiller’s sister Loretta Francis explained. On the visit , Francis said her sister and other leaders decided to tour the protest camps. They never thought they would wind up in jail. Francis said her sister had no access to her medication while in custody in Cass County, North Dakota, and now faces charges of conspiracy and rioting. “Part of my family was removed on the Trail of Tears and they came here to Oklahoma and they suffered,” said Francis. “I always feel like each generation – our parents, our grandparents – try to make it better for the next generation and they certainly didn’t want this for my sister.” Dozens of Native Americans from Oklahoma tribes had gathered Saturday afternoon at the state Capitol, according to Mitchell, with the purpose of voicing their “anger at the treatment of the protesters in North Dakota, pointing out this week’s acquittal of armed protesters at an Oregon wildlife refuge earlier this year.” “We’re not holding guns. We’re not armed, and when we see the military right here in the US use that on us, it’s shameful,” Comanche Nation tribal council member Sonya Nevaquaya explained. One of the fundamentals of all Native American tribes is the protection of the land. Chanting “Water is life!” Saturday, the Oklahoma demonstrators hope to rally people from around the country to stand with those in North Dakota and stop construction on the pipeline project. “These pipelines, you hear of a lot of bursts and leaks and it contaminating the waters. What happens when all of our waters and resources are gone?” Nevaquaya explained. Francis-Fourkiller says she will be traveling back to her home in Norman as soon as possible.

Wednesday after Donald Trump’s press conference at Trump Tower in New York City, NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd expressed his exasperation over the normalcy of what he called a “circus” surrounding Trump’s event. “I was struck big picture wise which is of how normal a circus is now to us,” Todd said. “This was a circus. We’ve never seen a a transition like we saw today where the press conference gets interrupted, you have a lawyer in here. The lawyer does half legal talk, half political spin. I’ve never seen that, using the lawyer to say he’s here to make America great again, and by the way I’m going to play constitutional lawyer. I don’t think this but clearly a constitutional lawyer told us we better not accept any of this money. So they made that exception. So I am struck at how normal crazy looked to us today. This was just a crazy scene, but this is the norm of Donald Trump. And in fact, this is where he’s most comfortable. And I will say this. just as a political show. if you’re Donald Trump, you want these press conferences because it made the press look disjointed, unorganized, all this stuff. And his people, you know, he just, it was a performance for his supporters and his people. ” Later in the segment, Todd decried what he saw as elements within the intelligence community being at odds with one another, then called a story put out by BuzzFeed a night earlier suggesting Trump had ties to Russia to be a “political favor. ” “Look, let’s be honest here,” Todd said. “Politically BuzzFeed did Donald Trump a political favor today by doing what they did by going ahead and making it all public because it allowed them to deny a specific without having to deal with the bigger picture. ” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

Screenwriter Ryan Murphy, who has produced the FX series American Crime Story, is set to bring the Monica Clinton White House sex saga to TV. [According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Ryan Murphy Productions chief has optioned author and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Tobin’s 2000 book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President. The New York Times bestseller, acquired by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions, will become the basis for a future American Crime Story season. In February, Murphy told E! News that the series would explore the Lewinsky sex scandal as “ ” plot to “tear down” President Bill Clinton, and on “the other women” who were ensnared in the 1996 sex scandal, involving House intern Monica Lewinsky, and the events that led to Clinton’s impeachment. “It’s not really about Hillary Clinton. That book is about the rise of a certain segment of a group of people who despised the Clintons and used three women, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp to try and tear him down,” Murphy said. In February, Murphy announced that actress Sarah Paulson — who starred in the first season of his crime drama, The People vs. O. J. Simpson — has been confirmed for a role, but ruled out that it would be of Lady Hillary Clinton. The mogul has reportedly confirmed that his studio is looking actresses to portray Lewinsky and Tripp. Season two of the Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy show will tackle Hurricane Katrina, and is set to premier in 2018. Season three, he confirmed will focus on the 1997 assassination of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace, singer Ricky Martin has already joined the cast. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson

Massachusetts Cop’s Wife Busted for Pinning Fake Home-Invasion Robbery on Black Lives Matter Source: PINAC The wife of a Massachusetts cop is facing charges for filing a false police report after she concocted a story about thieves ransacking her home, stealing $10,000 in jewelry and then spray-painting her house with Black Lives Matter to pin it on black people. Maria Daly, wife of Millbury K-9 cop Daniel Daly, took to social media about her dreamt-up victimization after she filed a police report on October 17. “We woke up to not only our house being robbed while we were sleeping, but to see this hatred for no reason,” she posted, according to the Boston Herald. “ If you would of [sic] asked me yesterday about this blue lives and black lives matter issue my response would of [sic] been very positive [sic],” the now private Facebook account alleged. “Today on the other hand I have so much anger and hate that I don’t like myself. This is what we have to deal with these days and it makes me sick that this is what was on the side of my house.” Maria Daly called police to report someone had robbed her home while she was sleeping and then spray-painted her home with BLM for Black Lives Matter then posted about it on social media. Millbury Police Chief Donald Desourcy told the Herald that Daly called police to report an early morning break-in October 17, claiming someone had made off with thousands of dollars worth of valuables and spray-painting “BLM” on the outside of her house. But Chief Desourcy stated that as the investigation unfolded, something didn’t feel “quite right” and Daly ended up admitting she fabricated the whole thing, telling the officers her valuables had already been recovered. “It was pretty obvious. The officers did their due diligence and followed through with the investigation that we had,” he told CBS Boston . “We came to the conclusion it was all fabricated. There was no intruder, there was no burglary.” The chief said the hoax was likely motivated by the couple’s financial troubles and that he has empathy for the family. “I’m very familiar with her and it’s an unfortunate set of circumstances that have taken place.” Daly’s neighbors said it wasn’t a very smart thing to do for a woman who is married to a cop. “She must have tagged the place herself,” said one neighbor. “I don’t know why you’d do that, if you’re gonna stage a robbery, I mean really come on, you’re a cop’s wife. You should know better.” In addition to charges for filing a false police report, Daly also faces a charge for misleading a police investigation. Her cases will be heard at Worcester District Court after she is summoned. Daly’s husband, Daniel Daly was not involved or charged in relation to the hoax, according to police. Share This Article...

Email In an historic move the United Nations First Committee voted Thursday to convene a conference next March to negotiate a new treaty to ban the possession of nuclear weapons. The vote is a huge step forward in the campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons launched several years ago by nonnuclear weapons states and civil society from across the globe. Dismayed by the failure of the nuclear weapons states to honor their obligation under Article VI of the Non Proliferation Treaty which requires them to pursue good faith negotiations for the elimination of their nuclear arsenals, and moved by the growing danger of nuclear war, more than 120 nations gathered in Oslo in March of 2013 to review the latest scientific data about the catastrophic consequences that will result from the use of nuclear weapons. The conference shifted the focus of international discussion about nuclear war from abstract consideration of nuclear strategy to an evaluation of the medical data about what will actually happen if these weapons are used. It was boycotted by all of the major nuclear powers, the US, Russia, UK, China and France, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, or P5. Further meetings in Nayarit, Mexico and Vienna followed in 2014 and culminated in a pledge by the Austrian government to “close the gap” in international law that does not yet specifically outlaw the possession of these weapons. More than 140 countries ultimately associated themselves with the pledge which was fiercely opposed by the United States and the other nuclear weapons states, and in the fall of 2015 the UN General Assembly voted to establish an Open Ended Working Group which met in Geneva earlier this year and recommended the negotiations approved Thursday. The United States, which led the opposition had hoped to limit the “Yes” vote to less than one hundred, but failed badly. The final vote was 123 For, 38 Against and 16 Abstentions. The “No” votes came from the nuclear weapons states, and US allies in NATO, plus Japan, South Korea and Australia which have treaty ties to the US and consider themselves to be under the protection of the “US nuclear umbrella”. But four nuclear weapons states broke ranks, with China, India and Pakistan abstaining, and North Korea voting in favor of the treaty negotiations. In addition, the Netherlands defied intense pressure from the rest of NATO and abstained, as did Finland, which is not a member of NATO but has close ties with the alliance. Japan which voted with the US against the treaty has indicated that it will, nonetheless, participate in the negotiations when they begin in March. The US and the other nuclear weapons states will probably try to block final approval of the treaty conference by the General Assembly later this fall, but, following Thursday’s vote, it appears overwhelmingly likely that negotiations will begin in March, and that they will involve a significant majority of UN member states, even if the nuclear states continue their boycott. The successful completion of a new treaty will not of itself eliminate nuclear weapons. But it will put powerful new pressure on the nuclear weapons states who clearly do not want to uphold their obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty even as they insist that the nonnuclear weapons states meet theirs. We have come perilously close to nuclear war on multiple occasions during the last 70 years, and we have been incredibly lucky. US nuclear policy cannot continue to be the hope that we will remain lucky in the future. We need to join and lead the growing movement to abolish nuclear weapons and work to bring the other nuclear weapons states into a binding agreement that sets out the detailed time line for eliminating these weapons and the detailed verification and enforcement mechanisms to make sure they are eliminated. This will not be an easy task, but we really have no choice. If we don’t get rid of these weapons, someday, perhaps sooner rather than later, they will be used and they will destroy human civilization. The decision is ours. Ira Helfand , MD, is past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility and is currently co-president of that group’s global federation, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. Join the debate on Facebook Ira Helfand MD practices internal medicine at an urgent care center in Springfield, MA. He is a Past President of Physicians for Social Responsibility and is currently the Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War , the 1985 Nobel Peace Laureate.

JERUSALEM — Islamic State sympathizers and militants celebrated last night’s deadly terrorist massacre at a crowded concert in Manchester, England, with the jihadists vowing to continue the onslaught against the West. [The Islamic State claimed that a “soldier of the caliphate planted bombs in the middle of Crusaders gatherings,” apparently taking credit for the carnage. Breitbart Jerusalem obtained access to correspondence posted in a closed chat group that utilizes the encrypted Telegram messaging service. The chat group serves as an internal Twitter of sorts for IS jihadists and sympathizers, and it has been used in the past to issue IS communications. A militant named Abu Ayman Alalmani (the German) wrote, “Thanks to Allah who allowed this achievement of the Mujahedeen. We are all believers in Allah that our brothers, the supporters and the Mujahedeen, are those who committed the attack among the infidels. We swear to Allah that the infidel countries in the West won’t have the luxury of security. This is a Godly promise and this is the promise of the Mujahedeen, the future will prove to you that you are the countries of heresy. You will see this and not only hear it. ” An account titled “Muslim Justice” wrote, “Allah is great, Allah is great, we will shake the infidel and criminal regimes. We will destroy the rule of those who abandon Islam [a reference to Arab leaders]. Allah is great, this is a call that will rise high on the horizon and we will yet defeat the cross and the countries of infidels. ” ISIS member Abu Abdullah Alsury (the Syrian) wrote, “Thanks to Allah who caused the faithful to rejoice, we ask and request of Allah that this blessed act will be part of the battle of our brothers, the lone wolves roaming across all parts of the infidel nations, as they seek this type of blessed attack. This is part of the work and this is part of the revenge. Those infidel states will pay a heavy price. ” Prior to the Islamic State claiming credit for the attack, another militant, Alqaqaa Alidlebi from Idlib, wrote, “We’re waiting for our brothers in the official media department to publish what should warm our hearts with an official declaration of responsibility, even if this isn’t an organized act. ” “We pray to Allah that the attacker is a faithful Muslim. You aren’t aware of the huge happiness here in the ranks of the Mujahedeen and their families in the district of Elkheir (the area of Dir Azzur on the border between Syria and Iraq). How happy we are that Allah guided the hand of the attacker to send the heads of the corrupt infidels who murder the Muslims in our countries flying. ” Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. Ali Waked is the Arab affairs correspondent for Breitbart Jerusalem.

Humiliated Hillary Tries To Hide What Camera Caught 15 Mins Before Rally Posted on October 27, 2016 by Amanda Shea in Politics Share This Hillary Clinton outside rally (left), Fox News catching incident on live feed (right) Both presidential candidates stopped in the battleground state of Florida this week to campaign for votes to crowds at separate locations. However, things didn’t go so well for Hillary Clinton, who was humiliated when a camera caught what she immediately tried to hide to save her campaign — which backfired big time. While Donald Trump’s 15,000-person army of “Deplorables” were holding down the fort in Stanford, Florida as they listened to this great leader explain how he plans to make America great again, Hillary was at a much smaller venue at Palm Beach State College. Although she was feeling pretty good about herself with having a higher turnout than she’s used to, the approximate 1,000 to 2,000 attendees paled in comparison to what Trump was looking at in the same state. However, Hillary’s anemic crowd was enough to be publicly mocked in front of. Perhaps Hillary didn’t think anyone would notice, but Fox Business Network was watching — and commenting — live. With just fifteen minutes before the Democratic candidate was set to take the stage in one of her final and most important rallies, the small room should have been jam-packed with people. As the humored hosts noted on the news show, that was far from the case. “Here it is nowhere near the size of the crowd we saw in Sanford, Florida yesterday for Mr. Trump, 15,000. There’s maybe a thousand to two thousand people here today,” one host pointed out much to Hillary’s embarrassment. “The Clinton rallies tend to be much smaller and you can see there’s empty space here and she’s supposed to speak in 15 minutes. And I can tell you that as the camera pans across that if we were at a Trump rally this would absolutely be packed,” the commentators added. No matter how far ahead in the polls Hillary and her lapdog media says she is, the attendance at her events speaks volumes. Nobody cares or is enthusiastic enough about this woman to bother showing up, and those who do have to be coached on how to chant and act excited. On the other hand, there are Trump’s rallies, where so many people turn up to venues four times the size as Hillary’s that these massive stadiums can’t contain everyone who is eager to come, and some are turned away. If the turnout at the rallies is any indicator of what’s expected at the polls, Hillary can’t win, and if she does, Americans should definitely question how that could even happen

Hillary Clinton sat in the hideaway study off her ceremonial office in the State Department, sipping tea and taking stock of her first year on the job. The study was more like a den — cozy and lined with bookshelves that displayed mementos from Clinton’s three decades in the public eye: a statue of her heroine, Eleanor Roosevelt a baseball signed by the Chicago Cubs star Ernie Banks a carved wooden figure of a pregnant African woman. The intimate setting lent itself to a interview than the usual locale, her imposing outer office, with its marble fireplace, heavy drapes, crystal chandelier and ornate wall sconces. On the morning of Feb. 26, 2010, however, Clinton was talking about something more sensitive than mere foreign affairs: her relationship with Barack Obama. To say she chose her words carefully doesn’t do justice to the delicacy of the exercise. She was like a technician, deciding which color wire to snip without blowing up her relationship with the White House. “We’ve developed, I think, a very good rapport, really positive about everything you can imagine,” Clinton said about the man she described during the 2008 campaign as naïve, irresponsible and hopelessly unprepared to be president. “And we’ve had some interesting and even unusual experiences along the way. ” She leaned forward as she spoke, gesturing with her hands and laughing easily. In talking with reporters, Clinton displays more warmth than Obama does, though there’s less of an expectation that she might say something revealing. Clinton singled out, as she often would, the United Nations meeting in Copenhagen the previous December, where she and Obama worked together to save the meeting from collapse. She brought up the Middle East peace proc ess, a signature project of the president’s, which she had been tasked with reviving. But she was understandably wary of talking about areas in which she and Obama split — namely, on bedrock issues of war and peace, where Clinton’s more activist philosophy had already collided in unpredictable ways with her boss’s instincts toward restraint. She had backed Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s recommendation to send 40, 000 more troops to Afghanistan, before endorsing a fallback proposal of 30, 000 (Obama went along with that, though he stipulated that the soldiers would begin to pull out again in July 2011, which she viewed as problematic). She supported the Pentagon’s plan to leave behind a residual force of 10, 000 to 20, 000 American troops in Iraq (Obama balked at this, largely because of his inability to win legal protections from the Iraqis, a failure that was to haunt him when the Islamic State overran much of the country). And she pressed for the United States to funnel arms to the rebels in Syria’s civil war (an idea Obama initially rebuffed before later, halfheartedly, coming around to it). That fundamental tension between Clinton and the president would continue to be a defining feature of her tenure as secretary of state. In the administration’s first meeting on Russia in February 2009, aides to Obama proposed that the United States make some symbolic concessions to Russia as a gesture of its good will in resetting the relationship. Clinton, the last to speak, brusquely rejected the idea, saying, “I’m not giving up anything for nothing. ” Her hardheadedness made an impression on Robert Gates, the defense secretary and George W. Bush holdover who was wary of a changed Russia. He decided there and then that she was someone he could do business with. “I thought, This is a tough lady,” he told me. A few months after my interview in her office, another split emerged when Obama picked up a secure phone for a weekend conference call with Clinton, Gates and a handful of other advisers. It was July 2010, four months after the North Korean military torpedoed a South Korean Navy corvette, sinking it and killing 46 sailors. Now, after weeks of fierce debate between the Pentagon and the State Department, the United States was gearing up to respond to this brazen provocation. The tentative plan — developed by Clinton’s deputy at State, James Steinberg — was to dispatch the aircraft carrier George Washington into coastal waters to the east of North Korea as an unusual show of force. But Adm. Robert Willard, then the Pacific commander, wanted to send the carrier on a more aggressive course, into the Yellow Sea, between North Korea and China. The Chinese foreign ministry had warned the United States against the move, which for Willard was all the more reason to press forward. He pushed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, who in turn pushed his boss, the defense secretary, to reroute the George Washington. Gates agreed, but he needed the commander in chief to sign off on a decision that could have political as well as military repercussions. Gates laid out the case for diverting the George Washington to the Yellow Sea: that the United States should not look as if it was yielding to China. Clinton strongly seconded it. “We’ve got to run it up the gut!” she had said to her aides a few days earlier. (The Vince Lombardi imitation drew giggles from her staff, who, even 18 months into her tenure, still marveled at her pugnacity.) Obama, though, was not persuaded. The George Washington was already underway changing its course was not a decision to make on the fly. “I don’t call audibles with aircraft carriers,” he said — unwittingly Clinton on her football metaphor. It wasn’t the last debate in which she would side with Gates. The two quickly discovered that they shared a Midwestern upbringing, a taste for a stiff drink after a long day of work and a skepticism about the intentions of America’s foes. Bruce Riedel, a former intelligence analyst who conducted Obama’s initial review on the Afghanistan war, says: “I think one of the surprises for Gates and the military was, here they come in expecting a very administration, and they discover that they have a secretary of state who’s a little bit right of them on these issues — a little more eager than they are, to a certain extent. Particularly on Afghanistan, where I think Gates knew more had to be done, knew more troops needed to be sent in, but had a lot of doubts about whether it would work. ” As Hillary Clinton makes another run for president, it can be tempting to view her rhetoric about the world less as deeply felt core principle than as calculated political maneuver. But Clinton’s instincts are bred in the bone — grounded in cold realism about human nature and what one aide calls “a textbook view of American exceptionalism. ” It set her apart from her Barack Obama, who avoided military entanglements and tried to reconcile Americans to a world in which the United States was no longer the undisputed hegemon. And it will likely set her apart from the Republican candidate she meets in the general election. For all their bluster about bombing the Islamic State into oblivion, neither Donald J. Trump nor Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has demonstrated anywhere near the appetite for military engagement abroad that Clinton has. “Hillary is very much a member of the traditional American establishment,” says Vali Nasr, a strategist who advised her on Pakistan and Afghanistan at the State Department. “She believes, like presidents going back to the Reagan or Kennedy years, in the importance of the military — in solving terrorism, in asserting American influence. The shift with Obama is that he went from reliance on the military to the intelligence agencies. Their position was, ‘All you need to deal with terrorism is N. S. A. and C. I. A. drones and special ops.’ So the C. I. A. gave Obama an angle, if you will, to be simultaneously hawkish and shun using the military. ” Unlike other recent presidents — Obama, George W. Bush or her husband, Bill Clinton — Hillary Clinton would assume the office with a long record on national security. There are many ways to examine that record, but one of the most revealing is to explore her cultivation of the military — not just civilian leaders like Gates, but also its commanders, the men with the medals. Her affinity for the armed forces is rooted in a lifelong belief that the calculated use of military power is vital to defending national interests, that American intervention does more good than harm and that the writ of the United States properly reaches, as Bush once put it, into “any dark corner of the world. ” Unexpectedly, in the bombastic, presidential election of 2016, Hillary Clinton is the last true hawk left in the race. For those who know Clinton’s biography, her embrace of the military should come as no surprise. She grew up in the buoyant aftermath of World War II, the daughter of a Navy petty officer who trained young sailors before they shipped out to the Pacific. Her father, Hugh Rodham, was a staunch Republican and an anticommunist, and she channeled his views. She talks often about her girlhood dream of becoming an astronaut, citing the rejection letter she got from NASA as the first time she encountered gender discrimination. Her real motive for volunteering, she has written, may have been because her father fretted that “America was lagging behind Russia. ” Political conversion came later, after Vietnam and the ’60s swept over Wellesley College, where she spoke out against the establishment at her graduation. But even in the tumultuous year of 1968, she was still making her transition from Republican to Democrat, managing to go to the conventions of both parties. As a Republican intern in Washington that summer, she questioned a Wisconsin congressman, Melvin Laird, about the wisdom of Lyndon B. Johnson’s escalating involvement in Southeast Asia. It was after law school that she had her most curious encounter with the military. In 1975, the year she married Bill Clinton, she stopped in at a Marine recruiting office in Arkansas to inquire about joining the active forces or reserves. She was a lawyer, she explained maybe there was some way she could serve. The recruiter, she recalled two decades later, was a young man of about 21, in prime physical condition. Clinton was then 27, freshly transplanted from Washington, teaching law at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and wearing eyeglasses. “You’re too old, you can’t see and you’re a woman,” he told her. “Maybe the dogs will take you,” he added, in what she said was a pejorative reference to the Army. “It was not a very encouraging conversation,” Clinton said at a lunch for military women on Capitol Hill in 1994. “I decided, Maybe I’ll look for another way to serve my country. ” Some reporters have cast doubt on the veracity of this story, which she repeated in the fall of 2015 over breakfast with voters in New Hampshire: certainly, there’s no concrete evidence that it happened, and Bill gave a different account of it in 2008, substituting the Army for the Marines. Why would a professionally minded Yale Law graduate, on the cusp of marriage, suddenly want to put on a uniform? It’s impossible to decipher her possible motives, but Ann Henry, an old friend who taught at the university after Clinton moved to Little Rock, offers a theory: During those days, she recalls, female faculty members, as an exercise, would test the boundaries of careers that appeared closed to women. “I don’t think it’s made up,” she says. “It was consistent with something she would have done. ” Clinton’s next sustained exposure to the military did not come until she was first lady, almost two decades later. Living in the White House is, in many ways, like living in a military compound. A Marine stands guard in front of the West Wing when the president is in the Oval Office. The Mili tary Office operates the medical center and the telecommunications system. The Navy runs the cafeteria, the Marines transport the president by helicopter, the Air Force by plane. Camp David is a naval facility. The daily contact with men and women in uniform, Clinton’s friends say, deepened her feelings for them. In March 1996, the first lady visited American troops stationed in Bosnia. The trip became notorious years later when she claimed, during the 2008 campaign, to have dodged sniper fire after her military plane landed at an American base in Tuzla. (Chris Hill, a diplomat who was onboard that day and later served as ambassador to Iraq under Clinton, didn’t remember snipers at all, and indeed recalled children handing her bouquets of spring flowers.) But there was no faking the good vibes during her tour of the mess and rec halls. With her teenage daughter at her side, she bantered and joked with the young servicemen and women — an experience, she wrote, that “left lasting impressions on Chelsea and me. ” When Clinton was elected to the Senate, she had strong political reasons to care about the mili tary. The Pentagon was in the midst of a long, politically charged process of closing military bases New York State had already been a victim, when Plattsburgh Air Force Base was closed in 1995, a loss of 352 civilian jobs for that North Country town. New York’s delegation was determined to protect its remaining bases, especially Fort Drum, home of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, which sprawls over a hundred thousand acres in rural Jefferson County. In October 2001, a month after the terrorist attacks, Clinton traveled to Fort Drum at the invitation of Gen. Buster Hagenbeck, who had just been named the division’s commander and would be deployed to Afghanistan a month later. Like many of the officers I spoke with, he had preconceptions of Clinton from her years as first lady the woman who showed up at his office around happy hour that afternoon did not fulfill them. “She sat down,” he recalls, “took her shoes off, put her feet up on the coffee table and said, ‘General, do you know where a gal can get a cold beer around here? ’’u2009” It was the start of a dialogue that stretched over two wars. In the spring of 2002, Hagenbeck led Operation Anaconda, a assault on Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in the Valley that was the largest combat engagement of the war to date. When the general came back to Washington to brief the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Clinton took him out to dinner on Capitol Hill for her own briefing. They also spoke about the Bush administration’s preparations for war in Iraq, something which Hagenbeck was following anxiously. The general, it turned out, was more of a dove than the senator. He warned her about the risks of an invasion, which was then being inside the Pentagon. It would be like “kicking over a bee’s nest,” he said. Hagenbeck excused Clinton’s vote in 2002 to authorize military action in Iraq. “She made a considered call,” he says. And “she was chagrined, much after the fact. ” For him, what mattered more than Clinton’s voting record was her unstinting public support of the military, whether in protecting Fort Drum or backing him during a difficult first year in Afghanistan. Clinton’s education in military affairs began in earnest in 2002, after the Democratic Party’s crushing defeat in midterm elections moved her up several rungs in Senate seniority. The party’s congressional leaders offered her a seat on either the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or the Senate Armed Services Committee. She chose Armed Services, spurning a long tradition of New York senators, like Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Jacob Javits, who coveted the prestige of Foreign Relations. Armed Services deals with more earthbound issues, like benefits for veterans, and it had long been the preserve of Republican hawks like John McCain. But after Clinton saw Armed Services as better preparation for her future. For a politician looking to hone credentials — a woman who aspired to be commander in chief — it was the perfect training ground. She dug in like a grunt at boot camp. Andrew Shapiro, then Senator Clinton’s adviser, called upon 10 experts — including Bill Perry, who was defense secretary under her husband, and Ashton Carter, who would eventually become President Obama’s fourth defense secretary — to tutor her on everything from grand strategy to defense procurement. She met quietly with Andrew Marshall, an octogenarian strategist at the Pentagon who labored for decades in the blandly named Office of Net Assessment, earning the nickname Yoda for his Delphic insights. She went to every committee meeting, no matter how mundane. Aides recall her on sitting alone in the chamber, patiently questioning a lieutenant colonel. She visited the troops in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving Day in 2003 and spoke at every significant military installation in New York State. By then — 30 years after she recalled being rejected by a Marine recruiter in Arkansas — Hillary Clinton had become a military wonk. Jack Keane is one of the intellectual architects of the Iraq surge he is also perhaps the greatest single influence on the way Hillary Clinton thinks about military issues. A bear of a man with a jowly, careworn face and hair, Keane exudes the supreme you would expect of a retired general. He speaks with a trace of a New York accent that gives his pronouncements a urgency. He is also a member of the complex, sitting on the board of General Dynamics and serving as a strategic adviser to Academi, the contractor once known as Blackwater. And he is the chairman of an aptly named think tank, the Institute for the Study of War. Though he is one of a parade of generals, Keane is the resident hawk on Fox News, where he appears regularly to call for the United States to use greater military force in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. He doesn’t shrink from putting boots on the ground and has little use for civilian leaders, like Obama, who do. Keane first got to know Clinton in the fall of 2001, when she was a freshman senator and he was the Army’s second in command, with a distinguished combat and command record in Vietnam, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo. He had expected her to be intelligent, and politically astute, but he was not prepared for the respect she showed for the Army as an institution, or her sympathy for the sacrifices made by soldiers and their families. Keane was confident he could smell a phony politician a mile away, and he didn’t get that whiff from her. “I read people that’s one of my strengths,” he told me. “It’s not that I can’t be fooled, but I’m not fooled often. ” Clinton took an instant liking to Keane, too. “She loves that Irish gruff thing,” says one of her Senate aides, Kris Balderston, who was in the room that day. When Keane got up after 45 minutes to leave for a meeting back at the Pentagon with a Polish general, she protested that she wasn’t finished yet and asked for another appointment. “I said, ‘O. K. but it took me three months to get this one,’’u2009” Keane told her dryly. Clinton exploded into a raucous laugh. “I’ll take care of that problem,” she promised. She was true to her word: The two would meet many times over the next decade, discussing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Iranian nu clear threat and other flash points in the Middle East. Sometimes he dropped by her Senate office other times they met for dinner or drinks. He escorted her on her first visit to Fort Drum and set up her first trip to Iraq. They generally agreed to forgo talk of politics, but at a meeting in Clinton’s Senate office in January 2007, Keane tried to sell her on the logic of a troop surge in Iraq. The previous month, he had met with President Bush in the Oval Office to recommend that the United States deploy five to eight Army and Marine brigades to wage an urban counterinsurgency campaign only that, he argued, would stabilize a country being ripped apart by sectarian strife. His presentation angered some of Keane’s fellow generals, who feared that such a strategy would deepen Iraq’s dependency and prolong America’s involvement. But it had a big impact on the commander in chief, who soon ordered more than 20, 000 additional troops to Iraq. Clinton was another story. “I’m convinced it’s not going to work, Jack,” she told him. She predicted that the American soldiers patrolling in Iraqi cities and towns would be “blown up” by Sunni militias or Al Qaeda fighters. “She thought we would fail,” Keane recalls, “and it was going to cause increased casualties. ” Politics, of course, was also on her mind. Barack Obama was laying the groundwork for his candidacy in with a campaign that would emphasize his opposition to the Iraq War and her vote in favor of it — a vote that still shadows her in this year’s Democratic primaries. Obama was setting off on a drive that would net $25 million in three months, sending tremors through Clinton’s political camp and establishing him as a formidable rival. Although she disagreed with Keane about Iraq, Clinton asked him to become a formal adviser. “As much as I respect you,” he replied, “I can’t do that. ” Keane’s wife had health problems that had moved up his retirement from the Army, and he did not, as a policy, endorse candidates. Sometime during 2008 — he doesn’t remember exactly when — Clinton told him she had erred in doubting the wisdom of the surge. “She said, ‘You were right, this really did work,’’u2009” Keane recalls. “On issues of national security,” he says, “I thought she was always intellectually honest with me. ” He and Clinton continued to talk, even after Obama was elected and she became secretary of state. More often than not, they found themselves in sync. Keane, like Clinton, favored more robust intervention in Syria than Obama did. In April 2015, the week before she announced her candidacy, Clinton asked him for a briefing on military options for dealing with the fighters of the Islamic State. Bringing along three young female analysts from the Institute for the Study of War, Keane gave her a presentation. Among other steps, he advocated imposing a zone over parts of Syria that would neutralize the air power of the Syrian president, Bashar with a goal of forcing him into a political settlement with opposition groups. Six months later, Clinton publicly adopted this position, further distancing herself from Obama. “I’m convinced this president, no matter what the circumstances, will never put any boots on the ground to do anything, even when it’s compelling,” Keane told me. He was sitting in the library at his home in McLean, Va. which is lined with books on military history and strategy. His critique of Obama was hardly new or original, but much of it mirrors the thinking of Clinton and her policy advisers. “One of the problems the president has, which weakens his diplomatic efforts, is that leaders don’t believe he would use military power. That’s an issue that would separate the president from Hillary Clinton rather dramatically. She would look at military force as another realistic option, but only where there is no other option. ” Befriending Keane wasn’t just about cultivating a single adviser. It gave Clinton instant entree to his informal network of and retired generals. The most interesting by far was David Petraeus, a cerebral commander who shared Clinton’s ambition and whose life stories would mix heady success with humbling setbacks. Both would be accused of mishandling classified information — Clinton because of her use of a private server and email address to conduct sensitive government business, a decision that erupted into a political scandal Petraeus because he had given a diary containing classified information to his biographer and mistress (he was eventually charged with a misdemeanor for mishandling classified information). On Clinton’s first trip to Iraq in November 2003, Petraeus, then a general commanding the 101st Airborne Division, flew from his field headquarters in Mosul to the relative safety of Kirkuk to brief her congressional delegation. “She was full of questions,” he recalls. “It was the kind of gesture that means a lot to a battlefield commander. ” On subsequent trips, as he rose in rank, Petraeus walked her through his plans to train and equip Iraqi Army troops, a forerunner of the counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. It worked to their mutual benefit: Petraeus was building ties to a prominent Democratic voice in the Senate Clinton was burnishing her image as a friend of the troops. “She did it the way,” he says. “She did it by pursuing relationships. ” When Petraeus was sent back to Iraq as the top commander in early 2007, he gave every member of the Senate Armed Services Committee a copy of the U. S. Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which he edited during a tour at Fort Leavenworth. Clinton read hers from cover to cover. Although Clinton’s reservations about the surge were valid — the stability that the additional troops brought to Iraq didn’t last — her opposition to it, like her vote for the war, came back to haunt her. This time, it was her ally Bob Gates who summoned the ghost. In his memoirs, Gates wrote that she confessed to him and the president that her position had been politically motivated, because she was then facing Obama in the Iowa caucuses. (Obama, he wrote, “vaguely” conceded that he, too, had opposed it for political reasons.) Clinton pushed back, telling Diane Sawyer of ABC News that Gates “perhaps either missed the context or the meaning, because I did oppose the surge. ” Her opposition, she told Sawyer, was driven by the fact that at that time, people were not going to accept any escalation of the war. “This is not politics in electoral, political terms,” Clinton said. “This is politics in the sense of the American public has to support commitments like this. ” The next time she found herself in a debate over sending troops into harm’s way, she voiced no such reservations. “We need maps,” Hillary Clinton told her aides. It was early October 2009, and she had just returned from a meeting in the Situation Room. Obama’s war cabinet was debating how many additional troops to send to Afghanistan, where the United States, preoccupied by Iraq, had allowed the Taliban to regroup. The Pentagon, she reported, had used impressive, maps to show its plans to deploy troops around the country. The attention to detail made Gates and his commanders look crisp and well prepared the State Department, which was pushing a “civilian surge” to accompany the troops, looked wan by comparison. At the next meeting, on Oct. 14, the team from State unfurled its own maps to show the deployment of an army of aid workers, diplomats, legal experts and crop specialists who were supposed to follow the soldiers into Afghanistan. Clinton’s fixation with maps was typical of her in the first great debate of the Obama presidency. She wanted to be taken seriously, even if her department was less central than the Pentagon. One way to do that was by promoting the civilian surge, the pet project of her friend and special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke. “She was determined that her briefing books would be just as thick and just as meticulous as those of the Pentagon,” a senior adviser recalls. She also didn’t hesitate to get into the Pentagon’s business, asking detailed questions about the training of Afghan troops and wading into the weeds of military planning. She resolved not to miss out on anything — a determination that may have been rooted in a deeper insecurity about her role in what was to become the most White administration of the modern era. On the morning of June 8, 2009, she emailed two aides to say: “I heard on the radio that there is a Cabinet mtg this am. Is there? Can I go? If not, who are we sending?” On Feb. 10, 2010, she dialed the White House from her home, but couldn’t get past the switchboard operator, who didn’t believe she was really Hillary Clinton. Asked to provide her office number to prove her identity, she said she didn’t know it. Finally, Clinton hung up in frustration and placed the call again through the State Department Operations Center — “like a proper and properly dependent secretary of state,” as she later wrote to one aide in a tone. “No independent dialing allowed. ” The Afghan troop debate, a drama of dueling egos, leaked documents and endless deliberations, is typically framed as a test of wills between the Pentagon’s wily military commanders and an inexperienced young president, with Joe Biden playing the role of devil’s advocate for Obama. While that portrait is accurate, it neglects the role of Clinton. By siding with Gates and the generals, she gave political ballast to their proposals and provided a bullish counterpoint to Biden’s skepticism. Her role should not be overstated: She did not turn the debate, nor did she bring to it any distinctive point of view. But her unstinting support of General McChrystal’s maximalist recommendation made it harder for Obama to choose a lesser option. (McChrystal was later fired by Obama after his aides made derogatory remarks about almost every member of his war cabinet to Rolling Stone magazine she was the exception. “Hillary had Stan’s back,” one of his aides told the reporter, Michael Hastings.) “Hillary was adamant in her support for what Stan asked for,” Gates says. “She made clear that she was ready to support his request for the full 40, 000 troops. She then made clear that she was only willing to go with the 30, 000 number because I proposed it. She was, in a way, tougher on the numbers in the surge than I was. ” Gates believed that if he could align Clinton the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen the commander of Central Command, David Petraeus and himself behind a common position, it would be hard for Obama to say no. “How could you ignore these Four Horsemen of national security?” says Geoff Morrell, who served as the Pentagon press secretary at the time. Just as Clinton benefited from her alliance with the military commanders, she gave them political cover. “Here’s the dirty little secret,” says Tom Nides, her former deputy secretary of state for management and resources. “They all knew they wanted her on their side. They knew that if they walked into the Situation Room and they had her, it made a huge difference in the dynamics. When she opened her mouth, she could change the momentum in the room. ” David Axelrod recalls one meeting where Clinton “kicked the thing off and pretty much articulated their opinion I’m sure that’s one that they remember. There’s no doubt that she wanted to give them every troop that McChrystal was asking for. ” Still, Clinton didn’t prevail on every argument. After agreeing to send the troops, Obama added a condition of his own: that the soldiers be deployed as quickly as possible and pulled out again, starting in the summer of 2011 — a deadline that proved more fateful in the long run than a difference of 10, 000 troops. Clinton opposed setting a public deadline for withdrawal, arguing that it would tip America’s hand to the Taliban and encourage them to wait out the United States — which, in fact, was exactly what happened. In the final days of the debate, Clinton also found herself at odds with her own ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry. He, too, held different views than she did on the wisdom of a surge, which he put into writing. On Nov. 6, 2009, in a long cable addressed to Clinton — and later leaked to The New York Times — he made a trenchant, convincing case for why the McChrystal proposal, which she endorsed two weeks earlier in a meeting with Obama, would saddle the United States with “vastly increased costs and an indefinite, military role in Afghanistan. ” Much of Eikenberry’s analysis proved prescient, particularly his warnings about the threadbare American partnership with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. It carried an extra sting because he was a retired Army general who was the commander in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007. Clinton, who had not asked for the cable, was furious, fearing it could upset a debate in which she and the Pentagon were about to prevail. What the cable made clear was the degree to which the Afghanistan debate was dominated by military considerations. While Clinton did raise the need to deal with Afghanistan’s neighbor, Pakistan, her reflexive support of Gates, Petraeus and McChrystal meant she was not a powerful voice for diplomatic alternatives. “She contributed to the overmilitarizing of the analysis of the problem,” says Sarah Chayes, who was an adviser to McChrystal and later to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen. In October 2015, the persistent violence in Afghanistan and the legacy of Karzai’s misrule forced Obama to reverse his plan to withdraw the last American soldiers by the end of his presi dency. A few thousand troops will stay there indefinitely. And for all of Clinton’s talk about a civilian surge, it never really materialized. For Clinton, the Afghanistan episode laid bare a vexed relationship between her and Eikenberry, one of the few generals with whom she didn’t hit it off. A with graduate degrees from Harvard and Stanford, Eikenberry was brilliant but had a reputation among his colleagues for being imperious. Clinton had a similarly chilly relationship with Douglas Lute, another Army lieutenant general with a graduate degree from Harvard, who also fought with Holbrooke. “She likes the — McChrystal, Petraeus, Keane,” one of her aides observes. “Real military guys, not these retired who go into civilian jobs. ” “There’s no doubt that Hillary Clinton’s more muscular brand of American foreign policy is better matched to 2016 than it was to 2008,” said Jake Sullivan, her top policy adviser at the State Department, who plays the same role in her campaign. It was De cem ber 2015, 53 days before the Iowa caucuses, and Sullivan was sitting down with me in Clinton’s sprawling Brooklyn headquarters to explain how she was shaping her message for a campaign suddenly dominated by concerns about national security. Clinton’s strategy, he said, was twofold: Explain to voters that she had a clear plan for confronting the threat posed by Islamic terrorism, and expose her Republican opponents as utterly lacking in experience or credibility on national security. There were good reasons for Clinton to let her inner hawk fly. After the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. Americans’ concern about a major attack on the nation spiked. A poll taken after Paris showed that a majority, 53 percent, favored sending ground troops to Iraq or Syria, a remarkable shift from the sentiment that prevailed during most of Obama’s presidency. The Republican candidates were reaching for apocalyptic metaphors to demonstrate their resolve. Ted Cruz threatened to the Islamic State to test whether desert sand can glow Donald Trump called for the United States to ban all Muslims from entering the country “until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses. ” Yet such spikes in the public appetite for mili tary action tend to be transitory. Three weeks later, the same poll showed an even split, at 49 percent, on whether to deploy troops. Neither Trump nor Cruz favors major new deployments of American soldiers to Iraq and Syria (nor, for that matter, does Clinton). If anything, both are more skeptical than Clinton about intervention and more circumspect than she about maintaining the nation’s War II military commitments. Trump loudly proclaims his opposition to the Iraq War. He wants the United States to spend less to underwrite NATO and has talked about withdrawing the American security umbrella from Asia, even if that means Japan and South Korea would acquire nuclear weapons to defend themselves. Cruz, unlike Clinton, opposed aiding the Syrian rebels in 2014. He once supported Pentagon budget constraints advocated by his isolationist colleague, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Thus might the gen eral election present voters with an unfamiliar choice: a Democratic hawk versus a Republican reluctant warrior. To thwart the progressive insurgency of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Clinton carefully calibrated her message during the Democratic primaries to align herself closely with Barack Obama and his racially diverse coalition. But as she pivots to the general election, that balancing act with Obama will become trickier. “There’s going to be a huge amount of interest in the press to ” Sullivan says. “It just so easily can become a sport that distracts from her ability to make an affirmative case. ” In showing her stripes as a prospective commander in chief, Clinton will no doubt draw heavily upon her State Department experience — filtering the lessons she learned in Libya, Syria and Iraq into the sinewy worldview she has held since childhood. Last fall, in a series of policy speeches, Clinton began limning distinctions with the president on national security. She said the United States should consider sending more troops to Iraq than Obama had committed, to help the Iraqis and Kurds fight the Islamic State. She came out in favor of a partial zone over Syria. And she described the threat posed by ISIS to Americans in starker terms than he did. As is often the case with Clinton and Obama, the differences were less about direction than degree. She wasn’t calling for ground troops in the Middle East, any more than he was. Clinton insisted her plan was not a break with his, merely an “intensification and acceleration” of it. It’s an open question how well Clinton’s hawkish instincts match the country’s mood. Americans are weary of war and remain suspicious of foreign entanglements. And yet, after the retrenchment of the Obama years, there is polling evidence that they are equally dissatisfied with a portrait of their country as a spent force, managing its decline amid a world of rising powers like China, resurgent empires like Vladimir Putin’s Russia and lethal new forces like the Islamic State. If Obama’s minimalist approach was a necessary reaction to the maximalist style of his predecessor, then perhaps what Americans yearn for is something in between — the kind of pragmatism that Clinton has spent a lifetime honing. “The president has made some tough decisions,” says Leon Panetta, who served as Obama’s defense secretary after Bob Gates, and as director of the C. I. A. before David Petraeus. “But it’s been a mixed record, and the concern is, the president defining what America’s role in the world is in the 21st century hasn’t happened. “Hopefully, he’ll do it,” he added, acknowledging the time Obama has left. “Certainly, she would. ”

During a discussion of BuzzFeed’s story on a dossier regarding Russia and Donald Trump on Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” host Chuck Todd told BuzzFeed Ben Smith “you just published fake news. ” Todd said BuzzFeed’s decision to publish the dossier was an instance where they “would not have made the same decision in the era. ” Smith stated that it was more “the era. ” And that there was a time “where we could act as gatekeepers. Where we could say, you know what, crazy people are claiming that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is forged, but we’re not going to write about that, that’s crazy. ” He continued that this era doesn’t exist, and that while they had reporters trying to confirm or deny specific details, the dossier was “in play,” and “having consequences for the way our elected leaders are acting. The — you do have to ask the question of, why should I suppress that? There are then good reasons, right? Once though, it emerges, as it did last night in the public conversation that there is this secret document floating around, full of dark allegations that we will not repeat to you. That I feel like in this era, you really have to share [with] your readers what that is in an appropriate context. And our original report, I mean, if you read what we wrote, it stressed that there were real solid reasons to distrust this. It noted two specific errors. ” Todd then asked if BuzzFeed had a responsibility to not spread false information. Smith responded that, like with the Obama birth certificate issue, it’s a “difficult balance that everybody in our business navigates every day. ” Todd then asked if BuzzFeed would publish a false birth certificate. Smith answered, “We certainly quoted the of the United States making false claims about it, and years ago we debated whether we should quote regular citizens in Iowa saying, I don’t believe his birth certificate. And I remember us thinking at first, we probably shouldn’t. That we we shouldn’t pass that on and then saying, you know what, this has become a force that is impacting the conversation. ” Todd countered, “I know this was not your intent. I’ve known you a long time, but you just published fake news. ” Smith countered that people throw the term “fake news” around to diminish things they don’t like, and that “this was a real story about a real document that was really being passed around between the very top officials of this country. And then the question you say is, okay, it’s okay for you — to Chuck Todd see this document. It’s okay for me to see it. Okay for Senator John McCain ( ). Okay for the CIA. What’s — why is it not okay for your audience?” Todd then countered that BuzzFeed could have published a redacted version of the document. Smith answered that there was fair disagreement, but didn’t think you could defend acknowledging the dossier’s existence but then not say what was in it and that this was saying it was okay to summarize false claims. Smith further stated that if there wasn’t a “public conversation” about the dossier, they would have just continued to report the story out. ( Mediaite) Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

LONDON — With their giddy celebrations of “independence day” having given way to political and economic turmoil, one thing has become especially clear about the former London mayor Boris Johnson and other leaders of the successful campaign to vote Britain out of the European Union: They had no plan for what comes next. In the days since Britain voted to leave the bloc, the movement’s leaders have often appeared as if they had not expected to win and were not prepared to cope with the consequences. Faced with the scope of the decision, they have been busy walking back promises they made during the campaign and scaling back expectations. They have failed to show a united front or to answer basic questions. Their faltering performance has added to the sense of political chaos in Britain and, arguably, to the turmoil in the financial markets. And it has undercut their credibility and authority as Mr. Johnson prepares his bid to become prime minister and lead Britain into a new relationship with the Continent. The stakes are high for Mr. Johnson in particular, as he tries to build an impression as a capable leader amid the chaos that followed the vote in favor of a British exit, or “Brexit. ” But the mixed signals coming from him and other proponents of leaving the European Union have left their intentions unclear on such basic issues as when and how they will seek to negotiate a withdrawal, and what kind of new arrangement they want. To the degree that they have signaled a direction, it has often been substantially different from what they promised during the campaign. On issues from immigration to spending on the National Health Service, the “Leave” coalition has retreated from its more populist and apparently exaggerated claims. Many of those assertions had been promoted by the U. K. Independence Party, or UKIP, led by Nigel Farage, and benefited the broader Leave campaign, whose most prominent figures included two senior Conservatives, Mr. Johnson and Michael Gove, the justice minister. In changing their tune, the leaders of the Union campaign risk undermining whatever trust they had earned from the millions who voted to leave the bloc in the expectation that immigration would be cut sharply and that money now going to the European Union — which the Leave campaign said was 350 million pounds, or $465 million, a week — would be available to help finance the National Health Service. For example, one Leave advocate, Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative Party leader and cabinet secretary, walked away from the campaign pledge to reallocate the £350 million a week to the health service. Instead, he said, “the lion’s share” of anything left from that amount after replacing subsidies from the bloc to British farmers could be available for health services. On immigration, too, there was immediate backtracking from Mr. Johnson and Daniel Hannan, a member of the European Parliament from the Conservative Party, who told the BBC, “Frankly, if people watching think that they have voted and there is now going to be zero immigration from the E. U. they are going to be disappointed. ” Analysts say the change in tone may be necessary to begin reeling in unrealistic expectations about the changes the referendum could produce, but it also holds considerable political peril for Mr. Johnson and other Conservative Party leaders of the Leave campaign, especially with populist sentiment spreading and groups like the U. K. Independence Party eager to build support. “There is a clear tension between what the voter wanted and what senior euroskeptic leaders want to produce,” said Matthew Goodwin, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of Kent. “If they don’t deliver radical reforms on immigration, it would be the equivalent of pouring gasoline on the populist UKIP fire that has been burning since 2010. ” In his regular column in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, Mr. Johnson tried to strike a prime ministerial tone of unity in the wake of the divisive referendum, but he emphasized continuity over change and tried to argue that immigration, clearly the primary motivation for many voters in taking a position against Europe, was somehow not a major issue. “It is said that those who voted Leave were mainly driven by anxieties about immigration,” Mr. Johnson wrote. “I do not believe that is so. ” Suggesting that he wants to keep some kind of open flow of people across the border with Europe, Mr. Johnson wrote, “British people will still be able to go and work in the E. U. to live to travel to study to buy homes and to settle down. ” Not only that, he asserted, “There will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market. ” What he described was a relationship with the European Union like that of Norway, which would allow freedom of movement and labor and would pay money to Brussels in return for access to the single market, but without having a voice in . But Mr. Johnson rejected the Norway model during the campaign, and even if negotiations proved to lead to a slightly enhanced Norway, with some symbolic measures to restrict immigration of European Union citizens to Britain, the result would be a betrayal of those who voted Leave. And right now, Norway pays Brussels roughly per capita what Britain currently does as a full member. “The difficulty for Boris and Gove is that Brexit feels like a column gone wrong, an academic exercise suddenly turned into reality,” Paul Waugh wrote in his blog for The Huffington Post, alluding to the shared backgrounds in journalism of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Gove. “And reality, particularly where the E. U. is concerned, is a messy, complex thing. ” Mr. Johnson is clearly looking to unite the divided Conservative Party behind his own, flamboyant self and to burnish his economic credentials. But playing down immigration, Mr. Goodwin said, could create more political trouble. “I worry for senior euroskeptic leaders, because there is a misunderstanding of the vote, and that will feed voter dissatisfaction,” he said, driving many of the voters who chose a British exit to turn away from both mainstream parties and move to the populist right. The referendum was unusual, because it pitted a government on one side, “Remain,” against a loose coalition on the other, made up of Conservatives, some Labour legislators and U. K. Independence Party supporters. The Leave side never had to hammer out an agreement on how to proceed if it won, said Tony Travers, a professor of government at the London School of Economics. “There was no coherence, because it wasn’t a political party fighting for government, but an odd coalition fighting against something, but with no consistent view of what it was fighting for,” he said. Even on the economy, the Leave side was made of economists who believe in no tariffs at all, those who believe in trade deals and protectionists who want to shield the declining working class against globalization, Professor Travers said. “And now the government will have to be reformed as if it were representing the Leave side and yet represent both, a government that must reflect the schism in itself,” he said. In the aftermath of the Leave campaign’s victory, the political editor for Sky News, Faisal Islam, asked a Conservative member of Parliament who supported leaving the bloc to see his camp’s plan. The legislator replied, according to Mr. Islam: “There is no plan. The Leave campaign don’t have a plan. ” Then the legislator added, “Number 10 should have had a plan,” referring to the prime minister’s office.

MIDLAND, Tex. — In the land where oil jobs were once a guaranteed road to security for workers, Eustasio Velazquez’s career has been upended by technology. For 10 years, he laid cables for service companies doing seismic testing in the search for the next big gusher. Then, powerful computer hardware and software replaced cables with wireless data collection, and he lost his job. He found new work connecting pipes on rigs, but lost that job, too, when plunging oil prices in 2015 forced the driller he worked for to replace rig hands with cheaper, more reliable automated tools. “I don’t see a future,” Mr. Velazquez, 44, said on a recent afternoon as he stooped over his shopping cart at a local grocery store. “Pretty soon every rig will have one worker and a robot. ” Oil and gas workers have traditionally had some of the jobs — just the type that President Trump has vowed to preserve and bring back. But the West Texas oil fields, where activity is gearing back up as prices rebound, illustrate how difficult it will be to meet that goal. As in other industries, automation is creating a new demand for workers — sometimes hundreds of miles away in a control center — but their numbers don’t offset the ranks of field hands no longer required to sling chains and lift iron. So while there is a general sense of relief in the oil patch that a recovery is gaining momentum, discussions at company meetings and family kitchen tables are rife with aching worries, especially among those who are with no more than a high school education. Roughly 163, 000 oil jobs were lost nationally from the 2014 peak, or about 30 percent of the total, while oil prices plummeted, at one point by as much as 70 percent. The job losses just in Texas, the most productive state, totaled 98, 000. Several thousand workers have come back to work in recent months as the price of oil has begun to rise again, but energy experts say that between a third and a half of the workers who lost their jobs are not returning. Many have migrated to construction or even jobs in renewable energy, like wind power. “People have left the industry, and they are not coming back,” said Michael Dynan, vice president for portfolio and strategic development at Schramm, a Pennsylvania manufacturer of drilling rigs. “If it’s a repetitive task, it can be automated, and I don’t need someone to do that. I can get a computer to do that. ” Indeed, computers now direct drill bits that were once directed manually. The wireless technology taking hold across the oil patch allows a handful of geoscientists and engineers to monitor the drilling and completion of multiple wells at a time — onshore or miles out to sea — and supervise immediate fixes when something goes wrong, all without leaving their desks. It is a world where rigs walk on their own legs and sensors on wells alert headquarters to a leak or loss of pressure, reducing the need for a technician to check. And despite all the lost workers, United States oil production is galloping upward, to nine million barrels a day from 8. 6 million in September. Nationwide, with a bit more than as many rigs operating as in 2014, production is not even down 10 percent from record levels. Some of the best wells here in the Permian Basin that three years ago required an oil price of over $60 a barrel for an operator to break even now need about $35, well below the current price of about $53. Much of the technology has been developed by the aviation and automotive industries, along with deepwater oil exploration, over more than a decade. But companies drilling on land were slow to adapt until oil prices crashed and companies needed to get efficient quickly or go out of business. All the big companies, and many smaller ones, have organized teams of technicians that collect well and tank data to develop complex algorithms enabling them to duplicate the design for the most productive wells over and over, and to repair valves and other parts before they break down. The result is improved production and safety, but also a far smaller work force, and one that is increasingly morphing from muscle to brain power. Pioneer Natural Resources, one of the most productive West Texas producers, has slashed the number of days to drill and complete wells so drastically that it has been able to cut costs by 25 percent in wells completed since early 2015. The typical rig that drilled eight to 12 wells a year just a few years ago now drills up to 16. Last year, the company added nearly 240 wells to its Permian Basin inventory without adding new employees. The faster operations, Pioneer executives say, are due in large part to more effective well planning and drill steering. Both have been made possible by the computer connections between the rig and top geoscientists back at corporate headquarters and intense analysis of the data gathered at every well. The laborious task of checking tank levels by climbing a flight of steps and popping open a series of latches, for instance, has been replaced by pressing a few icons on a computer touch screen. A fully automated water pump station installed last summer is intended to save hundreds of truck trips every day hauling water for hydraulically fracturing wells, yielding diesel and labor cost savings. “We want to transform our work force to the point where we need to hire fewer people,” said Joey Hall, Pioneer’s executive vice president for Permian operations. Improved computing streamlines operations, he noted, and lets technicians optimally space their wells and more accurately perforate the sweet spots of shale veins to squeeze every drop of oil out of the ground. “We’re heading toward artificial intelligence and machine learning, analyzing thousands of algorithms,” Mr. Hall added, sounding more like a Silicon Valley futurologist than a wildcatter. “Through repetitive operations, you learn the patterns, and through patterns you learn to make automated decisions. ” With the loss of manual jobs has come a transformation in the job force, with demand growing for more data analysts, math scientists, communications specialists and robotic design engineers. In the last two years, ABB, the Swiss technology company, has opened two plants in Houston for assembling and packaging robotics and integrating advanced instrumentation into oil field operations. GE Oil and Gas opened a technology center in Oklahoma City in October to place scientists closer to the oil fields to research and apply new digital industrial technologies for exploration and production. Among its many projects is an experiment to use drones to inspect equipment and identify methane leaks on oil sites. Nabors, the oil services giant, has 100 employees developing software, 10 times the number it had only a few years ago. “With the adoption of all this software and stuff, we’ve had to bring in a lot of new technicians,” said Dennis A. Smith, a Nabors vice president. A typical new oil company employee is Andre Nel, a mechanical engineer who is a rising star at Pioneer Natural Resources. In less than two years, he has helped rewrite computer software to instruct workers on the best designs for hydraulic fracturing, optimizing the amounts of fluids, sand and chemicals pumped into the wells. Now, connected by computers to technicians in the field, he is monitoring the production of 950 wells, instantly checking the maintenance history and production trends of every well with the click of a mouse. “I’m lucky and happy that the tech revolution in the oil field has created the need for engineers like me with backgrounds in computer science,” he said. But smaller companies and their workers are struggling to keep up. S. O. C. Industries, a small local pump truck operator and chemical services provider, is forced to invest $100, 000 a year to keep up with the computer programs and monitoring equipment its clients request. The added expenses are one reason the company has let go 15 of the 60 field workers employed three years ago. Another is that well operators that once hired five or six people on a drill site to mix chemicals and drilling fluids as well as clean up spills are now hiring only three as mechanization has sliced their drilling time in half. Some of the remaining S. O. C. employees are straining to keep up with new computerized pump truck monitors and GPS systems. “It’s a struggle,” said Rodrigo Urias, 59, an S. O. C. truck driver, who for many years only had to look at a needle on a gauge to monitor flow pressures. Now he needs to reset computer screens, take work orders on a computer tablet and sometimes do algebraic calculations. “A lot of the guys can’t operate these new technologies, tablets and instruments, and they keep whining,” he added. “They want to know why we can’t do things like we used to. ” Manufacturing executives say they are trying to minimize the complexity for field workers, and sometimes design their equipment with the advice of video game makers. That’s a good thing for Michael Manga, 34, an employee of Latshaw Drilling, an Oklahoma company active here. A college dropout, he knocked around from job to job before finding his way to the oil patch. Now, playing video games like Call of Duty and Mario Kart with his friends over the years has paid off, giving him the coordination to monitor and operate the control panels and joy sticks that control the drilling rig. “We do such a good job now,” he said, “we’re drilling ourselves out of a job. ”

Don Halcomb, a farmer in Adairville, Ky. is expecting his profit to vanish this year, largely because of the confluence of falling crop prices and rising costs for seeds and other materials. The price of an bag of seed corn rose to $300 from $80 in the last decade, as the companies that produced them consolidated, he said. And with the recent decline in commodity prices, Mr. Halcomb said he expects to lose $100 an acre this year. “We’re producing our crops at a loss now, just like the oil guys are pumping oil at a loss,” Mr. Halcomb, who grows corn, soybeans, wheat and barley on his family farm, said by telephone on Wednesday. “You can’t cut your costs fast enough. ” It is a common plight of farmers across the United States, with the global agriculture industry in a wrenching downturn. Because farmers have produced too much corn, wheat and soybeans, they have been forced to slash prices to sell their crops. They have also reduced spending on seeds, pesticides and fertilizer, which has eaten into sales at agribusiness giants, including Monsanto and DuPont. In response, these companies have sought deals to cut costs and weather the industry’s storm. Four major agribusiness mergers have been announced in the last year. The latest is Bayer AG’s $56 billion takeover of Monsanto — the largest acquisition of 2016 — announced on Wednesday. Every merger creates the possibility of higher costs for farmers. Mr. Halcomb buys seeds with traits licensed to Monsanto of St. Louis and seeds from DuPont, which has a deal pending to merge with Dow Chemical. His fertilizers are made of potassium compounds and phosphate produced by Agrium of Calgary, Alberta, which on Monday agreed to combine with the fertilizer producer Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. He uses pesticides made by Syngenta of Switzerland, which agreed in February to a takeover by the China National Chemical Corporation. “It’s just like any other industry that consolidates,” Mr. Halcomb said. “They tell the regulators they’re and then they tell their customers they have to increase pricing after the deal’s done. ” The companies say they are merging to diversify and increase growth and research capabilities, but these deals, given their size and scope, have already caught the attention of lawmakers and regulators in Washington. There is no guarantee that they will all receive regulatory approval, and some companies may have to sell assets to allay antitrust concerns. Dow’s merger with DuPont is under Justice Department review. The market seemed to anticipate hurdles for the Monsanto deal on Wednesday. Shares of the company closed about 20 percent lower than the $128 per share cash offer from Bayer, which is based in Leverkusen, Germany. Shares of each company gained less than 1 percent after the deal was announced. Adding the assumption of about $10 billion of Monsanto debt, Bayer’s total $66 billion pact is the largest deal, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters, ahead of InBev’s $60. 4 billion offer for another St. company, in June 2008. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, scheduled a hearing next week to discuss the possible effect of these mergers on farming. Iowa produced more corn last year than any other state, according to the National Corn Growers Association. “It seems to be catching fire and happening so fast with so many,” Senator Grassley said in a phone interview. “When you have less competition, prices go up. ” European competition regulators also said publicly, before a deal was even signed, that they would look at how it could affect prices and the availability of seed products, as well as research. Liam Condon, who leads Bayer’s division, said in an interview that the company did an “extensive analysis” with regard to antitrust before approaching Monsanto in May. Mr. Condon said that he does not believe there is much overlap between their portfolios, because Bayer’s focus is largely on crop protection, while Monsanto’s is on seeds and traits. He said the companies assume they may need to sell off some assets to appease regulators. Monsanto, which is famous for its production of genetically modified seeds, rejected several offers from Bayer as too low. Wednesday’s deal represented a 44 percent premium to Monsanto’s stock price on May 9, the day before Bayer’s interest in a deal surfaced. To assuage Monsanto’s concerns, Bayer threw in a $2 billion breakup fee if the deal fell apart on antitrust grounds. The strategic goal of the deal, according to Bill Selesky, an analyst at Argus Research, is to create a experience for farmers, making Bayer the world’s largest supplier of seeds and farm chemicals. By improving the product for farmers, the combined company could ultimately raise prices, Mr. Selesky said in an interview. Senator Grassley said that he had spoken with a few farmers who believed the deals were necessary so large agribusinesses could continue to absorb the costs of researching and developing products and getting government approval for them. Bayer and Monsanto said they planned to cut about $1. 2 billion worth of costs as part of the deal, helping to improve efficiency. But Jim Benham of Versailles, Ind. the president of the Indiana Farmers Union, was not so optimistic. He blamed the rising costs of inputs — seeds, fertilizer and the like — for eating away at farmers’ profit margins, and warned that consolidation will make it worse. Costs have already risen by double digits over the last four to five years, and the proposed merger could accelerate that. “The merger is going to hurt the farmer,” said Mr. Benham, who grows corn, soybeans and sometimes wheat on his farm. “The more consolidation we have on our inputs, the worse it gets. ” Mr. Condon of Bayer said that the company would not raise prices without providing more value to farmers. “This is a highly competitive industry, and just increasing prices without having any additional advantage or benefit for growers won’t go anywhere,” he said. “It’s up to us to show what we’re offering will help farmers improve their return on investment. ” Some farmers said the consolidation could even enable prices to fall. Christine Hamilton manages a farm of more than 12, 000 acres in Kimball, S. D. growing crops like corn and operating a ranch. She said that if the deal can pass the antitrust screening, then maybe it could actually help farmers. “I understand how companies need to get bigger in order to be competitive,” she said. “As we are in a low part of the cycle, anything that might have a chance of reducing our input prices would be great. ”

Why We Are Still In ‘The Danger Zone’ Until January 20th, 2017 17th, 2016 Donald Trump is not the president yet, and Barack Obama could still do an extraordinary amount of damage during his last two months in the White House. Prior to the election, I described the period of time ending on January 20th as “the danger zone”, and my outlook has not changed just because Donald Trump was victorious on election night. As you will see, the next two months are an absolutely critical time, and if we can get through January 20th without something major happening perhaps we can breathe a little bit easier (at least for a while). On the other hand, the events of the next two months could easily plunge this country into a period of unprecedented chaos. A lot of people are feeling really good about things right now because of Trump’s victory, but now is definitely not a time to relax and let down our guard. And the truth is that Donald Trump has not even won the presidency yet. As I detailed shortly before election night , the next president will not be determined until December 19th when the Electoral College meets. On Monday, December 19th the members of the Electoral College will gather in all 50 state capitals to cast their votes for president. It is then, and only then, that the next president of the United States will be elected. Throughout our history, electors have followed the will of the people more than 99 perfect of the time, but there have been “faithless electors” before, and if Democrats can get enough of them to switch sides in December it is still possible (though not probable) that Hillary Clinton could win the election. One petition that is asking electors to switch their votes has already been signed by more than 4 million people. The petition claims that Donald Trump is “unfit to serve” as president, and that since Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a wide margin she should be elected president instead. The following comes from a USA Today article entitled “ Could the Electoral College elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump? “… A Change.org petition, now signed by more than 4.3 million people, encourages members of the Electoral College to cast their votes for Hillary Clinton when the college meets on Dec. 19. The petition argues that Donald Trump is “unfit to serve” and that “Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE and should be President.” “If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win,” the petition states. “However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine – which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay! We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton.” Personally, I don’t believe that this is going to happen. They may be able to flip a few electors, but the gap in electoral votes is almost certainly too wide for the Democrats to overcome. However, that is not the only concern we are facing. Ever since his victory on November 8th, there have been a multitude of violent threats against Donald Trump and his family. And without a doubt, there are a lot of very powerful people that would be very interested in finding a way to keep Donald Trump from getting to Inauguration Day. So let us pray for his safety and for the safety of his family. If Donald Trump were to be incapacitated after he wins the Electoral College vote on December 19th, Mike Pence would take his place. But if something were to happen to him before December 19th, his electors would be free to vote for another candidate – including Hillary Clinton. If everything goes smoothly and Donald Trump successfully makes it to Inauguration Day, he could be facing one of the biggest political protests in United States history. In an article for The Most Important News , I showed that the far left is calling for thousands upon thousands of protesters to descend upon Washington D.C. on January 20th in order to disrupt the Inauguration festivities as much as possible. This giant protest is being organized by the usual suspects, and they have already put up Facebook pages , websites , and the hashtag “#DisruptJ20″ is being widely used all over social media. Traditionally Inauguration Day is a day of joy and celebration, but the far left seems intent on transforming it into a massive riot. Let us hope that they are not successful. Another reason why we will be in “the danger zone” over the next two months is because of what Barack Obama may choose to do at the United Nations. Now that it looks like Donald Trump is going to be our next president, the international pressure on Barack Obama to do something at the United Nations regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the end of his term has become even more intense. And this is something that Trump and his advisers are actively concerned about. In fact, I came across an article earlier today that discussed the fact that the Trump team is warning Obama “against making moves on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his last months in office” … Saying that pushing agendas “contrary to the president-elect’s position” would not be in the “spirit of the transition”, Trump national security advisor for Donald Trump last week warned the Obama administration against making moves on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his last months in office. “On big, transformative issues where President Obama and President-elect Trump are not in alignment, I don’t think it’s in keeping with the spirit of the transition…to try to push through agenda items that are contrary to the president-elect’s positions,” the advisor told Politico . Specifically, the concern is that Obama may decide to support a UN Security Council resolution that would officially recognize a Palestinian state, set the parameters for a “two state solution”, and establish East Jerusalem as the capital for the new Palestinian state. Just a few weeks ago, an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “ Obama’s Israel Surprise? ” reported that this is one of the options that the Obama administration is strongly considering right now. A UN Security Council resolution would be legally binding on both Israel and the Palestinians, and it would be something that President Trump would not be able to undo. The rest of the UN Security Council is eager to support such a resolution, and so the decision about whether this resolution is going to happen or not sits in the hands of Barack Obama, and at this moment we do not know what he is going to do. The following comes from an article by Leo Hohmann … The Wall Street Journal reported one week before Tuesday’s election that Obama had requested his aides provide him with a list of options to deal with the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli diplomats, according to the WSJ story, are preparing for the possibility that a lame-duck President Obama “may try to force a diplomatic resolution for Israel and the Palestinians at the United Nations.” The president is presumably now reviewing those options, which number about half a dozen. He may be preparing to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. before he leaves office , WSJ reported. If Barack Obama decides to divide the land of Israel at the United Nations, it will be the worst decision of his entire presidency. I have warned repeatedly that all hell will break loose in America if it happens, and it will also mean that many of the events that I warn about in my latest book are much closer than many had been anticipating. But if we can get to January 20th and the land of Israel has not been divided yet, we may be able to rest easy for at least a little while, because Trump has already said that he would not support a UN Security Council resolution that forces a solution on the Israelis and Palestinians. When politicians are going to do something that they know people won’t like, they tend to try to sneak it through around the holidays when a lot of people aren’t paying attention. For example, yesterday I discussed how the legislation that created the Federal Reserve was rushed through Congress right before Christmas in 1913 . So keep an eye on the period around Thanksgiving and the period around Christmas. If Barack Obama is going to stab Israel in the back, it may happen during one of those times. My hope is that we can get through January 20th without anything going seriously wrong. If that happens, I know that I will be very thankful. And as I detailed in a previous article , Donald Trump will be 70 years, 7 months and 7 days old on his first full day in office on January 21st, and that will happen in year 5777 on the Hebrew calendar. Could that be a sign of better things ahead as many believe? Or will the next two months set off a chain of events that will be absolutely disastrous for this nation? I believe that this is an absolutely critical moment in our history, and let us hope that our leaders make the right decisions. “Danger Zone” Brings back memories of Kenny Loggins and Top Gun. anonymous Listen to her howlin’ roar Metal under tension Beggin’ you to touch and go Highway to the Danger Zone Ride into the Danger Zone Headin’ into twilight Spreadin’ out her wings tonight She got you jumpin’ off the deck And shovin’ into overdrive Highway to the Danger Zone I’ll take you Right into the Danger Zone William Lutz I will not celebrate the holidays this year! Screw Christmas and New Years already. anonymous Good on you. Why support corporate mandated holidays anyway? Thanksgiving should be the most important celebration. We should also celebrate the day of the dead. A solemn reminder of what the future holds for us all. Besides, their parties are awesome! Ricardo We should also celebrate the day of the dead. ………. that is spiritism. King Saul tried to bring up the dead (Samuel) via the witch of Endor………. don’t mess with spiritism Let the dead bury the dead ..Matthew 8:22 …… meaning if you have no spiritual life you are dead so let the dead bury the dead. Halloween. October 31st. What date did Martin Luther nail the 95 thesis to the church (catholic) door ? …… October 31st. Halloween is the catholic church playing with spiritism and fostering it on the world via the disguise of “its just harmless fun”…….. don’t mess with spiritism. anonymous I meant more of a remembrance of loved ones who have passed away. You are painting with a broad religious brush. What is God? Isn’t God a Spirit? What do you know of death? Have you died? You are clearly biased. df NJ God is unknowable force that motivates the electrons to move and have charge. Without God, time would cease to exist. Paul Benson Wrong again df NJ (Dumb Friend from New Jersey?) God has gone to great extremes to make himself knowable. When Jesus died on the Cross the veil of the Temple was torn by god from top to bottom as a sign the way into his presence had been given. Put your faith in Jesus, follow his teaching, and that path will lead you to the Father and eternal life. YOU CAN KNOW GOD! Mondobeyondo Merry Hallothanksmaskwanzaanewyear! nick I am a political atheist, just to set the record straight. Although I visit this site fairly often, it is showing signs of paranoia and provoking fear. When George W. as elected, there were many protesters, they were just hidden away in “free speech” zones. Of course there are many unhappy people, as there were in 2000, and every election. Trumps votes were less than 19% of the 325 million people in the country. Will Trump bring jobs. No, not unless they are gov’t employees, or funded by taxes. There is only one way jobs are created, and that is when there is demand for products and services. A lot of people with their low paying jobs can hardly afford the basic necessities, let alone keep playing the consumerism game. I cannot see Obama doing anything that requires legislation, as he is lame duck status now. Perhaps this site needs to focus on the swamp getting filled with more careerists, especially lobbyists I have been an expat for over 6 years, it is a lovely peaceful warm day here. Think I will go for a bicycle ride, then a dip in 86 degree seawater. I do have faith that not much will change and the sun will continue to rise, even when it is obscured by clouds. Peace and Love…it is the only way df NJ Obama’s big political move will be to appoint an ultra liberal judge to the bench during the recess. I just can’t imagine that he doesn’t leave office without punishing the Republicans for not taking Garland. And given all the threats to taking away all of Obama’s legacy this is the only thing left he has to make his mark on history. Rick I don’t think he can do that with a phone and pen. Sorry. HeyAHuman Could you imagine the pandemonium that would ensue if the Electoral College were to vote Hillary in? Then we’d be in a REAL danger zone… Mondobeyondo Yes, it would be. It would be like the Krakatoa volcano erupting again. df NJ That is not going to happen because the electors hate Hillary as much as you do. It would be like cutting off one of your own fingers with a kitchen knife. I think we are okay. anonymous It always amazes me that people will look for signs in anything. Remember the world was going to end in the year 2000? Then again in 2012 with the end of the Mayan Calendar. “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” -John Allen Paulos df NJ It’s 11/18 and still no second coming of Jesus. Every single person reading this and posting on this board is going to be long dead and gone before Jesus returns. James Staten You just fulfilled prophecy, and you don’t even know it. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Peter+3%3A2-4&version=KJV Jerry C No longer need to look for signs as they are happening whether or not you’re looking. By the way, 2000 & 2012 were LSM saying it was ending. I guess for you the fact Trump will be 70 years 7 months 7 days old on his first full day of office is coincidence? You see coincidence; believers see signs. ISA41:10 Liberals have long since gone beyond Activism, and descended to mobs all acting like spoiled children, stamping their feet and screaming, “I want it NOW!” It’s the politics of juvenile delinquency. To be a liberal means you must lie, deceive, deflect and, as a last resort, attack a conservative. Liberalism is godlessness. df NJ You only criticize and hate on other people’s character what you do not like about your own character. Otherwise, if you are able to meet people as being sacred then all you have remaining is unconditional love and acceptance of other people’s flaws. Where does civility come from if not from having respect for opposing opinions? ISA41:10 The election is OVER!!!! These demonstrations mean nothing. These are bunch of winy liberals breaking laws. Did Conservative do these childish things in 08 or 12. N ! I wonder what Obama’s “Pardon List” looks like! JC Teecher Jesse “james” Jackson, a pawn for the left, is pushing hard to have hitlery pardoned for all her crimes, before she is even charged. As a crook himself, he has received a free pass because of his so called “religious” connections. Bull caca! Occult religions maybe. Mondobeyondo Yes, there is still a possibility that Hillary Clinton could still get in the Oval Office. But a Trump presidency is pretty much a done deal (knock on wood). The Secret Service had better guard him and his family VERY closely. From what I’ve seen and heard, President Obama is trying to make Trump’s transition to the presidency very peaceful and orderly (even though they hate each other). Let’s hope that Trump’s presidency will be a successful one, and that it heals the many divisions and other issues that plague our country. Back in 1985, I bought a brand new book called “The Art of the Deal” at my college bookstore. It was written by some guy named Donald Trump. Yes, I actually did read it. df NJ Not a chance. Hillary is dead and gone. Mondobeyondo Barack Obama is actually liberal enough to sign a resolution that would divide the land of Israel. Donald Trump would have to be pressured by outside forces to make such a decision. Would he do it? Don’t know. Although from what I’ve heard, President Putin of Russia likes Trump a lot… df NJ We dropped 23,000 bombs on five predominately Muslim countries in 2015. Maybe it’s time to give the Yinon plan a rest and stop bombing ragheads for Israel. America first! We have way too many problems and debt in this country to continue our foreign policies of American adventurism. Where’s Pat Buchanan when you need him? I think it’s time we return to a more traditional conservative approach to foreign policy. The long war does absolutely nothing to make me feel safer on the streets of Newark or Jersey City. I say eff ’em. America first! TheLulzWarrior Who f***ing cares? Israel is not an US state so far, they would simply refuse to go along such a plan. Paul Patriot Freedom loving Americans (should) know what needs to happen if hitlery is said to be el presidente on December 19th. The left can whine, shout, protest and riot……its time freedom loving Americans get the right mind set about standing up to tyranny……and apathy, passivity, fear and political correctness will prove ineffective. The liberty tree is getting mighty thirsty…..just saying! df NJ There are many forms of freedom. You criticize the left but you just don’t understand it. Here’s how the left thinks: “An old English judge once said: ‘Necessitous men are not free men.’ Liberty requires opportunity to make a living – a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for. “For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people’s property, other people’s money, other people’s labor – other people’s lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness. Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of government. ” You many not agree with this approach but ALL the evidence shows wealth inequality is at all time highs. Most of you right wingers claim we have too much socialism and communism in this country. The sad fact is we cannot be further way from communism and still have a currency with any shred of value. But do not fear. Every year the top 1% become richer and richer. Every year the middle class is driven deeper and deeper into poverty wages. Marx said laissez faire capitialism is always followed by communism because unfettered greed would result in a government’s currency collapse. Once the currency collapses people in bread lines will DEMAND more government not less. See you in the breadlines comrades! хорошего дня JC Teecher It is fairly evident that B Hussein Odrama is spewing his NWO rhetoric and propaganda overseas, as he attempts to assume the role of the world’s authoritarian. He was handpicked by the biggest Nazi since Hitler, behind the scenes, as in GHW Bush. Odrama was chosen by the underworld as a successor to GHWB, and billery. Why? To fulfill their occultic destiny of the Beast System of Gov, Religion, Education, and Economics. The four hidden Dynasties. also viewed as Die-Nasty, if one is part of it. Anything is possible in the next two months, and with the huge amounts of $$ invested into continuing an evil empire, the underworld/shadow gov, will use any and all means to make their plans come to fruition. All we as Christians can do is prepare for the worst, and pray for the “will” of God, to become manifest for His purpose, pleasure, and fulfillment of the end of days, of this age. The time of the fulfillment of a 100 year generation since the planting of the Fig Tree/ House of Judah, in Israel, is drawing nigh. Christ said the generation that sees it (nation of Israel) replanted in the Covenant land, will also see His return. Glory glory Hallelujah, we might just get out of this world………alive. Not fly away in a pre-trib rapture (trap), but change in the twinkling of an eye, here, in this earth, to be a part of the “Kingdom come, on Earth as it is in Heaven”. df NJ We just need to stop dropping bombs on ragheads and God will shower us with blessings. Guns or butter, choose. You get one or the other. Black Wow. I hope there is such a place as hell so scum like you can burn there for eternity Jerry C

Open Thread (NOT U.S. Election) 2016-39 News & views not U.S. election related ... 18, 2016 at 01:44 PM | Permalink Comments The Podesta emails - After Hillary, John Podesta had been seriously warned about the Syrian chaos Posted by: nmb | Nov 18, 2016 1:59:59 PM | 1 Although it is hilarious to see the Hillary supporters throwing a massive tantrum about 'fake news,' it does make it clear just how powerful having direct access to information is in negating money, mainstream media capture and control, and government propaganda. I don't know how much the new Trump presidency will change the US intelligence agency culture. But one has to assume they are apoplectic over their failure in Syria. Billions of dollars and years wasted all because people have direct access to information unfiltered out of Syria. It should have a completely unremarkable US regime change operation: * Send in the NGOs to agitate locals * Make promises of support for attacks on the government by the sole world superpower * Get selectively edited footage of your collaborators on the ground being attacked by the government(after they attacked the government) * Pump out mass amounts of propaganda based off that footage: "Simple farmers rising up to overthrow a brutal regime!" * Wield the tremendous economic power of the US to ensure the vast majority of smaller countries are on board with military action sanctioned by the UN * Flood the country with arms for anyone no matter how crazy to attack the government * Fake chemical attacks, US intelligence agency compromised UN reports and inspectors, etc. All of that derailed by nothing more than people having direct access to information uncensored out of Syria. I think it is safe to assume the US intelligence agencies are actively working on ways to make it illegal or impossible for anyone to publish, share, or consume 'unauthorized' information from countries that are targets of regime change. The easiest way would be to designate any source of information not actively working with or approved by the US intelligence agencies will be increasingly labeled as 'terror propaganda' and US social media and Internet providers will be required to censor or shutdown any such sources. Posted by: Stevens | Nov 18, 2016 2:16:40 PM | 2 Stevens @ 2: Great post, thanks. This "regime change" U$A foreign policy, has been implemented around the globe for many many years now, all in the interests of big corporate profits, and global hegemony. The sad truth seems to be, there are no signs its about to change. Posted by: ben | Nov 18, 2016 2:34:13 PM | 3 I was watching a travelogue program on PBS. The trip was to Cuba. The narrator traveled by train across the country. A train line that was originally built in the 1870s by Spain to divide the country for defensive and control purposes. The locomotives pulling the passenger cars were 1950s USA manufactured vintage and date to a time when our Federal Government had good economic relations with the Batista Regiem. When I think of the cruel and unusual economic punishment dished out to Cuba by our Federal Government all I can see is a bunch of financially poor peasants who bear the brunt of U.S. economic warfare. Just as in the Middle East and now Europe economic sanction wars hurt the farmer, the small business operator, the basic family unit, etc., while rich people get richer. Isn't it about time to back off on the economic war against Cuba and the rest of the Planet? Our collective cruelty seems to know no bounds? Just my opinion Posted by: ALberto | Nov 18, 2016 3:00:02 PM | 4 Bernhard, I should think most of us reading and commenting here have pretty much accepted the result of the US presidential elections and are glad that Killer Klinton's ambitions have crashed and her future seems to be in a white house with steel bar columns and uniformed prison guards. The focus is now on President-elect Donald Trump's likely cabinet appointments, who are the most likely choices for critical positions like Defense Secretary and State Secretary, what the process is and how that is being carried out (or not carried out), and what that says about Trump's leadership and decision-making style, how he plans on being President and whether his choices are the right choices for his agenda (if it is genuine) of reforming the political culture on Capitol Hill, or "draining the swamp". If indeed Trump is intent on bringing changes to Capitol Hill, then there's a strong likelihood that the Soros-funded "Color Revolution" rioting around the US East and West Coasts will come to Washington and we'll be seeing a re-enactment of the Kiev Maidan events there. Posted by: Jen | Nov 18, 2016 3:01:27 PM | 5 Does the Constitution of the United States require the president to have a specific number of executive departments? The answer is no. George Washington only had four departments in his administration as first President of the United States. Perhaps if Mr. Trump can't find suitable candidates for his cabinet when he "drains the swamp", he could assume the role as interim department head until such time as qualified non-militarists emerge from the private sector to serve in his administration. Posted by: PokeTheTruth | Nov 18, 2016 3:04:34 PM | 6 @2 stevens..thanks for your comments. lets hope open access to information continues.. the signs of this happening don't look great, but they remain open still.. thankfully, moa is one of many sites where sharing info is of great benefit and continues.. M K Bhadrakumar's latest.. meanwhile obama, merkel, hollandaze and their italian counterpart have all agreed to continue for another year, the sanctions on russia over ukraine.. the bozo head for nato jens stalenbread or however his name is spelled, continues on with the disingenuous musings of an old king about to reenact a version of humpty dumpty.. meanwhile the witch hunt on acedemics, or anyone associated with gulen continues in turkey.. erdogan was visiting pakistan the past few days and i happened to read this on the usa state dept daily transcript from yesterday in the form of a question. Question :"Turkish President Erdogan is in Pakistan today, and he publicly suggested to Pakistan that the West was behind ISIS in order to hurt Muslims, quote, “It is certain that Western countries are standing by Daesh. Now Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and many others are suffering from terrorism and separatist terrorism.”What’s your comment on that? Do you think it’s a reasonable statement? MR KIRBY: No, I do not." it is pretty funny how these daily press briefings highlight usa propaganda in such a distinct and colourful manner.. fortunately the odd journalist asks questions that lift the veil that is constantly being thrown out by these same masters of propaganda.. Posted by: james | Nov 18, 2016 3:36:30 PM | 7 @5 If indeed Trump is intent on bringing changes to Capitol Hill, then there's a strong likelihood that the Soros-funded "Color Revolution" rioting around the US East and West Coasts will come to Washington and we'll be seeing a re-enactment of the Kiev Maidan events there. No, you will not be seeing "Maidan". Middle America white (and not only) working class men are extremely well armed and are really angry still. So, if this rioting will come to Washington, who says that good ole' Ford Truck can not run over mountain bike of Tesla? Once the shooting starts (hopefully not) it will be a totally different game than Kiev "Maidan". There is also a trend, call it a hunch--most of US combat veterans from US endless wars tend to lean towards people like Trump. Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Nov 18, 2016 3:49:18 PM | 8 2 The Right firmly believes in Onward Xtian Soldiers for the Judeo-Xtian Axis, remember the $150,000,000,000 that 'Obama Paid As Hostage to Iran' was just a setup by the Right, that was Iran's sovereign national wealth held in overseas investments and illegally frozen by the Right as an *act of war*. When Obama agreed to end those illegal sanctions and let Iran retrieve their investments (which they may have done today, if you look at the huge market selloff), the Right again illegally crossed into Iran territory with their Navy patrol boats to create a false 'hostage' narrative. Those Navy boats know where they are by GPS withing 3.5 meters (10 feet), and Iran didn't beat them or waterboard them like AbuGraib or Gitmo, instead, they traded them for their *interest losses* on their illegally frozen foreign investments. With Huckabee as nee Ambassador to Israel, and neocon Pompeo as named CIA Director, and Jared Kushner getting top secret briefings to pass along to his Israeli blood-diamond partner Lev Leviev, you can bet the Xtian Soldiers will be pouring our blood and our treasure onto the radioactive sands of the Middle East, filling up the VA hospitals again for the Judeo-Xtian Axis of Greater Isreal. If anyone else has a happier sitrep, we'd all like to hear it. Posted by: chipnik | Nov 18, 2016 4:22:24 PM | 9 #8 - I read somewhere the majority of the enlisted were voting Trump and the officer corp leaning Clinton. It would be interesting to see the breakdown of the military vote. Posted by: h | Nov 18, 2016 4:24:54 PM | 10 Anybody witness the duet between Obama and Merkel on youtube? Merkel talked first while Obama stood off to the side with a ridiculous smirk on his bobble head. It was so horrible I couldn't watch. Posted by: ruralito | Nov 18, 2016 4:27:09 PM | 11 Jen | Nov 18, 2016 3:01:27 PM | 5 and SmoothieX12 | Nov 18, 2016 3:49:18 PM | 8 We have one month before the electoral college votes. I suspect that this is the venue that the neolibcons will use to try to steal the election from Trump. The "demonstrators" paid and organized by Soros et al help set the background and provide the rationale for the "need" to "accept the will of the people". If this should transpire, then you will see civil unrest. The red states will not go along with the theft of the election for Clinton. Posted by: Perimetr | Nov 18, 2016 4:28:35 PM | 12 @12 Soros "paid for" protesters is just more of b's "fake news". I have friends, middle class professionals, who've been participating in California and all they know about Soros is he made a ton of $$ on Brit Currency bets 2 decades ago. The elector's "switch" is not going to happen, just more hysteria. Posted by: jdmckay | Nov 18, 2016 4:40:06 PM | 13 If this should transpire, then you will see civil unrest. The red states will not go along with the theft of the election for Clinton. Even the "blue" states have very large and populous "red" areas--mostly beyond large urban centers which long ago became a cloaca of depravity. My point is, that this possible (how probable--that is totally another discussion) civil unrest, once "red" states America gets involved seriously, will not last too long for a number of purely tactical, operational and logistical reasons. This is if to discount the possibility of law enforcement actually enforcing the law and order which may, under certain conditions, turn very violent against those who will try to undermine constitutional process. Blue states can not win for mostly cultural reasons since, as I already stated, "Red" states' America is simply armed on several orders of magnitude better and is really angry. It is also tougher. Social and cultural composition of HRC's electorate speaks volumes--it is, in Steve Sailer's words (I think it was him), a "coalition of the fringes" and not very capable to start with. Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Nov 18, 2016 4:47:57 PM | 14 @10 It would be interesting to see the breakdown of the military vote. I don't hold my breath but, again--call it a hunch, I think that majority of US Armed Forces officer corps, especially officers "in the field" are Trump supporters. Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Nov 18, 2016 4:50:06 PM | 15 @13 WRT "fake news" and Soros paid rioters : Paul Horner — the 38-year-old self-made titan of a fake news empire on Facebook — is claiming responsibility for pushing Donald Trump to the White House, and says he has no plans to stop publishing fake news. In an interview with The Washington Post, Horner attributed his success to Trumps’ particular base of supporters. He is the man behind such viral headlines as “The Amish in America Commit their Vote to Donald Trump” and “President Obama Signs Executive Order Banning the National Anthem at all Sporting Events Nationwide” — neither of which were true. “My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist,” he told The Washington Post. Posted by: jdmckay | Nov 18, 2016 4:52:36 PM | 16 The coming conflict is between globalism and nationalism. The basic problem is numbers. Rule by monopolistic global corporations, at best, supports 20% of the population in the short term. It enriches the ruling elite and their servants and improvises everyone else. In the long term, climate change or a nuclear war, brought on by the blind needs of greed, will end the world as we know it. Brexit and the Trump Presidency proved that globalism and democracy are incompatible. For globalism to proceed in the middle term, it will require a surveillance police state, total propaganda, reeducation camps and the shutdown of this bar. Posted by: VietnamVet | Nov 18, 2016 4:56:50 PM | 17 Who decides which news is fake? Sounds like an easy way to limit freedom of speech and of the press. Why can't people be allowed to decide for themselves which news is fake? Posted by: lysias | Nov 18, 2016 4:58:30 PM | 18 As a retired officer of the U.S. Navy, I would be very disappointed if a majority of the officer corps supported Hillary. It would be very disappointing if they put their increased chances of promotion in new wars over the good of the country. Disappointing, but not exactly surprising. Posted by: lysias | Nov 18, 2016 5:01:17 PM | 19 I find it interesting that this open thread was not suppose to be about the US election but darn near all of the comments are to one degree or another. Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 18, 2016 5:12:13 PM | 20 It's great that there's some dialog between Trump and Putin. I think at least Western Syria will be cleansed of jihadis as a result. But Trump might be a little more hard nosed in the future. After the tensions are dialed down and having the score at basically Russia 1, US 0, he's not going to be so pliable. He sure as fuck isn't going to throw Israel under a bus. He's not going to roll over on all American commitments in the region. Trump's been getting a complete rundown on the big picture. It's no secret that until recently he couldn't have found Damascus on a map. Now he knows about the Shiite Crescent and how the arms can flow from Iran to Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon in volumes like never before and how upsetting that is for Israel. Now there's action towards taking Raqqa by the Kurds and who knows who else. The US and its posse will provide the air cover and logistics plus lots of special ops once it kicks in. I'm surprised the Kurds bit again after taking it up the arse from the US a couple of months ago They're not going all in right now as things are ongoing in Mosul and will be for a while. But you don't hear Assad and the Russians squawking much about it. It's like they both know that parts of Eastern Syria are bye-bye. Trump's good will towards Russia certainly doesn't extend to Iran. And no American will ever call Hezbollah anything bur a terrorist organization after the Marine barracks truck bombing in Beirut all those years ago. If Putin and Trump are going to come to a general understanding in the ME there's going to have to be some give and take. Putin's done quite a turnaround in taking Russia from a pariah state a couple of years ago to the player on the world sage that it is now. It's looking good for him to keep his man in power in Syria and to establish a permanent presence in the ME with Khmeimim and Tartus. Once Trump is fully up to speed on the totality of American interests in the region he is bound by his office not to walk away from them. There will have to be some serious deal-making. Posted by: peter | Nov 18, 2016 5:16:47 PM | 21 Putin's done quite a turnaround in taking Russia from a pariah state a couple of years ago to the player on the world sage that it is now. Your timeline is a bit off. The coming of Putin was a direct result of NATO's 1999 aggression against Yugoslavia, while War of 08-08-08 was the start of Russia's return into big league. So, it is not a "couple of years". Results of War of 080808 actually stunned DC's neocon interventionist cabal. Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Nov 18, 2016 5:28:28 PM | 22 Who decides which news is fake? Buzzfeed did some analysis on Social media generated fake news during the election. An awful lot of it was simply false. You can look at some of those headlines and judge for yourself. Ironically, Paul Horner (guy behind "fake news empire" I linked in prior post) said: He said he didn’t do it for ideological reasons. “I hate Trump,” he told The Post. “I thought I was messing with the campaign, maybe I wasn’t messing them up as much as I wanted — but I never thought he’d actually get elected.” Just happens 70% + of fake news this election cycle (according to Buzzfeed) was anti-Clinton. Posted by: jdmckay | Nov 18, 2016 5:47:15 PM | 23 ....and how the arms can flow from Libya and Zio-Ukraine to ISIS in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon in volumes like never before and how 'upsetting'(sic) that is for Israel. Yeah, 'upsetting' to the Israel Likud former-Soviet mafia which fully supports ISIS and maintains 'Hezbullah' straw dog, to keep UN forces out of Greater Israel and torpedo the Two-State Solution and the Right-of-Return agreements which Netanyahu freely boasted he lied about supporting. http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/02/07/when-reagan-cut-and-run/ MoA isn't another Likud psyop disinformation campaign for the new Trump-Israel First Regime. Remember it was your team's counterfeit Yellow Cake Big Lie that assassinated the Baathists, and paved the way for Shi'ia's defensive action against the Bush-Cheney IL Wahhabi's usurpers and crusaders. You theory will do much better on Breitbart. Posted by: chipnik | Nov 18, 2016 5:52:07 PM | 24 @22 I was referring to his exclusion after annexing Crimea. The G8 turned into the G7 and he was shunned at the G20. It was decided by the US and its posse that world events would move along without any input from Russia. That changed when he entered Syria. Posted by: peter | Nov 18, 2016 6:45:39 PM | 25 And on the climate change or not front there are these articles:

Rep. Luis Gutierrez ( ) made the rounds on MSBNC and CNN, dismissing President Donald Trump’s offer to help Chicago end gun violence, and blaming the NRA for the death and mayhem currently marring the Windy City. [Gutierrez was reacting to Trump’s description of the “carnage” in Chicago and his pledge to intervene federally if city leaders fail to stop the violence. On January 24 Trump tweeted: If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ”carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016) I will send in the Feds! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017, The following day, Gutierrez appeared on All In With Chris Hayes and said, “[President Trump] tweets about the “carnage” and that he’s going to send the feds in. Did he send any extra money for police officers? We could use that, for training. ” He noted that Trump is increasing the number of Border Patrol agents on the southern border and said Chicago would like to have more federal agents — ATF and FBI — in the city as well. Then Gutierrez said: But … [President Trump is] with the NRA. The NRA that endorsed him, [that is] … so part of his relationship. You know that NRA did? It crippled the laws of the city of Chicago and the courts, so that we cannot keep guns off our streets. The next day Gutierrez appeared on CNN, where he was again asked about Trump’s “carnage” assessment and his pledge to send in the feds if Chicago city leaders fail to end the violence. Gutierrez said: Here’s the hypocrisy of it all. The fact is, Donald Trump loves the NRA. And during his campaign he embraced them and they embraced him. The city of Chicago had some of the most stringent gun control laws, how were they eviscerated? Because the NRA funded lawsuits against our gun control measures. Gutierrez ignores the fact that Chicago had some its highest annual murder rates while all the city’s gun controls were place. For example, the Chicago Police Department reports 921 murders during 1991, 940 during 1992. 850 during 2993, and 930 during 1994. These excessively high murder numbers all occurred while Chicago’s ban on handgun ownership was in place. Viewed in this light, the 762 murders CNN reported for 2016 were a far cry from some of the murder numbers witnessed while Chicago’s most “stringent gun controls” were in effect. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.

A newly developed MRI scan allows parents to see detailed images of the beating heart of even a unborn baby, as well as clear pictures of the baby stretching its legs and even swallowing in the womb. [The new scan, developed by a team of medical researchers, could replace the somewhat grainy ultrasound images parents are more accustomed to viewing during pregnancy. UK video parenting site ChannelMum is sharing the video, created by the iFind project, which shows an MRI scan of a baby at 20 weeks. Cathy Ranson, who edits the site, says, “Scans are amazing as they help mums, dads and even other family members bond with their baby. ” “There is nothing quite as emotional as seeing your unborn child moving inside you, and these MRI scans are taking images to the next level,” she adds. “They are truly breathtaking. ” According to the Daily Mail, the new scan is also revving up the abortion debate in the UK once again since, with the new technology, parents and doctors can see clearly how fully formed an unborn baby is at 20 weeks. Currently, the legal abortion limit in the UK is 24 weeks. “Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has previously supported slashing the limit to 12 weeks and there have also been calls to reduce it to 20 weeks,” says the report. With a administration now in the White House in the United States, national leaders who oppose abortion are hoping to pass the Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban most abortions past the mark, into law. Dr. David Lloyd, a clinical research fellow at King’s College London who has participated in the project, says, “Taking pictures of a 20 week fetus while they’re still in the womb really isn’t that easy. ” He explains: For one thing, they’re very small. The fetal heart, for example, with all of its tiny chambers and valves, is only about 15mm long: less than the size of penny. Ultrasound technology — used in all routine antenatal scans in the UK — is actually fairly good at visualising these tiny structures. It uses very high frequency sound waves which are reflected back (‘echo’) from the structures inside the body to produce an image. The MRI scan, unlike an ultrasound, shows what is happening under the baby’s skin, so that images can be obtained even of babies who move around frequently. “In fetal ultrasound, the images produced can be excellent, but unfortunately, that’s not true for every patient,” Lloyd continues. “Ultrasound has to be able to ‘see’ through the body to the parts of the baby we want to image, and that isn’t always easy. It will depend on the age of the baby, how they are lying in the womb, the size of the mother, and many other factors. ” “MRI, which uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to produce images, isn’t so limited,” he explains. “It can see the structures inside the body regardless of whether there’s bone, muscle or fat in the way and in some cases it can give us even more detailed images than ultrasound. ” “Importantly, it is also one of the few imaging techniques that is safe to use in pregnancy,” Lloyd adds.

Now, numerous studies have concluded that milk doesn’t actually build bone and provide the same amount of calcium that we thought. A study published in the British Medical Journal , for example, followed more than 100,000 people in Sweden over periods of 20 to 30 years, with shocking results: The people who drank milk were more likely to die from heart disease and cancer. The women suffered more overall fractures and hip fractures as well. Different studies have also shown that higher dairy intake is linked to higher risks of prostate and ovarian cancer and can trigger type 1 diabetes. It is also linked to forms of acne, just to name a few effects. There is also the disturbing side of the dairy industry, where animals are abused to produce the milk we drink. A lot of dairy products are filled with the hormones that were given to female cows to keep them perpetually lactating so they produce an endless flow of milk. This doctor describes it perfectly when he says “cow’s milk is for baby calfs, just like human milk is for babies.” It is a substance we need while in crucial stages of development, but past a certain age, it becomes obsolete. While there are many alternatives to dairy milk, some are much better than others. Here are some of the better “milk” products out there. Almond Milk Raw organic almond milk is a great choice when you know where it’s coming from. As with many mass produced products, even some almond milks aren’t the best for us. An analysis of a UK almond milk brand showed that nuts make up only 2% of the drink itself. A single serving of almond milk has almost no protein. Compared with plain old almonds, it fares even worse. There is one place where almond milk comes out on top, of course: It has more potassium and more of the vitamins A and D. But almond milk is fortified with these nutrients — they’ve been added during the production process. Making almond milk yourself, however, is a fantastic option, and allows you to control exactly what goes inside it, ensuring there are no additives, preservatives, or substances you’ve never even heard of before. Rice Milk Rice milk is another good choice that works well as a dairy substitute, if you don’t mind the taste. It’s higher in carbohydrates than other milk choices and contains around the same amount of calcium as cow’s milk. Yet it contains almost no protein, so it needs to be balanced with other protein rich foods. During processing, the carbs break down into sugars and give the milk a sweet taste. It is filled with more sugar, around 10 grams for one serving, which is a lot more than something like coconut milk, which has around 3 grams. If you’re trying to have as little sugar as possible, rice milk may not be the best choice, but it’s certainly better than plain old dairy milk. Coconut Milk Coconut milk is definitely one of the healthier options here. When this milk is all natural, meaning there’s no added sugars, natural flavours, or preservatives, it is incredibly healthy for us. “ Coconuts are highly nutritious and rich in fibre, vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6 and minerals including iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous.” The things that makes coconuts so good is the type of fat they contain. They have a form of medium-chain fatty acids rather than long-chain fatty acids, which are stored in our tissue for much longer. One of the beneficial acids within coconuts is called lauric acid. This gets converted inside the body into a beneficial substance called monolaurin acid, which acts as an antiviral agent. But unlike other milks, if you have access, you can go right up to a coconut tree and drink the milk straight from the coconut without the need for processing. This is one of the most pure and fresh ways to get some milk in you! Hemp Milk Ah, hemp; one of the most versatile plants on our planet. Hemp milk has a wide range of health benefits that a lot of other milks don’t. Some companies make fully organic, non-GMO, and unsweetened hemp milk, but it’s always good to check exactly where you’re getting your products from. Hemp milk has a more bean-like and nutty flavor to it, which still tastes great in many drinks or foods. It’s also packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which help with our heart health. In a single 8-ounce glass of hemp milk you can find the following nutrients: Vitamin A

The fallout from Ryan Lochte’s story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio — a tale the Brazilian police said was not true — continued Monday when four companies said they would end business partnerships with Mr. Lochte, an American swimmer and Olympic medalist. After a week of intense international media attention and anger in Brazil, the financial repercussions were swift for Mr. Lochte as Speedo USA, the luxury clothing retailer Ralph Lauren and the mattress company Airweave all announced that they would part ways with him. And Syneron Candela, a company that sells devices, told Reuters its relationship with the swimmer ended on Sunday. Speedo USA said in a message on Twitter that it would instead donate a $50, 000 portion of Mr. Lochte’s fee to a charity to help Brazilian children. “While we have enjoyed a winning relationship with Ryan for over a decade and he has been an important member of the Speedo team, we cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for,” the company said in its statement. On Monday, Kim Angelastro, a spokeswoman for Syneron Candela, wrote in an email, “We hold our employees to high standards, and we expect the same of our business partners. ” Mr. Lochte was a spokesman for the company’s Gentle Hair Removal brand. Through a spokeswoman, Ralph Lauren said Monday that Mr. Lochte’s endorsement agreement with the clothing company had been for only the 2016 Olympics, and that his contract would not be renewed. Airweave said on Twitter that “after careful consideration, we have made the decision to end our partnership with Ryan Lochte. ” The decisions to cut ties with Mr. Lochte, 32, were the first major signs of the financial fallout for him. For the past week, he has been at the center of an international firestorm after the Brazilian police said he and three other American athletes — Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz — had fabricated the account of being robbed after a party in Rio de Janeiro. The authorities said that the swimmers had instead drunkenly vandalized a gas station bathroom, paying a security guard about $50 for the damage before leaving. Mr. Lochte originally said that the car they were traveling in had been stopped by armed men, who held a gun to his head. But his story later changed. A Brazilian judge ordered the swimmers to remain in Rio, but Mr. Lochte had already left the country. After Mr. Conger and Mr. Bentz were pulled from their flight to the United States, they told the police that the confrontation began when Lochte pulled a poster off a gas station wall. Mr. Feigen, 26, later donated $10, 800 to a charity in Rio that teaches martial arts to poor children. Mr. Lochte first issued an apology on social media — “I should have been much more responsible for how I handled myself,” he wrote — then told Matt Lauer in an interview on NBC that he had been intoxicated and that he had “overexaggerated that story. ” He has maintained that he was held at gunpoint. “All we know is that there was a gun pointed in our direction, and we were demanded to give money,” Mr. Lochte said. Mr. Lochte, whose boyish and sometimes oafish personality had made him a commercial success in Olympics past, had headed into Rio with fewer sponsors than he’d had at the London Games, according to a report by CNN Money. Mr. Lochte took home a gold medal in the freestyle relay in Rio.

Can I have one girlfriend without you bastards f**king it up? asks Harry 08-11-16 PRINCE Harry has asked the world’s media if he could just have one relationship that is not immediately ruined by bastard journalists. The prince has released a letter to the media asking if they could just one time not steam straight into a new girlfriend’s life and bollocks it all up. He continued: “Seriously you fuckers, the prince thing only gets you so far when she’s getting a hundred texts her day about her mum being followed by stubbly, fag-scented photographers. “And I do not need every newspaper in Britain muttering words like ‘Compton’ and ‘ghetto’ like a horrendously prejudiced grandparent. Especially as I already have a horrendously prejudiced grandparent. “Stop saying I could do better. You might think so, but by any realistic measure she’s already way out of my league, okay?” Following the letter, newspapers agreed that what would be lovely is getting out the family album to show this new girl photos of Harry dressed as a Nazi. Share:

A group of attorneys, scholars, and advocates put their names to a letter sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday, urging him to take a serious look at reform as he works with the President to select a new Assistant Attorney General for his Civil Rights Division. [“During the Obama administration, the Division served purely ideological ends with rigidity unmatched in other federal offices. Entrenched federal bureaucrats jettisoned precepts like equal enforcement in favor of political and racialized dogmas with a zeal that risks litigation failure and invites court sanctions,” the letter states. Signed by such conservative heavyweights as Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the letter paints a picture of a Division ripe for sweeping reform after eight years under Obama during which “The Civil Rights Division has relegated its leadership role to political activists. ” Hiring practices for the career staff of the Division is one of the letter’s chief concerns. While Tom Perez, now head of the Democratic National Committee, was the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the Division was the subject of an Inspector General’s review that found the Obama Justice Department’s insistence that have a “demonstrated commitment to civil rights” led to a perception only activists need apply. “In this case, perception and reality were synonymous,” the letter insists, noting instances in which Division employees leaked confidential information to civil rights groups, and Perez’s subsequent refusal to implement any of the report’s hiring recommendations. Also among the letter’s complaints is the alleged culture of politically motivated bullying that was fostered during the Obama years. The same Inspector General’s Report found a pattern of personal attacks against, for example, employees who were “openly Christian. ” J. Christian Adams, President of the Public Interest Legal Foundation and a signatory of the letter, added, “For years, a radicalized Civil Rights Division advanced leftists causes with respect to voting, law enforcement, immigration, and others while constitutional Rule of Law was considered a nuisance. General Sessions has an opportunity to begin the course correction necessary to protect all Americans from civil rights abuses. ” In picking a new head for the Civil Rights Division, the letter’s signatories hope Attorney General Sessions will look for a reformer prepared to return to civil rights enforcement and tackle the Division’s entrenched cultural problems. “The next AAG certainly cannot be a proponent of the status quo by any means,” they say.

By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on November 2, 2016 Understanding Lebanon and the political realignment there critical to US understanding of the region...and to our future with Israel Lebanon has a new president. The political development puts an end to over two years of power vacuum in the country. On Monday, lawmakers voted to pick General Michel Aoun as Lebanon’s 13th president. The election is seen as a victory for the resistance movement Hezbollah, especially after Saad Hariri, the leader of the March 14 Alliance and a close ally of Saudi Arabia, voiced his support for Aoun. On this edition of ‘The Debate,’ Press TV has asked two analysts why they believe Hariri threw his weight behind Aoun. Nabil Mikhail, a professor at The George Washington University, praised Hariri’s measure, adding that with this decision, he actually wanted to bring stability back to Lebanon and thus avoid Syria’s spillover effects. Hariri is a shrewd politician who represents an important segment of the Lebanese society, Mikhail said, adding that by his vote for General Aoun, he aimed to take the country out of the current political deadlock and, ultimately, save it from the repercussions of the Syrian war. Mikhail believes that the United States’ shrinking power in the Middle East has forced Hariri to face away from Washington. “I believe that Saad Hariri could have been motivated, along with others, about a vision that America’s role in the Middle East is receding. So, perhaps Russia is the new reality in the Middle East, is a new power. So, anything that is somehow close to Russia will be better for Lebanon,” Mikhail argued. Mikhail said that “so many things have transpired inside Lebanon and inside the Arab region within this year. I would assume that the Syrian civil war and its severity and brutality has convinced him that he can maintain good ties with the [Persian] Gulf states but at the same time study the strategic realities.” “He (Hariri) sees that Syria has to be stable in order for Lebanon to be stable. So, he is making calculations. I hope none of them is a miscalculation because the area cannot afford any other catastrophe. So, he displayed again very well maintaining some sort of balance between his Syrian interests and [Persian] Gulf interests and perhaps he can formulate some equilibrium about this.” The image grab shows Gordon Duff (L), a senior editor of Veterans Today based in Ohio, and Nabil Mikhail, a professor at The George Washington University, at Press TV’s ‘The Debate’ show on Monday night. Meanwhile, the other guest on the show, Gordon Duff, the editor of Veterans Today , noted that, in his view, the reason behind Hezbollah’s victory in Michel Aoun’s election is the movement’s victories in Syria, especially in Aleppo, which has made it more powerful than ever and has paved the way for domestic victories. “If Aleppo falls, and Aleppo will fall, it’s only a matter of how long, a victorious and highly-disciplined, highly-trained Hezbollah force, [which is] heavily trained by Russia and by Iran, is going to return to Lebanon. It’s a very different force and I believe Hariri is looking at this. Reaching out for what should be a very different Hezbollah could lead to stabilization of the political process in Lebanon that has been out of control,” Duff reiterated. Related Posts:

“The public’s voice will be heard,” Poland’s president declared, as he vowed a referendum on the European Union’s (EU) migrant quota amidst growing pressure from Brussels. [Describing the question of whether Poland should be forced to accept a quota of migrants from the third world as “of vital importance” for its future security, Andrzej Duda said the referendum could be held during parliamentary elections in 2019. “That would allow the new government to hear the clear voice of the nation on the issue,” said the president. The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government’s position on the quota system is “clear and unambiguous” Duda said. He said maintaining the party “does not agree with the [plan] and asserted that “Poland does not consent to the forced relocation of refugees on our territory”. Holding a referendum will also enable the public’s voice to be heard over the voices of international organisations, Duda asserted. “If Brussels continues to raise [the issue of migration] attempting to exert pressure and force on the Polish authorities, then public opinion will be extremely important,” Duda promised. Poland’s latest display of opposition to the redistribution plan comes as the Czech Republic announced its withdrawal from the scheme, which has been fiercely contested in Central and Eastern Europe, with Hungary and Slovakia challenging the plans in court. In an interview with Czech tabloid Blesk published Tuesday, EU president Juncker demanded all nations in Europe shoulder “solidarity and responsibility” when it comes to migration. Brussels was left humiliated last year when Hungarians were asked what they thought of EU plans to force on their nation migrants from the third world, as 95 per cent said they rejected the scheme. Earlier this month, Breitbart London reported that senior Polish MEP Ryszard Czarnecki announced the “only proven method” to avoid Islamist terror attacks is not to import Muslim migrants. “When it comes to reducing the chances of Poland being hit by [Islamist] terror attacks, the only proven method is to not allow in Muslim migrants,” the MEP told local radio after the London Bridge terror attack, which killed eight and injured at least 48 others.

0 0 With humanity’s awakening continuing to speed up as every day passes, we see more and more people desiring information to help them better themselves. Whether that is done through eating healthier foods, beginning a yoga or meditation practice, or whether it is done by being more mindful with the words they choose to use when having an inner dialogue or a conversation with friends and family, more people are looking for information to help them transform their lives in a positive way. While there are many methods to improving one’s life, below are some methods that can help a person spark an inner revolution to create positive and uplifting change in his or her world. Grounding/Earthing Grounding, or what is also called Earthing is when a person has bare skin touching the Earth or a tree and is most commonly done by standing on the Earth with one’s bare feet. Doing this begins to balance the electrochemical state of the body because of the negative ions the Earth emits. Negative ions act as antioxidants (free-radical scavengers) by pairing up with the free radicals and rendering them neutral. Thus, pain, inflammation and anything out of balance begins to move towards balance, or homeostasis. There have been several studies that have shown how grounding helps with pain reduction, wounding healing, balancing of the circadian rhythm to help improve sleep, as well as helping to shift a person’s brainwaves to the alpha state, which is great for a calm and balanced, yet alert and fully awake state of mind. Standing barefoot on the Earth, sand, dirt or concrete (not asphalt) will allow the free flow of negative ions to come in contact with the sensory neurons on the skin and begin to trigger positive physiological and psychological changes within the body. Taking it a bit further, if a person is able to connect with the Earth in a quiet place, the benefits could be even more as Dr. Joe Dispenza has said , “In clinical studies, we have proven that 2 hours of nature sounds a day significantly reduce stress hormones up to 800% and activates 500-600 DNA segments known to be responsible for healing and repairing the body.” Burning Sage In a 2007 study from the Journal of Ethnopharmacology , researchers found that medicinal smoke killed harmful airborne bacteria by up to 94% in just one hour. On a more spiritual level, burning sage has long been used to clear negative or disharmonious energies from a space. This can be done when a person comes home from work or school for that day, as burning sage can be a good way to clear any discordant energy the person may have “picked up” or had “taken on” from other people or their environment. It is used to clear away such energy so that a person can be centered in who he or she is, rather than having to deal with issues that might have been taken on from others. I personally do this each time after coming home from getting groceries or running and errand. Essential Oils The two best ways to use essential oils are to smell them as well as apply them to the skin. While applying essential oils to the skin has many of it’s own benefits, smelling them also creates wonderful responses in the body, and especially the brain. According to the University of Minnesota , smelling essential oils’ molecules affect the olfactory organs, the lungs (and thus the respiratory system) as well as the brain. Odor molecules travel through the nose and positively affect the limbic system of the brain, which is sometimes called the “emotional part of the brain.” To this end, the limbic system controls heart rate, mood, blood pressure, memory, breathing, stress hormone response and overall stress levels. Applying or smelling essential oils throughout the day is a wonderful way to develop emotional intelligence and can help a person respond to stressful situations in a more positive way than before. Smelling essential oils can be personally described as an uplifting and heavenly experience; one that allows us to smell the cosmic byproduct of thousands of flowers pressed into a wonderful gift for humanity. Breathing Exercises Breathing exercises, which can also be considered a form of meditation, can have profound effects on the body and mind. According to Deepok Chopra , a regular practice of rhythmic deep breathing has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, stabilize blood pressure, increase energy levels and decrease feelings of stress. Over time, a breathing or meditation practice can lead to wonderful internal shifts both physically and emotionally. Incorporating a deep breathing practice into the practice of grounding or Earthing is a great way to accomplish both practices at once. Here is an article of three sample breathing exercises from Dr. Andrew Weil. While there are many other practices a person can use to help catalyze deeper inner growth, such as flower essence therapy (different from essential oils), nature walking, sun-bathing and the use of certain health supplements like fulvic acid and Reishi , this list is a guide that may help those who may just be starting to experience an internal transformation. These four simple practices can be easy to incorporate into one’s life and is recommended to experiment with what feels best for that person. What of these practices do you use in your life? What other practices do you use to help you continue your inner revolution? Share with us your practices or suggestions you have in the comments section. Cheers to our health! Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science-Health Coaching and offers health coaching services through his website Orgonlight Health. You can follow the Orgonlight Health Facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, your friend or family member as well as view other inspiring articles.

A new study found that 52% of roadside accidents involved drivers distracted by their phones. [Apparently, being in sole control of one of the aluminum shells hurtling at high speed on America’s roads isn’t enough to hold drivers’ attention. Traffic deaths have jumped by 14% since 2014, according to Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which conducted the study. The research firm found that 52% of accidents involved drivers who were distracted by their phones. phone use while driving laws have done little to curb the habits of its citizens. Only fourteen states have banned handheld use of phones while driving, and only twenty prohibit phone use by school bus drivers a single state bans bus drivers from texting. But Cambridge Mobile Telematics’ Chief Technology Officer, Hari Balakrishnan, has hope: Distracted driving due to smartphone use is intuitively blamed for the increase in road crashes and claims. What’s less intuitive is that smartphones hold the solution to the problem they created. Drivers now have access to tools that analyze their driving and achieve real behavioral change through immediate and ongoing feedback. Balakrishnan called distracted driving “one of the most urgent public safety problems facing our communities today” and stressed the importance of taking a “critical look at how we can most effectively reduce the danger that drivers face. ” CMT is working to do their part. Their DriveWell app both monitors drivers and encourages safer driving habits. The site claims that “users see an average reduction of 35% in phone distraction, 20% in hard braking, and 20% in speeding all within less than 30 days of using the program. ” Their goals are best summed up by Balakrishnan himself: “By harnessing the very technology that threatens driver safety, and using it to help drivers understand and improve their behavior, we’re making the world safer by the day. ” Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both.

Sounds like he has our president pegged. What a shame, Obama's ineptness pushed our strategic partner in that area away with the idiotic pushing of PC policies. Duterte has a huge drug problem that is ruining his country and there is only one way to set it back on course. Yes, it's ugly and people get hurt, but cleaning the drugs out is always a hard thing to do and it must be done in order to bring about a civil society again. They should have just left him alone and not tried to tell him how to run his country. I can't believe the complete ignoramuses we have running this country. Maybe Trump can fix this screw up but it's a slim hope even for someone as able as Trump.

The Trump Election Will Spark More Individual & Collective Healing Nov 9, 2016 1 0 This article will not be a pro-Trump or a pro-Hillary piece. It will have little to do with politics and more to do with a much bigger picture. As everyone knows, many people are celebrating the Trump victory and many people are mourning it. What is needed right now is a wider perspective at what is occurring. Donald Trump will become the next U.S. President. With Donald Trump set to take over the Oval Office in late January of 2017, there are many unknowns, just as it would be if Hillary would have won. What is going to happen with health insurance? What is going to happen with immigration laws? What is going to happen with foreign policy in relation to other nations? More importantly, what is going to happen to us as individuals and humanity as a whole? Individual Healing While these questions need to be asked and will in time be answered, we must remember that we cannot give up our personal power to shape our individual lives. Right now, many people are worried and many people are thrilled. Regardless of our feelings on this election, we must remember that we alone are responsible for our individual lives as we make countless choices each day. How will I choose to treat others today? How will I choose to treat myself today? Am I taking care of my physical body well by eating well and exercising enough? Am I ensuring to get enough sleep throughout the week? What is it I can do today to become a better person? By either believing that one person is going to save or change your entire life or by believing that one person is going to ruin your entire life gives away your own personal power. The great philosopher Epictetus once said , “It is not what happens to you, it is how you respond.” We always have a choice in our response to any situation. By either being saddened or thrilled at the perception that one man is going to either ruin or save your life is extremely dis-empowering. Though each person has every right to feel how they want, it must be remembered where true power comes from: within . Every person has the choice how they wish to respond to this election. Are you going to wither away in frustration, anger and despair or are you going to make choices that help you to become the best person you can be? On the opposite side, are you going to sit back and believe your personal challenges are going to be fixed with a new president or are you also going to take action to become the best person you can be? Regardless of who you did or didn’t support, we all need to reclaim our personal power and continue the trek towards bettering and healing ourselves, even if it is in the smallest of ways. Collective Healing On a wider scale, this election will give us the collective choice to where we wish to travel. Do we wish to seek peace with other people and other countries? Do we wish to have dialogue with nations previous administrations demonized? Do we wish to communicate with and try to understand other people’s viewpoints or are we going to remain closed off to such opportunities for personal and collective healing and growth? Additionally, are we going to continue to allow group-think to dominate our society by letting the media tell us what to believe, or are we going to begin gathering information from several sources to arrive at our own conclusions? Are we going to question our leaders more and demand answers that are truthful and unbiased towards any specific agenda? Will we do this both on a local and mass level? Are we going to work towards cooperation or continue to live in a dying paradigm of competition? As physicist and author Gregg Braden says , “A growing body of scientific evidence, gathered from more than 400 peer-reviewed studies, is leading to an undeniable truth: violent competition and war directly contradict our deepest instincts of cooperation and nurturing. Scientific studies show conclusively that nature is based upon a model of cooperation and mutual aid, not violent competition and war. We live in a world where everything is connected. We can no longer think in terms of us and them when it comes to the consequences of the way we live. Today it’s all about WE .” Science has disproved Darwin’s theory and shows us we must act in unison to transcend our collective challenges. I see this election as many other do: a massive turning point in our world’s evolution. I personally have full trust that we will look back at this time and see this as a positive, yet challenging event in that it empowered more people to begin taking action to create the kind of world they wish to live in. This turning point is allowing us all to shift our perception of the world and to initiate action towards creating a more peaceful, happy and abundant world for all. Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science and practices health coaching through his website Orgonlight Health . You can follow the Orgonlight Health facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, a family member or a friend as well as view other inspiring articles.

Click Here To Learn More About Alexandra's Personalized Essences Psychic Protection Click Here for More Information on Psychic Protection! Implant Removal Series Click here to listen to the IRP and SA/DNA Process Read The Testimonials Click Here To Read What Others Are Experiencing! Copyright © 2012 by Galactic Connection. All Rights Reserved. Excerpts may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alexandra Meadors and www.galacticconnection.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this website without express and written permission from its author and owner is strictly prohibited. Thank you. Privacy Policy By subscribing to GalacticConnection.com you acknowledge that your name and e-mail address will be added to our database. As with all other personal information, only working affiliates of GalacticConnection.com have access to this data. We do not give GalacticConnection.com addresses to outside companies, nor will we ever rent or sell your email address. Any e-mail you send to GalacticConnection.com is completely confidential. Therefore, we will not add your name to our e-mail list without your permission. Continue reading... Galactic Connection 2016 | Design & Development by AA at Superluminal Systems Sign Up forOur Newsletter Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates, interviews, discounts, and more. Join Us!

1 Shares 1 0 0 0 Book Review – Dr. Rafiq Islam, Emertec R&D Ltd; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia Book title: True Islam, Jihad, and Terrorism: The Science of Islamic Foreign Policy – Jaan S. Islam Publisher: New York: Nova Science Publishers ISBN 978-1-63485-542-6. At a time of politics of fear, Jaan Islam counters fear with knowledge in his masterpiece, True Islam, Jihad and Terrorism (Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2016). During the 2016 US election, it has become clear world peace and security is connected to the state of Islam and how it is understood in today’s context. This is a very timely book that fills a gap in the western society about Islamic history, philosophy, and political science. This book presents the Islamic political philosophy as represented in the writings of great Muslim thinkers and scholars such as Ibn Khaldun. Jaan Islam uses the so-called ‘Islamic cognition technique’ and starts the book with a chapter dedicated to Islamic cognition. This chapter on cognition itself is a paradigm shift in the modern research scholarship and can be considered for advancing knowledge in other fields. Such an extension was first pointed by Islam, Zatzman and Islam (2013) in their ground-breaking work on educational curriculum. MORE... Stop using millenary religions as a scapegoat for the crimes of Modern Imperialism Another Ramadan for Muslims amid sufferings A conversation on equality, integration and Islam as a religious marker An open letter to young Muslims everywhere: The seed of triumph in every adversity Following the tradition of early Islamic scholars, Jaan Islam presented all theories in the book with evidence from the primary Islamic sources, Qur'an and authenticated traditions of the prophet . These sources were completely ignored in the in the Orientalist (now it has morphed into neo-Orientalism) writings, which led to the inundation of the post 9/11 world with disinformation and agenda-driven ‘research’ about Islamic history. The distinction between this book and these agenda-driven ones gives the book a special value. Although the book explains the Islamic foundations of political science and governance, it should not be looked at as a book of theology. It is a dogma-free approach that has been characterized as truly scientific elsewhere . Quite appropriately, the author starts off with a brilliant narration of Islamic cognition. It has been all but forgotten in the west that Islam is the religion that started the tradition of dogma-free, truly scientific cognition. The west does recognize Averröes, the famous Islamic scholar as the father of secular philosophy, whereas brands Islam as just another religion, similar to Christianity, infected with doctrinal philosophy. It is no surprise that with that starting point, Islam remains the most misunderstood religion in the west. Chapter 3 of the book deals with fundamental philosophies of three major philosophers, namely Hobbes, Locke and Ibn Khaldun. In this chapter, the author debunks another myth, that is Ibn Khaldun’s political theory is somehow similar to those of Hobbes and Locke. Ibn Khaldun, the father of social science, indeed had a very different starting point in his cognition. The author points out how Ibn Khaldun’s first premise was Shahadah that formed the basis of the cognition axis by using Qur’an as the origin and prophet Muhammad’s life (through the book of Hadith) as the pivotal point. One the other hand, Locke had placed himself as the pivotal point, whereas Hobbes eliminated any cognition point. The author makes it clear that both Hobbes’ and Locke’s cognition tools are just as illogical as dogmatic cognition. In my researched opinion, this accurate distinction has not been made by any other author on the topic. It is because the eastern authors do not know about Hobbes and Locke and the western authors do not know about Islamic cognition that was obviously alive and well with Ibn Khaldun. In Chapter 4, the author uses the case laws of the prophet and his four rightly guided caliphs (known as Rashedun Caliphs). Clearly, the author’s intention is to understand how the prophet and his closest followers went to war or which verses of the Qur’an they were enacting. For the first time anyone took this approach and not surprisingly, the author comes up with four rigid criteria from the Qur’an. No other author to the best of my knowledge connected them to specific wars that the prophet and his companions engaged in. This finding helps the author establish jus ad bellum that can explain every war that shaped the foundation of the young Islamic state of the time. Similar to Chapter 4, the author discovers jus ad bello in Islamic jurisprudence in Chapter 5. Once again, the case laws are presented and analyzed in such a manner, one can take any new example and evaluate it to call it permissible or not. The theoretical basis for critiquing any modern warfare is set in this chapter. In Chapter 6, the author addresses a difficult topic. When is it allowed or even mandatory to rebel against a head of state? It is often stated that Islam is a complete code of life. The author makes it clear that Islam didn’t leave anything to imagination and has left a strict criterion and modus operandi for any imaginable crisis that can occur at any time. The important question arises as to when a head of state that once claimed to have divine authority can be removed or when a head of state can be declared unfit and it becomes mandatory for the citizens to remove him or wage war if necessary. This is not an easy topic to cover even in today’s world. The author covers it with dexterity from an epoch he considers as exemplary. The history is not pretty and there is room for controversy as often the history is written by the victor and clearly after the demise of the rightly guided Caliphate, the victors were no longer rightly guided. The author weaves through this difficult process and makes it clear for the readership. This chapter can be an eye opener even for a student of Islam that has spent lifetime on the topic. Often when Islamic criteria are discussed, eyes roll and eye brows furrow in disbelief. If it is all that simple, why don’t Islamic scholars have consensus? The author handles this topic like a pro. In Chapter 7, he analyzes current Islamic scholars and deconstructs their thought process. He has kind words for some but has nothing but scorn for the self-righteous, apologist ‘scholars’ that have done great disservice to Islam and/or scientific cognition process. One doesn’t have to be personal, but the writing is so clear, one can hardly afford to not get angry at certain genre of scholars. To anyone’s surprise, this list is not made out of anti-Islamic non-Muslim scholars. Chapter 8 is where proof of the pudding appears. The author analyzes every major event of today’s political arena and analyzes it with the Islamic criteria of both jus ad bello and jus ad bellum. The author comes up with an index to rank various countries and groups. Most interesting is the discussion on current US allies, such as Saudi Arabia, and how they rank among the biggest offenders of Islam and Islamic laws. This is not a topic for the faint of heart but the author did an excellent job making it easily readable, punctuated with numerous riveting arguments. Chapter 9 is the conclusion and recommendation. I have studied Islam for some 30 years and yet I found these conclusions novel and entirely logical. I doubt anyone would agree with the conclusions unless of course that person reads the entire book prior to reading the conclusion. It is important to read the book in sequence. Chapter 10 lists the bibliography and references. It is many pages long and is quite comprehensive. Chapter 11 is the Appendix that lists the letters of the prophet. It is a great idea to give the letters in original Arabic, so there is no room for misinterpretation, let alone disinformation. Anyone with knowledge of Islam knows that Jihad is in the core of Islam and this book shows it is so and there needs to be no apology. Quite interestingly, the author even depicts Jihad as the roof of Islam. Without the roof, the Fort of Islam has no protection whatsoever. This depiction captures the essence of protection, security, as well as integrity and puts away the notion of Jihad being a weapon for Crusade like aggression. This book belongs to the desk of any researcher interested in knowing about Islam or what Islam can do to bring about peace on earth in order to live out the true meaning of the word, Islam that means peace through submission to the creator. This book is equally useful for anyone interested in pursuit of peace and harmony that is truly elusive in today’s world. In this sense, this book is a manual for world governance in peace.

If Donald Trump Wins The Election, It Will Be The Biggest Miracle In US Political History Posted on Home » Headlines » World News » If Donald Trump Wins The Election, It Will Be The Biggest Miracle In US Political History Are we about to see the largest election day miracle of all time? From Michael Snyder : Because as I will show in this article, that is precisely what it is going to take in order for Donald Trump to win. Before I go any further, I want to make it exceedingly clear that I am not saying what the outcome will be on November 8th. As I recently told a national television audience, I do not know who is going to win. In this article I am simply going to examine the poll numbers and the electoral map as they currently stand. But in this bizarre election things can literally change overnight, and it is entirely possible that we could still have another “October surprise” or two before it is all said and done. And without a doubt Donald Trump desperately needs something “to move the needle”, because if the election was held today Hillary Clinton would almost certainly win. What we have witnessed so far during the 2016 election season has been absolutely unprecedented. Just consider some of the things that we have seen up to this point in time. We have never had a bigger “October surprise” than the release of the lewd audio tape from 11 years ago in which Donald Trump claimed to grope women without their consent. We have never seen the mainstream media openly attack a presidential candidate as much as they have attacked Donald Trump. In the past, the big mainstream news outlets at least pretended to be fair and balanced, but this year they have completely discarded all notions of objectivity. They should be completely and utterly ashamed of themselves, and no matter who wins the election they will never be able to get their integrity back. We have also never seen a major party at war with itself this close to a presidential election. It has been said that a house divided against itself will surely fall, and a whole host of prominent Republican leaders have been openly attempting to sabotage the Trump campaign. If Donald Trump is able to overcome all of these factors, it truly will be a miracle of Biblical proportions. As it stands at the moment, however, the numbers are looking quite ominous for Trump. Right now, the Real Clear Politics average of national polls has Hillary Clinton ahead by 6.2 percent. Most political experts consider that to be an insurmountable lead at this stage in the game. But even if Trump can close that gap and pull ahead, that does not mean that he will win the election. In fact, Trump could beat Clinton by millions of votes nationally and still lose. In order to win the election, one candidate has got to get to 270 electoral votes. And on the latest Real Clear Politics electoral map, 262 electoral votes are being projected to go to Hillary Clinton, 164 electoral votes are being projected to go to Donald Trump, and 112 electoral votes are in the “toss up” category. So unless something dramatically changes, Donald Trump is essentially going to have to run the table in all of the closely contested states in order to win, and the mathematical odds of that happening are extremely slim. Let’s take a closer look at this. The first thing that Donald Trump is going to have to do in order to get to 270 electoral votes is to win all of the states that Mitt Romney won in 2012. That would get him up to 206 electoral votes. Unfortunately, it looks like that may be very difficult to do. Romney won North Carolina, but the six most recent polls all have Clinton ahead in that state. Romney also won Arizona, but the most recent poll to be taken there has Clinton ahead by five points. But for a moment, let’s assume that Trump can win all of the states that Romney won. On top of that, there are four other states that Trump must win… #1 Trump must win Florida’s 29 electoral votes. Without Florida, Trump has no realistic path to 270 electoral votes. So on election night if it is announced that Trump has lost Florida, you might as well turn off your television and go to bed because Trump is going to lose the election. Unfortunately for Trump, four recent major surveys all show Trump down by four points in the Sunshine state. #2 Trump must win Ohio’s 18 electoral votes. No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio, and the two most recent major surveys show that Trump and Clinton are tied in the state. #3 Trump must win Iowa’s 6 electoral votes. Fortunately for Trump, most recent surveys show him actually leading in Iowa. #4 Trump must win Nevada’s 6 electoral votes. At this point that is looking like it will be very tough to do, because all of the recent polls have Clinton leading in Nevada, including the most recent one that has her up by 7 points. If Donald Trump can win those four states, that still does not get him to 270 electoral votes. Instead, it gets him to 265 electoral votes, and so he would still need one more medium-sized state to win. The most likely candidates for that last state are Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin or Minnesota. Unfortunately for Trump, Clinton appears to have big leads in all four of those states right at this moment. But even if Trump can somehow pull off a miracle and squeak past the 270 electoral vote mark, the truth is that Utah could still mess everything up. Do you remember Evan McMullin? He was the third party “conservative alternative” candidate that was hyped for a couple of days but that seemingly fell off the map afterwards. He is only on the ballot in 12 states, but one of those states is Utah, and it turns out that Evan McMullin is a Mormon. Many Mormons believe that a Mormon will be elected president someday when the U.S. Constitution hangs “like a thread“. According to this belief, this Mormon president will turn the country around and all sorts of wonderful things will start to happen. Many Mormons thought that Mitt Romney was going to be this president, but now Evan McMullin has become the target of these expectations. So how in the world could Evan McMullin become president? Well, their plan is to have Evan McMullin win Utah, and that could potentially keep both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton from both getting to 270 electoral votes if the election is super close. If that happens, the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives. It is being projected that the House will still be controlled by the Republicans after this election, and so the choice would come down to either Trump or McMullin, and those backing McMullin believe that he would have a realistic shot in that scenario. I know all of this sounds very strange, but this is actually being discussed around family dinner tables all over Utah tonight. And in recent days Evan McMullin has been soaring in Utah. One recent survey shows Trump with a one point lead over McMullin, and another recent survey actually show McMullin leading Trump by four points in the state. So Trump could pull off a miracle and do everything else that he needs to do to get to 270 electoral votes, and Utah could end up messing up everything for him. In addition, it is also very important to keep in mind that Trump could actually get all of the legitimate votes that he needs to win and still have it stolen from him by election fraud. There was widespread evidence of “funny business” in 2012, and this is something that I detailed for a live studio audience down at Morningsideearlier this month… Are you starting to see why I would consider this to be the biggest miracle in American political history if Donald Trump actually overcomes all of these factors and wins the election? And we don’t have to wait until November 8th to get some indications about how the vote is going to go. Early voting is already taking place is some states, and so far the signs are not encouraging for the Trump campaign. The following comes from CNN… Democratic early turnout has stayed steady in North Carolina compared to 2012, while Republicans have dropped by about 14,500. In Nevada, Democrats have a smaller early voting deficit today than they did at this point in 2012. And Democrats are slightly ahead in Arizona in the early vote so far, though they are lagging Republicans in the tally of how many Arizonans have requested ballots. Perhaps most surprisingly, Democrats improved their position in conservative and Mormon-heavy Utah, where recent polls have shown a tight race. At this point in 2012, Republicans led Democrats in early voting by more than 22,000 voters. But so far this year, the GOP advantage is only 3,509. But if you do want Trump to win, the good news is that we still have more than two weeks before November 8th. We have seen some extremely bizarre things happen already in this election, and a miracle is definitely not out of the question. In fact, I am of the opinion that it is quite likely that some very strange events could take place between now and early November. So hold on to your hats, because the most interesting portion of the 2016 election may still be ahead of us.

Editors’ note: We’re resurfacing this 2012 article for Smarter Living. Now sit down, take a deep breath and really savor that Christmas cookie. TRY this: place a forkful of food in your mouth. It doesn’t matter what the food is, but make it something you love — let’s say it’s that first nibble from three hot, fragrant, perfectly cooked ravioli. Now comes the hard part. Put the fork down. This could be a lot more challenging than you imagine, because that first bite was very good and another immediately beckons. You’re hungry. Today’s experiment in eating, however, involves becoming aware of that reflexive urge to plow through your meal like Cookie Monster on a shortbread bender. Resist it. Leave the fork on the table. Chew slowly. Stop talking. Tune in to the texture of the pasta, the flavor of the cheese, the bright color of the sauce in the bowl, the aroma of the rising steam. Continue this way throughout the course of a meal, and you’ll experience the pleasures and frustrations of a practice known as mindful eating. The concept has roots in Buddhist teachings. Just as there are forms of meditation that involve sitting, breathing, standing and walking, many Buddhist teachers encourage their students to meditate with food, expanding consciousness by paying close attention to the sensation and purpose of each morsel. In one common exercise, a student is given three raisins, or a tangerine, to spend 10 or 20 minutes gazing at, musing on, holding and patiently masticating. Lately, though, such experiments of the mouth and mind have begun to seep into a secular arena, from the Harvard School of Public Health to the California campus of Google. In the eyes of some experts, what seems like the simplest of acts — eating slowly and genuinely relishing each bite — could be the remedy for a Paula Deen Nation in which an endless parade of new diets never seems to slow a stampede toward obesity. Mindful eating is not a diet, or about giving up anything at all. It’s about experiencing food more intensely — especially the pleasure of it. You can eat a cheeseburger mindfully, if you wish. You might enjoy it a lot more. Or you might decide, halfway through, that your body has had enough. Or that it really needs some salad. “This is ” said Dr. Jan Chozen Bays, a pediatrician and meditation teacher in Oregon and the author of “Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food. ” “I think the fundamental problem is that we go unconscious when we eat. ” The last few years have brought a spate of books, blogs and videos about eating. A Harvard nutritionist, Dr. Lilian Cheung, has devoted herself to studying its benefits, and is passionately encouraging corporations and health care providers to try it. At the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, Prof. Brian Wansink, the author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think,” has conducted scores of experiments on the psychological factors that lead to our bottomless bingeing. A mindful lunch hour recently became part of the schedule at Google, and gurus like Oprah Winfrey and Kathy Freston have become cheerleaders for the practice. With the annual of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Super Bowl Sunday behind us, and Lent coming, it’s worth pondering whether mindful eating is something that the mainstream ought to be, well, more mindful of. Could a discipline pioneered by Buddhist monks and nuns help teach us how to get healthy, relieve stress and shed many of the neuroses that we’ve come to associate with food? Dr. Cheung is convinced that it can. Last week, she met with team members at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and asked them to spend quality time with a almond. “The rhythm of life is becoming faster and faster, so we really don’t have the same awareness and the same ability to check into ourselves,” said Dr. Cheung, who, with the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, “Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life. ” “That’s why mindful eating is becoming more important. We need to be coming back to ourselves and saying: ‘Does my body need this? Why am I eating this? Is it just because I’m so sad and stressed out?’ ” The topic has even found its way into culinary circles that tend to be more focused on Rabelaisian excess than monastic restraint. In January, Dr. Michael Finkelstein, a holistic physician who oversees SunRaven, a center in Bedford, N. Y. gave a talk about mindful gardening and eating at the headquarters of the James Beard Foundation in New York City. “The question isn’t what are the foods to eat, in my mind,” he said in an interview. “Most people have a general sense of what the healthy foods are, but they’re not eating them. What’s on your mind when you’re eating: that’s mindful eating to me. ” A good place to try it is the Blue Cliff Monastery, in Pine Bush, N. Y. a Hudson Valley hamlet. At the serene refuge about 75 miles northwest of Manhattan, curious lay people can join Buddhist brothers and sisters for a free “day of mindfulness” twice a week. At a gathering in January, visitors watched a videotaped lecture by Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced ) who founded this and other monasteries around the world they strolled methodically around the grounds as part of a walking meditation, then filed into a dining room for lunch. No one spoke, in keeping with a key principle of mindful eating. The point is simply to eat, as opposed to eating and talking, eating and watching TV, or eating and watching TV and gossiping on the phone while Tweeting and updating one’s Facebook status. A long buffet table of food awaited, all of it vegan and mindfully prepared by two monks in the kitchen. There was plenty of rice, herbed chickpeas, a soup made with cubes of taro, a stew of fried tofu in tomato sauce. In silence, people piled their plates with food, added a squirt or two of condiments (eating mindfully doesn’t mean forsaking the hot sauce) and sat down together with eyes closed during a Buddhist prayer for gratitude and moderation. What followed was captivating and mysterious. Surrounded by a murmur of clinking forks, spoons and chopsticks, the Blue Cliff congregation, or sangha, spent the lunch hour contemplating the enjoyment of spice, crunch, saltiness, warmth, tenderness and company. Some were thinking, too, about the origins of the food: the thousands of farmers, truck drivers and laborers whose work had brought it here. As their jaws moved slowly, their faces took on expressions of deep focus. Every now and then came a pause within the pause: A chime would sound, and, according to the monastery’s custom, all would stop moving and chewing in order to breathe and explore an even deeper level of sensory awareness. It looked peaceful, but inside some of those heads, a struggle was afoot. “It’s much more challenging than we would imagine,” said Carolyn Cronin, 64, who lives near the monastery and regularly attends the mindfulness days. “People are used to eating so fast. This is a practice of stopping, and we don’t realize how much we’re not stopping. ” For many people, eating fast means eating more. Mindful eating is meant to nudge us beyond what we’re craving so that we wake up to why we’re craving it and what factors might be stoking the habit of . “As we practice this regularly, we become aware that we don’t need to eat as much,” said Phap Khoi, 43, a robed monk who has been stationed at Blue Cliff since it opened in 2007. “Whereas when people just gulp down food, they can eat a lot and not feel full. ” It’s this byproduct of mindful eating — its potential as a psychological barrier to overeating — that has generated excitement among nutritionists like Dr. Cheung. “Thich Nhat Hanh often talks about our craving being like a crying baby who is trying to draw our attention,” she said. “When the baby cries, the mother cradles the baby to try to calm the baby right away. By acknowledging and embracing our cravings through a few breaths, we can stop our autopilot of reaching out to the pint of ice cream or the bag of chips. ” The average American doesn’t have the luxury of ruminating on the intense tang of sriracha sauce at a monastery. “Most of us are not going to be Buddhist monks,” said Dr. Finkelstein, the holistic physician. “What I’ve learned is that it has to work at home. ” To that end, he and others suggest that people start with a few baby steps. “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Dr. Cheung said. “You’re not supposed to be able to switch on your mindfulness button and be able to do it 100 percent. It’s a practice you keep working toward. ” Dr. Bays, the pediatrician, has recommendations that can sound like a return to the simple rhythms of Mayberry, if not “Little House on the Prairie. ” If it’s impossible to eat mindfully every day, consider planning one special repast a week. Click off the TV. Sit at the table with loved ones. “How about the first five minutes we eat, we just eat in silence and really enjoy our food?” she said. “It happens step by step. ” Sometimes, even she is too busy to contemplate a chickpea. So there are days when Dr. Bays will take three mindful sips of tea, “and then, O. K. I’ve got to go do my work,” she said. “Anybody can do that. Anywhere. ” Even scarfing down a burrito in the car offers an opportunity for insight. “Mindful eating includes mindless eating,” she said. “ ‘I am aware that I am eating and driving.’ ” Few places in America are as frantically abuzz with activity as the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. but when Thich Nhat Hanh dropped by for a day of mindfulness in September, hundreds of employees showed up. Part of the event was devoted to eating thoughtfully in silence, and the practice was so well received that an hourlong wordless vegan lunch is now a monthly observance on the Google campus. “Interestingly enough, a lot of the participants are the engineers, which pleases us very much,” said Olivia Wu, an executive chef at the company. “I think it quiets the mind. I think there is a real sense of feeling restored so that they can go back to the crazy pace that they came from. ” It’s not often, after all, that those workhorse technicians get to stop and smell the pesto. “Somebody will say, ‘I ate so much less,’ ” Ms. Wu said. “And someone else will say, ‘You know, I never noticed how spicy arugula tastes.’ ” And that could be the ingredient that helps mindful eating gain traction in mainstream American culture: flavor. “So many people now have found themselves in an adversarial relationship with food, which is very tragic,” Dr. Bays said. “Eating should be a pleasurable activity. ”

The United States system for taxing businesses is a mess. If there’s one thing nearly everyone can agree upon, it is that. The current corporate income tax manages the weird trick of both taxing companies at a higher statutory rate than other advanced countries while collecting less money, as a percentage of the overall economy, than most of them. It is infinitely complicated and it gives companies incentives to borrow too much money and move operations to countries with lower tax rates. Now, the moment for trying to fix all of that appears to have arrived. With the House, Senate and presidency all soon to be in Republican hands and with all agreeing that a major tax bill is a top priority, some kind of change appears likely to happen. And it may turn out to be a very big deal, particularly if a tax plan that House Republicans proposed last summer becomes the core of new legislation. Among Washington’s lobbying shops and policy analysis crowd, it’s known as a “ cash flow tax with border adjustment. ” It’s easier to think of it as the most substantial reworking of how businesses are taxed since the corporate income tax was introduced a century ago. And it could, if enacted, have big effects not just in the tax departments of major corporations but in global financial markets and the aisles of your local Walmart. This possible revamping of the corporate tax code is less politically polarizing than the debates sure to unfold in the months ahead over health care, or even over individual income taxes. But the consequences for business — and for the trajectory of the economy — are huge. The basic idea behind a D. B. C. F. T. (to use the abbreviation that has taken hold in a particularly nerdy corner of Twitter) is this: Right now companies are taxed based on their income generated in the United States. But there are countless tricks that corporate accountants can play to reduce the income companies report and to reduce their tax burden, and those tricks distort the economy. Two prime examples are transferring intellectual property to overseas holding companies and engaging in corporate inversions that move a company’s legal headquarters to a country with lower taxes. Moreover, because interest payments on debt are the current system makes it appealing to take on as much debt as possible, even though that can increase the risk of bankruptcy when a downturn comes along. The House Republicans’ approach, instead of taxing the corporate income, goes after a firm’s domestic cash flow: money that comes in from sales within the United States borders minus money that goes out to pay employees and buy supplies and so forth. There’s no incentive to play games with overseas companies that exist only to exploit tax differences or to relocate production to countries with lower taxes because you’ll be taxed on things you sell in the United States, regardless. “With an income tax, one of the key issues is ‘how do you measure income,’ ” said Alan Auerbach, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, who is a leading advocate of the idea. “But with cash flow you just follow the money. ” And the tax, Mr. Auerbach argues, could spur business investment while not encouraging companies to rely on debt. It allows companies to enjoy the tax savings of capital investments immediately rather than depreciating them over time. And it doesn’t give favorable treatment to debt, as opposed to equity. That alone would amount to a major shift in the tax system. Congressional staff members, the incoming administration and armies of lobbyists will spend countless hours hammering out the details of any such proposal: how it might be phased in, and how to treat financial services, and much more. Some of the most complex, and politically problematic, elements of the plan revolve around its treatment of international trade, which creates winners and losers. And some of those potential losers are powerful. Consider what border adjustment means: When an American company exports goods under this new tax system, it would not pay any taxes on its international sales, while its imports would be taxed. So a company that spent $80 making something that it sold overseas for $100 would pay no tax on its earnings. A company that imported goods worth $80 from abroad and them sold them domestically for $100 would pay tax on the full $100. At first glance this looks as if it would boost exports and reduce the trade deficit. Indeed, it might prove politically promising for advocates of the strategy to pitch the plan as one that would do this. Many economists think it won’t work that way, however. That’s because as soon as a tax with border adjustment looks likely to become law, the value of the dollar should rise in currency markets. And that stronger dollar could eliminate the apparent effects of the tax. The dollar could rise by, say, 20 to 25 percent, and the trade balance could remain about where it started. Essentially, moving to this system means betting on a “textbook economic theory,” as analysts at Evercore ISI put it, becoming a reality even though the effect hasn’t been tested in practice. If the dollar doesn’t strengthen as expected, for example, industries, especially those with lean profit margins, could face disaster. That helps explain why some of the stiffest opposition to this tax overhaul is coming from the retail industry. Essentially, economists are telling them “trust us, our models say the currency will adjust and it will all come out in the wash,” but if the models are wrong, for companies like Walmart, Target and many others that sell large volumes of imported goods, their viability could be threatened. If the models turn out to be right, there is a different set of risks. The United States dollar is the linchpin of the global financial system, and a large move in its value triggered by changes in domestic tax policy could have unforeseen effects. Many companies worldwide, especially banks and especially in emerging markets, have debt denominated in dollars, which would become more of a burden after a new dollar appreciation. A big dollar rise would also effectively shift trillions in wealth from American investments overseas toward global investors with assets in the United States. As Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has noted, we don’t really know what the distributional consequences of this tax overhaul would be. It could increase the costs of imported goods that the poor spend a disproportionate portion of their income on, like clothing and gasoline. That would be bad news for poorer Americans even as it makes the overall economy more efficient. There’s still a lot of work to be done to understand the consequences of the D. B. C. F. T. (also, work to be done to find a catchier name). But there’s a broader point about the nature of any major policy reform. The benefits of a reworked corporate tax code would emerge slowly these disruptions and costs could arrive almost instantly. No matter the outcome, 2017 will be a fascinating year in which core components of the tax system — with economic consequences — will be up for grabs.

I wonder what GLP will be like the day after the election? Don't you? Re: I wonder what GLP will be like the day after the election? The servers will be smoking Peace is a lie, there is only passion.Through passion, I gain strength.Through strength, I gain power.Through power, I gain victory.Through victory, my chains are broken.The Force shall free me.Or something

Three pioneers in the development of nanomachines, made of moving molecules, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday. Molecular machines, the world’s smallest mechanical devices, may eventually be used to create new materials, sensors and energy storage systems, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in announcing the prize. “In terms of development, the molecular motor is at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s, when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors,” the academy said. The three scientists — Sauvage, J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa — will share equally in the prize of 8 million Swedish kronor, or about $930, 000. Nanotechnology — the creation of structures on the scale of a nanometer, or a billionth of a meter — has been a field of fruitful research for a couple of decades. Now, scientists are learning how to construct tiny moving machines about the width of a strand of human hair. “They’ve got it started,” said Donna J. Nelson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Oklahoma and president of the American Chemical Society. “This is just the beginning. ” The first step toward creating a molecular machine was making a moving part. Chemists have long been able to synthesize molecules, and they knew that interlocking rings might function as molecular parts. But how to create a second ring that passed through the first ring? Dr. Sauvage figured that out in 1983. A charged copper ion essentially acted as a pin around which to form the interlocking rings, he found. Once the rings were connected, the copper ion could be removed. These molecules became known as catenanes. The pieces of the molecule were held together mechanically, like links in a chain, rather than the usual chemical bonds. Dr. Stoddart made the next advance in 1991. Instead of two interlocking rings, Dr. Stoddart, then at the University of Birmingham in Britain, and his colleagues synthesized a rotaxane: a ring molecule wrapped around a axle. The ring slides back and forth along the dumbbell, like a bead on an abacus. Dr. Stoddart went on to construct a small computer chip that was essentially a molecular abacus, as well as other complex devices. One was composed of three rotaxanes whose rings were connected to form a larger platform that could rise 0. 7 billionths of a meter: a molecular elevator. Rotaxanes bending thin layers of gold acted like an artificial muscle, he found. As a sidelight, Dr. Sauvage and Dr. Stoddart used their techniques to create molecules that twisted in complicated knots. Dr. Stoddart said in an interview that he was inspired by the interlocking forms in Celtic art. Dr. Feringa, in 1999, became the first person to develop a molecular motor, creating a minuscule rotor blade powered by light that spun continually in the same direction. The first motor was not fast, but 15 years later, he and his research group demonstrated one that spun 12 million times per second. In 2011, they built a molecular “car. ” Four of the molecular motors acted as wheels, connected by a . The three men invigorated the field of topological chemistry, the academy said on Wednesday. They were pioneers in the second wave of nanotechnology, a field that the physicist Richard P. Feynman, also a Nobel laureate, foresaw as early as 1959. He gave a seminal lecture in 1984, toward the end of his life, on design and engineering at the molecular scale. In living organisms, nature has produced a slew of molecular machines that ferry materials around cells, construct proteins and divide cells. Artificial molecular machines are still primitive by comparison, but scientists can already envision applications in the future. “Think about nanomachines, microrobots,” said Dr. Feringa, who spoke by telephone with journalists assembled in Stockholm at the prize announcement. “Think about tiny robots that the doctor in the future will inject in your blood veins, and they go search for cancer cells or going to deliver drugs, for instance. ” The technology could also lead to the creation of “smart materials” that change properties based on external signals, Dr. Feringa said. Dr. Sauvage, 71, was born in Paris and received his Ph. D. in 1971 from the University of Strasbourg in France, where he is a professor emeritus. He is also director of research emeritus at the National Center for Scientific Research in France. Dr. Stoddart, 74, was born in Edinburgh, received his Ph. D. in 1966 from Edinburgh University, and is a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. He previously taught at U. C. L. A. and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to science. Dr. Feringa, 64, was born in the Netherlands, and received his Ph. D. in 1978 from the University of Groningen, where he is a professor of organic chemistry. Dr. Feringa said he was “a bit shocked” when he got the phone call telling him he had received the Nobel. “I feel a little bit like the Wright brothers, who were flying 100 years ago for the first time,” he said. “People were saying, ‘Why do we need a flying machine?’ And now we have a Boeing 747 and an Airbus. ” The molecular discovery “opens up a whole new world of nanomachines,” he said, while acknowledging that, as scientists figure out how to make machines that can operate autonomously, “we have to think about how we can handle these things safely. ” Dr. Stoddart’s name had been mentioned for the Nobel for years. “It really got to the point where I didn’t take it very seriously,” he said. He was asleep when the phone rang at 4 a. m. “I detected a Swedish accent, and I thought it was probably not a prank,” Dr. Stoddart said. When told that he was sharing the prize with Dr. Sauvage and Dr. Feringa, “I was totally delighted, because these are my scientific brothers in many ways,” he said. James M. Tour, a professor of chemistry at Rice University in Houston, said the Nobel would bestow legitimacy on the field and help convince people that nanomachines are not just fantastical science fiction of the far future. “No one is making money on these right now, but it will come,” he said. “These men have established and built up the field in a remarkable way. ” Dr. Tour predicted that the first profitable use of the technology might be machines that open up cell membranes in the body to deliver drugs. “It’s really going to be quite extraordinary,” he said. ■ Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for his discoveries on how cells recycle their content, a process known as autophagy, a Greek term for “ . ” ■ David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz shared the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their research into the bizarre properties of matter in extreme states. Tomas Lindahl, Paul L. Modrich and Aziz Sancar were awarded the prize last year for discovering how cells repair their DNA and protect it from the sun’s ultraviolet light, as well as from natural toxins and industrial pollutants. Three more will be awarded in the coming days. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday in Norway. The Memorial Prize in Economic Science will come on Monday, Oct. 10, in Sweden. The Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday, Oct. 13, in Sweden. Read about the winners at nytimes. .

17 mins ago 2 Views 0 Comments 0 Likes New Zealand's country's entire east coast and urged residents in low-lying areas to evacuate and seek higher ground. Waves of up to two meters (6 feet) could be possible for up to two hours, it said. Anna "That's reasonably significant so people should take this seriously," she told Radio New Zealand. New Zealand's Geonet revised up its estimated magnitude of the quake to 7.5, from 6.6 earlier. USGS Zealand's South Island. A 6.3 quake there in February 2011 killed 185 people and caused widespread damage. The "The whole house rolled like a serpent and some things smashed, the power went out," Chris Hill, a fire officer in Cheviot, a coastal town near the quake's epicenter, said officials had gone door to door evacuating residents. Learn More: https://www.yahoo.com/news/magnitude-7-4-earthquake-strikes-near-christchurch-zealand-112145924.html http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/ https://twitter.com/i/moments/797788639014989826 http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22autoUpdate%22%3A%5B%22autoUpdate%22%5D%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22feed%22%3A%221day_m25%22%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-45.736859547360474%2C-192.777099609375%5D%2C%5B-38.410558250946075%2C-175.198974609375%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%5B%22plates%22%5D%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3A%5B%22restrictListToMap%22%5D%2C%22search%22%3Anull%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22timezone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%5B%22list%22%2C%22map%22%5D%2C%22event%22%3A%22us1000778i%22%7D https://www.essentialdrugstore.com/ B Rich: https://twitter.com/Brian_T33NO https://www.youtube.com/c/BRichOfficial Erick M: https://twitter.com/letmeexplainit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcwB6XtfJtyWW4DXKoZVn5A ToBeFree: https://twitter.com/da52true https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvdTd5-p_sBE8oTjUOqPpPg EnterThe5t4rz: https://twitter.com/Enterthe5t4rz https://www.youtube.com/user/Enterthe5t4rz Save On Official DAHBOO7 Gear with Code "5off" http://dahboo7.deco-street.com http://foodforliberty.com/dahboo7/ You can also cut cable bills forever and save $75 with code "tigerstream75" https://tigerstream.tv/go/tigerstream7/

WASHINGTON — U. S. and Australian troops advising Iraqi forces got caught up in a chemical weapons attack by the Islamic State (ISIS) in western Mosul during the weekend, a U. S. general confirmed Wednesday. [The chemical agent did not affect U. S. forces and is still undergoing testing, said Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, the commander of U. S. and coalition ground forces in Iraq. “Daesh has used chemicals in the vicinity of Mosul. The chemicals have had no impact on the Iraqi Security Forces. They had no impact on our forces,” Martin said, using a derogatory Arabic acronym for ISIS. A U. S. defense official said U. S. forces donned protective gear. Australian troops were not exposed to the substance, according to an article by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Australian medics provided some Iraqi forces first aid after the attack. A U. S. defense official said those Iraqi forces have returned to duty. It is not the first time ISIS has used chemical weapons in Iraq. The U. S. military coalition confirmed in 2015 the first instances of the terrorist group using sulfur mustard and mustard gas. An assessment by IHS Conflict Monitor found in November 2015 that ISIS has used chemicals, including chlorine and sulfur mustard agents, at least 52 times in Iraq and Syria since 2014. Martin said the chemicals ISIS has used in the past are all “ ” because of the group’s lack of production capability. He said the chemicals were believed to have been delivered by indirect fire, meaning via rocket or some projectile containing the chemical agent. Martin said U. S. forces have the appropriate equipment and training to protect themselves from chemical weapons. The attack also raised the question of how closely U. S. forces are operating with Iraqi forces. Officials have said U. S. troops are not on the front lines fighting ISIS. However, Martin indicated they are close together and share the same risks. Martin said U. S. forces are with Iraqi security forces at “various command and control locations throughout Iraq. ” “Being forward with those command and control facilities, they share the same risks the Iraqis do,” he said. He added that U. S. forces are “forward with the Iraqis each and every day. ” A defense official of unknown nationality told ABC that Australian and U. S. advisers were with Iraqi forces at the time of the attack. Martin characterized ISIS as getting increasingly desperate, as Iraqi forces — backed by the U. S. military coalition — are succeeding in pushing the terrorist group out of their main stronghold in Iraq. Martin said ISIS members were turning on civilians, killing hundreds each week. “As I see it, the longer this fight goes on in west Mosul, the civilians will suffer at the hands of a brutal enemy. This is why ISIS must be defeated quickly,” he said. He said ISIS was using civilians as human shields and fighting from protected sites. “ISIS uses the tactic of taking civilians hostage for protection while they’re fighting from protected sites. ISIS has been indiscriminate in their use of [ improvised explosive devices] and building IEDs to kill, maim and injure innocent civilians as part of their ongoing campaign of terror,” he said. Martin said ISIS’s “leadership has fled and their days are numbered. ” Meanwhile, he said, Iraqi forces were getting better. “They continue to improve their capability and demonstrate a level of professionalism that makes me proud to serve with them. It’s only a matter of time before they liberate the rest of Mosul and defeat ISIS in Iraq,” he said.

Clinton Campaign STUNNED As FBI Reportedly Reopens Probe Into Hillary Clinton Emails Posted on Tweet Home » Headlines » World News » Clinton Campaign STUNNED As FBI Reportedly Reopens Probe Into Hillary Clinton Emails A SHOCKING blow to the Clinton Campaign emerged unexpectedly Friday as the FBI has reportedly REOPENED probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server as “The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.” Here we go… Yes. Exactly! He’ll own it once we vote him in there. Then he’ll pull the plug and drain it and put all those corrupt SOBs in prison. Maybe you too ; ) A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ! Drain the swamp! Reopened!??!?!??!? This monster needs to be opened, all right. I’ll leave up to the readers to come up with ways to execute that idea. How many people were there when Nixon was reelected despite the fact that the Watergate investigation was in full swing? That ended pretty badly for Tricky Dick. And Killer was on the judicial investigation group at this time. This group was lead by a Democrat and he fired Killer for lying. I don’t recall the nature of the lie but it was enough to get her fired. From Fox News Politics FBI Director James Comey wrote in a letter to top members of Congress Friday that the bureau has “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.” Comey did not detail those emails, saying only that they surfaced “in connection with an unrelated case.” He told lawmakers the investigative team briefed him on the information a day earlier, “and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.” He said the FBI could not yet assess whether the new material is significant and he could not predict how long it will take to complete “this additional work.”

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence will speak on Friday to a gathering of activists on the National Mall, a sign of the movement’s new and growing authority in a government now dominated by Republicans. The organizers for the event, the March for Life, had extended invitations to President Trump and Mr. Pence. A senior White House official confirmed that Mr. Pence would address the marchers. Mr. Pence’s appearance will come just a few days before Mr. Trump is expected to reveal his nominee for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last year. Mr. Trump has said his pick, like Mr. Scalia, would oppose abortion rights, one of several promises he has made to roll back legal protections for the procedure. Other Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, have spoken to the march, but remotely. leaders see the Trump administration’s commitment to their cause and the looming Supreme Court nomination battle as a tipping point after eight years of a Democratic administration. The symbolism of hearing from Mr. Pence and another senior Trump administration official, Kellyanne Conway, at the march is hard to overlook. Mr. Trump eventually won over many reluctant leaders who had chafed at his past support for abortion rights and his history of being a role model for religious conservatives. Mr. Trump’s pledges to them, which he made in writing before the election, have gone a long way to rebuilding trust. activists say they are among the most detailed and serious pledges a president has made to their cause. They include a vow to sign a nationwide ban on abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy and a commitment to ensuring that his Supreme Court appointments are against the procedure.

In Hillary's America, email server scrubs you Obama transfers his Nobel Peace Prize to anti-Trump rioters Democrats blame Hillary's criminal e-mail server for her loss, demand it face prison Afraid of "dangerous" Trump presidency, protesters pre-emptively burn America down to the ground Clinton Foundation in foreclosure as foreign donors demand refunds Hillary Clinton blames YouTube video for unexpected and spontaneous voter uprising that prevented her inevitable move into the White House Sudden rise in sea levels explained by disproportionately large tears shed by climate scientists in the aftermath of Trump's electoral victory FBI director Comey delighted after receiving Nobel Prize for Speed Reading (650,000 emails in one week) U.N. deploys troops to American college campuses in order to combat staggeringly low rape rates Responding to Trump's surging poll numbers, Obama preemptively pardons himself for treason Following hurricane Matthew's failure to devastate Florida, activists flock to the Sunshine State and destroy Trump signs manually Tim Kaine takes credit for interrupting hurricane Matthew while debating weather in Florida Study: Many non-voters still undecided on how they're not going to vote The Evolution of Dissent: on November 8th the nation is to decide whether dissent will stop being racist and become sexist - or it will once again be patriotic as it was for 8 years under George W. Bush Venezuela solves starvation problem by making it mandatory to buy food Breaking: the Clinton Foundation set to investigate the FBI Obama ​​captures rare Pokémon ​​while visiting Hiroshima Movie news: 'The Big Friendly Giant Government' flops at box office; audiences say "It's creepy" Barack Obama: "If I had a son, he'd look like Micah Johnson" White House edits Orlando 911 transcript to say shooter pledged allegiance to NRA and Republican Party President George Washington: 'Redcoats do not represent British Empire; King George promotes a distorted version of British colonialism' Following Obama's 'Okie-Doke' speech , stock of Okie-Doke soars; NASDAQ: 'Obama best Okie-Doke salesman' Weaponized baby formula threatens Planned Parenthood office; ACLU demands federal investigation of Gerber Experts: melting Antarctic glacier could cause sale levels to rise up to 80% off select items by this weekend Travel advisory: airlines now offering flights to front of TSA line As Obama instructs his administration to get ready for presidential transition, Trump preemptively purchases 'T' keys for White House keyboards John Kasich self-identifies as GOP primary winner, demands access to White House bathroom Upcoming Trump/Kelly interview on FoxNews sponsored by 'Let's Make a Deal' and 'The Price is Right' News from 2017: once the evacuation of Lena Dunham and 90% of other Hollywood celebrities to Canada is confirmed, Trump resigns from presidency: "My work here is done" Non-presidential candidate Paul Ryan pledges not to run for president in new non-presidential non-ad campaign Trump suggests creating 'Muslim database'; Obama symbolically protests by shredding White House guest logs beginning 2009 National Enquirer: John Kasich's real dad was the milkman, not mailman National Enquirer: Bound delegates from Colorado, Wyoming found in Ted Cruz’s basement Iran breaks its pinky-swear promise not to support terrorism; US State Department vows rock-paper-scissors strategic response Women across the country cheer as racist Democrat president on $20 bill is replaced by black pro-gun Republican Federal Reserve solves budget crisis by writing itself a 20-trillion-dollar check Widows, orphans claim responsibility for Brussels airport bombing Che Guevara's son hopes Cuba's communism will rub off on US, proposes a long list of people the government should execute first Susan Sarandon: "I don't vote with my vagina." Voters in line behind her still suspicious, use hand sanitizer Campaign memo typo causes Hillary to court 'New Black Panties' vote New Hampshire votes for socialist Sanders, changes state motto to "Live FOR Free or Die" Martin O'Malley drops out of race after Iowa Caucus; nation shocked with revelation he has been running for president Statisticians: one out of three Bernie Sanders supporters is just as dumb as the other two Hillary campaign denies accusations of smoking-gun evidence in her emails, claims they contain only smoking-circumstantial-gun evidence Obama stops short of firing US Congress upon realizing the difficulty of assembling another group of such tractable yes-men In effort to contol wild passions for violent jihad, White House urges gun owners to keep their firearms covered in gun burkas TV horror live: A Charlie Brown Christmas gets shot up on air by Mohammed cartoons Democrats vow to burn the country down over Ted Cruz statement, 'The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats' Russia's trend to sign bombs dropped on ISIS with "This is for Paris" found response in Obama administration's trend to sign American bombs with "Return to sender" University researchers of cultural appropriation quit upon discovery that their research is appropriation from a culture that created universities Archeologists discover remains of what Barack Obama has described as unprecedented, un-American, and not-who-we-are immigration screening process in Ellis Island Mizzou protests lead to declaring entire state a "safe space," changing Missouri motto to "The don't show me state" Green energy fact: if we put all green energy subsidies together in one-dollar bills and burn them, we could generate more electricity than has been produced by subsidized green energy State officials improve chances of healthcare payouts by replacing ObamaCare with state lottery NASA's new mission to search for racism, sexism, and economic inequality in deep space suffers from race, gender, and class power struggles over multibillion-dollar budget College progress enforcement squads issue schematic humor charts so students know if a joke may be spontaneously laughed at or if regulations require other action ISIS opens suicide hotline for US teens depressed by climate change and other progressive doomsday scenarios Virginia county to close schools after teacher asks students to write 'death to America' in Arabic 'Wear hijab to school day' ends with spontaneous female circumcision and stoning of a classmate during lunch break ISIS releases new, even more barbaric video in an effort to regain mantle from Planned Parenthood Impressed by Fox News stellar rating during GOP debates, CNN to use same formula on Democrat candidates asking tough, pointed questions about Republicans Shocking new book explores pros and cons of socialism, discovers they are same people Pope outraged by Planned Parenthood's "unfettered capitalism," demands equal redistribution of baby parts to each according to his need John Kerry accepts Iran's "Golden Taquiyya" award, requests jalapenos on the side Citizens of Pluto protest US government's surveillance of their planetoid and its moons with New Horizons space drone John Kerry proposes 3-day waiting period for all terrorist nations trying to acquire nuclear weapons Chicago Police trying to identify flag that caused nine murders and 53 injuries in the city this past weekend Cuba opens to affordable medical tourism for Americans who can't afford Obamacare deductibles State-funded research proves existence of Quantum Aggression Particles (Heterons) in Large Hadron Collider Student job opportunities: make big bucks this summer as Hillary’s Ordinary-American; all expenses paid, travel, free acting lessons Experts debate whether Iranian negotiators broke John Kerry's leg or he did it himself to get out of negotiations Junior Varsity takes Ramadi, advances to quarterfinals US media to GOP pool of candidates: 'Knowing what we know now, would you have had anything to do with the founding of the United States?' NY Mayor to hold peace talks with rats, apologize for previous Mayor's cowboy diplomacy China launches cube-shaped space object with a message to aliens: "The inhabitants of Earth will steal your intellectual property, copy it, manufacture it in sweatshops with slave labor, and sell it back to you at ridiculously low prices" Progressive scientists: Truth is a variable deduced by subtracting 'what is' from 'what ought to be' Experts agree: Hillary Clinton best candidate to lessen percentage of Americans in top 1% America's attempts at peace talks with the White House continue to be met with lies, stalling tactics, and bad faith Starbucks new policy to talk race with customers prompts new hashtag #DontHoldUpTheLine Hillary: DELETE is the new RESET Charlie Hebdo receives Islamophobe 2015 award ; the cartoonists could not be reached for comment due to their inexplicable, illogical deaths Russia sends 'reset' button back to Hillary: 'You need it now more than we do' Barack Obama finds out from CNN that Hillary Clinton spent four years being his Secretary of State President Obama honors Leonard Nimoy by taking selfie in front of Starship Enterprise Police: If Obama had a convenience store, it would look like Obama Express Food Market Study finds stunning lack of racial, gender, and economic diversity among middle-class white males NASA: We're 80% sure about being 20% sure about being 17% sure about being 38% sure about 2014 being the hottest year on record People holding '$15 an Hour Now' posters sue Democratic party demanding raise to $15 an hour for rendered professional protesting services Cuba-US normalization: US tourists flock to see Cuba before it looks like the US and Cubans flock to see the US before it looks like Cuba White House describes attacks on Sony Pictures as 'spontaneous hacking in response to offensive video mocking Juche and its prophet' CIA responds to Democrat calls for transparency by releasing the director's cut of The Making Of Obama's Birth Certificate Obama: 'If I had a city, it would look like Ferguson' Biden: 'If I had a Ferguson (hic), it would look like a city' Obama signs executive order renaming 'looters' to 'undocumented shoppers' Ethicists agree: two wrongs do make a right so long as Bush did it first The aftermath of the 'War on Women 2014' finds a new 'Lost Generation' of disillusioned Democrat politicians, unable to cope with life out of office White House: Republican takeover of the Senate is a clear mandate from the American people for President Obama to rule by executive orders Nurse Kaci Hickox angrily tells reporters that she won't change her clocks for daylight savings time Democratic Party leaders in panic after recent poll shows most Democratic voters think 'midterm' is when to end pregnancy Desperate Democratic candidates plead with Obama to stop backing them and instead support their GOP opponents Ebola Czar issues five-year plan with mandatory quotas of Ebola infections per each state based on voting preferences Study: crony capitalism is to the free market what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity Fun facts about world languages: the Left has more words for statism than the Eskimos have for snow African countries to ban all flights from the United States because "Obama is incompetent, it scares us" Nobel Peace Prize controversy: Hillary not nominated despite having done even less than Obama to deserve it Obama: 'Ebola is the JV of viruses' BREAKING: Secret Service foils Secret Service plot to protect Obama Revised 1st Amendment: buy one speech, get the second free Sharpton calls on white NFL players to beat their women in the interests of racial fairness President Obama appoints his weekly approval poll as new national security adviser Obama wags pen and phone at Putin; Europe offers support with powerful pens and phones from NATO members White House pledges to embarrass ISIS back to the Stone Age with a barrage of fearsome Twitter messages and fatally ironic Instagram photos Obama to fight ISIS with new federal Terrorist Regulatory Agency Obama vows ISIS will never raise their flag over the eighteenth hole Harry Reid: "Sometimes I say the wong thing" Elian Gonzalez wishes he had come to the U.S. on a bus from Central America like all the other kids Obama visits US-Mexican border, calls for a two-state solution Obama draws "blue line" in Iraq after Putin took away his red crayon "Hard Choices," a porno flick loosely based on Hillary Clinton's memoir and starring Hillary Hellfire as a drinking, whoring Secretary of State, wildly outsells the flabby, sagging original Accusations of siding with the enemy leave Sgt. Bergdahl with only two options: pursue a doctorate at Berkley or become a Senator from Massachusetts Jay Carney stuck in line behind Eric Shinseki to leave the White House; estimated wait time from 15 min to 6 weeks 100% of scientists agree that if man-made global warming were real, "the last people we'd want to help us is the Obama administration" Jay Carney says he found out that Obama found out that he found out that Obama found out that he found out about the latest Obama administration scandal on the news "Anarchy Now!" meeting turns into riot over points of order, bylaws, and whether or not 'kicking the #^@&*! ass' of the person trying to speak is or is not violence Obama retaliates against Putin by prohibiting unionized federal employees from dating hot Russian girls online during work hours Russian separatists in Ukraine riot over an offensive YouTube video showing the toppling of Lenin statues "Free Speech Zones"confuse Obamaphone owners who roam streets in search of additional air minutes Obamacare bolsters employment for professionals with skills to convert meth back into sudafed Gloves finally off: Obama uses pen and phone to cancel Putin's Netflix account Joe Biden to Russia: "We will bury you by turning more of Eastern Europe over to your control!" In last-ditch effort to help Ukraine, Obama deploys Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson's Rainbow Coalition to Crimea Al Sharpton: "Not even Putin can withstand our signature chanting, 'racist, sexist, anti-gay, Russian army go away'!" Mardi Gras in North Korea: " Throw me some food! " Obama's foreign policy works: "War, invasion, and conquest are signs of weakness; we've got Putin right where we want him" US offers military solution to Ukraine crisis: "We will only fight countries that have LGBT military" Putin annexes Brighton Beach to protect ethnic Russians in Brooklyn, Obama appeals to UN and EU for help The 1980s: "Mr. Obama, we're just calling to ask if you want our foreign policy back . The 1970s are right here with us, and they're wondering, too." In a stunning act of defiance, Obama courageously unfriends Putin on Facebook MSNBC: Obama secures alliance with Austro-Hungarian Empire against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine Study: springbreak is to STDs what April 15th is to accountants Efforts to achieve moisture justice for California thwarted by unfair redistribution of snow in America North Korean voters unanimous: "We are the 100%" Leader of authoritarian gulag-site, The People's Cube, unanimously 're-elected' with 100% voter turnout Super Bowl: Obama blames Fox News for Broncos' loss Feminist author slams gay marriage: "a man needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" Beverly Hills campaign heats up between Henry Waxman and Marianne Williamson over the widening income gap between millionaires and billionaires in their district Biden to lower $10,000-a-plate Dinner For The Homeless to $5,000 so more homeless can attend Kim becomes world leader, feeds uncle to dogs; Obama eats dogs, becomes world leader, America cries uncle North Korean leader executes own uncle for talking about Obamacare at family Christmas party White House hires part-time schizophrenic Mandela sign interpreter to help sell Obamacare Kim Jong Un executes own " crazy uncle " to keep him from ruining another family Christmas OFA admits its advice for area activists to give Obamacare Talk at shooting ranges was a bad idea President resolves Obamacare debacle with executive order declaring all Americans equally healthy Obama to Iran: "If you like your nuclear program, you can keep your nuclear program" Bovine community outraged by flatulence coming from Washington DC Obama: "I'm not particularly ideological; I believe in a good pragmatic five-year plan" Shocker: Obama had no knowledge he'd been reelected until he read about it in the local newspaper last week Server problems at HealthCare.gov so bad, it now flashes 'Error 808' message NSA marks National Best Friend Day with official announcement: "Government is your best friend; we know you like no one else, we're always there, we're always willing to listen" Al Qaeda cancels attack on USA citing launch of Obamacare as devastating enough The President's latest talking point on Obamacare: "I didn't build that" Dizzy with success, Obama renames his wildly popular healthcare mandate to HillaryCare Carney: huge ObamaCare deductibles won't look as bad come hyperinflation Washington Redskins drop 'Washington' from their name as offensive to most Americans Poll: 83% of Americans favor cowboy diplomacy over rodeo clown diplomacy GOVERNMENT WARNING: If you were able to complete ObamaCare form online, it wasn't a legitimate gov't website; you should report online fraud and change all your passwords Obama administration gets serious, threatens Syria with ObamaCare Obama authorizes the use of Vice President Joe Biden's double-barrel shotgun to fire a couple of blasts at Syria Sharpton: "British royals should have named baby 'Trayvon.' By choosing 'George' they sided with white Hispanic racist Zimmerman" DNC launches 'Carlos Danger' action figure; proceeds to fund a charity helping survivors of the Republican War on Women Nancy Pelosi extends abortion rights to the birds and the bees Hubble discovers planetary drift to the left Obama: 'If I had a daughter-in-law, she would look like Rachael Jeantel' FISA court rubberstamps statement denying its portrayal as government's rubber stamp Every time ObamaCare gets delayed, a Julia somewhere dies GOP to Schumer: 'Force full implementation of ObamaCare before 2014 or Dems will never win another election' Obama: 'If I had a son... no, wait, my daughter can now marry a woman!' Janet Napolitano: TSA findings reveal that since none of the hijackers were babies, elderly, or Tea Partiers, 9/11 was not an act of terrorism News Flash: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) can see Canada from South Dakota Susan Rice: IRS actions against tea parties caused by anti-tax YouTube video that was insulting to their faith Drudge Report reduces font to fit all White House scandals onto one page Obama: the IRS is a constitutional right, just like the Second Amendment White House: top Obama officials using secret email accounts a result of bad IT advice to avoid spam mail from Nigeria Jay Carney to critics: 'Pinocchio never said anything inconsistent' Obama: If I had a gay son, he'd look like Jason Collins Gosnell's office in Benghazi raided by the IRS: mainstream media's worst cover-up challenge to date IRS targeting pro-gay-marriage LGBT groups leads to gayest tax revolt in U.S. history After Arlington Cemetery rejects offer to bury Boston bomber, Westboro Babtist Church steps up with premium front lawn plot Boston: Obama Administration to reclassify marathon bombing as 'sportsplace violence' Study: Success has many fathers but failure becomes a government program US Media: Can Pope Francis possibly clear up Vatican bureaucracy and banking without blaming the previous administration? Michelle Obama praises weekend rampage by Chicago teens as good way to burn calories and stay healthy This Passover, Obama urges his subjects to paint lamb's blood above doors in order to avoid the Sequester White House to American children: Sequester causes layoffs among hens that lay Easter eggs; union-wage Easter Bunnies to be replaced by Mexican Chupacabras Time Mag names Hugo Chavez world's sexiest corpse Boy, 8, pretends banana is gun, makes daring escape from school Study: Free lunches overpriced, lack nutrition Oscars 2013: Michelle Obama announces long-awaited merger of Hollywood and the State Joe Salazar defends the right of women to be raped in gun-free environment: 'rapists and rapees should work together to prevent gun violence for the common good' Dept. of Health and Human Services eliminates rape by reclassifying assailants as 'undocumented sex partners' Kremlin puts out warning not to photoshop Putin riding meteor unless bare-chested Deeming football too violent, Obama moves to introduce Super Drone Sundays instead Japan offers to extend nuclear umbrella to cover U.S. should America suffer devastating attack on its own defense spending Feminists organize one billion women to protest male oppression with one billion lap dances Urban community protests Mayor Bloomberg's ban on extra-large pop singers owning assault weapons Concerned with mounting death toll, Taliban offers to send peacekeeping advisers to Chicago Karl Rove puts an end to Tea Party with new 'Republicans For Democrats' strategy aimed at losing elections Answering public skepticism, President Obama authorizes unlimited drone attacks on all skeet targets throughout the country Skeet Ulrich denies claims he had been shot by President but considers changing his name to 'Traps' White House releases new exciting photos of Obama standing, sitting, looking thoughtful, and even breathing in and out New York Times hacked by Chinese government, Paul Krugman's economic policies stolen White House: when President shoots skeet, he donates the meat to food banks that feed the middle class To prove he is serious, Obama eliminates armed guard protection for President, Vice-President, and their families; establishes Gun-Free Zones around them instead State Dept to send 100,000 American college students to China as security for US debt obligations Jay Carney: Al Qaeda is on the run, they're just running forward President issues executive orders banning cliffs, ceilings, obstructions, statistics, and other notions that prevent us from moving forwards and upward Fearing the worst, Obama Administration outlaws the fan to prevent it from being hit by certain objects World ends; S&P soars Riddle of universe solved; answer not understood Meek inherit Earth, can't afford estate taxes Greece abandons Euro; accountants find Greece has no Euros anyway Wheel finally reinvented; axles to be gradually reinvented in 3rd quarter of 2013 Bigfoot found in Ohio, mysteriously not voting for Obama As Santa's workshop files for bankruptcy, Fed offers bailout in exchange for control of 'naughty and nice' list Freak flying pig accident causes bacon to fly off shelves Obama: green economy likely to transform America into a leading third world country of the new millennium Report: President Obama to visit the United States in the near future Obama promises to create thousands more economically neutral jobs Modernizing Islam: New York imam proposes to canonize Saul Alinsky as religion's latter day prophet Imam Rauf's peaceful solution: 'Move Ground Zero a few blocks away from the mosque and no one gets hurt' Study: Obama's threat to burn tax money in Washington 'recruitment bonanza' for Tea Parties Study: no Social Security reform will be needed if gov't raises retirement age to at least 814 years Obama attends church service, worships self Obama proposes national 'Win The Future' lottery; proceeds of new WTF Powerball to finance more gov't spending Historical revisionists: "Hey, you never know" Vice President Biden: criticizing Egypt is un-pharaoh Israelis to Egyptian rioters: "don't damage the pyramids, we will not rebuild" Lake Superior renamed Lake Inferior in spirit of tolerance and inclusiveness Al Gore: It's a shame that a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of polar bears Michael Moore: As long as there is anyone with money to shake down, this country is not broke Obama's teleprompters unionize, demand collective bargaining rights Obama calls new taxes 'spending reductions in tax code.' Elsewhere rapists tout 'consent reductions in sexual intercourse' Obama's teleprompter unhappy with White House Twitter: "Too few words" Obama's Regulation Reduction committee finds US Constitution to be expensive outdated framework inefficiently regulating federal gov't Taking a page from the Reagan years, Obama announces new era of Perestroika and Glasnost Responding to Oslo shootings, Obama declares Christianity "Religion of Peace," praises "moderate Christians," promises to send one into space Republicans block Obama's $420 billion program to give American families free charms that ward off economic bad luck White House to impose Chimney tax on Santa Claus Obama decrees the economy is not soaring as much as previously decreeed Conservative think tank introduces children to capitalism with pop-up picture book "The Road to Smurfdom" Al Gore proposes to combat Global Warming by extracting silver linings from clouds in Earth's atmosphere Obama refutes charges of him being unresponsive to people's suffering: "When you pray to God, do you always hear a response?" Obama regrets the US government didn't provide his mother with free contraceptives when she was in college Fluke to Congress: drill, baby, drill! Planned Parenthood introduces Frequent Flucker reward card: 'Come again soon!' Obama to tornado victims: 'We inherited this weather from the previous administration' Obama congratulates Putin on Chicago-style election outcome People's Cube gives itself Hero of Socialist Labor medal in recognition of continued expert advice provided to the Obama Administration helping to shape its foreign and domestic policies Hamas: Israeli air defense unfair to 99% of our missiles, "only 1% allowed to reach Israel" Democrat strategist: without government supervision, women would have never evolved into humans Voters Without Borders oppose Texas new voter ID law Enraged by accusation that they are doing Obama's bidding, media leaders demand instructions from White House on how to respond Obama blames previous Olympics for failure to win at this Olympics Official: China plans to land on Moon or at least on cheap knockoff thereof Koran-Contra: Obama secretly arms Syrian rebels Poll: Progressive slogan 'We should be more like Europe' most popular with members of American Nazi Party Obama to Evangelicals: Jesus saves, I just spend May Day: Anarchists plan, schedule, synchronize, and execute a coordinated campaign against all of the above Midwestern farmers hooked on new erotic novel "50 Shades of Hay" Study: 99% of Liberals give the rest a bad name Obama meets with Jewish leaders, proposes deeper circumcisions for the rich Historians: Before HOPE & CHANGE there was HEMP & CHOOM at ten bucks a bag Cancer once again fails to cure Venezuela of its "President for Life" Tragic spelling error causes Muslim protesters to burn local boob-tube factory Secretary of Energy Steven Chu: due to energy conservation, the light at the end of the tunnel will be switched off Obama Administration running food stamps across the border with Mexico in an operation code-named "Fat And Furious" Pakistan explodes in protest over new Adobe Acrobat update; 17 local acrobats killed White House: "Let them eat statistics" Special Ops: if Benedict Arnold had a son, he would look like Barack Obama

What does it mean to “dress like a woman”? Social media users took it upon themselves to answer that very question in response to a report that President Trump wants women who work for him to look a certain way. The sentiment was anonymously cited in the new newsletter Axios from Mike Allen, a former Politico reporter. In response, Twitter erupted with a stream of photos showing women dressed for the jobs they hold and the lives they lead, as firefighters, soldiers, police officers and astronauts, to name a few. But while many of the tweets were aimed at rejecting the idea that women should be restricted to some narrow sartorial category, the “dress like a woman” phrase, as a hashtag, didn’t come directly from Mr. Trump. In his newsletter, Mr. Allen attributed the phrase this way: In an email on Friday afternoon, Mr. Allen declined to offer any further details. It’s clear that appearances matter to the president. Mr. Trump, the former owner of the Miss Universe Organization, has come under harsh criticism for rating women’s appearances on a scale of one to 10 and for hurling insults at female critics. As a candidate, he readily attacked when people commented on the size of his hands or on his hair. Like presidents past, Mr. Trump will most likely have some influence over style in the West Wing. The White House does not have an official dress code, according to its Press Office, but every administration has its own norms. For the past two decades, wardrobes have tended to be more relaxed in Democratic administrations. Under President Clinton, “aides frequently attended meetings in jeans and ” The New York Times reported in 2001. President George W. Bush restored formality to the West Wing, but President Obama was so relaxed that he broke with protocol, foregoing a suit jacket on his first full day in the Oval Office. If the pattern holds, dressing for work in the West Wing could become more formal under the Trump administration. Whether that means women would be required to “dress like women” remains to be seen.

NEW ORLEANS — A typical evening for Ella Brennan begins with cocktails. They are delivered from Commander’s Palace, her family’s restaurant next door to her mansion in this city’s historic Garden District. Drinks are often followed by dinner, also from Commander’s, and wine. Ms. Brennan favors Champagne and distinguished whites from the Côte de Beaune because, as she puts it, “I’m too damn old to drink cheap wine” and “because I can. ” In New Orleans, there is little question that Miss Ella, as Ms. Brennan is widely known here, has earned her sense of entitlement. Her hometown’s civic pride is tightly linked to its reputation for culinary excellence Ms. Brennan helped create that reputation, and has made maintaining it a personal responsibility for more than 60 years. At 91, she is the matriarch of an extended family of restaurateurs that employs nearly 1, 400 people, both full and part time, and she has mentored countless talents, including the celebrity chefs Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. “She was there to embrace and elevate, not just me but the entire staff,” said Mr. Lagasse, whom Ms. Brennan plucked from obscurity and installed, at age 23, as Commander’s chef in the early 1980s. “The list of people she has impacted in the hospitality industry in America is endless. ” Ms. Brennan’s family has recently set out to ensure that her legacy is appreciated beyond New Orleans. Those efforts culminated last year with the release of a memoir, “Miss Ella of Commander’s Palace,” written with Ti Martin, her daughter. It was followed by the documentary “Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table,” directed by Leslie Iwerks. The film, which has been screening at festivals, will be available on Netflix in May. The book and film tell the story of a businesswoman — her other nickname is Hurricane Ella — who excelled in a profession decades before gender imbalance in the restaurant industry became a hot issue. “When I first started, you would hardly ever see another woman in the kitchen, much less running the show,” said Sue Zemanick, the former chef at Gautreau’s, a “Top Chef Masters” contestant and a line cook at Commander’s early in her career. “Working at a restaurant with such strong women in charge gave me hope that I could make it. ” While Ms. Brennan is, as Ms. Martin put it, “as retired as Mom is capable of being,” her New Orleans restaurants, which include Café Adelaide and SoBou, remain an obsession for her they are managed by Ms. Martin and Lally Brennan, a niece of Ms. Brennan. On a recent afternoon, Ms. Brennan sat next to the unlit fireplace in her living room. As she moved a sore leg back and forth between an ottoman and the floor, she suggested that her impulse to empower employees was a rejection of restaurant industry norms she confronted as a young woman. “In those days, no one was paying attention to developing people,” she said. “A restaurateur has to be part of a team to make something everyone can be proud of. ” Her decision to tap Mr. Prudhomme, a Cajun, to run Commander’s kitchen in the 1970s loosened the grip that chefs had on American fine dining. Alongside Ms. Brennan, and later on his own, the Mr. Prudhomme helped set the table for a renaissance in American regional cooking that has yet to abate. “New Orleans was really the centerpiece of the whole American food movement,” the New York restaurateur Drew Nieporent said. “And Ella put New Orleans on the map. ” Ms. Brennan entered the hospitality business as a teenager working at the Old Absinthe House, a Bourbon Street bar owned by her brother Owen, 15 years her senior. She had dropped out of a local business school after deciding, as she wrote in her book, that “I wasn’t going to type for any man. ” In 1946, Mr. Brennan bought Vieux Carré, a French Quarter restaurant that Ms. Brennan described recently, with typical candor, as “terrible. ” Mr. Brennan hired her to manage the business, looking to prove that an Irish family could operate a restaurant superior to established restaurants like Arnaud’s, Antoine’s and Galatoire’s. “I didn’t know anything,” Ms. Brennan recalled. “But Owen was a raconteur. He slept till noon. He got me to do all of the things he didn’t like. So I learned. ” A voracious reader, she pored over books recommended by the restaurant’s two chefs, Jack Eames and Paul Blangé, whose respect she sought and whom she frequently praised. “I was amazed at their talent,” she said. “They were like surgeons. ” The gregarious Brennan family — the other siblings were Dick, Adelaide, Dottie and John — cultivated a clientele of influential locals and visitors, including celebrities. All the while, Ms. Brennan worked with the chefs to elevate Vieux Carré’s food. For inspiration, she traveled frequently to New York City, where she became a regular at the “21” Club. Culinary pioneers like James Beard and Helen McCully, the food editor of McCall’s magazine, took the young visitor under their wings. “You had to go to New York in those days,” Ms. Brennan said. “I was trying to get New Orleans to that level. ” In 1955, the Brennans were preparing to relocate Vieux Carré to a larger space on Royal Street when Owen died of a heart attack at 45. It fell to Ms. Brennan to carry out her brother’s vision for the new restaurant, which would be called Brennan’s. By all accounts, Brennan’s ushered in a new age for fine dining in the South. It became a grand showcase for New Orleans joie de vivre, replete with a wine cellar, antiques and food that stretched the boundaries of traditional cuisine. The national press took notice, especially of its boozy, multicourse breakfasts. “America was coming to appreciate dining as entertainment,” Ms. Brennan wrote, “and all of the newspapers were just beginning to have columns about food. ” Ms. Brennan helped develop new dishes, including bananas Foster. She pushed to expand the family’s restaurant properties, with spotty success, aggravating a rift between Owen’s heirs and what came to be known as “Ella’s side” of the family. In 1973, Ms. Brennan was dismissed from Brennan’s, initiating a bitter, litigious family split that has never fully healed. “It was a tragedy,” Ms. Brennan said. “Family is everything to us. ” (Owen Brennan’s sons continued to run Brennan’s until 2013, when a group that includes Ralph Brennan, a son of John Brennan, purchased the property at a sheriff’s auction. Brennan’s of Houston, overseen by Ms. Brennan’s son Alex, is part of her restaurant group.) Commander’s Palace, which Ms. Brennan acquired in 1969, was a sprawling property in need of repair. In partnership with her sisters and brothers, she set about turning it into a restaurant that would eclipse Brennan’s. Early reviews weren’t favorable. But over time, Commander’s became renowned for its sophisticated blending of south Louisiana and nouvelle cuisines — Ms. Brennan christened the style haute Creole — and its warm, celebratory approach to fine dining. “We want people who eat here to feel important, and we want them to have fun,” Ms. Brennan said. Ms. Brennan never presumed that her management responsibilities ended at the kitchen door. Alex McCrery, a Commander’s line cook in the early 2000s, recalled that Ms. Brennan admonished another cook for proposing that the kitchen make mustard ice cream. “She was the type who was like your mom is when she is disappointed in you,” Mr. McCrery said. “She was stern, and you’d feel like you really messed up. ” Ms. Brennan said she “gave up men for Lent” after her divorce in 1970 from Paul Martin. She also never learned to cook (“I don’t think she can boil water,” Mr. Lagasse said) but that doesn’t prevent her from giving lavish dinner parties in the home she shares with Dottie. “We don’t carry on like we once did,” she said before a recent meal. “But I do like to take advantage of living next door to my restaurant. ” A waiter carried Ms. Brennan’s drink as she moved, with the aid of a walker, from her parlor to her dining room. She sat at the head of the table as Commander’s waiters delivered a series of courses from the restaurant’s kitchen. As she sank her spoon into a steaming sea urchin and stone crab soufflé, Ms. Brennan explained that entertaining gives her an opportunity to weigh in on new ideas from Tory McPhail, Commander’s current and chef. It also allows her to partake in the kind of pleasure she has provided others for so long. “What we’re doing here tonight is letting him experiment on us,” she said, referring to Mr. McPhail, who had just introduced a course of lamb osso buco. Ms. Brennan was as engaged and vivacious as when the evening began. As Mr. McPhail turned to leave, she called after him, “Bring back a bottle of Champagne, will you?” Recipe: Bananas Foster

HANGZHOU, China — Human rights barely registered on President Obama’s latest visit to China, which ended Monday night with a news conference at which he made only a glancing reference to differences with Beijing over “religious freedom. ” And as Mr. Obama moved on to Laos for a summit meeting of Asian nations, human rights advocates worried that their concerns were falling off the American agenda not only with China but also across the region, for the same reason: Beijing’s continuing rise as an economic and geopolitical power. As China challenges the United States for influence in Asia, the administration is concerned that any criticism of nations like Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos for backsliding on human rights could alienate them rather than pulling them closer. At the same time, shining a spotlight on China’s own rough treatment of dissidents risks losing Beijing’s cooperation on issues like trade, climate change and nuclear proliferation. Rights advocates accused the administration of being too timid, arguing that the United States should put as much pressure on governments over how they treat their citizens as they do during trade negotiations. “Decades of experience should make clear to Washington that Beijing responds only to the expectation of unpleasant consequences,” said Sophie Richardson, the China director for Human Rights Watch. “Why not threaten sanctions, cut out the pointless pomp or visibly align with peaceful critics of the government?” she said. “On other diplomatic, economic and security issues, governments recognize and use these points of leverage. Why not on human rights?” Others say Mr. Obama, who speaks openly about civil rights in the United States, has been wise not to inject the issue into talks with China, even as Beijing has carried out the most sweeping crackdown on Chinese civil society in nearly 20 years. They say the president understands that a more powerful China is better able to resist American pressure on human rights than it was a decade ago. “To its credit, the Obama administration has not exacerbated the many U. S. economic and security issues with a human rights policy,” said Robert S. Ross, a professor of political science at Boston College. “It is quite a stretch to argue that diplomacy could persuade an authoritarian, government to undermine its domestic political power by allowing greater opposition to the government and tolerating greater political instability. ” The pattern is now extending beyond China’s borders. During Mr. Obama’s visit to Laos, a tiny country run by a repressive Communist regime, he so far has chosen not to publicly raise the case of an civil rights worker who disappeared at a police checkpoint four years ago. He has refrained, at least in public, from criticizing the new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, who has been unapologetic about waging a violent war against drugs in the first two months of his term. On Wednesday, a day after Mr. Obama abruptly canceled a meeting with Mr. Duterte, who had unleashed a diatribe against him, the two men met informally. During Mr. Obama’s visit to Vietnam in May, he agreed to lift a longstanding ban on the sale of lethal weapons without winning significant concessions on human rights. And after trying to draw Malaysia closer, Mr. Obama has been embarrassed by the country’s prime minister, Najib Razak, who has closed online news outlets and prosecuted opposition figures in an effort to stay in power. The Obama administration has pressed China on human rights in a way on only a few occasions. In 2012, the American Embassy in Beijing harbored Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese dissident, and flew him to the United States. But the days when the White House could demand and expect the release of a few Chinese political prisoners before a summit meeting are gone, Professor Ross said. As the Chinese Communist Party gained confidence, it began rearresting dissidents who had been released before American summit meetings. “Since then,” Professor Ross said, “U. S. human rights diplomacy has been reduced to rhetoric, which, no surprise, has not improved China’s human rights situation. ” Despite Mr. Obama’s fleeting public reference to religious repression this week, for example, few expect the Chinese authorities to retreat from a campaign against Christian churches in the area surrounding Hangzhou, the city that hosted the Group of 20 meeting. One of the new challenges for Mr. Obama, and one for his successor, will be how to deal with Mr. Duterte. The police in the Philippines say they have killed about 1, 000 suspects in the antidrug campaign, and about 300 people have been killed by vigilantes. Rights groups have urged the United States to do something about the situation. “It’d be difficult for us to overstate how grave the situation has become in the Philippines,” said John Sifton, the deputy Washington director of Human Rights Watch. “At this rate, we’re talking about over 6, 000 people dead by the end of the year. ” But the Philippines is an American ally and a bulwark against Chinese military gains in the South China Sea. By that calculus, the United States cannot afford to alienate Mr. Duterte. Philippine analysts say that Mr. Duterte is on good terms with Chinese business executives who invested in Davao, the city where he served as mayor, and that he may be open to negotiating with Beijing over the South China Sea. Under American legislation known as the Leahy Amendment, Washington is obliged to cut off assistance to Philippines law enforcement units that are suspected of human rights abuses. But Antonio La Viña, a professor of government at Ateneo de Manila University, said the threat of such a sanction was unlikely to be effective. “The truth is that the Philippines has the money to modernize our military,” he said. Mr. Obama is the first sitting American president to visit Laos, and he has sought to promote reconciliation with the nation, on which the United States dropped more than two million tons of bombs at the height of the Vietnam War. But he is also being called on to press Laos’s repressive government — a traditional ally of China — on the case of Sombath Somphone, a civil rights campaigner and agriculture specialist who disappeared at a police checkpoint in the capital, Vientiane, four years ago. Mr. Obama will also have to decide how hard to push concerns about human rights with other leaders at the meeting, several of whom are being wooed by China. One of Mr. Obama’s favorite Southeast Asian leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, is scheduled to visit the White House this month, and American officials hope to make progress on addressing the plight of the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority in the predominantly Buddhist country. More than 100, 000 Rohingya live in camps in northern Myanmar, and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has appointed a commission that includes the former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan to find solutions. “She has demonstrated a recognition that this is a problem that must be solved,” said Tom Malinowski, the United States assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor. The Obama administration has been less vocal on conditions in Vietnam, which it has tried to steer closer to the United States in the face of Chinese pressure over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Since then, the human rights situation has only deteriorated, said Nguyen Quang A, an activist and a former member of the Vietnamese Communist Party who was invited to meet Mr. Obama in Hanoi but who was stopped by Vietnamese security forces. Political prisoners remain in jail, the news media is muzzled, and independent labor unions have not been allowed, despite promises to Washington. “Should Obama have done more to try and influence the government of Vietnam?” Mr. Quang A asked. “Absolutely. ”

The Upshot’s new Senate election forecast gives Democrats a 60 percent chance of winning control of the chamber in November. Included within this 60 percent is a 17 percent chance that the Senate ends up evenly split with a Democratic vice president providing the tiebreaking vote. By our count, the Democrats need to win five seats among the 11 most competitive races. (The Democrats will need to win six if Donald J. Trump wins the presidential race we put Mr. Trump’s chances of winning at only 11 percent). Ten of these seats are held by Republicans, and one by a Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, who is retiring. That the Democrats are favored in this election should not be surprising. The 2016 Senate elections boded well for the Democrats without any consideration of a possible Trump effect on races. In recent history, Democrats have done better in presidential election years than in midterm years, when turnout is lower. Most of the senators up for last went before the voters in the Republican wave election of 2010 — when the G. O. P. made big and broad gains in an environment — leaving Republicans with several potentially vulnerable incumbents. This year, the Democrats are defending only 10 seats while the Republicans have to preserve 24. On fundamentals alone — that is, historical voting patterns, the candidates’ political experience and — the Democrats would have about a shot to win the Senate. The latest Senate polling improves this figure to 60 percent. The framework for our model is broadly similar to the approach we took in 2014, when our Election Day forecast correctly called 35 of 36 Senate races. That approach means starting with the fundamentals as a prior, then updating those beliefs as polling information comes in. We let races affect one another and assume that the errors will be correlated. The main difference between 2014 and this year is that we have some additional information to gauge candidates’ chances in a presidential year. Previous research suggests that there is a strong relationship between presidential and Senate voting. Accordingly, our model assumes that Senate races will track the presidential race in each state to some degree. That is, if Hillary Clinton has improved her standing in the presidential forecast since the last time a state has been polled, we “ ” the Senate polling average a small amount in the same direction. Incumbents are running in seven of the 10 seats being defended by Democrats. All seven seats are considered safe. For the other three: ■ Democrats are guaranteed to win the seat in California: Barbara Boxer is retiring, and two Democrats — Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez — won the top two spots in an open primary. ■ Initial polling in Maryland showed the Democratic candidate, Chris Van Hollen, up by 20 to 30 points. ■ It’s only in Nevada, where Catherine Cortez Masto is trying to replace Mr. Reid, where the election is competitive. This leaves Democrats with 36 seats that are not up for election this year — including two independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, who both caucus with Democrats — in addition to nine safe seats. Much of the weakness in the Republican position comes from seven G. O. P. incumbents in mostly states trying to win a second term after first being elected in the Republican wave year of 2010: Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, Mark Kirk in Illinois, Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Roy Blunt in Missouri, Rob Portman in Ohio, and Marco Rubio in Florida (assuming he wins the Republican primary next week). In addition, the retirement of the Republican Dan Coats along with the entry of the former Democratic senator Evan Bayh in the race in Indiana shifted that seat from a likely Republican hold to a possible Democratic pickup. Richard Burr’s seat in North Carolina also seems vulnerable. Polling indicates that even Senator John McCain of Arizona could be swept out by the encroaching Democratic tide. If Mr. McCain beats back a primary challenge from the Tea Party candidate Kelli Ward, he will face a Democratic challenger, Ann Kirkpatrick, who was within two points in a June poll. Our model gives Ms. Kirkpatrick a roughly chance of taking the seat. To give themselves a cushion in retaking the Senate, Democrats would probably need to win six of these 11 races: the seven elections with Republicans the elections in Indiana, Arizona and North Carolina and the contest for Mr. Reid’s seat in Nevada. If Mrs. Clinton wins the presidency and they win five seats, they will most likely control that chamber because the vice president has the tiebreaking vote in the Senate. With so many seats remaining uncertain, the race could still tip in either direction, with Republicans possibly retaining a slim majority or Democrats running the table. As of today, the most likely outcome is a tie.

Bob Unruh | WND For a third time, a federal judge has affirmed a nationwide injunction against the Obama administration’s agenda to impose mandatory open-restroom policies on schools from coast to coast, scolding the White House for repeating old arguments and catching those who submitted the newest arguments in a lie. The ruling this week from U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor left intact his nationwide injunction against Obama’s decision that transgender public school students can use the restroom of their choice, rather than the restroom designated for their physical sex. The White House issued the order some months ago, and when several states sued, O’Connor found in August that they were likely to prevail in their arguments, so he suspended implementation of the program nationwide. In October, when he had to address the issue again because of demands from the White House, he doubled down, stating, “It is clear from Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent that this court has the power to issue a nationwide injunction where appropriate. Both Title IX and Title VII rely on the consistent, uniform application of national standards in education and workplace policy. “A nationwide injunction is necessary because the alleged violation extends nationwide. Defendants are a group of agencies and administrators capable of enforcing their guidelines nationwide, affecting numerous state and school district facilities across the country.” Now in another ruling prompted by demands from the Obama administration, O’Connor has affirmed the decision – again.

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” in reacting to reports about President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn’s phone conversations with a Russian ambassador, Sen. Al Franken ( ) said, “We need to have an independent investigation on it” because what he said was Trump having a “Putin crush. ” Partial transcript as follows: FRANKEN: There is a lot here that we need to look at, and we need to have an independent investigation on it. TAPPER: When you say independent, what do you mean, independent counsel, select committee? FRANKEN: I think an independent counsel would be terrific but I know that Lindsey Graham and Sheldon Whitehouse in Judiciary are doing — did doing hearinngs and investigation. I trust those guys. There’s something going on in intelligence and that’s opaque. We need something transparent and we need an investigation because we don’t know what he owes Russia. We don’t know how many Russian oligarchs have invested in his business. He has saddled up to Putin in so many ways. What he’s doing in Syria is great. TAPPER: Yeah. FRANKEN: He didn’t, you know, annex Crimea and going after NATO. There’s something — he’s got a bit of a Putin crush, and there’s — I want to know how much of that is tied to maybe financial strings? Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Floodwaters saturated southern Louisiana, forcing more desperate rescues and evacuations. The death toll rose to 11, and tens of thousands of people have been displaced. Some areas have received as much as 31 inches of rain (yes, 31) in the last week — a phenomenon that some experts say foretells the disasters of climate change. _____ 2. At the Olympics, the spectacular American gymnast Simone Biles scooped up her fourth gold medal, soaring past the competition in the floor exercise. More of today’s highlights are here. Fans of the U. S. runner Allyson Felix raged over a dive across the finish line by the Bahamian Shaunae Miller to win the women’s 400 meters. And an Irish boxer, Michael Conlon, raged against judges after they ruled he lost to a Russian, Vladimir Nikitin, in a bout many observers believed he had won. Our full coverage of the Games is here, including the battle for the 2024 Olympics and a meditation on the sometimes mystifying theatrics in synchronized swimming. _____ 3. Donald Trump spoke at a rally in a suburb of Milwaukee, steering clear of the area where unrest flared after a fatal police shooting. He accused Hillary Clinton of pushing an “narrative” and said, “Law and order must be restored. ” His campaign focus has shifted to the theme of fighting terrorism, with a special focus on protecting women. He’s also portraying Hillary Clinton as weak and tired. _____ 4. Four sources told our political reporters that Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman ousted last month over accusations of sexual harassment, is advising Donald Trump as he prepares for the coming presidential debates. A Trump spokeswoman issued a denial, saying the two are friends and “speak occasionally, which isn’t news. ” _____ 5. Hillary Clinton traveled to Philadelphia for a drive, bolstered by new polls showing her lead strengthening in Florida. Her campaign is spending heavily to influence early voting, which is allowed in 35 states and the District of Columbia. The first, Minnesota, begins on Sept. 23. Almost of voters cast early ballots in 2012. The F. B. I. under pressure from House Republicans, gave Congress classified documents related to its investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s private email server. _____ 6. Russia launched air attacks in Syria from an air base in Iran, becoming the first foreign military to operate from Iranian territory since at least World War II. The move could alter the political and military equation in the Middle East. The Russian military said its bombers destroyed ammunition dumps and other targets linked to the Islamic State and other groups. _____ 7. Turns out older people are pretty good life hackers. A professor of industrial design has been collecting examples: using the moldable putty Sugru to buffer furniture edges that can bruise or tear elderly skin, and snapping rubber bands around cups to increase grip. A woman who put a lazy susan in her refrigerator to ease access said, “Designers think they can put themselves in the shoes of the aging, but you don’t really know until you’ve lived with the realities. ” _____ 8. Gawker will be getting a new owner. Univision’s bid of $135 million secured the muckraking gossip site at auction, according to two people with direct knowledge of the deal. Gawker declared bankruptcy after being hit with a $140 million judgment for publishing a sex tape involving the former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. Above, Nick Denton, who founded Gawker in 2002. _____ 9. Google released Duo, a app that can place video calls between Android and iPhone users. In a jab at Apple, whose FaceTime operates only with iOS, Google’s statement said users shouldn’t have to worry “if your friend is using the same type of device as you are. ” _____ 10. Wen Hair Care, created by a Los Angeles stylist to the stars, has drawn more than 21, 000 complaints, including hair loss in women and children. Its distributor is part of a trade association bitterly fighting proposed legislation that would empower the Food and Drug Administration to test and recall cosmetics. But the proposal has the backing of the bigger players in the beauty industry, who want to regain public trust. _____ 11. Finally, this Native American chef, Sean Sherman, is unearthing and revitalizing indigenous cooking traditions that have been lost or forgotten. An Oglala Lakota, he favors chokecherries, corn silk and even chaga, the fungus that blooms on birch trees, joking about his “ . ” He plans to open a restaurant in Minneapolis next year. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

(AP) — Turkey’s minister in charge of European Union affairs says his country should consider reviewing its migration deal with the EU and relax controls on people reaching Europe over land. [advertisement

0 comments Colin Kaepernick has started a kids camp inspired by the Black Panther Party, and their popular 10 point plan and said he didn’t want the media to find out. Well I wonder why he would not want the media to find out he was taking such a far out approach with children? MAYBE his goal is to make little Black Panthers out of our youth? The NY DAILY NEWS reports: Please don’t say anything about it online,” Colin asked me a few days before the camp. “I’m not doing this for the press and I don’t want it to become a media event so that the kids and the families can feel like this is just for them.” nspired by the Black Panther Party, and their popular 10 point plan, on their 50th Anniversary, the camp created 10 rights that each child has the right to know. They were listed on the back of T-shirts given to each camper. “We’re here today to fight back and give you all lessons to combat the oppressive issues that our people face on a daily basis. We’re here to give you tools to help you succeed,” he said. “We’re going to give you knowledge on policing history, what the systems of policing in America were based on, and we’re also going to teach you skills to make sure you always make it home safely.” Why couldn’t Kaepernick just be normal and do something good for kids? Why so secretive? Why push such an extreme political agenda from an extremist group? Kaepernick could have taken another road. He has instead taken an anti-American, anti-Law Enforcement road. He has chosen the road of hate and divisiveness instead of the road of Patriotism and unity. Kaepernick wants to pass this line of reasoning on to children. insanity on many levels.

With an executive order last month and a pair of Department of Homeland Security memos on Tuesday, the Trump administration has significantly hardened the country’s policies regarding illegal immigration. Here are some of the most significant elements of the new approach: In 2014, the Obama administration issued guidelines for deporting unauthorized immigrants that placed the highest priority on gang members, felons and those who posed security threats. A goal was to concentrate limited resources on the most serious cases, but many Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents complained that the priorities tied their hands, taking away their discretion as to whom to pursue. Under the new directives, the government “no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. ” Immigration agents can now focus on picking up and removing anyone charged with or convicted of any criminal offense, even minor ones, as well as anyone already ordered deported, regardless of whether they have a criminal record. One unauthorized immigrant in California, Kristina, who did not want her last name used because of fear of deportation, said she was alarmed to learn on Tuesday that she would now be considered a prime target. Kristina has been in the country for 25 years and has been ordered deported, but her removal had been postponed for the last four years by the Obama administration. “We have our whole lives here our children are citizens,” she said. “Now I don’t know if I can go out, if I should drive. ” But the Obama guidelines “translated into de facto protections” for people with no legal right to live in the United States, said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes legalization for unauthorized immigrants. Unless they fell into one of the categories, Mr. Stein said, “the chance of being deported was virtually zero. ” Under the Obama administration, people caught crossing the border without permission were often released into the United States while their requests for asylum wound through the immigration system, a process that can take years. Most requests are denied, but by then, the immigrant has been living in the United States all that time and may not be easy to find. The Trump administration has declared an end to the catch and release policy, though it may take awhile to see any significant change. “Catch and release” came about in part because the government had nowhere to hold detainees waiting for immigration decisions. One of the memos released on Tuesday directs officials to expand detention facilities, but it will take time to build centers big enough, or find enough room in jails, to hold the thousands of Mexican and Central American asylum seekers expected to cross the border this year. The document also raises another alternative: sending migrants back to Mexico to wait out the immigration process, even those who are not originally from Mexico. That proposal comes with its own problems. Though United States law appears to allow it, Mexico’s laws do not, if the immigrant is not a Mexican citizen. Two decades ago, Congress passed a law allowing the government to quickly deport undocumented immigrants who have not been in the United States very long, without allowing them go before a judge. In practice, the government has used this process, called “expedited removal,” relatively narrowly because of concerns about whether it violates constitutional rights of due process that are granted to anyone in the United States, regardless of immigration status. Since 2002, expedited removal has been applied only to immigrants who have been in the country less than two weeks and were caught within 100 miles of the border. That is because the Supreme Court has held that such immigrants can still be considered “in transit” and not here long enough to qualify for due process protections. The Trump administration is now planning to use expedited removal as extensively as the original law allows, saying that limits on its use had contributed to a backlog of more than half a million cases in immigration court. Immigration advocates vowed to challenge the change. “Someone could be living in Chicago for a year and a half and then be swept off the street by an ICE agent,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the A. C. L. U.’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “He is going to be detained and removed right away without ever seeing a judge. ” One of the memos on Tuesday acknowledges that children who arrive at the border alone — “unaccompanied alien children,” in government parlance — are entitled to special protections: Unlike other border crossers, whom border patrol agents may deport without a legal hearing, these children must appear before an immigration judge and be interviewed by an asylum officer. Children have surged across the border in recent years, many fleeing violence and destitution in Central America. But the memo turns a sterner face to their parents, who, under the new policy, may be subject to deportation or even prosecution for enabling their children to come into the country. The memo notes that parents and relatives often pay smugglers several thousand dollars to bring their children from Central America, an act that the memo says amounts to facilitating illegal smuggling or trafficking. Immigration advocates are predicting that the policy will drive parents of migrant children further underground. With parents fearful of prosecution, advocates say, navigating the immigration process — or even showing up to court — could become much harder for these children. Some 750, 000 people who were brought into the country as children were issued work permits and temporary protection from deportation under an Obama program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Even President Trump said last week that the subject “is very, very difficult” for him and that he promised to “deal with DACA with heart. ” So far, the Trump administration has left the program alone. But chills went through the community of “Dreamers,” as DACA recipients are known, with the recent arrest of a Mexican immigrant in Washington State, Daniel Ramirez. Immigration agents arrested him when they went to his house to detain his father, a convicted drug trafficker. They said Mr. Ramirez admitted to having gang affiliations, which cancels the protection offered under DACA. But Mr. Ramirez denies having made the admission, and his lawyers are fighting his deportation. A program known as 287( g) named for its section of the Immigration and Nationality Act, allows the Department of Homeland Security to train local and state law enforcement officers to work as de facto federal immigration officers, identifying undocumented immigrants in their communities and jails and turning them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. From 2006 to 2013, the program led to 175, 000 deportations, according to federal statistics. But investigations and court rulings revealed an ugly side effect: In some jurisdictions, local officers were using their authority to racially profile Latinos. One of the most egregious cases was in Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous, during the tenure of Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, who a federal judge ruled had discriminated against Latinos in patrols and other enforcement efforts. The Obama administration curtailed the use of the program, which currently involves 32 agencies in 16 states. The Trump administration wants more agencies to take part, and some have already expressed a desire to do so. The administration is trying to significantly expand the amount of information available on the enforcement of immigration laws and, in particular, unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will establish a new office to work with the victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, some of whom appeared with Mr. Trump on the campaign trail. The office, known as Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement, or Voice, will provide victims with information about defendants’ immigration status and whether they are in jail. Significantly, funding for the office comes from reallocating “any and all resources that are currently used to advocate on behalf of illegal aliens” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE will now have to provide monthly public reports on its apprehensions and releases. The agency also has to publish a weekly report about state and local authorities that release undocumented immigrants from jails. That is a clear shot across the bow at sanctuary cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities, contending that turning in unauthorized immigrants would destroy the fragile relationship that the police have with immigrant communities. “We are going to continue our policy that has been in place because we think that it helps us have a safer, stronger, better community,” Mayor Stephanie A. Miner of Syracuse said on Tuesday. The Trump administration is already pondering ways to punish those cities by denying them some federal aid. “Now everyone is going to be able to see how many criminal aliens are being released as a result of the sanctuary policies,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports tighter controls on immigration. In January 2009, the departing Bush administration extended some Privacy Act rights, which American citizens and legal permanent residents already had, to undocumented immigrants. That meant that information obtained by one agency, like the Internal Revenue Service or Citizenship and Immigration Services, could not generally be shared with other agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One rationale for the move was to protect the personal information of immigrants who might one day become citizens covered by the Privacy Act. The Trump administration has now rescinded those privacy protections. One of the memos released on Tuesday said that those protections had been detrimental to the families of the victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, because those families could not get information about such defendants’ legal status, or whether they had been deported, leaving victims “feeling marginalized and without a voice. ” The Department of Homeland Security said it would develop new rules on the sharing of undocumented immigrants’ private information. But advocates for unauthorized immigrants said they feared that immigrants who had applied for legal status — in the process divulging they were not here legally — were now in danger of having that information used to deport them. “The constitution doesn’t traditionally allow bait and switches,” said Thomas A. Saenz, the president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, an organization that advocates for immigrants. “These are folks who submitted their information attempting to play by the rules, with part of the rules being that the government would protect their privacy. ” The memos released on Tuesday repeat Mr. Trump’s demand in his executive order for a larger enforcement force that can speed up the removal of millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States. In practice, that may play out more slowly than the president might prefer. The source of this caution is none other than John F. Kelly, the homeland security secretary, who told lawmakers this month that he did not believe it would be possible to hire the desired 15, 000 ICE and border patrol agents in the next couple of years. “I’d rather have fewer and make sure that they’re people,” Mr. Kelly told lawmakers. “I will not skimp on the training and the standards. ” On top of the stringent hiring standards and training, Border Patrol applicants are required to take a polygraph test, which nearly 60 percent fail. A previous surge in hiring under President George W. Bush resulted in dozens of corruption cases, with Border Patrol and other agents accused of taking bribes and providing information to Mexican drug cartels.

By Dr. Mark Sircus Everyone knows that there are psychopaths everywhere including in the fields of medicine and science. The greatest harm psychopaths as a group have engineered on the human race is...

DENVER — As Americans poured into airport terminals, public squares and congressional town meetings over the past month to vent their anger over President Trump’s policies, Debbie Dooley started hearing from fellow conservatives. “Phone call after phone call from people: ‘Why aren’t we out supporting President Trump? ’” said Ms. Dooley, a Tea Party activist in Georgia. So on Monday, conservatives around the country got out the Make America Great Again hats, unfurled American flags and held rallies at state capitols and on courthouse steps, seeking to rekindle the populist fervor that helped vault Mr. Trump to the White House and stick up for a president whose approval ratings have taken a beating during five weeks in office. But the modest crowds that showed up for the noontime rallies from New Jersey to Georgia to Colorado offered a reminder of what liberal groups learned eight years ago in the face of Tea Party anger at President Barack Obama: Stoking energy is often easier for the outraged resistance than for the party pulling the levers in Washington. “I’m getting a lot of comments from the leftists about, ‘Your crowd’s not going to be as big as our crowd,’” said Betty Blanco, a retired teacher from La Junta, Colo. on the state’s conservative eastern plains, who organized a rally on the steps of the State Capitol. “I didn’t know it was a contest. ” About 150 Trump supporters turned out for Monday’s rally in Denver, held just across the street from a park that had swelled with tens of thousands of protesters as part of the Women’s March on Jan. 21. Organizers said Monday’s rallies, held a day before the president addresses a joint session of Congress, bubbled up organically from Trump supporters who felt he was being treated unfairly by Democrats and the news media. Some people said the ferocity of that criticism had actually nudged them closer to Mr. Trump. “I was mad at Trump for a while, absolutely,” said Steve Foose, a bus driver in Middletown, N. J. and former Democrat who joined about 200 people waving signs and flags along the curb of a crossroads. “I just grew to like him, and I would lay down my life for him. ” Monday’s rallies were filled with prayer, choruses of “God Bless America” and speeches about cutting taxes and regulations. People applauded the president and veterans, and urged one another to stay positive. But there were also chants of “Lock her up!” every so often, and a few shouting matches when Trump critics wandered by and yelled at the crowds. People praised Mr. Trump for actions that have provoked protests and lawsuits from the left. In interviews at five rallies on Monday, his supporters said that he was breaking the china in Washington, cracking down on immigration and supporting American businesses, and that they were getting frustrated that more people did not seem to see it that way. In Atlanta, Jermane Enoch, 57, a project manager from Powder Springs, Ga. was among the few in a largely white crowd of 200 who rallied on the president’s behalf at Liberty Plaza, in the shadow of the State Capitol. Wearing a red Trump hat, a patriotic bow tie and a Trump Mr. Enoch said that good businesspeople would understand why Monday’s rallies across the country were needed, given what he said was the “negative messaging” from protesters and the news media. “It’s necessary to have a show of continuous support, just like it’s necessary for businesses to show continuous improvement,” he said. Mr. Enoch argued that the president had been mischaracterized and misunderstood. The idea that Mr. Trump is a racist, as some critics contend, struck him as balderdash. In a turn at the microphone, Mr. Enoch said his support for Mr. Trump superseded race, and he urged a return to conservative values. Mr. Enoch brandished a pocket Constitution, to much applause. And he took a cue from Isaiah as he said Mr. Trump’s supporters should not be cowed by counterprotest: “I am not afraid!” he said. “No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper!” RICHARD FAUSSET In Mandeville, a city in one of Louisiana’s most conservative parishes, there was some question as to how many Trump supporters would materialize, this being the usually quiet eve of Mardi Gras. But there was little doubt that those who showed up — 150 or so bikers, retirees, police officers and others — would be in their support for a president who won the parish by roughly three to one. A home remodeler and disc jockey who uses the name Bobby Blaze made the most entrance, wearing a suit over his leather “Brotherhood of Bikers” vest, a bright red tie with a gold clip and, to top it all off, a Trump wig. He said that his father, a World War II veteran who died two years ago, would have loved Mr. Trump: “‘The country needs John Wayne,’ that’s what he used to say. ” And after aiding its allies around the globe for decades, Mr. Blaze suggested, the United States had finally gotten such a leader at a time when it needed him most. “We can’t help the world,” he said, “till we can help ourselves first. ” CAMPBELL ROBERTSON In Cabarrus County, N. C. which Mr. Trump easily carried, more than 150 of his supporters met up outside the courthouse in Concord, many of them unfurling last year’s Trump campaign flags, lawn signs and red caps — though a surprising number said they had never attended a Trump rally during the presidential race. Bill Cagle, a retiree, decided to attend on Monday after seeing a deluge of news coverage of demonstrations in the streets and at congressional town halls. “I said, ‘Well, we’ve been silent long enough, and we’ve really got to say what’s in the heart,’ when I saw all of this vitriol the last six weeks,” Mr. Cagle said. An operations manager for a company that builds towers for lines, Mr. Cagle said he was a registered Democrat but had not voted for the party’s presidential ticket in decades. He said he maintained his registration only to vote against what he considered the worst option in a primary race. “What he’s done in a little bit of time, I think is great,” he said of Mr. Trump, noting in particular his efforts to roll back regulations. “I’ve been in business, and by golly, if they can get rid of some of that, it’s great. ” TRIP GABRIEL On the edges of the Denver crowd, two men exemplified the devotion and the dread that the president inspires. Ron Kamstra, a retired civil engineer and Christian who said he deeply supported Mr. Trump’s stances on terrorism and immigration, handed out photocopied passages of the Quran that he said encouraged violence. Mohamed Mashkooke, an accountant born in Somalia, wandered up to Mr. Kamstra and said he was growing increasingly worried about becoming the target of racist attacks — like the shooting last week of two Indian men in Kansas. Cordially at first, but then increasingly tensely, the men argued about religion, immigration, faith and the validity of Mr. Obama’s birth certificate. (Despite all of the facts, Mr. Kamstra is still dubious.) “I don’t hate Trump,” Mr. Mashkooke said finally, walking away, “but I think he’s crazy. ” “O. K. good,” Mr. Kamstra replied, and turned back to the speeches. JACK HEALY

Share on Twitter The battle of campaign rallies has been going strong throughout the 2016 presidential election, with both candidates amassing pretty large crowds. Just last month, the Washington Post compared two separate September rallies for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Trump's had a crowd of 15,000, at his Sept. 27th rally in Melbourne, Florida: Unbelievable evening in Melbourne, Florida w/ 15,000 supporters- and an additional 12,000 who could not get in. Thank you! #TrumpTrain #MAGA pic.twitter.com/2N3Xq7AGmx — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2016 ...while Clinton had a crowd of roughly 1,400 people in Raleigh, North Carolina, that same day: Hillary Clinton rallies in Raleigh, NC the day after the debate pic.twitter.com/pvWndH0zlK — Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) September 27, 2016 It appears as though Fox Business reporter Adam Shapiro felt the need to compare Trump and Hillary's crowd attendance, too. At a West Palm Beach rally Wednesday, Shapiro said there appeared to be roughly a thousand Hillary supporters at Palm Beach State College, which was a sizable difference to Trump's rally the day before: "It's nowhere near the size of the crowd we saw in Sanford, Florida yesterday for Mr. Trump — 15,000. Take a look, Stewart [camera pans crowd]. There's maybe 1,000 to 2,000 people here today. The Clinton rallies tend to be much smaller and you can see there's empty space here." Image Credit: Screenshot/ YouTube He just couldn't stop talking about it, adding that if they were covering a Trump rally, the room would be “packed.” Though Shapiro took a dig at the Democratic nominee for her apparently “empty” rally, those who were in attendance still sang “Happy Birthday” to her.

The fiction podcast is having a moment. But modern audio dramatists have been turning out intriguing scripted podcasts for several years, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. Take a guided tour through the past, present and future of audio drama with these fictional standouts. “The Truth” bills itself as “movies for your ears. ” This anthology series, which tells stories through subtle sound effects and naturalistic acting, was ahead of its time at its 2012 debut. Typically, each episode places new characters into short capsule tales. But recently “The Truth” introduced an series, “Songonauts,” about musicians in a struggling band who are unexpectedly transported into their own songs. Listen here. “Welcome to Night Vale,” which also began in 2012, takes the form of a darkly funny radio show, broadcast from a town where every conspiracy theory is true. Its vibe — just a narrator, a script and some music — is matched by its bizarre storytelling form. At first, listening to “Welcome to Night Vale” feels like tuning into a disoriented beat poetry session, but with every episode, listeners get drawn closer into this community, its characters and their strange dealings. Listen here. “Limetown” is a 2015 podcast that follows the story of a radio reporter with American Public Radio, who sets out to solve the sudden and mysterious disappearance of 300 people in a Tennessee town. Though it’s one of several fictional podcasts released last year to borrow the aesthetics of the podcast “Serial,” this one is still an exciting debut from Productions, an upstart fiction podcast studio that’s poised to expand with a slate of scripted series next year. Listen here. “The Message” is the first fiction series to come out of a partnership between the podcast network Panoply and the sponsor, General Electric. The collaboration is branded G. E. Podcast Theater, harking back to the old, Ronald radio and television anthology series General Electric Theater. “The Message” felt more moneyed than many of early fiction podcasts, boasting cinematic sound design and a tense plot that felt borrowed from peak TV, and it was rewarded with a No. 1 slot on the iTunes charts last year. Listen here. “Alice Isn’t Dead,” a haunting new tale from the creators of “Welcome to Night Vale,” was released earlier this year under their new podcast imprint, Night Vale Presents. “Alice Isn’t Dead” follows a woman as she sets out on a frightening and fantastical road trip in an effort to track down her missing wife. Listen here. “The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air),” the latest offering from Night Vale Presents, is a surreal series set in the world of an absurdist variety show. Created by Julian Koster of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, the series features John Cameron Mitchell alongside guest stars like Tim Robbins (who voices a cricket) and Mandy Patinkin (who sings). Listen here. “A Night Called Tomorrow” stars James Urbaniak, the actor and host of the beloved monthly podcast “Getting On. ” This noirish scripted series, which also features comedy luminaries like Andy Richter and “Weird Al” Yankovic, is being released exclusively through Howl, an audio subscription service that offers up dozens of nonfiction podcasts, original fiction pieces and comedy albums for $4. 99 a month. Listen here. “Fruit” comes from the mind of Issa Rae — the creative force behind the YouTube series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” and the new HBO comedy “Insecure. ” It tells the intimate story of an athlete, known only as “X,” who grapples with issues of sexuality in the hypermasculine world of pro football. This is another Howl subscription offering Season 2 had its debut last month. Listen here. “LifeAfter,” the second scripted series from Panoply and GE Podcast Theater, is a piece that plays with ideas of life, death and artificial intelligence. Its vibe recalls the grounded technodystopias of “Black Mirror” and “Her. ” It has its premiere on Sunday, Nov. 13. Subscribe here. “Homecoming” is the first scripted podcast from Gimlet Media, home to series like “Reply All” and “StartUp,” and is billed as a “psychological thriller” and cast with actors. Oscar Isaac and Catherine Keener play an army vet and his therapist who come together as part of a strange and new government program. David Schwimmer, David Cross and Amy Sedaris also appear. Subscribe here in advance of the premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 16. “Serendipity” is a preview of audio drama’s future. Every month the hosts, Anne Heppermann and Martin Johnson, celebrate innovative audio fiction from around the world. Listen here.

This summer, I went on a tour with my movie “Don’t Think Twice,” a comedy about an improv group that has to decide whether to stay in show business when one member is plucked for a “Saturday Night Live” type of show. At every Q. and A. session for the movie, people would ask the same question: “If I want to be a comedian [or actor or writer or improviser or film director] how do I get started?” The truth is they should probably pick someone more successful to ask — I make small films, small shows Off Broadway and small comedy specials for Netflix — but I’m the person who showed up to talk to them. And now I’m the person offering you unsolicited advice — so if you don’t need it or want it, this is not for you. Anyway, I’ve boiled my answer down to six ideas. 1. DON’T WAIT Write. Make a short film. Go to an open mike. Take an improv class. There’s no substitute for actually doing something. Don’t talk about it anymore. Maybe don’t even finish reading this essay. 2. FAIL Don’t worry about failing. There’s a great video where Ira Glass explains that when you start in a new field, your work won’t be as good as your taste. It will take years for your taste and the quality of your work to intersect. (If ever!) Failure is essential. There’s no substitute for it. It’s not just encouraged but required. The bedrock of all good pieces of writing is 10 bad drafts. Maybe 20. I wrote 12 drafts of “Don’t Think Twice,” 14 drafts of my first movie, “Sleepwalk With Me,” and worked on my first show for six years. My first set on “Late Show With David Letterman” in 2002 was mined from three hours of material that I had tried and failed with for six years. 3. LEARN FROM THE FAILURE This is where it becomes important to find a community of people you respect. People who have good taste. People who might not be good at something themselves but know what good is. They might be in a theater company, at an improv school, or live in your dorm. They aren’t the easiest thing to find. When I was in college, every Wednesday I drove my girlfriend Maggie’s Ford Taurus to an open mike at a Best Western 40 minutes away, to enter a lottery of 30 comedians trying to win one of the nine spots to perform in front of the other angry 21 comedians. It sucked. People didn’t like my comedy there. I didn’t love theirs. It wasn’t a fit. But then I got a job working as a door person at the DC Improv comedy club in Washington, and that was a fit. Around the same time, I was cast in my college improv group. So all at once, I met people whom I could bounce jokes and ideas off of. They’d give me candid feedback, and I tried to listen. I wasn’t great at it at first. It’s hard to hear criticism. But I’ve learned that harsh feedback, constructive feedback, even weird, random feedback, is all helpful, if you know the essence of what you’re trying to convey. I once heard an interview where Ron Howard said that he tests the rough cuts of his movies with a ton of audiences. He doesn’t do it to be told what the movie’s vision should be, but to understand whether his vision is coming across. If not, he makes changes. Your vision is not being conveyed a majority of the time. With “Don’t Think Twice,” I workshopped the script like the way I workshop my standup: I invited friends over to read it out loud in my living room and then fed them pizza. The pizza was excellent. The script often wasn’t. So I’d get my friends all drunk on pizza and then ask them hard questions like: “What do you like least about the script? Be honest. I can take it. ” That’s where I learned the most. 4. MAYBE QUIT You might not be meant to be a writer or performer or improviser. You might be meant to teach kids math or raise money for a food bank or start a company that makes Rubik’s Cubes for babies. Don’t rule out quitting. There is going to be an insane amount of work ahead, and your time might be spent better elsewhere. There was a great column in The New York Times recently where Angela Duckworth writes, “Rather than ask, ‘What do I want to be when I grow up?’ ask, ‘In what way do I wish the world were different? What problem can I help solve?’ This puts the focus where it should be — on how you can serve other people. ” 5. BE BOLD ENOUGH TO MAKE STUFF THAT’S SMALL BUT GREAT Eight years ago, I made a network sitcom pilot based on my life. It was a dream come true. A sitcom about my life? What could be better than that for a standup comedian? Well, it didn’t get picked up. I was devastated. But here’s the kicker: Failing to get that sitcom was the single greatest stroke of luck that’s happened in my entire career. The show wasn’t truly my comedic voice. It was watered down by network and studio notes to the point of being like dozens of other bland sitcoms. After that, I no longer wanted to create projects for the Hollywood gatekeepers. The networks. The studios. Since then, I’ve created a handful of pieces for “This American Life,” three Off Broadway shows, toured hundreds of cities around the world, and written, directed and starred in two feature films. All outside the system. Based on that work, I’ve been offered small movie roles by people who work inside the system. Which is to say: Leaving the system behind and creating something of your own may actually be thing that gets you into the system, hopefully on your own terms. The point is, forget the gatekeepers. As far as I’m concerned, what you create in a improv theater in Phoenix can be far more meaningful than a mediocre sitcom being by seven million people. America doesn’t need more stuff. We need more great stuff. You could make that. 6. CLEVERNESS IS OVERRATED, AND HEART IS UNDERRATED Plus, there are fewer people competing for heart, so you have a better chance of getting noticed. Sometimes people say, “One thing you have to offer in your work is yourself. ” I disagree. I think it’s the only thing.

It is no longer a question of whether or not financial markets and the U.S. economy will collapse. That, according to a host of experts, both mainstream and alternative, is a given. The only question now is “when” that moment will come. According to Christine Hughes, chief investment strategist at Otterwood Capital , it will be very soon. Basing her assessment on historically dead-on yield curve analysis, Hughes says in her latest update to clients that we’re looking at a maximum breaking point of 2020, but that some time in the next 12 – 15 months is the more likely scenario, which pegs the next crisis right at the beginning of 2018 . First, the chart, which has been near perfect in its accuracy thus far and shows just how rapidly the yield curve has collapsed in the last 12 months: Hughes explains what it means for you and why you can expect 2018 to be the year of reckoning: As the bond market sees a recession slower growth means lower interest rates and it [the yield curve] collapses. So let’s assume we’re like every other time in history and that happens. Then it moves forward to 2018… So, 2018, according to the yield curve, is pretty much the last gasp we have for this economic cycle. We’re closing in on 2016 now… we basically have a year… maybe a year to 15 months before we have the next crisis on our hands. So if you are levered personally or corporately… if a lot of your assets are in illiquid stuff… the Canadian housing market comes to mind… You might want to think about existing and liquefying yourself. Watch the video report: Wolf Richter of Wolf Street explains why the Treasury Yield Curve is so important: Since early July, the 30-year US Treasury Bond Price Index has plunged 8.3%. It’s now called “the rout” in longer-dated government bonds. One of the specters is rising inflation at a time of ultra-low yields. What has become the number one predictor of a bear market in stocks over the past many decades? The US Treasury yield curve. It drives bank lending – which can strangle the economy. But this time, the risks are much higher, and the potential economic consequences steeper. We know it is only a matter of time at this point. Greg Mannarino of Traders Choice has made similar warnings, noting that the bond markets are signaling a massive crash ahead. And when that crash finally takes place the fall out after the debt bubble bursts, according to Mannarino, could lead to extremely serious consequences: So, when the debt bubble bursts we’re going to get a correction in population. It’s a mathematical certainty. Millions upon millions of people are going to die on a world-wide scale when the debt bubble bursts. And I’m saying when not if… … When resources become more and more scarce we’re going to see countries at war with each other. People will be scrambling… in a worst case scenario… doing everything that they can to survive… to provide for their family and for themselves. There’s no way out of it. If Mannarino and Hughes are right, you have about a year to get ready for the next leg of the collapse . Article reposted with permission from SHTF Plan Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook , Google Plus , & Twitter . You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here .

IQUITOS, Peru — Venezuela took its strongest step yet toward rule under the leftist President Nicolás Maduro as his loyalists on the Supreme Court seized power from the National Assembly in a ruling late Wednesday night. The ruling effectively dissolved the elected legislature, which is led by Mr. Maduro’s opponents, and allows the court to write laws itself, experts said. The move caps a year in which the last vestiges of Venezuela’s democracy have been torn down, critics and regional leaders say, leaving what many now describe as not just an authoritarian regime, but an outright dictatorship. “What we have warned of has finally come to pass,” said Luis Almagro, the head of the Organization of American States, a regional diplomacy group that includes Venezuela and is investigating the country for violating the bloc’s Democratic Charter. Mr. Almagro called the move a “ coup,” a term used in Latin America to denote takeovers typical of the 1990s in Guatemala and Peru — but virtually in the region today. Recent months have seen a swift consolidation of power by Mr. Maduro as scores of political prisoners have been detained without trial, protesters violently repressed and local elections postponed. In taking power from the National Assembly, the ruling removed what most consider to be the only remaining counterbalance to the president’s growing power in the country. The court said that lawmakers were “in a situation of contempt,” and that while that lasted, the justices themselves would step in to “ensure that parliamentary powers were exercised directly by this chamber, or by the body that the chamber chooses. ” It did not say whether it might hand power back. Members of the National Assembly denounced the ruling on Thursday. “They have kidnapped the Constitution, they have kidnapped our rights, they have kidnapped our liberty,” said Julio Borges, the opposition lawmaker who heads the body, holding a crumpled copy of the ruling before reporters on Thursday. Oneida Guaipe, an opposition lawmaker from the country’s central coast, said the body would continue to do its work, even if its laws would now be ignored when it produced legislation. “This is demonstrating before the world the authoritarianism here,” she said. “The people chose us through a popular vote. ” The ruling was also a challenge to Venezuela’s neighbors, which met in Washington this week to put pressure on the country to hold elections, and to discuss a possible expulsion of Venezuela from the O. A. S. on the grounds that the country is not democratic. Last week, the United States, Canada and a dozen of Latin America’s largest nations called for Mr. Maduro to recognize the National Assembly’s powers, a rare joint statement that reflected deep impatience with his government. “We consider it a serious setback for democracy in Venezuela,” the United States State Department said on Thursday of the court decision. Peru withdrew its ambassador in protest. David Smilde, an analyst from the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy group, said it might now be up to Venezuela’s neighbors to encourage the country to hold elections again, given resistance from within the government. “The Maduro government seems to have no intention of respecting the basic elements of electoral democracy,” he said. Critics say a long litany of other moves by the government are taking a toll on Venezuela’s democracy. Perhaps most visible to Venezuelans was an effort last year to hold a recall referendum against the president, whose popularity is sinking along with the country’s collapsing economy. While such a referendum was permitted by the country’s Constitution, and highly favored in polls, Mr. Maduro alternatively called the effort illegal or a coup staged by his opponents. In October, a lower court suspended the process on the grounds that there had been irregularities in the gathering of signatures. Meanwhile, political prisoners continued to be arrested. In January, Mr. Maduro established a new “ commando” to round up political dissidents accused of treason. The group has taken aim at members of the opposition, arresting many, including a city councilman from central Venezuela and a deputy lawmaker in the National Assembly. In February, after CNN en Español, the network’s Spanish language channel, broadcast an investigation that linked Venezuela’s vice president to a passport fraud scheme in the Middle East, Mr. Maduro ordered the channel off the air. The government has blocked the Caracas bureau chief of The New York Times from entering the country since October. But to many, the gradual assault against the National Assembly, more than a year in the making, was the most telling sign of democratic erosion in Venezuela. “It has come in fragments,” Carlos Ayala Corao, a Venezuelan lawyer and legal analyst, said of the court’s actions against the legislature. “They have been slicing it in pieces. ” The conflicts began in December 2015, when rising grievances about the country’s faltering economy propelled Mr. Maduro’s opposition to win control of the legislature. It was the first time in years that the chamber was not dominated by the movement founded by the former leftist President Hugo Chávez. Mr. Maduro initially said he accepted the vote. He even appeared before opposition lawmakers to give his annual address on the state of the government in January of last year. But the Supreme Court, packed with loyalists to Mr. Maduro shortly before the National Assembly took power, was chipping away at the chamber’s powers. It refused to let it seat four lawmakers on the grounds that there had been voting irregularities. That denied the opposition of a supermajority, which would have given it expanded powers over Mr. Maduro. The National Assembly went back and forth on the ruling, but eventually complied. As the National Assembly began to get to work, it continued to clash with the court. By last spring, the legislature had written laws delivering on campaign promises like one measure to invigorate the economy and another to free more than 100 political prisoners, only to see the court overturn them as unconstitutional. When Mr. Maduro tried to increase his own powers under a state of emergency that he declared, the legislature rejected the effort. But the court sided with the president. In October, the court stripped the National Assembly of its power to review the annual budget, leaving Mr. Maduro in charge of the country’s purse strings. More recently, legislators tried to block the president from pursuing oil ventures without their approval. In Wednesday’s ruling stripping the National Assembly of its lawmaking powers, the court said the president had the right to make these oil deals. It said its ruling was justified by the Assembly’s choice to keep the lawmakers onboard whose elections had been questioned earlier. This act, it said, rendered the Assembly itself invalid. With few protesters in the streets of Caracas on Thursday, it was unclear what popular support the opposition might get from the public. Analysts say many Venezuelans feel as dispirited by the opposition as by leftist leaders, given the opposition’s continued defeat by the government. Opposition leaders called for protests on Saturday and in the coming week but have been unable to draw large crowds since last fall. John Magdaleno, a political consultant, said he expected a wider crackdown against the opposition from Mr. Maduro in coming weeks, and possibly more arrests. “In my opinion, from now on, there will be growing pressures against lawmakers,” he said, “and it’s probable there will be much greater persecution of political leaders. ”

Whether it's John McCain, Mitt Romney or Donald Trump, Democrats always run 'War on Women' tactic to destroy the Republican candidate Natural News Editors Tags: war on women , democrats , campaign tactic (NaturalNews) Single women are a crucial element of the Democrat constituency, pushed to the polls with a crude combination of scare tactics and pandering that would be comical if it wasn't so effective in election after election. We may pause to remark that Republicans should have been much more prepared for this in 2016, but we should also look back to 2012 because it was used in 2012, regardless of how absurd it was to suggest Mitt Romney was leading a "War on Women."(Article written by John Howard, republished from Breitbart.com )Even some liberals are recognizing the absurdity, given the emergence of "Strange New Respect" for Romney this year. Of course this new respect is pure political opportunism — and don't be surprised to hear liberals complaining in future election that the conservative Republican presidential candidate isn't as candid and relaxed about social issues as Donald Trump was in the good old days of 2016.We should practice a little political opportunism of our own, and put the Left's revised opinion of Romney to good use. What they said about him was absurd in almost every respect. They've wholeheartedly embraced his position on the geopolitical threat of Russia, which means they're tacitly admitting Barack Obama didn't know what the hell he was talking about. They razz Trump about not paying enough taxes, but they didn't care a whit that Romney paid stupendous amounts of tax, plus vast charitable contributions.Most pertinently, they turned Mitt Romney into a misogynist clod, and his wife Ann Romney into an out-of-touch Stepford Wife, on the thinnest of pretexts. Lefty polemicists today are acting like they were possessed by political demons when they spent the final weeks of the 2012 campaign shrieking about "binders full of women ," and now they can't quite remember what they were going on about.As for Mrs. Romney, she was unceremoniously stripped of her feminine identity by liberals and treated like a space alien because she dared to endorse stay-at-home motherhood. When a mild backlash ensued, the White House memorably denied one of its slander ninja by claiming to know several different people with the same name. [1, 2]In the Democrat imagination and campaign ads, Republicans are constantly targeting American woman. You can draw a straight line from Anita Hill's hit on Clarence Thomas in the Nineties, to "journalist" George Stephanopoulos ambushing the Republican presidential field with a bizarre question about contraceptives in the 2012 primary.It's all pure opportunism, not principle. Romney was a choirboy, so they claimed his policies revealed his secret inner misogynist beast. Trump's policies include a family-leave plan, a culture-war cease-fire declared by Peter Thiel at the GOP convention, and an unease with late-term abortion that tracks with the majority of the country. There's precious little that could be twisted into a War on Women narrative, even by the people who used Sandra Fluke to portray spending ten bucks on contraceptives as the equivalent of female slavery. Therefore, the Left ignores Trump's policies and hits his character, while Bill Freakin' Clinton gets ready to move back into the White House.In the Nineties, Democrats argued that Clinton's sexual abuses had nothing to do with how he governed, so discussing them was a silly distraction we all needed to MoveOn.org from, even when he was in the dock for perjury. Liberals of that election cycle laughed out loud at the notion Bill Clinton's libido had any effect whatsoever on national policy. He was good for the abortion industry, so his treatment of actual women was irrelevant.Partisan feminism is at a strange crossroads, as the core feminist message of independence clashes with victim politics. Women are supposed to simultaneously feel strong, capable... and be utterly helpless before systemic male chauvinism. They can only achieve personal "independence" through total dependence on the Big Government, which is staffed and managed by the only men in America who supposedly aren't looking to exploit them. (You're not to think about the bureaucrats who keep getting caught surfing for pornography on government computers.) [3]The great left-wing project to rewire society in defiance of biology has saddled America with devastating social problems, but that's not a problem for the social engineers. Indeed, it's more of a feature than a bug.Everything from illegitimacy, to crime, to the enormous difficulty of raising children as a single mom becomes another opportunity for them to push increased government power on a fearful, atomized population, which is rapidly losing its ability to form non-government voluntary structures of enduring social value, such as thriving small businesses and stable marriages.The dirty little secret known to the Left all along, but denied vociferously by them until their plans were fully up and running, is that most of these societal changes hit women harder, due to everything from their voluntary career choices, to the realities of child-rearing.So in the world liberals have made, single women become more anxious than ever, about everything from campus rape to the "implicit bias" of a systematically misogynist workplace, and they rush to government for protection from the harms caused by that abusive government.Read more at: Breitbart.com

On the Thursday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will continue our discussion of President Trump’s first 100 days. [Breitbart Financial Editor John Carney will discuss the Trump stock market boom, as the Dow Jones industrial average hit 21, 000 points on Wednesday following President Trump’s address to a Joint Session of Congress. Dan Caldwell, Director of Policy for Concerned Veterans of America, will discuss the VA Accountability Act. Tom Giovanetti, the President of Institute for Policy Innovation, will discuss his recent on the Email Privacy Act. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show “the conservative news show of record. ” Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: .

President Barack Obama will likely release more prisoners from the U. S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, before incoming Donald Trump takes over on January 20, the White House press secretary reiterated on Thursday. [That same day, reports confirmed that the U. S. transferred four detainees to Saudi Arabia. The Daily Mail has placed the number of 11th hour transfers at 22, including the four recently sent to Saudi Arabia, adding that the group of prisoners who are expected to be released will include jihadists who have threatened to behead and bomb Americans. Prior to the Daily Mail article and recent transfers, the number of prisoners who are expected to be set free by the time Obama leaves the White House varied by news agencies, ranging from 17 to 19, a move that would reduce the current detainee population at the Guantánamo facility to between 40 and 42. On Thursday, Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, told reporters: I am not able to speak to any specific detainee transfers between now and January 20th other than to confirm for you that there are likely to be some. And whenever those transfers take place, once they have been completed, we announce them publicly. And that will continue to be our approach through January 20th. And my expectation is that there will be some additional announcements of that type. Asked about the risk of detainees in terrorist activity against the United States, Earnest boasted that only nine of the prisoners transferred since Obama took office have been confirmed by the intelligence community as having returned to militant activity, compared to 21 percent (113 of 532) under the previous administration, a figure often touted by Democrats. However, Earnest failed to mention that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) figure (nine) that he highlights refers to as of July 2016, when 161 detainees had been released by Obama, not the 183 he mentioned on Thursday. The nine confirmed includes one deceased detainee and accounts for six percent of the 161 prisoners who had been released under Obama as of July 2016. Moreover, the number of prisoners released before 2009 exceeds those liberated under Obama more than (3. 3) which may account for the higher rate of confirmed under George W. Bush. The White House spokesman attributed the low percentage of under Obama to the president’s panel, known as the Periodic Review Board (PRB) that has cleared for release all the prisoners transferred out after 2009, including “forever prisoners,” or those believed to be too dangerous to release. “Since President Obama took office, and since these reforms were initiated, nine detainees have been confirmed by the intelligence community of reengaging in the fight,” Earnest said on Thursday. “Considering that we have released 183 detainees during President Obama’s time in office, a little math would indicate that our percentage is much better, and it’s a result of the reforms that President Obama instituted on his first day in office. ” According to ODNI, 20 out of 161 detainees (12 percent) had been confirmed (nine) or suspected (11) to have returned to terrorist activities under Obama’s watch as of July 2016. Under the Bush administration, 188 out of 532 (35 percent) are confirmed (113) or suspected (75) to have in terrorism. When taken as a whole, if there were 20 detainees confirmed or suspected to have in terrorism for every 161 detainees released under Bush like during the Obama administration, the overall rate of terror returnees before 2009 would be closer to 40 percent, not 35. In late December, the Chicago Tribune, citing U. S. officials, reported that the Obama administration has shared its plans with Congress to transfer out as many as 19 detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Of the 55 prisoners still held at Gitmo, 18 have been cleared for release by Obama’s PRB and more than half (27) are considered “forever prisoners,” or too dangerous to release. Nevertheless, Obama has already released prisoners who had been designated too dangerous to release. The remaining 10 prisoners are believed to still be undergoing war crimes proceedings at military commissions, including at least six who were facing death penalty tribunals as of late last year. On Friday, the Pentagon announced that four detainees — Salem Ahmad Hadi Bin Kanad, Muhammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim, Abdallah Yahya Yusif and Muhammad Ali Abdallah Muhammad Bwazir — had been transferred to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All four detainees are from Yemen, which shares a border with Saudi Arabia. At least two individuals — Kanad and Ghanim — had been linked to the Taliban when they were apprehended and taken to the Guantánamo prison, also known as Gitmo. Meanwhile, the Bwazir has been directly linked to Osama bin Laden. also affiliated with was born in Saudi Arabia, but is a citizen of Yemen, according to the U. S. military. In December 2007, the U. S. military deemed him “a HIGH risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies. ”

License DMCA A mandala is a visual symbol often utilized in meditation practices and teachings. The mandala symbol itself is a geometric construction of points, lines, planes and solids symbolizing the universe. Mandalas are geometric designs depictive of the universe specifically. Other designs are similarly meditation tools, but may not be mandalas specifically. The visually conceived geometric symbols are visual meditation tools. A visual meditation tool is called a yantra. Mandalas and all other yantras are visual meditation points of concentration. Yantras are visual meditative tools similar in value to points of concentration. The image above is the sri yantra, sri meaning king or most important. A mantra is the audio version of a mandala. A mantra is an audio meditation tool. Whether the sound of the mantra is a single syllable tone or a series of lengthy metaphysical musings, a mantra is an audio meditation tool. Mantras, as sound vibration, are wavy linear vibrations of connection. The terms asana and mudra both reference physical positioning. An asana is a body posture as a meditation tool, and a mudra is a hand gesture or posture as a meditation tool. Asanas and mudras enable our own bodies to become a geometric representation of a meditation tool. The postures are physical meditation tools transforming self into one's own geometric figure or plane among the space and sensitive to the space of self and surroundings. Tantra means unification, or looming/weaving together principles and practices, instruction and individual action. Tantra unites entirety. Tantra signifies confluence and integration; a fusion. It is Sanskrit for loom, the device which weaves together string into cloth. It is an ancient word with many properties and has been variously used to describe the knots of strings weaved together in a rug, and the cord on which sacred mala bead necklaces were strung, (Mala beads are Tibetan prayer necklaces of 108 beads used to assist mentally or vocally repeating a mantra 108 times.) and practices of unification of individual with the universal. Today the word tantra is often used in reference to the union of lovemaking. Though there is also a specific type of yoga called Tantra Yoga it means unification. There is the potentiation of the unification of principle and practice. There is the potentiation of tantra of yantra, mantra and asana. And there is certainly the lesson of the potentiation of Yin Yang tantra. The combination of Yin and Yang potentials and energies within leads to all sorts of aspects of development. This can be energetically understood in the idea that there are only two types of energies, straight and circular, straight for Yang potentials and circular for Yin potentials. It can be understood on a tangible level that rest and work are both required. When straight and circular energies combine, a spiral results. A spiral is one of, if not the highest expressions of energy. More broadly and generally, tantra notes a mutually accepted connection, a tied knot of intertwined being, like lovemaking, but not necessarily beginning with or limited to the act of lovemaking. Humanity itself is a tantra; a fused weaving knot or many strings, of many instructions and many individuals. - Advertisement - Essentially tantra is spiritual understanding of the relationship and connections between individuation and universal energies. An ancient spiritual philosophy preceding both Buddhism and Hinduism, tantra represents integration, unifying the macrocosm with the microcosm, the universal and the individual, the feminine and the masculine, the Yin and the Yang. It also refers to integrative knowledge and its continuation and building refinement through the interaction of teacher and student, signifying union and fusion; the acceptance, integration and transmutation of knowledge between individuals, like the string of life. Tantric ideas enhance and explore metaphysical merging of ideas and energies. Tantra is the merging of the physical and spiritual, through the merging of the conceptual. In essence, Tantra is the integration of yantra (the philosophy of visual symbols), mantra (communication of audio symbolism) and mudra (our very physical posturing) each of which is important on their own and increasing so when intertwined aspects of yoga, and life. Tantra unites meditation practices and enhances the individual unity expansion with entirety of the universal. There is not necessarily the need for a specific yantra, or specific mantra, or specific asana in meditation, however each are tools that can be used and considered, and most are most powerful when practiced in unified tantric manner, or tantric mind state. A tantric mind state recognizes unity expansion and aims toward it, rather than cultivating a mind state of separation. No matter how one approaches meditation the unifying tantra of our meditation principles and practices bring about the unity expansion of yantra no matter. No matter our level of refinement of posture, we are always in an asana, no matter if we utilize mantra, or yantra, we for th most part still see and hear and those who cannot can still concentrate and connect. And no matter the mantra, yantra or asana, it is the principles behind and pertaining to the symbolism that contains the real power, the highest potential for tantric connection. Yantras, mantras and asanas establish your sacred space and sacred perimeter and uniting with entirety in tantric balance. Seed of Buddha Meditation - Advertisement - One of my favorite meditations relates to the four dimensions of geometry, but is extracted from Buddhist lessons. It is one of the most powerful meditations I have learned and as I learned it, Buddha himself practiced and taught this meditation. I learned this meditation from a Tibetan Buddhist monk from Nepal before I considered the four dimensions of geometry applied to meditation. On later examination however the components of the meditation relate to the four dimensions of geometry. This meditation is direct and simple, but can lead to infinitely complex profound lessons. The profundity of each of the ideas in this meditation cannot be understated. And each of the concepts has been elaborated on endlessly for centuries since Buddha, and so the presentation here is of course a simplification of the ideas and processes that might be endlessly explored and refined. And that is what meditation is all about really, our own personal inward exploration and refinement. To begin, sit in a comfortable cross legged position on a meditation pillow. Sit for a time to simply settle into absorption and relaxation, focusing on the breath. The rhythm of the following meditation consists of mindfulness of an idea followed by mindfulness of no idea, where as much as possible we think on nothingness. The nothingness gives us a chance to relax, compared to processing the series of ideas which can all be quite intense. The process can be done in any time period. The point is to cover each idea as deeply as can be, given time or mental state circumstances. The meditation is formed from important Buddhist concepts. Many meditations are derived from such teachings, Buddhist and otherwise, so that there are lessons in a sense for the secular, and meditation practitioners.

There is a minefield of potential 2020 election candidates in the Democratic Party waiting to challenge President Trump, but most voters have not heard of many of them, according to a new poll. [The Consult poll asked 1, 990 registered voters their views on 19 potential Democratic challengers to Trump’s presidency. The list of potential candidates identified in the survey includes eight senators, five governors, a mayor of a large city, a congressman, two CEOs, a former vice president, and a failed Senate candidate. Of those mentioned in the survey, half of the respondents did not know most of the candidates. “All bets are off when it comes to the composition of the 2020 Democratic primary,” said Morning Consult and Chief Research Officer Kyle Dropp. “This early polling indicates that many of the names being floated in Washington still have a lot of work to do in terms of building national profiles. ” Most survey respondents were able to identify and have opinions on former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, ( ) and Sen. Bernie Sanders ( ). of the voters surveyed said they knew enough about Biden and Warren to have formed opinions about the candidates. Sanders was not included in the survey. According to Morning Consult, Biden was the most popular candidate of the list of potential 2020 Democratic candidates, with 74 percent of respondents having a positive view of the former vice president. Warren came in second, with 51 percent of respondents viewing her favorably. The number of those rumored to be potential Democratic candidates for the 2020 election pales in comparison to the list of people who have filed to run for president so 129 people have filed to run for the presidency in 2020.

There are a little more than two weeks between Juan, an electrician in the Bronx, and the date he cannot forget: March 21, 2017, at 8 a. m. when the federal government has told him to report for deportation. Two weeks to decide: Avoid it, and try to preserve the American life he has built for a little longer, even as a fugitive. Go, and lose it all: his wife and son, his job, his apartment, his world. “I would feel like an animal if I stay here and hide,” said Juan, 29, who asked that his last name not be used. “I want to prove that I can follow the laws. I want to make my case at this meeting, but I know that if I go, they’re going to deport me. ” In an immigration system mottled with escape hatches and hobbled by scant resources, Juan, who fled Colombia six years ago, is one of nearly a million people who have managed to linger in the United States despite having been ordered out of the country by an immigration judge — some of them more than a decade ago. And with the Trump administration intent on sweeping perhaps millions of immigrants without legal status out of the country, the White House has not had to look far to make a quick mark. Because people with deportation orders have had their day in court, most of them can be sent out of the country without seeing a judge, sometimes within hours of being arrested. “People who have been ordered deported and who are still here are the fruit,” said Stephen an immigration law professor at Cornell University. “Trump has said he has wanted to deport more people. The easiest way to get those numbers up are to take those people who’ve been ordered deported and go after them. ” President Trump’s immigration agency has already offered what looks like a preview: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents recently deported to Mexico an Arizona mother who had been ordered out of the country four years ago. But the will be complicated. The backlog of what the government calls “fugitive aliens” has persisted through Republican and Democratic administrations, inflamed conservatives who oppose illegal immigration, and resisted the immigration authorities’ attempts at enforcement. Since 2006, even as the overall total of unauthorized immigrants in the United States has dipped, the number facing outstanding deportation orders has grown by more than half, to around 962, 000 people from 632, 726. More than half of them come from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras. (Another 13, 200 or so, as of early February, were already in the custody of customs officials.) Despite the Bush and Obama administrations’ commitments to focus on expelling those who pose a serious danger to their communities, slightly less than one in five people facing deportation has been convicted of a crime in the United States. The causes for delays can vary. Deportations have been deferred for humanitarian reasons — like allowing mothers to stay with sick children in the United States — or they have been frozen while an appeal is mounted. The Obama administration put off deportations for thousands of immigrants it did not consider priorities, including Juan, the Bronx electrician, and Guadalupe García de Rayos, the Arizona mother, often people with strong ties to their communities. “Felons, not families criminals, not children,” President Barack Obama said in 2014, describing the kinds of people he wanted deported. The government also postponed deportations for people who were likely to face torture if they were sent back. Some deportations are simply impossible to carry out: About a quarter of the immigrants with outstanding deportation orders come from countries that refuse to take back deportees, including China, Haiti, Brazil and India. Mr. Trump has threatened to stop issuing visas to people from these countries. In the past, diplomats have urged caution on this front, not wanting to disrupt international relationships over the issue of deportees. And many people under final orders have slipped through gaping cracks in the immigration system. Court notices — either mailed to outdated addresses or illegible to Spanish speakers — are routinely missed, leaving judges to issue deportation orders for people who miss their chance to argue their case. Nearly a quarter of judges’ decisions rendered in 2015, for example, involved cases where the immigrant in question was absent. The months and, sometimes, years it takes for immigration and asylum cases to wind through a clogged court system can cause the authorities to lose track of immigrants living and working in the country, because they have fled or simply moved. The White House has sought to make it harder for immigrants to be remain free inside the United States while their requests for asylum plod through the courts. They will be detained more often, or asked to wait in Mexico until a judge can rule. “There are all kinds of things in the system that weren’t built to maximize compliance,” said David A. Martin, a professor of immigration law at the University of Virginia and a former immigration official in the Obama and Clinton administrations. It led to a climate, he said, that has prompted many people to not consider a deportation order a serious matter. “And that’s one of the attitudes that sometimes infuriates, with some justification, people who voted for Donald Trump. ” In a significant break from his predecessor, Mr. Trump is directing immigration agents to go after virtually anyone who is in the United States illegally, ending the reprieve for people who had not been considered priorities. “Ensure that aliens ordered removed from the United States are promptly removed,” one line of Mr. Trump’s executive order on immigration reads, with the crispness of a traffic sign. “What has been lacking, up until a month ago, is a willingness and a commitment on the part of the administration to actually do it,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports stricter immigration controls. “Nothing is easy,” he said, but going after people who already have deportation orders “will be the easiest part of enforcing the president’s removal priorities. ” President George W. Bush’s administration dented the backlog by deploying fugitive teams that were supposed to track down unauthorized immigrants with deportation orders and criminal records. But the strategy drew a backlash when the raids began snaring undocumented immigrants who were not targets. “That was something that caused a lot of controversy and a lot of anxiety in immigrant communities, because it meant these officers could stop anyone at any time,” said Randy Capps, the director of research at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. Mr. Capps added that while the Obama administration narrowed the scope of such raids, he expected the Trump administration to return to the Bush model. There is, of course, an easier way to find some people with final orders: Wait for them to walk into ICE offices for their scheduled appointments. Ms. Rayos was driven across the border within hours of her in Phoenix, and her deportation has haunted immigrants with coming appointments ever since. But the Trump administration has yet to show a consistent hand. Roxana Orellana Santos, 37, was allowed to walk out of her appointment in Baltimore last week. Ms. Santos, who said she had fled domestic abuse in El Salvador, was arrested in 2008 while eating lunch outdoors, her lawyers say, leading to a civil rights lawsuit that claimed she had been racially profiled. She had been ordered deported two years before that arrest, after she missed an immigration court hearing. Her lawyers said she could not read the notice, which was in English. Ms. Santos’s next appointment is in August. “I don’t feel assured of what the outcome’s going to be next time,” she said, adding that she had asked her brother to help her husband care for her four children if she was deported. In the case of Juan, the electrician, nothing remains to stop the government from acting on the deportation order he first received in 2013. Juan had requested asylum after paramilitary forces in Colombia tried to kill him, he said, but he lost his final appeal the month Mr. Trump was elected president. “I feel hopeless,” Juan said. “My wife is here, my son is here, they are my world. I have nowhere else to run to. I’ve run out of options. I don’t know what to do. ”

Three prominent universities were sued on Tuesday, accused of allowing their employees to be charged excessive fees on their retirement savings. The universities — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and Yale — each have retirement plans holding more than $3 billion in assets and are being individually sued by a number of their employees in cases seeking status. The lawyer representing the three groups of plaintiffs, Jerome J. Schlichter, is a pioneer in retirement plan litigation. Over the last decade, he has filed more than 20 lawsuits on behalf of workers in 401( k) retirement plans and has been widely credited with lowering plan fees across corporate America. With the suits filed in federal courts on Tuesday, the focus has turned to a corner of the retirement savings market, 403( b) plans, which are named for a section of the tax code. The accounts are similar to 401( k) plans, but are offered by public schools and nonprofit institutions like universities and hospitals. The complaints allege that the universities, as the plan sponsors, failed to monitor excessive fees paid to administer the plans and did not replace more expensive, investments with cheaper ones. Had the plans eliminated their long lists of investment options and used their bargaining power to cut costs, the complaints argue, participants could have collectively saved tens of millions of dollars. “It is important for retirees and employees of universities to have the same rights and ability to build their retirement assets as employees of companies,” said Mr. Schlichter, a founding partner of Schlichter Bogard Denton in St. Louis. “They shouldn’t be penalized. ” In a statement, New York University said that it took the welfare of its faculty and employees seriously, including a dignified retirement. “The retirement plans offered to them are chosen and administered carefully and prudently. We will litigate this case vigorously and expect to prevail,” said John Beckman, a university spokesman. A spokeswoman for M. I. T. said it did not comment on pending litigation, while Yale said it was “cautious and careful” in administering its plans and would defend itself vigorously. More attention is being paid to investment costs shouldered by American workers, who are less likely today to have pension plans. With the strong support of the Obama administration, the Labor Department introduced new rules in April to strengthen investor protections, requiring a broader group of financial professionals to act in customers’ best interest when handling their retirement money. The aim is to reduce conflicts of interest and the fees consumers pay. Even modest reductions in costs can have a significant effect on retirees’ savings. An example from the Labor Department: Paying one percentage point more in fees over a career — say 1. 5 percent instead of 0. 5 percent — could leave a worker with 28 percent less at retirement. An account with $25, 000 — and no further contributions for those 35 years — would rise to only $163, 000 instead of $227, 000, at an annual rate of 7 percent. Mr. Schlichter said the three universities’ plans were targeted because more people were asking questions about their retirement accounts and “these involve clear breaches of the law. ” The complaint against N. Y. U. — which involves two 403( b) plans covering faculty, research administration and the medical school — centers largely on costs. The complaint said that participants were offered too many investment choices (there were more than 100 options for faculty) and that many of them were too expensive. The suit, filed in Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, singles out several investments, including the TIAA Traditional Annuity, which it said has severe restrictions and penalties for withdrawal, as well as variable annuities that have several layers of fees and have historically underperformed. A spokesman for TIAA said it offered plans and investments that provide lifetime income. The suit also argues that even the cheapest funds offered could have been provided for less, given the enormous size and bargaining power of the faculty and medical school plans, which together held $4. 2 billion in assets for more than 24, 000 participants at the end of 2014. The complaint alleges that the university did not use its negotiating powers to select a single record keeper for administrative tasks such as sending statements to employees. It said it also overpaid for these services for many years. The issues concerning Yale’s 403( b) retirement plan — which held nearly $3. 6 billion in assets in the spring of 2014 — follow a similar pattern: multiple record keepers with excessive fees, costing participants millions of dollars over the last six years too many investments of the same style and the use of funds instead of identical but ones. That case was filed in Federal District Court in Connecticut. Yale eventually consolidated to one provider, TIAA, in April 2015, and swapped in some investments, but the suit claims that the changes did not go far enough to fully protect the interests of its employees. Mr. Schlichter said participants were still burdened with sorting through more than 100 options, many of which were too expensive. The complaints lodged against M. I. T. ’s retirement plan (unusually, it is a 401( k) like those used by corporations) are similar but with a twist. The suit alleges that the university, because of its longstanding relationship with nearby Fidelity, did not conduct a thorough search for a plan provider, which might have provided better service for less. The retirement plan offered more than 340 investment options — including 180 Fidelity funds — until July 2015, when M. I. T. reduced the lineup to 37 options but still retained Fidelity as the record keeper. The complaint said that Fidelity had donated “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to M. I. T. while Abigail Johnson, Fidelity’s chief executive, has served as a member of M. I. T. ’s board of trustees, giving her influence over the institution’s . Had the plan reduced its options to those on the menu it adopted last year, “participants would have saved over $8 million in fees in 2014 alone, and many millions more since 2010,” according to the complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Massachusetts. M. I. T. recognized that the plan structure was inefficient, the filing said, since that was part of the reason it said it made the changes. But even after the overhaul, the suit alleges, investment costs could be further reduced. Fidelity, which noted that it was not a defendant in the case, declined to comment. Mr. Schlichter’s firm has settled about half of his 20 cases over the last 10 years. His first case involving a 403( b) was against Novant Health, a nonprofit hospital system, which settled last year for $32 million. In a landmark case he argued last year before the Supreme Court, the justices, in a unanimous decision, agreed that plan sponsors had a “continuing duty to monitor investments and remove imprudent ones. ” A series of suits, from Mr. Schlichter’s firm and others, continue to be filed in the corporate world: Several asset managers, including Neuberger Berman and Franklin Resources, among others, have recently been sued for putting their own investments in their employees’ 401( k) plans. Some of the more prominent cases against 401( k) plans settled by Mr. Schlichter include a $62 million settlement against Lockheed Martin, $57 million from Boeing and $27. 5 million from Ameriprise, all in 2015. He also settled cases with Cigna, International Paper, Caterpillar, General Dynamics, Bechtel and Kraft. Mr. Schlichter said his firm, which works on a contingency basis, typically collects up to a third of the settlement, while the remainder goes to the plaintiffs and members of the class. He said that his settlements also required employers to make changes to their plans to ensure fees were reasonable in the future.

By Patrick Wood By its very nature, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit organization exclusively run by Technocrats. As...

The single most effective action that most Americans can take to help reduce the dangerous emissions that cause climate change? Buy a more car. But consumers are heading in the opposite direction. They have rekindled their love of bigger cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, favoring them over small cars, hybrids and electric vehicles, which are considered crucial to helping slow global warming. So far this year, nearly 75 percent of the people who have traded in a hybrid or electric car to a dealer have replaced it with an car, an 18 percent jump from 2015, according to Edmunds. com, a car shopping and research site. In 2008, President Obama set a goal of a million electric cars on the road by 2015 in the United States, but the total is now around 442, 000, including hybrids. This year, electric and hybrid sales have dropped to 2. 4 percent of purchases. Falling gas prices have made big, heavy cars fashionable again, said Michael Sivak, the director of sustainable worldwide transportation at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. In fact, demand for trucks, S. U. V.s and vans has rebounded to historic levels after they dropped sharply in 2008, when gas was $4 a gallon. “People have very short memories about the price of gasoline,” Dr. Sivak said. That spells trouble for the environment. vehicles, including S. U. V.s and pickups as well as cars, account for 16. 2 percent of all greenhouse emissions produced in the United States, Dr. Sivak’s research shows, making them the biggest source of emissions that individuals control. Reducing tailpipe emissions “is perhaps the most important thing Americans can do,” said Andrew Jones, a of Climate Interactive, a think tank. “We’re doing the opposite. ” The changing consumer patterns are in plain view at swapalease. com, a marketplace for people who want to get out of a car lease by transferring it to someone else. Dozens of hybrids and electric vehicles are available, in some cases languishing without bites from buyers. “Nobody is interested,” said Angelo Di Maria, who lives in the Bronx. Several weeks ago, he listed his ’s 2013 Toyota Prius. To spur interest, he added a $1, 500 cash incentive, which sharply cut the monthly lease payment to $283 from $391. Still no buyer. Mr. Di Maria said that his who works in construction, loved the Prius, but that his company had given him a Ford pickup. “Who doesn’t want to drive around in a big tank?” Mr. Di Maria said. “When people start to think gas is more affordable, do they really want to pay the premium on the hybrid?” Buyers of electric cars enjoy huge discounts, however, including federal and state rebates, and the opportunity to bypass gas stations altogether. For that reason, Felix Sui, who works in technology in San Diego, loved his BMW electric car. But now that he and his wife are starting a family, he sold the lease on it so he could buy a Volvo S. U. V. “The XC90,” he clarified. “The big one. ” A preference for big cars is not going to help the country meet the goals outlined in the Paris climate accord, reached in December. To help reach those goals, average fuel economy would need to soar to at least 100 miles per gallon — most likely achievable only through widespread adoption of electric and other cars, according to Ben Haley, a of Evolved Energy Research, a consulting firm. President Obama has pushed for stronger federal rules that call for cars to average 40 miles per gallon by 2025, according to the Environmental Protection Agency the current average is 25. 4 miles per gallon. Though electric cars may be somewhat out of favor for now, that may change. Many are hoping that the Tesla could transform Americans’ views on electric cars, much the way the iPhone did with mobile technology. Tesla still carries asterisks — it is losing money, and it is not clear if the company can produce what it has promised — but it can point to 370, 000 votes of confidence. That is how many people have put down $1, 000 to reserve one of Tesla’s new Model 3 cars, a significantly version of its luxury models they won’t even be out until late next year. There are hopes, too, for the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, which boasts a range of 200 miles, nearly matching the projected range of the Tesla Model 3. Those would more than double the range of many cars on the market, helping alleviate the “range anxiety” that many consumers feel. When Tesla first let people sign up online in March, and reservations surged to 325, 000 within a week, Dr. John Sterman, a climate expert at M. I. T. was heartened by the prospect of broader interest in cars. “All my friends and colleagues were sending me links to the media reports,” he said. “ I thought, this is great news. ” Years from now, he added, “we will look at this as a watershed moment. ” Others who worry about climate change can sound like boosters for the new car. “Tesla is notorious for performance. It can outperform the hottest, most conventional car,” said Albert Ayala, deputy executive officer at the California Air Resources Board, a publicagency that governs air quality. When he gives speeches and is asked how the market can improve, he points to Tesla and says, “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do. ” Seconds after preorders for the new Model 3 became available, John Meyer, 21, an entrepreneur in New York, made his reservation. At the time, he was on a flight from Newark to Los Angeles, and worried that he would miss out if the plane’s went down. He called the car a “game changer” because it has everything he wants — it is cool, beautiful and powerful, he said, as well as being environmentally friendly. “I could’ve bought a Prius before,” he said. “And I would have if it looked like an Audi. ”

Trump Catches What Sick Reporter Snuck In Interview, Has Priceless Response Posted on October 27, 2016 by Amanda Shea in Politics Share This CNN’s Dana Bash (left), Bash Interviewing Donald Trump (right) Donald Trump stopped campaigning for just an hour-and-half to work in a brief appearance at the opening of his new hotel, where reporters awaited his arrival — one of which had a nasty surprise hidden up her sleeve. When the Republican candidate caught it mid-interview on live television, he had a priceless response that the CNN crank won’t soon forget. Liberal news host Dana Bash is evidently no fan of Donald Trump, which she’s not afraid to show in her biased reporting. Her arrogance backfired when she was in front of him at the grand opening of his hotel, thinking she could get away with a public attempt to insult him, but she got rightfully put in her place by the blunt candidate. Trump’s schedule is jam packed with as many campaign stops as he can cram into these final weeks of the election, taking advantage of every waking moment to earn Americans’ votes. Somehow in the middle of his traveling to every corner of the country, he managed to squeeze in a stop at his hotel’s grand opening where he created countless jobs and a structure he should be proud of. However, Bash didn’t see it this way in her attempt to slam him for this 90-minute “time off” he was taking from campaigning. During her live interview at the opening, the nasty CNN reporter had the audacity to sneak in this question: “For people who say you’re taking time out of swing states to go do this, you say?” She painted this pit stop as an irresponsible thing to do while Hillary Clinton is working hard. Trump shuts down Dana Bash after questioning him for "taking time off" to attend his hotel's grand opening. 😁 pic.twitter.com/LtLAu1jkbQ — Deplorable AJ (@asamjulian) October 26, 2016 Trump wasn’t going to allow her to get away with asking such a disgusting thing, given the vast difference in effort between him and his opponent and didn’t mince a single word in his priceless answer. “I say the following. You have been covering me for the last, long time. I did yesterday 8 stops and 3 major speeches. And I’ve been doing this for weeks straight. I left for here for an hour-and-a-half. I’m leaving here and going to North Carolina, then I’m going to Florida, then I’m going up to New Hampshire. For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting because Hillary Clinton does one stop and then goes home and sleeps. And yet you ask me that question. I think it’s a very rude question .” Bash didn’t see that coming, and Trump proved once again why America needs an unapologetic leader like him. He tells it how it is and backs up what he says with real action, unlike his competition who puts in a couple of days of campaigning and calls it good since it’s all for show anyway. Trump is putting in ten times the effort with genuine work ethic on his own dime to honestly earn the votes, and if he wants to take a couple of minutes to make an appearance at an opening, he’s more than entitled to do it. It pales in comparison to the weeks Hillary has had off relaxing and recovering. Trump’s creating jobs as he’s campaigning, but Hillary’s just napping.

By Nick Bernabe The struggle to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline has been mired in police brutality and militarization. In fact, many have likened the atmosphere in Standing Rock, North Dakota, to a war zone. The corporate media initially refused to cover the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, though the ongoing story’s virality on social media eventually forced it into the mainstream. Even now that the #NoDAPL movement has developed into a national political narrative, the media continues to whitewash the severity of the crackdown against the Native American protesters, who call themselves “water protectors.” Below are 10 images I have come across (while closely following the Dakota Access Pipeline protests for Anti-Media ) that narrate the struggle at Standing Rock: 85 years old elder wheeled travelled miles just to support and stand against pipeline. Bless are ones #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/0sHpGAHSNw — ❌ making a stand (@61_alvin) October 15, 2016 Live from #StandingRock #NoDAPL prayer ceremony/drum circle on road blocked by police for DAPL workers- making clear who they serve&protect pic.twitter.com/tD3iUzcm3g — NYC Revolution Club (@NYCRevClub) October 29, 2016 A young Native American girl has a message for President Obama . @POTUS Your silence is deafening. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/eypYJvfHmc — People For Bernie (@People4Bernie) October 27, 2016 This initial crackdown at the Standing Rock camp shortly after the activation of the North Dakota National Guard. Battle lines are drawn. A tribal elder conducts a water ceremony in front of the police line. #NoDAPL Picture speaks volumes! pic.twitter.com/dQF2xVEVMU — Native Life ☄#NoDAPL (@_Native_Life) October 27, 2016 tweet A woman is violently arrested by militarized law enforcement Five police officers beat one elderly woman as 117 water protectors arrested yesterday. Terrible scenes coming out of North Dakota. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/xFjvdBEuNB — Stephen George Rae (@StephenGeoRae) October 28, 2016 As frustration mounts, two National Guards trucks are set on fire. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ). Contributed by The Anti-Media of theantimedia.org . The “Anti” in our name does not mean we are against the media, we are simply against the current mainstream paradigm. The current media, influenced by the industrial complex, is a top-down authoritarian system of distribution—the opposite of what Anti-Media aims to be. At Anti-Media, we want to offer a new paradigm—a bottom-up approach for real and diverse reporting. We seek to establish a space where the people are the journalists and a venue where independent journalism moves forward on a larger and more truthful scale.

On Tuesday, the second full weekday after Federal Judge James Robart issued a temporary restraining order halting President Trump’s executive order that temporarily blocked the issuance of visas for seven Middle Eastern countries and temporarily banned refugees from all countries, ten refugees arrived in the state of Washington. [None of them were Muslim. All ten were from the Ukraine, and were either Baptist, Evangelical Christian, Uniate (a branch of Christian denomination found in eastern Europe) or Pentecostalist, according to the Department of State’s interactive website. Across the rest of the country, it was a different story. More than 75 percent of the 189 refugees who arrived in other parts of the United States on Tuesday, 151 in total, were Muslim, according to the Department of State’s interactive website. It was the ultimate irony, since Judge Robart based his decision on an argument from Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson that Trump’s executive order was unconstitutional because it was motivated by a desire to ban Muslims. “Prior to his election, Donald Trump campaigned on the promise that he would ban Muslims from entering the United States,” Ferguson alleged in the Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief filed by the state of Washington with the United States District Court Western District of Washington on January 30, 2017: On December 7, 2015, candidate Trump issued a press release calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. ” As of the date of this filing, the press release remains available on Trump’s campaign website and is attached hereto as Exhibit 1. In defending his decision shortly thereafter, candidate Trump compared the Muslim ban to former President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision to intern Japanese Americans during World War II, and stated, “This is a president highly respected by all, [Roosevelt] did the same thing. ” A media report of this interview is attached hereto as Exhibit 2. On June 14, 2016, candidate Trump reiterated his promise to ban all Muslims entering this country until “we as a nation are in a position to properly and perfectly screenthose people coming into our country. ” “Section 3 of the Executive Order, if implemented, will result in substantial burdens on the exercise of religion by immigrants by, for example, preventing them from exercising their religion while in detention, returning to their religious communities in Washington, taking upcoming, planned religious travel abroad. Such burdens on religion violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Ferguson argued in the January 30 complaint. In response to the Department of Justice’s appeal of Judge Robart’s decision to the 9th Federal Circuit Court, Ferguson restated that claim. “Here, the State [of Washington] has plausibly alleged with sufficient particularity that the President acted in bad faith in an effort to target Muslims,” Ferguson argued in States’ Response to Emergency Motion Under Circuit Rule for Administrative Stay and Motion for Stay Pending Appeal filed with the 9th Federal Circuit Court on February 6, continuing with that theme. In the week between President Trump’s signing of the executive order on January 27 and Judge Robart’s issuance of the temporary restraining order halting it nationwide on February 3, the Trump administration granted waivers allowing 842 refugees to enter the country. One hundred and of those refugees, or 15 percent, were Muslim, according to the State Department’s interactive website.

This post was originally published on this site almasdarnews.com DAMASCUS, SYRIA (3:00 A.M.) – The Houthi forces, backed by the Yemeni Republican Guard, reportedly captured another Saudi military base in the southwestern province of Asir after a fierce battle on Friday night. According to the Yemen-based Al-Masirah TV, the Houthi forces and their allies seized the Al-Niswa Military Base after overrunning the Saudi Army’s defenses on Friday night. Scores of Saudi Army soldiers were reported dead by Al-Masirah TV on Friday, adding to the Kingdom’s plight in the war against the Houthi forces and Yemeni Republican Guard. In addition to the several military personnel killed, the Saudi Army also lost a huge cache of weapons while fleeing the advancing Houthi forces on Friday. ALSO READ Saudi king hopes Trump brings ‘stability’ to Middle East Related

Texas is one of a list of states looking to institute their own transgender bathroom restrictions, quite regardless of the guff North Carolina took for its own bill last year. Predictably, just as it did against North Carolina, the NCAA and the Big 12 Conference look to act against Texas over the law. [After North Carolina passed its 2016 House Bill 2, which restricted some bathrooms, the NCAA decided to pull all tournament games from the state in protest over what the organization labeled “discrimination. ” At the time, the AP wrote that the state’s governor criticized the NCAA for the move. “Gov. Pat McCrory says the NCAA failed to show North Carolina respect when it moved championships and tournament games out of the state because of a law that governs which bathrooms transgender people must use,” the AP said. Now that Texas walks down the same legislative path that North Carolina blazed, the NCAA and Big 12 again look to punish a state. Announcing the effort in Texas, Lone Star State Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said of the new bill, “This issue is not about discrimination — it’s about public safety, protecting businesses and common sense,” according to USA Today. Since the announcement in Texas, the NCAA has put the state on notice that they are watching. While the NCAA itself didn’t have a statement at this time, the Big 12 did have something to say. “The Big 12 Conference is aware of the filing of Senate Bill 6 in the Texas State legislature,” said Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda. “We will track the bill’s progress through the legislature, and at an appropriate time discuss its impact with our member institutions. ” The NCAA acted quickly and with prejudice against North Carolina, but it’s unclear whether it will act in a similar, swift manner against Texas. With at least five other states across the country contemplating similar bills, it may come to diminishing returns for the leagues to act in boycott. The boycott of one state came easy for them, but if five or more pass bathroom laws similar to North Carolina’s the leagues may end up on the outside looking in. Along with Texas, other states now beginning the process of debating and enacting a bathroom bill include Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.

A year that saw arguably the five greatest championship game performances of all time should have helped right the ship for ESPN, and at the very least stopped the trend of massive subscriber losses which have plagued the sports giant for the last few years. [Well, that did not happen, and ESPN appears to be a sinking ship, dragging parent company Disney down with it. Bloomberg reports that ESPN badly hurt Disney’s first quarter sales, falling well short of projections. According to The Wrap, “Cable networks, particularly ESPN, have been an albatross on Disney’s stock price even as the company’s two other major prongs, movies and theme parks, continue to perform well. As cheaper TV alternatives began to proliferate, ESPN hemorrhaged subscribers during the course of 2016 and is now at less than 88 million, compared with a peak of 100. 1 million in 2011. At an estimated $7 per subscriber, that dip has been a substantial hit to Disney, especially considering media networks made up 49 percent of Disney’s profits during fiscal 2016. ” In other words, everyone else at Disney met or exceeded their projected goals, except for ESPN who lost more than twelve million subscribers in just under six years. But, the problem for ESPN goes deeper than just losing subscribers and money. The Wrap explains, “At the same time, rights fees for the live sports ESPN specializes in broadcasting continue to go up, as there’s plenty of competition for one of the few pieces of programmed television that still delivers monster ratings. ESPN will pay $7. 3 billion for content this year — the biggest price tag among all media companies. Operating income at Disney’s cable networks division — primarily ESPN — plunged 11 percent compared with the same time the previous year. Disney attributed that drop entirely to lower ESPN revenue. ” Less cash on hand means less cash to purchase rights to sporting events, which can prove particularly harmful to an entity that considers itself a sports network. Now, Disney and ESPN have laid much of the blame for their subscriber loss at the feet of the cord cutting phenomenon that has impacted all cable providers to some degree. That’s a fair point, but ESPN’s losses have far exceeded the pace and rate of losses among other providers. ESPN will also cite the fact that they’re rolling out more streaming content that will offset much of the losses they’ve taken on the cable side. Great, but what will ESPN show on those streaming channels? Will they show the equivalent of Jason Bateman’s ESPN “The Ocho?” I enjoy a good game of dodgeball as much as the next guy, but unless ESPN plans on exclusively featuring the NFL, or NBA games on their streaming networks, virtually no one will watch. Not to mention, it’s highly unlikely that either the NBA or the NFL would enter into a contract with ESPN which allowed them to only offer their games via stream. So, what can ESPN do? In November, ESPN ombudsman Jim Brady wrote that he felt the network had become too liberal, turning off half the country and potentially effecting viewership and subscribership. Sadly, three months after that rare and blinding light of truth and honesty there’s no reason to believe anything has changed regarding the politics of ESPN. Not when you have hosts like ESPN’s Ryen Rusillo stating, on the air, that he no longer knows what his job is, since everyone around him just wants to bash Trump and talk liberal politics, instead of talking about sports. Maybe, if ESPN focused more on sports instead of alienating half the country, their business wouldn’t be circling the drain right now. After all, Lady Gaga just did a halftime show in which she decided to not enrage half the country, and got rewarded with an enormous surge in digital music sales. Imagine that. Don’t insult the country and they’ll consume your product. Who would have thought? Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn

A high school Spanish teacher from Colorado has been suspended after she reportedly made a piñata with President Trump’s face on it and allowed her students to hit it. [Johnstown Milliken School District Superintendent Martin Foster said the incident took place at Roosevelt High School in Johnstown during the Spanish class’s celebration of Cinco de Mayo, CBS Denver reported. “This was an incredibly disrespectful act that does not reflect the values of Roosevelt High School or the school district,” Foster said in a statement. The teacher’s name has not yet been released. Photos and video of the incident circulated on Facebook and Snapchat, offending many parents. “He’s been defeated,” read one caption of a Snapchat photo showing two students holding up the piñata with Trump’s face on it. One parent, Lesley Hollywood, posted the Snapchats to Facebook and shared her displeasure with the incident: “It is disturbing that this would be happening in a school setting,” Hollywood told CBS Denver. “Why divide people? Why do this? There are so many other ways we can address politics in schools. ” Hollywood said that according to some of the students, the piñata also featured an image of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. “I wouldn’t of cared if it was Obama’s face on that piñata, or if it had been Hillary Clinton’s face,” Hollywood added. “It doesn’t matter. This is not how we should be teaching our children politics in this country. ” KDVR reported that the district will launch an investigation starting Monday.

BREAKING : Trump Expressed Concern Over Anthony Weiner’s “Illegal Access” to Classified Info 2 Months ago BREAKING : Trump Expressed Concern Over Anthony Weiner’s “Illegal Access” to Classified Info 2 Months ago Breaking News By Amy Moreno October 28, 2016 Once again, Trump was right. Back in August, in a statement regarding Hillary’s carelessness handling classified documents, Trump stated that he was concerned that Weiner had “access” to information he shouldn’t. Now that we’re learning that the FBI discovered “new emails” on a “device” associated to Weiner, it looks as if Trump was right AGAIN. — Deplorable AJ (@asamjulian) October 28, 2016 This is a movement – we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the FAILED GLOBAL ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.

Zero Hedge October 26, 2016 In the latest revelation sure to reignite accusations of collusion between the Clinton campaign and the DOJ, among the recent batch of hacked emails released by Wikileaks, we learn that the day after Hillary Clinton testified in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi last October, John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign chairman met for dinner with a small group of well-connected friends, including Peter Kadzik , who is currently a top official at the US Justice Department serving as Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs. Peter Kadzik, with lobbyist Tony Podesta, brother of John Podesta . The post-Benghazi dinner was attended by Podesta, Kadzik, superlobbyist Vincent Roberti and other well-placed Beltway fixtures. The first mention of personal contact between Podesta and Kadzik in the Wikileaks dump is in an Oct. 23, 2015 email sent out by Vincent Roberti, a lobbyist who is close to Podesta and his superlobbyist brother, Tony Podesta. In it, Roberti refers to a dinner reservation at Posto, a Washington D.C. restaurant. The dinner was set for 7:30 that evening, just one day after Clinton gave 11 hours of testimony to the Benghazi Committee . Podesta and Kadzik met several months later for dinner at Podesta’s home, another email shows . Another email sent on May 5, 2015 , Kadzik’s son asked Podesta for a job on the Clinton campaign. As the Daily Caller notes , the dinner arrangement “is just the latest example of an apparent conflict of interest between the Clinton campaign and the federal agency charged with investigating the former secretary of state’s email practices.” As one former U.S. Attorney tells told the DC, the exchanges are another example of the Clinton campaign’s “cozy relationship” with the Obama Justice Department. The hacked emails confirm that Podesta and Kadzik were in frequent contact. In one email from January, Kadzik and Podesta, who were classmates at Georgetown Law School in the 1970s, discussed plans to celebrate Podesta’s birthday. And in another sent last May, Kadzik’s son emailed Podesta asking for a job on the Clinton campaign. A d v e r t i s e m e n t “The political appointees in the Obama administration, especially in the Department of Justice, appear to be very partisan in nature and I don’t think had clean hands when it comes to the investigation of the private email server,” says Matthew Whitaker, the executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a government watchdog group. “ It’s the kind of thing the American people are frustrated about is that the politically powerful have insider access and have these kind of relationships that ultimately appear to always break to the benefit of Hillary Clinton ,” he added, comparing the Podesta-Kadzik meetings to the revelation that Attorney General Loretta Lynch met in private with Bill Clinton at the airport in Phoenix days before the FBI and DOJ investigating Hillary Clinton. Kadzik’s role at the DOJ, where he started in 2013, is particularly notable Kadzik, as helped spearhead the effort to nominate Lynch, who was heavily criticized for her secret meeting with the former president. A Long, Friendly History Podesta and Kadzik have a long history, one which has surprisingly gone mostly unnoticed during the ongoing Clinton email scandal. As DC helps summarize, Kadzik represented Podesta during the Monica Lewinsky investigation. And in the waning days of the Bill Clinton administration, Kadzik lobbied Podesta on behalf of Marc Rich, the fugitive who Bill Clinton controversially pardoned on his last day in office. That history is cited by Podesta in another email hacked from his Gmail account. In a Sept. 2008 email , which the Washington Free Beacon flagged last week, Podesta emailed an Obama campaign official to recommend Kadzik for a supportive role in the campaign. Podesta, who would later head up the Obama White House transition effort, wrote that Kadzik was a “fantastic lawyer” who “ kept me out of jail.” As the DC Chuck Ross notes, it is unclear to which case Podesta was referring and whether he was joking about prison. But Podesta was caught in a sticky situation in both the Lewinsky affair and the Rich pardon scandal. As deputy chief of staff to Clinton in 1996, Podesta asked then-United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson to hire the 23-year-old Lewinsky . In April 1996, the White House transferred Lewinsky from her job as a White House intern to the Pentagon in order to keep her and Bill Clinton separate. But the Clinton team also wanted to keep Lewinsky happy so that she would not spill the beans about her sexual relationship with Clinton. Richardson later recounted in his autobiography that he offered Lewinsky the position but that she declined it. Podesta made false statements to a grand jury impaneled by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for the investigation. But he defended the falsehoods, saying later that he was merely relaying false information from Clinton that he did not know was inaccurate at the time. “He did lie to me,” Podesta said about Clinton in a National Public Radio interview in 1998. Clinton was acquitted by the Senate in Feb. 1999 of perjury and obstruction of justice charges related to the Lewinsky probe. Kadzik, then a lawyer with the firm Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, represented Podesta through the fiasco. Podesta had been promoted to Clinton’s chief of staff when he and Kadzik became embroiled in another scandal. Kadzik was then representing Marc Rich, a billionaire financier who was wanted by the U.S. government for evading a $48 million tax bill. The fugitive, who was also implicated in illegal trading activity with nations that sponsored terrorism, had been living in Switzerland for 17 years when he sought the pardon. To help Rich, Kadzik lobbied Podesta heavily in the weeks before Clinton left office on Jan. 20, 2001. A House Oversight Committee report released in May 2002 stated that “Kadzik was recruited into Marc Rich’s lobbying campaign because he was a long-time friend of White House Chief of Staff John Podesta.” The report noted that Kadzik contacted Podesta at least seven times regarding Rich’s pardon. On top of the all-hands-on-deck lobbying effort, Rich’s ex-wife, Denise Rich, had doled out more than $1 million to the Clintons and other Democrats prior to the pardon. She gave $100,000 to Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate campaign and another $450,000 to the Clinton presidential library. Kadzik’s current role In his current role as head of the Office of Legislative Affairs, Kadzik handles inquiries from Congress on a variety of issues. In that role he was not in the direct chain of command on the Clinton investigation. The Justice Department and FBI have insisted that career investigators oversaw the investigation, which concluded in July with no charges filed against Clinton. But Kadzik worked on other Clinton email issues in his dealings with Congress. Last November, he denied a request from Republican lawmakers to appoint a special counsel to lead the investigation . In a Feb. 1, 2016 letter in response to Kadzik, Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis noted that Kadzik had explained “that special counsel may be appointed at the discretion of the Attorney General when an investigation or prosecution by the Department of Justice would create a potential conflict of interest.” DeSantis, a Republican, suggested that Lynch’s appointment by Bill Clinton in 1999 as U.S. Attorney in New York may be considered a conflict of interest. He also asserted that Obama’s political appointees — a list which includes Kadzik — “are being asked to impartially execute their respective duties as Department of Justice officials that may involve an investigation into the activities of the forerunner for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. ” It is unknown if Kadzik responded to DeSantis’ questions. Kadzik’s first involvement in the Clinton email brouhaha came in a Sept. 24, 2015 response letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley in which he declined to confirm or deny whether the DOJ was investigating Clinton. Last month, Politico reported that Kadzik angered Republican lawmakers when, in a classified briefing, he declined to say whether Clinton aides who received DOJ immunity were required to cooperate with congressional probes. Kadzik also testified at a House Oversight Committee hearing last month on the issue of classifications and redactions in the FBI’s files of the Clinton email investigation. This article was posted: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 9:52 am Share this article

Marital strife smolders, explodes and uneasily subsides on “Lemonade” (Parkwood Entertainment) the album Beyoncé on Saturday night. “You can taste the ’s all over your breath” are the first words she sings in “Pray You Catch Me,” and that’s just the beginning of an album that probes betrayal, jealousy, revenge and rage before dutifully willing itself toward reconciliation at the end. Many of the accusations are aimed specifically and recognizably at her husband, Shawn Carter, the rapper Jay Z. “Tonight I regret the night I put that ring on,” she in “Sorry,” a twitchy, flippant song that’s by no means an apology. It’s a combative, unglossy track on an album full of them. “Lemonade” is the kind of album that a star like Beyoncé (as well as, lately, Rihanna) can release in the streaming era because she’s already guaranteed attention for her every utterance. The album is not beholden to radio formats or presold by a single fans are likely to explore the whole album, streaming every track and hearing how far afield — a brass band, stomping ultraslow — Beyoncé is willing to go. As she did with her 2013 album, “Beyoncé,” she has also paired the music with video that expands and deepens its impact. On their own, the songs can be taken as one star’s personal, domestic dramas, waiting to be mined by the tabloids. But with the video, they testify to situations and emotions countless women endure. It’s not a divorce announcement the singer, songwriter and director is credited as Beyoncé Knowles Carter. Beyoncé released “Lemonade” online at 10 p. m. on April 23, immediately after the HBO showing of the hourlong “visual album” version. It’s a music video that intersperses the songs, and broadens them, with compelling poetry from the writer Warsan Shire, poems that often extend women’s physicality toward the archetypal. As Beyoncé recites them, Ms. Shire’s words radically reframe the songs, so they are no longer one woman’s struggles but tribulations shared through generations of mothers and daughters. The video is filled with images of female solidarity and of family, Southern and African roots, women of all ages and roles and eras. Often, Beyoncé is joined by women in white clothes enacting shared work, gatherings of women or eerie communal rituals. Beyoncé, in multiple hairstyles and fashions, is shown both alluring and unglamorous: unhappy, sweaty, harshly lit. For the last few songs she often appears in a dress remade with fabric patterns derived from African textiles, a rich twist. The album title comes from a family gathering that’s shown in the video and heard on a track: the 90th birthday of Hattie White, Jay Z’s grandmother, who says, “I was served lemons but I made lemonade. ” “Lemonade” is not necessarily the album listeners might have expected after “Formation,” the song Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl with dancers in Black outfits and in a video clip using images of New Orleans, of in a plantation mansion and of Beyoncé atop a police car, sinking under a flood. It’s the last song on “Lemonade,” almost a postscript it’s not in the extended video. One other song on “Lemonade” mixes preaching and a prison song (both collected by John and Alan Lomax) a Kendrick Lamar rap and 1960s psychedelia (sampling the collectors’ item Puerto Rican band Kaleidoscope) to call for “Freedom”: “I break chains all by ’t let my freedom rot in hell,” Beyoncé vows. But most of “Lemonade” arrives like a to “Jealous” on the 2013 “Beyoncé,” a song that moans, “I hate you for your lies. ” “Jealous” is offset on “Beyoncé” by songs about ecstatic lust, a topic largely absent on “Lemonade. ” In most of the new songs, Beyoncé has been taken for granted or pushed aside. It’s a situation that, she finds, is both “a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you” and also flabbergasting given that she is, after all, Beyoncé. Beyoncé!: “The baddest woman in the game,” as she sings in “Hold Up. ” : She is. Her reactions swing from sorrow to rage to determined loyalty, and she reaches beyond the of “Beyoncé” to embrace new influences and collaborators: the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Father John Misty, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Animal Collective and Led Zeppelin. “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” a collaboration with Jack White, is a that has Beyoncé fighting back, declaring, “You ain’t trying hard ain’t loving hard enough,” working up to a scream. “Pray You Catch Me” is one of two collaborations with the British songwriter James Blake: ballads of suspicion and longing. During “Forward,” the other Blake collaboration, the video has its most moving sequence: family members stoically holding photographs of men who were killed by police. It’s followed by a scene of a New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian in full feathered and beaded costume, shaking a tambourine in posh dining rooms as if to exorcise them. Yet eventually, she makes peace with trying to hold on. “Love Drought,” with whispery vocals amid pillowy synthesizers, points out that “10 times out of nine I know you’re lying,” but strives to reconnect. “Sandcastles,” a slow piano hymn that eventually gathers a choir, recalls a fight but turns a double negative into a positive: “I know I promised that I couldn’t stay, promise don’t work out that way. ” By the time Beyoncé reaches “All Night,” a gospelly ballad roughened with electric guitar, she resolves to “Give you some time to prove I can trust you again. ” Will it work out? No one knows. But in the meantime she sings wholeheartedly, encapsulates deep dilemmas in terse singalong lines and touches on ideas and emotions that so many people feel. She is a star whose world is vastly different from that of her listeners. But in matters of the heart, with their complications and paradoxes, Beyoncé joins all of us.

Same people all the time , i dont know how you can fix this corruption http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/10_09_01_krongard.html

This article was written by Tyler Durden and originally published at Zero Hedge . Editor’s Comment: Of course everyone knew, deep down, that Obama was fully aware of Hillary’s private emails, but now there is proof that the campaigns sought to cover up and clean up the evidence to it. Team Hillary went so far as to use bleach bit, a ridiculously thorough way of erasing one’s digital footprint. Before she even takes office, she is embroiled in a scandal many magnitudes bigger than Watergate… and yet… nothing. No one falls on their sword; no one drops out; no one is held accountable. It seems that “Teflon” will out-survive even the cockroaches and nuclear wars… Can all the media spin and vote rigging really hold all this together? Can the FBI get away with looking the other way, and still pretend to uphold a nation of laws? Will the American people accept her “victory” and go on about their daily lives? The Smoking Gun: Cheryl Mills Tells Podesta “We Need To Clean This Up – Obama Has Emails From Her” by Tyler Durden Recall that in a March 2015 interview with CBS, just after the NYT reported of Hillary’s use of a private email server, president Obama told the American public he had only learned about Hillary’s “unusual” arrangement from the press. As we further reminded readers one month ago, CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante asked Mr. Obama when he learned about her private email system after his Saturday appearance in Selma, Alabama. “ The same time everybody else learned it through news reports ,” the president told Plante. “ The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency, which is why my emails, the BlackBerry I carry around, all those records are available and archived ,” Mr. Obama said. “I’m glad that Hillary’s instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed.” Unfortunately, the “transparency” of the Obama administration was severely tarnished in late September , when in the FBI’s interview notes with Huma Abedin released by the FBI it was first revealed that Obama had used a pseudonymous email account: “Once informed that the sender’s name is believed to be pseudonym used by the president, Abedin exclaimed: ‘How is this not classified?'” the report says. “Abedin then expressed her amazement at the president’s use of a pseudonym and asked if she could have a copy of the email.” To be sure, this was not definitive evidence that Obama was aware of Hillary’s email server, nor that there may have been collusion between the president and the Clinton campaign. That changed today, however, when in the latest Podesta dump we learn that in an email from Cheryl Mills to John Podesta, the Clinton aide upon learning what Obama had just said… I have some questions here pic.twitter.com/ufkeoZCx2m — Katherine Miller (@katherinemiller) March 7, 2015 … countered with something quite stunning: we need to clean this up – he has emails from her – they do not say state.gov That, ladies and gentlemen, is proof that the president not only lied, but did so with the clear intention of protecting the Clinton campaign. As a further reminder, Politico previously reported that the State Department had refused to make public that and other emails Clinton exchanged with Obama. Lawyers cited the “presidential communications privilege,” a variation of executive privilege, in order to withhold the messages under the Freedom of Information Act. It is therefore unknown what the president’s “alternative” email account was, or who hosted it. This also explains why in a prior Wikileak, Podesta told Mills in an email titled “Special Category” that she thinks “ we should hold emails to and from potus? That’s the heart of his exec privilege. We could get them to ask for that. They may not care, but I(t) seems like they will. ” Mills did not respond by email. The Clinton-Obama emails were turned over to the State Department, which later announced it would not release them. * * * So just how did Mills and Podesta “clean up” the fact that Obama lied to the American people, a tactic some could allege is evidence of an attempt to cover up a presidential lie to protect Hillary Clinton. What we do know, and we assume this is completely unrelated, between March 25-31, just a couple of weeks after Mills said “we need to clean this up,” Bleachbit was used to wipe Hillary’s private server clean. But of course, that is purely a coincidence. Since we are confident others will also demand an answer, in light of the latest revelation hinting at a collusive cover up extending to the very top of US government, or as Cheryl Mills dubbed it a “clean up”, perhaps it is time for the State Department to unveil just what was said between the president and the Clinton campaign? This article was written by Tyler Durden and originally published at Zero Hedge .

“Chapo Trap House”: New Left-Wing Podcast is a Flagrant Rip-Off of The Right Stuff Eric Striker October 27, 2016 These fags here. Last March, a group of Williamsburg trust fund Bernie bros started a podcast called “ Chapo Trap House .” The humor style and format of Chapo Trap House content is a left-wing carbon copy of the types of radio shows produced by Alt-Right sensation The Right Stuff , particularly the Daily Shoah, which uses Opie & Anthony style gags and parodies as a vehicle for delivering our counter-cultural and suppressed ideas. CTH is trying to invert our ideas, bubble wrap the edges, and use our effective models to try and make Leftism – an ideology that we have exposed and mocked into increasing irrelevance –“cool” by fixing some sunglasses to hide a weak (when put to reason) ideology. They have a small troll army on social media, they do (admittedly good) voice impressions, our Counter-Semitic tropes (at least one of the three is Jewish) are replaced by mocking working class White people and Christians, they have memes, albeit even more forced than Dat Boi , they make watered down attempts to pull down some high-profile liberal figures (like we do conservatives). They like to name drop famous comedians like Trevor Moore (of “ Whitest Kids U Know ” fame) as personal friends and have fairly high profile Leftist guests, which makes me think they have professional training or friends in high places. Oh, and they spend most of their time attacking the Alt-Right, replacing cuck (our term for them) with “incel,” while demonstrating extensive knowledge of external elements of our counter-culture. They’re obviously very familiar with us, and are trying to create an audience by claiming they’re the real rebels and bomb throwers. Trying to rip-off meme magic Yet, their Patreon is flush with cash (way out of proportion to their average plays, i.e. they have big money donors relative to our camp), their Soundcloud and social media pages aren’t muzzled like ours, there’s nobody trying to silence them or shut them down. They can do stuff under their full names, yet mysteriously, their capitalist bosses won’t fire or black list them for calling for the death of capitalists. They get invited to do live performances in some of the Jewiest, most “prestigious,” high rolling and trendy venues in NYC. Unlike the Daily Stormer, the Right Stuff or Ricky Vaughn (who they constantly reference with typical Seattle bourgeois shit-lib snark), they can say and do whatever they want because big capital and the American plutocracy is, at the very least, behind the core of their worldview (open borders, amalgamation of cultures and races, feminism). Chapo Trap House’s podcast is fairly new, yet already attracting positive attention from our elites. In their defense, they are critical of Hillary Clinton, yet establishment Judeo-Left individuals and institutions, from the Hillary gun-runners at Mediate to Jeet Heer, have commented quite positively on the show. Compared to TRS, they are getting quite a bit of very friendly publicity as a form of reaction to the rise of the Alt-Right. But this podcast has no natural audience. So who is it for? Most of the blacks and browns who stand on top of the two White male goyim cis male’s in the progressive stack would sucker punch these private school kids who only know what niggers are in theory and steal their iPhones if they had the chance. As for the obese feminists with magenta bowl cuts, they would curl-up into a ball and wail like banshees from all of the micro aggressions these three directly and indirectly engage in. The queers, pedos, trannies, and whatever other group of mentally ill perverts front and center as moral arbitrators of the modern Judeo-Left would distrust them for their pathology of enjoying sexual intercourse with women. Last and not least, most leftists in the West today are humorless, moralistic mental midgets. The real purpose of CTH is to staunch the bleeding of young and normal White males coming into our camp in droves right now. By using methods we have proven to resonate with this demographic, they hope to try and sell a state-sanctioned ideology whose only natural endpoint is basically the extermination of us and our families, but with an edgy veneer. This has been done in a different form in the past, it is similar to what the Sony contracted, MTV promoted millionaires in Rage Against the Machine did in the 90’s: plastic revolution in the name of art that isn’t actually revolutionary. I , Eric Striker, am calling out Chapo Trap House to have an unedited debate and exchange of ideas with me on their show. Guys on our side are always interviewing and inviting Leftists on our programs and websites, if they have faith in their ideas let’s see them put their parents’ money where their mouth is. The Judeo-Left fears free and open discourse due to the inherent weakness of their philosophy. Let’s convince them:

HONG KONG — Taiwan scrambled fighter jets and dispatched a frigate to the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday after China sent its sole aircraft carrier into the waterway, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported. The transit of the aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, came amid rising tensions between Taiwan and China after Donald J. Trump broke decades of protocol by speaking on the phone with Taiwan’s president, Tsai after his election victory. Ms. Tsai leads a political party that has traditionally supported Taiwan’s formal independence from China. Ms. Tsai, who is visiting Central America this week, made two calls to officials in Taiwan seeking updates on the Liaoning’s transit, the Central News Agency reported, citing Alex Huang, the president’s spokesman. China’s decision to send the carrier through the waterway that separates it from Taiwan reflects an early foreign policy challenge for Mr. Trump. “It’s a show of force, and I think it is intended in part to intimidate, and that’s worrisome from the U. S. and Taiwan’s point of view because we don’t know how much more they are going to ratchet up these pressures and tensions,” said Bonnie S. Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “If the Trump administration does see this as a test of U. S. resolve, I suspect they’ll push back pretty forcefully. ” China sent the carrier, which had been conducting exercises in the South China Sea, into the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday morning. Taiwan’s response was the third time in three days that air forces in the region had scrambled jets in response to Chinese military activity, after Japan and South Korea deployed fighters on Monday. Those actions occurred when a squadron of six Chinese bombers and two other aircraft flew over the waters that separate Japan and South Korea and over the Sea of Japan. Taiwan, considered by Beijing to be Chinese territory, has been governed separately since 1949, when the forces of the Nationalist leader Chiang fled to the island after their defeat on the mainland by the Communists. China views any assertion of Taiwan’s separateness from the mainland — like Ms. Tsai’s call with Mr. Trump — as an affront to its claim of sovereignty. Since 1979, the United States has recognized the government in Beijing and broke off formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan as part of the One China policy. In the wake of the call, China warned the incoming president against making changes to that policy after he takes office on Jan. 20. Liu Zhenmin, a Chinese vice foreign minister, said on Wednesday that the Taiwan Strait was an international waterway and that it was normal for the Liaoning to pass though it. The passage would not have any effect on relations, he said in remarks carried in the Chinese news media. Mark C. Toner, a State Department spokesman, told reporters in Washington in response to a question about the Liaoning’s passage through the strait that the United States “wouldn’t have a problem” with countries sailing their vessels in international waters as long as it was done in accordance with international law. It also was not the first time the Liaoning had sailed through the strait: It passed through in November 2013 on its way to the South China Sea after having been commissioned only the year before. In that instance, the carrier kept to the western half of the strait, closer to mainland China. In a statement on Wednesday morning, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said that the Liaoning was also staying to the west of the strait’s middle and urged citizens to remain calm. A transit on the eastern side, closer to Taiwan, would be viewed as much more provocative. Euan Graham, the director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, said that for the Chinese, traveling through the strait was a logical way to move from one area of fleet operations to another along its long coastline. In order for warships based in northern ports, like the Liaoning, to return home from southern waters, they must either pass close to Japanese islands or transit the Taiwan Strait. “Geography forces a very binary choice,” he said. Mr. Graham said it was important to see how the Liaoning conducted its passage. If it had aircraft on deck and was conducting flight operations, that would be seen as more provocative than if it passed through the strait with the aircraft in its hangar bay, he said. The Liaoning, commissioned in 2012 and built from a Soviet hull, is China’s first aircraft carrier. In past decades, the United States has shown its resolve to defend Taiwan by sailing carriers through the Taiwan Strait. In 1995, the aircraft carrier Nimitz transited the strait amid heightened tensions after Beijing conducted missile exercises in the waters. China’s military is highly secretive, but it would seem inconceivable for the Liaoning to pass through such contested waters without approval from the president, Xi Jinping, who is also the chairman of the Central Military Commission, which controls the military. And the Chinese military media has described the aircraft carrier as embodying Mr. Xi’s plans for a stronger navy, capable of projecting force far beyond China’s territorial waters. Last Thursday, the front page of People’s Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, featured a report about the aircraft carrier’s latest journey under the headline, “We’re sailing under the leader’s attentive gaze,” a clear tribute to Mr. Xi. Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said in a news conference on Wednesday that the Liaoning’s passage was part of the ship’s scheduled training in the western Pacific, which had begun on Dec. 24. Mr. Ma also said that the relationship in the coming year would face “increasing uncertainty, looming risks and challenges. ” He added that Taiwan’s government and “independence forces” there had “seriously threatened the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” accusing them of engaging in separatist activities and warning that China would “resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. ” The aircraft carrier’s passage was part of a cluster of recent acts by the Chinese military that have raised hackles in the region. Last month, a Chinese warship seized an underwater drone belonging to the United States Navy about 50 miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines. The drone was returned after the Obama administration publicly chided China over the seizure. On Monday, Japan said it had sent fighter jets into the air after Chinese bombers and surveillance planes flew over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. “When China was militarily weaker, Japan considered that area to be its backyard,” said Ni Lexiong, a naval affairs researcher at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. “This was a way of telling Japan that if there ever is conflict, the location of any future battle space won’t be decided by you and America. We have the initiative. So Japan, don’t think of meddling further afield in Taiwan or the South China Sea. ”

By wmw_admin on November 6, 2016 Darkmoon — Nov 6, 2016 RT : “Whistleblower Julian Assange has given one of his most incendiary interviews ever in a John Pilger Special [released late yesterday] courtesy of Dartmouth Films. Here he summarizes what can be gleaned from the tens of thousands of Clinton emails leaked by WikiLeaks this year.” LD : Despite the enormous populist support for Trump and the extraordinary loathing in which Hillary Clinton is held by millions of American, Assange says that “Trump cannot be allowed to win.” Trump has already indicated that he will not recognize the result of the election if he loses, given the enormous enthusiasm he has generated during his speeches, compared to the relatively tepid and anaemic response evoked by Hillary Clinton on similar occasions. Recent news reports reveal that “election related violence is increasing and Right-wing armed militia groups are even preparing for unrest if Mrs Clinton ‘steals’ the election, as they fear will happen.” If Hillary Clinton wins this election, as Assange predicts, we can expect riots to erupt all across America. Violent insurrection, in the circumstances of a rigged election, would appear to be more than justified. Hillary Clinton clearly belongs behind bars, not in the White House. [LD] John Pilger (left) conducted the 25-minute interview at the Ecuadorian Embassy where Assange has been trapped since 2012 for fear of extradition to the US. Here is a transcript of the interview followed by the YouTube interview itself. Click to enlarge THE SECRET WORLD OF THE US ELECTION John Pilger: What’s the significance of the FBI’s intervention in these last days of the U.S. election campaign, in the case against Hillary Clinton? Julian Assange: If you look at the history of the FBI, it has become effectively America’s political police. The FBI demonstrated this by taking down the former head of the CIA General David Petraeus over classified information given to his mistress. Almost no-one is untouchable. The FBI is always trying to demonstrate that no-one can resist us. But Hillary Clinton very conspicuously resisted the FBI’s investigation, so there’s anger within the FBI because it made the FBI look weak. We’ve published about 33,000 of Clinton’s emails when she was Secretary of State. They come from a batch of just over 60,000 emails, [of which] Clinton has kept about half — 30,000 — to herself, and we’ve published about half. Then there are the Podesta emails we’ve been publishing. John Podesta is Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign manager, so there’s a thread that runs through all these emails; there are quite a lot of pay-for-play, as they call it, giving access in exchange for money to states, individuals and corporations. These emails are combined with the cover up of the Hillary Clinton emails when she was Secretary of State, which has led to an environment where the pressure on the FBI increases. ‘Russian government not the source of Clinton leaks’ PILGER : The Clinton campaign has said that Russia is behind all of this, that Russia has manipulated the campaign and is the source for WikiLeaks and its emails. ASSANGE : The Clinton camp has been able to project that kind of neo-McCarthy hysteria: that Russia is responsible for everything. Hilary Clinton stated multiple times, falsely, that seventeen U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That is false; we can say that the Russian government is not the source. ‘Saudi Arabia & Qatar funding ISIS and Clinton’ PILGER : The emails that give evidence of access for money and how Hillary Clinton herself benefited from this and how she is benefitting politically, are quite extraordinary. I’m thinking of when the Qatari representative was given five minutes with Bill Clinton for a million dollar cheque. ASSANGE : And twelve million dollars from Morocco … PILGER : Twelve million from Morocco, yeah. ASSANGE : For Hillary Clinton to attend a party. PILGER : In terms of the foreign policy of the United States, that’s where the emails are most revealing, where they show the direct connection between Hillary Clinton and the foundation of jihadism, of ISIL, in the Middle East. Can you talk about how the emails demonstrate the connection between those who are meant to be fighting the jihadists of ISIL, are actually those who have helped create it. ASSANGE : There’s an early 2014 email from Hillary Clinton, not so long after she left the State Department, to her campaign manager John Podesta that states ISIL is funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Now this is the most significant email in the whole collection, and perhaps because Saudi and Qatari money is spread all over the Clinton Foundation. Even the U.S. government agrees that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIL, or ISIS. But the dodge has always been that, well it’s just some rogue Princes, using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like, but actually the government disapproves. But that email says that no, it is the governments of Saudi and Qatar that have been funding ISIS. PILGER : The Saudis, the Qataris, the Moroccans, the Bahrainis, particularly the Saudis and the Qataris, are giving all this money to the Clinton Foundation while Hilary Clinton is Secretary of State and the State Department is approving massive arms sales, particularly to Saudi Arabia. ASSANGE : Under Hillary Clinton, the world’s largest ever arms deal was made with Saudi Arabia, worth more than $80 billion. In fact, during her tenure as Secretary of State, total arms exports from the United States in terms of the dollar value, doubled. PILGER : Of course the consequence of that is that the notorious terrorist group called ISIl or ISIS is created largely with money from the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation. ASSANGE : Yes. PILGER : That’s extraordinary. ‘Clinton has been eaten alive by her ambition’ ASSANGE : I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions, tormented literally to the point where they become sick; they faint as a result of the reaction to their ambitions. She represents a whole network of people and a network of relationships with particular states. The question is how does Hilary Clinton fit in this broader network? She’s a centralising cog. You’ve got a lot of different gears in operation from the big banks like Goldman Sachs and major elements of Wall Street, and Intelligence and people in the State Department and the Saudis. She’s the centraliser that inter-connects all these different cogs. She’s the smooth central representation of all that, and ‘all that’ is more or less what is in power now in the United States. It’s what we call the establishment or the DC consensus. One of the more significant Podesta emails that we released was about how the Obama cabinet was formed and how half the Obama cabinet was basically nominated by a representative from City Bank. This is quite amazing. PILGER : Didn’t Citybank supply a list… ? ASSANGE : Yes. PILGER : Which turned out to be most of the Obama cabinet? ASSANGE : Yes. PILGER : So Wall Street decides the cabinet of the President of the United States? ASSANGE : If you were following the Obama campaign back then, closely, you could see it had become very close to banking interests. So I think you can’t properly understand Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy without understanding Saudi Arabia. The connections with Saudi Arabia are so intimate. ‘Libya is Hillary Clinton’s war’ PILGER : Why was she so demonstrably enthusiastic about the destruction of Libya? Can you talk a little about just what the emails have told us – told you – about what happened there? Because Libya is such a source for so much of the mayhem now in Syria: the ISIL, jihadism, and so on. And it was almost Hillary Clinton’s invasion. What do the emails tell us about that? ASSANGE : Libya, more than anyone else’s war, was Hillary Clinton’s war. Barak Obama initially opposed it. Who was the person championing it? Hillary Clinton. That’s documented throughout her emails. She had put her favoured agent, Sidney Blumenthal, on to that; there’s more than 1700 emails out of the thirty three thousand Hillary Clinton emails that we’ve published, just about Libya. It’s not that Libya has cheap oil. She perceived the removal of Gaddafi and the overthrow of the Libyan state — something that she would use in her run-up to the general election for President. So in late 2011 there is an internal document called the Libya Tick Tock that was produced for Hillary Clinton, and it’s the chronological description of how she was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state, which resulted in around 40,000 deaths within Libya; jihadists moved in, ISIS moved in, leading to the European refugee and migrant crisis. Not only did you have people fleeing Libya, people fleeing Syria, the destabilisation of other African countries as a result of arms flows, but the Libyan state itself err was no longer able to control the movement of people through it. Libya faces along to the Mediterranean and had been effectively the cork in the bottle of Africa. So all problems, economic problems and civil war in Africa — previously people fleeing those problems didn’t end up in Europe because Libya policed the Mediterranean. That was said explicitly at the time, back in early 2011 by Gaddafi: ‘What do these Europeans think they’re doing, trying to bomb and destroy the Libyan State? There’s going to be floods of migrants out of Africa and jihadists into Europe, and this is exactly what happened. ‘Trump won’t be permitted to win’ PILGER : You get complaints from people saying, ‘What is WikiLeaks doing? Are they trying to put Trump in the White House?’ ASSANGE : My answer is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he’s had every establishment off side; Trump doesn’t have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment, but banks, intelligence agencies, arms companies… big foreign money … are all united behind Hillary Clinton, and the media as well, media owners and even journalists themselves. PILGER : There is the accusation that WikiLeaks is in league with the Russians. Some people say, ‘Well, why doesn’t WikiLeaks investigate and publish emails on Russia?’ ASSANGE : We have published about 800,000 documents of various kinds that relate to Russia. Most of those are critical; and a great many books have come out of our publications about Russia, most of which are critical. Our Russia documents have gone on to be used in quite a number of court cases: refugee cases of people fleeing some kind of claimed political persecution in Russia, which they use our documents to back up. PILGER : Do you yourself take a view of the U.S. election? Do you have a preference for Clinton or Trump? ASSANGE : Let’s talk about Donald Trump. What does he represent in the American mind and in the European mind? He represents American white trash, which Hillary Clinton called ‘deplorable and irredeemable’. It means from an establishment or educated cosmopolitan, urbane perspective, these people are like the red necks, and you can never deal with them. Because he so clearly — through his words and actions and the type of people that turn up at his rallies — represents people who are not the middle, not the upper middle educated class, there is a fear of seeming to be associated in any way with them, a social fear that lowers the class status of anyone who can be accused of somehow assisting Trump in any way, including any criticism of Hillary Clinton. If you look at how the middle class gains its economic and social power, that makes absolute sense. ‘US attempting to squeeze WikiLeaks through my refugee status’ PILGER : I’d like to talk about Ecuador, the small country that has given you refuge and political asylum in this embassy in London. Now Ecuador has cut off the internet from here where we’re doing this interview, in the Embassy, for the clearly obvious reason that they are concerned about appearing to intervene in the U.S. election campaign. Can you talk about why they would take that action and your own views on Ecuador’s support for you? ASSANGE : Let’s let go back four years. I made an asylum application to Ecuador in this embassy, because of the U.S. extradition case, and the result was that after a month, I was successful in my asylum application. The embassy since then has been surrounded by police: quite an expensive police operation which the British government admits to spending more than £12.6 million. They admitted that over a year ago. Now there’s undercover police and there are robot surveillance cameras of various kinds — so that there has been quite a serious conflict right here in the heart of London between Ecuador, a country of sixteen million people, and the United Kingdom, and the Americans who have been helping on the side. So that was a brave and principled thing for Ecuador to do. Now we have the U.S. election campaign, the Ecuadorian election is in February next year, and you have the White House feeling the political heat as a result of the true information that we have been publishing. WikiLeaks does not publish from the jurisdiction of Ecuador, from this embassy or in the territory of Ecuador; we publish from France, we publish from, from Germany, we publish from The Netherlands and from a number of other countries, so that the attempted squeeze on WikiLeaks is through my refugee status; and this is, this is really intolerable. It means that [they] are trying to get at a publishing organisation; they try and prevent it from publishing true information that is of intense interest to the American people and others about an election. PILGER : Tell us what would happen if you walked out of this embassy. ASSANGE : I would be immediately arrested by the British police and I would then be extradited either immediately to the United States or to Sweden. In Sweden I am not charged, I have already been previously cleared by the Senior Stockholm Prosecutor Eva Finne. We were not certain exactly what would happen there, but then we know that the Swedish government has refused to say that they will not extradite me to the United States we know they have extradited 100 per cent of people whom the U.S. has requested since at least 2000. So over the last fifteen years, every single person the U.S. has tried to extradite from Sweden has been extradited, and they refuse to provide a guarantee [that won’t happen]. PILGER : People often ask me how you cope with the isolation in here. ASSANGE : Look, one of the best attributes of human beings is that they’re adaptable; one of the worst attributes of human beings is they are adaptable. They adapt and start to tolerate abuses, they adapt to being involved themselves in abuses, they adapt to adversity and they continue on. So in my situation, frankly, I’m a bit institutionalised — this [the embassy] is the world … it’s visually the world for me. PILGER : It’s the world without sunlight, for one thing, isn’t it? ASSANGE : It’s the world without sunlight, but I haven’t seen sunlight in so long, I don’t remember it. PILGER : Yes. ASSANGE : So , yes, you adapt. The one real irritant is that my young children — they also adapt. They adapt to being without their father. That’s a hard, hard adaption which they didn’t ask for. PILGER : Do you worry about them? ASSANGE : Yes, I worry about them; I worry about their mother. ‘I am innocent and in arbitrary detention’ PILGER : Some people would say, ‘Well, why don’t you end it and simply walk out the door and allow yourself to be extradited to Sweden?’ ASSANGE : The U.N. [the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention] has looked into this whole situation. They spent eighteen months in formal, adversarial litigation. So it’s me and the U.N. verses Sweden and the U.K. Who’s right? The U.N. made a conclusion that I am being arbitrarily detained illegally, deprived of my freedom and that what has occurred has not occurred within the laws that the United Kingdom and Sweden, and that those countries must obey. It is an illegal abuse. It is the United Nations formally asking, ‘What’s going on here? What is your legal explanation for this? Assange says that you should recognise his asylum.’ And here is. Sweden formally writing back to the United Nations to say, ‘No, we’re not going to recognise the UN ruling, so leaving open their ability to extradite. I just find it absolutely amazing that the narrative about this situation is not put out publically in the press, because it doesn’t suit the Western establishment narrative — that yes, the West has political prisoners, it’s a reality, it’s not just me, there’s a bunch of other people as well. The West has political prisoners. Of course, no state accepts that it should call the people it is imprisoning or detaining for political reasons, political prisoners. They don’t call them political prisoners in China, they don’t call them political prisoners in Azerbaijan and they don’t call them political prisoners in the United States, U.K. or Sweden; it is absolutely intolerable to have that kind of self-perception. ASSANGE : Here we have a case, the Swedish case, where I have never been charged with a crime, where I have already been cleared by the Stockholm prosecutor and found to be innocent, where the woman herself said that the police made it up, where the United Nations formally said the whole thing is illegal, where the State of Ecuador also investigated and found that I should be given asylum. Those are the facts, but what is the rhetoric? PILGER : Yes, it’s different. ASSANGE : The rhetoric is pretending, constantly pretending that I have been charged with a crime, and never mentioning that I have been already previously cleared, never mentioning that the woman herself says that the police made it up. The rhetoric is trying to avoid the truth that the U.N. formally found that the whole thing is illegal, never even mentioning that Ecuador made a formal assessment through its formal processes and found that yes, I am subject to persecution by the United States.

News anchors arrived at the White House Thursday afternoon for a private lunch with President Trump after a week of negative news reports and before he heads on his first overseas trip, a visit to the Middle East and Europe. [The luncheon, first reported by Politico, was expected to cover Trump’s upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, Brussels, and Sicily. Spotted arriving at the White House for the luncheon were all the network and cable news heavy hitters, including: Fox News’s Bret Baier and Chris Wallace CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper ABC News’s David Muir NBC News’s Kelly O’Donnell CBS News’s Scott Pelley PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff, and Christian Broadcasting Network’s Jennifer Wishon. MSNBC’s Greta Van Susteren and ABC News’s George Stephanopolous also attended, according to a tweet by a Bloomberg News reporter. Additional attendees were noted by Politico: Here’s the group who met with Trump today for lunch pic. twitter. — Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) May 18, 2017, Chris Wallace just showed up to White House to meet with @realDonaldTrump. pic. twitter. — Kristina Wong (@kristina_wong) May 18, 2017, Wolf Blitzer arrives at White House. Saunters into West Wing for anchors lunch with Trump. pic. twitter. — Kristina Wong (@kristina_wong) May 18, 2017, More anchors arrive for lunch with Trump. pic. twitter. — Kristina Wong (@kristina_wong) May 18, 2017, . @DavidMuir arrives for anchors lunch with Trump. pic. twitter. — Kristina Wong (@kristina_wong) May 18, 2017, . @ScottPelley arrives at White House for lunch with Trump. Smooth action. pic. twitter. — Kristina Wong (@kristina_wong) May 18, 2017, . @jaketapper arrives for the Trump lunch. pic. twitter. — Kristina Wong (@kristina_wong) May 18, 2017, CNN later reported that Trump spoke more about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the U. S. elections and any collusion with the Trump campaign. According to the Independent Journal Review: “I believe it hurts the country terribly because it shows we’re a divided, country,” he said, according to CNN. “And we have very important things to do right now,” he added, citing trade deals, military issues, and the spread of nuclear weapons. “It also happens to be a pure excuse for the Democrats having lost an election that they should have easily won because of the Electoral College being slated so much in their way,” he said. “That’s all this is. I think it shows division, and it shows that we’re not together as a country. And I think it’s a very, very negative thing. ” Trump closed his comments by stating that “hopefully, this can go quickly, because we have to show unity if we’re going to do great things with respect to the rest of the world. ” This is the second time Trump has met with TV news anchors privately. The first time was before his address to a joint session of Congress. Pelley reportedly moved the CBS evening news show from New York to Washington partly as a result of the lunch. Trump, who has blasted CNN as “fake news,” is an avid consumer of cable news and reportedly recently installed a new large screen TV in the White House.

By Pao Chang Earth is a beautiful blue planet that has gone through many changes. Some people believed that Earth used to be a world filled with mythical creatures and magic. Others believed it used to have a landscape that is more beautiful than the picture below. The following two videos reveal some very interesting information about what Earth may look like tens of thousands of years ago or possibly hundreds of thousands of years ago. Did Earth use to have trees as large as small mountains? Are there actually no forests on Earth? Is Earth now a wasteland? The videos below might have clues to help answer these questions. Watch the videos and come up with your own conclusions. The Prehistoric World Exposed – Ancient Structures That Will Blow Your Mind!! There are No Forests on Earth! (ENGLISH VOICEOVER) Source: OmniThought

I spent last week ignoring President Trump. Although I am ordinarily a politics junkie, I didn’t read, watch or listen to a single story about anything having to do with our 45th president. What I missed, by many accounts, was one of the strangest and most unpredictable weeks of news in modern political history. Among other things, there was the resignation of the national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, and an “Oprah Winfrey Show” tape that led to the downfall of the nominee for secretary of labor, Andrew F. Puzder. It wasn’t my aim to stick my head in the sand. I did not quit the news. Instead, I spent as much time as I normally do online (all my waking hours) but shifted most of my energy to looking for zones. My point: I wanted to see what I could learn about the modern news media by looking at how thoroughly Mr. Trump had subsumed it. In one way, my experiment failed: I could find almost no part of the press. But as the week wore on, I discovered several truths about our digital media ecosystem. Coverage of Mr. Trump may eclipse that of any single human being ever. The reasons have as much to do with him as the way social media amplifies every big story until it swallows the world. And as important as covering the president may be, I began to wonder if we were overdosing on Trump news, to the exclusion of everything else. The new president doesn’t simply dominate national and political news. During my week of attempted Trump abstinence, I noticed something deeper: He has taken up semipermanent residence on every outlet of any kind, political or not. He is no longer just the message. In many cases, he has become the medium, the ether through which all other stories flow. Obviously, just about every corner of the news was a minefield, but it was my intention to keep informed while avoiding Mr. Trump. I still consulted major news sites, but avoided sections that tend to be and averted my eyes as I scrolled for news. I spent more time on international news sites like the BBC, and searched for sites covering topics like science and finance. I consulted social news sites like Digg and Reddit, and occasionally checked Twitter and Facebook, but I often had to furiously scroll past all of the Trump posts. (Some news was unavoidable when Mr. Flynn resigned, a journalist friend texted me about it.) Even when I found news, though, much of it was interleaved with Trump news, so the overall effect was something like trying to bite into a cake without getting any fruit or nuts. It wasn’t just news. Mr. Trump’s presence looms over much more. There he is off in the wings of “The Bachelor” and even “The Big Bang Theory,” whose creator, Chuck Lorre, has taken to inserting messages in the closing credits. Want to watch an awards show? Say the Grammys or the Golden Globes? Trump Trump Trump. How about sports? Yeah, no. The president’s policies are an animating force in the N. B. A. He was the subtext of the Super Bowl: both the game and the commercials, and maybe even the halftime show. Where else could I go? Snapchat and Instagram were relatively safe, but the president still popped up. Even Amazon. com suggested I consider Trump toilet paper for my wife’s Valentine’s Day present. (I bought her jewelry.) All presidents are omnipresent. But it is likely that no living person in history has ever been as famous as Mr. Trump is right now. It’s possible that not even the most famous or infamous people of the recent or distant past — say, Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali or Adolf Hitler — dominated media as thoroughly at their peak as Mr. Trump does now. I’m hedging because there isn’t data to directly verify this declaration. (Of course, there are no media analytics to measure how many outlets were covering Hitler the day he invaded Poland.) But there is some pretty good circumstantial evidence. Consider data from mediaQuant, a firm that measures “earned media,” which is all coverage that isn’t paid advertising. To calculate a dollar value of earned media, it first counts every mention of a particular brand or personality in just about any outlet, from blogs to Twitter to the evening news to The New York Times. Then it estimates how much the mentions would cost if someone were to pay for them as advertising. In January, Mr. Trump broke mediaQuant’s records. In a single month, he received $817 million in coverage, higher than any single person has ever received in the four years that mediaQuant has been analyzing the media, according to Paul Senatori, the company’s chief analytics officer. For much of the past four years, Mr. Obama’s monthly earned media value hovered around $200 million to $500 million. The highest that Hillary Clinton got during the presidential campaign was $430 million, in July. It’s not just that Mr. Trump’s coverage beats anyone else’s. He is now beating pretty much everyone else put together. Mr. Senatori recently added up the coverage value of 1, 000 of the world’s best known figures, excluding Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump. The list includes Mrs. Clinton, who in January got $200 million in coverage, Tom Brady ($38 million) Kim Kardashian ($36 million) and Vladimir V. Putin ($30 million) all the way down to the 1, 000th celebrity in mediaQuant’s database, the actress Madeleine Stowe ($1, 001). The coverage those 1, 000 people garnered last month totaled $721 million. In other words, Mr. Trump gets about $100 million more in coverage than the next 1, 000 famous people put together. And he is on track to match or beat his January record in February, according to Mr. Senatori’s preliminary figures. How do we know Mr. Trump is more talked about than anyone else in the past? There are now more people on the planet who are more connected than ever before. Facebook estimates that about 3. 2 billion people have internet connections. On average, the people of Earth spend about eight hours a day consuming media, according to the marketing research firm Zenith. So almost by definition, anyone who dominates today’s media is going to be read about, talked about and watched by more people than ever before. “From a media perspective, it’s pretty clear,” Mr. Senatori said. “The sheer volume, and the sheer amount of consumption, and all the new channels that are available today show that, yeah, he’s off the charts. ” Mr. Trump is a historically unusual president, and thus deserves plenty of coverage. Yet there’s an argument that our modern media ecosystem is amplifying his presence even beyond what’s called for. On most days, Mr. Trump is 90 percent of the news on my Twitter and Facebook feeds, and probably yours, too. But he’s not 90 percent of what’s important in the world. During my break from Trump news, I found rich coverage veins that aren’t getting social play. ISIS is retreating across Iraq and Syria. Brazil seems on the verge of chaos. A large ice shelf in Antarctica is close to full break. Scientists may have discovered a new continent submerged under the ocean near Australia. There’s a reason you aren’t seeing these stories splashed across the news. Unlike media, today’s media works according to social feedback loops. Every story that shows any signs of life on Facebook or Twitter is copied endlessly by every outlet, becoming unavoidable. Scholars have long predicted that social media might alter how we choose cultural products. In 2006, Duncan Watts, a researcher at Microsoft who studies social networks, and two colleagues published a study arguing that social signals create a kind of “inequality” in how we choose media. The researchers demonstrated this with an online market for music downloads. Half of the people who arrived at Mr. Watts’s site were shown just the titles and band name of each song. The other half were also shown a social signal — how many times each song had been downloaded by other users. Mr. Watts and his colleagues found that adding social signals changed the music people were interested in. Inequality went up: When people could see what others were downloading, popular songs became far more popular, and unpopular songs far less popular. Social signals also created a greater unpredictability of outcomes when people could see how others had picked songs, the collective ratings of each song were less likely to predict success, and bad songs were more likely to become popular. I suspect we are seeing something like this effect playing out with Trump news. It’s not that coverage of the new administration is unimportant. It clearly is. But social signals — likes, retweets and more — are amplifying it. Every new story prompts outrage, which puts the stories higher in your feed, which prompts more coverage, which encourages more talk, and on and on. We saw this effect before Mr. Trump came on the scene — it’s why you know about Cecil the lion and Harambe the gorilla — but he has accelerated the trend. He is the Harambe of politics, the undisputed king of all media. It’s only been a month since Mr. Trump took office, and already the deluge of news has been overwhelming. Everyone — reporters, producers, anchors, protesters, people in the administration and consumers of news — has been amped up to 11. For now, this might be all right. It’s important to pay attention to the federal government when big things are happening. But Mr. Trump is likely to be president for at least the next four years. And it’s probably not a good idea for just about all of our news to be focused on a single subject for that long. In previous media eras, the news was able to find a sensible balance even when huge events were preoccupying the world. Newspapers from World War I and II were filled with stories far afield from the war. Today’s newspapers are also full of articles, but many of us aren’t reading newspapers anymore. We’re reading Facebook and watching cable, and there, Mr. Trump is all anyone talks about, to the exclusion of almost all else. There’s no easy way out of this fix. But as big as Mr. Trump is, he’s not everything — and it’d be nice to find a way for the media ecosystem to recognize that.

ASTON, Pa. — Donald J. Trump unveiled a menu of proposals on Tuesday to help working parents, calling for six weeks of mandatory paid maternity leave and expanded tax credits for child care. The proposals, which Mr. Trump outlined in the politically critical Philadelphia suburbs along with his daughter Ivanka, represent a new attempt to court female voters who polls show have been alienated by his bombast and history of provocative remarks about women. “Those in leadership must put themselves in the shoes of the factory worker, the family worried about security or the mom struggling to afford child care,” Mr. Trump said at a rally here. Mr. Trump’s decision to put forward such a plan represents a different approach from the one taken by previous Republican presidential nominees. But in selling his case, Mr. Trump stretched the truth, saying that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has no such plan of her own and “never will. ” Mrs. Clinton issued her plan more than a year ago, and it guarantees up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for a newborn or a sick relative, financed by an increase in taxes on the wealthiest Americans. On Twitter, her campaign posted a link to her plan after Mr. Trump’s remark. Mr. Trump and his daughter spoke about the issue at the Republican National Convention in July, but the candidate had not mentioned it publicly until Tuesday. Mr. Trump faces a potentially gender gap with women, but pushing the proposal so close to the election risks looking slapdash on a serious topic. The campaign staved off potential complaints from social conservatives who have historically frowned on giving incentives to mothers to work outside the home, by vowing to make those caretaker roles . At the speech, Mr. Trump was joined by some female members of Congress. Noting one applauding in the audience as he spoke, Mr. Trump pointed to the crowd and said, “Makes your life a lot easier, right?” Mr. Trump first proposed the child care initiative weeks ago, but he broadened it to help working parents after facing criticism that his initial proposal would primarily help high earners rather than women and families on the lower end of the economic spectrum. “Child care is such a big problem,” he said Tuesday. “And we’re going to solve that problem. ” Ms. Trump, who stood next to her father as he spoke in Pennsylvania, said she would make the plan’s passage a priority if her father won. Affordable child care “should not be the luxury of a fortunate few,” she said. The new recommendations contained a number of uncertainties, most notably how Mr. Trump would pay for them, and they still favor people with higher incomes. The candidate’s aides said his goals would be achieved through a change in the tax code to help pay for child care, to be detailed in another speech, probably this week. The main thrust of Mr. Trump’s plan involves a reordering of the tax code so working parents can take an income tax deduction for care of up to four children and dependents. The deduction is available for individuals earning up to $250, 000, or $500, 000 for a married couple filing jointly. There would also be child care spending rebates as high as $1, 200 a year for families on the lower end of the income scale. That is an amount that some critics called inadequate given that the cost of child care in some states is $10, 000 to $20, 000 a year. Another proposal aimed at parents is a dependent care savings account, a version of a flexible spending account usually offered by employers. Such accounts would be universal and used for or traditional child care, with a government match of $500 a year — a minuscule amount given the cost of such care, and given the difficulty that families have putting away money in such accounts. Among the open questions are whether the deductions that working parents could claim would replace the existing tax credit, whether there would be an age cap for the children involved, and what the actual scale of benefit would be for people of various incomes. The signature element of the plan, six weeks of paid maternity leave for new mothers whose employers do not currently provide coverage, would be financed by eliminating fraud in unemployment insurance. Mr. Trump’s aides trumpeted the proposal as unprecedented for a G. O. P. presidential nominee many Republicans oppose requiring paid maternity leave as an onerous new regulation on businesses. Earlier Tuesday, at a campaign rally in Clive, Iowa, the candidate singled out Ivanka Trump, a mother of three who has developed her own licensing and branding company, as the driving force behind the plan. Some social conservatives said they were pleasantly surprised by Mr. Trump’s proposed tax benefit for mothers. “I was quite pleased with it,” said Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council. He called it “innovative” in acknowledging “the contribution that parents make. ” But the plan was met with criticism from the Clinton campaign and skepticism from some child care advocacy groups, which warned that the people most in need of relief would not get it. “After spending his entire career — and this entire campaign — demeaning women and dismissing the need to support working families,” Maya Harris, Mrs. Clinton’s senior policy adviser, said in a statement, “Donald Trump released a regressive and insufficient ‘maternity leave’ policy that is out of touch, and ignores the way Americans live and work today. ” Vivien Labaton, a director of the nonpartisan group Make It Work Action, called Mr. Trump’s plan “woefully inadequate. ” She said the tax credit component meant that families in need would have to wait to receive relief just once a year, and called the $1, 200 rebate a “drop in the bucket” for families who were facing child care costs of more than $10, 000 a year. Paid leave has increasing political resonance. One of the major reasons the share of women working in the United States has fallen behind other developed countries is the lack of paid family leave, according to research by Cornell University economists. Mr. Trump’s embrace of paid leave would apply only to mothers, as opposed to Mrs. Clinton’s plan, which would cover both parents. Some economists say that when leave is offered only to women, it can backfire by lowering women’s chances of being hired and promoted and getting raises. Ms. Labaton expressed skepticism about the proposal “coming less than 60 days before Election Day,” deriding it as “a naked attempt to court women voters while not actually offering up much by way of genuine support. ”

Politics Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani (R) and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö shake hands in Tehran on October 26, 2016. (Photo by IRNA) Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says the European Union can play a significant role in the settlement of the Syrian crisis and the campaign against terrorism. Larijani made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Tehran on Wednesday. He said that Iran supports political solutions to crises in the Middle East, including the conflict in Syria, while some extra-regional players as well as regional sponsors of terrorist groups sabotaged diplomatic solutions through adopting wrong approaches. The top Iranian parliamentarian also warned against the spillover of terrorism to other regions across the world. “Unfortunately, military intervention by outsiders in regional issues and adopting a military approach and double standards on terrorism” have led to a rise in the number of terrorist groups and contributed to their activities, Larijani said. He also blamed the “extremist and deviated” ideology of Wahhabism for the spread of terrorism in the region, stressing that neither Sunnis nor Shias support terrorist or extremist acts. Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani welcomed the expansion of ties between Tehran and Helsinki. The Finnish official, for his part, called for the further promotion of ties between his country and Iran. He also expressed regret about terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria and the lack of a political will to end the conflicts. ‘Terrorists pose threat to their own countries’ Also on Wednesday, the Finnish president met with Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to discuss bilateral ties and regional developments. Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (R) meets with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö (L) in Tehran on October 26, 2016. (Photo by IRNA) In the meeting, Rafsanjani warned about possible threats posed by foreign recruits when they return to their own countries and the subsequent rise of terrorism across the world, and called on the international community to take measures to address the issue. The senior Iranian official also raised the alarm over the issue of “state terrorism” pursued by the Zionists. Earlier in the day, Finland’s president also met and held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the developments in the Middle East and the promotion of bilateral ties in different sectors, including economic and banking cooperation. Niinistö arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to hold talks with Iranian officials on a range of issues. He also met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday. Loading ...

21st Century Wire says… 21WIRE reported on Friday about the FBI’s surprising announcement that it would be reopening the Clinton email case due to new evidence of ‘classified information’ found on sex cheat Anthony Weiner’s (newly estranged husband of Clinton chief aid Huma Abedin) computer which was subject to a seperate investigation. Will this really yield anything significant in the 10 days running-up to the Nov 8th election, or is this just clever Democrat party smoke and mirrors? It seems that Washington’s political tricksters have already sprung into action… After Comey’s shock announcement, a “leaked” memo appeared out of nowhere, supplied to Fox News , in which Comey and the FBI seem to be going through a routine set of prescribed political moves designed to implement damage control. ELITE CIRCLES: FBI head James Comey and friend Hillary Clinton. Certainly, a desperate Democratic Party, and an even more desperate Obama White House (over the last 3 weeks, Obama and his wife Michelle have been out campaigning more that Hillary Clinton herself), could be pressuring or nudging the FBI on this volatile issue which could easily tilt a close presidential race against Donald Trump. Aside from the obvious potential of another Clinton scandal, yesterday’s FBI move could also be a prelude to the following possible scenarios: Protect the President, who is already deeply tied to the Clinton email cover-up Democratic Party Machine has created a distraction to cover-up latest Wikileaks dump. FBI are trying to restore lost public confidence over allegations of favoring Hillary Clintons. Create a controlled explosion this weekend to clear the decks for another salacious Trump scandal next week. NOTE: Despite calls from the Clinton camp for FBI to disclose what they have (which they cannot by law anyway, you’d think Hillary would have already known that), it is highly unlikely that the FBI will release any real specifics before the election – if they have anything at all. It’s just too early to tell. SEE ALSO: FBI James Comey was board member of HSBC – Clinton Foundation & Drug Cartel ‘bank of choice’ The FBI director stoked outrage last month when he announced that he would not recommend the Justice Department seek an indictment against Clinton or any of the other parties to the investigation – allowing Clinton to dodge any criminal probe before the election – despite the fact that Comey stated to a Congressional investigative committee that Clinton was “extremely careless,” and that Clinton openly lied about her handling classified information on her unsecured private server throughout her tenure as the US Secretary of State. Zero Hedge adds: “Now, it is the democrats turn to rage at Comey and the FBI, although Comey likely did not have much choice: had he kept the information secret, it certainly would have leaked as we predicted; as such his best recourse was to come clean, although many have speculated about the cryptic nature of the disclosure. Needless to say, all Comey would need to do to regain the Demcorats’ trust and favor is to announce in just a few days that nothing material has been found and that the second probe is also over.” Here is “leaked” (aka ‘just covering my ass) memo from FBI director James Comey: Watch this space. Here is a highlight reel of Hillary Clinton lying on at least 5 occasions when asked direct questions about her illegal private email server: . READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files SUPPORT 21WIRE – SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

Democrats in Montana have opposed a bill banning the use of foreign law in its state courts on the grounds that such legislation would target Muslims. [Senate Bill 97, introduced by Keith Regier ( ) bans the application of foreign law in Montana’s courts, with the debate particularly focused on Sharia Law, a form of Islamic law typically used in the Middle East. Although the bill passed on party lines by Democrats claimed it was designed to target Muslim communities. “I think it sends a dangerous message to minority groups both here living in our state and wanting to come visit our state, just merely on the fact that you may be different,” said Rep. Shane Morigeau, while debating the bill. “I truly believe this law is repugnant. I believe this is not who we are as Montanans. ” Meanwhile, Rep. Ellie Hill Smith ( ) proposed a failed amendment to the bill to include a ban on both Sharia Law and the Law of Moses, in order to “show the state of Montana that it is not just about Islamic Law. ” “The courts have said that laws that single out certain religions violate the First Amendment,” Smith said, claiming that it was “peppered with bigotry. ” Another Democrat, Rep. Laurie Bishop ( ) urged legislators “not to forget the roots of this bill,” adding that “our children are watching. ” Meanwhile, Rep. Brad Tschida ( ) said the bill was an attempt to push back against a “constitution [that] is constantly under assault. ” Bills specifically targeting Sharia Law have passed in states such as North Carolina, Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Tennessee. The bill will now be passed on to Gov. Steve Bullock (D) for signature or veto. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com

- Advertisement - Here's the thing:Today, October 27, 2016, I, like many of you, watched live feeds of the events going down at Standing Rock.I am at a loss to define my feelings. Anger, outrage, pity, fear ...One phrase kept going through my mind, like a mantra- This is not my America. This is not my America. This is not my America. protests at DAPL License DMCA And then in counter-point was the thought- But it is. But it is. But it is.Over one hundred heavily armed cops in riot gear, supported by military assault vehicles and helicopters forced peaceful, prayerful water protectors from their own land, ceded to them in the Treaty of 1851. The police are nothing more than a mercenary army protecting the interests of the owners of the DAPL. There was the wail of sound cannons aimed at the protectors, there was tear gas. There were rubber bullets being fired into the crowd.And in my mind- This is not my America (But it is) This is not my America (But it is) This is not my America (But it is) This is about water. There's no political ideology here. We cannot live without water. Decisions are being made that effect the future, and the lives of our children and our grandchildren.This effects all of us. It's not just happening "out there" in the Dakotas or in Iowa or in Texas or in New Mexico. It's everywhere. For god sake, there are already over 2.5 million miles pipeline already installed in the continental United States. Just the other day, mere miles from where I live a Sunoco pipeline leaked over 55,000 gallons of gasoline into the Susquehanna River, endangering the water for over 6 million people down river. Where I live, in northeastern Pennsylvania, there are fracking wells all over the place. And an average of 2.8 million of gallons of clean water were filled with known poisons and toxins and pumped under pressure into the aquifer beneath my feet. There are places within miles of where I live that people can set fire to their water.It's too late for anyone to avoid the destruction, here where I live. We have to deal with the aftermath. The after the fact poisoning of our water and the inevitable leaks and the illnesses and the pockets of strange cancers. This is a shameful day, for all of us. I am sick, in heart, mind and spirit, but I have hope.The battle hasn't even started. Now is when decisions must be made. Hard decisions that will impact on our own sense of comfort and will demand that we risk that comfort, or lose the future. To do nothing is to accept that our children,and our grandchildren will have no clean water to drink, no clean air to breathe, no clean land to live on.This is not overstating the things. It is not alarmist. It is the simplest of truths. - Advertisement -

There is a lot more than meets the eye to this mob , wait till you read this . "Soon thereafter I resigned from Yang and took another job at the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). While there, I discovered some other illegal activities of Yang, who had contracts with FDOT, involving over-billing and defrauding of the State of Florida regarding contracts Nee was sentenced on October 7, 2004 by U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presenell to three years of supervised probation and $100 fine. An illegal Chinese alien admitting to what is paramount to corporate if not treasonable espionage, and the guy gets a slap on the wrist. http://www.bradblog.com/?page_id=3526 now finding the connection to Serco via contracts ....